[ 03-14-2003 12:03 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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I just stood there, tingling all over with the warmth of my profession to him, basking in the heat of his, his caress on my palm like a tiny sun ready to explode throughout my essence and carry me off in it's fires. To passersby we might have looked like the young lovers we were, just finding each other; or perhaps, two hungry people meeting for a tryst... or maybe something else.

Frankly, I didn't give a damn. All I cared for was this man, and the fact that fate was deigning to grace me with another serving of happiness, one I hoped with all my heart would not be torn from me somewhere down the road...

And then I pushed that thought away from me completely as a simple truth rose up within me.

Live for this moment, Galen... and this moment will live forever.

I stared up into his serious gaze.

"I--" I whispered, flailing for words, seeking within myself, finding the penultimate truth within, wondering if he could realize it but proceeded onward anyway.

"I will never leave you, my love. I can't. For you are part of me now...."

I need you so much, Lo Ban... can you hear me? Do you sense this?

Can you feel what I am trying to express?

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I can feel you... there is no love like your love... there is no other... Lo Ban spoke, this time without movement of his lips...

[ 03-14-2003 12:42 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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Indeed, he could feel me... and I him, as I had felt no other ever before in my life. Not even the link I had with my child when I carried her had been as strong, as all-encompassing as this sweeping sensation of utter completeness I was receiving from my love.

Somewhere a part of me that was still cognizant of such things stood in quiet awe.

But the greater part of me was lost in the wonder that was the sharing of souls, which went so much deeper than words could express, which burned so much more brightly than the heat produced from mere touch.

Closing my eyes now I simply let a little part of me go, freely given, and it took wing and soared into Lo Ban and mingled therein with him, and thus in the streets of Piriingisi we two became one and in the doing, inexplicably enough, became more than the sum of our parts.

And then I slowly came into awareness of two selves again, and within found that entity called Galen, and found her reaching out to express her own yearning now, and that entity whispered even as she stretched her arms out toward this man,

"Now that you have me... where would you take me?"

[ 03-14-2003 12:58 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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He led her to the spaceport, to the hanger he assumed The Eagle would be waiting... he was wrong, as the hanger was empty...

"Babe?"

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With great effort, I put it back. I gulped, counted to ten, did it again, and finally found the ability to speak.

"Eagle is over that way," I managed, pointing and then letting my arm drop. I stared hard into his eyes... and shoved my heart back deeper into my chest again.

A time and a place... but whatever he thought, it was definitely not the time to go waltzing off after Darra. That little hunch I always got was emphatic about that... unless he had a plan up his sleeve.

And if that was the case he was being awfully tight-lipped about it.

I gulped again, struggling with myself, slipping away yet again by his intoxicating nearness...

[ 03-14-2003 01:32 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"Wait..." Lo Ban said, holding Galen back in protective anticipation...

Docking Bay 7

Cartina had been waiting for her contracted pilot to allow her passage aboard his ship, when she caught a faint whisper on the sound amplification receivers within her helmet... She knew the voice well, it was Lo Ban Kenobi... She sought revenge on he and his close friend she had tried not to notice on Kamino, the jealous type she was... not to mention the anger she felt toward the whole situation to begin with, and top it all off with the doubts she had about her profession:

No more Ms. Nice B. Hunter...

A shot of energy came from the distance, connecting Lo Ban in the shoulder... knocking him to the deck, motionless...

From the shadows emerged an armor clad individual, directing a blaster rifle at Galen's person...

"Galen Danner, I presume..." holding her surprise at bay, Cartina finally successful in the pursuit...

[ 03-14-2003 02:06 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cartina ]

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For the barest nanosecond I hovered against the great uprushing need of tending to my fallen jedi... but luckily logic took hold of me once again.

I hadn't spent the time I had with Sorben picking my nose and drooling over his magnificent body, after all....

In one motion I launched myself at this meddling armored moron, one hand slapping against my belt and enabling the light-bending device, even as I tucked and rolled in mid-air so as to alter the shape of my form rushing at her... and thus foiling her guess at my trajectory.

I came to a crouch directly in front of her.

Her helmet swept down in my direction; of course she could hear me. But by then I had launched myself strongly upward, and one sweeping crescent kick made contact with the blaster, sending it flying from her grasp, while momentum carried me around in a full pivot to deliver a roundhouse kick precisely beneath the lip of her helmet.

