“Maybe he had something come up?” he asked, unsure. “That does seem really strange, doesn’t it? Well, we can chalk it up to one more strange occurrence in a long string of strange occurrences. Now we need to figure out what to do, wait here for Aelvedaar to show up or try to find the others.”

Panthar looked around, taking in the swamp and jungle.

“Well,” he said. “I know this pretty much looks like any other place on this planet, but I think this is where Galen and I got pulled out of the hole in the ground. Considering that vine there is part of the rope you guys made, Aaron, I think. Doesn’t seem to be anyone around here, though. Anyone have a com link?”

Just as he asked the question, Panthar remembered the Sith communication device still in his pocket, but decided to wait until someone answered before he mentioned that.

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

He paused then, pursing his lips. "We probably ought to get in touch with them and see what they're planning; otherwise we're just stuck here too, with no real clue of where Petrolu is other than what Stargazer feels. Which isn't going to get us very far without able bodies and some gear."

With that, Aaron raised his commlink to his lips after keying in a specific frequency. "Taylor, this is Captain Barnes. It's a long story, but I'm on Degobah, here with some assistance for a search some other members aboard your ship are probably on. My cohorts and I have followed the trail of Captain Danner, his wife, and some others to this planet, and then with some help back to the Hornett. In the process, we discovered Jedi Petrolu was also lost on the planet."

He paused, considering the best next words. "His sister, who has a blood Force-link with him or something to that effect, is here to assist after coming through a difficult situation herself. A Lord Aelvedaar of the Sith was also coming to asist us, but did not follow us here as we originally thought he was going to. Please respond to this transmission and forward it to Captain Danner and the others if possible.

Barnes out."

[ 10-14-2007 09:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aaron Barnes ]

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But of course, not quite as much as he had trusted that peculiar little ship. He mentally cursed himself for losing it, and continued leading on til at length he stopped in front of three adjacent docking platforms. On each platform sat a pristine, top-of-the-line, lambda-class transport. He cocked his head a bit, cosidering the names emblazoned on each of their sides.

The Eagle II, Raptor II, and Falcon II.

Raising an eyebrow at that then mentally shrugging, he turned to the others, first looking to Taylor Garrison. "These ships are all fully equipped and armed?" he queried.

Garrison nodded.

"Copies of any maps our teams have made and Galen's map have been downloaded to their computers?" he continued.

Garrison reached down to his commlink, keyed a few things in, then looked up, nodding again. "Done."

Then he looked to everyone else. "I suggest Matt, Jasyn, and Rathal take the Falcon II. Galen, myself, the Sith warrior, and Darra can head out in the Eagle II."

He paused, pursing his lips. "Let's get aboardship, get warmed up, and look the map. Before we head out we need to decide who is going to take which possible entry point to Shawn.

And then we can get going. So let's do it," he ended with, motioning towards the ships and then heading towards Eagle II as Matt, Jasyn, and the others headed towards Falcon II and boarded her. Popping the hatch, he headed for the cabin, took a seat at the navboard, and began warming her, taking a good look at her capabilities as he did so.

Fully loaded, just like her original counterpart.

He then pulled up the map of the cave system below to check that it was loaded successfully on the navcomputer and to take a look at the possible entries Galen had pointed out once more.

"Guess we can take this entry here," he said, pointing to one area, "And the others can try this one," he said, indicating another and then marking them on the map and sending that data out to Matt's comm frequency.

"Time to get clearance out of here," he finished, keying the request in.

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

It was instead perhaps the last person he would have suspected. At least, almost.

Taylor, this is Captain Barnes. It's a long story, but I'm on Degobah, here with some assistance for a search some other members aboard your ship are probably on. My cohorts and I have followed the trail of Captain Danner, his wife, and some others to this planet, and then with some help back to the Hornett. In the process, we discovered Jedi Petrolu was also lost on the planet. His sister, who has a blood Force-link with him or something to that effect, is here to assist after coming through a difficult situation herself. A Lord Aelvedaar of the Sith was also coming to asist us, but did not follow us here as we originally thought he was going to. Please respond to this transmission and forward it to Captain Danner and the others if possible.

He at once pressed the reply button. "Captain Barnes, your message has been received. Captain Danner and the others are currently preparing for departure from the Hornett back to the planet to assess some possible entry points to Jedi Petrolu's current location. I will transfer your message to Captain Danner now. Garrison out."

