Dantooine

[Stormhelm]

I listened to my Master's words, memories of my childhood training in the art of the sword under Master Cho Ghandel, an Echani Master living on Coruscant. Calligraphy had been my training for the most part, the slight brush of a lose grip, the tightening around the twists and turns of the stroke, and the quick pivots of the wrist. And because of it, despite my sight having been taken from me, such teachings had kept me alive since. I had implanted such traits into everything i studied. I knew well the art of it in which Master Kyrell spoke of.

 

"I will Master Sunrider." I spoke, turning my blinded gaze from my own Master to Kirana, my words holding truth despite my not knowing where to access such things. I had yet to even know a Jedi Library even existed. "But i am curious on something, if you'll indulge me for just a moment. What made her change her decision to wield lightsaber?"

 

I watched silently through the force, my sight of the force zooming about the lone temple. I reached outward more, allowing my sight to sharpen and hone it's self, and define it's boundaries. To me, it came as quick blurs, slowing down only momentarily as it zoned around beings and things of interest. I saw forms such as Master Kyrell standing idly by, Master Sunrider walking to and fro her padawan, the small container which she pulled forth two blindfolds, and even idly off into a nearby woman's refresher. Blushing a bit, i settled my sight down, zoning back into the present room. It seemed my mind had wandered a bit too far from me.

 

Realizing that Master Sunrider was a bit busy with her own padawan, i indulged in the training Master Kyrell had proposed, all the while my attention still awaiting her answer. My fighting style was much like my stance when i wielded a sword. Loose, controlled, and graceful, was my form as i stepped forward into the section of pad. My blows came slow at first, loose and well precise as they came forward. But as the grew closer and closer, their speed and power would double, providing a staggering and loudly thud. And the more i opened myself to the force, the harder and faster they came.

 

But it was unexpected slightly, Master Kyrell's switching of the tactics into him returning the blows with the padded shield. I chuckled briefly as his first attack caught me off guard and found it's self connecting to the right side of my body. It was never a good session unless something unexpected occurs. I turned and attacked again, aiming for specific points on the body that could disarm one's self briefly. And then, as if naturally, i quickly followed with defenses, protecting my own faults and weak points. But i had my own tricks up my sleeve. If Master Kyrell wanted to test my proficiency in lightsaber combat, why not now, but with a blade. Even though i held no knowledge of it then, Form I was originally created for bladed combat. To me, it just seemed plausible that swords could replace lightsabers.

 

"Are you ready, Master?" I questioned, making sure i held the guard up upon my thoughts, not wanting to ruin the fun of what i was about to conjure. "Shall we take it up a notch?"

 

Without warning, my kicks and punches grew more quickening, mere blurs upon the eyes of an untrained being. And then, without word, my blade flew forth from it's uncontested sheath, the dull backside connecting with the pad, quickly followed by an unusual metallic thud. Even when i used my sword, forced or willingly, my unwillingness to kill shown brightly. I had rarely ever used the bladed edge of my custom vibrosword, or any sword truthfully, because of what it had brought upon me that day i lost Jewel. But i was not necessarily down, even while using the backside of it's blade. Though one's use of the certain form was nearly unheard of. Only active practitioners of full out defense used such a form as an attack.

[Malin Kyrell]

Malin, while having a fair measure of his padawan, found it interesting to learn that Kenshi was gifted with swordsmanship. Granted there was the sheath, but Malin payed it little heed. Instantly after the first metallic thud, Malin drops the pad, drawing not his lightsaber, but his caelestum. Though it was a weapon designed to cut and to kill, Malin is able to use the flat of his Force imbued blade to parry.

 

"You're using a defensive stance," Malin notes critically and with approval, letting his padawan continue the assault. "Though you're implimenting parts of the Form I style," he suggests, a hint of his footwork creeping in, "there's a marked difference. Lightsabers are weightless until they strike and are better able to deflect attacks." Kyrell's parries grow narrower and more finesses, and soon he starts to repost, pressing attacks back at his padawan. "This is a blessing and curse as it allows more freedom, but requires more precise uses of force for that moment when physics resumes and they clash. A sword though, requires constant attention and constant weight and motion. You will need to be fluid and think your actions through, several steps ahead." Malin returns with a three part attack, ending with an attempted disarm, parrying around the blade to knock it from Kenshi's grip. "A sword can be graceful and beat a lightsaber, though it is hard. You will need to attack the hilt or the hand that wields it."

[Kirana Sunrider]

Kirana smiled at Jhoren's progress, nodding her head, "The Force can show you what you need to see." She glanced over towards Kenshi, "Even when someone is prematurely blinded, they can still 'see' with the Force. In fact, Miraluka's only see through the Force. Our Jedi Grandmaster's mother is a full blood Miraluka."

