"Quick-! Who flies this vessel?"

Saying nothing further and with no more ado I go to Galen, and swiftly lay my hand atop her face. Large as it is, it entirely encompasses her features, fingers cleanly reaching out to nerve ganglia and nexii.

"Be thou still," I command her, in the Ancient Tongue, that she knows this is no mean feat I am now attempting.

[ 12-27-2006 10:08 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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Pausing at that, Terrin then raised the wrist comm Jasyn had given him to his lips, and punched in Matt's comm frequency. "Matt, we need to get out of here," he said through the commlink. "I need you to close the hatch and be prepared, ok?"

Matt replied in the affirmative, and in short order the hatch smoothly closed.

Then, across the comm came two questions from Matt: "Where are we going, Captain? And do we have everyone on board?"

Terrin spared only a moment to respond. "Yes, everyone is accounted for," he answered. "As to where we are going...just take us up and skim the surface of the planet for now. More direction will be coming shortly."

Quieting at that, Terrin lowered the wristcomm...

...and simply waited, unsure of exactly what the Dark Lord was doing.

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"Do thou this, and hold," I command her, now taking one of her own hands and placing it in an identical position atop Matt's face. That the ship has already gained altitude and that his vision is now blocked does not concern me; there are more than one means of flying a vessel.

"Hold," I repeat sternly, then delve deeply into her mind, ripping here, sliding there, until at last I find it cowering bravely in a corner of her memories:

The Link my Chosen Son has seen fit to develop with her.

I smile, thanking all the gods that he had the foresight to do this, whenever it had been and for whatever purpose. It is but a casual thing, then, to contact him via this mental connection.

"My son, this is your Father speaking to you now. Go to the Octahedron, my boy; ask it to show the wall which must be broken, the wall behind which Shawn undoubtedly waits for us.

"Find his whereabouts, my son, that through this link you may send the information into the mind of the pilot of this ship."

To all outward appearances, it is as if I am silent and still, locked in a strange three-way embrace with the man named Matt, and the blood-sister of my own Chosen Daughter.

[ 12-27-2006 10:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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But then--

((OOC: Incoming from Silence of the Lambs in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

The mysterious greeny-goldness suddenly swimming in my vision whirled and collided, melding and molding and roiling until the image of a dark pair was lost entirely, replaced instead by that of a towering scarp face. As I watched, a bat flew forth from a tiny crack, about 1800 feet up the sheer face...

Somehow I managed to remain utterly silent, utterly still, not moving so much as a toe for fear of breaking whatever weirdness the Dark Lord was subjecting me to. For all I knew, if I did things just might become worse...

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Instead he inspected the image of the towering scarp face, and of the bat...

"That's Shawn's bat," Matt whispered, barely moving so as not to break any link. Then he puzzled over how to use this information, for certain he could not ascertain what scarp face this particular one could be in this large swamp-world. Then he realized.

The bat knows the way...

He wasn't sure if he had spoken his last thoughts aloud, but somehow he suspected that they were heard nevertheless. Instictively, Matt stanza reached for the controls of the ship...

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Over and over I send forth the call...

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It flipped, did a somersault, flew in one direction, only to find the sensation dwindling a bit. Meeping in something that would be an indignant manner had it more intelligence than it did, it rounded, casting its own sonar out in the futile attempt to home in on the warmth.

It's sonar did not work for it regarding this... but simple flight did. While the bat was no rocket scientist, it did hold a modicum of animal intelligence; it did not take it long to discover that if it remained flying in one direction, the warmth it sought not only remained, but grew stronger.

Crying out against the humid Dagoban air, the bat arrowed on, now using its sonar to avoid any unseen impediments as it headed in a veritable beeline to that particular place where the ship was, likewise, flying to meet it.

[ 12-27-2006 11:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The All ]

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My mental smile broadens, for the response is instantaneous. The mental imagery now shifts from that of the scarp, to that of the bat, and the landscape over which it is flying. I grunt, strain, but it is a pain easily borne as I now reach out to my companions.

"Does the land look familiar?" I grit out, my teeth yet clenched with the effort of maintaining all the links and the connection to the bat as well.

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We found this ship in some higher ground...

...but nothing that high, he thought, keeping an even, calm outlook. Pursing his lips, he took a closer mental look at the images being shown to him. and that is when something familar at last caught his mental eye.

Wait, the water below the nightbat...

...Jasyn and I followed water out to the higher ground where we found the ship, and the swamp-creature took Shawn into water to begin with...

