Frowning at this thought, Terrin fell silent, pondering wondering for all the Universe just what they could do, other than just simply sit and wait while Shawn linked up wit the Force tracked signatures.

Hmmm...tracking Force signatures, and linking...

"Hey wait, can you link with Shawn in the way that you did just a few minutes ago with Galen, Matt and Aeylmaar?" Terrin queried, turning to cast a questioning gaze Lord Aelvedaar's way. "I mean, I thought you did when we were all hidden in Prinn'chatka and planning things against Roan, anyway."

[ 01-02-2007 01:09 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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I nod slowly.

"Yes, I can activate that Link once again," I state solemnly, giving Terrin a steady look.

"But to what purpose? We know where he is--"

My words are truncated as an idea flashes into my head. Now I smile, beginning to forgive myself my earlier oversight as I turn now to Terrin's wife.

"Did you not say you could generate a map of the interior of this cave system? Perhaps if linked to Shawn, and thus able to view his passage through his own eyes, then with such a map to guide from an outside point of view, the two viewpoints might merge to where the jedi might be successfully led out of the predicament he appears to have gotten himself into."

[ 01-02-2007 01:19 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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A plan. We finally had a plan! And one that appeared viable to boot.

"I'm on it, Your Lordship!" I quipped as I turned back to the console, bumping into the still silent Matt in the process.

"'Scuse me," I murmured as my hands began racing across the dials and buttons that controlled the scanner once again.

"If you could keep 'er steady, I should be able to come up with a map of the interior in fairly short order. Shouldn't take more than an hour or so; somebody might want to inform Shawn..."

I let my voice trail then as I bent to the task, all thought of anyone or anything else flung from my head as I worked.

--------------------

"Hey Petrolu, stop and take a breather," he began with. "We've been putting our brains together here, and we're working on generating a map of the caves via the ship's sensor array," he explained. "Once we've got it, Lord Aelvedaar--who incidentally is along with us and has gotten us this far--is going to open a Link with you and 'steer' you based on what he 'sees' through your eyes compared with the map that we get. So hang tight; the map will take about a standard hour."

After sending off the message then, Terrin only had to wait a few moments before receiving an affirmative from Shawn. Finding himself short on anything else to do now that this was accomplished, Terrin then spoke up once more. "You know, while we wait, I seem to recall some folks saying they were feeling a bit hungry," he commented, getting to his feet, "Can't do much else while we're waiting for this map, so I think I'm going to visit the galley and get some food to bring back here."

--------------------

Nope. Not on my watch!

So the murmurs of the others, and the soft clink of tableware were both easily ignored as I went about my task; the smells of the food they'd prepared was a different matter however.

In a little bit, Galen ol' gal! I gritted to my stomach as, contrary beastie that it was, it rose up in a series of loud complaints.

Almost done, almost--

"Ta-da!" I announced brightly, blowing away a tendril of hair that had fallen into my face.

"Here it is!"

I gestured toward the intricate maze which now appeared on the screen, color coded as to depth, tiny numerals runnng alongside each spidery tracing which gave the dimensions of each passageway.

It looked like leftover duraglass after a fighter had crashed landed: yet intact, but nothing more than a webwork of lines going off in all directions.

I blinked; I was alone with my handiwork.

"Umm-- guys?" I called out, rising to my feet.

[ 01-10-2007 03:56 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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That's what happens to a guy who is served by the Sith and has been the lazy Captain of a ship who always takes his meals in the nearby mess hall, came the errant thought.

So he rummaged around, for quite some length of time as others joined him...

...til after a quite some time he heard Galen's call.

Grabbing a plate, and piling it high with whatever was fixed, hoping it was at least palatable, he headed back to the cabin.

"This is for you," he said to Galen, holding out the plate a bit. Then, his eyes wandering to the screen of twists and turns and mazes, he finished with, "Oh hell, is that the map?" he asked unnecessarily, already knowing the answer. "Is there a way out of there?"

[ 01-10-2007 07:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Hmmm. What in blazes was this thing? Not bad though; kinda like a chewy grapplefruit...

--and gestured toward the screen with the fruit.

"Yeah, I think there is..." I trailed, then shoved the fruit into my mouth, holding it with my teeth to free both hands.

Then I started playing with the maze, seeing if there was a way out of there that would prove large enough for a human to traverse.