 

She glanced over towards Kenshi and Malin, waiting until a pause in their combat to answer his prior question. "Nomi was against using a lightsaber because she had to defend herself and her daughter Vima from her husband Andur's killers. It was due to his Force Ghost that she took up the saber. She never liked using one. The story as I was told is this." Kira closed her eyes, recalling the story that had been passed down from generation to generation regarding her famous ancestress. She quoted the story to them, starting from Nomi's acceptance of her husband's death.

 

Eventually, Nomi was able to come to terms with her husband's death, and Master Thon began to instruct her in the ways of the Force””although Nomi was now confident that it was her destiny to become a Jedi Knight, she refused to build, or even wield, a lightsaber. For her, a lightsaber only served as a reminder of when she was forced to kill two of her husband's murderers. Master Thon, however, challenged her views on this, telling her that a lightsaber was not only a weapon to be used for attack and defense””it also provided a Jedi with a focus for their mind, and also strengthened their connection with the Force. To further strengthen his argument, Thon took Nomi and Vima out into the wilderness of Ambria, and showed Nomi an ancient holocron which had been lent to him by Master Arca Jeth; the gatekeeper of the holocron was Master Ood Bnar. Master Bnar proceeded to tell Nomi the history of the Jedi's age-old fight against the dark side, and concluded by stating that Nomi would play an important role in the momentous events to come. Nomi, however, found it difficult to accept that she would do anything important, or that a lightsaber was more than a tool of death””Nomi still saw the lightsaber as something inherently wrong, and continued to believe that she should distance herself from it.

 

Following the teachings of the holocron, Thon advised Nomi that since she provided him the gift of the Adegan crystals, it was only appropriate that he return the gesture in kind””Thon gave Nomi his personal lightsaber, the one which he had constructed while learning under his Master, citing the reason that it rightfully belonged to his greatest apprentice. Although Nomi still refused to use a lightsaber, she reluctantly accepted the gift and placed it among her meager belongings.

 

However, this moment was soon interrupted by the arrival of hired space pirates and a large number of thugs from Bogga's gang, who had the sole mission of retrieving the Adegan crystals that the Hutt coveted. Master Thon and Nomi rushed back to Thon's home, where the pirates were setting up for their attack. Once there, Thon commanded Nomi to pick up the lightsaber he had given her and to join him at his side for the coming battle””Nomi, however, refused. Thon became frustrated by his apprentice's stubbornness concerning the lightsaber, and, seeing no other way to convince her to use the physical aspects of her Jedi abilities, he surrendered himself to the pirates. However, while he was being led away, Thon stretched out through the Force and told Nomi that if she refused to use a lightsaber, then she simply had to focus her Force powers on the pirates if she wanted to save both him and Vima. At that moment, Nomi saw through the fog of her remaining grief and apprehension, and concentrated on the image of the pirates and the other enforcers attacking each other; suddenly, the pirates turned on each other, fighting over the crystals. The ensuing confusion allowed Nomi the time needed to reach the decision which Thon had been trying to show her””that the lightsaber was the weapon of a Jedi, and that Nomi was a Jedi. Upon realizing this, Nomi picked up her Master's lightsaber and charged into the confused pirates. Nomi was able to rescue Thon by slicing through the Mandalorian manacles which were holding him. The remaining pirates fled back to their ship under Nomi's onslaught.

 

Eventually, Nomi would complete her training under Master Thon, and he took her to the Jedi library world of Ossus. Once there, Nomi was placed under the tutelage of Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, who guided her in the creation of her very own lightsaber.

 

Kirana opened her vivid sapphire blue eyes to look from Kenshi to Jhoren and then to Malin, a soft smile on her face. "There is more information on Nomi's exploits in the Jedi Archives. There's a library at the majority of Jedi Temples."

 

She looked back at Kenshi, another thought occurring to her. Shifting her gaze towards Malin she made mention, "Didn't Jedi Master Healer Organa heal Master Lai Kaipi's eyesight?" The statement was left open. There were ways to contact the Master Healer and she was known for her skills in the healing arts. Rumour had it that there wasn't much at all she didn't have a cure or way to heal anyone... Kira had even heard rumours about how she had healed a number of darksiders. That was one thing Kirana didn't understand... why would she do it? Why heal the enemy when they could turn and do more harm?

 

 

[Jhoren Zeur]

Jhoren listened to Kirana's story, intrigued. He could understand Nomi's hesitance of using a lightsaber, despite him having never been put into a situation like that before. Her story made him curious as to what his grandfather experienced while he was part of the Jedi Order. Had he ever permitted himself from using a lightsaber? What kind of things had he seen? What wars had he partook in? Jhoren was sure that there was some way to find all of this out. He would have to remember to ask Kirana all of this later.

