NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Go to the OOC thread if you have any OOC comments. For reference, this RP is closed to those who have already signed up. That's pretty straightforward. I'm gonna begin by introducing Jacen Thomas, a young(er) Jedi Knight on the planet of Geneticon...

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A slow rummaging form glistened in the distance of his eyes. The form was dark and round, and seemed to charge accross the desert land with as much ease as soap sliding on water. It was a large vehicle of some sort. Important. Perhaps a government affiliation. Who knew? The man staring at it did... and so he sat here and waited for it. He waited for it to come.

While he waited, he slowly sipped a Geneticon special, the Elipse Delight. A large drink filled with various mixtures of alcahol. These days, the man had been drinking more of them then usual. Off duty of course. When his master was around, he typically ducked the drink away, hoping he wouldn't find out. So far he had been fairly successful. He had only been caught a few times, and even then the reproach had been small. Of course, if he were caught this time there might be consequences, but frankly he didn't care. He liked the way the drink made him feel inside. Painless.

He had spent most of his life searching for it: a solution to the pain. Only here in the desert of Geneticon was such a thing possible. Only sipping his Delight was he able to forget his pain. These were the moments that he savored, knowing that any one of them may be his last.

His name was Jacen Thomas.

As the vehicle drew near, it was now easier to percieve that it was a large Geneticon Postal Service hovercraft. It carried various letters to Jacen and his master every few days or so, and so Jacen had known to wait out for it. He dropped his drink onto the nearby sun table and walked to the craft. His large white robe covered his body from head to toe, and underneath was a black leather suit. This was his preferred appearance.

One thing that no one could see, short of using X-Ray vision, was the two lightsabers that hung from Jacen's belt. He kept them hidden under the robe, careful not to let the folds come apart and reveal them. He couldn't allow the government to know who he was. He couldn't let the government know he had a Jedi weapon.

The Force was typically frowned upon these days. People were resorting more to mind power and blasters rather than feeling their way through the Force, and becoming one with their surroundings. And why shouldn't they? It was much safer the way they were going. Fewer people got hurt when the Force was ignored. Yet, it was still there, shrouded behind the hoods of all those who still practiced it. Like Jacen and his master.

Taking a package and a few letters from the postal worker, Jacen smiled and said a quick thanks, before turning back and heading for the small desert abode that he and his master Liam had lived in for the past nine years.

It had been a good nine years. Ever since the evil Darth Solous had been defeated in the Orb of Forever, no one had given a thought to the Dark Side of the Force. As far as most were concerned, it was over... for good. But Jacen and Liam knew better. They knew that evil could only be temporarily defeated, no totally destroyed. So they had trained.

For nine years they sweated and bled on the sands of Geneticon, learning the arts of the Force deeper than they had ever learned. They had both become powerful and insightful. Liam had grown even wiser and more knowledgeable than before (if that was even possible) and Jacen had learned to be more calm in the Force (if that was even possible).

Bottom line: The two had grown in the Force.

Jacen chuckled as he stared down at the letters and walked back to his chair. Taking a seat, he shuffled through a few letters and tossed a few others. The package was addressed to Liam, so he left that one alone. Finishing with his mail, he turned back to his drink and began to sip again.

Today had been another long day of training and rehearsing in the Force. And why shouldn't it be? The galaxy was in unrest. There were attacks going on in nearly every major city accross the galaxy every day. Thankfully, the tremors had not reached Geneticon yet, but who could say when they would? And who could say when the threats became more serious?

Leaning back, Jacen took in a deep breath and breathed out again. It was going to be a quiet evening...

They were blissfully ignorant.

The small freighter docked with the passenger liner, cutting through the bulkhead and sending raiders onboard. Fullisades of blaster fire took out the scattered resistance onboard, and soon the pirates were weighed down with jewels, precious metals, and Republic credits.

Nobody saw the cloaked Nightwing jump out of hyperspace.

Nobody saw two concussion missiles slide out of its underbelly and soar towards the pirate ship.

They did see the two missiles impact, however, shredding the freighter and sending durasteel and unused Tibanna gas flying all over space. The seal with the passenger liner was broken, all the air whooshing out and sending people flying into space. The pirates, thoughtfully outfitted with air masks, fired a few feeble shots at the Nightwing as it started to recloak itself. A fullisade of laser fire ceased the pirates' existence quickly and cleanly as the Infiltrator eased into hyperspace.

Behind it, the passenger liner imploded like a blue milk can, killing anybody else inside.

Darth Ieltarion didn't know. Darth Ieltarion didn't care. The pirates were dead.

One more small step in restoring order to a galaxy that had long forgotten the meaning of it.

The two young people-one man, one woman-laughed and conversed in the long grass, waterfalls cascading behind them, the air fresh and free, the sky a starling blue with fluffy white clouds providing blobs of variety. The girl laughed and embarced the man, her long brown hair flinging in the wind. The man smiled-he had an air of ruggedness around him. He was average height, muscular, and seemingly weathered. It was obvious he'd been through a lot, but now was apparently bliss. The couple continued to play for several minutes before another stranger appeared.

"Enjoying yourselves?" the stranger inquired, malice in his voice.

The couple closed together, the man shielding the girl with his body, a determined look on his face. He drew a weapon-a vibroblade.

"Oh, I don't think that will help you," said the stranger.

With a flash, he let out a giant stream of light from all his pores, shooting red and orange fire around. From the inferno emerged a ship, a cruiser, seemingly hobbled together of hulks that floated in the air in front of the couple. It let out a giant blast of fire, engulfing the entire scene, a deadly halo of tortured existence...

"We just entered the system, master."

Yuvan Udonis woke with a start, sweat covering his brow, his hair soaked. Above the small couch-like bed he lay in was a long Outland rifle, Czerka manufacture, capable of killing with ease. Killing was Udonis's life now.

Just a dream, he thought to himself, but it was one that would not go away. Persistent little bitch. His mind had apparently decided to torture him night after night with the death of his second love of his life-every time a different scenario. The scene just previously of the picnic they had held on Rydoni, back when Udonis was content in Amazonian territory, was a new one.
She was all he had longed for in this life...no longer.

The capital world of the Republic stretched before him, not all that different from Amazonia that he had taken several strolls through himself-except that Coruscant was a considerable bit bigger, and considerably far from any Amazonian holdings. For a man who had grown up on the lava world of Uma-Kiin, Coruscant was a big deal. Uma-Kiin was a big world by Amazonian standards, and even by this foreign government's standards-standards that didn't apply to the Dominion. However, Udonis wasn't particularly fond of either one. None truly gave order and equality like they always promised, and pirates-the very same that had robbed him of his passion-were always up to something new.
There were no pirates on this city-planet, however, though Udonis could make it that way with quite a bit of ease. Indeed, he intended to do a little bit of riling up in the next few days.

Udonis wiped the sleep from his eyes, moving past the protocal and modified assassin droid, LOA-7, that had woken him. Climbing down into his pilot seat next to the seat occupied by the droid. His ship was a good one. The Shattered Faith was a good, strong, and fairly young ship, built by some of the best in the business. The Xi Char ship was slightly alien, but it was home to Udonis on the inside-the first he'd really had since the days on Uma-Kiin as a child. The ship had bonded with him, become a partner in the life of the hunt that Udonis loved so much.
Sighing, the man relaxed in his pilot seat as he casually guided the ship down through the atmosphere. He had some work to do-but it could wait a little.

Jodo Rann awoke in a cold sweat. His eyes darted around the dark room and the only sound he could hear was the fast beating of his heart. Slowly, he began to calm down. He climed out of bed and went to his bedroom window to open the curtains.

He looked upon corusants never-ending cityscape and was reminded how far away from home he was. home... it reminded him of his bad dream.

He could hear his mothers voice soothing him. he could see her beautiful face over hime while she cradled him. Then he could hear sounds of blasters firing, shouts and screams... then his parents dead bodies........

He was jolted back to reality by a taxi whizzing dangerously close to his window. He walked over to the kitchen and poured himself a drink. He drank the bandaloonian spirits quickly.

then he remembered why he was here. He had a job to fulfill, and an obligation to not only the jedi, but to the entire galaxy. He had a long day in store.

"Master watch out!" Chikane deflected another close blast.

"Theres too many of them, what do we do master?"

"Stay close, try to hold them off!"


A large blast sperated them. Chikane opend her eyes. The memories always haunted her.

"Master Chikane...."

"Yes Master, I'm sorry."

"I can sense much turbulance in you Master. Regarding your lost apprentice."

"Yes Master."

"We've discussed this Master Chikane. You fought your hardest, what happend wasn't your fault, you were simply out numberd."

"It was my job to protect her and train her in the ways of the force, master. and I lost her, probably to the Sith."

"You realize if this has happend, it's very unlikely you will be abel to save her regardless."

"But don't all of us good or evil have some spec of rightousness in our hearts master? "

"This is true but the dark side of the force has a strong will just as much as the good side."

"Yes Master."

"Now Chikane, I feel it's time to give you an assignment. You have been out of the loop for sometime you are getting rusty. The Prime Minister would like you to deliver this to Geneticon."

"Why so far? And why us? Why not simply the Galactic Postall Fedration?"

"He want's a Jedi for the job."

"All right I'll do it."

The Nightwing emerged from hyperspace over the capitol of the Republic. Coruscant's glittering lights illuminated space around it, briefly reflecting off the surface of the Nightwing as it shimmered, and then disappeared.

The Infiltrator landed soflty in an abandoned lot not far from the Jedi Temple. Ieltarion's red eyes gimmered briefly with hate as he raised his hood, concealing his face under its shadow. The weight of his lightsaber felt comforting on his hip as he caught an air taxi to the Underlevels.

The Ezaltian could sense the Bothan driver's fear as the taxi dove, the sun gradually disappearing and the temperature steadily dropping. The tai touched down gently, Ieltarion handing the driver a few credits and then melting away into the crowd. The driver shuddered as he accelerated the taxi as fast as it would go back to the surface. He hated going to the Underlevels, and there was something about the passenger that just seemed...wrong.

Ieltarion stopped in front of the overly glitzy cantina The Gnarly Gungan, scoffing slightly at its neon-covered exterior. This was the right meeting place, though, and he made his way inside, sitting at the bar and ordering an Ootini Martini. All he had to do now was wait.

OOC: Amazonian, could you have Undonis meet Ieltarion here? They'll discuss his payment to capture Shasta.

OOC2: did anyone catch what the name of his drink as referring to?

There she was, nursing a drink at the other end of the bar and looking around curiously. Ieltarion slugged down the rest of his glowing purple concoction and walked over to her, placing a paw on her shoulder and whispering in her ear, "Wait five minutes and meet me in the alley on the west side of the building."

Venting plasma from its dorsal plate, Brain Jar entered Coruscant space. Burns in her armor gave grim testimony to the battle that she had been in, and an unretracted plasma cannon or two showed how she had dealt out more damage than she had taken.

There had been four pirate ships, and they had eschewed all contact, merely opening fire the instant Brain Jar entered the asteroid belt of a sun some five light years or so distant from this sector. There had been no choice.

Now, there was also no choice. Brain Jar needed repairs, and this was the closest system with an orbiting space yard. As the Metal Man piloted her in, his last thought was to be glad that a Jedi expense account still carried with it certain privaleges.

The cargo ship Chikane hitched a ride on emerged from hyper space, right over Courcant. Chikane didn't like passing over Courcant, it was usually very busy with space traffic, but it was the easiest way to get to Geneticon. Chikane enterd the bridge. "I sense something..." She said.

"Bad?" The pilot asked concernedly, all to famiar with Jedi and their feelings.

"No. Another Jedi is near, but I sense a bit of distress." Her eyes befell the damaged ship.

"Call that ship, it looks like it needs some help."

"Calling shp Jar Brain this is the captian of the Celestial Mover are you in need of assitance?"

OOC: Whoa, that whole "dream and wake up" intro really caught on...

IC:
The streets were crowded this day as evening crawled over the Coruscant skyline. To Udonis, it reminded him of Amazonia a little too much-the sun reflecting off the sea of metal that reflected society. He was not normally a thinking man-rather, a reflex man-but this scene almost drew reflection. Almost.
As a doing man, Udonis knew he had a job to do. An appoitment to fulfill, precisely. He prefered to sink in with the other crowds of various humans and aliens, weaving through traffic, knocking some pedestrians to his sides with force of body. He didn't have a care for people he didn't know, and mainly zoned out the entire trip until he heard the music blaring at decibles out onto the busy street. He knew he was in that part of Coruscant where anything could be bought.
His eyes prying the signs of the pubs and cantinas, vender shops and retailers, Udonis skimmed to the side of the thoroughfares, his loose clothing-Core wear, but lined customly by Udonis with armor weave-flapping lightly in the slight breezes that shot down the horizontal-laid streets. To both sides were what looked like simple poches for anything that a standard Core dweller may need, but in reality they were more insidious. Each carried a Czerka CX-5 heavy blaster pistol, tough weapons with a great fire rate and containing enough ammo for Udonis not to have to reload often. They were for last-ditch moves, however-Yuvan fully expected any nuiscance on the street to be solved with muscle and brawn-of which he had plenty.
Bright green and pink lights finally showed Udonis the entrance to the Gnarly Gungan-a place that reminded the bounty hunter all too much of your standard hanger cantina for all the new spacers, which Udonis had visited many times-and had occasionally shot up, too. The place didn't seem all that special as Udonis walked in, sniffing the air nonchalantly-a perfume-ish smell, combined with sweat and natural pheremones. Normal for a cantina like this.
Udonis walked past the counter, simply eyeing the customers. He wasn't searching for the Sith-the dark sider could find him himself-but it was his usual custom at a new place to eye everyone around, test the clientale, see who seemed the big names, maybe even spot a contract and take care of him.
What Udonis didn't expect was some punk apparently thinking Udonis was a standard patron. The kid, probaly about nineteen, flashed past Yuvan, hand digging into his pocket and emerging with a hydrospanner. The kid obviously hadn't figured out that what he had picked up was simply an undustrial tool that Udonis kept around for kicks, but Yuvan didn't like people stealing his property-especially when they seemed years younger and probaly about a quarter or fifth as strong. Considerably faster, Udonis slammed past a Pazaak table, overturning cards and drinks as the kid ran further into the cantina. Yuvan was considerably faster, closing in during open runs, but the kid was manuevering with more agility through packs of startled patrons, compared to Udonis-who just slammed right through like a banthaa.
The bounty hunter was tiring of the game-time to end it quickly. As the kid dashed past the main bar, Udonis pulled out a grenade-a stun grenade, not activated. It would simply serve to knock the kid down, and wouldn't activate. If anyone saw, they could just keep their mouth shut-or have it shot. Udonis wound up with the grenade, hurling the dormant device between two groups of stunned patrons. The grenade was true of its mark, and slammed right into the spot of skin which covered the kid's brain stem. The petty theif went sprawling on the floor, the hydrospanner spinning.
Udonis grabbed both of his lost items, pocketing them. He grabbed the kid by the neck, planting him against the wall with his left hand as his right pulled out one of the blasters.

"Care to explain?" he asked calmly of the kid.

The thief didn't-couldn't-answer, choking through Udonis's hand smashing his throat into the wall, on the verge of breaking the vocal cords.

"Not a very talkative one, I suppose," mused Udonis. "I'm not sure people like you learn lessons."

Taking the blaster, he pressed it against the kid's forehead, switching off the safety. The kid tried to swallow, shaking uncontrollably. Udonis smiled, a sickening grin, lifting the blaster and pistol-whipping the kid upside the head instead-nonlethal, but enough to crack the skull bone and leave the kid unconscious, and later, in serious pain. With that, he picked up the thief's body, throwing it against one of the far walls. Maybe a munificent patron would look after him-or maybe he would rot there until he woke up with a 'splitting' headache.
Holstering the blaster, Udonis turned to face several groups of patrons.

"You didn't see anything here."

Silent as a shadow, Ieltarion dropped behind her. "I have a job for you. I want the Jedi Shasta captured and brought to me. I will contact you when you have her. A hundred thousand credits now, and a further two hundred thousand once I have her. Use whatever means necessary, but I want her alive."

He then exited the alley, activating a small comlink. "Rautis, follow her. Make sure she doesn't do anything..unnecessary."

OOC: Don't worry, Amazonian, he'll contact you separately.

Yellow, serpent eyes flickered with interest as the disruption in the cantina unfolded before the crowds of surprised and nervous patrons. Darth Rauntis was not impressed.

Sitting merely yards away from the conflict in a corner booth, hood pulled up around his scaled head and purple-gloved claws resting on the lightsaber hidden beneath his cloak, the Trandoshan Sith bared his sharp white teeth, frustrated with the task he'd been assigned. Patience had never been his line of expertise, perhaps why he mentally questioned his master's motives so often. There were several issues the lizard man had with his superior. For one, he had difficulty understanding why his master had chosen mercenaries to capture the Jedi Shasta when a Sith apprentice was readily available. Perhaps Rauntis was reckless; he wielded the Force with uncontrollable rage, and surplus anger led to sloppy mistakes. This assumption was reasonable, as Rauntis had grown a reputation amongst his brethren for his uncouth methods of violence.

But if Darth Ieltarion opted for stealth rather than force, why had he chosen these particular bounty hunters for the job? Rauntis had not observed either of them for longer than a couple minutes, and he could already tell they were as reckless and violent as himself. A stun grenade on a simple thief? Over a hydro-spanner? What's worse, the revenge exacted was not even lethal! How could these fools hope to capture a Jedi crashing about like an angry krayt dragon but wielding the killer instincts of a jawa? It was despicable, and Rauntis had been against the idea of hiring freelancers from the beginning. But he was obedient, and his dark side calling demanded that he followed his master's will.

Briefly he rested his reptilian eyes and leaned his head back against the cushioned booth seat, trying to store his agitation for a later event. From the time he had become a Sith apprentice his aspirations had been wildly cut down. Under-used and underappreciated, Rauntis sometimes felt his only purpose was to serve as a tool for bloodshed. Maybe that wasn't such a negative thing; he was very good at murder. But deep down inside he knew the Scorekeeper was displeased. You could only kill so many wookies, slaughter so many people...Rauntis knew his deity grew restless with him. To think of the Jagganath points he'd be rewarded for a Jedi kill was almost enough for him to disobey his master and seek out this Shasta himself. Such ideas had crossed his mind before, but he had always buried them in the folds of his brain. The Dark Side was strong with him. It called to Rauntis; it told him to do otherwise. To follow his own ambitions.

But not yet. Not now. Now there was the problem of the Jedi Knights. It was because of them he was forced to wear an infernal cloak and sneak about like a ranat. They sought out his kind with an unmatched fury, seeking to destroy the Sith with all the power they could accumulate. To even pass by Coruscant was dangerous for a Sith, let alone do business on the planet. But it was a neccessity they could not go without, for the galaxy's jewel was the target of a great many of their plans. Soon their scheme would come to fruition. Then he could focus on his own agenda.

Suddenly Darth Rauntis' comlink crackled to life, and the merciless voice of his Selonian superior hissed dangerously in his ear. "Rauntis, follow her. Make sure she doesn't do anything...unneccessary."

The reply was quick and to the point. "As you wish, master."

Slipping out of his booth and exiting the cantina, Rauntis made his way around to the other side of The Gnarly Gungan, where he had parked a Bespin Motors JR-4 Swoop, only modified in the way that it now had a blaster cannon mounted on the bottom of it. He would wait for Telsa to exit the other alley and than he would follow her. Playing shadow games wasn't his forte, and he didn't like having to babysit somebody doing a job Rauntis was perfectly capable of. However, there was a reason he was an apprentice...he would do as his master wished for now. But Rauntis' day to shine would come, and it would come with a vengeance.

The cargo ship Chikane hitched a ride on emerged from hyper space, right over Courcant. Chikane didn't like passing over Courcant, it was usually very busy with space traffic, but it was the easiest way to get to Geneticon. Chikane enterd the bridge. "I sense something..." She said.

"Bad?" The pilot asked concernedly, all to famiar with Jedi and their feelings.

"No. Another Jedi is near, but I sense a bit of distress." Her eyes befell the damaged ship.

"Call that ship, it looks like it needs some help."

"Calling shp Jar Brain this is the captian of the Celestial Mover are you in need of assitance?"


OOC: The Metal Man is not a Jedi. In fact, his mechanical mind/body is so non-Jedi that he actually interferes with the abilities of any force user around him. This has not stopped him from training force-adepts--and he has trained adepts who went on to become both Jedi and Sith. He is basically a brain in a jar--hence the name of the ship that he pilots. Thus, his appearance and capabilities can change dramatically depending on the "suit" that he "wears." Some of these are humanoid and some are not. He works with the Jedi these days, as they have found him unswervingly loyal when they've called upon him and they find his particular ability to "shut down" the force has its uses. Jedi have a hard time "feeling" him, though, because, to them, he's like a void in the force.

IC:

"This is Brain Jar to Celestial Mover. Thanks for the offer, but we just need to put in for some repairs. Ran into a nest of space pirates trying to mine some water in a nearby asteroid belt. Nothing that a good body shop won't be able to fix in a couple of days. Maybe we can meet on the planet, if you've got the time, and discuss the situation with these pirates. They're starting to interfere with shipping."

One Day Later

It had taken a goodly amount of patience, but the Metal Man had managed, eventually, to secure the services of a reputable repair yard. It had required that he pilot Brain Jarp to the planet's surface, but the Metal Man was known both for his patience and his ability to accomodate. As his ship was being patched up, he found himself sitting in a local tavern, The Gnarly Gungan, and indulging his penchant for inconsequential conversation. Though, as a cyborg, he did not eat or drink, the bartender had decided that his company was acceptable after he had paid for a round. Besides, he looked like an obese, elderly human male in the suit that he was wearing at the time. It was pretty boring, and that was better than most of the forms of excitement that the cyborg could think of. He wondered if his friends from the Celestial Mover were going to show up and discuss something that held some consequence.

As he watched, a young man ran past him, followed by a slightly older one. Keeping an eye on the situation, the Metal Man realized that the younger of the two was in trouble. He had obviously stolen something from the older, and had run into someone who could run faster than he. This was unusual. He was alone, and thieves normally worked in teams. Whatever he had stolen, under "normal" circumstances, should have long since been passed on to another team member. This was to help avoid--

The older one brought him down. In a moment, the young man--little more than a boy, actually, was pressed against a nearby wall, and, in another, pistol whipped, thrown on the floor and left to die, his captor muttering something about him not learning well. The Metal Man excused himself from the table.

By the time he got to the young man, another patron had already slung him over her shoulders. He turned his sensors to the main injury. There was a signifigant subdermal hemotoma, and a hairline fracture in the lad's skull. This was a bad combination. Unless treated there and then, it would kill him within a day's time.

The Metal Man slid a plasma blaster from his belt. The woman who had held him dropped him and ran. Patrons' hands raced to their weapons. The Metal Man smiled. He twisted the handle and popped out the energy cell, then inserted it into another component that he had been wearing. In a moment, he had assembled a bone-knitting laser. He placed it against the lad's temple and slowly, gently ran it across the fracture. In a moment, it was healed. Then, he adjusted the setting and sealed off the blood vessels that were causing a nasty bruise to appear. As he stood up, the lad was already starting to regain consciousness.

"You should be alright," the Metal Man said, returning his equipment to its places within his robes. "Though I recommend a slight change of profession." He turned to go back to his table as the young man rose unsteadily to his feet.

"Wait," he called out.

The Metal Man turned back.

"I just wanted to say 'thank you.'"

"You're welcome."

"Well--gotta g--." And with that, the lad made a grab at the Metal Man's belt.

It didn't work. Before his fingers reached his quarry, the cyborg's hand had them. Before he knew what had hit him, his arm was held in an expertly-laid finger lock. As the lad writhed in pain, his new captor shook his head. "You really can't learn, can you?"

It took fairly little time for the cyborg to move the urchin out of the bar and hurl him into the street. Then, he noticed that he had walked through the back door himself and that this had locked him out of the bar. To avoid further conflict, he cloaked. Invisibly, he headed around to the front entrance--a path that took him through an alley on the west side of the bar.

And it was while he was there that he heard the rudiments of a very, very nasty deal.

There were Sith in that alley, and they were scheming to kidnap a Jedi with whom the Metal Man had once had dealings.

Outnumbered, he decided to wait and bring in the authorities when the coast was clear.

And it was while he was there that he heard the rudiments of a very, very nasty deal.

There were Sith in that alley, and they were scheming to kidnap a Jedi with whom the Metal Man had once had dealings.

Outnumbered, he decided to wait and bring in the authorities when the coast was clear.

OOC: The entire 'deal' took less than ten seconds to confirm. And two, if there was anybody else in that alley, Ieltarion wouldn't have said anything.

If you want, you could have your guy see Ieltarion as he exits the alley, and becomes suspicious and call the cops.

This is Brain Jar to Celestial Mover. Thanks for the offer, but we just need to put in for some repairs. Ran into a nest of space pirates trying to mine some water in a nearby asteroid belt. Nothing that a good body shop won't be able to fix in a couple of days. Maybe we can meet on the planet, if you've got the time, and discuss the situation with these pirates. They're starting to interfere with shipping."

"sounds like nothing milady. We should stop and cool the fule cells anyhow."

"Strange, i thought I had sensed a Jedi, but now the sense is telling me wrong. I'd very much like to talk to this person."

"Yes ma'am."

the ship decended to the surface of Courcant, looks like they would be taking a detour.

Chikane along with the piolt entered into a bar, that was busy with activity. "How do we know where to find this person?"

"I'm sure he'll find us. Clearly who ever it is can throw off my senses. Strong enough for me to notice but too weak for a fellow Jedi or a Sith."

"hey chick you wanna by some death stixs?"

"You don't want to sell me death stixs."

"I don't want to sell you death stix."

"you want to go home and rethink your life."

"I wana go home and re think my life."

(OOC: Had to steal a line from the movie)


"On the house."

"Thank you. Space Pirates have me concerned."

"Simple Pirates?"

"I'm a keeper of the peace. I don't just fight dark lords and such."

Udonis had sat back at the bar when things had calmed down, but he had to stifle a grin. Seeing the two people patch up the punk-and the fat man nearly get robbed himself before having the reflexes to catch it-was nearly as funny as punishing the kid the first time. Fool-he'd probaly end up as floating space debris one day that Udonis would likely run over with his craft. Yuvan had little time for the stupid of the world-and it seemed another stupi person wanted to mess with Udonis-and had caught him in a far shorter temper than the thief had.
A drunk came stumbling up to the bounty hunter, clearly immersed in his own world. Another drunk stumbled behind him-hardly an even fight for the trained and experienced Udonis.

"Washa we got 'ere, phlum?" uttered the first one. Udonis couldn't understand the last word, but interpreted "phlum" as the other man's name-though it probaly wasn't.
"Zsh some big manm tryin stir," said "phlum", "ah thin we need go and teach hirm wut we do to stirz, erim."

Udonis flexed an arm instictively, a nasty look coming over his compexion.

"I just dealt a fight, but I'm up for a hand or two more, if that's your deal," he responded.

The drunks clearly had barely heard him. "Ir thinz ee lesson need worin," uttered "erim".
"Yur, yee up a righ," "phlum" motioned.

The two drunks, with surprising quickness for some in their condition, unsheated two vibroshivs. To Udonis, it was clear that the Gnarly Gungan was not a friendly place.

The first drunk lept clumsily at Udonis, swiping horribly to the left of the bounty hunter. Udonis cleanly stepped to the right, catching the man in mid-leap and hurling him up and over the counter, knocking over shot glasses and a patron.
The second tried a similar move, and was slightly more precise-catching the tip of Udonis's shirt sleeve, dangerously close to flesh. Shrugging away from the blade, sleeve torn, Udonis quickly pulled his lethal weapons. The blasters took a fraction of a second to go from holster to hand, up in fighting position. The guns blared twice, a blue shot eminating from each. Both slammed home into the second drunk-"erim"-who flew back, two burning holes in the chest. Udonis lept forth, planting the gun just above his head and firing the killing shot.
The first drunk-"phlum"-came up again, lashing with the vibroshiv. Udonis caught his hand, twisting it back and making "phlum" shriek. Grabbing the man's collarbone, he slammed his left fist-with the blaster-into the bone, shattering it. The drunk screamed, and Udonis threw him into what seemed to be a maintenance door. The door burst open to the outside when "phlum" hit it, flying open into a narrow alley. Udonis followed, bursting outside as the drunk writhed on the ground. Silent, he holstered the left gun, raising the right. With a quick flash of the trigger finger, a blue shot fired, burrowing into "phlum"'s head. The drunk's eyes lit as the shot burrowed into the brain cavity, and the man was dead instantly.

OOC: The entire 'deal' took less than ten seconds to confirm. And two, if there was anybody else in that alley, Ieltarion wouldn't have said anything.

