Then it was something Kyan over heard that made him shudder.

"Sith..." Kyan gasped.

Kyan quickly turned to face her.

"The Sith, but they have been dead for thousands of years, Only the occasional Dark Jedi who finds an obscure writing here or there and claims the mantle of Sith remain."

"That's, ahh-- " I fumbled a moment, considering how much I should spill right now. It wasn't that I didn't think the man deserved the truth; it's just that I didn't think lolly-gagging about in one of Hornett's too-busy corridors was the place to clarify matters. For all I knew, Terrin's people still harbored the same thoughts about the Sith that Kyan did; no need to be discussing this in a committee which might be overheard by the general populace.

"That's not entirely true," I finished quietly, then ground to a silence filled only with the everyday noises of passersby going about ship's business.

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

The Empire was killing Jedi, the Sith might be in league with incoming Vong, and nobody had any powers. So what the hell were they going to do about all of it, and who the kriffing hell were they going to trust? Were they headed towards another Great Rebellion of sorts...

...or could civil war still somehow be avoided and a truce made before a potential Vong invasion came in and eradicated them all?

And what if that was precisely the plan all along?

As the heavy silence continued, the answer to who to trust actually came to Terrin quite easily. "There are some things you need to know," Terrin then said evenly in Kyan's direction, breaking the silence, knowing that although that was true that this was not the place. The look in Galen's eye confirmed that as he glanced her way. "But this is not the place," he then said aloud. "Please, follow me."

As Terrin began to lead them through winding corridors to the turbolift, he managed to keep ameasured but still casual gait, nodding to workers here or there as he did so, striving to maintain a look that implied they were headed to important business without raising any alarm at the same time. Although it probably only took a few minutes to reach the turbolift and arrive on Red Level, seconds seemed to tick slowly by. Terrin exited, for the moment in the lead, and headed directly to his personal office, motioning both Kyan and Galen to step inside before he did. As he then followed behind them, he hit the controls to the door, the auto hatch whooshed to a close. As they took a seat, Terrin keyed Shawn's frequency into his wrist comm and sent off a brief text.

Shawn, Terrin here. If you have anything further, use text. No need to raise any unwanted alarms if things are as tense there as Jasyn says.

Sending the message off, Terrin returned his attentions to Galen and Kyan. He wondered just where they would begin in explaining the existence of the Sith to the latter and decided to open with the simplest explanation.

"The Sith are more than the Dark Jedi that most of us are familiar with," he then said. "They are a race of beings who were attacked and defeated by the Dark Jedi long ago, and not all of them are necessarily dark."

Or so you have been lead to believe, a shoulder devil popped up and snorted as the office fell into silence.

[ 10-19-2008 09:51 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

What they are saying could be true what the Jedi knew of the sith matched what they said, there were some differences. Jedi knowledge came from what little scraps of information that survived the dark Jedi had recorded and suffice to say any information could not be trusted.

"May the Force help us if what you say is true," stated Kyan. "With so many different factions bidding for control of the galaxy it would be so easy for everything to plunge into darkness."

"With so few Jedi and without the aid of the Force all could be lost so easily. As it stands there are no Galactic Powers that I would trust the fate of the Jedi, let alone the galaxy to."

Besides my fellow Mandalorians and what Jedi remain, I would not trust our future to the alternatives.

"But remember, we're supposing that the Vong are incoming... as we are supposing the Sith are in cahoots with them. It just may be that there was some kind of dark faction on the Sith worlds who for whatever purpose initiated some kind of alliance with the Vong, and that this presumed alliance really has nothing to do with the current rulers of the Sith worlds."

I paused a moment, chewing my lip.

"Ya know--" I suddenly burst out. "I can't help but think it's not something that mundane, but rather that something of a more... phenomenal nature is behind it all. I mean, how in all the known galaxy would the Sith ever contact the Vong? They were lost to the galaxy the last time the Vong invaded; to my knowledge there is no way either faction would have any possible knowledge of each other.