Sending out the reply, Taylor then keyed in another command on his wrist comm, sending Aaron's original message to Eagle II's comm freuency.

But ours now, oh lucky us, looked to be a "mere" fifteen meters below the lip of the mesa; at least the scraggly line that represented the cave corridor looked as if it totally broke through the rock and out into the open. Which meant we'd at least have an entry into the system... maybe... hopefully...assuming it was large enough for us to worm our way into, that is. After we'd managed to climb down to it... hoping the scarp face didn't overhang anywhere along the way...

I reached out and punched a command into the computer and the image immediately rotated, zooming in to show us our entry from a forward view. Then I let out a disgusted puff of air; there wasn't any way to tell just what we were going to face until we actually got there and were staring directly at it.

"I hope we've got plenty of rope and other rapeling gear onboard; this isn't going to be--"

My words were truncated by the comm's announcement of an incoming message. I reached over and flipped the channel open, then sat back in a bit of surprise as Taylor's words came through loud and clear.

[ 10-16-2007 01:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Pausing, he furrowed his brow. "Surprised to see her back here, willing to help out in finding Shawn after she lamblasted us all and left us stranded on Tatooine. And what's this with Lord Aelvedaar disappearing now?"

He shook his head. "Too many peculiarities. Granted, Shayla has a link with Shawn that nobody else can match and could be useful. But how the kriffing hell do we trust her now?"

Even as he finished saying this, clearance for departure came through and he began the process of taking Eagle II into flight and down to the surface of Degobah.

[ 10-16-2007 08:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"I agree, this is too strange," I whispered, then went quickly on. "She's been hanging with my dear ol sis; maybe she's learned some of the strange stuff that she knows, like how to manipulate things and get into your head, just to name two..."

I blinked and turned to face Terrin fully.

"Maybe it's another trap. Maybe she's here to finish the job; hell, maybe they're both down there, and Aelvedaar with them as well. We really haven't had too great of a batting average with the Sith, remember; I don't know now if we can truly believe anything they say to us.

"Including things coming to us over a comm."

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

Too many oddities here. WAY too many. When did these people ever pick a side and just stick with it? Or did they just pick the most convenient one in the moment?

And that final thought did it. Terrin flipped the comm switch to send a message back to Taylor. "Commander, send no reply to the message."

He paused, knowing Taylor wouldn't understand. "We're addressing it."

Squirting the reply off then, he keyed in one final thing on the navboard, then turned to Galen. "If that's really them down there and they're really out to help us...

...then well, they're going to have to prove it before I'm interested in meeting up with any of them. I'm going to give this ship a quick look-over and make sure all of the supplies we need are here before we head out completely. She's warmed and has a nice system of upgrades, better than even her predecessor..."

He paused a moment, "...I'm certain what's aft won't disappoint either. But I've gotta look. Why don't you take over?" he finished with, getting up then and heading to the back of the ship, quickly looking through all the supplies and weapons onboard, making certain to check for the specific supplies Galen had mentioned. As he predicted, the ship didn't disappoint.

He headed back to the cabin. "We're fully loaded," he announced then. "I hope her christening flight with us results in a little less ding than her sister ship did..."

[ 10-16-2007 09:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"That will depend upon circumstances below, don'tcha think?" I asked, a bit guardedly. For the more I thought about it, the less I liked the way events were transpiring.

"I don't know how we can determine truth from possible lies," I went on. "I mean, what if the comm is truly fabricated? What if Aaron is somehow being manipulated? Not only will we not find out the true lay of the land until we actually get there...

"But what are we going to do if we end up with the worst-case scenario? I know this ship has firepower to her, but I don't think it's gonna mean squat against some of the stuff I've seen sissy do. And there's no telling how much her little stooge might have picked up.

"Hell's bells, we don't even know if Sis isn't down there right now, just waiting. Any suggestions, sweets?"

[ 10-16-2007 09:20 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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He trailed as the obvious presented itself, "...but then again we're dealing with people who know how to block such things, I'm sure."

He shook his head. "If Aaron is down there and is being manipulated, that means there's one more party down there thawt needs to be rescued from dire straits..."