 

Before he could ask her any other questions, she turned her attention to Malin. As she started to speak to him, Jhoren made his way over to the training remote and picked it up from the ground. He set it on the highest shelf of the rack that held the other equipment, and clipped his lightsaber back onto his belt. After securing it in place, he made his way back over to Kirana.

[Wranorn]

"Yeah, I worked for a small time Hutt Clan on Selvaris. The wern't really that big, small time for the most part. I only did two jobs with the sith, just information gathering, basicaly I followed some people around. Wranorn figured that he hadn't done all that much, he had clamied 6 bounties tops in his time as a Bounty Hunter, just enough work to get by.

 

I was hired by a small time gang. They imported Luna-weed, and distributed it all over the planet. One of their mid-level strong-arms, turned on them, and gave information to a rival gang. They hired me to find him, and kill him. Though the information they gave me, was wrong. I should have known they wouldn't know anything worth while.

 

Wranorn for an unknown reason, took another sip of the drink infront of him, only to find the same dissatisfation as the first sip.

[Rodya]

As Wranon finished speaking a commotion could be heard just outside the cantina. Rodya turned and looked towards the door as it burst open. A frightened human man tumbled through the opening in a panic.

 

"My daughter, they've taken my daughter," said the hysterical man.

 

The crowd of locals in the bar rushed to the man's side drowning him with questions. The shy and nervous bar tender bravely climbed on top of the counter and shouted down the curious mob.

 

"What do you mean they've taken your daughter?" he asked the frightened man, "Who has taken your daughter?"

 

"Yeah Fritz, who has taken your daughter," shouted the mob.

 

"Col Rendar and his gang, that's who." The crowd gasped at the metion of the local criminal. "My daughter Shela and I were in the bank when they rushed in to rob the place. They weren't satisfied though. That's why they took Shela. They're demanding we pay them a ransom or they'll kill her."

 

The man shook with terror and a low murmur sounded throughout the bar as the patrons tried to establish a solution. Rodya noticed that some eyes were already turning towards him and Wranon, but the bounty hunter merely took another sip of his ale trying to ignore the situation.

 

"I don't know how I'll ever get her back. Col already took everything I had when he knocked off the bank," said Fritz.

 

At that point all of the eyes in the bar turned to the two bounty hunters. Rodya could feel the desperate eyes clawing at his back, pleading for help. The bar tender, sensing the crowd's decision, nervously climbed off of the counter and approaced Rodya.

 

"Excuse me, sirs..." said the man, "I'm sure you've overheard Fritz's story and all. Do you think you might be willing to help us?" Rodya didn't even turn to face the man. He just kept staring into his drink.

 

"You see," begged the bar tender, "the Jedi are too far away, and the local militia isn't powerful enough to take on Col Rendar and his gang. You two are right here and could quickly catch up to him, I'm sure of it."

 

Rodya once again did not move. He was not one to typically get caught up in these petty back world squables. Why do I even care? he thought without making a motion.

 

"We'd pay you for your services," added the bar tender.

 

"With what?" It was the first sign of life Rodya had shown since first being approached. "If you've got enough money to pay us, why not just pay the ransom?"

 

"Well sir," answered the now quivering bar tender, "you're right. We don't currently have anything, but whatever you manage to salvage off of Col and his gang is yours; including any and all credits you find. Besides, the two of you could stop Col's reign of terror once and for all."

 

There must be something special about this girl. Why else would they want her back so badly? Rodya could not fathom a reason why a whole town would fight so hard just to save one useless little girl. Something had changed about Rodya, but the concept of love was still beyond his grasp. This town's dedication and loyalty to one another was beyond his understanding, yet the credits they were offering was not. He may not have understood emotional bonds, but the Dashade certainly understood hard currency.

 

"Fine, we'll get her back." Rodya didn't look at the patrons as he grabbed his axe and led Wranon out the door.

 

The two walked to the edge of town in silence while Rodya remained in a constant state of thought. He didn't once acknowledge Wranon's presence. He just kept asking himself Why?

 

"You're going to track down this Col Rendar," Rodya said when he and Wranon had reached the far outskirts of the town. "Consider this your first lesson in being a bounty hunter."

 

Rodya had suddenly changed. Before now he had been rather warm and friendly towards Wranon, but now he seemed cold and heartless. He handed Wranon a pair of electrobinoculars and a couple of grenades, without looking at their types.

 

"When you're finished return here with the girl. If you run into trouble send me a comm. Until then, good luck." Rodya turned and walked away from the young bounty hunter. His black cloak drifted in the breeze casting a shadow over the tall golden grasses of Dantooine.

