Space

[Idarah]

Idejjen's ship makes it rather steadily through the atmosphere of space on its route to the Link Casino, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary...

 

Idejjen checked on his ysalamari and realized that the ysalamari was quite terrified of him... Idejjen tried to calm it, but right now the little creature was to hysterical to calm... well here's hoping it doesn't need to be happy to work...

 

-=Casino=-

[Shadrach]

(Edited for continuity)

 

Shadrach woke with a lurch, sprawling from his bunk.

 

The Fenris 1 hummed gently under him.

 

"R8? What happened?"

 

The room was silent. Shadrach pounded the console and repeated his question, becoming oddly aware that his fist was bandaged.

 

R8-D8 chirped into the comm, but before his droid got past basic ship diagnostics, the details began to return to him.

 

He'd been doing odd jobs. Courier work mostly, with the odd "acquirement" or "enforcement" gig when he could get it. All waiting in vain for word from Viktor.

 

"R8? Did we get the money? Did we get paid?"

 

The last job must have gone south. Running his hand through his hair, Shadrach discovered a rather prominent lump on the back of his head. How that little droid managed to get him onto the ship, offworld, and bandaged, all without arms was beyond him.

 

R8 warbled positively.

 

"Ah, well that's something. I'd hate to be adrift. Where are we headed?"

 

The Golden Link Casino.

Edited February 10, 2008 by Guest

[Darth Furion]

The Chameleon's engines shut down abruptly in the middle of no where, the engines no longer able to continue with the damage they had sustained.

 

Well, isn't this just lovely.

[Jidai Geki]

*The Imperial ships continued along their randomly plotted course, and Geki left things in the hands of the more than competent navigation crew. He left the bridge; they still had a hostile Jedi on board...

 

Geki reaches the confrontation between Darla and Deton swiftly. Agony and Rapture are close to hand, the longsword fixed in an inverted position on his back and the soul-eating shortsword strapped to his left leg. As always, the black armour Dagon manufacured for him makes his steps infinitesimally smaller than a whisper, and makes him virtually invisible until he chooses to reveal his presence. His Force presence is masked, and he creeps softly forward...

 

Rapture falls gently against the soft flesh of Darla's throat.*

 

'My dear, we have retreated from Ilum. If you do not desist in this pointless act of defiance, I will have you killed in the most exruciatingly amusing fashion. Drop your weapons, have your men drop theirs, and you may yet live.'

[SithAcolyte]

Darla was a little surprised, but she was used to Sith and there ways. This Geki was obviously a powerful man. She didn't know how he'd gotten so close to her without her knowing he was there. But she hyad seem Kakuto Ryu teleport out of nowhere before, anything was possible when it came to the Sith.

 

Even with her weapons at the ready she knew that she would be dead before she could turn to face him. She may have had the force as her ally, but if he tore out her throat she would bleed just like any other being.

 

Disengaging her lightsaber Darla dropped it to the floor. The glowing at her fingertips ceased as her plasma emitters shut down.

 

"I can't drop this weapon." She said pointing to her arm.

 

There was still the slightest hint of defiance in her voice. But it was in her nature. She couldn't help standing up for herself, for her beliefs. It had gotten her killed before and she had the feeling that one day it would again.

 

But will that be today?

 

"Why lure us on board?" She asked calmly, finally seeing the face of Geki. "It seems like a lot of trouble to go to take down a few Rebels."

 

It did seem like a lot of trouble. But Geki's kind enjoying inflicting pain, killing...

 

Even a small number of dead rebels was preferable to none at all. Right?

 

Darla was a little confused. Everytime the darkness rose up in her she lostgrip of her calm humane side and she too liked causing pain. Her wrath was aimed at those she deemed worthy of it. But perhaps it was the same to Geki and the Rebels were the ones that he thought deserved his. Perhaps they weren't that different after all.

 

He was a few inches taller than Darla, but she could look him in the eye easily enough. His eyes were an icey blue as she gazed into them a shiver ran down her spine. He was a dark reflection of what she could've been...

 

Or could be...

 

It had been a long time since Darla had felt a vulnerable and unsure as she did in that moment.