Trailing again, Terrin pursed his lips. "We can determine how likely it is that Aaron is the one who commed the Hornett. Unless he has for some reason lost it, the Hornett should have record that he commed from his own personal frequency, have some way to triangulate just how far of a distance he commed from...

...and whether or not he used priority secure frequencies and encryption codes to deliver his message. But then, that'll only tell us if Aaron is down there...

...and still leaves the question of just how authentic Shayla's sudden willingness to help out is."

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

"Here!" I announced brightly, and pulled from one of the various and mysteriously deep pockets a small object. I held it out to Terrin.

"It's a portable Force Cage," I explained, then went on as his brows began climbing off the top of his head. "Suffice it to say that Sorben's guild developed them; he--" I stumbled slightly, then went on in a burst of words.

"He gave one to me, long ago. I remember when we first met, we were being chased by Sissy and he whammied her with one of these. Kept her stuck inside like a womprat in its den, too. Now I know that was back when she was new to all her powers, and maybe didn't know how to get herself out of it. But I'm thinking that maybe Shayla might be at the same level of training, so to speak. Maybe this will hold her, too, if we need some run time."

I stopped, cocked my head to one side and lifted a brow.

"How's your arm, Flyboy?" I ended as I held the shining little ball out to him.

[ 10-16-2007 09:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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He quieted a few moments then, still looking the device over. Then he turned his attentions to the commswitch, dialing in Taylor's frequency and inquired whether or not Aaron's comm came from his personal fequency to a priority, encrypted channel. Each question was answered in the affirmative.

Terrin turned back to Galen. "It's either him down there...

...or Stargazer has done some amazing information smuggling. No way she would have any access to those frequencies."

He paused, frowning then. "We'd better run some lifeform readings before we land," he observed then, "And maybe we ought to get to Aaron before he's as lost on this planet as Shawn is..."

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

Panthar realized he was asking a lot of questions and stopped, looking up at the canopy of trees that crowded over them.

“If they’re going to meet us,” he continued, “we’ll need to move away from here. They'll need to let us know where to go. Oh, and tell Li'l Red hey for me, too.”

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

He paused, cocking his head a bit. "Or at least, I'm assuming she can't do that."

He frowned a bit more. "I hope Taylor sent the message through, because we certainly aren't getting any quick, warm welcomes..."

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

Nothing. Oh, they reported lifeforms all right... about a bajillion of 'em as a matter of fact. This was Dagobah, after all. But human readings seemed to be a bit on the scarce side... I frowned.

"You typed in the correct original coordinates to where that big ol' plateau or mesa or whatever is?" I queried, swiveling back to face Terrin again. "'Cuz I'm not picking up any human readings on this side of the planet.

"Which is more than extremely weird, if you ask me!"

With that I turned back to navigation and altered our present course, which was formerly a rather steep angle down. Putting the little craft into a gentler curving approach, I guided her through Dagobah's upper atmosphere, watching as the limb of the planet approached, then rolled beneath us.

Nothing but greenery, tons and tons of greenery, and water, and..

"There!" I pointed as the sensor array began to bleep at us.

"There's human-- or at least humanoid -- life-readings. I'm counting three blips, and they seem to be smack in the middle of some kind of hillock in the middle of the biggest swamp this boggy planet has."

I turned back to Terrin, relief segueing into concern when I saw the same appearing in his own blue eyes.

"I'm assuming that there's some mineral in the rock, that might be masking Shawn's readings?" I ventured. "But don't worry, we have the readings taken with the older ship, as well as the map of that cave system; maybe Eagle II, as wonderful as she is, still doesn't have the sensor power to her that a larger ship might have?"

I turned back to the controls, chewing on my lip a little as I did so.

"Well, at least we seem to have located Aaron and the others. Now all we have to do is figure out a way to determine if he's ok or if this is some kind of trap being laid for us. Be sure to keep that portable Force Cage handy, 'cuz I'm gonna be landing us in close proximity to where they are. I don't think I should land anywhere else than on this little 'island,' since there's no real guarantee we could slog over to them. Who but Khaandon knows how deep the swamp waters are that surround them, sure as there's Treasure on Roon!"

With that I brought the sleek little ship to a soft landing on the grass-laden ground of the hillock, momentarily concerned as she seemed to actually sink down a bit. But the sinking sensation soon stopped, and I knew we were on relatively stable soil.

