...A couple of hours or a day or so? Which one was it going to be?

On the heels of that thought came another, one stated by an obnoxious shoulder-angel.

Get a grip, pal. She's gonna be just fine. You don't know a hell of alot about it, but you do know that traiining to use Force powers has to take a major toll on a person.

And damn, what Galen had was far more than just Force powers...

Terrin laid a hand alongside Galen's face, in a motion that was nothing short of protective. Likewise, it served to reassure him that she was hale and whole...

...and just completely tuckered out. Then he looked up to Kyan, who was still gazing into the t-visor of his helmet, the look in eyes a bit distant and somehow...

...surprised. "Hey, looks like you might need to take a break and get some rest yourself, pal," he said then, gathering Galen up in his arms and getting to his feet. "I'm gonna get her somewhere more comfortable to rest," Terrin said, nodding to indicate Galen as he turned and headed towards the cargo bay entrance. Then he paused, turning back to the Jedi and quirking a brow. "You look like you could use a drink," Terrin then ventured. "How about it...?"

[ 03-22-2012 12:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

Link got up from her chair and started walking back to the galley with Yaoksi explaining more on the way.

“If the Empire and the Sith slug it out with the Vong we have no guarantee of who will be the victor.” continued Link. “Or who we are better off under if we win. There are plenty of people that hate all three powers so while they fight it out we build a coalition of systems of sort in secret that will be ready to pounce when necessary. All we need if one powerful group to join us and others would likely follow.”

As they approached the cargo bay Link could hear yelling coming from inside. When they arrived at the door Link looked through and saw Terrin holding Galen in his arms and a burnt out Kyan. She rushed over to see what was wrong with them

“Is she alright?” asked Link. Looking over at Kyan she added. “You look like all kinds of hell.”

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

Kyan clipped his helmet onto his belt and stood at the entrance of the Cargo hold. He noticed beyond feeling older his hair and his beard felt longer than before.

I should get that trimmed back like a proper Mando.

"Well, we've madea little course change," he responded, moving along through the corridors of the Challenger. "We're thinking that it would be a good idea to connect with others who are not Sith or Imperial, so we can prep ourselves should neither of them be able to handle the incoming Vong. So unless you have any objections, we're now headed to Mandalore."

He paused then, both verbally and physically, and turned to Yaoksi, who had made his way back to the cargo bay along with Link. He knew the ship like the back of his hand, having only recently acquired her...

...but now she was Yaoksi's ship. "Hey, mind me putting Galen somewhere more comfortable than on of the galley couches to rest? She looks really beat, and to be honest, I haven't a clue in hell when it was last she got any real rest."

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

"Yeah, there's a small medical facility aft," I said, nodding my head in that general direction.

"You want me to carry her--" I held out my arms, but the look shot my way prompted that move to segue smoothly into a completion of the arc. My hands met over my head, fingers laced, and I stretched.

"All righty then, it's this way. Link, you want to take Kyan to the mess hall? See what you can find that he likes; we'll be along as soon as we get Mrs. Danner all tucked in. It will just be a moment."

I smiled at the little gal, gave her another quick squeeze. Then I headed off in the direction of the med-bay, Terrin and his wife in tow.

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

"Looks like she is going to be out for a few," he then said, standing, still wondering about the "flow walk" thing Kyan was talking about. "I'm with you; we should get back with the others and talk over our visit to Mandolore as well as other ideas. Not to mention I just heard back from Jasyn, who says that he's headed to Nkllon, but didn't say whether or not he found Graysith. Quite frankly, I have no clue in Hell why he would be making a stop at Nkllon."

He shook his head. "Something is up."

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

"I couldn't agree more, Terrin," I said as I turned back to him. "I must say I've got a bad feeling about this..."

After making one final, sweeping check of things I headed to the hatchway.

"No sense getting lost in speculation more than once; let's stow it until we're back with the others, and we can all put in our two-credit's worth."

With that I was out and heading to the mess, and soon joined the others who had settled themselves comfortably with food and a lil smackerel of something to drink.