[Jidai Geki]

*Geki grins at the girl. The lightsabre is taken up by a trooper, who leaves the area briskly to have the weapon locked away. Jedi were known for their penchant for suddenly retrieving their weapons from inept soldiers. All Rebel troops still conscious have their weapons confiscated and removed from the area.*

 

'I'll take you at your word, for now, that you won't use that unpleasant device on your arm.

 

'As for your questions; we lured nobody. The Arach'tar attacked, we responded. Your commanding officer, Starlisk, refused to let go of his mistrust and mistakenly believed the situation to be a trap initiated by us. Of course, it was not.

 

'All the bloodshed brought about at Ilum was Starlisk's fault. He is an unstable man, my dear, responsible for the deaths of millions during his tenure as head of the Alliance. Amusing, no doubt, but hardly becoming of a self-professed paragon of virtue.

 

'Starlisk and his beserk wookiee lapdog initiated hostilities against Imperial troops without provocation, and whilst we were defending ourselves the Arach'tar assault began in earnest. Think about it, Darla; we arrive at Ilum on intelligance linking Arach'tar scouts to the planet. Whilst investigating, or attempting to before Starlisk interfered, the main Arach'tar invasion force appear. Do you really think that it was a coincidence? Are you so desperate to maintain your belief in the Evil Empire?'

[SithAcolyte]

She couldn't fault his logic and she had no proof against him. Kirlocca was a good Jedi no matter what Geki said. She knew that if he had attacked the Imperials then he had to have good reason, right? As for Onderin, Darla knew that many Rebels had died in their fight against the Empire, one man coul not be held responsible for all of those deaths. Darla didn't blame Onderin. But as for Geki telling the truth about the Arach'tar...

 

It made sense.

 

He would have to be seriously deranged to kill his own men. Why did Darla assume all Sith were that way? She knew different. Raynuk Montar had been a good man and Alora was still considered a dear friend to her. Perhaps Kakuto Ryu had warped her veiw of them. The man had commited planetary genocide. Even afer such atrocities Darla had still loved him.

 

So why was she so ready to hate the Empire?

 

Darla's father had been a fighter pilot in the Alliance. He had died fighting the Empire when she was very young. Darla's mother had hated him for it. She blamed him for getting imself killed by fighting against the etsablished government. But Darla couldn't blame him. She was in love with her father the hero. She wanted to be just like him, se wanted to make him proud.

 

Did this incident from so long ago still cloud her thoughts and color her feelings?

 

She couldn't give herself an honest answer. Darla was a little ashamed at how ready she had been to spill blood in the name of freedom. But fighting was all she had ever known...

 

The threat of the Arach'tar loomed over Geki's words. He had effectively saved her from them and for that she was greatful.

 

"I... I don't know." Darla stumbled over her words. "Perhaps it's because you're a darksider... Perhaps I just have this inbuilt idea of an evil Empire. I truly did come here to help. But I was filled with suspition and I guess it got the better of me..."

 

Darla remembered Geki's words in her mind. He had asked her to join him, then threatened her with rape and death. That had been what set her off. But why had he said those things if he was a sincere as he now claimed to be? Perhaps he felt that she didn't belong with the Rebellion. Perhaps he was just trying to frighten her into submission.

 

"So what happens now?" Strength had returned to her voice. "Am I your prisoner? Or your guest?"

[Jidai Geki]

*Geki's eyes glitter, and he favours the girl with a smile slightly less crazed than his usual rictus.*

 

'Of course, we would be honoured to have you as our guest pending a full diplomatic resolution of this situation. We shall have some special quarters arranged for you and your men at once.'

 

*Geki nods, and one of the troopers scurries off to begin preparations. Geki sheathes Rapture and beckons for the Jedi to follow him.*

 

'Come, my dear. Commander Deton, report to the bridge.'

[Jidai Geki]

[crappy internet connection curses me with double posts]

[SithAcolyte]

Darla was truly surprised by the way this had gone. She had thought she was going to get executed or tortured, not given guest quarters. It was all a little surreal. Geki seemed kind, even somewhat handsome when he smiled at her. Darla was completely disarmed by it.