 

((Check your pm for instructions before posting))

[Kirana Sunrider]

Seeing Jhoren come back to her side, Kira turned back to him. If Kenshi wished to find out more about the Master Healer then Malin could tell him about her. The Jedi Master knew of many that had been to the Healer for her skills to patch them up.

 

She beckoned him over to the centre of the room, away from the other two and picked up the bamboo stick she'd originally had, indicating for him to do the same. "Using the principles I showed you mentally, and what you practised against the training remote, I want you to put it all into practice. Use all the Force aspects we've covered."

 

She stood back from him in a relaxed posture but ready to duel with him with the bamboo pole. As they went along, he should be able to speed his movements through the Force as well.

[Jhoren Zeur]

Doing as he was told, Jhoren picked one of the bamboo poles up for himself, and positioned his feet so he was in a combat-ready stance. As before, he opened his mind, making sure to relinquish all thought, and concentrated on the task at hand. He was going to duel against Kirana, a Jedi Master. He knew that he probably wouldn't stand a chance against her. Nonetheless, he decided to go along with what she wanted him to do, and readied the bamboo pole, gripping it with both of hands. He swung one end of it down, so it touched the floor, and anticipated the moment when his master would strike.

 

”œI'm ready,”

[Xen-Que Poleb]

Xen-Que's Blade arrived on Dantooine. He was expected sooner, but he was not late. The Blademaster arrived precisely when he meant to. He picked up the Dashade's ship at a local cantina, but he was quickly overwhelmed by two presences in the Force. Two people very familiar to him, a rarity for a person of his nature. He didn't regularly have the luxury of friends or anything of the sort. He pushed it out of his mind for now. For the moment he would focus on the task at hand; as quickly as possible.

 

He landed the ship properly this time, jumping from a ship and it landing itself in a public spaceport would probably be unwise. He pulled out a gray poncho, practically a sheet with a hole for a head. He couldn't do anything to conceal his white hair, he would just have to deal with it. He walked in and scoped the area for the two bounty hunters.

[Rodya]

Far out on the plains of Dantooine, Col Rendar and his group of misbehaving ruffians were making their way across the rolling landscape. In the floor board of Col's speeder, curled into a ball, laid the helpless Shela. She shivered with terror as she looked up into the eyes of her captor. The man's face was hard like stone. His jaw was square and strong suggesting a heroic figure, but his eyes revealed a cold heart.

 

A long horrible scar stretched the full length of the left side of Col's face. The raised, distorted, pink skin dangled from his lip, ran along his jaw bone and up to the edge of his eye. He looked down at the girl, catching her eye. Col grinned causing the scar to twitch ever so slightly, but also making the innocent Shela cringe violently. Col laughed diabolically as he and his gang neared their lair”¦

 

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

 

Meanwhile, back in town, Rodya walked alone through the small crowds that seemed to veer away from his presence. An image of a small helpless girl suffering mercilessly pierced his mind; irritating and distracting him. Why did they ask me? he thought to himself. Why had he not gone after her? Wranon would be useless against a whole band of renegades. Rodya seriously doubted the green bounty hunter he had sent after the girl, but he doubted himself more.

 

What's happened to me?

 

At that moment, through the crowd, his dark eyes caught a glimpse of a man with familiar white hair. Did he do something to me?

 

Rodya certainly had not been the same since their last meeting, and there was no proof that the story Xen and Wranon told him on Dagobah was true. How could he be sure Dunya had gone insane? Perhaps they are responsible”¦ The thought lingered in Rodya's mind, brewing, digging, hollowing out a dark spot far away from the new found light of his soul. The evil that once dominated Rodya had not been entirely irradicated by the demented droid. For the most part however, Rodya remained aloof to the growing battle of good and evil taking place within his tortured soul. It was now only a matter of time...

 

Rodya approached Xen-Que, ”œHi there. We're alone. I've sent Wranon out to do something for me. Now, let's continue our conversation”¦”

[Smash Daisaku]

|--- SECRET TRANSMISSION TO ZOSIMOV RAZUMIKHIN---| (Sent directly to his ship's communications array.)

 

”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦

[Wranorn]

Wranorn had said nothing during the commotion at the bar, he simply listened to the bar keep, and the deal he was trying to stake. He contimplated the issue, and took another sip of the dreadful lager. He kept a close eye on Rodya's movements, and reactions. He didn't seem to interested in the task being set before them. Untill the word payment was put forth. Though his reaction was one of un-interest, it was a reaction.

 

They were standing at the edge of town, when Rodya gave him his first lesson. Track down, and recover the girl. Wranorn hadn't dealt too much with recovering hostages before, so this was a rather new experience for him.