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

...and about it's potential implications.

"So Link and I were thinking maybe we should leave the Sith and the Empire alone for the moment, and make a little sect of our own. It's just the beginning of an idea, but if you think of it, maybe if we get the right allies with good weaponry and good connections, maybe we can come in unexpectedly, and with a potential advantage then, if we keep things close to the vest."

Terrin pursed his lips, then took another sip of his drink. "I'm sure Link can expain it better," he continued with, quirking a brow to the little Ryn and waiting for her to flesh out the idea she had come up with for the others.

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

Got Graysith, but are having some ship difficulties, he keyed in. Also have the Master with us.

[ 03-22-2012 10:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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

"I explained the broad overview to Yaoksi already," said Link. She slid each of them their glasses across the table into their waiting hands.

"But here is what I'm really thinking. The Vong are coming so we stand back and let the Empire along with the Sith duke it out with them. While that is going on and theu are to busy to pay attention we track down every system, corporation, and rebellion that hates the Empire and the Sith then we form our own Coalition of systems for when one side emerges victorious. Because whoever is left is going to ravage whatever is left of the Galaxy. We have some issues to take care of first."

"We need at least one major power to join us as the official haven for our Coalition to operate from, that one reason we want to go to Mandalore. From there we can build more in secret, the second thing..."

Link quickly drew her blaster and threw it onto the table.

"We four plus Galen, are the leadership of the Coalition. No one I mean no one outside of us five is to know we are in charge. When we are not in this group we are proxies of the leadership."

Link sat back down staring at each one of them letting them know that this was a serious matter to consider. She threw in her two cents now she waited to see their response.

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

Both are a possible future they shared, Kan'ika and Gal'ika. So how is it Kan'ika killed me in hers yet I'm present in Gal'ika's. I'm sure Kan'ika's came first so if they are from the same possible future how did they both make sense.

A realization came to Kyan as he replayed the vision of his battle with Kani. He never actually saw himself die, sure stabbed through the chest with a lightsaber but that was Kani's perspective in his vision before she blacked out. Grand Master Skywalker had lived through much worse so why couldn't he survive as well. This realization brought him little solace because it still meant he would have to fight Kani and events might play much differently than what he saw. Snapping back into reality Kyan saw a glass of some spirits in front him. Not questioning how that seemed to materialized before him Kyan proceeded to down its contents before listening intently to Link.

To much of what Link is suggesting parallels what Gal'ika and I saw a new Jedi Temple on Mandalore, and what looked like an alliance between Mandalore, the Jedi, and others from the equipment I saw off of the courtyard.

It didn't take Kyan long to consider what she was proposing in this Coalition as Link put it and realize it may be what lead to what he and Galen saw. Unclipping both his lightsabers from his belt he likewise tossed them into the center of the table alongside Link's blaster.

I was in some sort of medical center. A highly advanced med-droid hovered nearby, only to come clinking to my side when it's sensors registered the pertinent fact that I was awake. Licking dry lips with an even drier tongue, I raised a shaky hand to motion it away.

Then I just lay there, my eyes on the ceiling but my vision encompassing scarcely that...

I remembered. Clear and stark, it was in my head. I had seen my new Master struggling with his own battles... but with a start realized how small, how miniscule those struggles really were.

I remembered as if I had actually been there, a ship of yorik coral, a heinous being, masqueur-cloaked, brilliant of eye and cold of mein, a creature who at first glance would appear to be the bane of all that existed in our Galaxy, for wasn't he coming here with his Vong minions to commandeer it?

But then... but then, again...

There was Something.

Something Else.

I swallowed thickly, staring now up at the ceiling, the apparent visions that had flooded through my heart and soul now taking second place to one final and quite omnipotent image.

One that was just beyond the reach of memory... damningly enough.

Groaning now with effort, I closed my eyes, willing myself to remember everything, one hand now reaching up to clench my forehead in a death grip. There, imprinted on my inner eyelids, was the picture I remembered: Sissy, Lord Aelvedaar, Big Red--

Oh dear Khaandon, what does this mean?