Matt's thoughts trailed for a moment. Maybe the higher ground Jasyn and I found was just the beginning of an upward climb, we didn't go that far...

...and something about that water does seem familar..

[ 12-27-2006 11:50 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Matt Stanza ]

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"Then, fly it!' I grunt again, falling into silence and reaching for inner calm, that the nightbat would not be frightened away from us before we needed it's assistance no longer.

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...mostly because he really didn't have any choice. His fingers feeling for the controls, he shifted their course slightly, still flying in atmosphere, using his eyes to lead them back to where he had found the ship. Once he had done that, he simply continued to follow the line of the waters below them, keeping his eyes open, and remaining on course for quite some time before the slightest speck of something in the skies caught his eyes, aside from the fact that the land below them was indeed growing increasingly and quickly steeper, forcing him to change altitude.

After some more time, the speck became clearer, til at length it became a small flight-bound creature trailing a small piece of fabric.

Without realizing it, Matt took in a sudden, quick breath.

We're on the right course. There's the nightbat...

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"Good," I let the word out in a sigh of air as, now reaching in all directions I release everyone from the mystical bondage by which I have held them in thrall. I hear twin grunts as both humans react to their freedom; in parting, I likewise feel a sensation of relief coming from the Temple on the so very distant Khar Delba.

Letting my head roll as much as it can in the confinement of the little cockpit, for my horns indeed have a wide spread, I then lean forward to Matt.

"Can you determine the little creature's trajectory, and estimate backward to the exact place from which he left that?"

Saying no more I point one clawed finger at the forward port, which now shows us the sight of a grand and jungle-skirted mesa, one which grows steadily larger and larger as we approach it.

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But then, below was becoming higher and higher til after some length of time they arrived at a familar towering scarp face.

Matt slowed once more, analyzing the scarp before him in comparison with his mental image.

"I think this is it," he said at length, falling silent then as he finally caught sight of a tiny crack...

[ 12-28-2006 12:48 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Matt Stanza ]

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"Then that must be the wall we must break down; are we in agreement, or does anyone have another idea to offer? For I am not stating this as being an absolute fact. It is, rather, a deduction I am making in light of the message sent to us by my Son," I state solemnly, then turn round with a tight smile.

"Being a Dark Lord of the Sith does not give me the assurety of being correct in every matter of point..."

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...but aside from that being risky, I'm also not certain how effective it would be."

Furrowing his brow a bit, Terrin considered the scrape once more. "Maybe if we could just widen the gap of that crack the bat flew through to leave Shawn..."

He trailed, shrugging in frustration. "Anybody have any other ideas?"

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"I dunno," I said, yawning.

"Why don't you ask Shawn? He might come up with an idea; we've just got to be in range of his comm now, right?"

Besides, I couldn't help thinking an ominous addendum.

This will tell us if our deductions have proven themselves to be right now, won't it, if we find Shawn really is somewhere fairly close inside that rock...

But I didn't say this aloud. Hell no. No use in bringing up another wealth of "what ifs."

One worry at a time, you know...

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"Hey, Petrolu, this is Terrin. We're in a ship looking at a scarp face high in the sky with a crack in it, and we think you might be in there and are considering ways to get in without blowing you to bits. Please tell me you are getting this message, and that we haven't found our way to the wrong place."

Fallng silent at that then, Terrin lowered his arm, keeping an eye on the wrist comm expectly. Keenly aware of Galen's weariness, however, He wrapped the other arm about her supportively...

...and then gave himself over to simply waiting, and hopefully for not very long...

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"I read you loud and clear, Terrin," Shawn then replied. "As for the crack you are looking at...

...that must still be somewhat ahead of me and perhaps somewhat above me as well, cause I don't see any light ere, and a crack that opens to the outside would do that."

He paused a moment then, thinking. "If I could find the crack somehow, I might be able to Force-push and levitate any fallig debris while you blast and keep it from coming inward."

He chewed his lip a bit. "I've been cutting my way up through the rock with my lightsaber to higher levels; I wonder how high up I am now, and how close I am to the outside..."

He trailed, realizing something. "Your Force-signatures will provide the clue on that, I think. Can you fly to the crack, just as close as you can get? I can't sense something nonsentient and unfamilar, but the closer I get to your essence, the stronger it will be in my Force-senses."

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Terrin responded to Shawn then. "It's done," he stated simply, succintly. "Track away."

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...please let me know."