 

He took the electro-binoculars, and grenades, slipping them into his pockets with out paying attention to what hey were, he just assumed they were some thermo-grenades, which was basic weapon a man of his type would use. Though he got a strange feeling that they might have been a little more destructive then the typical thermo-detonator.

 

He nodded to Rodya as he took his leave, and walked out into the grassy plains. and began to look around.

 

I've got a bad feeling about this he thought to him self as he began his task.

 

(( Ill start this task on my next post, which should be tomarrow night, just need to do a little more research, and thinking about how i wanna go about this. ))

[Kirana Sunrider]

Kira stood where she was, just waiting and watching her padawan. She stepped sidewards, circling around him, just watching his body movements. Stopping again she half beckoned towards him,

 

"Attack me... Lets see what you can do."

 

 

(sorry it's short)

[Jhoren Zeur]

Jhoren stepped forward, still holding the pole with both hands. He held it down by his side so the end of it touched the ground, his gaze meeting his master's. He watched her as she circled him, and grittied his teeth. He anticipated the moment when their weapons would lock, at which time, he would attempt to turn the tables on her.

 

He set his right foot in front of his left, and raised the end of the pole up, off of the ground. His eyes never left Kirana's, even as he brought the weapon down, intent on making contact with her left side.

[Rodya]

A small group of red and black speeders rounded a hilly outcrop of rock and gradually slowed to a halt. The gang of about fifteen men unloaded the treasures they had amassed during the raid. Their leader, Col Rendar, snatched the helpless girl, Shela, from her hiding place and tossed her in a cage.

 

The camp was situated on a unique piece of real estate. To the north was the before mentioned hilly outcrop that served as a natural barrier between the gang and any retaliatory forces. To the south and east was a cliff that dropped deep into a winding river bed. The group of men had made a steep narrow trail down the cliffs so they could easily get water, but any other means of entering the camp from those two directions would be nearly impossible.

 

The cliffs wrapped almost completely around the camp except for a small funnel shaped piece of land which functioned as a bridge into the western side of the camp. Such a locality served the gang well protecting them from any militia or other large group of military forces. It almost seemed that Rendar had picked a naturally fortified castle as his base of operations which, until now, had served its purpose well. In fact, the small band of men had easily fought off several lawmen and their posses the past months from the easily fortified location. Col saw no reason to fear any retaliation from their most recent escapades.

 

"Oh poor sweety," Rendar said to the whimpering girl, "you've got nothin to fear. I'm gonna find you a nice master soon enough. As pretty as you are you should turn me a nice profit."

 

The other men laughed as they took a break from rummaging through the loot. Their hands were only motionless for a second though before Rendar shouted, "Back to work you lazy fools!"

 

The leader of the pack marched away towards his tent giving orders for sentry men to be posted around the camp just in case....

[Wranorn]

Wranorn had made it out a little into the grassy plains. He had walked to the top of one of the hills that over looked a large span of the area. A smal glint of light caught his eye.

 

He pulled out his spotter scope, and focused on the area of which the light had came from. He was notorious for being rather lucky, yet very clumbsy. He was able to see a speeder making its way across the field. It was a crimson red, with black edging, and details. There were about 4 people in it, but no sign of struggeling going on, and no sign of the girl. Wranorn had a gut feeling that these were the guys he was looking for.

 

He continued to follow them with his scope across the plain, but lost them behind a rather large hill. He noticed that they were heading towards a Vally in the cliffs and tall hills. He put his scope down, and continued to walk towards the hill that he lost the speeder behind.

 

(( this is going to take me more then three I think, But next post Ill get into the base, and then the one after that, I will start my way out of there. ))

[Rodya]

For a small time operation, the gang's camp was heavily fortified. Out of the fifteen or so men, five were assigned sentry duty. Shift changes happened every few hours until late at night when the groups became smaller with only three gaurds being on duty at a time. Rendar had designed his operations to be efficent while at the same time benefical to his men. He needed them well rested in the case of an emergency, and his method for scheduling gaurd duty worked to provide men with the maximum amount of R and R.

 

At the entrance of the camp two landspeeders were parked each weilding a heavy blaster cannon on its rear. Behind two seperate mounds of dirt also sat two easily defendable E-web repeating blasters mounted on tripods. The weapons remained at the ready but unmaned. Gaurds preferred to roam the edges of the camp on the lookout for any signs of movement.

 

The only place the gaurds did not bother with was the hill to the north. Rendar had figured that were they to be attacked it would be by a large group of milita men, and no leader would purposefully tire his men out by climbing such a steep, tall embankment. There was however, postioned on the side of the hill closest to the camp, a foxhole in which, in the event of an attack, Rendar's most skilled sniper would quickly climb the hill to pick enemies off one by one. From the foxhole the sniper had a complete overview of the camp and any enemies that could possibly be attacking. At all times other than during action though the foxhole remained empty. A small trail led down from the foxhole into the heart of the camp.