"This all smacks of something darker than the Vong... like the Master and his buddies in the Darker Realms--"

I cut myself off at that, shooting a quick glance Terrin's way. Dang, but I bet credits to the treasure on Roon that Kyan hadn't ever heard of the Master, let alone the Darker Realms. I turned to him with a smile and a shrug, as if to say...

Ya gotta trust us on this one, pal.

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

Perhaps the vongese are not comming, and they have nothing to do with the sith, but then again there are no such things as coincidences with the Force... That planet was there for a reason, with that much vongese biotech there had to be some plan for it.

Life was so much simpler then.

"I don't know," I said honestly, shaking my head. "I mean, I was really hoping that we could discover something good about the Empire. Sorben-- I mean General Tarnus and I have had, ahh... history together; he told me the only violence enacted by Impies was that necessary to insert Actar and his regime as the controlling factor. That all Actar wanted was order in the Galaxy; if this was the case, we could confront them with our suspicions and at least give warning."

I sighed again, feeling helpless. Dang, but it was an awful big galaxy; what could teeny ol' us actually do? Who could we approach, who would believe us? That is, if our suppositions were indeed anything to truly warrant a red flag.

"Maybe they would listen to us," I finally said. "That is, if we can offer some hard fact to really substantiate what we tell them. After all, the Vong had attacked us, albeit years ago; those amphistaffs should have been long dead, right? But..."

I let an exasperated chuff of air escape me.

"For all we know they're being kept by the Empire, sort of like an experiment or something. And if that's the case, then they'd be the last ones we'd want to contact."

This was getting frustrating as hell. My feeling of helplessness ballooned to overwhelming proportions. But deep in my gut, that little instinct that had served me so well time and time again insisted on yelling at me.

Go to Sorben.

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

"I don't trust the Empire any further than I could throw it," Terrin admitted aloud. "I've tried bargaining with them in the past, with a reasonable exchange for what I needed...

...only to get hauled off to jail and left to rot."

He paused, chewing his lip again, remembering something. "Still, we do potentially know something that may make the Empire as a whole more inclined to listen to us, and my feelings regarding the Empire don't necessarily extend to every single individual working for it."

He turned Galen's way, crooking a brow a bit. "At least according to what we have been told we know that Tarnus is being held prisoner on K'eel Doba. If we are going to try to make the Empire listen to us at all, getting him out of there may be a start."

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

The doctor was smiling telling her that the operation went smoothly, he then went into boring detail about each step of the operation which Link promptly ignored and just laid there thinking to herself.

I don’t feel any different, I can’t feel anything at all.

Craning her head Link peered down at her arm and saw the shiny replacement; tentatively she tested it out by curling and uncurling her fingers and was surprised that it worked with no lag, just like her real arm did. The Doctor noticed and continued to smile making the comment that they still had to run a few more tests to make sure she had all the range of motion like before when Link interrupted him by holding up her mechanical hand in his face to silence him. She stared into her lap and cradled her new arm against her body.

“I want to see Yaoksi,” Link whispered. Clenching her hand into a fist she couldn’t feel anything from her new arm, touch… heat… pain… anything. When the doctor failed to respond Link grabbed a transperisteel tube sitting beside her bed on a table and squeezed it until it shattered.

“I want to see Yaoksi now,” Link repeated.

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

Someone, or rather something was poking me gently in the shoulder. I cracked a bleary eye.

"Wake up, sir," the med-droid was saying as his offending digit assaulted my shoulder yet again.

"The surgery is over, and if I say so myself it was quite successful--"

Surgery.

I bolted upright, suddenly awake, slurping a little as I removed a tiny bit of embarrassing drool from the corner of my mouth.

"Link... she's all right? Everything is okay?"

Without really hearing anything else the droid was saying I scrambled to my feet and headed toward the hatch that led into the surgery. Another med-droid accosted me, holding my by both arms as it turned me in the correct direction and led me to the tiny but thoroughly supplied recovery room. I burst through the doorway, to see Link sitting upright on her bunk, cradling a shiny metallic appendage and sporting an expression somewhere between worry and embarrassment.

A broad smile lit my face.