--------------------

...two years? Three years...? More than that?

Still, what once was "old hat" came back to him rather easily; ever the pilot of smaller ships and salesman that he was, he couldn't help but check out the specs on the frieghter they were now using. Nor could he ignore the rising memories of days seemingly long gone but near and dear at the same time.

Aboard the Eagle after blasting out of Ambria...

Shaking himself from these thoughts with some effort, Terrin refocused on the task he'd taken over...

...and began looking at the map himself, making a suggestion here or there.

[ 01-10-2007 09:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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...but then something happened. For while he felt peace, through his link with the Force Shawn could at some level sense everything which existed in the Force: other beings, other emotions, love and hate, life and death...

A shock wave of something from somewhere radiated through the Force for an instant, sending a tingling up his spine that then dissapated, bringing in its wake the silent scream of souls in shock, souls which were then silenced for eternity to then merge once more with the Force. For that brief moment, a Darkness rang out...

...but after that moment, it was simply gone. As were the souls screaming in terror.

Shawn's eyes snapped open in shock. Not knowing anything other than the emotions he had felt through his meditation, however, Shawn could not place the Darkness and certainly didn't know what happened. All he knew was that something terrible had happened.

Trying to unnerve himself, Shawn then raised his comm to his lips, and opened the frequency upon which he and Terrin had been communicating. "How is your progress on the map?" he then opened with, simply enough. Then, the event which had rocketed him still gnawing at his mind, he continued with, "Is everyone doing allright? I've just gotten the sense that something terrible has happened, somewhere...

...and that many lives have suddenly been lost."

--------------------

...or the assistance of something other. Deep within, the Force stirred in his mind, sending a red alert that something was entirely wrong with his situation, and with something greater than just that. Slowly, ever so slowly, his mind, seasoned in training in Force use from his youth, began to stir under its insistent prodding.

Wake up. Wake up! it seemed to yell into his psyche.

And at last, he did just that. Squinting his still-heavy eyelids as if to quiet his now stirring thoughts, Erik Kartan opened both eyes...

...to discover he could hardly move a muscle, for he was encased in tree branch.

Completely. In fact, he couldn't see through the tree branches to ascertain where he was, so well had he been wrapped in them. He couldn't move his arms, his hands, or his feet, either. The branches were effectively wrapped around all four limbs, rendering him completely immobile, stretching them out uncomfortably and confining him there. And he was still too drowsy from whatever Shayla had done to him to even try to work his way free...

Shayla...

Although he didn't know for certain, somehow he knew, his heart aching, that she was the one who had done this to him. Still, he couldn't resist the urge to stretch out and see if she was somewhere nearby, even at the risk of discovering something that he perhaps just didn't want to know.

But his Force link to her was blocked.

Emotional pain slammed against him then, causing him to groan, urging him to fight this.

No, no, no! Not again, not like Khar Delba! He couldn't let this happen again, he couldn't. She had to know he would come after her, or else she wouldn't have left him like this...

...but...why?

Struggling against the branches wound taut around his body then, Erik stretched out to the Force, seeking to telekenetically move the branches away...

...but then, telekenetics had never been his forte, and he used the Force so rarely that he'd grown unpracticed. That fact, along with his current drowsiness, made his efforts futile. Still, he struggled physically for a few minutes longer, trying anything to free himself. But the telekenetics Shayla had no doubt used to set him in his current predicament were too skillful; she had cacooned him so tightly he could not free himself. Not alone. And most certainly not in his current state.

At length giving up on struggling at that particular moment, Erik let his muscles relax, at least as much as he could. And it was in that moment he remembered that he hadn't come here alone...

...and that he remembered just what he had done to those who had come with him.

You fool, he chastised himself. You should have listened. And now you've quite possibly shot down your only chance of getting out of this and getting to her.

Unless...

Stretching out with the Force then, he let his personal pain and distress overflow like a river, seeking to draw the attention of any sentient life still out there for as long as he could.

Help me, please, Help me. I've got to get out of here...

Over and over he sent this SOS out through the Force, until finally, his body, still drowsy, could take no more of the physical and emotional stress it was under, and he fell into a restless slumber.

[ 01-12-2007 11:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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Must be boring as hell in there, and a bit uncomfortable, too, I reasoned to myself as the squawk pressed me to hurry.