I powered down, putting all systems on stand-by, and turned to Terrin, the sounds of metal creaking and the hiss of de-gassing filling the otherwise silence of the ship's interior.

"They're about half a kilometer due NNW," I said as I rose from my seat. "So, shall we?"

With that I opened the hatch, and the wild and overbearing sounds of Dagoban life washed over us, along with the wonderful odor only stagnant swamp-water can bring.

[ 10-19-2007 10:56 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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“Well,” he said. “You could ask him what’s going on. I mean, it’s been a few minutes now, and I’d think that if they were happy to hear from us then they’d be hollering back. I assume they’re suspicious of Shayla – no offense, Shayla – but it’s pretty dang rude to not give any kind of response back. I hope the dark stuff didn’t get into Galen or someone, like it did you and Graysith. Don’t suppose there is any way for you to tell that kind of thing, is there, now that you’ve ‘known’ the darkness?”

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

She shrugged. "And as to them all being suspicious of me...

...I wouldn't doubt it, nor would I blame them after all that I've done."

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

...but Matt and Jasyn should have theirs. I'll try Stanza, and see what we get."

Pausing then, Aaron dialed a frequency into his commlink, and began recording a message.

Matt, this is Captain Barnes, trying to reach you and eveyrone else. We are on Degobah, here to help find Shawn and have transmitted a message to you via Taylor Garrison earlier with no reply from you. Is everything allright and was the message received? Please respond.

Squirting the message off to Stanza then, Aaron turned back to the others. "Need I point out the fact I don't care for just standing around in a planet with this much wildlife? I agree with Panthar, let's see if we can get into a clearing at least."

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

...not that Matt could blame him. He zeroed in on the area where he and Jasyn would begin their search and quickly realized an immediate problem. "Landing this baby on the mesa is going to take some careful piloting he observed. "And it looks like we have a nice long scale downward. Hope you're in shape for this, pal, because I'm not even sure how much I am."

Quieting for a moment then, Matt concentrated on landing the ship on the top of the mesa, truthfully a bit concerned as to the stability of the landing site. He gauged the terrain for a long time until he finally found a place about a kilometer west of the termination of the passageway. He began the landing procedure, carefully. "We're in for a walk as well. There is no way we can manuever our way directly beside the opening...

...and we're going to have to climb up a bit before we can get moving downward."

Just as he finished this statement, his commlink chirped, indicating receipt of a message. Matt accepted it, and received Aaron's comm. He quirked a brow at a suddenly very suspicious looking Jasyn. "Interesting," was all Matt said, however, "But there is no way we're turning back from where we are now. Terrin and the others should know about this, however."

With that he dialed Terrin's commlink frequency in and sent a message of his own.

Terrin, I'm getting messages from Aaron saying he's on planet with some others to help look for Shawn. I don't know what to make of it, but Jasyn and I are already in place to begin heading through our assigned passageway. I don't want to back out of here now. Let me know what you are going to do, and how you are all faring. Stanza out.

Sending the message off to its intended recipient, Matt began powering down Falcon II. "Jas, I think you'd better head aft and get some ropes and climbing gear...

...a couple of blasters, a med kit, some water and rations, and some markers to keep a handle on our trail. We'll also need some glowsticks, obviously. I'll get our map and some portable lifesign scanners, which I'm assuming are here somewhere as well."

Falling silent at that, Matt went to work as Jasyn moved to the back of the ship to gather supplies. Once the ship was completely powered down and all supplies were gathered, both headed to the hatch of the ship and began their short trek towards the even longer and difficult one that awaited them.

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

“I think I should point out,” he said matter-of-factly, “that this is kinda like the area that I went falling through. We should be really careful here.”

Just as he said the last word, Shayla’s foot gave way and her foot slipped into the ground. Panthar was immediately grabbing her around the waist, although she had only slipped a few centimeters. He smiled awkwardly and helped her out of the hole.

“See?” he said. “I, think maybe we ought to hold that piece of vine back there, so if one of us falls then the others can hold. Or we can lock hands together, but maybe the vine is easier? Just until we reach more solid ground, you know?”

[ 11-01-2007 10:18 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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His commlink.

"Hell!" he growled under his breath, quickly silencing the chirp and gripping the portable Force cage. "I hope it can wait..."