 

"Thank you for your kindness." She could think of nothing else to say.

 

She turned to her troopers.

 

"Everybody just relax and enjoy the hospitality of our hosts." She could see how uncomfortable the Rebels were with the situation. "Remember that we're allies... The Arach'tar are our enemy, not the Empire."

 

Some of her troops looked at her as if she was a traitor. Others just looked bewildered.

 

Darla followed Geki. Leaving her troops behind she followed Geki. As she left terrible flashes of her people being shot down filled her mind. She fought images aside. It seemed her distrust ran deep.

 

Whatever his motives are he's not killing me right now... So let's just be happy with that.

 

A they moved farther and farther away from the Rebels Darla couldnt shake the feeling that she had betrayed them into the hands of the enemy. When the two of them were out of earshot from anyone else Darla spoke up.

 

"You invaded my mind and threatened me." She was calm but to the point. "Why?"

[Jidai Geki]

*Geki, as always, grins obscenely, and fires his black thoughts directly into the girl's mind.*

 

Because I'm not a very nice man. Or a very sane man. But, unlike Starlisk, at least I don't pretend to be anything else.

 

*Geki pours into her mind images, raped from Starlisk's mind during one of Geki's forcible probes, of the wholesale destruction of Kuat Drive Yards, citizens and all, as well as Starlisk's utter lack of empathy for the lives he was destroying.*

 

This is your leader, Darla. This is the man who would rid the galaxy of the evils of my kind, but who is slowly becoming that same evil himself. He's not so different from me; he just justifies what he does with moralistic platitudes.

[SithAcolyte]

Not a very nice man... At least he was honest. Darla opened up for mind and spoke through the psychic link that had opened between them.

 

It's the way of the Jedi. To be detatched, emtoinless. They are afraid that their emotions will get the better of them, that they will lead them to the darkside. But they don't even allow themselves that fear. They choice to feel nothing in the hopes that it will keep their minds clear, unclouded.

 

It's not the way for me. But that doesn't mean I condem Onderin for supressing his feelings. Perhaps it th only way that he can deal with the horrors he's witnessed, been a part of even. It doesn't make him like you.

 

People like me and you feel. Anger, hatred, passion, love. Emotions are powerful and natural. They are what fuel and drive us.

 

I don't believe in Onderin's way, I could never just be a Jedi and adhere to their codes and laws. But even knowing what I wild card I was, a liability, a danger even, he still accepted me. Joining the Rebellion was a way for me to channel my feelings, my anger, the force and fight for the freedom of others. Fight for those who are not strong enough to fight themselves.

 

Do you have empathy for others? What attrocities have you comitted and do you bear any guilt or those? How can you condem those fighting for their freedom when you would gladly trap the weak under the heel of your boot?

 

I understand how intoxicating power can be. I understand how seductive the darkside can be. But if you let it consume you, you become it's slave not it's master.

 

Darla suddenly realised that she may have opened up too much to Geki. After all she was his prisoner, no matter how nicely he dressed the situation. She really wasn't sure if he was going to kill her or not. So why was she opening her mind up to this man? Why was she letting her guard down.

 

Her thoughts ended abruptly and Geki could sense her unease.

[Darth Furion]

Time, along with the waning medical supplies and constant pain in his arm, had finally taken its toll on Julio. His patience had worn out. The failed mechanics of his ship would not stop him from completing his goals. After a quick study of the navcomputer, he plotted a course for Kuat. Out of shear will power the ship sprang alive, jumping to hyperspace with little contest.

[Jidai Geki]

*Geki laughs uproariously at the girl's naive comments.*

 

'Power? Power is meaningless. It has no capacity to seduce me, Darla; you see, I'm quite mad. I want nothing, except that which my whimsical mind bids me do.

 

'I am not your typical, woe-is-me slash the galaxy will kneel before me Sith. Maybe I was once, this is true. Now, I just like watching chaos in action. Nothing so pure and so true as chaos tearing the galaxy apart, eh?'