If you want, you could have your guy see Ieltarion as he exits the alley, and becomes suspicious and call the cops.

OOC: He just happened to walk in at just the right moment, and he was cloaked at the time. Between that and his ability to shut down the force, even a powerful sith like Ieltarion probably wouldn't have noticed him.

IC:

It took a matter of seconds for the kidnapping to be confirmed. It took another fifteen minutes--during which at least one patron was thrown out the building's back door and mercilessly shot to death--before the Metal Man was sure that it was safe just to walk back through the alley to the front of the building.

That last one had moved too fluidly to be normal rifraf. He had extensive martial arts training--so extensive that it had to some extent taken over his body, affecting the way that he moved. He had also used a transmitter of some sort after the deal--though the Metal Man hadn't been able to decrypt its scramble. Translation: heavy hitters in quantity. This was too big for the Metal Man to handle on his own.

It was time to get help on this. During the time he'd been in the bar, the Metal Man had witnessed a murder and an attempted murder, and the authorities had yet to be summoned. If they wouldn't bother with that, why would a mere kidnapping excite their interest.

The Celestial Mover had offered him help. The moment he found a hot spot, the Metal Man jacked into the local internet and found the Department of Transportation database. Sure enough, his login still worked. Sure enough, a Jedi registry code. With a quick search, he was able to confirm the name of the ship's captain. Another five-minute search told him the place where she had stopped to spend some money.

Because he eschewed his special abilities and walked like a man, it took him almost an hour to reach The Citadel of Light, an upscale tavern in one of the highest elevations of the city. Its appearance was actually more understated than its name foretold. Though its exterior was extremely well lit, it was by chandeliers that hung from the roof rather than something gaudy like a neon exoskelleton.

His money and his reputation still good, the Metal Man entered the bar just as the lady and her entourage were settling up their bill.

"Lady Chicane," he said, "I'm the Metal Man, pilot of Brain Jar. I've got a matter of some signifigance that I'd like to discuss with you."

"Pleasure to meet you. Up in space it sounded like you had a run in with space pirates, are you all right?"

Ieltarion leaned against the entrance to The Gnarly Gungan, listening to the commotion inside. When blaster shots rang out, he entered swiftly, stepping over the dead body. One hand was inside his cloak, grasping the hilt of his lightsaber, while the other moved in a small circle, drawing the attention of the Gungan's benefactors. "You saw nothing," he said convincingly, his voice layered with the Force.

"We saw nothing," the onlookers said feebly, their eyes glazed over.

"You will go back to your activities," Ieltarion continued.

"We will go back to our activities."

"Throw the bodies in the recycler."

"Throw the bodies in the recycler." The crowd moved forward, dragging the corpses by their feet and dragging them to a nearly recycling bin. Ieltarion turned to Udonis behind him. "Come with me. We have matters to discuss."

He led the human out of the cantina. "Are you familiar with the bounty hunter Telsa Arakra?"

"Pleasure to meet you. Up in space it sounded like you had a run in with space pirates, are you all right?"

"Quite well, thank you. I am, nonetheless, concerned for the safety of one of your fellow Jedi, who goes by the name of Shasta. I had dealings with her some years ago, and helped prevent her teacher, Master P'do, from ending his life in a fool's battle. I believe that there is a plan afoot to abduct her, though I do not know where she is or where those responsible would be taking her."

"Master Shasta, I've met her a few times. This must be the work of the Sith. I can't seem to sense her at this point though, but I need to find her before she is taken."

The cold wind blows through the open window of the tall Coruscant apartment. Here, approximately 3000 meters from the planet's surface, if even that surface could be found, everything seemed a heck of a lot safer. Everything seemed a lot more quiet. Everything seemed a lot more peaceful.

And that was how she liked it.

A woman and a man lay on the bed while the wind outside howled inward. It was a comforting sound, and drowned out every word to anybody nearby. Then again, they were only whispering to each other.

"I love you." He said as he gently stroke the hair that hung by shoulder.

She smiled at and him and nestled closer under the covers. She took his head in her hands and kissed him several times, then pulled slightly away to see his eyes, "We shouldn't have done this." She frowned a bit... sadly.

His demeanor changed for a milisecond, then he became happy once again. "Why?" he said chuckling, he pinched her thigh slightly and then grabbed her, rolling her over and landing on top. "You're an amazing woman."

She smiled again, "You make me feel good Toole. I love you too. But... my job. The Council..." she trailed off.

"I know... I know..." he said rubbing her right wrist slowly. "But they won't find out."

She pulled away, shook him off gently, and sat up. "They will... I must go now." She got out of the bed and grabbed her clothes in the corner. Slowly donning them, she turned back and smiled. "See you tonight?"

He remained in the bed. "Absolutely."

She turned and grabbed her cloak, threw it on, and headed for the door.

"Shasta?"

The girl turned back, "Yes?"

"I love you... that's all that matters..." Toole said quietly.

She half-smiled this time. "Yeah..." she said quickly. Like the word snapped in half.

She quickly left.

Down the elevator and out of the building she walked. Slowly, confidentally, cautiously. Things had been crazy in the Jedi Council recently. With P'do's deafeat and leaving of the Order nine years ago, the Jedi had effectively named Jacen Thomas as the most wanted criminal in the galaxy. Of course, they hadn't sent anyone after him, but they wanted him just the same. The Jedi weren't stupid, just misguided. They knew that Jacen combined with his new associate Liam was powerful combination. Too powerful for anyone on the Council to deal with.

Except Shasta. And they knew this. Shasta was the most adept Jedi that the Order had since Nyin Y'n a century ago. If anyone could deal with the threat of Jacen Thomas, it was 'Master' Shasta. And a Master she was. Only in her late twenties, she had quickly earned the respect and admiration of a majority of the group. Playing the politics of the Jedi, she easily worked her way onto the Council and gained Master status.

It was too easy. She was likeable and powerful. There was no better choice to fill the vacancy that Master Kly P'do had left.

So Shasta had used her influence, and so far she had held the Jedi back from ever even seeking Jacen and Liam out.

Meanwhile, dark days had come to the galaxy. Terrorists constantly threatened every planet in the Republic. Countless bombs went off each day, and only with careful thought and strategy, the Jedi had been able to capture or kill a few of the enemy. But not many. These enemies were good.

And deep down... Shasta had a bad feeling about the whole matter. A dark feeling. A feeling she hadn't felt since she had battled side by side with Jacen and the rest against Darth Solous and his Orb.

The Jedi were spread far too thin. Only the Council remained on Coruscant, as every other Jedi was accross the galaxy hunting down bomb threats. On occasion a Jedi would return for new orders, but recently more and more had come back in body bags to be buried. These were bad days.

Shasta kept walking slowly. She felt like at any moment she could be destroyed. She felt vunerable. She didn't know why... but she did. It was not typically good for a powerful Jedi to be walking in the lower levels of Coruscant, but she was only a few blocks away from the Temple. She would make it soon.

Still, she remained aware of her surroundings. Something didn't feel right this morning...

"Master Shasta, I've met her a few times. This must be the work of the Sith. I can't seem to sense her at this point though, but I need to find her before she is taken."

"Master Shasta?" The Metal Man smiled. "She's risen in rank since we last met. Good. She seemed to have a talent for diplomacy. Still, you speak as if she's somewhere on this planet, and, if that's the case, I can help you.

"First, forgive me, but I must put some distance between us. I don't know how much the council has told you about me, but I'm anti-force, and, just standing here next to you, I weaken your abilities as an adept."

The Metal Man then, without any further ado, levitated slightly and moved backwards until they were thirty feet apart. Chikane's communicator beeped, and she answered it.

"Second," the Metal Man's voice came through, though his lips did not move, "I'm going to access the local internet and see what I can find about the good Lady Shasta." There was a moment of silence, and the Metal Man's smile faded. "She left the temple last night," the disembodied voice continued, "and deliberately broke all contact. If the Sith are involved, she's vulnerable and there's no way for us to warn her. Since you're the Jedi, please get them involved. Since I'm not, I'm going to pursue this through...other channels. Wish there was time for us to have a proper conversation--you seem like you would be quite fascinating to speak with. Still, you can reach me on this frequency any time you need to get in touch."

With that, the channel went dead and the Metal Man spread his arms, rose into the air, and flew out through a nearby skylight.

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

Two big, brown eyes stared soddenly at the young man as his hand retracted. The thin face of a young girl looked longingly at a small canister of food.

"I know, I know," he said. "It was bad today. I couldn't get enough. People kept beating me up."

"Actually," came the voice from the air, "I saved your life."

"What?!?!" the same brown eyes, but looking smaller on a larger, older face, turned from side to side. A similarly thin but older and more masculine body whipped around to face the direction in which the young man's back had been pointing a moment before.

"You know, you're actually quite agile," the voice said again. "I'm sure that, if you like, I can show you some ways to put that agility to use."

With a startled whelp, the young girl vanished. At the same time, the boy tried to run straight forward and out of the alley that he was standing in. Unfortunately, he ran straight into something that he couldn't see and ended up flat on his back.

In a moment, that something became visible. It was an obese man with thinning gray hair, dressed in a flowing, gray robe.

"YOU!" the urchin said.

"The one and only," the Metal Man said with a smile.

"What do you want? Haven't you hurt me enough for one day?"

"I haven't harmed you at all today," the old man replied. "In fact, I saved your life. And I have a job for you."

A small bag of coin jingled as it hit the ground beside the young man's right hand. As he glanced down at it, he stiffened. There was enough money in it to feed him and his sister for a month.

"May I ask your name?" the old man asked.

OOC:
GTR/Ezaltia, I'll address how I'll respond to both your characters talking to me in the OOC thread-see there for further details.

IC:

"Telsa Arakra?" Udonis echoed as if he had a familiarity, then faced the Sith lord. "Never heard of her."

As the conversation began, Udonis was cool and collected. The Sith and the Jedi were the same to him-employers and contracts, both. Morality had been shattered by a past of broken dreams-all that mattered now was the money...and exacting the toll eventually on any who wished to serve the fee.
He did notice that the same women who had moved towards the thief after he had dealt with him was outside the alley, though didn't seem to notice Udonis's activity in the alley...if she wanted a fight, Udonis could provide as soon as he wrapped up with the Sith.

"It's me. Please go on with out me, I need to find somethings out. I'm going to pay a visit to the Jedi Tempel. No the one on Hoth, of course Courcant. Listen you'll have to tell the Kanami Prime Minister that you deliverd the package, if I'm correct, a Jedi's life is at stake."


She shut off her communicator. She pulled out her lightsaber and stopped a speeder. "Jedi, get out of the speeder!"

"Look here Jedi chick, this is my speeder, I own this speeder, it's not stolen!"

"It is now, move over."

"Lady if you den't this thing, we are going to have words."

Chikane hopped in the cockpit and took over the controls.

"So where are we going?"

"The Jedi Temple."

"Oh the Jedi...What?!"

"You heard me."

She accelerated. Moment's later she arrived, the place was spooky looking. "Wait here, it could be dangerous."

She wonderd inside. The place was deserted, her foot steps echoed.

"Very well then, Katakassay. You understand what--and whom--I'm looking for?"

"Yes--but what if that bozo with the hydrothingie comes looking for me?"

The Metal Man removed a ring from his hand. "In that case," he said, "you can use this to contact me--if you don't fence it first." He got a dirty look in return.

"I still don't understand," Katakassay said. "Why aren't the Jedi doing all this?"

"They're overextended. Too many other things to look after."

"Then you're doing this alone."

"I never said that."

Far away, a message came in with a sender ID that neither Liam nor Jacen had seen in a number of years. Though its wording was heavy with irony, its point was clear enough.


Dear Friends:

A situation has arisen here on Coruscant that may pique your interest as
much as it has piqued mine. Please come and meet me. There's an
upscale tavern and eatery called Amnesty where Sith, Jedi and all
between can meet in peace. Time is not of the essence.


It arrived with a small brain in a jar, to add a signature that meant more than a few lines of text in a message.

OOC:

If others had TG'ed me and kept me in the loop, I would not have needed to make so many unilateral decisions. :) :) :)

The Grey Master Liam was meditating, as he usually did six-eight-ten hours a day, when his protégé tossed him a package from the biweekly mail service. It was no effort for those so adept in the force to sense the flying object and grab it without ever glancing at it. However, it was most peculiar to receive such a parcel. He had not ordered anything - that was for sure as his great memory most certainly would not have forgotten such a thing. In fact, it was rare at all that he would order anything; best instead to go find a trader with the needed equipment lest they be found out and location discovered by hostile entities. Nor did they have many contacts that would send either of them an unknown package.

However, upon opening the package it was all too obvious whom it was from. "Metal Man... how I have not missed you," the Grey Master spoke in his deep and somewhat dark voice as he read the note.

Dear Friends:

A situation has arisen here on Coruscant that may pique your interest as
much as it has piqued mine. Please come and meet me. There's an
upscale tavern and eatery called Amnesty where Sith, Jedi and all
between can meet in peace. Time is not of the essence.

It was the accompanying object, though, that gave away the sender's identity - a brain in a jar. A most unwelcome reminder of a force-devoid entity that Liam did not tend to agree with; a man, if one could even come close to calling the disembodied cerebrum that, who currently worked in service of the pestering Jedi Order. The note did not say what, but if the Metal Man went as far as sneaking behind the Jedi's backs and contacting the outlaws, he must've thought it important. How the Greys would respond, however, was still undecided...

"Jacen," the former Jedi called as he set himself down from his midair meditation and walked to the young apprentice's room. "We have received a message from Coruscant... from the Metal Man." His voice seemed to burn of poison as he spoke the being's name.

"A situation that has peaked his and potentially our interests," he read as his eyes once again scanned the letter. "He wishes us to meet him... where? At a tavern where the Sith and Jedi, and the spectrum between, can meet in peace... if such a place exists," Liam continued, adding his own commentary to the letter.

"Time is not of the essence... somehow I doubt this. But now, I ask you your opinion." The shrouded man never let up testing, teaching, and tooling with Jacen. "What would you do? A letter has arrived out of nowhere. It comes from one that you might despise. It is cryptic in its message. And it brings you to the heart of those who would slay you... What would you do?"

For more than a moon now, a dark feeling had crept into the peripheral of his mind. A feeling that the chaos in the universe was simultaneously increasing and decreasing. Ordered chaos. He knew though, that the Sith would return, only a matter of time. Perhaps that time had come...

Jacen walked slowly into his room after tossing Liam the package. He hated to interrupt his teacher, but hey, he had to have some fun on occasion. Besides that, the package looked important and Jacen wasn't about to leave himself open for criticism if it was. After a few moment, Liam walked in.

He was speaking, some nonesense it seemed. Jacen was involved in concentrating on an object deep in the Mesosphere of Geneticon, manuevering it hundreds of miles away for fun. Suddenly, a couple words that Liam has spoken registered. "Metal Man"... Jacen's ears perked up and listened to the rest of what Liam had to say before speaking.

In fact, Liam was sort of testing Jacen... again. But that was okay, he was used to it to a degree by now. Ever since the Orb he had been used to it. He had learned that there was always a medium. For the Grey Jedi there always was a fine path to walk. Either extreme could get you in trouble, so you walked the line.

For the meantime he paused the atmospheric object mentally, and he answered slowly after some thought. "I would say that first of all, harboring a grudge against a man who helped save our lives at the Orb is a bad way to begin the thought process on this issue. Our view must be objective, with the past forgotten."


He walked slowly to the edge of the room and then spun on his heel to face Liam, he stared him in the eyes. "Liam, I will not lie to you, whatever this is seems dangerous. It reeks of the Sith. In fact, I'm certain that he would not contact us unless he was in drastic need of assistance. It worries me. Yet, at the same time, it calls to us. I don't think we have a valid reason to avoid this meeting. Indeed, it may bring us to the heart of a place where we may face danger... but danger is not an excuse. Pain is not an excuse. If I were you teacher, I would meet him. If only to hear him out."

He went back to his chair and sat down closing his eyes... resting and waiting for Liam to reply.

The sun came through an open balcony window, shining a golden-yellow light through the curtains and into immaculate confines of the the spacious condominium. The room--the floor, the counters, the table, the chairs, even the walls--were all variants on the color white. The room seemed to gleam and glow.

In contrast to that, the room's owner stood beside the table, dressed in black leathers. His tall and lean but muscular build stood proud, and the dark-haired man's every move oozed self-confidence, but he was livid now.

Almost fading into the room was its other occupant. He wore a flowing, white robe, and his hair was as white as the walls. Still, his gaze was steady, and his stance was that of a rock, unwavering as he stood near the entranceway.

"Alright," the dark-haired man said, his brown eyes flashing danger as his gaze bored into the other, "we're involved. Is that what you wanted to hear? Tell your stinking council if you must, but you'll not get a single CREDIT of my money for this! How did you find us, anyway? I bet it was that stinking little brat!"

"I'm not your enemy, Toole," the other replied, "and I'm not here to rob, harm or blackmail you. True love is a rare and splendid thing. I've got better things to do than end one. And, though your wealth is impressive, I have no need of it, nor desire to force you to part with it."

"Then what are you here for?"

"Your love is in danger, Toole. I need to warn her."

"And who are you? You're obviously not Jedi, as I originally thought."

"No, but I work with them. I'm the Metal Man. Perhaps your lady has spoken of me."

"No, I can't say that she has."

"That is interesting, for it was I who laid the foundation for her to become a full Jedi Master."

"Hmmm. Metal Man, you say. Yes. I remember now. She said something about a crazy cyborg who helped her save her master once. So you're him, huh?"

"Yes. And now, our paths must cross again."

"Alright. I'll help you."

"Thank you. Let's get started."

OOC:
GTR/Ezaltia, I'll address how I'll respond to both your characters talking to me in the OOC thread-see there for further details.

IC:

"Telsa Arakra?" Udonis echoed as if he had a familiarity, then faced the Sith lord. "Never heard of her."

As the conversation began, Udonis was cool and collected. The Sith and the Jedi were the same to him-employers and contracts, both. Morality had been shattered by a past of broken dreams-all that mattered now was the money...and exacting the toll eventually on any who wished to serve the fee.
He did notice that the same women who had moved towards the thief after he had dealt with him was outside the alley, though didn't seem to notice Udonis's activity in the alley...if she wanted a fight, Udonis could provide as soon as he wrapped up with the Sith.

Ieltarion nodded. He didn't think Udonis was lying. "I don't trust her," he said, his dark cloak swirling in the light breeze. "She is currently working for me to hunt down the Jedi Shasta. If you capture Shasta first, then the bounty shall go to you. I don't care if Telsa or anybody else is killed, I just want Shasta brough to me. Do we have a deal?"

"I like your style," Udonis replied, smiling a little. He actually did like the man's honesty-it usually wasn't too good to lie to a bounty hunter just trying to make a living. "But I think Telsa may be more use to us alive...rather than dead. I will see what I can do, but I accept that contract."

Udonis confidently stole a wry grin. He was confident, indeed-not over the top, but the sort where one feels they have the edge to come off victorious.

The sun didn't make it all the way to the base of the building. It and other skyscrapers cut it off so that its direct light never reached the ground. Still, enough of its light filtered through, bouncing off of other buildings, passing hovercars and the like, that it was possible to distinguish day from night even there.

It was thus in broad if somewhat dim daylight that three masculine figures strode out of the front door of Toole's home building and into the traffic-choked street in front of it.

"She would've started here," Toole said. "After all, it's only a few blocks from here to the Jedi temple."

"Kassay," said the Metal Man, "anything unusual about this scene?"

"I dunno," the youth replied. "There are a lot of people here, and they've mostly destroyed any signs of her presence."

"Wait. Not all of them," he said. "Somebody scaled that drainpipe--and it was rather redcnt."

"Hmmmmm..." the Metal Man said, "why would somebody want to scale a drainpipe?

"I like your style," Udonis replied, smiling a little. He actually did like the man's honesty-it usually wasn't too good to lie to a bounty hunter just trying to make a living. "But I think Telsa may be more use to us alive...rather than dead. I will see what I can do, but I accept that contract."

Udonis confidently stole a wry grin. He was confident, indeed-not over the top, but the sort where one feels they have the edge to come off victorious.

"Very well, then," Ieltarion said, nodding. "You shall contact me when you have her."

He turned and began to walk away, to wait until one of the bounty hunters had fulfilled their mission.

"It will be done," Udonis said quietly to himself, smiling. He had no idea who this Jedi "Shasta" was, but she didn't sound like too much of a match. He would have the bounty in no time.
Walking out of the alley, Udonis paused momentarily to collect his initial plan of action. He was a belligerent kind-and his belligerence would serve him well enough. Hooking into a nearby data console, he quickly breezed through some information. The Jedi were a wide force throughout this Republic, and no doubt if this "Shasta" was of any importance, she'd have at least a basic profile-and picture-in the console. Udonis summed this up correctly-he quickly found a picture of Shasta, detailed enough to let him analyze facial and body features. In a world of so many like Coruscant, it normally would be difficult to pick up a specific person. But the Jedi had this thing about aiding the weak-and if Udonis did something big enough, it would surely draw her attention.
As he began reviewing in his mind a list of items he'd likely initially need, someone grabbed his shoulder and began babbling at him. Udonis's left hand began straying down towards his left blaster as he rounded to face his disturbance-a young women, probaly not all that much younger than he himself. He didn't catch all her message, but did manage to hear "Frack doing" and "Offing people like that."

"Look," Udonis spoke, a dangerous undertone entering his voice. He began looking calm, but quick as a flash, his left hand flashed up. In it was the left blaster-and he primed it in her face.

"I can fire three shots faster than you can scream, girl. I don't know what you are trying to prove, but I wager at the same time you've seen me quickly dispose of some young thief and two drunks. That's not much-but the two kills are two of hundreds in my resume. I do this for a living-I'm a simple man trying to make my way in the universe, and I'm simply skilled at my profession. If you would like to challenge that, then I'm sure my record could use another talley mark. I've got another contract right now, and it'd be to your best benefit to stay out of my way-lest you become the one I'd like to use for my bait."

Udonis chuckled slightly. "The real question should be who would pull the trigger first. It's quite obvious you're no normal Core scum."

He drew back a pace, his eyes running down her features. It was a common trait of his when dealing with what he considered "competition".

"Do you know Shasta?" he inquired. "I would indeed be after her. And even if you were of the Jedi, I won't be stopped."

He opened his mouth to speak more, but paused as something she had said struck him.

"Ieltarion. How do you know him?" Udonis's eyes narrowed slightly as he saftied and holstered the blaster pistol. "I didn't until several minutes ago."

Telsa glanced around surreptitiously. She hated speaking ill of Ieltarion; she could almost feel his eyes piercing her back, even if he wasn't there. Telsa beckoned the man over to a vacant table, and took a seat.

"You've entered the employ of a Sith Lord. Dangerous waters. Ieltarion is very dangerous and his reach is very long. I met him a little more than a year ago, when I took a contract for his head. Needless to say, I failed. However, he spared my life, on the condition that I entered his personal employ; I've been his hired tracker and assassin ever since." She narrowed her eyes and focused on the man's face. "I, Telsa Nausicaa Arakra, will die in his service. He is a dangerous man; you should have stayed clear of him." She took a swig of her drink, a Pantheran ale. "So... who are you? How have you come into the Darth's employ?"

Udonis kept his look for a split-second after she finished, but then broke into a wry grin. "I should think he would be nasty-he is a 'Darth' after all. But as strong as the Sith can be, there are worse kinds in this galaxy. I've traveled the roads. The Sith are more present then they look, they just assume various different forms and titles depending on location."

He turned around to stare away from her, before turning back again. A cycle of motion, a mirror of his life. He took a seat then, both elbows on the table's surface

"My name is Yuvan Udonis. I was orphaned at age 3 on a molten world, so you could say I've been living this life my whole life. The credit ismy guide, my passions have run too dry from experience," he almost sighed, but caught himself in the act. "I'm a bounty hunter. Live or dead, I finish my deals-and have been perfect through twenty-four deals, including one Jedi already, some elder who was of mild importance two years ago. He was a killed contract, quite a nice one to a Hutt syndicate. Ieltarion contacted me personally-I have no idea how he found the transponder to my ship, but he did. Either way, he requested I come to Coruscant for a meeting. I'm smart enough to know that means a contract, and likely a hefty one. It sounds the part, and this Jedi-Shasta-shall be well worth the reward to this 'Darth', apparently."

Udonis scratched his chin for a second. 60-40 was a good deal...but was the girl lying? Udonis knew all the tricks to lead off against the Jedi's "mind trick things", but he couldn't actually do them. He was, after all, just a simple man.

"Deal," he said spontaneously. "But the way to subdue a Jedi is surprisingly more simple than you probaly think. Granted, it will be much easier with your aid...two is better against them then one. It requires a strong mind...and a strong will. Their mental tricks and games can be subverted-but to exploit their underlining base is the key."

“She’s a special kind of woman,” Toole said. “Not only beautiful, but strong, yet vulnerable enough to feel for others. What’s not to love?”

“I doubt you’d love the things they’d do if they thought they could use you to get to her,” the Metal Man replied.

“Yeah, but I’m not exactly helpless,” Toole countered, “and besides, I’m a friend of the great and powerful Metal Man.”

The Metal Man gave him a look that made it plain how little he thought of that remark. Toole just smiled a beguiling smile.

“Uh, guys?” Kassay chimed in. “Don’t go any farther.”

He looked. Before he had started speaking, the Metal Man had extended an arm to prevent Toole from going any farther.

“I saw it, too,” he said.

In the alley in front of them, the hulk of an old recycler lie, in the midst of a slow decay that would eventually see it return to the planet it had been drawn out of. Yet, parts of it still functioned—and these had been tampered with.

“There’s a blaster hooked up to its safety sensor,” the Metal Man said. “Good thing we’re not in range yet.” As he spoke, he took a step forward, then another. After the third step, the gun went off, hitting him square in what would have been his chest, had his shields not been up. He took another hit before he could disengage the jury-rigged mechanism.

“Simple, but effective,” Kassay said.

“Stay there, please,” the cyborg replied. “It’s not as simple as it seems—and there’s no way that a stationary gun like this one could be expected to hit any target that got close enough.” He turned around and let out his right-hand blade, bringing to bear the miniature plasma cannon just under the blade. He shot a small stick propping up a crate where the blaster would have hit if it had missed its mark. Levitating on his antigravs, he managed to be far enough off of the ground not to be hurt when the chain reaction that he had started brought the fire escape down on top of where he would have been. “I think that’s all of it,” he said. “You can come forward now.” Using his plasma cannon, he cut a small walkway through the tumbled fire escape.

“Woah,” Kassay said as he slipped through the wreckage, “this babe of yours is, like, really vicious. I think I like her.”

Toole chuckled. “I still don’t understand where she would have gone from here, though,” he said. “This alley is a dead end.”

“Not quite,” said the Metal Man. “Look. A sewer grate.”

“So what?” Kassay said. “Who can lift that thing?”

Toole chuckled again. “My Shasta can,” he said. “She can move mountains just using her mind.”

“That force stuff again?” Kassay asked.

“Yeah, that stuff,” the Metal Man replied.

“Well, last I looked, there weren’t any Jedi here. How are we going to--?” Kassay began.

By then, the Metal Man had walked over to the grate. He simply bent down and lifted it off of its foundation.

“After you, gentlemen,” he said.

“Just be sure to replace the grating when we’re done,” Toole said.

“Oh, I will.”

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

OOC:

I would like to write one more post of the group following Shasta, where the conversation deals with Liam and Jacen from TMM's perspective. Then, I'd like to move on--either the Three Amigos find Shasta or they're all drawn to some event that would attract a Jedi. We can discuss this further in the OOC thread if anyone would like. I'd like to--I'd like to know where this story goes from here.

Shasta had felt that someone... or even more than one, people had been following her. The instant that this premonition had risen in her mind, she had taken precautionary steps. Scaling a drainpipe and then entering a dark alley, she quickly had rigged booby trap that would hopefully kill any pursuit. Unfortunately, when she reached the end of the alley she ran into nothing but a sewer. Focusing with the Force, she threw the top off and climbed down inside.

It was dark here in the sewer. She slowly treaded in sloshy liquid beneath her feet, and was able to zig-zag among the alleys of the cold and huge pipes. Suddenly she heard a noise above her and distant. The blaster had fired, and her trap was in motion. Hopefully it would destroy anybody following her.

She quickened her pace and finally found another drain leading up to the surface. She forced it upward with the wave of her hand and leapt through the opening. Just before she replaced the sewer drain, she heard another one moving in the distance. Whoever it was, was in hot pursuit. And suddenly she was feeling drained, like the Force was abandoning her.