I smiled like a tigress to feel my foot strike the softness of flesh... and to feel the crunch as something in her throat broke beneath that flying foot.

She fell like a stunned ronto, and I fell with her, landing in a crouch from which I launched myself to retrieve her blaster.

I whirled... then relaxed. She was out like a light.

I smiled grimly, and now headed to see how Lo Ban was faring.

Amateur....

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And waking up on the cold deck of a flight hangar wasn't what I would call all skittles and beer....

I sat back on my heels, thinking. To get back to Piriingisi involved a long trek through the tunnels, and then transporting his body through the crowded streets. Even the thought of a nice clean bed in the Azure Planetoid wasn't enough to warrant so lengthy -- and undoubtedly pain-filled -- a movement.

The obvious answer lay a few hangars away.

Now I steadied myself, balancing my weight between both feet and reaching down. With a great oof! I managed to struggle back upright, now with Lo Ban's unconscious form draped across my shoulders and half-dragging on the ground. I gritted my teeth, and set out for Eagle.

It was really quite lucky that it was still early in the morning; there wasn't a soul around. Sullust was a tourist world... and tourists didn't like getting up early. Thus the majority of incoming traffic didn't usually arrive here until nearly midday; this little corner of the spaceport was blessedly quiet and free of nosy eyes and ears, and the sight of a short redhead dragging a lean and lanky jedi off to a lambda was viewed only by the few ships I passed in order to reach my own.

I finally came to where Eagle sat waiting, and managed to get Lo Ban aboard her. There I quickly laid him on her deck, while I once again called in for an emergency departure vector. I scarcely needed to; the skies were clean and clear as I took off, staying at the controls until I had left the Sullustan atmosphere and disappeared into hyperspace.

Only then did I return to Lo Ban, once again taking him carefully beneath the arms and hoisting him halfway off the deck. Now I was starting to stagger a bit; as quickly as I could, before my strength failed me, I hauled him back to the sleeping quarters where I lowered him onto the closest of the two bunks tucked away into the shadows there. Moving quickly then, I removed his outer robe, pausing in near awe again to see his lightsaber adhered to his side. I remained still a moment, my hand poised for a bit before quietly removing it and the attaching belt from him... and then his under robes.

Then I went for some water and the med-kit, and began cleaning his wound. It was ugly and blackened... but my previous assessment was justified by a further investigation. It would heal... although I'm sure for sometime it would hurt.

Suddenly his body shivered; I started, then quickly pulled the blankets up to his chin. He only shivered again, his face a bit pale. I tucked the blankets more tightly, went for another. Yet another set of tremors raked his lean body.

I smiled slowly, and removed the Sith flightsuit I was wearing. Then, clad in the silken undersuit once again, I crawled under the covers with him, snuggling against him, trying to provide him with the heat his shocked body needed, and in this manner simply waited for him to wake up, every so often brushing his cheek with my lips, certain that even in his unconscious state he would be aware of at least that.

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His hand involuntarily moved up Galen's thigh, to her side, and stopped there at the small of Galen's back...

From his semiconscious state, his eyes opened... along with this came cognition of the pain the rest of his body had been feeling during his unconsciousness...

That was good, for it meant he was healing, yet the clamp it had on his head was mind-numbing... literally, it would be some time until he'd be able to do much more but lie limply in Galen's loving embrace...

The pain was too great, as Lo Ban slipped back into the nothingness of his unconscious being...

[ 03-14-2003 03:31 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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It was too much, even for a jedi. Now I winced to feel his pain, watching as his eyes rolled back in his head and then disappeared behind his falling lids. Then I just pulled the blankets more tightly around us, and snuggled closer to him.

I wasn't about to go anywhere....

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Good, he's healing. But it's still going to take a little time; blaster burns are never fun.

Giving his sleeping lips a little kiss, I slid out of the bed and redressed myself in my flightsuit. Then I went to the navigational computer and dropped out of hyperspace, to see where in Hell's Seven Circles we now were. I smiled as the charts popped up, obliging me with a glittering golden dot to show our current spatial location relative to those systems within a twenty parsec leap in any direction.