 

At the rear of the camp, overlooking the cliffs and the river, two gaurds were permantly stationed to defend against any possible flanking manuvers. One had a perfect line of sight down the trail which led to the river, while the other could see up the river to the north before the winding trail of water drifted behind the large hill.

 

Dusk was settling over the camp and all of the men, except their leader, were currently sitting around a fire enjoying dinner...

[Kirana Sunrider]

Kirana slipped out of his reach, using the Force to make her movement swift, her pole clashing with his in the position where she had just been.

 

She could feel him anticipating though he was still not sinking himself in fully to the Force. She danced backwards, letting the Force guide her to his left and swung the pole around with one hand, catching hold with the other, releasing as she changed hands to strike at his legs. He would either have to leap out of the way or block.

[Jhoren Zeur]

Jhoren didn't expect Kirana to swing the pole at his legs, so he was forced to leap out of the way. He felt the end of it brush against his ankle, but luckily, it didn't catch his legs full-on. As soon as he landed on the floor, he gripped the pole with both hands and paused. He knew that he would have to pull something extraordinary off to catch Kirana off guard ”“ which he knew he wouldn't be able to do; not yet, anyway ”“ and, hopefully, use the pole to make contact with her.

 

Before he made his next move, Jhoren was able to calm himself down. He was eagerly anticipating any move that his master would make, but he hadn't taken his time to pace himself, or attempt to use the Force to aid him in this fight. Now, he opened his mind, as if to give the Force ”˜permission' to flow through his veins and give him that extra ”˜boost' he needed to duel against Kirana.

 

He sent the end of the pole around, then jabbed forward with it. He quickly brought it back up, intent on disarming her instead of trying to hit her again.

[Rodya]

Rodya waited a long time for a reply from the blademaster, Xen-Que Poleb, but after several minutes passed with no response Rodya decided to move on. He motioned for the blademaster to follow him to his ship. It was not, however, a command. Poleb was probably not a man that would respond to commands anyways.

 

Rodya walked through the streets back to where he had left his ship. Deactivating the security system with his datapad, Rodya walked aboard. He left the door open for a guest to follow him should that certain blademaster so choose.

 

"Wait here," he said to any guest who may or may not have been following him as he passed through the ship's common room. This was a command that Rodya expected to be taken seriously.

 

Aboard the Frozen Thunder, Rodya went to the cockpit alone to check his messages. He hoped that any guest would respect his request for privacy. He closed the hydraulic blast door leading into the ship's control room for privacy's sake.

 

|--- SECRET TRANSMISSION TO ZOSIMOV RAZUMIKHIN---| (Sent directly to his ship's communications array.)

 

”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦”¦”¦ ”¦”¦

 

Rodya's eyes scanned the area over his shoulders making sure that no one was listening in. He knew something about Force types, and he gaurded his implant protected thoughts with all the brain power he had. Odd, thought Rodya. Black Sun's contacting me now?

 

He wasn't sure what to think. He knew the Sun well, and he knew the types of business affairs they were typically involved in. What was truly odd about it all though was that Rodya was actually thinking about replying to the message. Normally, he would have responded immediately, eager to perform his duties for his former employer. Now though, a nagging thought pestered the Dashade, and it slowed his finger on its way to the button that would cast an encrypted message out into space. Nevertheless, Rodya's massive, meaty finger pushed the send button returning a postive message to Black Sun.

 

Moments later Rodya was back in the ship's common room standing before someone or no one...

 

((I know you're kind of slow posting right now HJP, that's why I left the window open if you still want to pursue anything. If not, that's cool. I just wanted to get the ball rolling elsewhere just in case.))

[Xen-Que Poleb]

Xen-Que let Rodya leave. There would be a time and a place for that affair. But now, Xen-Que was concerned with meeting the last person he spoke to before he died.

 

Kirana Sunrider.

 

With the existence of another, the encounter with Rodya that in turn led him to Kirana, perhaps there was still a rhyme and reason to the galaxy. Maybe Fate and Destiny were still at work. Even a fellow Blademaster was here.

 

Xen-Que shuffled his gray poncho to get more comfortable in it. He made his way toward Malin and Kirana to observe their training of a padawan.

[Malin Kyrell]

Malin halts his practice with Kenshi, immediately sheathing his caelestum. He gives a formal bow, acknowledging one he sensed and knew as a peer and equal. The moment he eyed Xen's caelestum, he knew it for truth, further recognizing him from the short time he helped train his brother.