[SithAcolyte]

The sentiment was very true. Choas seemed to be the one true constant in the Galaxy. Darla had spent all of her life trying to make sense of the choas of it. Struggled so hard to bring some semblance of order to it. She herself was more than a little crazy. But it wasn't something she embraced. Her violent mood swings, visions, voices in her head, she tried to supress them all.

 

Perhaps if she just stopped trying she too would be like Geki. Just enjoying the chaos.

 

Somehow hearing him say that made him seem honest and purer. He lived on his whims and had no pretense about it. Darla respected him for that. Although he didn't crave power, he already had it and a madman with that kind of powerful was truely dangerous.

 

It un-nerved Darla, but she had been around powerful Sith before. There was still a chance that she would get out of this.

 

Of course there is! Mocked one of the ever present voices in her head.

 

"Chaos... There's plently of that... But aren't worried you'll get torn apart by it? Loose yourself in it?"

 

Or perhaps he already has...

[darth shadowlord]

A short but highly encrypted text comm arrived for Geki after having been bounced around several comm relays before finally reaching him.

 

-Master Geki. Five member covert team. Heading to Myrkr for training. Following that, hitting Centerpoint Station. Covert team as follows. ShadowFett. Two Jedi. One other Sith and myself. Centerpoint location to follow soon. Shadowlord out.-

[Ss_Sins_Insight]

He had finally found it, the graveyard. He had been looking for it for days. The wreckage, which was rumored to be the remnants of a Jedi and Sith battle, was a perfect place to find a lightsaber. The battle was won by the Jedi, but at a high cost. Ships of every kind were floating in the abyss of deep space.

 

Smith hid the Sin's Insight in a hollow haul of a capitalship and went inside. As he worked his way around the debris in the hallways, he spotted what he thought was an armory. He then proceeded to open it. In it, he found what he was looking for, a stock lightsabers. The ship seemed so old that, he presumed that it was a hundred years old, but they [the light sabers] looked fairly new; preserved in space and protected from the battle. He grabbed all of ten of them; he reasoned that they might come in handy. He retraced his steps, boarded his ship and jumped into hyperspace to finish his mission.

[Slicer]

Deep into hyperspace he opened the case and saw a number of containers, some blue and some red. He avoided the blue ones, and with great care opened a number of the red ones and placed them in the water like substances. a small tablet fell out of each of them and quickly dissolved in the water like substances. Making a small mark on the jugs he placed the tablets in, he then sepeated them from the other jugs.

 

Keeping the two men entertained, he went methodically through his arsenel, he made sure that the spray gun was loaded with the untampered water like substance. Then he replaced all of the knock out darts on his left arm with the untampered water like substance.

 

Feeling some what secure by this now. He looked at the blue containers and then quickly took a single jug and added the blue container to it, marking it differently, he was suprised when he delicate work was interrupted by the signal saying he had reached his destination.

[Ariane]

She tapped the new weapon. Just another gun. He was still trusting her with a weapon, that was interesting, to say the least. She stood up, straightened her shirt slightly and left the gun there.

 

"Are you sure it wasn't just an excuse to see me naked?" she asked offhandedly. "I don't know how long you had me sitting in a cloning tube. Obviously just long enough to make me a damn teenager again. I went through this once, that was bad enough... ah, never mind." Ariane grinned. "Don't leave yet. Your gun can wait. We never had proper introductions. Ariane Kyrie."

[BLACK1]

He would have returned the grin had it not been for the gravity of the situation. The few passing comments the two had shared over the past couple days had left him time to reflect. He wasn't apologizing for murdering her comrades or the attempt on her life. It was for everyone he could no longer apologize to. To Black, the burden of hundreds of soul's opinion of his past indiscretions lay with her. All his hopes of forgiveness rested with this tiny girl. He doubted, given the way she attempted to change the mood in the room, that she really understood. How could she? She couldn't know his past sins. At least he hoped she couldn't.

 

He turned, inexplicably having a lit cigarette in his mouth. He slid his sunglasses off as a took a step forward. What little flame of force sensitivity Ariane had was wiped away the second he stepped forward. They were no more than three foot away now. He had to admit the clothes looked stunning on her. He recalled her comment about seeing her naked, remembering seeing her tiny body in the cloning tank. He had felt awkward and ashamed, but for the brief seconds he had glanced at her, he hadn't really looked at her with lust but desire. Desire to protect her with everything he had. He questioned his motives time and time again, but he could never explain it.