In outward calmness (yet internal fear) she hurried down a new alley, rigger yet an identical booby trap to slow the followers, and headed back out into the crowded streets of the lower section of Coruscant. She happened to pass a few bars on the way. She wasn't quite sure where she was anymore. She typically walked to work, so she knew the streets fairly well. But the sewer had led her in a direction contrary to what she normally used, so nothing here seemed familiar.

She passed by another prominent bar. This one was large and dirty. A sign outside sprawled the words, "Gnarly Gungan". She passed by without a throught except for the feeling that danger was nearby. Then again, wasn't there always danger nearby?

She hurried and reached an elevator leading upwards. She took it to the upper levels and walked along the streets of level twenty-seven. She was fairly close to the Temple now. And she also knew where she was again. Only about four blocks to go, which wasn't long for a normal walker.

The impending doom didn't leave her though. Something was dreadfully wrong in the Force.

Chikane contiuned her search around the tempel. It was empty, if anything this would be the ideal for Jedi to hide as well as Sith. "It seemes empty." She said into her comlink. "I don't know, I'm picking up tremors in the force."


Becareful Master Chikane

"I know. I'll call back if I find anything. Out."

Something fell ontop of her, Chikane was in a panic, she managed to toss it off and quickly pull her light saber out. "Nothing." it was merley a broken down droid.

"I know two things. One, I know her profile and her physical appearance. That's very helpful. Two, I know she's a Jedi. That's far more helpful," Udonis began. "See, the Jedi Order is a complex one. They always state they are selfless-but in reality, the Sith and the Jedi differ only in one way-their use of power. Truly observe a Jedi as I once did. I tracked my prey for five weeks, studied his motions, his antics, his acts. They are not the all-consuming force of good. They are ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. Strip away the power of the abilities," -Udonis paused momentarily, his hand resting on the table- "and they are no stronger than a child. Even this hotshot, this Jedi Master Shasta-there is no difference. They can be very talented physically, but when they find their efforts rebuked, they lose focus. They feel the one thing they wish so much to avoid, that of the Jedi causes a caticlysmic series," -Udonis's eyes flashed dark for a brief moment- "fear. It is more than possible for you, me, any normal person with enough will and effort to be able to withstand their mind games. They are sorcerors, trickstirs, the Jedi. They use their power to subvert, unlike the Sith-and this is how the Jedi can be manipulated by one without the powers of they. Simply outsmart them, outthink them-drain their focus-and they lose all their advantage. I gave enough study into the Jedi Order before I tracked my only Jedi target-and I learned from what was publically avaliable. But it was nothing-nothing-compared to what you can learn from their behavior. In truth, they are toying with a dangerous Force that requires an enormous amount of concentration-one that can be drawn."

Udonis smiled with a sinister undertone for a brief moment after he finished, his face dark. He glanced around the bar for a bit, before spotting something that sparked a trigger-a mental fire that had often been in Udonis's brain. He did not have a photographic memory like some, but he had brain triggers-a common occurance where a certain sense would trigger some memory, or other mental fuction. They were totally ordinary-but Udonis recieved a lot of them. He drew from experience this way very easily-and seeing that face-that same face that had been displayed on that data console-right next to the name...Shasta!"

"I think we have a customer," Udonis said with slight sarcasm.

He beckoned for Telsa to follow, before talking in a low whisper as Shasta moved out of earshot, the crowd noise and bar noises breaking up any hope.

"Our bounty just passed the bar, we are in luck. Now, I will need you to do something for me. I'm going to cause a 'distraction' to attract Shasta. What I will need you to do is get out of the way, and get out of her attention. I'm going to...talk...with her," Udonis smiled, placing a certain emphasis on the word. "What you will do then, when I have her distracted, is physically subdue her. I'll handle mentally doing it."

Udonis turned around, but turned his head.

"And Telsa...rarely does a plan go perfect. This likely won't-but either way, we shall have our grip here."

He then did turn and continued, his eye still on the one he had confirmed now as Shasta-the picture coming back to his face as he moved through the crowd briskly, getting anothe glimpse of her front. It was time to cause that 'distraction' he'd ensured Telsa.
Udonis slipped into a massive crowd of people gathered around a street musical group, his eyes darting around and noticing Shasta-she wasn't moving away, but rather parallel to his position. All the better. In his mind, Udonis began step one to draw her off guard. He began playing Pazaak.
It was a simple process that stood through all Udonis's tests with Jedi-he had had more experiences than just the hunt with the Order. Through his mind, he didn't feel passion when dealing with them-he could cut off his emotion, which he did. Instead, he began playing simple mind games...with himself. He totalled the card values to reach the goal of 20, reviewed hyperspace coordinate jump points to the most desolate locales he'd reached, ran over what repairs his ship needed, divided energy frequencies by capacitor limits to try and calculate meaningless values, count tiny sounds in the middle of raucous public that no one else would even hear...he had many, many ways of making the Jedi mentally insecure-even off balance. He'd dealt with one Jedi Master. He intended to make it two.

Udonis pulled a small, cylindrical object from his left-ringing chest bandolier beneath his garb-a Cryoban grenade, illegally modified by his associates from the Tenloss Syndicate. The Syndicate had been all too willing to provide when of their better clients-and sometimes ally-a substantial shipment of infantry grenades they had boosted for better explosive yield and further range of effect. In the Cryoban grenades, there were two varieties-and Udonis was carrying this as one of the incapacitors-the variant meant to damage and seriously harm, not kill. It was wider-spread effect, though Udonis would be protected through the waves of people-and many would be hurt by this. The Coruscant authorities would be too slow-but if Shasta didn't respond to the cries of the wounded, the many wounded-and too-be dying or at least damaged for life if not treated soon enough-she'd be severely killing her conscience. Even if she did avoid the scene-then Udonis would pull plan 2.

The bounty hunter quickly primed the grenade-a ten second timer to give him plenty of time. Waiting two seconds, he hurled it into the center of the crowd near the street musicians, then began slowly backing off as he counted the time-yet another of his mind games to throw off Jedi concentration. 5...6...7...8...9...10!
A massive burst of white flashed as bright as the sun at high noon, blinding out the signs of the bars for a brief moment. A sweeping chill entered the air for those far enough away-but for those close, it was much worse. The local atmosphere turned incredibly cold-cold enough to instantly cause serious damage. Nerves frayed. Skin warped. Muscles tightened far too fast, causing them to lose grip on their tendons and snapping up in rolls. Far more serious damage...
And this had hit an entire crowd of some thirty to forty people-no writhing on the ground if they could even move at the moment. Udonis continued to watch, playing his games, watching, waiting, playing...he would give off no noticeable signal to Shasta until he spoke up. Emotion was not even a present visitor to Udonis's mind.

"We all start from ourselves and work our way out," the Metal Man said. "Liam is a truly amazing Force Adept. No offense, but he makes Shasta look like an ameteur. As such, he can't understand how someone like me, without the benefit of the force, can stand up to force users, let alone legitimately stand beside him in battle. To him, it's all about the force."

"That's a shame," Toole replied.

"He's an idiot," said Kassay.

"No," said the Metal Man, "he's anything but an idiot. An idiot would have attacked me outright on more than one occasion. He's had the good sense to put aside his personal feelings and deal with me. That's why I've called him in."

Kassay laughed. "Then maybe he's not the only idiot."

The Metal Man looked back at the young man. "Point noted," he said.

"Hang on," Kassay said. "That ladder was recently used. I think she's left the sewer."

"Right," the Metal Man said, going up the ladder. "Got it." He lifted the grating and a look of annoyance set in on his face. "How many blasters does that woman of yours carry, Toole?"

"Oh, four or five. To be honest, I never really had to find out."

"Well, let's hope we don't have to find out again." Extending his blade, he shot the blaster out of the recycler. "I'm leaving the other part of the trap unsprung. Be careful not to set it off."

"So," said Kassay as he made his way up the ladder behind Toole, "you're anti-force? What's down with that?"

"It's just the way I am," the Metal Man replied, retracting his blade. "I lessen the ability of adepts around me."

"I noticed," Toole said.

"You're--?"

"Slightly. Not enough to be a Jedi, though, if that's what you mean. I've been trying to call out to Shasta since we started, and I can't feel a thing."

"Well...I was hoping that an adept of Shasta's ability would be able to tell that you're with us, and, from that, conclude that we're here to help. That may not be the case, though."

"You think?" Kassay asked.

"Keep trying, though," the cyborg said.

"Well, she's left the alley and merged into the traffic," the young man said. "Now what?"

"Now," the robot-man replied, "we follow her heat signature. It's quite distinctive. She went this way."

"Ummm, boss?"

"Yes, Kassay."

"You see where we're going?"

"Yes. Back to the bar where I found you."

"You think it's going to be safe there?"

"We'll just have to deal."

"Well, if we're here, isn't it possible that we're driving her right into--," Kassay began.

POW!

To their left, a plasma bomb detonated. It was a low-yield charge, designed to maim rather than kill, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

The Metal Man caught Toole and Kassay, in one arm each. With his help, they kept their footing. The concussion of the blast had disoriented them, but, since both of them had endured trouble, they recovered quickly. Kassay blanched at first, but, seeing the Metal Man stand his ground, decided against running.

The bandits didn't know about Toole. If they did, they would have made a target out of him. That meant that the Metal Man could leave him and concentrate on helping Shasta keep safe. It meant that he could get the most out of his forces now.

"Toole," he said, "summon the Jedi. Kassay, help the wounded."

"What are you going to do?" Kassay asked.

"My next act of idiocy," he said, "with her." He pointed to Shasta in the distance.

"Shas--," Toole began.

"Not now, Toole. Wait 'til the snipers can't see you." With that, he began to rise off the ground and cloaked. A good set of night goggles would break the cloak, but it would only get a hazy, cloud-like image. In this way, he could get right next to Shasta and extend his personal shield around her without being noticed overmuch. She would be safe, and the authorities would be on their way. He hoped that Shasta would recognize him. The last time they had met was over eight years ago, and he had looked more like a droid than a man. There were still a great many things that she could do. She could try to help the victims. She could move away, to draw the fire off the crowd. She could turn and fight. Worst of all, she could turn on the Metal Man and his companions. There were many ways in which this situation could turn horribly wrong.

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

OOC:

The Metal Man isn't one of those invincible heroes. As you'll note from the Fracas thread, he often gets the living daylights beaten out of him and has to rise above the adversity. His defenses are surprisingly fragile. I wouldn't be surprised if a well-placed shot from Telsa's concussion rifle could overload his shield. The thing really isn't meant for extended combat. :) :) :) Then again, if the shot isn't well-placed, it might take her a few tries. Remember, the shield generator is located just beneath the skin at his solar plexus.

"Egroeg what the heck was that? I felt a large tremmor."

Master Chikane it's awful, somone set off a low-power plasma bomb, several people are hurt.

"Any Jedi?"

I don't know, Master maybe you should come down here

"I'm hoping to find links to Master Shasta or even hoping she'll find me here in the Tempel."

I think they could really use help

"Egroeg, if someone set off that kind of weapon I can gurantee you that it must have something to do with the Sith. Besides I'll have to hijack another speeder to get back there."

10 minutes and I'll have one for you.

"All right."

Shasta was awalking along, careful to keep an eye on her shoulder, when she suddenly saw an object hurling through the air. She dived to the left as the object impacted the earth. A yellow light lit up the sky along with a delayed explosive noise. She coughed as she stood, and saw the effects of the grenade. Several lay wounded or dead only about 3 or 4 hundred meters away. This was done by her pursuers, it had to be.

For a second, she paused. She could feel danger around her more than ever. In fact, she now tapped into her Force sight and discovered that a shooter was perched on a bar in the distance. The gun was aimed at her.

Be unconventional, Shasta was slated to react differently than a normal Jedi would. But something caught her eye before she could do anything. A group of people: a boy, a metal box, and Toole, standing in the distance. She was suprised to see them here. Very suprised. Toole was turning and preparing to run off, while the metal box floated higher and then became invisible. Shasta focused on the Force in the air, but felt a void where she presumed the box might be. Was this anti-force? She couldn't wait to find out.

That sniper was preparing to fire, and she wouldn't let herself get hit. There were people hurt lying near, but she atleast had the common sense to know it was more of a diversion than anything. There wouldn't be any point to helping them, especially when they were fairly beyond help after the blast. She could heal them, yes. In fact, that was her speciality. But then again, she could do that with her mind miles away. She didn't need to stay here.

Stepping back slowly and keeping the assasin on the roof in mind, she drew a small object from her cloak and tossed it into the air, where it collided with a nearby building. It stuck there hard. Confident in the cameras ability to provide her coverage of what would happen next, she stepped back into the gathering crowd, and used the Force to shroud herself, becoming completely invisible through the Force... for now. The sniper had lost her unless he or she was a strong Force adept. She intermingled quickly, and then sought the skies again.

The void was still there, hovering near Shasta's last known location. Shasta ran toward the void without thinking much, and reached it in a milisecond. She dropped her shroud as she stepped up to the invisible object to the eyes, but certainly visible to anyone with the ability to sense the Force. (or at least the ability to sense a lack of the Force) Only one person, if she could call it that, had this trait. It was all coming back to her in a flood of memories. But frankly at the moment she didn't have time to deal with them. She had to be short and to the point. "Metal Man, fine time for you to show up..." she greeted the box as it touched down. She noticed that his shield had slipped around her, and now she was safe from any fire for the moment.

OOC: Ooh, intrigue. I like.

IC:
Udonis frowed as he saw Shasta move off-he was losing her. However, he saw something else he wanted. A possible diversion...

He pulled out his personal communicator-he would keep a quick fix in case Shasta could get away.

"LOA," he quickly spoke-he was in comminication now with his assassin droid and pilot, "take the Faith for a fly-by-but don't shoot anything. Run a thermal scan on the entire area-we'll see if there's a signature where there shouldn't be."

Udonis clicked off the communicator as he focused in on his next target. While everyone else had stayed away from the group-a likely scenario considering what had just happened. However, one person stepped forward and seemed to be trying to assist the wounded. Udonis liked this.

He shrugged off the Coruscantian-designed robes he had been wearing to fit in-now wasn't the time to be encombered. Underneath was a stark contrast. A black suit covered his entire body now, blue lines running horizontal down the front and back. It was a Czerka Heavy Eskoseletan armor-Udonis's preferred, and equipped with a plastoid-fiber overlay. The underlay of the armor, however, was what made it even more potent.
While the armor itself was incredibly resistant to melee and projectile weaponry, it wasn't the best to deal with blaster fire. Udonis had fixed that-seeking out Creshaldyne Industries to seek protection from energy weapons. The underlay they had developed for the armor had been based on their blast-dampening armor. it contained a similar system of a filled area of reflecting crystals in a semi-solid gel-however, instead of the usual several thousand crystals, Creshaldyne had gone one up and increased the concentration to fifty thousand reflecting crystals-providing and armor underlay that was very tough against blasters.
It was nice when big contracts paid off.
Udonis moved forward, but paused momentarily. He'd love to pull some trickery here-and he activated a final device on hs belt-an individual field disrupter. The devices were easy to obtain if one had contacts-and bounty hunters of his calibre always did. He tuned it to a low power-enough to stun a human rather than kill, and at the same time last a longer period-about a half-hour. This wouldn't take thirty minutes.
Udonis finally went for his weapons-the kid helping the injured didn't even notice him. It couldn't simply be coincidance that this kid was the only one helping the wounded. The crowd around him gasped as he drew both pistols, aiming fast at the kid. Two red bolts flew forth, alighting the air red. Both caught the kid right where Udonis wanted-the right side of the torso. Not enough to kill-but they would cause some severe pain and make the kid notice. Perhaps Shasta would rethink her plans. Even if the kid was a simple coincidance, LOA would still get his money.
The custom Xi Char vessel skimmed low over the plaza, shooting past Telsa over the building as it hit reverse thrusters, advancing at a slow pace with shields up, quadruple engine cluster burning. The Faith made a slow pass, scanners grabbing thermal data, then shot back into the sky, waiting for Udonis's next command as it analyzed the reads.

OOC:

Come on, Geneticon. After numerous posts in which TMM walks through sewers, extends blades from his hands and has a smile on his face, why do you persist in the incorrect notion that he's wearing a box suit? He's not. As mentioned in more than one post, he looks like a fat old man. He's wearing a humanoid suit right now. He looks fat because all of his internal organs, brain included, are stored in a tank in his belly.

IC:

As the Metal Man dropped his cloak and settled on his feet in front of Shasta, the relief in his blue eyes was palpable.

"Good thing you recognized me," he said. "I was afraid we might come to--."

Kassay screamed as twin blaster bolts hit him mid torso. "That poor boy," Shasta said as she surged toward him. The Metal Man reached out his arms and held her back. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"It's you they're after," the Metal Man replied. "That's one of mine," he continued, indicating Kassay, "and he knew the risks. They're not going to kill him just yet--they want to draw you out. Don't let them. Please get back to the temple and foil their plans. I'll tend to things over here."

As the cyborg spoke, a small flier of somekind cruised overhead, then darted away.

"Sithspit!" he said. "They scanned us. Your cover's blown." As Shasta watched, the cyborg's shields grew slightly more reflective. The Metal Man was transferring more energy to them. "We're going to have to stay together now."

The Metal Man held out his arms. A joint at the knuckle, not found on any humanoid, flexed, pulling the skin taut on both hands. A blade extended from beneath the skin on each side, and, beneath each blade, a plasma weapon also came out of hiding. Likewise, smaller blasters extended up from within his shoulders. Finally, a small antenna appeared from the left arm. It was showtime.

"I've got a lightsaber in my belt if you need one," he said. "In the meantime, I'm going to make a call."

Not far away, Lady Chikane's communicator beeped.

A man walked out of the alley and through the croud. Judging by his drawn weapons--still trained on Kassay--and body armor, this one was a major source of trouble.

"Hmmmmm," the Metal Man said. "Two can play at the diversion game." He extended his right arm. His shields dropped for a moment as the weapon squeezed off two powerful blasts. They probably wouldn't have made much of a dent in the stranger's armor, but they weren't aimed at him--not directly.

The blasts hit just beside the assasin, taking a chunk out of the street next to him and sending a concussion through the ground that should have been enough to take him off his feet.

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

OOC: I still don't know whether the kidnapping attempt is supposed to fail or succeed... :) :) :)

OOC: Not sure, but I'll try to make it succeed anyhow :P

IC:

"Ugh!"

Udonis rolled over as the blasts hit, but he had already spotted the bolts's location-a fat man, with Shasta revealing herself nearby.

Some fat man trying to take me?

"LOA," Udonis said into his comlink as he came up on both legs, "take the ship in closer, keep scanners in on full and watch for authorities."
<As you command, master. R4 has the weapon systems.>

Yuvan looked the fat man straight in the eye as he got up. A civilian had come in contact with Udonis while he had rolled from the concussion-the civilian now writhing on the ground. Apparently the field disruptor was doing its job.

"Come from your fat shield, Jedi Slime!" Udonis said. He spoke mockingly, yet kept a sense of medium in his mind. Udonis knew he couldn't let emotions interfere-he had to keep the mental pendulum in his court. "Feel your anger and face me!"

He had learned enough from his first Jedi kill to know about how anger and fear influenced Jedi-and he intended to try the same tactic. Raising both weapons, Udonis triggered off three bolts at the man before he noticed something odd...the man seemed to shimmer a bit.

"Mobile generator," Udonis muttered under his breath, "this one's well equipped...but not enough."

Udonis grabbed a second sphere from his bandolier-an ion grenade. Any shield this obese Core Filth had would be gone soon. The bounty hunter primed the grenade for an on-contact explosion, then hurled the small sphere like a bullet towards his target. He slipped up both pistols after sending the grenade on is way, preparing to take advantage as soon as the grenade dropped the shield.

<Master, I have a police boat heading towards your position. Plan of action?
"Jam its comms and finish him, LOA. The resulting explosion should give a bit of cover as well, and I don't plan on sticking around too long after I finish the deal here."

The small police aerial fighter bore down towards the site, apparently trying to determine the cause of the disturbance. The bigger Xi Char attack craft pulled up behind, and with sensors jammed, the police cruiser couldn't pick it up. The assassin droid in the cockpit blew forth a stream of lasers from the craft's twin rapid-fire laser cannons in the forward stem, shredding the engine coil of the police vessel. Flame plumed from the craft's midsection as the cockpit and nosecone blasted forward, fire shooting out like a blossoming nova, the rear end erupting in a red and orange inferno. The pilot didn't stand a chance.

<I've got two more coming on outbound sensors, Master. Should I take them?
"Jam their sensors, but wait until they close, LOA. Stick around in case the Jedi tries to camo again."
<Confirmed, Master. I shall wait until they open fire on our vessel.>

Not far away, Lady Chikane's communicator beeped.


"'Bout time." Chikane said assuming it was Egroeg with news on her speeder "Yes, go ahead."

"Yes, go ahead," said the voice in the Metal Man's left arm. That was where the receiver was, anyway.

"Chikane, this is the Metal Man. I'm at the Gnarly Gungan with Shasta. We're under attack. Two bogeys and somekind of light fighter. It's already flamed a police--unghhh!"

They both hit at once--the grenade and the concussion blast.

"Metal Man, what was that?" came Chikane's voice.

"That was the sound of my shields getting wasted because I was standing around and gabbing. Metal Man out."

Shasta took the offered light saber, and that left the Metal Man free. But something else had happened. When his shields blew, the Metal Man felt pain.

Pain. Delicious, incitful pain. Pain is the one thing that, when all else fails, lets you know that you're alive. And it awoke in the cyborg a battle lust that he hadn't felt in many, many years.

Pain. Pain is something that one can inflict as well as feel. Delicious, incitful pain--the gift that keeps on giving. The Metal Man smiled.

Pain. It was time for someone else to feel some delicious, incitful pain.


"Come from your fat shield, Jedi Slime!" Udonis said. He spoke mockingly, yet kept a sense of medium in his mind. Udonis knew he couldn't let emotions interfere-he had to keep the mental pendulum in his court. "Feel your anger and face me!"


The Metal Man could only laugh. This malcontent still had no clue as to what he was truly up against. It was time he found out. In a voice that came almost from the pit of hell, the Metal Man replied, "You don't know what anger is, kid."

With that, he punched his throttle and skittered right up next to the man--just out of blade range. At that range, the grenades would be useless--as dangerous to their wielder as to their victims. As he arrived, he let loose a volley of all four guns, concentrated right in the center of the assassin's chest. It didn't knock him out, but the armor was a complete mess. It wouldn't take another hit in that location. Then, he put a blast from his right-hand cannon into the guy's weapons belt, laughing all the way.

"I'm not the only one whose toys can be taken away," he growled. "Now go back in your hole!" Lost in battle lust, the cyborg zipped past the man, turned, and pushed him into the hole he had recently made in the pavement. With his blades out, he could have easily decapitated the man, but that would have been too easy. He wanted more.

"COME ON, BOY! YOU CALL THAT FIGHTING!?!?"

On the ground not far away, Kassay started the long journey back to consciousness. The pain was incredible, but he had begun to use a breathing technique that the Metal Man had taught him. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Breathe in deeply, push it all out, push out a little more. Slowly but surely, it was bringing his mind back to him. Already, his world had gone from blackness to a whirling blur.

She had had enough of this charade. Enough. Taking the blue lightsaber from the fat Metal Man, she used the Force to tap into the device and activate it without even hitting the button. It was a technique that Jacen had taught her at the age of seven, yet it still came in handy even today. Jacen... I wonder where that boy is... it has been years...

Stepping forward with the lightsaber hovering six inches in front of her hand, she slowly reached out and gripped it, then allowed the button to do the work now, still concentrating in case she needed to let go though. When the Metal Man took the direct hit from both weapons, and the shield suddenly shut down, Shasta realized that this was going to be a problem.

This was not a good place to be, as the Metal Man was drawing a hefty ammount of targets. She flipped backwards away from the action, lightsaber still activated in hand. Time to make a little action of her own. Reaching out through the Force, she telepathically communicated a message to the Temple's new com system.

---

In the Jedi Temple, a message came loud and clear over the comlink system that ran throughout the structure. "This is Master Shasta. I'm under attack by at least two hostiles in the sixth lower district. Please send help immediately."

In the lower levels of the Temple it was deserted besides Chikane.

In the upper council room however, the Jedi were abuzz. They needed to get to and help Shasta before it was too late, but sadly they didn't have any activated under-Jedi to do the job. But none could be found. The Jedi were spread far too thin.

And besides, most on the council disliked Shasta anyways.

A Master sitting there devised a scheme which quickly caught a hold on the votes of over half present... they would do nothing. If Shasta was chosen to live, she would live. The Force would guide her, and she could handle herself.

Most secretly hoped she wouldn't survive...

---

Back in the streets of the lower city, Shasta was trying to figure out how to survive. The Metal Man was making an attack upon the assasins, and he seemed to be doing a fairly good job of distracting them.

But Shasta's approach was plain and simple, straight forward. She drew her white cloak around her closer and then ran at the attacker which was being distracted by her ally. She brought the lightsaber around in a sweeping fashion, maximizing the difficulty in blocking the blow. She aimed for the man's neck, knowing that an impact with her blade there would either kill or immobilize him.

"Be calm Metal Man, I'm on my way." Her communicator beeped.

Master Chikane I have a speeder for you.


She instantly hung up and raced out, jumping out the window and landing elegantly (not a very high level obviously) She jumped into a speeder. "Your late!"

"Master Chikane, forgive me I got a XC-Commet 33, I couldn't afford anything more recent."

Chikane accelerated her speeder weaving between speeders and narrowly missing pedestrians. She finally came out side of the Gnarly Gungan. "E-exuse me ma'am perhaps I ought to call the Courcant Police."

"No they're all corupted. Stay here."

She climbed a fire escape latter up onto the roof. She pulled her lightsaber out and activated it, and proceeded to cut a whole through the celing. She dropped down right in the heat of the action. "Woah dear." she had to retract her blade and roll to safety. Behind a booth.

OOC: I was about to have an issue, but Genet's post removed that.

IC:

For Udonis, the Metal Man grabbing him and shoving him down turned out to be a good thing-just asa blue lightsaber ripped past his former location.

Funny Jedi...you decided to come back?

Udonis back-rolled away from both, coming up with a vibro-blade in one hand, a blaster pistol in the other. He had holstered the other pistol and now focused in on both.

"LOA," he commed as he backpedaled, "Move the Faith in,"
<It will be done, Master. I come to a 93% probability on what your plan is.>

Udonis had barely noticed his Field Disrupter now an electronic mess-but barely even cared. He lived for this thrill, the adrenaline that the life of a Bounty Hunter brought. It wasn't like the sorrow and disasters of his early life-rather, he chose to risk his life for the adrenaline rush.
Of course, it didn't help that the one who was getting 40% of the proceeds had barely even interfered. Udonis's assassin droid compensated for that admirably.

<I took out both police fighters, Master.I have your position and guns are charged.>
"Let loose," Udonis commed back.

The ship formed up from behind the balconies of the bars, training its forward rapid-fire cannons on the Metal Man.
At the same time, Udonis had to get in his taunting. Average men-heck, men period, didn't have laser cannons built into their chest. This man had fired from his chest-he was no normal man.

"I have more toys than you can imagine, replica!" he shouted back. Even if the man wasn't a Human Replica Droid-what Udonis had insinuated, given the droids had superhuman strength and generally were equipped with all sorts of goodies-Udonis still intended to drive forth a point.

The attack/patrol craft now opened fire, shields up on the ship as it neared both Shasta and the Metal Man. Lasers blasted up and down the street, knocking civlians to the side and raking the Metal Man and Shasta's area before pulling up on its run.
Udonis utilized the time, striking shots from his blaster pistol towards the Metal Man. Once the HRD was out of the way, Udonis would have no trouble with the Jedi.

Shasta saw that her lightsaber blade had missed slightly and cursed under her breath. She fell forward and hit the street like it was her bed. Rolling along, still from the momentum of her initial surge toward the attacker, she was able to get about fifteen feet away from both the Metal Man and the hunter.

Suddenly, a small ship whirred overhead. She had time to glance up at the attacker before the ship came roaring by. In that moment the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. This entire attack was a ploy... to get her. In fact, she was certain that none of this would have happened had she not been here. With this weighing on her mind, she could come to only one conclusion: the attackers were bounty hunters. Plain and simple.

Why? Why did someone want to kill or capture Shasta? Did it have to do with the ordeal on Correllia four years ago? Maybe the attack on the Coruscant bridge? Perhaps... perhaps it was Kly hunting her down. Whatever the reason, and whoever was behind this, it was not going to end good... at least probably not for Shasta.

The ship came by and strafed her position with fire. She was able to bring her blade to bear upwards and deflect the shots near her right back at the ship. Whether or not they would cause any signifigant damage was irrelavant to Shasta. There were more important things to deal with. The man now rained a flood of fire back at the Metal Man.