I mean, being stuck in a rock maze beneath who in all the known universe knows how many feet of rock, with the continued threat of that dragonsnake...

My eyes widened as that pretty little thought crawled evilly through my mind.

"Hell's Seven Circles," I muttered as I manipulated the computer again, giving it a set of parameters a bit more general to work with. Oh yeah, Shawn might have to be sucking it in to get through some of the corridors I'd spotted, but--

"Was that Shawn?" I asked without removing my eyes from the map or my fingers from the board.

"Tell him to use a bit of that famous Jedi patience; I'm working as fast as I can here..."

[ 01-14-2007 01:16 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Raising his comm to his lips, he then formulated a reply. "Look, Shawn, hang in there, we're working on it as quickly as possible. Sit tight while you can; you'll be very busy shortly."

Sending the message off, Terrin pursed his lips as he looked at the map once more...

...then turned back towards the aft of the ship. "Hey guys, could you give us a hand with this?" he called out. "We're getting there, but the more heads we have, the sooner we can start getting our buddy out of his current predicament..."

[ 01-14-2007 04:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Not really," I snorted, backing from the boards just long enough to gesture at it with both hands.

"There are plenty of passageways large enough for him to crawl out to somewhere; it's just the where and which that I'm now letting the computer handle for me."

I paused a moment, then turned back to work.

"Trust me," I muttered, settling back to wait while the computer digested all the information I had given it in order to spit back the best suggested route that Shawn might possibly take.

--------------------

Turning a moment to eye the navboard then, he tweaked a control or two, making certain the ship remained steady before returning his gaze to her. "Still, circumstances notwithstanding, it's good to get a few minutes of quiet...

...and I'm certain it beats being down in a dark hole," he added, patting her hand a bit. "You need anything else?" he asked then, falling silent, arching a brow.

--------------------

...and that was when an intentional, unspoken but clearly felt distress call registered in Shawn's senses. Frowning a bit, his eyes closed once more, he stretched out to examine that call, for it felt vibrant enough that its source had to be nearby. As he traced the sensation back to its source...

...recognition came.

Shawn sent his own mental vibrations back out along that Force call towards the familar essence.

Erik, I hear you.

Pausing then, Shawn sensed outward further for others that were familar to him, particularly his sister or Graysith. He didn't sense either.

We'll get to you as soon as we can, he thought Erik's way, then opening a channel back to Terrin's comm, otherwise remaining unmoving and keeping his senses trained on Erik. "I've got contact with Erik," he commented. "And I think he's alone, possibly in some sort of trouble or trapped as well."

--------------------

"Nah," I said offhandedly, waving toward the computer.

"This thing has all the information it needs; it shouldn't take long before it lets us know--"

My words were interrupted as the computer cleared its electronic throat and pinged at me. Simultaneously, the screen flickered, then settled into the view of the cavern system once again, only a particular portion was now glowing in a brilliant and eye-catching red. My smile broadened, and I leaned forward to tap the image, letting my finger then run along the line delineated by the computer.

"There ya go!" I chirped cheerily as my finger came to an abrupt ending of a line, indicating the actual terminus of the passageway. I shot Terrin a satisfied grin, then returned to the map.

"He's only got to follow the line the computer has projected here; if we can link him through Lord Aelvedaar again so he can describe what he sees, we can direct him when to turn and how many paces he should travel and all that kind of thing."

Still beaming, I turned back to the map... looked at it a touch more closely.

My grin fell off my face and landed on the deck, dragging my jaw open in the process of its departure.

"Oh Hell's Seven Circles, he's got to wind around and around and up and down; do you see these little numbers here? They tell how deep the passages are; not only is he going to have to be connecting with passageways at all kinds of different levels, but the distance he's got to travel--"

I turned an incredulous stare into Terrin's blue eyes.

"Terrin, it's nearly forty-three klicks!"

Silence thudded all around us, a silence I began to break with a murmured, "Well, at least he'll get out," when Terrin's wrist comm started beeping at him again.

I knew who it was; who it had to be. I slumped back in my seat, food now forgotten, and just let Terrin handle whatever it was Shawn had to say...

...not to mention letting him be the Judas goat in passing along my wonderful news.