"Hey kid, I see they didn't manage to kill you!" I cried, mostly as a joke but admittedly not without a touch of relief. After all she had said to me about how successfully Ryns can be operated on, I had been a little worried as to the operation's outcome. But she appeared hale and whole, well, at least as whole as one could expect under the circumstances.

I stopped at her bedside, leaned down, and gave her a big ol' hug.

"Glad to have you back, kiddo," I said into her ear.

[ 10-27-2008 11:03 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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

"I'm ok..." Link answered. "I'm ok now."

Link used her mechanical arm to gently shove Yaoksi off of her. Then carefully she used the same arm to help push herself off the bed so she could stand, out of the corner of her eye she say the doctors about to protest to her actions so she sent them an icy glare that conveyed the message 'if you say anything I will take my shiny new arm and shove it down your throat', promptly shutting them up. Resuming her normal expression Link focused her attention onto Yaoksi.

"Can we go now?" Link asked.

"I could really go for a cup of caf," Link joked.

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

"I believe that can be arranged!" I replied brightly as I assisted her from the bed. She hit the deck with only one wobble, prompting me to nod.

Good. She's already becoming accustomed to the extra weight of her new arm; I think she's gonna be all right!

With that I put an arm about her shoulders and led her from the medical bay and into the corridor without.

"Let's go find the others," I said, heading forward to where I knew I'd find Captain Danner and his red-headed lil spitfire of a wife. Then it hit me, and I skidded to a somewhat embarrassed halt.

This wasn't Eagle II. I had no idea where in blue blazes we actually were... let alone having so much as a remote a clue as to where everybody was!

I thought about going back and asking one of the med-droids, but logic reminded me of how fussy they could be. Chances were good that they'd just haul Link back to bed; nope, not an option, not now, not when the little gal was moving along like the biggest, most willing trooper in the galazy.

Then an idea hit me, and I cast a fast but searching glance about myself.

Wide, wide corridor, bustling with staff and crew members, the occasional mouse-bot skittering about it's mousely little duties, a computer monitor...

"That's what I'm looking for!" In the space of a few lengthy strides I was at it, punching a button which signified open link.

Ummm... to where, or who?

"Uhh-- this is Captain Yaoksi Joao," I finally just up and spoke into it, keeping my voice lowered so as not to attract any undue attention to us. I mean, yeah, I'm sure I could have asked one of the people who were hastening about their business, but judging by the fact that this ship was a blasted SSD I figured it might take longer for one of them to jump through whatever hoops he or she would have to in order to locate the people I wanted to find.

"Can whoever receives this direct me to the whereabouts of Captain Danner? Ahh- over..?"

With that I simply hit transmit, wondering who would receive it, and hoping that whoever did would be able to reunite us with the others in our party.

Not to mention finding us all pots and pots of caf...

[ 11-07-2008 12:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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

"Yeah," I went on, following his line of thought to what to me was its in-your-face obvious conclusion. "And something tells me that getting him out of Sith imprisonment should be treated as something of a stealth mission. I mean, if we can manage to get into the dungeons and extricate him, Khaandon alone knows when the Sith themselves would finally realize he's gone. They don't exactly keep a five-star establishment there, you know."

And with Sissypoops running the show, their miserable, rotten "stay" would more than likely be made even more miserable and rotten, thanks to her little nasty canasta troupe of Noghri she kept hanging around. Assuming she still kept them... which I assumed with as much fervor as I did the fact that something was entirely too rotten on Dantooine...

I paused a moment, letting the implications of what I was saying we do sink in. Then I turned to the jedi.

"You don't need to place yourself in harm's way for the sake of our hopefully feasible scheme," I said, hoping Terrin would agree with me on this one.

"Umm... the last I knew--"

Going by what Sorben had told me during my truncated flight from Terrin, when I had taken little Darra and had fled the then Sith-less K'eel Doba with Sorben for what I mistakenly thought would be a better life for us...

"--there is a new Praxeum being put together on, ummm... Tatooine. Maybe you'd like to be taken there?"

Terrin worked his lips, maybe in preparation of saying something, but I never knew what for suddenly his comm-link began to buzz in the annoyingly insistent way they had, breaking into our discussion to let him know he had an incoming message.