There was only one play left.

She stepped forward and shouted loudly through the Force telepathically, so that everyone nearby had the message like a scream in their mind. 'Stop!!! I'm who you want. I'll throwing down my weapon. Let them alone and you can take me.'

<The Jedi knocked some fire back, master, but it was peripheral only-reducing shield integrity by 5%.>

"No issue than, LOA," Udonis commed, "Keep on course."

Udonis loaded an ion rocket into his wrist launcher-he intended to finish this HRD, if that was what it was-before the Jedi interfered.

Stop!!! I'm who you want. I'll throwing down my weapon. Let them alone and you can take me.

Udonis paused momentarily as the message blew threw his mind. It was a wierd one of sorts-yet maybe he was on to something. He removed the ion rocket from the launcher, instead placing in a rocket-dart-a Czerka FM5 ElectroStun Capacitor Dart. He wanted to get the Jedi down and out if she was telling the truth.

"Lay down your saber, Jedi!" he roared, as he kept the pistol trained on the Metal Man, "lay it down, or everyone around here dies!"

Grenades were the bounty hunter's favorite diversion-and he wanted this one to be fairly persuasive. From the same bandolier as the ion grenade, he pulled out a thermal detonator-the only one he had on hand, but he didn't intend on using the weapon.

"This explosive has a 25 meter blast radius," Udonis cooly explained, "I've got it primed for a contact explosion. Lay your saber down or I throw it-and take out at least two bars, you, likely me, and your-whatever that is, Replica Droid? Over there." He indicated towards the Metal Man. "Intriguing pick of personal defender, if it is."

He pointed towards the Metal Man. "I ensure you, no matter how fast your servos are, you can't outrun this blast-and even if you can, your Jedi friend won't. Are you willing to risk it? You seem fairly devoted to protecting her..."

Udonis was toying with them at this point. He had already been the cause of dozens of civilian deaths, and had no compunction with taking down several hundred more. In addition, the Droid had appeared to be trying to defend the Jedi. Well, it wouldn't do that very well if the Jedi couldn't outrun a thermal detonator-and likely the thing knew that. If it was a droid, it would use its logic and reasoning to determine the infentesimally small survival rate of Shasta should the detonator go off in range.

Untouched by the simple threat of the bomb, Shasta slowly stepped forward again. Her blade remained activated in her hand, and as of yet she had no intentions of dropping it. At least not yet.

"How stupid do you think I am?" She spoke softly with voice this time. "I'm not your ordinary Jedi. I care little for the safety of everyone here. Do you really think I am that shallow?"

With the flick of her hand the grenade telekenetically flew from the bounty hunter's grip and upward into the air. Shasta manipulated it toward the flying ship above, thinking perhaps it might cause some damage. Seconds after it left the hunter's hand it detonated following the release of the trigger when it hit a metal scrap that Shasta had manuevered into the air. A cloud of debris rained down on everyone in the street.

"I made my offer perfectly clear. No more violence on your end. I'll give up my lightsaber to you," she gestured with her extended blade, "If you will stop this attack. No more tricks now. No more grenades. One more attack like that and I assure you I have no sorrow in allowing us all to die, everyone in this street. You need me alive, so take me alive."

She stepped closer, finally closing the blade, but still clutching the handle with a death grip should any random blaster bolts happen her way.



OOC: Hope you don't mind her actions in this post. I'm acting under the logic that a bounty hunter can't really compete with the Force in holding a grenade.

There was a blackened hole in his shoulder where one of the blaster shots had (finally) hit home. Fortunately, the armor underneath it was all but unscathed. Hovering six inches off the ground, with one plasma cannon pointing at the vandal and the other one at his ship, and both blades still coming out of his hands, the Metal Man gave his quarry a look of complete disdain.

"You're awful lucky, kid. I was going to shoot it out of your hand. I would probably survive one or two of those. But I don't interfere with the choices of others, when they make them."

He turned to Shasta. "We can probably take them down, you know. I'm stronger and faster and have more firepower than the dirtbag over here, and I'm done toying with him."

"But how many innocent people will die if you go at it with them?" Shasta asked.

"Depends on how fast I can sink his boat," the Metal Man replied. His left gun, pointed at the fighter craft, glowed for a moment--an explanation of his comment.

"Not good enough," the Jedi said.

"Your call," the Metal Man replied. Then, he turned to Udonis, who was still pointing a blaster back at him. "New game, dirtbag. I stand down mine if you stand down yours. The Jedi goes with you of her own free will, and I don't start drilling on your skulls. But you or the scum behind me so much as starts to raise a weapon, and the excavation will commence."

OOC: I'll overlook it, but technically that grenade should've annihilated everyone-causing a giant hole in the area.
A thermal detonator works by annihilating and incinerating everything in the blast radius-everything outside is left untouched.
25 meters is a long way.

IC:

Udonis made a wry grin. He would take his losses where they were-even if he didn't have man at the time. He flicked his index finger once towards Telsa-not a totally recognizable sign, but one that would at least hold her at bay to prevent her from firing.

"Luck is chancy," he said to the Metal Man. "But I'll give you a deal this time."

Udonis holstered the blaster pistol-still keeping the blade in his hand. However, he deactivated the vibro feature and lowered the weapon.

"I'm going to...'trust'...you to hold up your end. Keep in mind, if you don't...I am willing to bet my life that one shot couldn't take me down. I've survived lightsabers and the like before."

He activated his comlink again.

"LOA," he said,a bit quieter, "pull the ship in for a landing here."
<It will be done Master.>

The Xi Char craft flew in, top outstretched spike-wings retracting into the main body frame. It rolled to its backside, landing jets giving the vessel a cushion as it settled down towards the ground, moving civilians out of the way for fear of being crushed. The vessel touched down about 20 meters from Shasta, the Metal Man, and Udonis. Out of the front conical spire, a small hatch opened up, artificial white light emitting out from the hatch. From the hatch, Udonis's protocol and assassin droid appeared, wielding a rifle-the Czerka Outland slugthrower that the bounty hunter carried on board. He stood straight, his griup appearing loose but actually a vice around the gun.

"My droid will escort you to your...'chambers,'" Udonis grinned.

He then noticed Telsa again.

"Telsa," he exclaimed, "I don't know what you came in, but we should probaly be going before more police arrive. If they do...I'll handle them."

With that, he flicked a wrist in the direction of his ship, then began slowly moving towards the open hatch.

Smiling grimly in the Metal Man's direction, Shasta walked toward the hunter's droid. An annoying little piece of equiptment that was simple no match for the Force. Maybe later she would destroy the thing. Maybe not. It really all depended on how the next few hours went. She didn't know why they wanted her, but she knew that they wouldn't really be able to hold her down. They had to know this. They must know that they can't compete with the power of the Force.

As she walked past the Metal Man she tossed him the lightsaber and then trotted past the droid into the ship. Up the walkway and into a long corridor, finally reaching the end she was pushed to the right where there was a little cell waiting for her. She stepped inside and waited for waht would happen next.

Carefully, she relayed a message through the Force to a few individuals. Namely, The Metal Man, an old friend... and Toole.

'I've been captured by some bounty hunters. Don't know destination yet... but will relay upon certainty soon. I have a tracker: frequency one dot seven-two-nine-seven-nine dot four-two.'

She sat back and waited.

"I'm going to...'trust'...you to hold up your end. Keep in mind, if you don't...I am willing to bet my life that one shot couldn't take me down. I've survived lightsabers and the like before."


He still doesn't know who I am--and I'm not going to tell him. You don't just give your enemy information, you make him pay for it. If he knew who I am, he would know that I never break my word.

Gaze never varying from the assassin in front of him, the cyborg withdrew his blades into his arms, effectively disarming his most powerful weapons.


As she walked past the Metal Man, Shasta tossed him the lightsaber he had given her and then trotted past the droid into the ship.


Foolish girl. The dirtbag told her to give it to him--and, if she had only obeyed, I'd be able to use the tracking device that's in every one of my personal items to hunt the dirtbag down.

As the Jedi and her captors walked away, the Metal Man found himself with a moment when time almost stood still. Far from standing helplessly, however, he used that moment to attempt to trace the fightercraft's registry, and the identity of the dirtbag. Not surprisingly, there was no information. Still, the ship was a Xi Char custom job, and the Metal Man would start there--and with images of the miscreants--when this round was completely over.

The Metal Man turned back to the crowd. True, he wasn't a Jedi, but he was a trained medic, and there were some people here who probably wouldn't survive without his help. Kassay was out of danger and now, thanks to the discipline with which he had taken his Life Force Breathing to heart, he was starting to rise unsteadily to his feet. The Metal Man had to hand it to him--there weren't many he had known who could use the resist pain aspect of the technique that effectively on the first day that they used it. He vowed to teach the young man more--and hoped that he could do something about the way that the trinkets of several of the people he had aided had somehow ended up in his pockets.

Brain Jar was too far away to arrive in time, and the Jedi were--surprise surprise--nowhere to be seen. That would mean that the Lady Chikane was probably the only one coming. As the Metal Man flew over the wounded, gently warming those who needed it most with a low setting on his plasma cannons, he wondered how this was all going to play out. He had so much to do. The authorities would, no doubt, want to question him. He would have to repair the suit he was wearing--replacing the shield coils involved cutting a piece of the chest off, and it would take special measures to keep it all intact. He would also have to put in the obligatory berating of the Jedi High Council for their failure to support their own. And then, there was the small matter of Liam and Jacen, who should also have been arriving soon. This business was now something that they would find very much in their own interest to pursue.

The Metal Man finished his work, reviving two and drawing three others back from the brink of death, then started looking for Toole and Kassay. They would both need toughening for the ordeal ahead, and there was no time to waste.

OOC: Fighter Registry? A Bounty Hunter? Are you kidding me?
Not only was the ship custom-designed by a species that especially hates the Republic (and humans period, unless you pay them oodles of money), but a bounty hunter proceeding in illegal activities (hell, he's already killed one Jedi in the past...if people knew him, he'd be toast) does not get his name around. Fo'Instance: Obi-Wan Kenobi has no idea who Jango Fett is...and furthermore, the Republic doesn't know who he is either (however, they could know about his ship and his armor due to the events in the game Bounty Hunter, where he busts up an entire Republic prison complex on Oovo IV...and steals the only surviving Firespray patrol craft, later the Slave I.)
You generally only know a Bounty Hunter if you hire him, and nice governments (notice: Nice. Not the Empire) generally have this thing about Bounty Hunters that take out members of their crib.
Sorry Dast, but I can't see a Bounty Hunter being that stupid. Particularly one who's been out with Czerka Corp (a notoriously and historically "bend the laws" organization) collecting heads for payment, and then goes out and works for the scum of society for several more years. The Republic will have absolutely no idea who he is-Bounty Hunters keep it that way. If you mentioned to the police about a "Yuvan Udonis", they'd have no idea who you'd be talking about. Keep in mind, since we had to include our own nations in this, Udonis wasn't even born in the Republic (my nation of Sith wouldn't work too well with that...). They won't have an idea about the guy's record of being alive. Just because the ship wasted three police cruisers-with comms jammed, btw-doesn't mean the Republic automatically knows what it is, much less who the owner is.
Now, you could learn his identity through other means (the ship's origin should pop a BIG lead, if TMM played his cards right-and did some persuasion), but looking the guy up on a registry-never would get a lead, much less a punctuation mark.

IC:
Udonis smiled a bit as the ship lifted off, the hatch closing. The Jedi were always overconfident-likely this one was too. It was time to go shatter some hopes. He walked back to the prisoner cell that Shasta was in, LOA at the controls of the vessel as it piloted over the concourse of the planet-city. He activated a small control next to the cell-the activation for the Force Cell. Designed by the ancient Sith and still in rare circulation, Udonis had purchased the unit on his track for his initial Jedi mark-and they were potent holding cells. Force cells, a derivative of the original Force Cage, prevented the use of Force powers inside the area they surrounded. Udonis didn't know how they worked, but he suspected it was something like the Geonosian holding beams he had watched in action-preventing the heavy concentration and focus needed to use the Force. Or at least, probaly something like that, as he didn't use the Force...

"I'm sure you believe you can escape me easily," Udonis smiled. "But someone bigger than me has other plans for you, apparently."

He was about to say more, when the droid called from the cockpit.

"Master, two more constabulary fighters on sensors, closing in from the rear."

Udonis fretted a bit, but actually felt quite good. He could teach those Core Scum a quick lesson about dealing with the unknown.

"I'll be back in several minutes," he said collected. "Might want to hold on."

He climbed the short ladder up to the cockpit, as the droid in the co-pilot seat made slight adjustments.

"The fighters have been jammed Master. They can't call for help. We'll need to get out of here before the orbital stations pick us up."
"Don't worry, we'll be clear of the stations before we engage."

The Shattered Faith blasted into low orbit, its engine cluster accelerating the ship quickly. It was a fast craft-not your standard freighter that many bounty hunters or smugglers used.

"Do they still have comms?" inquired Udonis

Attention unknown vessel. Stand down and prepare to be tractor beamed to the nearest station. We have a lead that your vessel may have been one located near a site of a Coruscant mass assault scene. If you have nothing to fear, stand down!
"You can kiss my exhaust when you try to contact your superiors!" Udonis taunted. There was no escaping the vessel's advanced sensor jamming suite for these simple patrol fighters.

No response came, but the fighters continued blasting forward and narrowing the distance. Other Coruscant patrol craft passed the chase without notice-they had no idea about Udonis's vessel.

"I guess that answered my question," Udonis remarked sarcastically. "Prepare the minelayer, LOA."
"It will be done, Master."

Udonis's R4 droid clicked from the engineering area below the prisoner ducts. Things were looking just fine. For privacy's sake from the prisoner, Udonis shut the connecting sound-proof door between the cockpit and the passenger and prisoner hold. Shasta wouldn't be privy to any of Udonis's plans that he didn't want her to be...and she wouldn't have use of her Force powers inside the Force cell, as she was likely experiencing now.
The attack craft blazed past the unassuming stations and into local space, the pair of fighters now closing near attack range with their laser cannons.

"Are we out of comm space for the authority establishments?" Udonis asked LOA.
"Yes Master. They will be able to pick up any subsequent explosion, but they won't be able to pick up our signature. There is too much civilian traffic to identify our ship through the cloud of vessels."
"Good. Activate the minelayer!"

From behind the ship, the Faith's minelayer activated. The doors to the device opened, exposing the first weapon of use-the seismic charge, a highly explosive weapon.

"Wait to fire until we clear sensor range of the inbound ships," ordered Udonis. He took no chances when it came even nowhere near close to discovery.
"Time to arrival at point beyond sensor range is 3 minutes, Master."
"We'll have to evade until then. Shields up, double rear."

The Faith redirected its shield banks to the rear. Even if the first bank fell, Udonis had been wary enough to make good on the old Calamari technique-installing multiple generators. He had two backups-enough to easily withstand a laser barrage from two police cruisers, that were blindly being led on a chase to their own destruction.
The vessels were closing-within Udonis's firing range, but apparently not theirs-as they still held their fire.

"Their loss," Udonis commented.
"We are out of range, Master," the assassin droid confirmed.
"Good. Fire the first charge. Hope Telsa gets out of the way..."

From the vessel's rear midsection, the seismic charge floated out with a slight backward velocity. It wasn't moving fast-given that it would explode just as the police fighters came by.

"They have detected it and are making evasive manuevers, Master."
"Do the same, but keep us en route to the hyper point."
"What destination, Master?"
"Myrkr. We'll pick up the Sith's further instructions there. Have you picked up Telsa's vessel in range?"
"I have one modified freighter named Queen of Coins in relative distance."
"Hold her position-and get us out of the way of the blast!"

No sooner had the discussion finished then the charge exploded violently. The charge's baradium/collapsium core imploded, throwing out a blue sphere of molting mixtures-small at first, as the police fighters dodged and weaved with the explosion. However, after the initial moment of connection, the device erupted into a massive wave of destruction. Udonis slowed the ship as this happened, allowing the wave to pass harmlessly over the Faith. One police cruiser had had the sense to evade the wave, but he shot past Udonis's vessel. The other was more unfortunate. Caught up in the incident in the initial blast, apparently the pilot had not expected the subsequent wave effect. The blue crest slammed through the fighter, tearing open the vessel like a Tynnan surri's shelled halves. The fighter slammed forward with violence, the two engine bulks flying off in flaming portions.

"One down, one in front-I guess both are down," mocked Udonis. "Comm Telsa's ship."
"Transmission activated, Master."
"Telsa," Udonis commed, "I'll handle the last authority vessel. Comms are jammed, the authorities have no idea about any of this in regards to our own vessels. I've marked a hyperpoint about ten thousand clicks ahead of us-it's already been sent to your vessel's navicomputer. It's set to rendevous at Myrkr-we'll pick up the rest of the Sith's instructions on where to deliver the cargo once we rendevous at the planet. We'll be essentially out of Republic jurisdiction, so we should be fine. Our trace won't be able to be tracked-my vessel, at the least, isn't known in Republic data and the hyper trail I've plotted is too convoluted by other trails of recent freighter and military lines-our own trails will blend right in. No way we can be tracked by any mean I know-and I've done this for a while. Udonis out."

He ended the comm, before focusing again on the remaining police fighter. It had figured out that Udonis was on its tail, but hadn't done much in trying to lose the attack craft.

"Arm concussion missiles," Udonis commanded. "We'll finish him."
"It will be done, Master," the droid chimed back.

A concussion missile locked into the forward missile launcher of the attack craft-it was primed to fire.

"Fire, 1!" Udonis said as the droid pushed several console controls.

The missile streaked out, a red tail following the warhead and engine unit. The missile was considerably faster than the fighter-and it was quickly apparent that this fighter was certainly not piloted by an ace.

"This ends here," Udonis muttered quietly.

The missile slammed into the vessel's third, rearmost engine. The engine exploded in a plume of fire-though surprisingly, didn't rip the fighter apart. Instead, it spun, its vector thrown wildly off course.

Udonis was ticked. "I'll finish that Bantha scrap," he muttered.

Locking in the laser controls himself, he sighted the vessel in his targeting reticule in the vessel's holographic HUD for the lasers. He jammed down the trigger, red lasers flying in a telekinetic whirl of energy towards the police cruiser. The fighter tried to evade the attack craft's erratic fire pattern, but invariably couldn't dodge everything that was thrown out in a dancing pattern of light and death.
The lasers tore into the unshielded vessel, ripping apart the cowling and fuselage. The energy weapons bore into the vessel's reactor systems next, igniting a giant explosion. The fire bore through the entire ship, erupting out of the cockpit in a red and yellow blossom as oxygen converted into energy. The vessel was history.
Udonis relaxed into his pilot chair now. That was over.

"Set us on course for Myrkr," he said to LOA.
"Hyperdrive is ready for ignition, Master."
"Good. Prep and go!"

The local space warped, turning into a flash of stars racing behind the ship as the Shattered Faith tore into hyperspace.
With objective number one complete, Udonis settled into his hyperspace-mode-relaxing. However, he held off a minute as he opened the doors to the rest of the craft's interior. Walking past his chirping astromech droid, he walked to the center of the space before Shasta's cell, than sat down on a flexsteel chair opposite the cell, facing the interior.

"I suppose I should continue where I left off when the Core scum bothered me," Udonis began. "What you're in now is a Force Cell. You've probaly heard from your Jedi teachings what a Force Cage is-a Force Cell is simply a derivative. You've already probaly found your Force powers to be...'fouled'...while in it's proximity."

He paused, trying to judge reaction. He wanted to get into Shasta's head. The other Jedi-older, and male for that matter-had been rather untalkative. Usually Udonis was calm-almost amiable-around his prisoners, if only for his own amusement, yet the first Jedi had been anything but willing to share with him. Udonis wasn't savage-he called himself efficient. Whatever it took to get a job done-but although his passions had been sidetracked years ago, he still had a sliver-if but only a sliver-of his heart still intact. He gave a slight look of it to those who wished to converse with him, and he regarded his prisoners as people. They were-he was just the middle man for someone else who regarded them as revenge, payment, or a variety of other jobs. It wasn't Udonis's job to try and transmit those sentiments-the prisoners in question woulc get plenty of that upon arrival.

"Technicality bores me, however," Udonis said after finishing up about the Force Cell's parameters. Time to get personal. "I'd rather get to the point than juke around it. What did you do to get a Sith Lord-albeit, one who isn't even human-to put a bounty on your head?"

Udonis was calm with the question, his voice light. He wasn't probing, simply asking. If Shasta wanted to ignore the question, not only would she be depriving herself of where she was going before she got there, but she would also be sitting the hyperspace trip to Myrkr and points beyond in silence. Some Jedi liked that-but based on what Shasta had said about allowing the deaths of those Core Sludge on the capital world, Udonis surmised she wasn't like most of the boring, bland, emotionless Jedi had usually had encounters with, preaching about "shunting anger" and the like.

The Nightwing sat cloaked in the Coruscanti orbit. Darth Ieltarion ahd been meditating for few hours while his bounty hunters did their job, and the Ezaltian was roused out of his pensive as the detonations from the seismic charges rocked the Infiltrator. Ieltarion watched as the police cruisers were obliterated, and then Udonis's spacecraft jumped into hyperspace.

Ieltarion frowned slightly. Why had the bounty hunter not contacted him? The Ezaltian reasoned that Udonis would return before too long; bounty hunters were a greedy bunch who never refused payment. Ieltarion sat cross-legged on the floor and returned to his meditation. All he had to do now was wait.

Shasta had said nothing when Udonis had first approached her. She was simply lost in thought, and meditating on the world around her. She figured there may be some modification to the cell, maybe disallowing her Force use. She hadn't tried it yet, but she would soon. Strangelye enough she didn't really want to escape. If she wanted to escape she could have done so easily on the Coruscant. No... escaping was far too safe and far too annoying for her. She longed for some action. She longed to put her nose in something that she would regret later. She longed to figure out what the intrigue behind this bounty was about.

When Udonis headed top ship, she got a little impatient with herself. Calm down girl... you'll be fine. You don't have to save the galaxy to prove you're one of the best. The Jedi dislike you. They just use your skill. Like Jacen... and soon they will be rid of you too. This is a cold galaxy... far too cold for a girl like you. Your job is to make it warm for yourself. That's what I'll do... I'll make it warm...

So she decided to have some fun. She tried to use the Force in the cell, maybe pull the bars backward, maybe adjust some buttons on the mainframe of the ship computer. Nothing. The Force was simply not responding to her within this area. No matter... You still have a secret weapon with you girl. She pulled her white cloak around her tighter and threw the hood which had been down over her head again. She literally blocked the view of where Udonis would sit from her eyes. She didn't want him to pick up a tell. Besides that, she preferred the reflective nature of the cloak, disallowing light to seep to her skin. She liked it when she was cold, and the white cell and bright lights made things far too warm here. Her cloak would combat that.

She felt the ship move under her and then a loud explosion. Moments later there was a slight shock, as if something had been released from the ship's hold. Lastly, she heard laser fire. Udonios was shooting something... probably some chasing police fighters. She couldn't tap into the Force and find out... but she made a correct prediction. After the firing had stopped, she felt a sudden lurch, and she knew that they had made the jump to hyperspace.

Fantastic...

Perhaps if Udonis gave something away she could relay that to her associates. Suddenly, she realized soimething. Although the cell blocked her from using the Force, her telepathic messages had been relayed. Of course, this was due in large part to the fact that her telepathy and the Force were not usually connected. She typically studied them and used them seperately, as different entities. Therefore... she could actually still communicate with the outside world in this cell.

Of course, she wasn't about to let the bounty hunter know that.

As Udonis walked back into the room, she glanced at him behind the shroud of her majestic cloak. He started saying something, talking about getting down to business. Good... because I cut to the chase too...

"I frankly care little for your cell." She said to the man defiantly. "If I wanted to escape... I could have done so earlier. I don't really want to quite yet. When the time comes... I will. Yes, I'm arrogant. But there's a reason I advanced so far in my youth. I'm one of the best."

She stared him down, though her eyes could not be seen behind the refelectivity of her cloak. Her ears perked up when he mentioned the Sith. They were back again? Really? And they wanted her? Why??

"I have no idea what you're talking about..." she said to the man firmly.

Udonis laughed a bit. "Does the Jedi Order make you all feisty?"

He was about to say more when a sudden memory smacked him in the mind...


Mygeeto

The man was young, though he stood tall. The slugthrower rifle in his hands complemented the staunch Bastillion Enviro Armor he wore against the planet's chill-a good match with the white ice falling thick.
He stalked beneath the eye of the commoners on the street-Mygeeto was a dangerous place. Most carried weapons-many openly, like the young man. He drifted past couples, singles, groups-he was on a job. Czerka was a merciles hire, but the pay was good and the jobs exciting. Particularly the hunt of the creditors of the corporation-it made the young man feel good.
His goal this day was some young woman-Corta Vestal. Supposedly, his superiors said she had loaned the use of a Czerka vessel and never returned the ship. Details were sketchy-it wasn't even the young man's assingment, technically-a rival Czerka Pursuer was the official job. But he had been cleared to compete-the other Pursuer was lagging, and needed some competition.
The young man had done well-he had already staked out his find-a strikingly beautiful woman walking down one of Mygeeto's numerous ice-filled alleys. He jumped down before the young woman, raising the rifle.

"Czerka has a price on your head. I'm here to collect," he spoke quietly.

She sized him up, giving him a look.

"I'm not in the mood, thanks."
"My gun says otherwise," the young man replied, flicking off the safety."

The woman didn't follow the young man's belief of intimidation. He was young and inexperienced-and she was a new thing.
She placed weight on her left leg, then stared him in the eye.

"My name's Corta Vestal. I care little for your gun, or your intentions-and I am going about my business..."

Reality flashed back to Udonis. Vestal and the bounty hunter had had a "frosty" first meeting that had evolved into love for four years before pirates had ended it-Udonis had no idea even if Vestal was still alive, much less where she was. What was worse-the Jedi's wording about the cell was almost the exact same as Vestal's upon first contact.

He mused over this for less than a moment before diverting attention back to Shasta. He shook off the memory-no sense reminiscing about a better past when the present was all too real.

"Arrogance and confidence aren't the bad traits your Council ordains," he said. "But you have no knowledge of the Sith Lord...I guess that throws a wrench into your plans. Because, frankly, I don't know much about him either, more than that he offered me a very hefty contract to pick you up."

He paused a second before continuing.

"You're not the first Jedi I've taken-but at least you're more talkative than that last old man. Sat right where you are for over thirty straight hours just to be killed by a belligerent Devaronian at the end of his travels."

Chikane awoke with a very heavy moan. She felt like she had been hit by a cruiser. So much for using the booth as cover she was obviously shot by a stun ray. She looked the damage was done and the place was deserted.

"Pardon me, I'm sorry are you okay?"

"I'm okay lady." Said a bystandard.

"By anychance did you see a pretty Jedi Lady go someplace."

"Some people took her."


"No...."

"Yes, you all right?"


Chikane sliced the booth in half with her light saber out of her great frustration. Once again she failed to do her sworn duty as a Jedi and protect her jedi comrads. She lost her apprentice and now she's lost the one of the finest Jedi she's ever known. She jumped into the wrong place and failed.

She might as well return to Kanami she's proven to be utterly useless time and time again. She wasted time going into the tempel and now she came in the middle of a fray when she could have been her sooner and had done something.

When she split the communicator box, Lady Chikane got the Metal Man's attention. He looked up from the man whose arm he had just repaired, excused himself and went airborn. Judging from the man's reaction--he showed no surprise when the "man" beside him simply rose into the air--the cyborg had been hovering around the blast zone for some time. The first responders were starting to arrive, and, at long last, it was beginning to look as though someone was going to get some serious medical attention. Witnesses were going to identify two men in the croud who kept the tragedy from turning into a massacre, and the police report would note that a man named Toole had used his personal communicator to call in the authorities when all other means had been silenced. The police would decide not to look for them when it was learned that they left with a Jedi.

"Lady Chikane," the cyborg said, setting down in front of her, "you're here! Excellent! We have much to discuss. Kassay! Toole! Come here! We need you!"

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

OOC:

It's a good thing, Geneticon, that one can edit one's posts, no? :) :) :)

Are we going to go somewhere quiet and talk, or are we just going to gloss over Lady Chikane's debriefing of her newest associate?

A moment later, when Kassay was nowhere to be found, the Metal Man closed his eyes.

"I think we may have just been given a blessing in disguise," he said. "I think they took Kassay with Shasta--and, if that's the case, they've taken a few of my tracking devices with him. We'll be able to follow their progress--until they neutralize the devices."

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

OOC: You asked for it. :P :) :P

Chikane retracter her Lightsaber. "Metal Man!"