--and the blonde woman, the one -- what was her name? Oh yeah. -- I think that was Shayla, wasn't it? She was special to Sissy, my dear Sissypoops who dammitall had killed in cold blood, had murdered our father, had gone off to the side of the Sith, of all races... had left her humanity...

Left it for me to find in the eyes of something that flashed chrome and silver...

Shuddering, I strained upright, and managed to sit up. The med-droid rushed condescendingly to my side; with a weak wave of one hand I sent it off to find, someone, anyone, who could help me decipher the persistent, nagging images that raged in my head.

It was almost as if I knew...

Heaving a great sigh, I let my body flop back against the pillows, grunting now with the effort of finding that which seemed to be just beyond my reach. Pursing my lips, I hoped someone would come along now, to tell me just what in Hell's Seven Circles had just happened.

[ 04-13-2012 01:26 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

Gal'ika

He marveled at how he could clearly feel Galen through the Force it was as if the Force bond they shared caused his powers to resurface to some degree, but there was no time to dwell on it. Kyan left the table in the galley but stopped at the bulk head of the corridor to call back to Terrin.

“Terrin come with me,” called our Kyan. “Gal'ika is awake.”

Kyan did not wait to see if Terrin followed him, instead he stopped at the bulkhead outside of the med bay.

Terrin needs to see her first, Gal'ika can sense my presence out here and will call for me when she is ready.

Then he headed on inside the pristine medbay, much to the surprise of the meddroid, who appeared to be headed to alert them of Galen's status. Before the droid could say a word Terrin headed past it, heading to Galen's side and squatting beside her. The look in her eyes was distant, as if she was trying to sort through something...

...and altogether too troubled for his liking. He placed a hand alongside her face, directing her eyes gently to his.

Not knowing what else further to say, he simply spoke one simple phrase, hoping to bring her back to reality and assure her that he was present and ready to listen. "Galen, I'm here."

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

"Oh, oh Terrin!" I managed to choke out before wrapping my arms about his neck in something just shy of a death's grip. "It's all... not right! It's all... so, so... terrible, somehow, something is out there, Terrin! Something unimaginable awful! I'm frightened, Terrin; I don't know--"

I pulled him fiercely to me, burying my face in the warm crook of his neck, digging my fingers into his back with the simple effort of remembering.

It wasn't working.

Shuddering now, I pushed him back, struggled to sit more upright, fought to gain control of my emotions, reaching out for the logic I normally had within which for some strange reason had fled somewhere into the Void. I swallowed thickly, tried again.

"I don't understand. I saw it, Terrin; saw it as plain as I'm seeing you now. I saw Ma- I mean, Kyan, fighting with someone... but as awful as it was, even though I think he died, it didn't mean anything. It was-- it was--

"It was tiny, Terrin! And I saw--"

I closed my eyes, the shudders which were racing through me now seeming to travel at lightspeed, so ferociously did my body begin to tremble.

"I saw Sissy, and Lord Aelvedaar, and Big Red, and Shayla; they were all standing around, just standing... and there was the Vong Terrin; they had this guy with them, this awful man who was all thorns and darkness and had the whitest of hair...

"... but somehow, he was tiny too."

One hand relinquished its grip about Terrin, to quickly swipe at my nose. I sniffed, cleared my throat, and tried again.

"There was something else there, something around them, something I couldn't quite see... All I got was an impression of color, of silver, or chrome, and blue... or indigo, or something. And the shadows weren't surrounding it, but were with it somehow; Terrin--

"They were laughing. I couldn't see them, but I could still sense them; I don't know what it means, but Khaandon Terrin, I know it means something...

"Something real."

[ 04-15-2012 02:45 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

...but Terrin didn't allow the rising feeling of doom to take hold. Instead he wrapped an arm about Galen, at first not saying a word, seeking to somehow assuage her rising fears...

...but then pulled back, just enough to look her in the eyes once more. He took another moment to analyze just what she had been saying. And that was when he realized with a start that something about all of this was somehow...

...familiar.