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

An exemplary Jedi with unwavering devotion to the Force… unsurpassed in lightsaber combat and small unit tactics… disobedient to the will of the council… relies on his own feelings more then our experience and judgment…

He was trained to be a merciless warrior by his Mandalorian kin, and through his feelings the living Force taught him to use that training to ‘solve’ problems the council refused to address, like the incident with the dark Jedi 25 years ago. No what the Jedi needed was not another Praxeum, they needed a new direction.

“No,” Kyan replied. “No, I can’t help with the Praxeum. It’s a difficult to explain even to those who can use the Force. I am a follower of the Living Force, the mainstream Jedi consider us a radical faction and often refer to us as gray Jedi. We hold devotion to the Living Force above all else and often clash with the Master’s Council because they consider us rash because we believe that the Living Force speaks to every living being so we rely heavily on our emotions doing what is right ‘on the moment’.”

"Hey, Captain Joao, Terrin here," he said, dispensing with the formalities of using his own titles, "What's up, and how is Link doing? Galen, Kyan, and I are discussing some things..."

...ha, ha funny. Some very important things...

"...in my office if you want to join us."

Sending the message off, Terrin was about to open his mouth and say something once more when a knock came at the door. Terrin frowned a bit, at first wondering just who the kriffing hell would be knocking...

...when he realized with a start he had entirely forgotten that Aaron had been enroute with Erik Kartan. "That's probably Aaron and Kartan," he said aloud then, pushing a button on his desk to which in turn made the hatch slide open with an eerie whoosh, revealing Aaron standing there along with Erik Kartan. The two entered and took seats. Terrin briefly introduced Aaron as his partner and Kartan as a Force-user and one knowledgable about the Sith, deciding that perhaps it wasn't the time to explain his this knowledge was based on shared experiences with Shayla due to the way Erik's eyes darkened slightly at the mere mention of the Sith...

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

While trying to think of what to do Link remembered that she had been here before and the how this SSD had a large shopping center. Before Yaoksi had a chance to respond to Terrin’s message Link maneuvered her way right beside Yaoksi and the terminal.

“Can I interrupt you for a sec?” Link asked. Not waiting for a reply Link took control of the terminal and brought up a schematic of the SSD highlighting their current location and that of Terrin’s office, when the reply message originated from. Link pointed to a turbolift at the end of the same corridor they now occupied on the schematic.

“We need to take this corridor to reach Terrin’s office but on one of the decks between his and ours is the market that Terrin has on his ship. Before we meet up with the others can we stop there so I can get some more decent cloths?”

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

It would be kinda nice, actually, I mused briefly to myself, to go hunt for something for the lil gal. Take my mind off of our troubles, at least for the moment. Not to mention it's really a good sign, that Link wants to make herself presentable...

The latter was really somewhat of a far cry from the earlier attitude she wielded like a shield back when I first came into her acquaintance. Beneath that "tough girl" facade I think had really been only the timiest glimmering of self-worth; for whatever reason, she was improving. I'd sure like to think I had something to do with it, but I'm not one to press my luck, and Fates alone know I hate to wave my banner around.

"Sure, kid!" I said brightly as I turned and stuck a gentlemanly elbow in her direction.

"Let's go!"

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

"Don't worry," Link commented. "I'm not doing anything illegal right now, just withdrawing some credits from on of the emergency accounts I set up."

Luckily for Link she decided when she set up these emergency accounts to memorize all the account numbers instead of write them down just in case she lost all her equipment like she had. Link typed in the account number for one of her smaller emergency stashes and found the balance of 10,000 credits was still intact. Deciding that not wanting the account to get traced backed to her Link withdrew the entire sum and had it transferred to a cred card which the machine promptly ejected. Taking the ejected cred card Link turned back to Yaoksi, who Link was unsure if Yaoksi was surprised at her Casually withdrawing such a large sum of credits.

"I may have been angry at the time I snapped at you about credits but I wasn't lying about them."

