"Just remember, if I die I expect to be buried with some Sith brandy."

Waiting for no further comments or assistance then, Jasyn proceeded back out to the mess of vines, ignoring the cocked brows as he walked by. Pausing in front of the vine mass, he raised the spear, hesitated, and frowned.

Prayed for the first time in his life to whatever gods might hear him. "You might want to back up," he called back to whomever was there. "If this thing is booby-trapped with Sith magick, who the hell knows what might happen."

Then, stating nothing further, he paused a final moment to say one more urgently delivered prayer...

...and touched the spear to the vine, beginning to use it to cut through the cleverly spun prison.

"Well, I'm not dead yet..." he commented, cotinuing to work his way through very thick, dense vines.

"Hang in there, Kartan," he said. "We're working on it..."

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

It was worse than hunting for a needle in a haystack, or at least that's what it looked like to me.

"Ahh... hey, Jas," I called out as with a quick flick I opened up the ship's outer speaker.

"Looks like all that growth is just... woven together somehow. Take a good look; is it actually attached together, or just woven?"

I then sat back to wait for him to figure out how best get a reply back to me.

[ 03-06-2007 09:43 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"I think it's just woven together," he said out loud, pursing his lips. Turning a bit to then cock a brow Terrin's way, he continued with, "I wonder what she's thinking?"

Even as he finished this final query, Jasyn began working through more of the vines with the spear again.

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

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

"Well-ll... I dunno if this would work or not, but is there any way that it could be unraveled?"

I paused, trying to figure out a way to cement what was floating around in my head.

"Like a house of cards; you pull the right one, it collapses. A tapestry: you pull the right thread, it starts to unravel.

"Like that."

I flipped the speaker back to receive and plopped back in my seat, blowing away a stray tendril of hair that had fallen into my eyes, frowning to myself all the while. For sure as there's Treasure on Roon that idea sounded goofier by the minute.

[ 03-06-2007 10:12 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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He quieted for a moment then, actually stepping around the prison of vines a bit, considering. Then he paused again and cupped his hand over his mouth for before saying anything further. "It's too bad this can't be cracked open like an egg or something. I mean, if we had the ending point and began working through it from its weakest location by pulling, cutting, or both..."

He frowned again. "I don't know."

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

Cracking an egg...

Again I took a moment's pause before flicking the speakers to send once more. Something about the gesture didn't seem quite right, quite natural; a quick glance at my hands confirmed it.

They were shaking.

"Ahh--" I began, floundering. Then I gave myself a mental shake and forced myself to continue.

"I know this sounds risky, and it is, it's terribly risky, but...

I paused, took a breath, and finished in a final burst of words.

"I could bring the ship there, gently nestle it down just enough... ya think that might crack all the branches and free Erik?

"I could hover there until you pull him out..."

[ 03-06-2007 10:30 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Terrin paused a moment, thinking. "Hang on a second, Galen, I am going to ask Erik something. As risky as this is this may be our best shot to getting him out of here in a reasonable amount of time...

...and I want him to be aware of what we plan, and contribute anything he can to it to protect himself as well. I'll be back with you in just a couple of minutes."

Sending off the message at that, Terrin headed over to the vine prison, getting close to it.

"Hey, Erik, it's Terrin Danner. We've got an idea, but it's a risky one," he opened with, then explaining exactly what Galen was thinking. "I'm wondering if you are bound in there, and if you can move around at all. And I'm also wondering if there is any way you have to protect yourself while we try this," he added, waiting then for Erik to respond.

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"I am bound by the vines," he responded, the weariness apparent in his voice. "I'm competely stretched out, immobile. I can try and shield myself with the Force some...

...but I don't know how much. Tell Galen to do it. I've got to get out of here..."

He trailed then, closing his eyes and stretching out to the Force as best as he could...

...and simply waited.

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

Quieting for a moment then, Terrin bit his lower lip. "Kartan is going to try to shield himself with the Force. He says you should go ahead and do it. Jasyn, Matt and I will stand ready to help him get out as soon as we can. I don't see that we have any other realistic options than this."

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To tell the truth, if I let myself think about it, actually THINK about it, I'd run crying into the hills. This was risky, too dangerous, wasn't gonna happen...

I gripped the controls as if they were twin feathers in my hands. The engines thrummed, braking thrusters coming online to push outward, impacting the ground beneath the ship as she rose mere tens of meters into the sky.