Unconsciously he frowned, his eyes defocusing a bit. Silver, chrome and indigo...

...and laughter. And the appearance, or rather, the feeling or understanding perhaps, that everything and everyone was so very small...

Yes, this was familiar. Terrin's eyes snapped alert, resting once more on Galen's baby browns.

"Silver, chrome, and indigo?" Terrin said, repeating his thoughts and what she had already stated aloud. He paused, pursing his lips. "That Which Is?" he then continued, or rather, asked. "Remember, back on Kori'san, all that about the Natural Order and the 'Game'?"

Terrin paused again as another, even darker, thought surfaced. "Or is this something even Greater?"

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

Only.

"... it's not the same."

The words came out strangely, as though to finish a statement left unspoken. But strange as they may have sounded, they carried upon their backs what seemed, at least to me, to be the weight of the entire Universe, all wrapped up in something dark and unutterably...

Cold.

I threw my arms about myself and shivered, while a veritable flotilla of geese began their march across my skin, raising the flesh as though it too was seeking escape from something unknown and terrible. I squeezed myself harder, trembling, the image of Terrin and Master now fading, bowing down, giving way beneath that something unknown, almost as if the stealthy infusion of that dark and cold were managing to manifest itself.

Perhaps it was...

I bit my lower lip so hard it brought blood. For some reason I felt that if I wasn't careful, that weird awfulness would burst in upon us, and it was only by my effort alone that it was being kept at bay. My brow furrowed with the effort of... of... of doing exactly what, I had no clue.

Just... pushing back.

The weird feeling suddenly vanished. My eyes flew open then, and bit by bit reality reasserted itself. I gradually became aware of light, and people, and the fact that something warm was dribbling down my chin. Shuddering, I raised a weak hand, and wiped the blood away... only to transplant it upon the sheet as I let my arm go limp beside me.

"It's different, Terrin," I began again, trying to return to where I had left off as if by doing so all would be right with the world, as if that weird moment had never even happened. "The colors are the same, but I didn't see any giant eyes. But... but the feel was wrong."

I drew in another breath, looked from one to the other. Sat up quickly, groaning as the effort combined with what I'd been going through for the past hour or so and produced the wickedest headache I've ever had in my life.

"It was evil, Terrin, Master. No; it was more. Somehow, it was a deeper shade of what we'd call evil. It was like... like..."

My eyes opened, blinking now for in the wake of that pounding headache the room suddenly appeared to be entirely too bright.

"Like evil was a mere child of it, some kind of offspring. This was worse; there was no emotion involved that I could really feel. If evil could be apathetic, that's coming close. It was like something expected, somehow.

"Like something completely and entirely natural. As if it was already all wrapped up, part and parcel, in everything that already is."

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

Overwhelming dread and hate, disgust… there is no words to describe what was revealed to them by the Gal’ika yet to come.

Kyan cautiously approached the bed that upon Galen was laying and projected as much calm and peacefulness he could muster across to Galen. He gently laid a hand on her shoulder and tried to use the Force to strengthen her spirit.

“Gal’ika,” said Kyan. “I only wanted to show you the potential I saw in you. I did not realize that your future self would have taken charge of the flow walk to show us our futures. And for that Ad’ika I am sorry it was not my intention to create further fear and doubt about your abilities or the future. But in a way what she did was a good thing if you change your perspective of the issue.”

Kyan removed his hand and pulled up a chair to sit next to Galen’s bed.

“You could take everything at face value,” suggested Kyan. “What you saw is exactly what will unfold, I will be killed by my granddaughter and a great evil will be unleashed upon the galaxy. The other perspective is that by my death at the hands of my granddaughter was able to save her, or for all we know I didn’t actually die. And the great evil we felt was something from future Gal’ika’s past we are now shown a reference to when that event takes place. Flow walking can only reveal a possible future, if we are to change that future or overcome it you first must believe that it can be changed. I know at this moment you don’t feel like it is a possibility, but your future self did I could sense that. Believe that one day you can get to that point and I will help you get there ad’ika.