"M'Lady," the cyborg replied.

An hour later, they were in a rather quiet corner of a local bar called Amnesty. The motif was dark. Cozy booths were built around benches lined with black duraflex, and privacy curtains could extend to make things even cozier. Though the color scheme was dark, there was plenty of light to see by, and the booths were equipped with terminals so that one could play a game of Strategon or enjoy a holoflick. If one knew how to work the controls, in fact, one could even put the technology to other uses.

There were rules for those who attended. First, you check your weapons at the door. Second, no loud noises and no public arguments. Third, this was a separate diplomatic entity--even the most wanted of criminals were to be granted sanctuary while they stayed in the lounge.

It drew a surprisingly civil croud. The blaster-and-bomb types seldom bothered with a place like this, leaving room for the spooks and the diplomats. In fact, it was known throughout most of Coriscant that, if you wanted to conduct diplomatic business off the record, this was where you did it. It was all by the consent of the governed, and the first Sith with an attitude who came along would leave the place in ruins, but the truce, fragile though it was, had managed to endure for almost thirty years.

"I didn't get his name," the Metal Man said to Chikane, "but his is what he looked like." A picture of Udonis, taken during the fight, came up on the holodisplay at the center of the table. "He had an accomplice, and here's her picture." The image changed. "And he flew away in this." An image of LOA flashed on the screen. The drawn curtains made certain that Lady Chikane and her second were the only ones to see the image.

"I'm most afraid of him," the cyborg said. "He and I share a certain enjoyment of the art of warfare--only he's starting to turn now. I can see it in the way he moves, the way he looks when he murders people as a diversion. The blood lust is starting to take control over him. And I think that's why the Sith picked him for this job."

"And the other one?"

"She plays a lot safer," the Metal Man replied. "She's a lot more careful, and she's going to be a lot harder to catch."

Staring at Udonis without any facial expression, Shasta was trying to read him. Her own face was hidden beneath the cloak, but his was in plain view. He seemed angered, afraid perhaps. Afraid that something might hurt him in this galaxy. Afraid that he was vunerable. Afraid that those dearest to him would be annihilated. Afraid of life in general. Fear. It was a powerful ally if used properly. Shasta would ensure that she used it against him.

Shasta reached into her momentarily fully functional telepathic system and tried to read the man's mind. She avoided methods of the Force because they were too risky. Instead, she tried some of the methods that a man named Jenghis had taught her long ago. It could come in handy now. But something was wrong. As she tapped in, she realized that he was to an extent blocking her. In addition, she accidentally relied on the Force for her relay, and so the connection was broken. But before she lost contact, an image of Udonis and a woman flashed through her mind.

A woman. That's what it was. This Udonis was afraid because of his woman. He was angered by her. She had driven him over the edge. Maybe not her herself, but perhaps her peril.

Shasta for now ignored the talking of the hunter. He mentioned the Jedi, Sith, and some other random things. Something about another Jedi sitting here. But Shasta was off somewhere else, thinking about how to play this. She stored all that he said in her memory without even paying it attention, a natural skill for her. Her memory was perfect.

Finally, she decided it was time to play her card. She reached up and threw her hood backwards, exposing her beautiful face to the man. She was stunning really, and she might use that later. Right now, she used words. "Do you miss her?"

"Well, the Council is also a political entity, and, as such, they're notorious for lagging behind changing times." There was an incensed quality to the Metal Man's voice as he spoke, and his hands waved in the air as he spoke. "I was there. I saw Jacen turn from the dark path to the gray. That was eight years ago. Don't you think that, if he still had it in for the Jedi, he would've at least made some effort to harm even one of you?"

"I don't know about--," Chikane began.

"Well, you'd better get ready to find out. I invited them here, you know--and I'm going to expect you to be on your best behavior when they arrive."

"Not that you've the right to expect any behavior from me, but, from what I hear about them, they've almost cut themselves off from the rest of the galaxy. How do you know they'll even accept your invitation?"

"Because they're force adepts of incredible power, and they'll sense the disturbance in the balance of the force that has kept them at peace with the Jedi for these many years. They're not light-siders, but they will recognize that it was not me, but their own self-interest, that was calling them. Likewise, it would be your own self-interest that should call you to not start an unnecessary conflict. The universe will do quite well without another war today, thank you, despite what the oracles on the Council may say about the matter." The Metal Man laughed a nervous laugh. "Imagine that. Someone telling the Jedi to keep the peace."

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

OOC:

I really didn't want to do that, but the thread was starting to get a little musty. I figured that this was better than a bump.

OOC: Sorry, busy for the most of yesterday.

IC:
"Miss her?" Udonis was almost surprised by the question-almost.

"I wouldn't say I miss her. Does she leave me a bit emptier inside? Possibly. But what's done is done, and now I only have myself to look after-no others. I live a considerably more carefree life than many others of this galaxy-I like what I do and I do it well. She was an addition to my life-a good one-but one that I can live without. The hunt is my game, and her loss simply drives me on further to not fail. I grow stronger."

Build
Up
More
Phonemes

(Sorry)

Chikane didn't further protest or air her concerns

Not far away, Brain Jar finally finished her course of repairs. When she did, she was moved out of the repair yard and into a nearby parking lot, where the antigravitic transport set her down with only the slightest little


BUMP.

Shasta chuckled a little from the man's frank response. He's tough... that much is certain. But behind every man is a woman. I can use that... She stood from her seat and walked the cell. Actually, in this position it almost looked like Shasta was doing the interogation, and Udonis was the victim of it. The Jedi Master intended to keep her advantage. She kept pressing with her questions:

"How do you grow stronger by loss? This universe is about gain. Through the Force we gain perception, power, ability, understanding. Us Jedi never lose. When we do, we are defeated. You..." she said raising her hand, "on the other hand choose to lose, to grow stronger?" Her voice was sarcastic by this point, "You can't lose to win. It doesn't work that way. As long as she is still out there, you've got a shot. You should really try and go after her. There's no point in losing something unless you get it back later on. None. You gain nothing if you don't follow through."

She walked to the edge of the cage and turned her back to the bounty hunter. She smiled about the ace she had hidden. She would play her card soon, but she needed the exact moment. This wasn't that moment.

She quickly relayed a message to the Metal Man. 'I'm safe, but we're headed towards a group of Sith... please send help immediately.' She hoped the little robot-like brain would be able to recieve the message. If anything, it would come accross like a thought.

Turning back to Udonis her face became more serious. She walked over and stood over him, waiting for a response.

On the surface of Geneticon, Liam turned to Jacen and grimly spoke, "Then we will go. If only to hear what the Metal has to say. I'm not comfortable with it... but I suppose it has to be done."

Jacen smiled. "I think it's a good move."

Suddenly, something didn't feel right. Like this morning had sucked the life out of Jacen's soul. He felt like the world was crashing down, and he was the only one who could hold it up. Something was definitely wrong here. Something that involved someone he knew. Not him yet, just someone he knew.

---

Hours later the two Gray Jedi were hurling through space at hyperspeed in Liam's ship. Safely in the hold of the vessel were Jacen and Liam's fighters, perhaps their favorite part of the entire ship... or at least Jacen's. He loved his fighter to a great extent, and was glad that nothing had happened to it so far.

Liam sat at the controls and stoicly rubbed his chin. He was deep in thought. Not in meditation, but in thought. Something had provoked his thoughts that hadn't come to his mind in years, so he had to ponder it a bit. Perhaps it was a premonition of the danger to come.

Jacen walked the bridge with his own thoughts. Total silence flooded the room like a waterfall spilling into a drinking glass. The two said nothing as they went along. Jacen was pondering why the Metal Man would be contacting them after all these years. Could it concern Jenghis? Perhaps Miriam?

Miriam.

Jacen had loved Miriam. He knew it was wrong, but the crush had not gone away while they had been after the Orb. Once the ordeal was over, he had never seen her again. He hadn't expected ever to see her again. Perhaps this concerned her? No... it couldn't. He pushed the thought from his mind.

Suddenly, a new thought played. It was a message. Something he had intercepted through the reaches of stars. 'I'm safe, but we're headed towards a group of Sith... please send help immediately.'

At first he was stunned. He wasn't sure what to make of it. It was like a bad dream playing across his mind with enough ferocity to throw him to the ground. It was an omen that was staring him down and forcing him to the floor. It was bad. He knew. And he couldn't ignore the frightening truth of the message... he recognized the sender.

He spoke for the first time during their star voyage. "Liam... I just picked up a message from Shasta..."

---

Hours later the ship set down on the cold platform of Coruscant. The platform slid down and Jacen and Liam exited the ship, securing it to a nearby hangar after a few moments.

"Anything?" Came the voice of the younger...

"Yes... the void is near." Replied the Gray Master.

The steadily walked toward the felt void in the Force, knowing all too well that locating the Metal Man after all these years wasn't quite as easy as it seemed. They just hoped to get lucky. After a few blocks of walking, they turned off at a platform and headed for a parking lot in the distance. When they drew close, the markings on a ship here were unmistakable.

"The Brain Jar..." Jacen whispered.

"Yes."

Jacen took the lead now and walked toward it quickly.

Udonis nearly broke up in laughter. The best he could do to stifle it was a grin across his face, containing in his humorous response.

"Never lose? That was almost one of the funniest things I've been around since the Oovo IV raid..."

Turning a bit more serious, he began to seriously respond.

"Everyone loses-you may just not know it. It's a tenemant of life-the path through losing develops every being in the galaxy into hardened resolve. If one were to never lose, he would never know the taste of defeat, go into every contest with the mindset of an infallible-and be destined to one day lose. I take my losses as my own gain, and truthfully they are-by losing, I break any passionate contact I have with such feelings. My own emotional mindset is beyond reparable-and I've done it on purpose. An easy way for the Sith-anybody, even the Jedi, which is why I've gone my way-is to prey on the emotional tides of the mind. By severing these, I've cut that contact. This Dark Lord who seeks you out so bad now will surely try and betray me. The Sith are like that-not too far from the Jedi, indeed," He said mockingly. "The Jedi and the Sith only differ from their means of conducting power accumulation-the Sith are more underhanded in it, which requires a sharper mind to extrapolate their actual meanings of actions and words."

"In all truth, the Sith are likely greater threats to this galaxy," Udonis continued, "they are unstable, unreliable, and prone to killing each other messily-and no, there are no bugs or homing beacons on this vessel, I've already checked and eliminated one."

"But a self-promoter like me doesn't just pass up such an enormous contract for a simple Jedi live capture. What your Sith adversary has planned for you, I'm not sure-I'd almost rather not know, as I don't particularly like him. Given the chance, I'd rather kill him-his kind doesn't garner my like," he spat contemptously. "But I'd like my money first-if that Sith should betray me, I've got powerful friends in the lowest places-he'll regret it...if I didn't finish the vendetta myself."

"But look-I've opened up the one side of me that actually can still feel a bit-and that is opinions. I don't mind revealing weakness-it actually allows me to preform better by realizing that I have weakness, which the Sith and Jedi frequently can't do. Sure, I have a smoldering coal in my heart-possibly I do still feel for human beings at large, if not for anyone in particular. I'm no fan of torture or pain, but I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the galaxy. I'll do what I have to do to come out on top-and if that means compromising what some people call 'morals' from time to time, I'll do it. That doesn't mean that I still don't feel pity at times-I almost pity you for your situation when that Dark Lord catches a hold of you-but actually controlling such impulses defines mental strength," he sized her up a bit as he stood, looking down to her face, "and I have no doubt that your mental side also has it's passion from time to time. But can you control it?"

The intracomm system beaked on, with LOA comming in: "Master, 10 minutes ETA."
"Affirmative, LOA," Udonis replied, before shutting off the system. He turned back to Shasta.

"Maybe you'll get lucky with your Sith Lord-maybe you'll even kill him, for everyone's sake. But don't expect me not to deliver you. I need to get my cut after all-then maybe I'll think about what he's doing and spend a minute of hyperspace on it before I go talk to Oula the Hutt about his bounty on TaVayan Onasi. Can't trust those smugglers either these days, apparently."

"But back to the girl. I'd rather not lose her for good-but there's little chance she even exists any more. I'm moving on-if she wants in, she can come to me and talk it out. Otherwise, LOA, R4, and I can do perfectly fine on our own in the Faith here."

Udonis stood up to open the sound-proof blast door between the cockpit and prisoner center, but stopped momentarily, facing forward.

"If it does come down to you versus that slimy Dark Lord, I'd rather you come out the victor. At least you don't have his shadow."

With that, he opened the door, moving through it and giving a final glance back before shutting the door completely.

"Emerging from hyperspace, Master," LOA chimed in as Udonis shut the doors, preventing the cockpit talk from entering Shasta's area.
"Alright, let's set the table," Udonis said, taking his pilot's seat as the field of warping stars folded around them, emerging into normalspace.

<Attention vessel, identify yourself.> came a transmission.

"The transmission is generated from the orbital station, Master," LOA commented. "Myrkr is still under control of the Hutts as of recent, so we can be assured of beneficial dealings."
"Sounds good," said Udonis, "This is the Shattered Faith, Hunter Udonis, station."

<You have full clearance, Udonis. Oula has an offer for you on the surface.>

"I have a deal to conduct before I can go see him, but I can do it right after that. Give me 36 hours."

<Confirmed, Udonis. Oula has other matters anyway.>

"Sounds good."

Udonis flicked off the comm system before turning to his assassin droid.

"Set up an encrypted channel, bend frequency 45-x2A on a hypercomm. Prime it to the channel the Dark Lord gave us," Udonis ordered.
"Set up and initiated, Master."

SIC:

"Ieltarion, this is Udonis," the bounty hunter transmitted, "I'm at coordinate 35-245 (OOC: This will ICly point him to Myrkr). The intervention of the authorities forced me to reroute-but I'll be waiting. I've got...friendlies...around, so the cargo is as safe as long as it takes for you to arrive."

Normal IC Again:

With that, Udonis flicked off the comm. The Dark Lord could come at his own leisure-and Udonis could lead him off with his mind games as long as he wanted. Besides, he knew ways to defeat the Force users...and Ieltarion would be suicidal to attempt anything in such a lawless region of space, where Udonis's kind reigned supreme. Udonis believed the man would rather have the Jedi girl...and if he felt like killing Udonis in the process, the bounty hunter had a little surprise-one he wasn't particularly proud of, either.

OOC: I'm not going to control any of the other Myrkr vicinity groups-of which there are a bunch-but I'm just leaving them there. Myrkr is a lawless world-has always been-so I'm just setting it up as a Hutt-influenced world now that we're deep into SW future a while, to make things fun.

Ieltarion was roused out of his meditation by the beeping of the comlink. He raised an eyebrow slightly at the coordinates, but he knew perfectly well why Udonis had chosen to meet him there. The Nightwing jumped into hyperspace a minute later, and would arrive at Myrkr within the hour.

Something seemed strange about Udonis's lateness. Why had he not contacted Ieltarion immediately? He was a bounty hunter, after all; why would he delay his payment?

'I'm safe, but we're headed towards a group of Sith... please send help immediately.'

The message startled the Metal Man. His anti-esper nature influenced everything around him. It even acted to limit telepathy. Yet, he had received a clear message from Master Shasta. She was strong enough to punch right through his natural shielding.

He had seen this before. A gifted telepath by the name of Jenghis had also been able to communicate with him freely--but people such as this were extraordinarily rare, and Jenghis was halfway across the galaxy, serving as a mid-level player in the Republic's Diplomatic Corps.

"Did you feel that?" he asked no one in particular.

"Yes," said Toule, sitting on the Metal Man's left. "She needs our help, now."

Even with him sitting there, the Metal Man was sure that Chikane would have no trouble discerning the relationship between Toule and Shasta. He had shown emotion, and emotion was what triggered the Force. This, he knew, would mean one more nail in Liam and Jacen's coffin--and that was a box that the cyborg wanted kept open for as long as possible.

Chikane chuckled. The Metal Man raised an eyebrow.

"There was something else. She seems to have thought that you were...too stupid to receive her message."

"And what do you think of that, Toule?" the Metal Man asked.

"Let's just say," the man replied, "that, after watching how you taught that street kid to memorize anything, I'd rather not get involved in a war of wits between you and her."

"Well," the Metal Man continued, "we've got other wars to fight right now. If I read my messages right, we need to get off planet--and that means that we need to get to my ship, Brain Jar."


A Short While Later


"This tub is the most amazing pile of junk I've ever seen," Toule said. "Parts of it are so antiquated that it's a wonder that she even flies, but parts of it are better than any technology that on the market today."

"I've done some custom work from time to time," the Metal Man replied.

"Boss, we've got company." It was the AI that spoke those words.

"Anybody I'd recognise?"

"Better get the Jedi to put away their swords. It's Liam and Jacen, right under their noses in their capital city."

The Metal Man's eyebrows raised. "They got my message. Good. Raise them on the communicator, please."

"We got 'em, boss."

"Good."


Gentlemen, your arrival is quite timely. It seems that the lady
Shasta has been kidnapped and needs our help. Would you care
to assist me, or would you rather give the Jedi another excuse
to launch the campaign against you that she and I have worked
so long to postpone?


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

OOC:

Didn't want to limit Lady Chikane's options. She's welcome aboard Brain Jar if she wants to come along. She's also welcome to find other travel arrangements if she so desires. It's completely up to her.

Udonis had sat the ship just outside of orbit, next to one of the Hutt stations that bristled with illegally-procured turbolaser batteries. The Hutts sure liked defense...and Udonis, for once, was glad of that fact. He hadn't always liked the invertebrates, but this time he was glad to be working for them in the outlaw world that they had come to accumulate under the sphere of the Underworld-a sphere that Udonis technically was part of.

As he sat quietly in the cockpit of the Shattered Faith, his assassin droid reviewing controls and plugging in instructions for the astromech droid that was in the rear conduit of the patrol craft, Udonis began assembling the few things he needed for his meeting with the Dark Lord. His wits and natural mental canniness was his usual defense against the Force-wielders, but this time he wanted a few other things. Doubtful the Dark Lord would tell him the eventual destination, so he handed his assassin droid a small device-a tracking beacon. He wanted in as well-and Udonis had always relied on the technology of man. Unlike organics, Udonis was well aware that the Force users couldn't pick up the presence of droids and the like-they had no conscience nor feelings (particularly Udonis's two cold-hearted companions), and were therefore mentally invisable to the Force's mental adherence.

He trusted the droid with the tracking beacon-LOA completely followed Udonis, as did the little astromech-and the pair would do the job. The only thing that could possibly go awry would be him-and Udonis was confident he could take care of that.

The assassin droid opened the door to the lower area to find the astromech droid, before spotting Shasta in her cell. The door behind the droid closed as it slowly began pacing towards the rear section. The R4 astromech popped out, whistling, and accepting the homing beacon, storing it in a side chamber. It relayed info directly back to Udonis's ship, and would keep the bounty hunter informed-all the droid duo had to do would be to accomplish their end of the move.

As LOA began moving back towards the cockpit entrance, the droid stopped-and almost had a human moment, seeing the Jedi in the Force Cell, awaiting what the droid already knew. LOA had an emotional construct matrix-it had originally been a protocol droid, after all, before being severely modified by Tenloss-and it glanced up and down the captive human.

"The Master won't be finised with your interactions when you depart," the droid said blandly, echoing the sentiments Udonis had remarked upon in the soundproof cockpit that he had clearly not made to be secretive-almost edging the droid to share the conversation between droid and organic. "He seems to have a curious hate for these Sith people. It would seem in the Master's best interest if they were not totally successful once he recieves services payment."

With that, the droid continued on his coarse. It had been an abrupt passage, to be sure-the droid treated the whole thing as just another business deal, practically. But in the truth of things, LOA was just as important to the affairs of the crew of the Faith as was Udonis. Where Udonis showed calm aggression, the assassin droid showed cold logic-and the two paired nicely.

They would should the Sith try anything, for sure. But the Sith would be insane to try and win on Udonis's court. Myrkr was a bastion for the odd-and Udonis was already conducting a second transaction. He quickly put up a comm with the largest orbital station.

"This is Yuvan Udonis. I have a deal to relate..." he began. Udonis hadn't contacted the station authority itself-he had linked in with the station's guidance network, a subsection of the station that dealt with ship-station transactions.

<Station O1U. What do you propose, Hunter?>

"I need something that you should already have onboard. How much will two Ysalamiri cost me?" the Bounty Hunter requested.

<Niela's Exotics here onboard sells each one for 12,700, Hunter. I would presume you would have more than that with you...that Jedi deal you made paid well, according to our ears.>

"I have something more lucrative in my hold this time...but I'll need those Ysalamiri. Is Niela at his shop?"

<He is, Hunter. I could call him for you...for a price.>

"I thought I had earned your favor already. Don't make me angry," Udonis played. He was in good relations with the guidance of Station O1U-the very same people who had helped him back up from the death of his love.

<I don't think I would like that all too much. You are always welcome at our hands. Niela will be waiting for you. How long should I tell him to wait?>

"I'll be there in ten minutes. I'm already close outside."

<He'll be informed.>

With that, the channel cut out. Myrkr was Udonis's surrogate home-he was totally familiar with it's local space and all the locals themselves. The station itself was a fairly familiar place to Udonis-he had ventured its halls and stalls a number of times. As he piloted the Faith towards a docking tube-he didn't want to risk a hanger entrance with a Jedi onboard-he felt more at home than he had been in a while. Seemlessly, Udonis linked up to the station, the vessel's rear cockpit exit connecting to the entrance line.

Udonis activated the opening of the exit, the door opening to the airlock behind it. Udonis stepped in, the door closing as the next one opened to the white hallway before him.

"You have the ship for now, LOA. Contact me if the Sith comes," Udonis commed.

He moved down the hall and into the main thoroughfare. The commercial complex of the station was vast, but the stall he wanted-Niela's Exotics-was well positioned for a quick in-and-out. Udonis was familiar with the site, and moved past several stands and storefronts before finding the vender he was looking for-a diminuitive Rodian with yellow-green skin and in the process of shocking a caged Vornskr. When near Myrkr, one dealt with lethal and useful animals-not anything passive. Despite Niela's frame and appearance, he was well-versed in dealing with hostile lifeforms, sentient or not.

"Hello Niela," said Udonis to the Rodian as he strode up to the stand.

"You've been absent for some time," the Rodian said, but he was doing a Rodian's equivalent of a smile. The two had been friends for some time-both were hunters, as Niela often went to Myrkr's surface to personally pick his beasts.

"I need a common deal today," Udonis replied. "Just a quick stop, I may be back later. I have a lucrative deal with this wacko-he's on his way, so I need to make this quick."

"What, is he Bando Gora?" the Rodian joked.

"Not quite, but close enough. He's Sith."

"Why are you dealing with them, Yuvan? They are nothing but trouble."

"I heard you had Ysalamiri in stock. That should make them only the equivalent of the Gora."

"Well then! You may have a case...tell you what. How much is that Sith offering you?"

"A decent amount."

"Too vague. I'll sell you one of the little beasts for 12 thousand."

"How 'bout two for 20, Niela...I get the associate bonus, don't I?"

"You make life hard, familiar...how about 22?"

"20."

"Please, 21..."

"I'm not bending," Udonis smiled. "20. I'll need the rest to fuel up and make sure my droids aren't going to blow."

"You bring my hand," sighed the Rodian with extra pushed stress. "Fine, 20 it will be."

Udonis smiled sarcastically as he dished out the 20 thousand credits on the main stand of the Rodian's modest establishment. From down the plaza, the loud audible Twi-lek cry of, "Don't gimme none of that Ibby Jaaber, Humee!", oddly enough, in Basic, could be easily heard by all. Udonis almost smiled, but stayed to conversing with the Rodian.

"So what is your precious cargo?" inquired Niela.

"Something I haven't gotten in some time," Udonis smiled, as an obvious drunk Devaronian slumped by muttering "I need some beer and can use either hand," or something to that sort.

"Oh? Usually those sort of things are infrequent," mocked the Rodian playfully.

"Generally things not showing up in a long time are infrequent," Udonis fired back with a smile.

"Ah, it is only natural..."

"To be serious once more, it is a-" Udonis lowered his voice and paused, "-female Jedi..."

"I don't figure you plan to mate..."

"None of that, sick one!"

"Stranger things have happened, but I was only joking. You are selling this Jedi to the Sith?"

"Indeed."

"What did you have to do to get her?"

"Just a few of the normal tricks," Udonis said.

"Your normal tricks are far beyond my normal tricks...but perhaps you'd like to bolster your lineup with some of my other 'equipment'?" the Rodian hinted.

"I think I'll just go with these two," Udonis indicated the Ysalamiri now in a large cage on the table, "but I'll likely be back eventually."

"You always know where to find me..."

"That I do. Good trails."

Udonis left the counter after the lengthy conversation, bumping past more drunks as he toted the cage beneath his right hand, the ysalamiri inside it passive. They were hard creatures to get moving, but Udonis had plenty of momentum. He had had run-ins with Vornskrs before-the predators of the Ysalamiri-and LOA could immitate their vocal patterns to a pitch. It was good motivation on the force-nuetralizing little beasts.

The bounty hunter stepped back into the atmospheric conduit, walking down the narrow, small corridor until he reached his ship's rear airlock. The airlock slid open, and Udonis walked inside. The door shut, and the inner door opened-revealing the small cockpit module once more, with LOA calmly sitting at the copilot seat. Udonis was quiet coming in-the droid wouldn't care-before he opened the door to the lower section. Shasta was still there-but Udonis didn't feel like talking much right now. He just wanted to hurry up with the Sith Lord to finalize what his next moves would be.

He opened up the cage as the Ysalamiri shuffled about inside. He was facing Shasta, but simply remained relaxed. The Sith Lord would have to come to his ship to get the Jedi-and the animals he now possessed would make that a great deal harder on him. There wouldn't be any force-power usage onboard his ship.

He placed both Ysalamiri at higher positions, and the reptlies grappled onto their surfaces-he had stuck them above pliable surfaces-with a tight grip. The animals were notorious for sticking themselves to the Myrkr trees and not letting go, and they seemed to be doing the same. Udonis paused momentarily to admire his work before moving back to the cockpit. As the door shut, the Ysalamiri both emitted their force-neutralizing bubbles, encompassing the volume of the room majority.

Shasta had paced her cell for several minutes after Udonis had left. She was pondering what to do when the little droid walked past and muttered some phrases about how Udonis hated the Sith. Fair enough. Shasta already knew that bit of information... as the hunter himself had relayed it through actions as much as words. It was questionable whether he truly meant what he said though, as he was not to be trusted. He could be setting her up for some later endgame not yet revealed.

But that was besides the point of her thought process. She had to find a way to accomplish the impossible... figure out what all of this meant before she was actually handed over. Deep thought indwelled her as she let a form of mind meditation (rather than Force meditation) take over her body. Shasta was deep into this ritual when Udonis returned and attached two large lizards to the ceiling. Odd... they were Ysalamiri to be sure. The Force detracting lizard. Any Jedi knew them instantly on sight, and could also detect their presence within a large space. They were definitely here and they were definitely going to do a good job. Fortuantely for Shasta, they didn't really complicate her any, because she was already rid of the Force before they had entered.

No... the only problem they presented was that they would block her use once she was out of the cell, which might be soon. She couldn't decide yet when she should make her move. She had a plan in mind, but that was somewhat defeated by the lizards. She couldn't go out the cell into the hall, so she would have to go out the cell through the ceiling. It was the only thing that made sense to her. She could find the means, and she could make the move, but timing was everything. If Udonis happened to walk in shortly after her escape, and he was walking in frequently, then she could get chased down quickly. Her main thought was simply to buy more time and allow the Metal Man a chance to find her before this deal went down.

But now was not the time for escape. She only had one shot at it, and if she failed that once... she would be captured and held for good without much chance of further escape. Actually, there wouldn't be any at all.

Why did they want her? This question kept popping up every few thoughts or so. The very thing Udonis secretly wondered (or at least Shasta thought he was curious about it) was the same thing Shasta wanted to know herself. The Sith didn't typically try to capture Jedi... instead they tried to kill them. And this was blatant kidnapping which the Council couldn't ignore... so why would they make this move at this time? It was an odd situation to be sure.

A bomb exploded in the far distance, but close enough so Shasta could hear its effects. The slight shock in her ear reminded her of back home, and the numerous bombs that were constantly exploding on the surface of her home planet, and abroad in other systems. That was the reason the Jedi were so thin these days, the numerous terrorist attacks. No one knew who was behind them or what the purpose was... but everyone knew how deadly they were. And they would continue until somebody stopped them.

Why was she thinking about that at a time like this? Her mind wandered back to the plan to get out of this cell. She knew exactly how she would do it, but she wondered when. She had to do this correctly the first time. She only had one shot. One shot. One shot.