Hmmm... not too far from Bespin, I mused, my smile broadening. What better place to recuperate than amidst the splendor of the clouds....

Nodding in satisfaction, I keyed in the coordinates, and Eagle soared off towards her new destination. I snuggled in the pilot's seat, dangling one leg, daydreaming of the time when Darra would be safe with a complete family, with me and with Lo Ban... then blinking in sudden embarrassment at the length to which my wandering thoughts had strayed.

Don't even think that, Galen! I berated myself, sitting up and taking a tighter mental and emotional grip.

Don't even go anywhere close....

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...and that she just might pop up at any given moment. So he followed Loban and Galen at a very stealthy distance...

...so stealthy, in fact, that when they reached the docking area he lost sight of them altogether. He only managed to find them again when a blaster shot caught his eye and careemed its way into Loban Kenobi’s shoulder, knocking him to the ground. He followed the arc of that energy shot back to its origin, and located the aforementioned bounty hunter...

...who then approached Galen. Jasyn reached for the blaster he had taken from the Raptor’s small arsenal, pulled it from the holster, and set it for stun...

...but never had the opportunity to use it. Galen took care of matters herself, then proceeded to take care of Loban and his needs. Jasyn moved to help her out...

...then stopped, eyeing the downed bounty hunter thoughtfully.

This bounty hunter isn’t gonna stop until she finds Galen, Jasyn thought to himself. Unless perhaps someone stops her first...or perhaps changes her mind...

His mind made up even as he saw what had to be the Eagle blasting off into the sky, Jasyn approached the hunter, scooped her up, Mandalorian armor and all, and headed back to the Azure Planetoid where he bought a room...

...thankful that no questions were asked regarding his “baggage.” When he reached the room, he simply placed the hunter on the bed, removed her helmet, and surveyed the damage. No injury was immediately obvious, so maybe she was just knocked unconscious. But then, that kick was delivered right to her throat, and not with just a little bit of force. Only time would really tell...

...and knowing he fully intended to keep a close eye on her quite a while for other reasons, Jasyn knew that time would come.

Deciding he might as well make her entirely comfortable in the meantime, Jasyn stripped the rest of her armor off all the way down to a thin navy blue bodysuit...

...which he couldn’t help but notice revealed a rather trim form. Jerking himself from that thought, Jasyn actually tucked Cartina into the bed snugly, turned out the lights, and sat in the chair next to the bed, his brown eyes drooping.

Yet he managed to keep them open, at least for the time being, just waiting for the hunter to wake up. There had been a lot of things he could have done to her in her vunerable position while the getting was good...

...but Jasyn figured the best revenge was to do the absolute last thing anyone ever expected.

[ 03-14-2003 11:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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He awoke, this time the pain tolerable enough to stay amongst the aware...

Lo Ban surveyed his immediate surroundings...

A bulkhead above...

Attempting to move his head in either direction caused waves of pain through his body, the natural warning for him not to take any advancing movement...

The haze on his mind began to fade a bit, as he recalled what had happened...

couldn't get the lightsaber in defense... must protect Galen... GALEN?!

Lo Ban shot out from underneath the safety of the blankets, his feet hitting the floor... the pain, again taking over, caused Lo Ban to hit the deck altogether...

A large thwack and sharp yelp of pain poured out of the Eagle's sleeping quarters...

[ 03-14-2003 10:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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Instinctively leaping back, sitting on her shins in the best defensive stance she could compile through the pain...

She clutched her neck, falling to the bed once more...

Something was wrong within the anterior of Cartina's neck...

[ 03-14-2003 11:56 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cartina ]

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There I found Lo Ban on his hands and knees, shaking his head as if in the attempt to clear it, clearly fighting the pain which I knew just had to be screaming through his body. I sank down on my own knees beside him, reaching a cool hand out to cup his chin and raise his face toward mine.

"It's all right, I'm right here Lo Ban," I said soothingly, running a hand down his face and staring deeply into his eyes. Then I reached out to grasp his upper arm, to try to help him back to his bunk, for from the vague look I saw in his eyes he was nowhere ready to be up and moving yet.

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To comfort Galen, against the fact it was much to the contrary...

He wanted...

Alas, the moment his head hit the pillow his eyelids seemed heavy enough to fold over twice...