 

Perhaps it was his vow back above Mechis III, promising no harm would come to her by his hand. He had to prove to himself he was capable of saving life for once instead of always taking it. When he discovered she had been cloned under his account, his vow had extended. How could he leave her now? Preserving life only to abandon it? Maybe if her cloning had gone correctly she would have had a better chance, but as a sixteen year old the galaxy would devour her. His bright green eyes stared down at the girl, trying to look deeper into a human being than he had ever attempt, looking for an answer.

 

My heart has been decayed by my sins and my soul has been taken from me. Hundreds of screams have been silenced with the acquittal of my wrath. My life has been built on bones, tempered with struggle, and quenched in blood. My name is Black. Pleasure to meet you, Ariane Kyrie.

[Wookiee Jedi]

There was a slight rumble that could be heard within the captain quarters aboard the Bloody Dragon. It was that soft constant noise that put Holden to sleep. The boy was already asleep for a good twenty minutes by now, and Kirlocca couldn't pull his eyes off him. Too many threats arose against him now, coming ever so close to killing him. Kirlocca was able to prevent two, the other two pure chance saved the boy.

 

The medical droid that was in the chambers with Kirlocca told him that it was okay to take off the swab of cloth that was around his neck. As he did, Kirlocca could see in the view port the scar of the lightwhip. Kirlocca frowned in frustration that he wasn't able to see the attack coming. It happened all too much now. His mind would wander off in battle to Holden and his safety. It nearly got him killed four times already.

 

Kirlocca pushed his thoughts deep down, trying not to think about his recent failures. His ripped up Jedi robe was in pieces, torn by the wookiee to use to stop the bleeding from his neck. Kirlocca picked up a strand and stared at it. it held so much for him, yet now...it all seemed so unimportant. Knowing all full to well that he could not return, Kirlocca did not want to forget where he came from, so he took his Jedi medallion and wrapped part of it inside the Jedi robe and then stuffed the medallion part inside his ammo belt, giving him a small cloth tail off his shoulder.

 

The soft rumbling stopped as the Bloody Dragon came out of hyperspace. Kirlocca stood up and walked over to holden, gently giving him a wookiee kiss on the forehead and then walked out of the room. Within seconds he was on the bridge staring off at a planet that he did not recognize.

 

"Sir, the planet is Nagi. Xuurlor has come here before, and they will get the ship up and running for us." The droid said it without any emotion in its voice about its former masters death. "Do they have Holonet capabilities?" "No sir, we will have to move back into known regions." Kirlocca only nodded as the crew began to take ships down to pick up supplies for the ship. "Let me know when they are back...I will decide where to go from there."

 

I can also figure out where I want to get new crew...

[saberforce]

((Sorry for in essence the double post, but I am seeing if I have access to the RP.))

 

Holden found himself alone in the captains quarters. Feeling unsure of what he should do, he sat very still on the bed and just stared at the door, hoping that it would will his dad back. To Holden's surprise, after to what seemed like an hour to him, his dad walked back into the room. Holden put on his best boyish smile as his dad walked towards him.

 

"I'm glad to see you're up."

 

Holden was about to make a reply when he felt a lurch in the ship. His dad had told him that because it was an old ship, it would make funny sounds, and Holden recognized that one.

 

"We're moving again?" His dad gave him a regretful look before he responded. "Yes bud, we need to find a crew that's a bit more...independent then this droid crew that we have." Holden paused for a moment to think about what his dad said. "Am I m-da-pen-ant?" His dad let out some sort of noise that Holden did not catch. "Yes buddy, you are." Holden looked out at the view port to see the stars flash by. Slowly a disappointed look came to his face. "Don't worry bud, soon we will arrive at our next destination." Holden looked at his dad and put on his half smile before he return his gaze to the stars.