What was taking the Sith? Udonis had grown nearly bored by this part. He simply felt more and more like getting this transaction over with-he distrusted the Dark Lord, and would have felt considerably better had the money already run into his hand. For sure, the authorities had run him out of the Coruscant system-but Udonis had wanted to come to Myrkr, his proving ground, anyway for the transaction, where anything odd about his ship what surely be noted by those who actually knew him, of those who were out of his mold.

He felt confident that Ieltarion would show up eventually however-and he felt that it was high time to make final preparations. He decided to suit up into his armor system and prep the interior defenses-if something went wrong, Udonis wanted to be ready. He got up off his pilot's seat, rubbing his rear vigorously. Ony LOA was in the cockpit, so it wasn't as if anyone was watching. He left the assassin droid at the controls as he moved up to activate the door console, when his subconscious suddenly fired a jolt through his mind.

You really don't want to travel that road again, do you?

Udonis cringed. It wasn't his voice he was hearing from the depths of his soul.

One of loss...one of weakness? You consider yourself impregnable to emotional attack, and you technically are...in the sense of self. But your conscience truly does hurt your feeling for those you discover.

It seemed a war of words in the Bounty Hunter's mind as a second voice-his own, this time it seemed to the man-kicked in.

I know what I was feelin'. And I knew that case for years, not for a mere day.

Yet you exhibit the traits you displayed last time. Do you link such attachments?

No. Not even close to the same scenario-

Both were-are-contracts, foolish man.

You expect me to fall down the same way as last time? You are wrong-I AM impregnable to my mind.

So you believe. Yet it took over a year to get over the loss of Corta, and you still hold a dark kernel that she may be still out there. Why lose again, this time on purpose?

The pay for this is far more important. My destiny is riding on this one. Her fate is of no importance-let the Sith have their will.

They'll betray you anyways, fool. They have no use for those living vicariously.

Vicariously? I'm possibly the strongest name bounty hunter in the galaxy!

Yet you hunt others for a living. And as much as you deny it, there is a hint of shame in your conscience-something we all have.

We?

You and me, Yuvan. Why follow up on where you left me? Why not save the chance to redeem your soul this time around?

With that, Udonis's mind zipped back into reality. He was angered suddenly-angered by the flash of his subconscience into a state of almost-dream. It was nothing more-of course.

Going back to his job, he opened up the door to the lower section, visably ticked. The thoughts he had tried to evict for so long-that had seemed so long gone-had just struck back in force for the first time. A catalyst? Udonis didn't want to believe it was the Jedi.

The lower frontal section was the storage area for all of Udonis's devices of trade, apart from beind the prisoner and passenger hold-though it was a barely-visable aperture when closed, and not visable to the several prisoner cells. Out of Shasta's view, he grimaced slightly as he took out the Heavy Exoskeletan-his skin of sorts. The blue-ribbed design on the black exterior glistened slightly in the artificial light of the interior, and he slipped on the armor. It fit like a tee-completely envelloping his entire body except for head, hands, and feet.

To cover those, he placed on a pair of dark, spiked-toe metal boots with a crafty twist. Connected wirelessly to his guantlet network of armor commands, both tops of the boots contained a small spike launcher-an incapacitating form of posion dart that inflicted a corrosive substance injectio when contacted.

He then donned both of said gauntlets-long things that went almost to his elbow, containing numerous finger controls Udonis had mastered, and the right one carrying a rocket-dart launcher while the left sported a flamethrower. Udonis stuck a plasma rocket-a small, heat inflicting device-into the right, and stuck in a full canister of fuel into he flamethrower. He put on a bandolier, loading it with both his pistols and several grenades, blaster packs, and extra rocket darts.

Udonis then linked into the small screen inside the locker-the personal defense regulator. He programmed the shock field-the Faith's most potent defense, an electric field generator running all throughout the ship that sent almost-lethal shocks of electricity through certain emitters the height of the area it covered. Udonis and both droids were protected-the droids had a coating on the armor that absorbed the attacks of the defensive screen, while Udonis had specifically requested the Electromesh armor partially for the defense function-the armor was the best agaisnt any form of electricity, including the defense screen. The electricity of the shock field was drawn to the blue ribs of the armor, which disappated the shocks harmlessly. He also activated the several stun cannons of the vessel, then closed up the weapons locker.

Turning around, the bounty hunter caught himself. To his eyes-a woman stood there, arms folded, almost staring at him in a disapproving manner. A familiar woman...that Udonis's mind would not let him rid of. The image shimmered away as his mind collected into the world again, but Udonis was a bit hesitant all of the sudden.

As he walked back to the cockpit, he put one of the pistols to his head self-mockingly, muttering, "Get out of there..."

Jacen walked forward to the ship and stood outside the walkway. He waited for Liam to catch up, and soon the pair were standing side by side. In a moment, a familiar voice came over the onboard com system.

Jacen smiled, "Ah... how I've missed that voice."

Liam smirked, "I could have gone without it."

Jacen chuckled and gave the Master a glance, before turning back to the ship. Suddenly, a thought came to him. He retraced the words he had just heard, and then jerked a little in place. Shasta?! After all these years?! He turned back to Liam, "Shasta???"

"It appears that way."

After nine years it seemed that Jacen's childhood sweetheart was now in trouble, and the ever resourceful Metal Man had called two outcast (or escapee... however you term it) Jedi back to retrieve her. It was an odd turn of events after Shasta had been the one to come after them nine years ago. Jacen whispered to himself so he could only hear, "Oh how the tables turn..."

They had to get moving and get inside the ship quickly. The Jedi had long since hated Jacen, and consequently Liam, for his actions with Jedi Master Kly P'do.

The man had been Jacen's former Master, a teacher in the Force. But he had been weak and destructive, and after trying to take Shasta under his wings, he had fallen apart at the seems, mentally losing all control on Liam's ship in the middle of space. Jacen and P'do had dueled, and the Master had lost. Jacen had spared his life though, and the man had never been seen again. When the battle with total evil had been complete, Shasta had given the Council a full report, but they had always held a suspicion against her for her role in the affair. Jacen had been told all about it the last time they had contacted each other, about eight years ago. Since then, he had not heard from her. P'do was long gone. In any case, the Jedi would rather have Jacen and Liam dead than anything else.

So Jacen led the way up into the hold of the ship, and passed through the hallways of the Brain Jar to the bridge of the ship... if it was called that. The two Jedi were familiar with the ship, as their memories had not deteriorated... and they had been on the ship quite often in the past.

As a door whirred open in front of them, and they walked onto the floor of the main operating room of the vessel, Jacen spotted the Metal Man in the corner, leaning over some controls. He grinned a little and walked briskly over to the cyborg. Although the two had started off with a bumpy road, Jacen held an affection for the brain that went beyond words. He liked him. Liam on the other hand, wasn't so warm. Glancing at his Master, Jacen decided it was probably best that he do the honors and the talking...

"Metal Man... nice to see you again after all these years. I trust you've been well." Looking around, Jacen realized that at least two other people were in the room. People he wasn't really familiar with. He began to feel a little uneasy. The second person had the look of a Jedi... "What's this all about Metal Man? I picked up a telepathic distress signal in the hyperspace jump..."

"You heard it, too?" the cyborg asked. "I should've figured--your mind and Shasta's would still have a special link. I think the message was for me, and I'm responding to it. These are the Lady Chikane, a Jedi, and Toule, a local businessman with whom Shasta had dealings.

"I need not remind you gentlemen," he said, seeing the look that took hold of Jacen's face when he heard the word 'Jedi,' "that Brain Jar is hallowed ground, and that those who enter set aside their petty conflicts."

He relaxed slightly. "It's good to see you again, Jacen, and I'm sorry to try your master's patience again with my un-force-bearing presence. Still, the need is great, and you both have a stake in this situation."

"So let me get this straight," Jacen said. "According to the news reports, someone kidnapped Shasta a few blocks away from the Jedi Temple."

"Yes," the cyborg replied, "exactly."

Liam laughed, in a mixture of humor and contempt. "And they called you in to get to the bottom of it," he said, pointing at the Metal Man.

"No," the accused replied, "I just happened to be in the neighborhood."

Liam laughed again. "Even better," he said.

"You can laugh at me when this is over," the cyborg responded. "Right now, she needs you." As usual, he had chosen his words carefully. He did not say, "I need you." Liam might have turned the Metal man down just to see him suffer. Shasta would be a different matter, however. She was a creature of the Force, just as he was. He would respect her. This was not so much a ploy on the Metal Man's part, as an attempt to communicate in the terms that those he was speaking with would best understand.

As if sensing the Metal Man's meaning, Liam sobered--slightly. "It's a good thing that you recognized the need," he said. "Where to from here?"

"When they took Shasta, they also got one of my more recent students," the Metal Man replied. "They still haven't neutralized the tracking devices that I planted in his body. I'm going to find him, and, through him, I'm going to learn where they've taken Shasta--unless you can use the Force to divine her location. I would appreciate it if our ships were at each other's backs while this is happening."

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

OOC: Please see OOC thread for my thoughts on the matter.

Krunt was the last place in the galaxy where anyone would want to go, yet one could consider its every undesirable trait a blessing in disguise. It was a planet of swamps, with skies shrouded in perpetual rain over 90% of its surface. Ironically, this was how the planet's ecosystem was able to function at all--Krunt was so close to her attendant star that, had there been no clouds, the merciless rays of Sigma Yugma would have fried all life on the planet. A moon one third the size of the planet circled nearby, causing Krunt to writhe and blister as her continental plates were stretched beyond the limits of their endurance. Yet, without the constant volcanism, the planet would have been bereft of any land mass, as only the eruptions could keep at bay the constant erosion of the rains.

As one would expect from a planet with these ingredients, Krunt teamed with life. Constantly-forming micro niches and an abundance of both energy and chemical media make Krunt an evolutionary factory of remarkable potency. Chemists mined her secrets to relieve pain and suffering throughout the Republic--from a safe distance.

Most of the foreigners on Krunt lived in cities that were, for the most part, submerged a few feet below the surfaces of her oceans. From there, specialists could come ashore, harvest the things they needed and return to the relative safety of the sea.

It was in one of these cities, called Thuban, in a canister of a material that was neither metal nor organic, that neither floated nor sank, that a group of men sat playing lots with one who was neither a boy nor a man.

Face filled with anticipation, the young man placed a circular lot on the center of the table, atop a pile that the others at the table had obviously just played. His expression turned to glee as he yelled, "Topper!" and spread his arms to take in all the earnings that were piled around the lots. His expression turned to concern as two of his three opponents drew weapons from their sleeves.

"I don't know how you cheated, but you cheated," said the one sitting directly across from him, and elderly man with a scruffy red beard under blond hair.

"Cheated?" he countered. "I didn't need to cheat. All I did was count the lots. It's easy!"

"Oh? I'll give you easy, you little--." As he finished speaking, he threw something at the young man. He flinched, then relaxed slightly as the shuriken stopped in mid air directly in front of him.

Out of nowhere, a hand appeared, with the shuriken embedded in its palm. As it did, an arm and an entire body appeared with it. The body appeared to be that of an obese old man with blue eyes and a long, flowing white robe.

"What took you so long?" Kassay asked. "I was starting to get nervous."

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

OOC: I'll post more after I get some shuteye. This should be enough to go on for now.

"Unfortunately," Liam spoke from beneath the veil of his cloak and the 'shadows,' "her signature has disappeared from my ability to sense her. Either she is dead by now or someone has nulled her force signature." The latter was an echo of the strange yet familiar feeling Liam was experiencing at that very moment. The anti-force. The Metal Man's very existence disturbed him with its void in the force; however, Liam had grown up with force inhibitors, practicing to overcome them and still grasp the force despite the bubble they created. Granted that they had been machines he trained on, but since then he had experienced the Metal Man and the ysalamiri.

Ysalamiri...

He paused for a moment in thought before speaking aloud to flesh out the idea that had popped into his mind. "When Shasta was taken - assuming she is alive - she was most likely knocked out or placed in a force cage..." There were other possibilities, but they were much less likely; she could be deliberately hiding her self or perhaps another powerful force user had kept her in check, but neither seemed true. "Perhaps both. It is quite unintelligent to bring a hostile Jedi aboard one's ship and then give them free reign. And we must assume that this kidnapper is no fool... seeing as he did overcome both you and the Shasta," Liam said in turning to the Metal Man. "Thus I would assume she was placed in a force cage to restrict her access to the force. Now, force cage can be somewhat of a generic term describing different mechanisms for creating a disruption in the force. One can disrupt a Jedi's concentration by constant battering of strenuous activity both to the mind and body. One could use the force to seal another off from the force. Or one could use an actual machine that simultaneously creates a rift in the force and a constant stream of deadly energy - that is probably the most specific use of the term force cage. However, all of these work in a way such that one inside their range of ability cannot access or have great control over the force. They do not, however, create a void in the force much like our friend here. That is to say that a person inside a force cage can still be detected. Thus I would say that even if a force cage had been used, this kidnapper has moved on..."

A long breath cut through the air as he took his time getting back to his point.

"Thus I come to my final conclusion. Three possibilities: one, perhaps not what you want to hear, is that she is dead; two, is that our esteemed kidnapper has come into possession of the nasty little beast known as the ysalamiri - they act in much the same way as TMM here; however, there is the third and most dark possibility - a dark lord has arisen. Over the past months, I have felt a growing sensation that the balance in the Force has been shifting, and the dark side growing once again. But what I speak of is not a lowly adept or Dark Jedi. A dark lord of certain power can hide their presence in the force from the Jedi - no doubt many have throughout our history in order to build their support base before being discovered. However, a dark lord of some greater power could actually hide the presence of another being from the force... even if you were to be standing next to her."

A silence hung in the air for a moment as Liam finished and relaxed back into his seat.

"I leave the decision up to the rest of you..."

The stars settled from streaks to dots as the Nightwing came out of hyperspace, cruising towards one of the Hutt stations. Ieltarion quickly got clearance to land, settling the Infiltator into one of the many hangars. He raised the cowl of his cloak, covering his flaming yellow eyes as he disembarked. Three spherical probe droids followed in the shadows, small blasters concealed inside their bodies.

Ieltarion joined the crowd in the commercial district, passing by a small stall. The dingy sign overhead read "Niela's Exotics." Normally, Ieltarion would have simply passed it by, but he noticed a stack of cages at the back of the store. They were all empty, save one, and the creature in it was unmistakable.

Ieltarion entered the tiny store, quickly finding the owner. "Greetings," he said coldly.

"Hello," Niela said nervously, seeing the glowing yellow eyes underneath the hood.

"To whom did you sell the ysalamiri?"

Niela gulped. This was the Sith Udonis had been talking about, there was no mistaking. "I don't know...I didn't see his face."

Ieltarion could not persuade the creature dealer with the Force; the ysalamiri took care of that. But he could to it the old-fashioned way. The tip of his lightsaber hilt poked out through his robes. The Rodian's bright blue skin went pale. "Yuvan Udonis," he forced out.

"Good," Ieltarion said. "Come with me."

He gestured towards the main thoroughfare, and followed Niela outside towards a restroom. The Force told Ieltarion that nobody was inside, so he placed his hand on the Rodian's cold forehead. The Force flowed through him, pounding into Niela's brain and purging it of the past few minutes' memories. The Rodian would not remember Ieltarion at all.

The Sith settled himself in one of the sleazier cantinas, the Malastare Rush. He laid down a few credits for a Duggie, and punched a few buttons on his wrist comlink. After looking up and down the bar to make sure nobody was looking, he spoke softly into it. "Meet me at the Malastare Rush. Bring the Jedi with you, and you shall recieve your payment, plus a bonus."

There were those of the Force who painted a picture when they dueled. The elegance with which they moved, swirling high and low with unmatched grace, paralleled the ceremonious dances of ancient times long forgotten. Their intended form of death was beautiful in practice, each strike akin to light strokes of a paintbrush. There were those who could dance, who could paint, who had grace. And than there were those who hadn't any of it.

Clumsy, brutal, and with a battle sense devoid of any notion but death, Darth Rauntis fought more with his temper than he did with his own weapons. Hack, hack, hack, he had one intent; to kill. He was more a thief than he was a warrior, for he stole life so quickly, there wasn't time to fight. The art of dueling was lost on him. Killing was another story.

Such was the case on this day. The assault had been swift and relentless; a couple swings and the battle was complete. Telsa Arakra was dead.

And yet as the Trandoshan stood over her slain body, eyes flickering, chest heaving, he could feel no remorse. He couldn't even muster an ounce of respect. And it wasn't as though she hadn't put up a fight...in his eagerness for the kill, Rauntis had made a tactical error. Two blaster holes now smoked in his scaly arm, evidence that his prey had not been so vulnerable. It was the fact that she had been indecisive, remorseful, human even that had irritated him to despise her so.

The job was done now. The link to the Sith conspiracy, the bounty hunter, was dead. The orders were clear and concise. Ieltarion wanted all ties to himself severed, and as Shasta had already been captured, Telsa had outlived her use. Now only one hunter remained. Yuvan Udonis. And as soon as he turned in Shasta, Rauntis would descend upon him with a fury like no other. All evidence of Sith involvement must be destroyed. The Council could not know of their meddling.

This of course could prove to be a problem in the bigger scheme of things. Darth Rauntis knew there were others involved, specifically a rather strange individual of robotic origin. They would be dealt with accordingly, but for now they must be left alone. It was essential that the Sith plan was carried out. They could not let such powerless fools to distract them from their cause.

Sheathing his lightsaber, Darth Rauntis withdrew a holocamera from his robe, intending to project a minitaure hologram of himself to Darth Ieltarion, his master. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head, submitting to his Selonian overlord.

"Master; I have done as you asked. The bounty hunter, Telsa Arakra, is dead. I will join you on Myrkr shortly, to complete the second part of my task."

OOC: Genet, I'm just gonna say Shasta can't avoid the stun shots-hope you don't mind that.

IC:
Udonis frowned as the transmission came, and then cut before he could muster a response. The Sith had some powers of deducement after all...that or he'd stuck his furry nose where it shouldn't have been in the first place. The bounty hunter grimaced a bit, then left the cockpit with LOA as he opened the door to the main hatch. He flipped up his blaster into his right hand, flicking the switch to stun. Moral choice or not, the hunter had made up his mind-this Jedi was going to at least experience the Dark Lord, like it or not.

"Your time's come, though I'm almost sorry I must do it," said Udonis-but as time had moved, he was less and less sorry, and more and more awaiting those credits.

With a quick motion, he raised the blaster up to Shasta's chest level, and fired three bursts at point blank range. Yuvan despised such low moves, but time was time and he was looking forward to ridding himself of the Sith stench that was around. With the Jedi quickly incapacitated, he lowered the force cell's negating field and opened the durasteel hatch to the inside.

"LOA, R4, come with me."

Both droids filed to the section as the Faith came to a stop in a connector tunnel. Udonis wrapped flexsteel cables around both the Jedi's wrists as the droid locked them into its main hold, chirping all the time. The assassin droid, considerably colder, plugged in a core-powered bio-assault cannon on its wrist, than picked up a Czerka light repeating rifle. For further armament, the droid fixed a slugthrower to its back. Udonis had his two pistols, but also carried a phrik vibrosword-his Jedi weapon of choice, though it had cost him nearly one half of a contract when he purchased it. Phrik was a rare substance, after all.

"Let's go," he said. The...unscrupulous...denizens inside wouldn't particularly find a man and two droids toting around an unconcious woman as strange-it was practically daily life. The hunter opened the hatch of the ship, then proceeded out into the white tunnel, both droids in tow.

Udonis knew the station well, and knew the location of the Malastate Rush very well. He'd visited the cantina numerous times on Hutt contracts, and had almost carried out one there, too. He quickly made his way through the thoroughfare, though bypassed the cantina completely. He had a bit of work to accomplish first-he had to provide a little bit of favor to his side, without the ysalamiri at his aid. Knowing the Hutts helped this out enormously.

Approaching the local "detachment" of "security", Udonis walked straight up to the Devaronian manning the counter.

"T'troth," Udonis said low, "I need a bit of a tip if Oula wants me to carry through with his next assignment.

"What now, hunter?" grunted the Devaronian. He was one of those who didn't particularly get along with most bounty hunters.

"I need a small picket of Weequay outside the Malastare Rush. We've got a...person of special interests...inside who I'm filling a contract completion for, and he could get...potentially dangerous."

The Devaronian simply nodded. He had been through enough of these little situations.

"I'll send Yblot and his five. They'll stand watch outside-anything funny happen, and they'll be in. There's already three who stand inside that cantina around the clock-it's had enough incidents since the last time you were here. Carry on hunter."

Udonis merely nodded to the Devaronian. Though he disliked the alien personally, at least the security dispatcher got things done with efficiency. The group would be there.

Udonis picked up back to his job right after, arriving back at the cantina as the Weequay detachment was taking up station outside the cantina's door. The hunter merely moved past them, through the door and into the dusk red light of the cantina. For being a fairly vibrant cantina, it had noticeable flaws-besides the light that flickered off of Udonis's blue-ribbed armor. A Mn'hethe female and a Twi'lek male were engaging in some intimate activities in one corner of the cantina's main room, while a Bothan argued with two Verpine in another stall-probaly over the continued steal of Bothan ion tech by the grabbing Verpine race. The cantina was as varied in tongue as it was in mind.

Udonis was a well-known presence, but he knew his place-and most of the patrons here either knew him, or well armed, or both. For such a station, most of the drinkers, players, or sluts were also smugglers or engaged in other illicit pursuits of their own, just like Udonis was. The hunter weaved through the traffic of people, a scream coming out from the corner of the Mn'hethe-apparently something hadn't gone right with those intimate activities. He simply shrugged, covertly grabbing a drink, taking a swig, and returning it to a table before it's Quarren owner even figured out the drink had been missing. Udonis simply smiled, R4 chirping. The droid had taken up a post by the main establishment of the bar, simply standing, yet also readied. The droid had a very noticeable shield emitter up-a basic energy defense grid that encompassed the whole of the droid, bathing the automaton in a blue-ish glowing light. Most ignored it-they figured the droid would likely kill somebody or other. That's what assassin droids did, anyway. It was Udonis's 4th droid, to be exact, and the patrons of the station had seen several messy deactivations of two of the previous.

Udonis finally spotted the Sith, moving calmly and in control. It was all business now-and the hunter was hitting his stride. This was his time, when he sought his pay and turned over the wanted. As he stepped up to the table, taking a seat opposite the Sith-covered by a dark robe, it was apparent-the first thought flashed through his mind. Yellow 2, Red Played Minus-1, Yellow Nine, Yellow Played Double-I've got 20.

"I've got your Jedi," the hunter said, in a voice just loud enough to draw a few stares from those most nearby. He looked to exert his position as quick as possible in the mind game. "She'll be unconcious for the next 20 minutes, so I should hope we wrap this up fast. I don't have my...sentries...to defend against her abilities right now."

A flick of a gauntleted paw sent the curious bystanders back to their activities, and then the Sith turned his attention back on the bounty hunter. Over his shoulder, he noticed the burly Weequay subtly, but noticeably congregating outside the cantina. Ieltarion smiled slightly. "Well done. Where is the Jedi?"

A small vibration on his wrist told him he had a incoming transmission. "Please excuse me," he said to Udonis, and turned around to recieve the message from Rautis.

"Master; I have done as you asked. The bounty hunter, Telsa Arakra, is dead. I will join you on Myrkr shortly, to complete the second part of my task."

Ieltarion nodded. "Good," he said softly into the comlink. "I shall meet you here."

The Metal Man levitated through the old ship's cockpit and into the pilot's seat. A standard data probe came from a space at the base of his square suit's body and jacked into the computer outlet in front of him.

She had died a violent death, this woman who had shown Kassay some vague sympathy, in a tank of air fifty feet beneath the surface of an ocean as far away from home as anyone could ever imagine. The miscreant who had done the job had tried to make it look like a random mugging, but this had been useless when Liam had surveyed the scene. The Metal Man had confirmed things later, including the fact that the assassin had taken damage during the fight.

That left her ship to those who could find it. The assassin had gotten there first, but he had proven to be a creature of brute force, with no hint of subtlety about him. Thus it was that, when he found the computer's security too much, he had set off a reactor breech and left. He had not been aware that this ship's computer core was shielded from the nuclear meltdown that followed, or that it had a small back-up power source that kept it from losing its data.

Of course, a humanoid body was useless in that ship. It was so badly flooded with radiation that nothing organic could survive in it unshielded. That was why the Metal Man was wearing The Box, a suit that Jacen and Liam had encountered eight years earlier. This one was a little more modern that its predecessor, though. That suit had suffered a run-in with a Sith Lord while the Metal Man's mind was stuck in an Orb. The only reason he had survived--and the suit had been totally wiped out--was Jacen's intervention.

Passing through the security protocols almost as if they weren't there, the Metal Man went straight for the navigation logs. In them, he found confirmation of his best hopes--and a new fear.

"It's here," he said over the com link, "but you're not going to like it. She was headed for Myrkr."

The cyborg didn't need to access his database to learn about that forsaken place. It was one of the few places in the galaxy that he traveled through with trepidation. The Hutts had gotten ahold of it, and, through their influence, it had turned into the biggest cesspool this side of the Galactic Divide. It was an excellent choice for a lawless scumbag like the one who had taken Shasta, though. Anyone trying to enforce the law in that planet's gravity well would be subject to instant attack.

"Liam, Jacen, you two start out without me. I'll join you after I've towed this ship into the nearest star. She's too hot to leave in the dock. She won't be habitalbe again for over ten thousand years."

Udonis gave a relaxed appearance. "I brought her with me."

The astromech droid chirped and released the hold on the Jedi, and Udonis slung the body on his side of the table-Shasta lay fairly limp, still out of it from the stun bolt to the chest.

"She'll be fine-simply a temporary action."

As the Sith moved to talk to his comlink, Udonis turned around to what seemed to be an innocent pair of Gand, simply doing what Gands traditionally did-stand there and stare into space.

"Da wango sa du azalus wanga," spoke the bounty hunter quickly in Huttese-universal language of the dirt of galactic society. "Chess ko, hees Goola Jedai."

The Gand both simply blinked, an affirmative action by the insectoids as they moved back a few steps, but

"It's here, but you're not going to like it. She was headed for Myrkr."

"Well I like that a whole hell of a lot better than the other two alternatives I presented," Liam responded darkly. "We can at least assume now that it is the ysalamiri present there that has stricken her presence from the detectable force."

"Liam, Jacen, you two start out without me. I'll join you after I've towed this ship into the nearest star.

"I'm not sure how wise that is considering the nature of the planet - by which I mean the company it keeps, both human and reptilian." He was of course referring to the scum of the galaxy that took up residence on the lawless world and the ysalamiri that made it difficult for one of the Jedi's nature to defend himself against the numerous threats.

"Though we shall go. However, I would ask if you have some equipment onboard the ship that would assist us," the cloaked figure added. "Some energy shields, couple blasters... and I don't suppose you have a battle droid anywhere?"

Should've brought Orbit...

Jacen sat quietly while the Metal Man explained exactly what was going on. It seemed that Shasta was now headed for Mykyr... and the Metal Man wanted the two Gray Jedi to go after her. For Jacen, he welcomed the oppurtunity. He had always had a special spot in his heart for Shasta. A secret love perhaps. But he had pushed that beyond him now with his calmer nature. Yet, still the secret affected the way he acted.

He stepped forward as Liam spoke, and pulled his own cloak around himself tighter, to add some warmth to his body... stuck in the vacuum of space at the moment. Albeit he was in a ship, but that rarely made it much warmer. The cloak was a good addition to any outfit, especially a Jedi because it concealed their weapon of choice.

He leaned into the conversion and spoke into Liam's ear, "I think we should leave right away Master. We can take your ship and get there faster than the Brain Jar. It's vital that we make a decision immediately, her life is at stake." He said the last words with frightening and determined emphasis... trying to push his point accross. Suddenly, he felt he may be acting out of place. Stepping back, he bowed slight, a nod of the head couple with it. "I will adhere to whatever course you decide to follow Master."

Inside, he wanted to go after this mysterious Jedi. Plus, there seemed to be much more to this than met the eye. It wasn't everyday that a Jedi was kidnapped by a bounty hunter... typically they were simply ordered to kill them.

Time to do a little work. Tapping into the telepathic sphere, he sorted through the numerous thoughts throughout the galaxy, and finally reached an opening where he could communicate. Slowly he spoke the words in his mind to reach Shasta, 'Hello girl... you know me simply by my cognative tone. I'm coming to help you with an old friend. Please update situation soon...'

---

Back in the bar on the Force-distraught system, Shasta started to stir a little. She didn't really know where she was. She heard a murmur of voices, but they were scattered. She couldn't comprehend them. She felt very light-headed and groggy. What had happened? Ahh... yes... the hunter shot me with with a stun gun... She tried to pull herself back to full consciousness, but it was tough. Suddenly, she felt herself falling... or flying. She hit a surface with a thump, and now her mind was really swimming.