Let me do this, oh Khaandon, let this happen, don't let the thrusters fry Erik.

Gently, tentatively, I let the ship creep closer, inch by unnerving inch. Peripheral vision revealed the tips of the giant gnarltrees tiptoeing by the side ports; I gritted my teeth and ignored them, for they only served to remind me how dangerously close to the ground I was.

Just follow the horizon, Galen ol' gal; keep it steady, don't think of what's beneath, just hit the right altitude...

Carefully then, slewing the ship about it's Z-axis so to prevent the thrusters from igniting the same pile of wood I was trying to crack, I moved tons of durasteel and glass and polymers with the occasional bit of flesh tucked in here and there to the appropriate spot.

I let it hover, hoping that the others had managed to escape the blast of incoming energies--

It takes something to make a ship hover, after all.

--and then inched it downward the barest of millimeters. There I let it stay, waiting until someone would come online and tell me if I had been successful, or if Erik was so much crispy bug-splat now.

[ 03-10-2007 12:49 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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...and that he somehow could get to Shayla before it was all too late. After all, it had nearly been too late the last time, on Khar Delba...

...and this time it, when he knew better than to linger, he had been held up yet again. The very idea of losing her was unbearable within itself. He closed his eyes, and the pressure the ship was creating as it came down upon his prison became increasingly obvious. Erik gritted his teeth a bit, so as not to cry out and alarm anyone outside the prison unnecessarily. But he was stretched out so tight, and what he suspected might happen was fairly unavoidable.

And that's when he heard something crack. Or rather, he heard a few somethings crack inside.

Now he couldn't stop himself. A cry escaped his lips, and a resultant set of sharp pains shot from his rib cage and his side. The universe went immediately black...

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

The vine prison suddenly snapped loudly, and a cry of utter pain could be heard. But in that moment, the created prison quite nearly did crack on both sides, and for the first time, Terrin could see the human body yet tangled within.

Terrin raised his comm to his lips, quickly dialing in the frequency. "Galen, you can pull up a bit," he started, "I think we can get to him now, sweetheart."

Sending the message off then, Terrin waited til the ship and its thrusters were enough out of the way that he and the guys could get safely underneath. Motioning Matt and Jasyn to follow, he stepped through the tangled vines, getting scraped here or there despite any efforts to avoid them. As he got to Kartan, he heard shallow, raspy breathing.

Not the greatest sign, but a good one that he was breathing at all.

Terrin opnened the comm frequency again, feeling that it was important to let Galen know this. "He's injured, but definitely breathing and alive," he let her know. "He's wound up still, but we can cut him free now. You did it."

Once that message was off, Terrin nodded towards Jasyn, who still held the Warrior's spear, and then towards Kartan. As Jasyn worked, he and Matt took up careful positions to alleviate any added stress to Erik's body, for it was so tightly caught up that he'd ended up hanging precariously after the vine prison had cracked. Vines were tightly woven around his arms, legs, and torso. While it did take quite some time, especially considering that Jasyn had to take great care, at length Erik was finally free enough to be moved from the vines.

"We've got him free," Terrin announced across to commlink in relief. "We're moving him and getting him to the ship now..."

...carefully, came a final mental addendum as Terrin once more took note of just how shallow Erik's breathing was.

"We're going to have to take care," he then indicated probably unnecessarily to the others. "I think he's got at least a cracked rib or two, and maybe a broken arm," he said, noting how one was hanging a bit strangely.

As they all surrounded Erik's peron then and began to lift him and move him towards the ship's now yawning hatch, Terrin mentally thanked the gods that Kartan really wasn't that big of a guy...

[ 03-10-2007 01:07 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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...along with continual, marked, sharp stabbing pains radiating through his chest and up and down his right side. He was laid down on something, with seeming great care, but still the impact of being put down at all caused an increase in the radiating pain. Erik gasped a bit then groaned as another pain shot through him, and his eyes fluttereed open. At first they only registered bright light, but slowly adjusted to pick up the images of a familiar face or two:

Terrin Danner and one of his employees. Someone else stepped in and put a glass of something cold and wet to his lips, allowing him to take a good drink before removing it.