Quieting then, he continued to move along, getting the strangest sensation that something was watching them. He uncociously reached for his blaster, and with effort managed to think enough to back off it a bit.

No need to draw extra attention to yourself until you've got a pretty good idea of what is going on.

But he couldn't shake the feeling...

...and became aware of a strange rustling sound to his far left. Now, to hell with it all, he gripped his blaster in one hand, the Force cage remaining in the other. The rustling continued, and the hairs began to stand on the back of his neck. Neaby Galen seemed to be noticing the same noises, seeming to become a bit more wide-eyed and alert herself.

But that's when, out of nowhere, something went up above their heads then swooped down and across both of them. Instinct took over, and Terrin dropped to the ground, reaching out and pulling Galen uncerimonously along with him, aiming his blaster up at the thing which had so suddenly swooped in on them...

...and realizing with even more alarm that whatever it was had disappeared entirely.

[ 10-22-2007 10:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Which I did, with a vengeance, shoving off the whatever-it-was that was pinning me down--

Oh. Terrin's arm!

--and letting a mighty sneeze erupt from me.

"Wh-what in Hell's Seven Circles was that?"

The words burst out in an exasperated torrent, smack dab on the heels of the sneeze. They weren't followed by anything else, however, for any further comment on my part was frozen in place by the fading, raucous and somehow sinister screech which now assailed my ears from parts unknown... though suspiciously sounding like parts nearby.

I gulped and remained frozen in place, all except for my hand which began patting stealthily about my person for a weapon. Finding a blaster, I raised it to join Terrin's, which I now took the time to notice he had out and aimed upward.

"Wh-what was it?" I repeated then shut up, not wanting to draw any more attention to ourselves as I raised both blaster and eyes upward to scan what I could see of the sky with more than a little anxiety.

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

Then his eyes trailed upward again, and his look darkened. Then he spoke up just enough for his words to be audible to just Galen. "A raptor?"

Whether the statement was an observation or a query wasn't quite clear, but the hairs on the back of Terrin's neck were all but standing on end. The eerie call resounded, this time at a closer proximity.

Terrin gulped, quietly. How he did that, exactly, he didn't know. Nor did he care. "We're being hunted," he then observed, mouthing again.

And just as quickly as it had come before, something winged, dark and fast appeared with lightning speed, its claws extended, and flew downward.

Terrin was able to make a couple of quick shots before a pain shot through his shoulder and his line of sight was blocked entirely.

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

Shayla paused, frowning not so much in surprise to the lack of response but rather to the fact that she was the one who was responsible for it. "We might as well also decide what sorts of items we may need if we don't make contact with anyone else. I mean, I can sense Shawn, but without a map we could end up just as lost as he is."

She quieted again, her eyes growing distant. "We have to assume that the others have a plan they feel fairly confident in as well. Perhaps it would serve us better to simply head towards where I feel Shawn most closely, within reason...

...and simply wait. After all, if I force myself and my help upon them they will be even more suspicious of me than they would if I only waited to see if they decide there is no other way."

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

Seconds later when I raised my head it was with a sense of some kind of shadow falling over me. To my utter horror, the thing was quickly rising upward, a struggling Terrin held within its wicked claws. With equal rapidity it was also growing smaller as it headed off over the boggy waters.

"Terrin!" I screamed again, this time louder, desperate. Scrabbling to my feet I came to a wide stance, aimed the blaster toward the thing-- but again wavered a precious second, afraid to fire.

What if I hit Terrin? I didn't dare hit Terrin...

The fact that the horrid shadow was growing smaller by the minute, accompanied by a distant splash as our intrepid warrior came from nowhere to leap into the swamp, spurred me into action. I gave myself one more precious second, steadied my shaking arms, took aim...

...and hit one of the thing's flapping wings.

It screeched in anger and pain, reeling in mid-flight, its shock apparent for those nasty claws thankfully opened and released Terrin. From the proverbial frying pan into the fire; from where I stood I could only watch in horror as he fell about twenty feet and disappeared into the murky waters of the surrounding swamp.

Said swamp which seemed to come to immediate, seething life for all the mysterious bumps and humps now peeping out from its surface, all on a straight bee-line to the spot where Terrin had gone under.

[ 10-31-2007 09:54 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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