Kyan had said all he could on the matter it was up to Galen to decide for herself if she wanted to continue. He was feeling the last of his strength wavering while Galen only was exhausted from the use of her Force powers Kyan felt the physical effects of channeling those abilities. Getting up he took his leave heading to one of the guest quarters but briefly stopped at the entrance of the med bay.

“Let me know when we arrive in the Mandalore system,” Kyan said. “I will make arrangements we need with my people then. Gal’ika I know this may seem like an impossible request of you but our Force bond has a greater effect than you think it does. Whether you realize it or not I suspect you are learning on an unconscious level to do everything I have done. Try to access that knowledge to meditate on what you have seen and on what I have said. If you need to talk feel free to wake me.”

And that what she was trying to relate to he and Kyan was way more kriffing serious than the Force, maybe even the All, and most certainly even their least favorite nemesis That Which Is.

After all, she had stated there was far more to all of what she had seen than Kyan's death, her sister, Shayla, and all the Sith.

And Kyan was going to say a few parting words and then walk off and leave Galen in said state, with such significant concerns...? Seriously?

Keeping his final thoughts to himself, Terrin shook his head a bit, then turned back to Galen, whose eyes were clouded with worry and concern and something entirely terrible that literally hurt him to even see there. Reaching out, he placed a hand gently under her chin and directed her eyes to his although he wasn't certain she was really seeing him. Instead he had a feeling she was seeing whatever horrible thing she had sensed during the flow walk, still trying to find the words to describe it and the strength to not give in to the fear and alarm it obviously was creating in her soul. Terrin searched for any words he might have to calm her fears and to let her know that while he couldn't quite understand what had just happened that he believed her...

...and that he wanted to help her bear the weight of her fears. He understood that she was talking about something even greater and Darker than the Force, the All, or even That Which Is.

Something dark and altogether Apathetic? No wonder she was terrified.

"This is about more than just Kyan's death and your potential future, isn't it?" Terrin queried simply, realizing that what he was asking sounded a bit stupid considering she had said as much. But he wanted her to understand that he understood what she was trying to get across. "Another Player of the Game?" he said, still trying to put words to what she was trying to tell him. Then his eyes darkened. "Or a Master of All that Is, the Creator of the so-called Game...?"

...And perhaps of All That Is...? came an unspoken, and highly disturbing, mental addendum.

[ 07-22-2012 08:38 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

How could he not see that this was way beyond that Force to which he clung. It may even be greater than the weirdness Sissy wielded...

It hit me full in the face then.

"He- he just doesn't know," was all I could say, whispering the words more as a reassurance to myself than anything else. Another bout of shivering wracked my frame, and I threw my hands around myself, hugging myself fiercely, trying to gain strength from the Ol' Galen of Yore before finally yielding to the moment and burying myself against Terrin's warmth.

"It's not that, it's not something I can do, there's not anything anybody can do, oh it's horrible, but the thing that is most horrible is that I don't think we're supposed to know, and now I do, or at least I've been shown something, and, oh Terrin, I don't know what to do!"

I dug deeper, flattening my nose against his chest, snuffling a little as the words rambled from my lips willy-nilly. On and on I blathered; that was the most terrible thing, because even as I tried and tried to explain, I couldn't help but feel that the explanation I was trying to give simply pulled farther and farther away from the truth. A truth I couldn't get across to save my life.

A truth I had seen. But sure as there's Treasure on Roon didn't understand.

"Why did I see this, why?" I garbled, snuffling against Terrin's shirt yet again, my fingers digging into the cloth. Then I stopped, blinking, and pushed away so I could look up into Terrin's dear, blue eyes.

"Am I crazy, Terrin?" I whispered, hoping to Khaandon that yes indeedy Galen ol gal, what with all the experiences you've had since that day you snatched Sorben out from under the nose of Darth Wicked, you have most assuredly gone right round the bend.

For the other option open to me, and more than likely to us all, was something I didn't know if I could live with... if I even had a choice in the matter at all.

[ 07-25-2012 08:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

You aren't a Force-user, or someone who is capable of controlling the All. You're just a pilot turned salesman. Galen's Master shoud be here helping her through this.