The voices were closer and louder now, but still indistict. Finally, she was able to pull her mind back into action. She brought her mind back in time to catch a few words in Huttese. She wasn't very familiar with it, but familiar enough to know it was Huttese. Hmmm. She kept her body functions from changing their state, so the hunter and whoever else was present wouldn't realize her awareness had returned.

With stunning suddeness like a train wreck, a telepathic signal infiltrated her mind,

'Hello girl... you know me simply by my cognative tone. I'm coming to help you with an old friend. Please update situation soon...'

She almost jumped a little, except for the control over her functions. She was able to keep herself calm and still maintain the appearance of being knocked out cold. Could it be??? Jacen Thomas had contacted her after all these years? He was involved somehow? Crazy...

Her mind started to swim a little more... and she wasn't able to reply to the message before she once again slipped into a flood of blackness.

One does not request aid from an enemy. Clearly, Liam's view of the Metal Man had changed, if only slightly. Now, the cyborg could be useful in his eyes. This was progress--and it was a hard-fought victory, not to be taken lightly.

Though he fought hard, the Metal Man was still a creature of peace. Every weapon that he had developed was intended for some peaceful purpose. Use in warlike pursuits would be secondary.

"No battle droids, but--Pete," the Metal Man said to the AI that ran Brain Jar in his absence, "show Liam and Jacen the belt-worn invisibility cloaks and the columnized electron guns. If they like these, let them have some. If the Sith going to use force-dampers, gentlemen, you might as well get some advantage of it yourselves. If they can't see you, ...and the guns are almost as versatile as light sabers. They can stun or destroy--at tremendous range. They can also be decolumnized for a blanket stun effect. Equip the cloaks to withstand a stun blast, Pete. That way, they'll be able to use the guns when standing right next to each other."

The electron guns were originally developed as an aid to fight plasma fires. A columnized electron beam was the only thing that would get through a plasma shield. If you put the right explosives in the shield, then set them off with the beam, and the resulting explosion would use up enough combustibles to put out even a plasma fire. The weapon's versatility had come when the Metal Man had learned how to vary the beam's focus.

"I'm on it, boss."

"Good. I've just made the engine room. Things are pretty messed up down here...but...well, well, well. I think I can get this thing to light up. There's a small back-up reactor and the engines themselves are still viable. The stablilzing computer is wrecked, and the whole interior of the ship is hot enough to fry eggs on, but I can fill in for that. The outer wall contained most of the reactor breech. You know what? This tin can can hold up until we get back. I'm going to leave it here for now. I'll see you in about twenty minutes."

On his way out, he brought out his plasma blaster and welded the main hatch shut.

Two hours later, he was standing in the guest chambers, which, along with the rest of his ship--and their companions'--had made orbit. He had just finished explaining the guns' controls. He could tell that it wasn't going over well.

The gun was barely as large as his hand, but it had several knobs on it that could be used to change the way that it operated. A small muzzle was marked by a cylindrical flare almost at its end.

"OK," he said, "if you just keep all the setting knobs back toward you and pull the trigger, you get the full force of the weapon." He turned, pointed the gun toward a target on the far side of the room, and pulled the trigger. A beam of white shot straight into the target. For a moment, it illuminated, seeming to glow, then, it exploded, the shards bursting into flame. "May the force help anyone caught in this thing's field if someone turns on a sprinkler system."

The deck rocked.

"Pete, what's going on?"

"We've got company, boss, and they're not very friendly."

"What did they hit?"

"I got the shields up before they--unghh! OK, they just burnt up some armor. The shields won't hold long against this assault, though."

"Sith!" hissed lady Chikane.

"How many?" asked the Metal Man.

"Three, but they're heavily armed."

"Pete--cloak," said the cyborg.

"Can't--they got it," replied the AI.

"Can you man the deck guns, Chikane? Liam, Jacen, how long to launch your fighters?"

"You don't expect us to--."

"I won't MAKE you go out there, but we'll do a LOT better against them with you shooting back, too, than we will if you sit here and wait for them to pick us off," the Metal Man replied. "I can use the deck guns to give you covering fire while you launch."

The deck bucked as the AI pulled an evasive maneuver. A muffled explosion--instead of a rocking deck--pointed to the fact that it had some effect.

"What's your decision?"

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

OOC:

I am trying to give Lady Chikane not only something to do, but the ability to make a contribution to the story. She can identify the Sith and perhaps even tell the others things that, for example, the Metal Man would never be able to intuit. Haven't seen a post involving her in a dog's age, and that's unfortunate.

Udonis gave a relaxed appearance. "I brought her with me."

The astromech droid chirped and released the hold on the Jedi, and Udonis slung the body on his side of the table-Shasta lay fairly limp, still out of it from the stun bolt to the chest.

"She'll be fine-simply a temporary action."

As the Sith moved to talk to his comlink, Udonis turned around to what seemed to be an innocent pair of Gand, simply doing what Gands traditionally did-stand there and stare into space.

"Da wango sa du azalus wanga," spoke the bounty hunter quickly in Huttese-universal language of the dirt of galactic society. "Chess ko, hees Goola Jedai."

The Gand both simply blinked, an affirmative action by the insectoids as they moved back a few steps, but

"Well done," Ieltaron congratulated, tilting Shasta's face towards him to confirm her identity. He then pulled a fat wad of bills from his cloak, slapping it on the table. "Fifity thousand Republic credits."

"What's your decision?"

"Aye, of course we must exit. Perhaps speed up to max if you are not already thus when our ships drop out of the docking bay we may perchance be behind the Sith fighters," Liam commented as he beckoned to Jacen. They would quickly load into their fighters and then launch a multi-pronged attack on the enemy ships. Hopefully the Sith would keep concentrated on the Metal Man's ship seeing as it had stronger shields and guns, so that the two Greys would be able to easily pick them off from the rear.

After a brisk walk, robe flowing from the speed, to the docking bay, Liam opened the hatch of his fighter through the ease of the force. It had long since become second nature - not even an effort to sling the glass canopy back.

Floating behind the seat was a little spherical figure with a blue ocular piece in the center, like the thing was a floating eye.

"Orbit (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10257509&postcount=25)," Liam greeted to his droid companion, "load up the fighter and prep for low-engine drop followed by a high-gravity force ignition with remaining power diverted to weapons. Take over all non-maneuver and firing workings, and split the power eighty-twenty followed by sixty-forty."

The little droid beeped in acknowledgement at its master’s orders. It didn't actually speak, but somehow Liam, and Liam alone, was able to understand it. It wasn't any dumb droid either. The Grey Master had personally designed and created it as an intel-sentient and extremely useful droid in all ways from operating machines like his fighter to a small array of weapons for defense. It was one of a kind and one of his most prized creations. Something he couldn't say the same for his fighter. It was a relatively old design wither only minor upgrades, similar to his larger ship that was still docked in space near Coruscant. Perhaps after this was done, or maybe during it if he came across the proper merchant, he would upgrade to a newer, better ship - and then upgrade it himself.

As he thought, Orbit started up the fighter and prepared to follow through with the orders he had been given. "Let's go..." Liam said through his mic to Jacen - best to stay off of force connections in case the Sith could intercept them. Without waiting for a response, he gently pushed forward through the bay door and entered the void of space, immediately leaving behind Metal Man's speeding ship. Now to see if the Sith were close enough that they would be forced to fly by, giving the two Greys the element of a rear attack.

Udonis thought for several seconds-a long time for a bounty hunter-about the deal. 50 thousands was probaly about as much as the Hutts around Myrkr would give him for a Jedi of the sort-and Udonis was considerably more friendly with the Hutts than the Sith. It wasn't as if this Jedi was affiliated with the Bando Gora-she seemed like an everyday one. And he particularly wanted to get the Sith out of the nearby area and get the deal actually done-the station was full of characters who'd intervene if they knew about Sith, and they likely would disrupt the entire process. Though he was a risk taker, Udonis felt like taking the fifty thousand and ensuring that he actually did get paid.

"Deal," he said cooly.

Udonis reached for the credits, moving them off the table, and pushed the unconscious Shasta forth.

"She's all yours. I would take a right on the way out; otherwise you may run into some of the less desirables."

Udonis stood up from the table; the deal was done and the Jedi was the Sith's possession now. R4 chirped and pulled up behind him as Udonis motioned for LOA to follow him out, the droid emerging forth. The trio moved through the crowd, getting into the thick of the bar. Udonis put on his battle helmet finally-he felt like getting out of the place before the Hutt could grab him for the contract. He felt like simply getting back to his ship and getting the filth of the Force off him.

As the Metal Man brought the main engine up to full throttle, he checked the damage report. The shields were in the process of coming up when they'd taken the first hit. It had burned about a quarter of the armor off, though the hull had survived. This had made the cloaking device inoperable. They still had seven eighths of the smaller deck guns and the main plasma cannon.

There were five of the smaller craft, and at least one of the pilots was a force user. The Metal Man had gleaned that much information by bringing the deck guns to bear on him, using the autofire sequence while Lady Chikane found the gun controls. While three of the craft started standard evasive maneuvers, one of them anticipated the firing pattern, and another one took a path that was inconclusive. The Metal Man concentrated his fire on the non-force users and tried to keep the others on his tail, giving Liam and Jacen the chance to use their tactics to their greatest advantage.

Jacen nodded and followed Liam to the hangar. It had been a while since he had flown in his fighter, nearly 5 months if he counted correctly. When they were training on Geneticon, the desert planet, they rarely took the time to fly around in fighters. Instead, they practiced sword play and Force focus, two things that Jacen and Liam were now fairly powerful in. In fact, they were perhaps the two best Force adepts in the galaxy... perhaps.

As he reached the hangar he smiled when he saw his fighter. It was one of his favorite machines in the universe, and he loved it more than anything he owned except his lightsaber. As he approached the cockpit flew open, and with a smooth motion he flipped inside... maybe too much of a show... but still fun anyways.

He hated having to talk when talking was not needed, but as he put on his headset he realized that Liam was going to use the intercom instead of telepathy, so he would have to settle for verbal communication for now. "Copy that. Let's go get 'em."

He manuevered his small craft out of the hangar and slipped into the abyss of space. The black seemed to sink in around him as he flew into a lack of gravity. This was his natural habitat, and there were few better behind these controls. Off to his left, Liam had just taken off and was on Jacen's wing, and the two flew towards the enemy side-by-side.

In the distance, five bright specks drew closer.

"Jacen, callsign Style, reporting in. I hope you can hear this Brain Jar." As if in response, the space in front of him lit up, and the firing of the Brain Jar re-directed the movements of the enemy fighters. One of them was anticipating the action certainly. A Force user.

"Liam, this is Style... we got a Force user 12 o'clock high, suggest we move to engage." He piloted forward after hitting the thrusters, and barrelled towards the enemy... hoping Liam stayed on his wing.

Ieltarion allowed himself a small smile as he hefted the woman onto his shoulder, nodded curtly at Udonis and leaving the cantina, heading for his ship. When he was a safe distance away, he activated his wrist comlink again. "Rauntis. Dispose of him."

He carried Shasta onto the Nightwing, securing her in a Force-imprisoning cell similar to the one on the Shattered Faith.

OOC: Sorry for the craptacular post.

It was perhaps one of the only things that his apprentice, Jacen, was even with him and perhaps better at - flying. The elder Grey was highly experienced when it came to all things mechanical - he had a natural talent in that field - but flying was another issue. By no means was he remotely poor; quite the contrary, but Jacen was something special. If it had been flat out, Jacen most certainly would have been better, but with those of the Jedi nature the force often had a strong bearing on one's abilities. Thus, with the aid of his powerful force adeptness, Liam was able to keep up.

"Roger that," Liam copied over the comm. "You have the lead." Hopefully they would be able to knock off the weaker ones first so that the Brain Jar didn't sustain too much damage.

They had no idea what they were dealing with. The ship that had taken out three pirate destroyers less than a week ago found itself up against a ragtag assortment of home brew heavy fighter craft. If two of their pilots hadn't been force users--one was using the force, but he was slow--there would have been no point to the contest. For a moment, the Metal Man pitied the poor souls who had so wantonly thrown their lives away. Then, he jacked in--became the brain in Brain Jar--and other concerns took over

And then there were four. As one of the fighters turned and dove out of the range of one of Brain Jar's deck guns, another one opened up and caught it right in main the fuel line. The explosion would have been visible half a parsec away.

"This is the Metal Man, call sign Gray Matter," the communicator sang out. "Calling to roger your signal, Style, and get this dance started. Tell me, Style, how do you feel about an old song I used to know, called 'interrogation?' In order to play that tune, we need one of our dance partners alive and in our firm but gentle hands." As it finished its radio message, the Brain Jar shot out another fighter.

The battle was turning now. The numbers were even, but the skills weren't. There was no way that these Sith could hope to continue the battle. The only choice they had was to turn tail and run.

Instead, they rallied, turned and made another attack run.

Jacen scanned the screen in front of him and detected that The Metal Man had blown a fighter out of space... and then two. Liam's voice chirped over the com and Jacen smiled, "Thanks Master, this is going to be fun." He hit a button and a map pulled up on the screen, showing him a three-dimensional plane of the space in front of him. The fighters were drawing closer, and Jacen was formulating a plan in his mind.

He swung his fighter upward and then around, barrel rolling over Liam's fighter and hitting the accelerator to get a small lead on his Master. A crackle of the Brain Jar reported that he wanted to take at least one of the Sith alive. Easier said than done... but it could be done. He would need Liam's help of course. Meanwhile, he would try to take on and kill the other two.

He chuckled a bit as he responded, "Copy that Gray Matter, moving in."

The ships drew closer at an astounding rate. "Fifteen seconds to convergence." Jacen reported from the map to everyone else. He took a deep breath. "Ten seconds." He tapped the controls. "Five seconds."

The fighters screamed towards them, and Jacen hit a button to forward all shields for the moment. An erruption of blaster fire shot out at the two Jedi fighters, but they easily bounced off the hardened shield of Jacen's fighter.

"Converging now." Jacen shot his craft upward and past the enemy, and then pulled an immelman while reversing thrusters in mid-flight. The result was an extremely tight turn about, which would be nearly impossible for even the more experienced pilots to keep up with. "Sorry Master... I hope you can stay with me..." He just hoped Liam was using the Force to help him through this.

Jacen hit his thrusters again and surged towards the enemy. He was in their 6 o'clock now, and closing rapidly. Pulling up a data screen, he selected his secondary blasters. As he neared the craft it tried evasive maneuvers, but they were useless. Blue lasers rained from the cannons onboard Jacen's fighter, and the enemy's shields gave way under the direct and precise fire. The instant the laser hit solid metal the ship exploded in a flash...

Jacen pulled down just in time to avoid the blast, and then found himself another fighter. It was at 2 o'clock low, and trying it's best to keep Jacen out of it's six. This seemed to be a Force user... or at least an adept, because he was anticipating Jacen's moves.

Jacen threw up a wall of protection around his ship, hoping that it would confuse the Force user. He didn't know exactly where the other fighter was at, but he needed to get rid of this Sith now. He jammed his controls forward and began moving towards maximum velocity. Intentionally, he overshot the target and moved down into it's firing arc. Just before it could react however, Jacen had already made his next move. He reversed his thrusters again, this time pulling maximum speed. His deceleration was excellent, and the Force user had no chance. He blew Jacen before he knew what happened, and ended up firing his lasers into open space.

Jacen pulled the trigger and once again found his target's weak spot... the enemy dissolved.

Still one left... I just hope Liam has been keeping up.

Suddenly Jacen realized where the last enemy fighter was. It had somehow found Jacen's tail, and was pursuing him now, almost ready to fire. Jacen tried an evasive move, but it didn't work... the enemy stayed with him. It seemed the enemy too had some sort of Force protection around his ship from anticipation. Jacen's thrusters had returned to normal now, and were not quite ready for another maximum burn. He was a sitting duck.

Jacen got over the intercom, "Hey Master... a little help? We need him alive if possible..."

As Jacen became embattled, Brain Jar turned to help him. When it did, it began to fly toward the wreckage of the last fighter that Jacen had destroyed. There wasn't much left of it--just a cockpit, a little bit of life support, and a metal casing of somekind hooked up to the remains of the craft's underside.

The solar mine went off as Brain Jar was closest to the wreckage. The shock from the explosion tore the larger craft's sheilds down to 20%. They held, but just barely.

And then the Metal Man knew why there was such a small force, and why they attacked so brashly.

They weren't planning on coming home. They were flying a suicide mission.

Jacen's crazy moves while tracking the Sith intruders had been too much for both his master's skill and ship. Having to match them without any notice was too difficult a task, perhaps for even Jacen, and as such Liam had turned his ship up - relative to the battle - and jetted off. Soon enough, with Liam off in space somewhere, his apprentice had downed two of the remaining three fighters, leaving only the trickiest force user for last.

Unlike the others, the force adept had been able to evade Jacen's deadly barrage of laser fire. As Liam shadowed the short firefight from "above" the fray, he noticed that the final enemy had gotten behind Jacen was following him well... too well. The Grey Master made a quick loop and was heading back "down" on an interception course towards the two streaming fighters. As he neared them, flying at blazing speeds, his forward lasers lined up on the enemy, who had forgotten about Liam's presence in his hot pursuit of the deadlier Jacen.

Hey Master... a little help? We need him alive if possible..."

The call came over the radio from the defenseless apprentice below. It seemed, unfortunately, that they required the Sith alive - something not easy to do in space. It would take a delicate maneuver to knock out the ship without destroying it before it's cannons came to bear on Jacen.

Four quick, green lasers popped out in sequence from the forward guns of Liam's ship. Before the enemy fighter knew what had happened, his shields were gone and he was a sitting duck. Pressing a small white button on the right of his controls, the Grey Master fired cannon mounted above the cockpit - an ion cannon. As the beam collided with the defenseless Sith below, the ship's electronics shuttered and died as the cannon fried them with a barrage of ionized particles. The engines cut out, the guns were dead, and the electronics shut off. Now it simply coasted through space aimlessly.

"Now the hard part... bringing him in alive," Liam messaged over the comm-link to the Metal Man and Jacen. "I don't suppose your ship could deal with that, could it?" he added to the Metal Man. Some kind of tractor beam or gravity well - usually found on immensely larger ships - would be quite useful. Otherwise he would have to attempt to slow it down through the Force and then getting the Sith to cooperate would be about the hardest feat possible. It was quite possible that all his effort would be for naught if the beast decided to kill his self rather than falling into enemy hands.

Chikane maned the laser cannons. She blasted wildly like Luke Skywalker blasted his way through the tie fighters when they escaped the death star. "Hit!" She exclaimed as she managed. She contiuned shooting in all directions. She was shaken from her seat by a massive vibration. "What was that?!"

"That was a bomb attached to one of the fighters that I thought we previously destroyed," the Metal Man told Chikane. "Obviously, the pilot survived for a short time longer than I thought he did.

"Can you disable the self-destruct devices on any of the remaining fighters?"

"Roger that!"

Chikane put back on her goggles and cranked up the guns. She used her force powers to focus shots to destory the bombs on the fighters. She aimed and sucessfully shot one. "Yes." She kept her focus up and her attention high, shooting each bomb as it came or before it launched.

Udonis dispatched both droids back to the ship as he checked his wrist communicator-nothing, even though it had gone off in the similar fashion to an incoming transmission. Odd-more than slightly. He turned to follow the droids when a low, gurgling voice came from behind him.

"Udonis," came the voice.

The bounty hunter turned around, one pistol out as the sight enhancers of his helmet analyzed the speaker. A Baragwin-one of the Hutts's enforcers, likely.

"IG-42 failed Oula, Udonis," the diminuitive creature said. For the sentient's small stature, the assault weapon in the Baragwin's arms was anything but meek.

"Oh?" inquired the human. "Who was the target?"

"A more secret of a deal, supposedly," replied the Baragwin, "but supposedly the Jedi Council is involved. They are looking for someone."

"Why would the Jedi be involved with Oula, or any Hutt?" asked Udonis, but he already had a gut feeling on this.

"One of their flock has supposedly gone astray," the Baragwin replied. "But Oula will tell you more planetside. I was simply to find you. Get your ship-Oula is waiting at his palace in the Great Northern Forest. Here is your beacon."

The Baragwin tossed a small device to the bounty hunter-a small guide with the ground coordinates to the Hutt's palace.

"He'll be expecting you," the Baragwin said. "Supposedly it has a big payoff."

The Baragwin turned his back from the hunter, slowly loping away to leave Udonis to get down to Myrkr's surface.

With Liam having disabled the remaining fighter's control systems, and Lady Chikane having sliced the bomb out of its hull in case of a manual detonation system, it appeared safe enough to bring the craft in. The Metal Man flipped Brain Jar over, so that her docking bay was close enough to take in the craft.

"Roger that, Liam. Tractor beam coming up." As he handed the task of guiding the craft in over to the AI, he got on the com with his remaining force-adept passenger. "Lady Chikane, please meet me in the docking bay," he intoned, "and bring your light saber with you--we're going to have to pacify that Sith before we can interrogate him."

He was expecting explosives. That was not a problem. As long as Kassay, Nodi and Toule were kept safe, the docking bay was expendable. The comm opened up again. "Anything you three can tell me about this ship?"

"Not much," said Toule's voice. "They've removed all the markings--and I don't mean some."

"It figures," the Metal Man replied. "Thanks anyway for staying with us."

It didn't take long for the Metal Man to reach the docking bay doors. Lady Chikane was waiting for him there. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Rather than reply with words, she drew her light saber and brought the blade to life. As she did, the Metal Man took out his own light saber and his silver gladeus. The Sith would recognize the sword as something that his kind developed, but which had fallen out of use over the centuries. It was meant specifically for use against a light saber, as its mirror-like blade could reflect the weapon back upon its wielder. It was the greatest weapon that the Metal Man could wield, as he was using great care to minimize his disruption of the force, in order to allow Lady Chikane her maximum capabilities. She would feel his disruption, but it would not hamper her abilities.

As the blade came into view, the inner bay doors opened and the Jedi and her compatriot walked carefully into the bay.

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

OOC:

Take it away, Kanami.

Well, for

Bubbling
Umber
Milquetoast
Pants!

Can't somebody make a post around here?

Chikane drew her lightsaber "Ready." There were a few blasts of laser fire Chikane easily deflected. "That was too easy," She said worried. "I would expect security to be tighter than this."

A grenade of somekind rolled along the floor and came to rest at Lady Chikane's feet.

(Sorry I spaced)


"Gernade!" She shouted she rolled off to the side, and the gerande exploded. "Keep your guard up!" She double taked to the side and forced pushed down a trio of droids

Jacen swung his ship around and breathed a sigh of relief. At least that much was over. Now the harder part was to take the Sith in alive and try to figure out what the heck was going on. He smiled a bit and patted his ship from inside, then yanked the controls to face the Brain Jar. "Thanks Liam." was all he could muster to say. He didn't want to raise the man's ego too much. He chuckled a bit at the thought.

He jammed the thrusters forward and arrived at the bay at the precise moment the Sith did. As this happened, the cockpit of his opponent flew open, and a hand with a blaster flew out. In the distance, Jacen could see the Jedi parrying the blows. Finally, two small droids popped out of the ship, and one of them launched a grenade towards Chikane and the Metal Man. Chikane had the matter under control and flew away from it...

Jacen decided it was time to get down to business. With the ease of a practiced user, Jacen's manipulated the Force to open his cockpit and fly outward, landing on the deck gracefully. He nodded to Chikane and the Metal Man, and then moved forward toward the Sith's ship.

He felt somewhat uneasy. This was the first time in a long time that he would be engaging another Force user, and he didn't like the prospect. Jacen turned slightly and caught the sight of Liam's ship gliding in behind him, still working on docking. Jacen reached his hand to his ear and tapped once, the comm was still on his head and working. "Liam, Metal Man, I'm going in..."

With a similiar pattern to his attack nine years earlier, Jacen leapt forward, blade in hand. In midair the purple blade flew out, and he landed perfectly on the Sith's craft. The man inside was now visible. A female actually. A female Sith! She jumped out and their blades clashed, now both standing on the small Sith fighter. A few blows later and they both jumped to the deck of the hangar... and slowly advanced toward each other.

With frightening speed the two went at it, slam after slam, crash after crash of the energy swords.

Suddenly, Jacen employed the Vapaad, taking an aggresive stance. The Sith was unprepared, and she fell back quickly under the attack. Blow after blow sent her over the edge, and she lost control of her blade for a milisecond. It was just long enough. Jacen took advantage and swung sideways, slicing her blade in half. Then, with a hard kick he sent her spiraling to the floor.

He walked over and stood over her body with the blade in hand. His familiar temper was rising once more, but he would keep it in check this time. He would only use it when needed... which it would be for the interrogation.

He turned back to the Metal Man, "You ask the questions, I'll do the persuading."

Then he returned to see her frightened face... staring up at him. She was young, in her mid-twenties, and dark haired. But her body seemed consumed by the dark side... something that could perhaps be beaten out of her. She was skilled for her age.

Jacen chuckled, "I need answers."

She scowled back, "Never."

Jacen smiled... then let his anger take control. His grin faded into a raging face, and he dipped his blade downward, slipping it into the girl's right shoulder. He let it rest halfway down her bone for several seconds, then pulled it back out. She screamed the instant the blade his her, and continued as long as it stayed in place. She was crying now... whimpering.

Jacen glanced at the Metal Man, "She may be ready to answer now."

He jammed his right foot into the girl's wounded shoulder and she screamed again. "Yep... she's ready."

As the Metal Man began a leisurely stroll across the deck, he glanced at the floor. It was the last thing between the people in that chamber and open space. This was not a problem. The grenade had weakened the supporting structure, but the bulkheads appeared to be holding.

As he moved, a look of mild disgust spreading across his features, he pointed his light saber to his left and pressed a button on its handle. A beam shot out of the device and cut a two-inch hole in the armor plating of the Sith's nearest droid. It hissed frantically for a moment, then explosions rocked its interior--it obviously had an anti-capture system. Similarly, the second droid was dispatched. It tried to hide behind one of the fighter's aileron fins, but the beam sliced through fin and droid alike.

Finally, he strode around Jacen and glanced at the Sith's face. His first thought was how young she was to be throwing her life away. His second was...

"Fear," he said. "Good. That means you're not completely stupid. That will make this process simpler.

"Perhaps my friend wants answers, but I need only one. When I get it, you can be on your merry way."

There was a far-away look in her eyes--one that, in centuries of life, the Metal Man had learned to recognize. He concentrated, enhancing his force-nullifying powers to their maximum extent. Sure enough, a grenade next to the first droid went off in mid air. The Sith took a breath. She had not expected her esper skills to desert her. She looked back at the Metal Man, and the fear on her face was tinged with recognition.

"Yes," the Metal Man said, "what they say about me is absolutely true. I am anti-force. My friend here is so powerful an adept, though, that I can't nullify his powers the way I can yours. Bear that in mind as you answer me.

"As I said, I only want the answer to one simple question: who sent you?"

He paused a moment.

"It would seem to me that you would want the world to know who it was that came so close to destroying my ship and taking the lives of everyone on board. It would seem to me that I wouldn't need to threaten you to hear that. What is your master's name?"

Through gritted teeth, she finally responded. "Ohh, I do want you to know his name! The Sith who will finally kill you and put you out of this universe's misery is Darth Ieltarion. Remember that name, because it's the name of your dea--aughhh."

"Honestly, Jacen, how do you expect the young lady to talk if you keep stabbing that blade of yours into her?"

The Metal Man popped his light saber and his silver sword back onto his belt. He extended his arm and pointed it at the Sith. She seemed to grow angrier as the hand stretched and the knuckles tore open, and an emitter extended from inside of it. It was only a momentary look, however, as the emitter gave a short blast of columnized lightning. This stunned her without killing her.

"I've waited far too long to fix the shields on this suit," the Metal Man said. "I would appreciate it if someone around here would set that young lady into an escape pod and launch her back to Krunt. We can pitch the fighter out the door any time after we get out of the room."

"I'll take care of her!" Chikane said

"Thanks," the Metal Man replied. "I'd rather have another adept--and someone who will try to keep her safe--do that anyway."

Jacen laughed. "You know that the Sith she's working for will only kill her anyway," he said. "She failed her task, and the Sith are notorious for punishing what they see as failure."

"Yes," the cyborg said, "but she knows that, too. At least, this way, she has the option of returning to face her that punishment or getting as far away from the heavy lash as she can."

"Did you stop to think that she might try to finish the job?"

The cyborg smiled. "She can always try," he said. Jacen smiled, too.