"Thank you," he whispered softly, his brown eyes shifting between all those he now saw present: Danner, Jasyn Lancaster, Matt Stanza, and JhinDarra. He closed his eyes for a moment as more pain radiated outward. "Tell Galen...thank you," he managed then, noting that taking shorter, quicker breaths seemed to lessen the pain, but only slightly.

He remained as he was for a few moments then, mentally assessing what was hurting and keenly aware of the probable reasons why...

...but unable to escape the one huge question which had been bothering him all the time since he'd been left in that prison, seemingly to die there:

...Why...?

He couldn't help but come to the question which followed then. He had to know. Opening his eyes, he looked directly at Terrin Danner, the pain radiating from his eyes due to something much deeper than the injuries he had sustained.

"Terrin," he began softly, his voice softening futher to a whisper, "Where's Shayla...?"

[ 03-10-2007 04:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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"Shayla's not here, pal," he then said. "We haven't any idea where either she or Graysith are."

Quieting at that, Terrin didn't say anything else for a few long moments, noting to himself that there was no way in Hells Seven Circles, as Galen so frequently said, that he was going to let Kartan know Shayla was burned and injured the last he saw her. "Please, try to get some rest. You've been through quite a lot, and Shawn is trapped here, in some caves. We've been trying to get to him for a while, but JhinDarra ran some scans and we picked up your signature thanks to her efforts," he then indicated. "You really need to take it easy for now," he reiterated.

Then he glanced back to where Jasyn, Matt, and Darra stood. "Hey, someone see if there is some tape onboard this ship to wrap him up, he's obviously got some broken ribs. And we need a splint for his arm too; seems to be giving him some pain as well. Someone should go back towards the galley and see if Lord Aelvedaar is done meditating and perhaps can lend a hand here...

...and also head to the cabin and let Galen know we're all on board so she can take us back to the scarp face where Shawn is, so we can get him out of there. I'm liking this planet less and less..."

[ 03-10-2007 04:17 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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He hesitated.

Gods, but he hated to be the one to break the Dark Lord's solace...

Clearing his throat, Jasyn finally broke the silence, at first hesitantly. "Excuse me, Lord Aelvedaar, ahhh... sir," he began, "We've recovered Erik Kartan, and he's pretty seriously wounded. We were hoping you could help him out. He's got several broken ribs, and maybe a broken arm, and seems to be breathing shallow..."

He trailed, thinking he had seen the Dark Lord move slightly.

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

"Sith magicks are not something I well understand, but I do know they require great skill and concentration to utilize," she piped up, sipping then upon a drink she held in one hand. "Not to mention the odd power he wields, as does my aunt.

"Both cause a great strain on the user; Lord Aelvedaar has been connecting minds across the vastness of space and time to help us rescue Snawn; I wouldn't bother him now with something as minor as a few broken ribs," she asserted, then fell into her more customary meek silence.

[ 03-20-2007 10:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by JhinDarra ]

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He paused, frowning a bit to himself. "I suppose we'll do the best we can in the meantime."

Heading off then, Jasyn headed off to find the medkit, knowing that bandages and so forth would most likely be there. After a bit of rummaging about, he finally found what he was looking for, and headed back to where Kartan was, getting to work with the supplies he had found, being as careful as he could.

In only a few minutes he was satisfied that the wounds were taken sufficient care of. The medkit even supplied some painkillers to make Kartan's ride a little more bearable while they travelled.

Once he was finished, Jasyn turned to Terrin, who had remained for the time being.

"Guess we can get going now," he said. "Shawn would want to know we've found his brother-in-law too, I'd suspect, and I tend to agree with you. I don't care to stay here any longer than necessary either."

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

She shook her head, wondering for the first time if she would ever fit into the world of humans, for it wasn't until that exact moment that she realized that, with the exception of her aunt, all those she had ever known had been Sith.

She sighed then and tiptoed out of the galley, keeping as still as a mouse so as not to interrupt Lord Aelvedaar. She remained as silent once away from his presence, and soon moved off like a shadow to see if she could find the Sith warrior.

For some reason, she wanted to be removed from human company for a little while...

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

...but it was there. After loosening him just a bit, Terrin finally stood. "I think I'll head to the cabin. I'm certain you can keep an eye on things here in the meantime; just don't let him move about too much," he said, looking Erik's way. "Get some rest."