But Terrin only gave the shoulder-being a moment's thought. Mentally shaking is head, he slapped the thing back into nonexistence.

Now is not the time for such things!

Focusing entirely on Galen, Terrin reached out and placed one hand around each of her shoulders, his grasp gentle yet firm. He looked even more deeply into her eyes, seeking to say something to bring out the strong individual he knew so very well.

"No, I believe you," he said said simply, then following it with, "and we are going to figure this out...

... somehow." He paused then, hoping that Galen would not interpret this as him taking lightly what she was saying, for he was doing far from that. "You said you knew but didn't think you were supposed to know..."

He trailed, pursing his lips a bit, the pieces of a thought not quite put together in the back of his mind as he finished with, "...How...?"

[ 07-25-2012 08:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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

I focused on that one, little word as if it held the answer to the mystery of what I had seen. Of course it didn't in the least; all it did was distract me from trying to get myself together, lending itself as yet another question mark in a growing sea of them.

Or was it?

Funny how the mind works. One moment you're in a state of panic. Of total terror. Or deep anger. Rage. Whatever; something strong, an emotion that doesn't merely take you by the nose and lead you along but blasts against you like the emissions from a volcano, hot and fiery. The next...

One. Simple. Word. An interjection, if you will, that knocks you from the rail you're on and segues you off into quite clearly a different direction. One word...

"What."

I pulled away again, the tears blurring my vision suddenly drying, leaving me with stuffed nose and red-rimmed eyes. But in the wake of that strange segue came the ability to think, to question in my own right, to act and not merely bow down in blind, terrified reaction.

"Not how, Terrin. What! What are the Vong doing with someone who reminds me of Darth Wicked? What were Sissy and Aelvedaar and those other Sith all doing together? What did that mean?"

I flung myself upright, still sniffling and snuffling a bit but at least I was gradually becoming more and more my old self. The Beast had been faced, and while I knew it could elicit nothing but sheer, raw, and animalistic fear from me, I was heartened in that I could rebound.

And think.

Take that, Old Googly! I thought with a snort, although somehow I didn't think what I had felt was That-Which-Is at all. Something Greater, as Terrin said. But for now, there was a closer step to take, an event demanding we take a closer look. Whatever the Monster in the background was... it could wait.

For the moment.

"There's something, some connection between them," I started in again, now pacing about the little med bay. "A- a commonality. That's why I saw only certain Sith... and then there was me, Terrin. I saw me, an older me, a future me? Anyway, the me I saw smiled, as if I knew something, I mean, well, she knew something that we just can't see right now..."

I paused and turned to Terrin, my arms unconsciously going around myself yet again. For it seemed that yet again the Monster was baring its teeth, defying me, trying again to keep me from gleaning anything remotely resembling an answer out of the vision I so badly needed Kyan to tidy up for me.

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

Terrin was pretty sure he really wasn't helping Galen figure this all out, even though he really wanted to do so. "As for what all those particular Sith and the Wicked-like character and Vong have in common..."

He trailed, recalling somesthing. "There is the fact that both your sister and Shayla have been aboard a Vong ship, and that Aelvedaar managed to first pull your sister and then Shayla from said ship which was galaxies away from us."

He shook his head again. "I've never quite reconciled with the fact he was able to do that, no matter how extraordinary his powers were. The Sith have stated for quite some time that the Vong are coming...

...and we had pretty good reason to believe that Roan might have been allied with them. Remember, he is the one who sent your sister to the ship to begin with."

Terrin shrugged, still processing. "Maybe what you saw is indicating there is some sort of Alliance there."

Standing, cocked his head a bit in Galen's direction, an eerie realization suddenly slamming home. Galen's statement regarding a commonality between all the characters she had seen was suddenly coloring things in a different light.

"Come to think of it, those ships of the Vong are alive..."

He trailed a moment, chewing his lip again. "...and you know very well that the Sith's fighters and ships seem to have intelligence of their own. Not exactly the norm, to say the least..."