 

"Master Poleb," he begins. "I do not believe we have met before, though we are members of the same order. What has brought you to this location?" Like Xen, or even the Jedi, Malin did not believe in luck or chance. It was a matter of fate, and a matter of providence.

[Kirana Sunrider]

Jhoren's move made her smile, he was thinking and letting the Force aid him. She avoided the move, a grin upon her face. Feeling the approach of another old friend she held up her hand towards her padawan.

 

Just as Malin had, Kirana called a halt to the duel she and Jhoren were having. The last time she had seen Xen-Que had been when he was a ghost and had asked her to pass a message on to his brother. She smiled at him, stepping towards him.

 

"It's been some time. What brings you here to Dantooine? You are well?" She motioned for Jhoren to step forward and rested a hand upon his shoulder, "This is my padawan, Jhoren Zeur. Jhoren, this is Master Xen-Que Poleb, An old friend of mine."

[Jhoren Zeur]

Jhoren set the bamboo pole on the ground and walked over to Kirana. She set his hand on his shoulder, and introduced him to Xen-Que Poleb. He gave the man a polite nod, and said:

 

”œIt's nice to meet you, Master Poleb.”

[Rodya]

The room was empty when Rodya returned. He stood and looked around the ship curious about its emptiness. Wasn't someone... He allowed the thought to pass on and moved into the storage room at the back of his ship. With Black Sun calling, Rodya needed to get to work. Most of his equipment had been lost, but luckily there was still a significant amount of random supplies stored away on this new ship, the Frozen Thunder.

 

Walking through the door to the storage room Rodya realized there was something else present on the ship that he did not remember ever acquiring. Cage upon cage was stacked in the room, and all of the cages contained animals, reptiles, and other forms of life that Rodya couldn't identify.

 

"Dunya," he said, exasperated. The stench from the room was awful. The cages had not been cleaned since the droid had been dismantled on Dagobah. In addition, most of the animals had starved to death and their rotting corpses were fouling up the air in the room. "What in the world was she doing?"

 

It was a pointless question to ask. Obviously something had went wrong with Dunya's programming causing her to go the droid equivalent of insane. Rodya set to work removing the dead corpses from his ship. Once finished though, he was still left with a significant problem. "What am I supposed to do with the ones that are still alive?"

 

Most of the animals seemed useless, and several were now near death. A few, however, seemed to be fairly hearty breeds. Rodya pulled his blaster from his holster and looked it over. At one time he would have enjoyed this task, but now something bit into him squeezing his heart. He looked around the room and thought about the humane thing to do; the right thing to do. Blaster fire erupted in the little storage room. The red bolts, which Rodya had set to fire at a low energy level just above stun, ripped through the soft flesh of the weakened animals. Many of the stronger ones tried to hide from the noise, yet a few payed the destruction no mind.

 

It took Rodya hours to clean up the mess, and in the end he was left with only three surviving animals which he assumed would become his pets until he could release them properly. The first was a medium sized bird like creature that Dunya had labled as a young Jubba bird.

 

"Where did she learn all this stuff from?" Rodya couldn't believe that the droid he had created was responsible for all this, and he also didn't realize she was so interested in biological lifeforms. "I really should have paid more attention to that droid." To be honest, he had essentially dismissed her presence while she was functioning. He only addressed Dunya when he needed her assistance. He looked closer at the bird that had managed to survive and shook his head. It seemed dumb beyond belief. It was marching in circles around its cage, bobbing its head up and down trying to sing. Trying was Rodya's exact thought. He had never heard such a horrible noise. He rattled the cage somewhat violently in an effort to make the animal be quiet, but when he failed he simply gave up and moved on.

 

The second animal was contained in a cage labled MORP: HIGHLY POISONOUS. Rodya looked at the nasty looking creature which seemed to have survived off of a minimal amount of water left in its cage. He gave the character a look suggesting that one day it could be useful, at least more useful than the bird, and then he moved onto the final cage.

 

The last cage contained what Dunya had labeled as a Butcherbug. There were actually a couple of the creatures in the cage, and they appeared to have survived off of the flesh of another animal that had apparently fallen through the top of the Butcherbug cage. They seemed to be fragile but lethal critters and Rodya once again found himself being pleased with his lost droid's resourcefulness. Two out of the three of these animals would be useful. The bird, however, would prove useless, or so he thought. He placed a sufficent amount of food and water in the cages for the animals and then set about working on something much more familiar to him...

[Xen-Que Poleb]

Xen-Que smiled. "Hello Jhoren. A pleasure to meet you." He directed his attention to Malin and Kirana. "I did not mean to interfere with your training of your respective pupils. I gladly would have waited until you were finished. Please continue."