Again taking hold of Yaoksi's arm Link led them into the market looking for a store that carried what she was looking for. She saw several tailor shops and clothing outlets that could work but that lacked what Link was looking for practicality. Just when Link was about to give up she saw exactly what she was looking for, a small shop housing surplus military gear. Entering the shop with Yaoksi in tow she noted how most of it was leftover from the clone wars, old but much of which was still serviceable.

“I won't take to long,” Link said. “Just wait right here and I'll be right back.”

Link knew more or less what she wanted so she quickly moved through the shop only stopping briefly to quickly look at some item or grab it then move on. After ten minutes or so Link felt confident she had every thing she needed. Grabbing a vibro bayonet Link headed into the shops fresher to change over. Quickly stripping off the hospital gown and tossing it into the closest refuse bin Link took the vibro bayonet and made one quick adjustment to the trousers she had grabbed, making a hole in the seat of them for her tail to fit through. After donning her new garb Link looked into the mirror the fresher had and was satisfied with what she had chosen. A pair of tan suede combat boots, gray fatigues trousers fastened with a riggers belt, a black high collar military sweater, an old republic officers overcoat in the style of a duster which she left the front open, and one leather glove to cover her left hand hiding the rest of her arm. Ready to go she stepped out of the fresher and back up to the front counter where it looked like Yaoksi was making small talk with the shops owner.

“Yaoksi,” called Link. “Well what do you think?”

[ 11-23-2008 01:17 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cel ]

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

"We really could use all the help we can get if we are going to spring Tarnus. We can sit here and plan away, but what it's all going to boil down to is going in quietly, undercover, and sneaking in to get him in what will most likely be a very hostile setting. Your expertise as a Jedi and a Mandolorian warrior would be invaluable."

He paused then, turning to Erik. "And I know you came to Aaron wanting to buy back Stargazer Corp, but we could use you too. You know about the Sith, you're a good pilot...

...and an information smuggler. If you buy back the company I'd hope you'd be willing to help us out, at the least. At the most, we could use you on our team." He paused then, pursing his lips a bit. "I know you've been through a lot so I understand if you just can't...Matt and Jasyn have filled me in on what happened, and I'm truly sorry. But if you need something to occupy your time..."

He trailed then, knowing that there really wasn't any good way to say anything comforting in regards to the loss of an infant.

[ 11-23-2008 08:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

He trailed and shook his head once more. "They don't want us there anymore, and I have pretty good reason to think that they never really did. You don't know how many times Lord Aelvedaar or Roan did one thing or another to Shayla. Or how Aeylmaar told us to leave our child in an incubator and get the hell off his planet because we weren't Sith. And now Zack's dead, and is Shayla is gone to who the hell knows where."

Falling silent, Erik's eyes went dark. "I don't particularly trust the Empire, but I know for certain we can't trust the Sith."

[ 11-23-2008 09:19 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

Not to mention the words she'd called out in approaching just now. Not, "ok, let's go," which would have tumbled brusquely from her mouth not too long ago, but "what do you think?"

My smile flickered, trying to turn into a grin. I let it.

"You look great, kiddo. Tougher than nails. In fact, you make me look pretty worn around the edges."

I paused to peruse my own tattered attire. Gads--! Was I still wandering around in this? I'd had a small chance to freshen up on the ship coming in to Hornett, but had simply put on my own worn clothing, albeit after giving them a good pounding to remove the dust. Said pounding hadn't gone far to remove the rips, tears, shreds and bloodstains they carried; I frowned and looked at Link again.

"Umm... maybe I'd better join you," I smiled, spreading my hands and shrugging gamely. "Lemme see now..."

Now it was my turn to access a nearby banking terminal. It didn't take long to find my account on Sullust; it wasn't nearly the size that Link had withdrawn, but there was enough that I wouldn't have to go about dressed like the local ragman. I withdrew what I thought would be enough, then returned to where Link was standing.

"My turn now, kiddo," I said with a wink as I passed her, heading deeper into the military surplus store to see what I could find. It didn't take long; gathering up several items, and one an unusual one to boot, I headed to a dressing room and changed. Emerging newly attired, old scroungy clothing in hand, I stopped before Link and the shop owner, held my hands out, and turned around.