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

I paused in mid-step, turned, and gave Terrin an incredulous look, while a gaggle of geese started marching up and down my spine, accompanied with the sudden recurrence of the chill I had just managed to force from my bones.

How could I have missed that connection? Me, the one who had absconded with not one but two of the uncanny Sith ships -- oh how I missed my Jesters! I had been so impressed with their capabilities I never stopped to consider exactly how such capabilities had come into being to begin with.

Then another thought struck me. My eyes widened.

"That's a two-way street, Terrin," I said in a low voice as the possibility of a Vong-Sith connection grew into something approaching a probability.

I bit my lip.

"It- it's sure looking like the Sith have had some connections with the Vong, and for quite some time, doesn't it?" I went on. Part of me sat up and chastised me for leaping to conclusions in the light of what really could only be thought of as circumstantial evidence...

...but my guts were screaming I was right. And that the Sith were more than likely Masters of the Vong.

And something even more terrifying had its sticky little fingers in the worm-ridden pot as well.

I jerked, brought mounting terror back under iron-fisted control. Drawing a deep breath, I crossed my arms and let my chin jut defiantly into the air.

"Well then, if this is the case, we've got to find a way of proving that our speculations are true. Then we've got to take what we know to the Impys; they're running the show -- well, so far -- and if we could only convince them of all this we could start putting ourselves on Red Alert or something.

"Or maybe I could get Sissy to help us. Get her to come back to her humanity or something."

I couldn't help shaking my head at this, for she seemed to have turned herself completely into what might be the biggest threat our Galaxy, if not our universe, had ever faced.

Despite Ol' Googly and whatever implications he/she/it entailed.

I shook my head again, cognizant of the vision of Kyan and his daughter... and my appearance with them on what I could only assume to be Mandalore. Now I doubted if we should even be going to them at all. Would they agree to help us, and if so, would it be enough? Could it be that with their presence in our corner we could at least hold the forces of the Empire at bay long enough so that I could get to Sorben and get him to listen to me?

Or was the vision telling me that in this attempt the Mandalorians would be seen as a threat to the Empire, and I would myself be bringing about Kyan's death, in the process setting in motion new dissidence, minor at best when relatively speaking, a time-waster that would keep us squabbling like flies on a dung heap while the real threat loomed quietly closer, unseen and unnoticed until it was too late?

I exhaled my frustrations, and told Terrin of my thoughts, wondering in Khaandon's name just what would be the best course of action to take. But we had to do something; we held too much knowledge between too few people, and the right people needed to know this before something else unexpected cropped up, to set us off on another wild goose chase.

Or worse.

[ 07-30-2012 06:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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

But they simply had to do just that.

"I'm not sure what the answer is," he admitted then honestly. "What I do know, however, is that up until this point we've collectively been talking about keeping all of this under wraps and laying low, with a potential alliance with Mandalore, while the incoming Vong show up and the Empire battles it out with them...

...only waiting to show up when both have worn each other down, or at least until the Empire was worn enough that they may listen to what we have to say."

He paused, frowning, and shrugging his shoulders. "That seems to make alot of sense...

...excepting I don't know if I can really live with myself if I sit back and watch others get slaughtered when I knew full well what was coming."

He paused then, pursing his lips, processing his thoughts some more in light of what Galen was revealing to him regarding her vision. "And I have to agree with you...

...do we really have enough oomph, even with Mandolorian allies, to do anything about what is incoming? Or is that just it...

...and what Kyan is really trying to get across to you? I know damn well you've got way more than just the Force in you, and I would hope Kyan is realizing that too. You are capable of way more than you think."

He paused then, looking at her earnestly. "And in regards to letting the Empire know what we know, just maybe we do have an advantage there. Tarnus has been to the Sith worlds, and has experienced things firsthand there. I don't believe for one second he doesn't see the Sith as a potential threat. Of course, proving to him that there are Vong incoming and entangled with the Sith may be more difficult."

Pausing a final time, Terrin frowned once more. "Unless, of course, maybe Tarnus knows something of that too and we just don't know it."

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