So Sleepy...

[ 03-14-2003 11:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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Gently I taped a bandage over the wound, then tucked the covers around him again. By this time he was fast asleep, but-- I leaned down and kissed him lightly anyway. Then after running a hand one more time across his heated brow, I turned and went back to my place up front, ready for when the proximity sensor should begin its wailing announcement of our entering into Bespin space.

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He pursed his lips. Musta sprained or broken something...

...this is gonna take some time to heal.

At that thought he simply stood and approached the bed, glancing down into those pain-filled eyes, wondering if she was even clear enough to realize anyone was standing next to her, let alone know who it was.

He pursed his lips again, then reached out and propped her head on a couple of pillows, making sure the neck was stabalized. Then he took the hand with which she had been clutching her neck and carefully removed it, holding it for a split second then letting it fall softly by her side on the bed.

"Better stay still and keep your hands off that for a while," he said simply, turning then and heading to the nearby sink to pour a glass of water in a complimentary duraplast hotel cup. Then he returned, sticking the straw he ahhh... appropriated from a pouch in her armor in the cup and sitting down in the chair nearby the bed.

He held the cup out to her. "Thirsty?" he queried, then waited.

All the while, a little shoulder-devil couldn't help but point out that, considering the fact when this bounty hunter was holding him as her captive he couldn't get so much as a drop of water from her, this scenario was mildly humorous...

[ 03-15-2003 12:38 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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Generating a healthy sweat during his bodies fast healing, the gel partially subdued the pain...

Galen, busy at the helm, was unaware of Lo Ban's turn for the better...

Donning an under garment, and tearing another to form a makeshift sling, he gingerly made his way to the cockpit...

"Couldn't wait to get be in bed again, ey babe?" Lo Ban said, his obvious attempt to mask pain was painfully evident...

[ 03-15-2003 12:39 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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"No, I don't have an approach vector, that's what I'm requesting... and yes there is an injured person aboard the Eagle... and for the eleventy-millionth time this is the Eagle, identification code EE-284-9RJ-H224...."

I growled under my breath as the idiot at the helm of that cloud car merely repeated the obvious once again, that I was approaching Cloud City without clearance, and wasn't expected, and could I please repeat....

Growling again, I slammed the palm of my hand against the console... and nearly jumped out of my skin when the tickle of warm breath came into my ear, Lo Ban's sweet voice shortly thereafter.

I turned a sidelong glance in his direction, noting with great satisfaction that he appeared to be 200 percent better, although still obviously not completely healed. He stood staring back at me, a disarming grin on his face that set an immediate barrage of goose-pimples marching up and down my back.

I turned back to the communications section of the console in front of me.

"Not now, sweets; I'm a little on the busy side--"

Then my lips curled in a mischievous grin.

"But I wouldn't mind it once we finally make it into Cloud City-- that is, assuming that these bozos are going to let us land...."

I turned that grin up into his wonderful eyes... clearly projecting a quite different expression in my own brown pair.

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The last thing on Cartina's mind was her slightly dry tongue, she was scared to death... for all she knew, the next movement of her neck could be her last...

At that, she fell into slumber... a sleep brought on by absolute fear...

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"Galen.. what happened back there... you don't know how grateful I am that you're... safe... I wasn't... I'm sorry..." He said at length, placing his free hand on Galen's shoulder... Lo Ban couldn't look into his loves eyes any longer, his guilt built too great to overcome at that particular moment...

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Not even a jedi master has eyes everywhere...

...but somehow I didn't think he needed to hear that at the moment. I finally just turned my head and looked up to where he stood, all serious, behind me.

"I don't want you in my life just for protection, Lo Ban," I whispered softly. "I--"

Then I was interrupted as the approach vector clearance came sailing in, along with the cloud car, which now seemed to be hovering on my port wing. I gave Lo Ban the most love-filled look that I could, then turned to the business of bringing us in for a landing.

Hopefully, somewhere amidst the soft lighting and soothing pastels and soaring architecture that was this city in the clouds, we'd find a quiet little nook to talk and otherwise get to really know each other better...

...and there find the means of laying to rest the heads of any dragons which might otherwise be trying to rise, snarling, to impede our growing relationship.

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[ 03-15-2003 02:05 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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