[ 01-16-2007 10:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"Can you tell if he's in any severe danger, Shawn?" Terrin asked. "You are probably the only one here who has a link with him of any sort, so we'll probably need to get you out of your current entrapment first. And regarding that..."

Terrin trailed a moment, filling Shawn in on the details of his upcoming hike through the Caves of Degobah...

...distances, twists, and turns included.

Leaving the commlink open to receive any incoming message after sending his off to Shawn, Terrin turned back towards the aft of the ship once more, "Galen's got a map generated with an escape route for Shawn," he announced, falling silent and waiting.

--------------------

...but something is going on, on a larger scale than our problems, I'm afraid."

Pausing then, he frowned a bit. "As for Erik, I don't sense anyone immediately near him who is familar to me, but then I could be blocked. Still, even though he seems distressed, I don't sense him projecting any immediate danger. I think if he was in any he would let me know. I do have a link with him, and between Lord Aelvedaar and myself, should be able to find him. This will, of course, be a much simpler task once I am out of my current situation, as much as I dislike putting him off."

Rising to his feet, his senses keenly attuned to all that surrounded him still, Shawn finished with, "Lord Aelvedaar is going to guide me through this labrinyth I find myself in?"

[ 01-20-2007 09:55 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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"Hey, guys? Lord Aelvedaar? The maps and Shawn are ready..." he called, looking marginally over his back as he continued to man the controls. Then he turned to Galen, arching one brow slightly. "Think anybody back there hears anything that is going on up here? Maybe someone ought to go aft and give them a heads up."

He paused. "Want to take over here?"

--------------------

I let my eyes close, my consciousness drift. These things take time... and these people must learn patience...

--------------------

"Sure," I said, now rolling my head around. For gads, but a body can develop a heckuva little knot, right at the base of the neck, if one sits too long at a computer console.

But piloting a ship... well baby, that's an entirely different animal. Nothing feels better than that of controls in one's hands.

"No problem," I said as Terrin moved away. Then I quickly took his place, grasping the controls so smoothly that the ship didn't boggle even once. A quick flick of a switch, and a portion of the viewscreen cleared to show a realtime forward scene.

Sighing happily then, I wriggled my butt more deeply into the pilot's chair and kept the ship headed in the direction it was going, arrowed straight out thataway.

Wherever in Hell's Seven Circles that was!

[ 01-29-2007 04:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Matt shrugged fractionally. "What he did back there between Galen and Aeylmaar was quite a feat."

Terrin nodded, understanding Matt's underlying meaning. "So I suppose we wait...

...but hopefully not too long. Shawn says he's gotten contact with Erik Kartan, and that he is trapped somewhere as well. Looks like we'll have to track him down as well."

--------------------

"Yes," she affirmed softly, recalling the few times she had touched upon that awesome inborn ability she had.

"Using this... power takes a great deal from one. I would imagine Lord Aelvedaar would need a bit more time to recoup his strength to continue helping you in the manner he is."

She paused a moment, raising the cup of tea to her nose to bask in the scent and warmth it sent out. The aroma was fragrant, the heat a welcomed touch within her hands; she took a sip, thinking.

"What type of sensors does this ship carry?" she suddenly asked, looking up at Terrin and cocking her head.

"Do you think they could find Erik? After all, father, there aren't that many humans on this planet."

Quieting, a touch concerned that she might have overstepped her bounds, she took another sip of tea then continued to stare thoughtfully into the depths of the cup she held between her hands.

--------------------

After all, they were part of our strategy for finding Shawn, although we had to be pretty close. We could at least use the sensor array to determine if someone is anywhere in our scopes other than Shawn at our current location...

...and if not, then wait for Shawn to get out of these caverns so that he can bring us close enough to his brother-in-law to get a better sensor sweep."

Terrin pursed his lips. "Good thinking," he said Darra's way, "I think I'll go see if we can find out anything."

Turning then, Terrin began to take a step towards the cabin once more then paused, turning half-way back around. "Would you like to come help?" he queried, arching a brow Darra's way, sensing an opportunity for her to learn something that perhaps may help her feel more included in their current venture.

--------------------

"Yes, thank you," she said simply, setting her tea carefully upon a nearby console before rising gracefully to her feet. There she simply stood, smiling a bit tentatively, waiting for her adoptive father to take the lead.

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