[Malin Kyrell]

((My padawan seems to have gone AWOL...))

 

Malin tilts his head to the side, asking Kirana to look after Kenshi while he talked with Xen-Que.

 

"It is fine, Master Poleb." He glances over at Kenshi, then continues with a wry twist in his soft voice. "Training is about done, and if nothing else, patience is a virtue for padawans to learn."

[Kautra Nadio]

(( Scratch this please ))

[Wranorn]

Wranorn made it to the top of the small hill just as the sun began to set. He was still pretty far away from the base. He took a knee, and pulled out the binoculars Rodya had given him, they had a clearer vision, and a better range on them then his scope did. He scanned over the area, trying to get an eye for the defences, and set up they had. They seemed a little too fortified for such a small time gang. The leader must have had a mind to grow the operation larger.

 

To bad he'll be dead by sunset tomarrow

 

He watched the patterens of the guards movements, getting a feel for their walking paths, and how long they dwelled in one spot and looked out into the grassy area. Wranorn noticed that they didnt pay too close of attention to a rather large, steep hill to the north of them, which might be his only way in.

 

He counted 4 guards in total, but felt that there were more that he couldn't see, perhaps around the other side of the base, there was no telling what other type of guard he had set up. He would have to make it up, and down that hill before he would be able to get the best feel of the base he was going to take.

 

He set the scope down, and began walking at a catty-corner towards the back of the hill.

 

He was dead tired by the time he scaled the cliffs on the back end of the hill, it didn't look so bad from where he started off at, it had almost looked easy. He sat down at the top of the hill, and tired to catch his breath. He pulled out the Binos again, and survayed the area once more from a different angle. The first thing he noticed was that the number of guards had declined in the past few hours. He made a mental note of it, and continued to look around.

 

He saw the entrance to the to the main base, with the two speeder sitting in front. They were holding some pretty decent fire power, and would have to be taken care of first. Behind the speeders were some formidible turrets. He would have to think of a way to disable both at the sabe time, perhaps the grenades would come in handy for both of them.

[Rodya]

Rodya sat at a makeshift table in the storage room with his armor sprawled out in front of him. Long had he been a traditionalists, prefering simpler armor and weapons to the newer technoligical advancements of his fellow bounty hunters. It was an odd fact really, that a tech genuis like Rodya preferred fewer electronic aids in battle. It was a sensible resolution though. As Rodya figured, the more a computer controls means the less power the user has. The Dashade had two large, strong hands, and as he saw it they were the only power he typically needed. There were some advancements he intended to make, however.

 

Currently, Rodya's jet pack operated off of a sensor at his wrist. The only problem with this set-up was that a vulnerable wire had to run down both of his arms; not to mention this configuration made controlling the power and speed of the jet pack tempermental. Rodya wanted a better system, one that got rid of the wires and made everything centrally controlable.

 

In his hand he held his helmet. It was a rather crude form of armor, fairly heavy, and possessing a very simple visor that would protect him from bright lights, chemicals, and flying projectiles. He began by stripping this piece of equipment down. He carefully removed all of the helmet's padding, its visor, and every nut and screw that held the piece together; which in the end did not account for much. Rodya toiled over the system for hours inserting wires, soldering data chips to a mother board, and configuring systems data. It was tedious labor that the large powerful being enjoyed.

 

Finished with the hardware configuration, Rodya moved on to the software. Using his datapad, Rodya linked up to his helmet via its newly installed wireless antennea: a small, barely protuding device Rodya had created. Pressing a few buttons and typing in a few key words and numbers, Rodya quickly established an operating system for his suit. By other's standards the system was primitive, but it would serve Rodya's purposes perfectly. The newly created HUD would perform several task for Rodya when engaged, including providing him with critical information which before now he had never been able to possess. It was an intricately webbed software system, probably as complex as Dunya had been, yet far less free thinking and with many more limitations. He chuckled to himself thinking how odd it was that hours earlier he had told himself, "Keep it simple," yet now, here he was with an incredibly, elaborate work of electronic art on the table before him.

 

The HUD was just the beginning, however. With new jobs popping up everywhere, Rodya knew he would need many new devices to give himself an edge in battle...

 

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

Elsewhere:

 

As darkness fell over the camp the number of men on patrol lessened. Now only three men made their way around the camp periodically checking the obvious weak points in the defenses.

 

Shelia lay in the cage unable to sleep; shivering from the chilly night air. The ground had grown cold in the darkness and the little girl was beginning to lose hope. Her penitentary was far away from the warm light of the fire, and safety felt fleeting in the harsh, disturbing world of the ruthless criminals. She glanced towards Col's tent noticing his shadow as it cast itself against the cloth barrier...