Falling silent with that then, Shawn stretched out with the Force, once more making himself a simple part of it, feeling all the life which surrounded him in all its complexity and greatness...

...and in turn seeking out a single essence from within the pool. Finding it after some time, Shawn locked on to it mentally, now using something far more than his eyes to then begin his travels through the cave again. Not even igniting his lightsaber...

...for that alone might break his concentration...

...Shawn simply moved onward, his movements now controlled by the Force as much as he controlled the Force in turn to lead him out.

And only the Force knew how long this would indeed take...

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Nothing untoward presented itself immediately, but then he heard it.

The sound of flowing water, as he had heard before...

...but then, there was something else. The sound of something crumbling...falling...?

Shawn frowned then, the warning sensation not diminishing. He raised the wristcomm to his lips. "Ummm, guys, I might have a problem here. The Force is telling me that something is amiss, and I keep hearing the sound of flowing water, and have been for a while. But now I'm hearing something that sounds like falling rock..."

He trailed, his frown growing. "Some cave roof or wall may very well be collapsing nearby..."

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...and prevent any sort of disaster in the process. Unable to think of anything extremely profound, he decided to go for something more practical, although somewhat out of the realm of his expertise. He was not, after all, any sort of pilot, and knew only a little about any ship's systems.

"If we're so close to this cave of Shawn's, could we somehow use the ship's sensor array to at least access the terrain?" He paused, pursing his lips. "Maybe we could fly in from somewhere and then scan the area? I mean, if we know Shawn says he hears water flowing, and falling rock. Maybe if we could at least get some sort of an idea what is in there," he continued, nodding towards the large scrap before them, "We might be able to figure out where Shawn is better."

Quieting at that, Jasyn waited to see if anyone could make sense of what he was thinking.

[ 01-01-2007 04:38 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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"Hmmm..." I pondered aloud, frowning. "This is a freighter; I'm not certain what level of scanners it would have on it..."

Saying no more I turned from the others and went to join Matt. Smiling as brightly as I could manage under the circumstances, I shrugged in apology and began to scrutinize the features the ship's bridge offerred. I could feel the query in Matt's eyes on the back of my head, but bless his heart he kept to the task at hand, which I'm sure my proximity to him didn't help make any better.

"I'll be out of your way in a-- there!"

All apologies aside, I shouldered my way into the seat next to him and began fiddling with some controls.

"They're not the most sophisticated of scanners, but they should serve the purpose..."

Muttering under my breath then I let my fingers play around a bit, deja vu-ing back to the days when I would perform just such an act for Dad in his quest for buried xeno-archeological finds. Granted our scanners were tons better than the ones this antiquated vessel sported, but from past experience I knew that these would be able to do the job required of them.

And they did.

After much manipulation of dials and levers, some numerals began to scroll across a little screen set in the console in front of me. I sat back with a scowl, and puffed out my cheeks.

"Well, he's in there... or at least somebody who's humanoid is."

I turned round to face the others.

"About another 850 feet lower than us...

"...and in about six and a half kilometers..."

[ 01-02-2007 12:18 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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...and there is water below us. And, obviously, he got where he got via the water. I'm wondering if he would have more success working his way towards the water, and not necessarily towards us. After all, we know that the water leads out...

...and, if we could give him some direction on which way to go based on the readings the scanners have given us, he might have a better foothold on which course to take to get out."

[ 01-02-2007 12:35 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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I puffed out my cheeks again and ran a quick hand through my hair, as if by the gesture I might somehow kick my brain into a higher gear and come up with something. Unfortunately, all it came up with was cold fact, and that based on my personal experience.

"Dad and I poked around in many a cave system," I went on, turning in my seat now to regard Terrin solemnly.

"If Shawn is hearing water, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to lead him to that same water where the dragonsnake grabbed him to begin with. Well okay, lemme amend that."

I paused a trifle, trying to marshall my thoughts.

"If Shawn is hearing water, it means the cave system is a live one, still growing. And you may therefore substitute the term eroding for growing."

Terrin only gave me a blank look. I let a slight flicker of a grin light upon my lips, then went on.

"Caves form from water, for the most part. I mean, there's other things involved, but to put it generally the water seeps into cracks and crannies and hollows them out. So yeah, while the water that he's hearing more than likely is connected to the main body of water at the base of this big ol mesa thing we're hovering in front of--"

I waved my hand toward the forward port.

"--there's probably miles and miles of connecting passageways and so on where the water flows. I could try to generate a layout of the interior, but that's going to take some time."

[ 01-02-2007 12:50 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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