Without further ado then, Terrin headed out, passing through the galley and then back into the cabin, where Galen was intently keeping an eye on the controls. "Kartan is wrapped up and resting as comfortably as possible," he opened with. "He looks like he's got some broken bones, but he's been talking..."

He trailed a moment, sighing. "...and asking about Shayla. I do not want to tell him how we saw her last," he admitted. "But thank the gods you have the piloting skills you do, or he might be still stuck in that mess. I wonder who did that to him?" he queried, frowning a bit. "Someone certainly didn't want him out easily, that's a fact."

Pausing again, he pursed his lips a bit. "Anyway, I think we can get going now. I really don't think, given the state he was left in, we want to run into anyone else in this area right now."

[ 03-20-2007 11:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"I can think of a couple possibilities as to how Erik got wrapped up how he had, no pun intended!" I growled as I flipped a couple of switches on the navboard in front of me. The view outside changed slowly then, as the ship slowly rose skyward, leaving this particular little boggy splotch on fhe face of an even boggier planet far below.

"Shayla was hell-bent to get to Sissypoop's body, obviously. I would hazard a guess that dear ol' Jharmeen is behind this. She's the only one I can think of with the power to wrap someone up in greenery that way, unless..."

I turned in my seat to face Terrin. Shot him a look of pure concern.

"Unless it's that Master guy, whatsisname. As I recall, he had that same weird power Jharmeen has, and didn't hesitate to use it, remember?"

I clamped my lips together with a little growl, returned to the controls.

"I think we'd better get Shawn out of his predicament as fast as we can; something tells me all isn't skittles and beans around here, and we need all our peeps with us and out of here pronto!"

I shoved the thruster controls full-force, and the ship shot off like a rocket, returning to the same course as it had been following before we had sidetracked, heading to the rock scarp behind which we had found Shawn's life signature.

"Unless it's Lord Aelvedaar, but that doesn't make any sense..." I growled a further addendum under my breath, the words soft and low but not so low as to not be overheard by anybody who happened to be lingering close by.

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

Screaming individuals, of all races, a looming Darkness...

...and white spiders.

Slowly, Shawn opened his eyes as a strange chill swept over him...

...and something within that existence of the Force began speaking to him, almost calling to him. Knowing the tales of the planet from the days of Yoda, Shawn began to wonder if there was something about the planet that called to the old Jedi Master as well.

Without really thinking about it, Shawn stood, sensing outward,sensing the continuing call even as he did so...

[ 03-31-2007 09:23 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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He trailed, his frown deepening slightly, "I think."

Then he shifted his line of thinking altogether. "I'm sure it will take some time yet before we can get Shawn out of those caves," he considered. "I hope there's nothing like what we ran into back when we lost Panthar nearby him. After all, between that and white spiders...."

Trailing at that, Terrin continued to frown, not liking the place his thoughts were going in the least.

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

If it hadn't been for his goggles, which helped him land amongst the trees, he and the food would be gone.

What would have followed was nipped dramatically in the bud as an indicator began to holler for attention on the control panel in front of me. I about leapt out of my seat; it wasn't just any ol proximity sensor going off but...

"Terrin, I'm getting a distess signal!"

I shot him a look of pure astonishment, for this was absolutely the last thing I expected to find on this backwater world. I blinked, shook myself together, attended to the panel to see if there was a glitch in progress or anything.

Nope. It was genuine, all right.

I felt Terrin come up behind me, sensed his presence as he bent over my shoulder to stare at the information now scrolling across my screen. Not that it really mattered, but I gave the appropriate buttons and switches a final adjustment.

Same result.

"From the looks of it, it's originating some, ahhh... fifteen hundred kilometers from here. That puts it smack in the middle of--"

Now I punched up another screen, scrolled until I found the Dagobah system, entered the coordinates of the distress call, and punched a final button. An image of green and gray and fog and swamp obligingly appeared on the screen.

"More swamp," I finished, now turning to give Terrin a concerned look.

"That looks like prime dianoga territory; Terrin--" I waggled my brows, pressed my lips together.

"If there's someone alive sending out a distress signal, he or she is in an area not promising one an extended future, and you know it.

"What should we do?"

Nodding aft, where the Sith Lord still remained in some kind of weird trance, I then waited, meanwhile entering the coordinates into the nav-computer so there would be no further delay should we decide to investigate this new mystery.

All I had to do was punch enable.

[ 04-10-2007 09:41 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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