An hour's time saw the Metal Man in a new suit, and Kassay and Toule standing over the chest of the old one, prodding and poking with probes and alignment tools. Most of the flesh from the chest had been removed and placed in a nutrient solution nearby. The old shield coils had been removed and new ones installed. they were just finishing up the alignment as Brain Jar and the other ships made their way to Mrkyr (sp?).

"OK," Kassay said, raising a hand with a fingerless glove and a jewel of some kind in the center, "give it a shot."

For a moment, the shield generator glowed. As it did, an electrical arc formed around the jewel in Kassay's hand. "Yep," he said. "Looks like it's working."

"Good," Toule said. "Now we can get the skin back on and finish the job."

"So did you find anything out about this Sith who's supposedly after you?" Kassay asked.

"Darth Ieltarion?" asked the Metal Man, who looked a bit like a carousel of tools, while he rotated in a medical clamp.

"Yeah," Kassay said, "that one."

"Some, but not much. He's your typical dark-horse warlord. Operates in secret, mostly. He's got the so-called law enforcement wrapped around his finger, though, so he does pretty much whatever he wants."

"Oh. Where's this?"

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

OOC: anybody want to fill in the data that's available on our fine and applied Darth?

OOC: anybody want to fill in the data that's available on our fine and applied Darth?

OOC: What do you want to know?

Chikane was suddenly jumped by someone strong obviously a sith.

She quickly drew her lightsaber. She was stunned it was non other than her lost apprentice. "H-Himeko!"

"Well, Chikane, isn't this suprise. When I left you I was but the learner now I am the master."

"No Himeko."

Both began to engage in a lightsaber duel. They were equally matched, but Himeko had more skills than Chikane had taught her. Both were even in speed and agility, both were still quite young. "Of course you knew this was comming Master, you know a Sith never would capture a Jedi alive, unless he had some purpose for them."

"Himeko, please you've been corrupted by the sith, let me help you."

"I'm going to finish off your mission for you. By ending your pathetic life."

IT was a frenzy duel. Both were jumping and rolling all over the place and always crossing blades, using force powers on each other. Though Himeko knew dark side lightning now, which was giving her an upperhand. "Chikane, you call your self a Jedi Master? You can't even defeat your former apprentace."

"Himeko!"

Chikane thrusted a kick knocking her down. Chikane stood. Himeko recolid and charged her, yet again they were engaged in a sword showdown.

"Just about anywhere that he wants to go," the Metal Man continued. "He doesn't really have a home base."

"Sounds like a real pain," Kassay said.

"You don't know the half of it. The Jedi database says that he's a force adept of incredible ability."

"That would make him a pain, alright," Kassay said.

"It makes him very dangerous. I'm going to have to give you and your sister additional skills in order to keep you safer, and I'm going to have to help Toule to develop his ability with the f--."

"Arghh! Metal Man! Kassay! Shasta's in trouble!"

"Speak of the devil," Kassay said, rolling his eyes.

A large flap of skin was raised out of an even larger petri dish on four clamps and moved over to the now fully functional suit. It was carefully placed over the suit's chest, and a clear, almost gelatinous liquid poured over the top of it.

"That really your blood?" Kassay asked.

"Almost but not quite," the Metal Man replied. "This stuff is meant for the outside."

As the two of them watched, the skin sealed itself back together and began to very quickly heal.

"Alright," the Metal Man said. "Now, let's see about the REST of our good Darth's story."

"Huh?"

"You didn't think I was done with that she-Sith, now, did you?"

"Oooo," Kassay said. "Torture. Sadism. Can I watch?"

"Sorry, Kassay," the Metal Man replied, "but it's just a bit of good ol' fashioned harsh reality. You can watch, though." As he spoke, he floated over to a nearby intercom and fired up a holoconsole.

"OK."

"Uh, guys?" came Toule's voice.

"Working on it!" called the Metal Man.

An image came into focus on the holoconsole's viewing pad. It was the female Sith they had seen not long ago, sitting in a slightly cramped but not altogether uncomfortable little room--such appears the interior chamber of an escape pod. As they watched, she moved her head back and forth, then snapped to consciousness, opening her eyes.

"Ah," the cyborg said, "they're brown."

"You," she said.

"You certainly bear me a great deal of hostility, considering that we've only met once."

"You are responsible for forcing my grandfather out of the Jedi order!" she hissed.

"You must mean Master P'do," the Metal Man replied "That was the price for his life, which I was instrumental in saving."

"You brought dishonor to my clan!"

"I see. Given the chance, then, would you wish to live to go another round or two with me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Certainly, you've noticed where you are."

"Of course. You've put me in an escape pod set to--return to Krunt! You damok! If the Sith get their hands on me, they'll--."

Off to the side, unseen, Kassay guffawed.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to come to that realization," the cyborg said. "Now, I have a little deal to make with you. If you'll answer a few of my simple questions--which, like before, you'll probably want to answer anyway, I can put the escape pod's guidance system in your hands. If not, I can just make sure that it goes into the shipping lanes with its main becon blaring, as any good escape pod wou--."

[/i]"Daruke! Jumta![/i] You filthy--."

"Deal or no deal?"

She growled, and looked defiantly into the imaging system, but, "Deal," she said.

"Thank you. Now, my first question. What does Darth Ielterion want with Master Shasta?"

"Hah! I don't even know--but he's got plans for her, you can be certain of that! He has something very powerful in his posession and I bet that he's going to test it on her!"

"Acceptable answer. Where is he now?"

"In a spaceport. That's where he contacted us from, anyway. He's already got he with him!"

"Also acceptable. Final question: who's with him?"

She smiled an evil smile. "Bounty hunters. He's hired at least six of them and--."

Alarm claxons sounded throughout the room.

"You're lying," the Metal Man said, "and you're not a very good liar. How many bounty hunters did he hire?"

A pause. "Two."

"That is what I needed to know. The escape pod is yours to pilot." As the cyborg spoke, a console to the Sith's left beeped and changed color. "Use it wisely. You may not get another chance."

The holoimage faded.

"With the woman killed on Krunt, that would leave the dirtbag as the Darth's only remaining hireling."

"You mean the guy who blew up those freeze bombs back home?"

"The very same."

"Dude, that guy's, like, mean. I don't know if you can handle him."

"Let's hope I don't have to."

"Huh?"

"The Darth has Shasta right now. His job is over. In fact, the Darth might even be trying to kill him off even as we speak. Either way, we're going to Myrkr Spaceport and we're going to find him."

Shasta slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes. The pain of her head was swelling up in her, but she controlled her breathing ebnough to send it flairing to her feet, giving her some room to breath... at least temporarily. With a cleared head, she slowly tried to move.

No luck. She was strapped in tight, to something. She couldn't really tell from her view. She could see basically about half of a wall and then a large cloaked figure directly in front of her. The Sith. The filthy Sith. Well... she had planned for it to go this way, but not quite so fast. She kind of wished The Metal Man had gotten here before the exchange.

No matter, soon she would send another message to the Metal Man... hopefully the Sith wouldn't spot the fact that she was awake.

Jacen chuckled as he slowly walked away from the escape pod. When the Metal Man had left, he had stayed behind to ensure that the Sith had been forced into the pod and strapped in tightly... didn't want any chance for her to get away.... especially from what was about to happen.

Yes, Jacen had always had a touch of Dark side in him. Yes, Jacen had learned to curve his thoughts of evil. But no, Jacen was not able to restrain himself from doing what he believed was right. When Liam had left the scene of the fight, Jacen had worked his mechanical magic, simply attaching a small device to the pod while the Metal Man questioned his captive.

Then, slowly the craft had left the ship and started heading out into space. Jacen chuckled now, knowing what he had done. He didn't exactly feel happy about what he had done. He wasn't exactly proud of it. But he knew one thing, the Sith had to be dealt with. He knew that the Metal Man and Liam would severly scold him, maybe even punish him... but he had no choice.

The Sith had to pay... just like the Jedi had to years before.

As the escape pod flew away, Jacen pulled out a hand held remote and hit a small button. In a small flash of light, the device planted on the pod detonate in a ball of fire. The pod disintegrated as it was pulled apart by the vacuum of space, leaving only small particles of debris behind.

Acting as if nothing had happened, Jacen hid the device in his quarters and then quickly rushed to the bridge.

He approached the Metal Man and asked, "What was that explosion?"

OOC: small plot hole: Jacen doesn't have quarters aboard Brain Jar. He and Liam have been flying their own ship, close by, and using their fighters to visit when they thought necessary. Liam, it could be argued, would never want to stay aboard the same ship as TMM again if he didn't have to, and TMM would respect Liam's wishes. They never needed to set up quarters.

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

IC:

The Metal Man was not amused. "Do you honestly think that I don't have instant access to the sensor logs for this entire ship, Jacen? By the force, I can connect straight into her main computer. Are you so angry at that man that you've decided to scour his entire family from the face of the galaxy?"

A momentary look of surprise crossed Jacen's face.

"Don't tell me you weren't listening in on that interrogation. That girl was P'Do's grandniece! I'm surprised she didn't try to rip your throat out the moment she saw you. Would've saved you some time, wouldn't it?

"Maybe I should thank you, since we're on the subject of saving time. Now, I don't have to bring P'Do back into this and try to keep the two of you from slicing each other to pieces when you inevitably come into contact. You should've given me the opportunity to turn her back from the Dark Side, Jacen. I took that chance on you. If it didn't work, you could've turned her into a light saber pin cushion and I would have given you my blessing, but you should've let me try.

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

OOC: Yeah, I was thinking about it. :) :) :) P'Do would've apologised to Jacen, though. His mind would have recovered from the affects of TMM's blood. He would've knelt at Jacen's feet and taken Jacen's judgement.

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

IC:

"But the worst part of it is that you tried to lie right at me. You tried to pretend that you had nothing to do with that explosion, when we both know better--when you should easily have deduced that it wasn't going to work. You insulted not only my honor, but my intelligence.

"We're close by your ship again. Get off my ship. Don't come back until you're ready to deal with me as your intellectual equal, because that's what I am. Expect that Liam will know as much as I do by the time you get back to your ship. I've got to tell him about Darth Ieltarion anyway. What he does with you is his business--I expect you to get off lightly. Now go."

"I don't have time for this!" Chikane said. She need to get away before she would get left behind. Could she leave her young apprentice to the hands of darkness again?

"You win Himeko."

"What?"

"You win. Strike me down now."

"Master have you lost your touch?"

Himeko raised her blade, Chikane threw a quick blow knocking her down.

"Had you stuck with me you would have known how to dodge that."

Chikane turned and ran.

"Chikane, you come back here! This isn't over master!"


Problem now, Chikane was lost. Where was the docking bay? If she get's left behind she would either be killed or in some miracle fassion turn her apprentice back to the proper side and fight their way through.

Ieltarion had his back to the awakening Shasta, holding a device about the size of a suitcase. It was rather unremarkable to the eye; a simple brushed aluminum box with no visible controls. The Ezaltian closed his eyes, trying once again to reach into it with the Force. He felt his conciousness approach the box, getting closer and closer...

A dying Ezaltian in the doorway of a large manor.

A smiling human, cooing as he tickled tiny paws.

A burst of laser fire.

The smell of nerf steak left too long in the oven.

The same human, slumped against a dirty recycling bin, the same paws closing his eyes.

ALTERIN!

Ieltarion recoiled voilently, dropping the device onto the ground. His vision blurred slightly, but the Sith forced himself to even his breathing, willing his rapidly beating heart to slow. He turned around to see the female Jedi bound in her Force-blocking cage, but she was awake. Ieltarion stared at her for a long moment, and then sat back down at the Nightwing's controls, prepping the Infiltrator for launch.

As Jacen departed Brain Jar in his fighter, the Metal Man started to look for Lady Chikane. He had not seen her since she had put the Sith attacker into the escape pod, and she had allowed Jacen to plant a bomb on the pod, which was not like a Jedi.

As soon as the fighter was safely away, Brain Jar jumped to light speed. They had wasted too much time in normal space, and the Metal Man was afraid that there would be nothing on Mrkyr when they got there. Liam knew that part of the galaxy well enough to get there.

And then Lady Chikane turned up missing. In fact, it wasn't until the third sensor sweep that the damping field in the aft cargo hold turned up. Whoever put it there had been lucky--if they'd been in the forward hold, they would be trying to breathe vacuum. That was where the Sith fighters had burned away the main armor and breached the outer hull. The AI was only just getting a maintenance droid into the hold to weld the plates back up. They were also pretty wealthy--a damping field that could fool those sensors wouldn't come cheap. These were the thoughts that pervaded the Metal Man's senses as he slipped back into his newly-fixed humanoid suit and made his way down to the cargo hold.

He got all the way to the main corridor before Lady Chikane ran past--with somebody pursuing from around the corner, by the sound of things. Sounded like a Sith.

One should never run from a Sith. They have too many weapons.

The pursuer rounded the corner and, oblivious to the Metal Man's presence, tried to speed past. The cyborg responded by simply extending his left arm from the white doorway that spread into the white hallway. It caught her at the top of her chest, clotheslining her and knocking her to the ground. Then, the Metal Man extended his left blade and brought it to her throat.

"No need to run in my ship," he said, the placid look never leaving his features. "Everything is close by."

"Get out of my way, old man," she said, "or I'll cut you to pieces." She drew a light saber from somewhere in her cloak.

"I had wished that we could speak more cordially than this, but, if this is what you wish."

As he reached into his robes for his own light saber, she stretched out her fingers. The space around him seemed to bend for a moment, but he did not move. Slowly, the plume of his light saber extended, and his blade came away from her throat.

"That doesn't work on me," he said. "Let that be your first lesson."

She extended her blade. It came out under his. With a sweeping motion, she tried to cut off his legs.

He brought both his blades down. His light saber reflected off the mirrored surface of his left-hand blade, hopping over the Sith's before it found its mark. With a gentle sweeping motion, he used the force of her blade to bring it up and away from her body. Now, the silver blade was under her defenses once again, and, in a moment, it was back at her throat.

"Let that be your second."

Having heard the commotion, Lady Chikane stepped around the corner again.

"So," the Metal Man said, "what brings you to my humble abode. If it is a desire to improve your combat skills, I believe that I may be able to help you."

"Sir Metalman, this is my former apprentice Himeko. She seemed lost but now I found her."

"Odd," the Metal Man said, "she doesn't wear the robes of a Jedi apprentice." He turned his head to once again regard the young Sith.

"Well, Himeko," the cyborg said, "you should know that Brain Jar is holy ground. Killing is not permitted inside her hull plating. You should also know that, though your former mistress will tell you that there is no path between the light of the Jedi and the dark of the Sith, I walk just such a path.

"For example," he continued, "the Jedi teach that one should show mercy in all of one's dealings, while the Sith teach that showing mercy is at best a waste of time and more likely the pursuit of a fool. I claim that this varies with the one you show mercy to--that mercy is wasted on some but not others. Which kind are you, Himeko?"

With that, he withdrew his blades and stepped back.

The fighter slowly cruised to a halt in the hangar of Liam's ship and set down softly on the deck. With the wave of his hand the hatch flipped open and Jacen speedily jumped out. He jogged up the ramp and into the ship, then infiltrated the main deck, finding Liam behind the controls of the ship. The bridge was quiet somewhat, only the hum of the overhead could be heard.

As Jacen stepped in, the overhead zapped black... Liam had just finished a conversation with someone. Jacen stopped walking and stared at his Master's back. He knew that Liam now knew about the escape pod attack.

Liam didn't turn around, he simply spoke lowly, "Why are you doing this?"

Jacen looked down at the floor without saying anything. He didn't quite know how to respond. He wasn't sorry for what he had done. If anything, he would have done it again if he were given the chance. No, he wasn't sorry for what he had done. But he was sorry that he had made the Metal Man and Liam angry. He hated doing that.

"I'm sorry."

Liam whipped his chair around and stood, walking to within inches of Jacen's face, "How dare you kill someone in cold blood. Though I share your hate for the Sith, I do not encourage killing without reason. You're slipping Jacen. Slipping from the line I taught you to walk. I will not allow that."

Liam backed off and went back to the controls without another word. Jacen felt compelled to speak, but he didn't exactly know what to say. He finally found the words, "She was evil... she would caused us great trouble. I'm sorry for the method, and for angering you, but I'm not sorry for the kill itself."

"Jacen... I would lecture you further, but we don't have time." He pointed to Jacen's familiar chair aboard the ship, "Sit... we need to go find the Jedi... no matter how much I despise them."

Jacen sat.

The ship glided into position and revved the hyperdrive. After a few short seconds the ship convulsed and then shot off like a rocket into the blueness of hyperspace, headed for Mykyr. (sp?)

"Are you blind you big rusty bucket of bolts, I'm a Sith!" Himeko snapped still being restrained.


"My guess she is still in training." Chikane replied. "I know you tough against Sith but I still don't think she would have gone down so easily. There were many chances she could have killed me but never saw or at least never sized the chance to do so."


"Chikane you are so niave."

"Of course she went down easily," the Metal Man said. "Without the Force, she didn't know I was there. She'll give you more trouble than she'll give me precisely because I force her to fight without her most powerful weapon. It is plain to see that she has not been trained to survive without the Force--it's written in her every movement. That is how she was outsmarted by a stupid bucket of bolts. It recognized that her greatest strength is also her greatest weakness.

He turned to Himeko, and his voice darkened. "I'm not the one who was just offered the chance to fix what was broken with her, and turned it down. Think about that when you judge others." The cyborg's shields discharged. Himeko shrieked as the field shocked her into unconsciousness.

He turned to Chikane, and his voice lightened. "She's your mess, lady. Clean her up. Keep the hallowed ground pure."

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

OOC: Next stop, Myrkr. Sorry to mess with Himeko, but I don't want any distractions until after we arrive.

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

IC:

It wasn't long before Brain Jar came out of lightspeed on the edge of Myrkr system, and not long after that before she had found the beacon of the local spaceport and started to move in.

Myrkr Surface
Oula the Hutt's Palace

Udonis hit the thrusters on the Faith. The Hutt's request had been discouraging, to say the least. The Jedi Council seemed to be everywhere in these dark days-how they'd even reached the most powerful Hutt outside of the Desilijic clan was a mystery. But apparently they had, and had simultaneously posted up a wanting of Shasta...and Oula was all too willing to agree, strange enough. He had told Udonis quite a bit-two other bounty hunters were already on the chase, supposedly, and Udonis was the third, an insurance policy. The reward to the eventual champion would be extensive. And Udonis was fairly ticked by this-the Hutt was saying 2 million for safe return, which was far more than the Sith's offer had been before he had jetted out.

However, for Udonis, all was not lost. At least one of the large orbiting space stations that reinforced and organized the space side of this fortified Hutt world would have some type of information about initial vectors of the Sith's hyperspace travel. No doubt he would have stops along the way, but if Udonis could peace together the clues, he could possibly intercept the Sith. It was doubtful that even Ieltarion's craft was faster at hyperspace than Udonis's speedy Xi Char vessel.

Black space began to meld in with the slate-blue sky of Myrkr as Udonis hit low orbit-taking his leisurely time. He wasn't in any rush...as he was fairly confident of his abilities as the best bounty hunter around. The others wouldn't stand a chance. However, something that the hunter couldn't place his finger on was gnawing on his insides...something kept making him queasy. He couldn't pinpoint the feeling, low down in his gut, but it seemed a rarely familiar feeling...as if he had felt it once before in his life. It was odd.

"That's the bounty hunter's ship!" Kassay exclaimed. "Going into a low orbit--probably going to land on the planet."

"You're sure," the Metal Man replied.

"No, I'm just saying that so you'll have a heart attack and leave me your flying saucer!"

The Metal Man chuckled. "OK," he said, "I trust you."

"We should go after him, then?" asked Chikane.

"Soon, but not immediately," the cyborg replied.

"Why's that?" Kassay asked.

"Because I want to know how far along he is with his job. If he's left Shasta to that Sith, then he should be in for some trouble fairly soon. An atmosphere like Myrkr's does funny things to a ship's insides as it goes down in. Right now is when he's at his most vulnerable. If he's finished the job, then the Sith just might try to kill him off, to leave one less witness."

"So what do you want us to do?"

"Scan the planet's atmosphere--particularly, around that ship. Look for a cloaked vessel. If it's got to go through that stuff, too, it shouldn't be that hard to find."

"And if we do find something there?" asked Kassay's voice.

"Target it. We want that witness to survive."

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

OOC: Don't know what Darth Reptile (forgot his name) has in mind, but this would be a nice place, if you don't know that TMM is sitting up there watching you, for a sneak attack. :) :) :)

OOC:

Well...I thought "Darth Reptile" was funny. :) :) :)

BTW...

BUMP!

A few moments after the Brain Jar slowed into orbit around Myrkr, Liam and Jacen arrived in the former's slightly older ship. Compared to the Metal Man's equipment, Liam's ship offered little benefit to their current task, and so the two Grey Jedi sat back in the folds of space as the cyborg went about analyzing the situation.

"Bad memories..." Liam whispered from beneath the shadow of his cloak. The planet of Myrkr was not friendly towards the force adept and many a Jedi had found themselves over their head into the force deprived world. With bounty hunters and a powerful dark lord on the loose, taking a risk could be more deadly than ever. Of course their lightsabers could still be effective, less so than normally, but if they ventured to the planet's surface and the forest floor, Orbit (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10257509&postcount=25) would deal with everything.

"Remind me, however, to stop by here later and pick up some of the planet's annoying inhabitants... both kinds... we could use them for training and remaining hidden," the Grey Master told his apprentice, having cooled down from his earlier state of being upset. While talking, he flipped the ship's controls over to autopilot as they drifted in space, but remained vigilant in this dangerous part of space where anything could and would happen.

"Oh... take a trip down to the armory and access the back closet," he added after a moment of silence. The armory was pretty insignificant - just a room at the rear of the small ship where some extra weapons and parts were held. "There should be three HK models that have been deactivated for a while. Their a little old, a bit rusty, and in need of some tuning up, but they will do for now. Just wipe their memory cores, load them up with a couple blasters, and make sure they are working properly then bring them to the bay... Dismissed."

Jacen stared out of the cockpit into the blackness of space, then reversed his view to look at a monitor showing the planet of interest. He heard Liam murmur something and picked it up through his sense. Yes, there were a lot of bad memories here. The recent activity with Shasta made it even worse. The worst part about this whole deal was that she probably was here, and the Gray Force Users would struggle in this kind of enviroment. Not a pleasant task whatsoever...

"I'll remind you... if I can be reminded myself." He stored the bit of info about procuring some of the planet's resources deep into his subconscious somewhere. He would worry about that later. Now was the time to figure out what to do about Shasta. Hopefully the The Metal Man would take care of most of these issues.

Jacen was glad that his Master had calmed his nerves. The whole bomb-on-the-escape-pod ordeal had infuriated him, and he was glad to see Liam back to his old self to a degree. Jacen would be a little more careful to cover his tracks next time he did something of that magnitude. He had only rarely seen the a frustration Liam had showed a few hours ago. He didn't want to see it again.

The bridge of the vessel had slipped into a silence for a moment, then suddenly was broken by the Gray Master giving Jacen the order to search for the HKs. He nodded without saying a word and stood to his feet, walking for the door and exiting quickly. Stepping aboard the elevator, he hit the lower level and reached the armory. He found the machines and hooked them up to a cleaning device. After a good washing and wiping of the brain, they were mostly functional and Jacen updated them with a couple blasters a piece. They looked pretty good. He hit a function that sent them chirping towards the hangar, then chuckled and followed.

When he reached the bay he looked over his fighter. Everything looked okay. The engine was a little overheated from the conflict recently, but besides that it seemed good.

Suddenly, a small noise behind him made him startle. He wasn't used to being suprised by unanticipated sound, so he reacted with throwing his blade into the air and whipping around quickly. There... only fifteen feet from him stood a boy, made completely of sand. Thew boy smiled and looked up at him, then laughed and dissolved into nothingness.

Jacen ran to the spot where the boy had been standing, but nothing was left. Jacen stood there shocked. He didn't know who the boy or why he had seen him, but he definitely knew that it was probably not a welcome sight. Tapping his head a few times to make sure he wasn't daydreaming, Jacen walked back to the elevator and took it back to the bridge.

He took his seat again and said nothing to his Master. There wasn't really anything to say, words were hard to find these days...

_________

OOC: Yep, I'm bringing up a hallucinating part of Jacen, which will enhance his story line. No one else can see the boy, and the boy doesn't really exist... he's just imagining it.

BTW... anyone for bringing back P'do?

OOC: been thinking about P'do for months. Would love to bring him back--just not for too long.

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

IC:

"Well...there was no one on the dirtbag's tail," the Metal Man said. "He appears to have gotten through the planet's ionosphere. I wonder what he's going to do down there."

"I think I can help with that," came Nodi's voice over the intercom. "While you boys were doing your boy things, I was checking the Mrkyr commnet. There's an item in the news about a missing Jedi and how the Jedi are trying to buy her back."

"Fascinating," said the Metal Man. "The Jedi have agents out here, and they're willing to pay good money to ransom one of their least popular masters?"

"What are you saying, dude?" Kassay asked.

"That one should be careful about where one's money comes from. It's not always where one says it is.

"On the other hand, since this is an officially Jedi-sanctioned event," he continued, a certain look of humor coming over his face, "I'm sure that no one will mind if a Jedi representative or two shows up for the party. Let's land and have an audience with our most gracious Hutt host. Nodi, please inform this most cultured gentleman that he will be having guests, and let space traffic control know what we're going to be doing. Wouldn't do to have them shoot us down just for trying to visit. Everyone, please prepare for landing."

A short time later, Brain Jar's main hatch opened to let two apparent humanoids, one male and one female, out.

"OK, then," the female one, young and sleek in appearance, said. "You know how this is going to work. I'm going to check on the legitimacy of that payment and you can find the one you call 'the dirtbag.'"

"Yes, m'lady," the male, old and obese in appearance, replied.

Before them rose the spires of a palatial estate; behind them, a thunderstorm brooded, its thick, blue clouds adding a wild sort of beauty to the landscape.

The two living beings did not have time to take in the sites, though. They both entered the palace through a door at the end of the landing pad, passing a custom fighter craft as they did so.

A few minutes after Jacen returned from his designated task, Liam stood up briskly, robes fluttering briefly, and walked to the "bridge" exit. "Come," the cloaked Jedi spoke calmly, "We have places to go, things to see..." After checking in with the Metal Man about their current status, it had been decided that the two Greys would check in on one of the nearby floating space stations... something seemed amiss there - like an echo of the force.

As he walked to the docking bay near the middle of the ship, the onboard navigation system would slowly bring them in towards the station and keep the main guns ready for any threatening action. Unlike many ships, the docking bay on Liam's was the only 'normal' access inside - both ships and individuals had to enter in the same room, making it both a stronghold of a ship and a potential slaughter-hole.

The droids were there and waiting next to the pair of fighters. "Nice job..." he murmured to himself in reference to Jacen's job of getting them prepped and ready. "Maybe they weren't so bad after all..." he added, though simultaneously realizing the upgrades in mechanisms since the old days. Though they were probably in fine condition, a few tune-ups here and there by the master technician and they would be working much better. Still, they were old, but good models that would serve well if the Jedi found themselves severely cut off from the force...

At the moment he was approaching the docking bay, the nav-computer should have been making communication with the station's docking command and allowing the tube to connect for access into the station... unless they were forced to do it the hard way.

The door of the hangar slid open smoothly, exposing the Nightwing to the cold, dark void of space. The ion engines lit up with a green flare, lifting the Infiltrator smoothly off the ground as the landing gear retracted. It glided out into space as Ieltarion made began prepping the hyperdrive. He left the cloaking device off for now, as it used up lots of energy and he was only going to be here for a few minutes longer anyway.

OOC: But, of course, he's wrong. If you want to jump him now, feel free.

As the dirtbag stepped out of the hut's main meeting room, two things happened in rapid succession. First, the Sith who had been chosen for the job struck there. Second, noticing this, the Metal Man opened fire.

"I suppose that now you might entertain the concept that we at least temporarily join forces," the cyborg entoned.

Within moments the familiar sound of the docking hatch securing and pressure equalizing reached Liam's ears. "No problems then..." he said, only half-believing that this mission would go off without a hitch. His lightsabers remained hidden, like the rest of his entity, beneath the depths of his robes. For a moment, he debated on bringing the HK droids with them for defense, but that would've only drawn unneeded attention... as if Jedi wouldn't be out of place anyway.

The ship had been allowed entry into docking bay C1 in the 11th Sector of the massive space station. However, through some unknown persuasion, the docking officer had decided not to meet the arrival with the regular four man guard. Instead they would enter without attention or backward glance from the dock workers.

"Jacen..." The Grey Master called through the force, "Shall we? We have work to do..."