"Well-?" I mirrored Link's question to me as I came to a quirked-eyebrow halt. "What do you think?"

I was in black fatigue pants, the kind old Imperial TIE pilots wore. A ribbed dusty colored sweater likewise followed Link's example, but instead of covering it with a duster I had found a utility vest. This was colored in a blotchy camo pattern of greens and browns, something that would go a long way toward hiding a person in deep forest, say like that found on Endor. My old brown leather boots were still serviceable, not to mention being old friends, so I didn't bother to replace them. To complete my attire I had found brown leather gloves -- which I stuck in one of the myriad pockets of my vest -- and, of all things, a nicely worn, rich brown fedora. What had caught my eye was the hat band which adorned it: it was a ring of unhatched baby krayt dragon claws. Blasted thing was twice the cost of the other clothing combined, but I couldn't help grabbing it, and once on my head I knew it was there to stay.

I thought it lent me a roguish touch.

[ 11-24-2008 08:25 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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

“Sorry,” Link choked. “I had the weirdest mental image right now, you look good though like only you could make that look work.”

Link moved a few steps over to the counter to pay for her items when she leaned across to the vendor on the other side and hinted she wanted to see the 'less then legal military surplus'. Without hesitation the man seemed to activate something behind the counter which dropped down a display hidden in the ceiling, stocked full of various blasters. If there was one thing Link new as well as or almost as well as slicing, it would be blasters. Looking across the selection she saw many she knew T-6, DL-22, Power 5, ELG-3A, Q2... nothing really caught her eye until she saw an old DC-15s side arm blaster. She had never seen one in person before, but knew it was a standard side arm during the clone wars for the republic arm. Picking it up off the display for a closer look she instantly noticed it was heavier then it was suppose to be, at least according to the specs that she knew about.

Disassembling the blaster she was immediately surprised and overjoyed at what she saw, whoever the previous owner was they managed to swap out the inferior components of the DC-15s side arm blaster with that of the DC-15s blaster carbine, making the thing quite literally the definition of a hand cannon. It was further enhanced by a period specific scope and range finder for a more accurate aiming while fooling the person on the other end in just believing it was a old run of the mill blaster. Smiling at the fortune that came to her Link also took a leather 'cowboy' holster strapping it around her hips and her left thigh. With practiced precision Link twirled the blaster in her left hand forward, back, then down into the holster snapping it into place in one fluid motion.

The man on the other side of the counter started to ring up the total when Link just swiped the cred card through the terminal and transferred the sum of 3500 credits easily three times the worth of the blaster alone. She turned back to Yaoksi and smiled while gently patted the blaster hidden behind her duster.

“I don't know about you,” Link said. “But I felt naked without one of these.”

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

He paused then, chewing his lip thoughtfully. "But this doesn't mean they all feel this way. But all we can go on right now is what we know...

...and we need to do something about it before it's old news. I know you want to buy Stargazer Corp back...

...but then what?"

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

Turning his attentions back to the question, he pursed his lips. "I'm an information smuggler, and if I buy back the company I need to be there to get things going again. And considering all that has happened and what I know and believe concerning the Sith...

...there are still some things I think I need to do. If you need information, then you can use me as a source. But, for the moment, I'm not ready to step back into Sith territory."

He paused. "At least not yet."

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

“I understand,” Kyan stated. “I lost both of my children and my wife. My youngest and my wife from the rampage of a dark Jedi, and my oldest when the empire executed her. I know how you want to be on your own to deal with this right now because I did the same thing which is why I can't and will not try to stop you.”

“Perhaps there is something you can do to help though. My oldest daughter had a child before she was executed and now my granddaughter blames the empire for her mothers death and seeks revenge on them. I want to stop her before she gets killed or worse succeeds and ends up becoming a vessel of hate.”

Kyan removed his hand from Erik's shoulder and returned to his chair.

“I would like to use your information smuggling services to find her and stop her before its to late but I have no credits to my name and little to offer in exchange, but I ask that you help me if you can.