[Darth Halál]

Once again, he was out in space, surrounded by the black vacuum that was necessary to traverse, should he want to travel from planet to planet. With Kashyyyk at his back, Halál headed for Gala. The plight of the wookiees was urgent, and he had been told that Ara would be the only one who could remedy the situation. He set the ship on auto pilot, and then went to sleep. He had not rested for days, and many things had happened of late.

 

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

 

Halál woke as the ship entered Gala's atmosphere. He would have to find Ara as quickly as possible, or there could be even more problems with the wookiees.

[Ary the Grey]

Several microjumps were made to prevent tracking. A general scan was performed mid trip, routine to protect the secrecy of Phu. As no tracers were discovered, and they would have been had they been there, the journey continued on.

 

 

 

Thankfully, no frozen monkeys were encountered. Those things were a pain.

[ObliviousKnight]

The voyage to Phu was handled with the usual procedure for secrecy. The Ghost Breath was sent on a jump that didn't quite deliver it to its destination, making it necessary to calculate another jump to complete the journey.

 

Even though Malcolm might have felt somewhat resentful, as though I was ignoring him during the journey, there was quite a lot that I needed to get done while we were en route. I retrieved a number of training materials from the cargo hold. I consulted my holocron about one of the more esoteric aspects of the Force--sadly, Lachelle Draygo had devoted her holocron almost entirely to interactions with machines, and the subject I was looking for concerned a far more biological function.

 

The hidden liquor cabinet in my quarters was thoroughly locked down, for all our sakes.

 

And the rest of the journey was spent in the cockpit, where I stared into hyperspace and let it lull me into a state of blissful sleep. Soon, I was going to have to hoard every hour of sleep that I could get.

[Ariane]

An area of silence. He took away the clutter. Ariane relaxed, and then went tense once again, now that she was left to her own defense, to her own perception. As if something tiny had been taken away when he came close to her.

 

Maybe it had never been there to begin with.

 

"And you consider your past sins more important than your name? Does what you've done really define you?" She smiled wryly. "Then when are you going to destroy me, Decayed, Silencer, Wrathful, Soulless Black?" One hand flit out. A loose gesture, slightly flippiant, to match her freeflying hair and innocent, tiny cloned body. Too tiny, too small--too innocent. He'd fought her once, though, and he'd seen her win. She'd taken him down with guns and gernades and environment.

 

There had to be something behind her, besides a light-hearted woman.

 

Still that smile. Vague, there but yet not. "I had my family killed by the Empire, Black. My husband, my children, my daughters--my home. Because people insist on drowning a world in blood. Perhaps I'm your opposite. Or perhaps not. I fight because I have to. I fight because I can. I have a soul and unless it is taken from me, I will remain good, if what you define good is justice. You're facinating, really." She offered him her hand. "Were you going to drop me somewhere?"

[BLACK1]

Do you think I like what I do? You think I don't know how horrible the things I've done are? Of course I do, but I keep on doing them, because sometimes in my line of work, I get the chance to shine, to do something wonderful. I don't know if the flood of sins compare to the one good thing I occasionally do, but it's enough to keep me sane.

 

I have no choice in the matter, Ariane. I've tried, for years. No matter where I end up, the task of murder somehow always falls to me. For a while I worked at a food bank on Taris. Not a month into the job, my boss tells me the mob is moving in and the food bank will be closed in a year if we didn't do something. I didn't even drop a single clue as to my skills. All I ever did was move boxes. But none the less, he set me down in his office one day and asked me to kill a man. And I did. The families got their food and continue to do so because I pulled the trigger.

 

She had continued to make light of the situation, but this was his one chance to bear his soul. If he didn't explain himself, no one would ever know why. He stepped forward, taking her hand into his. So small, so delicate. He was afraid one wrong move would brake her.

 

There's nothing I can do about it. No matter where I go, what I do, I'm called to kill. And for better or worse I pick up my guns and do what I'm good at, because if I don't. someone far more terrible than I might.

 

He let his head hang. He suddenly felt tired, so very tired. Black leaned down and whispered in her ear.

 

I don't want to be the bad guy anymore.

 

He didn't know where to go, let alone where to take her, if that was even possible. He knew he couldn't hold her under the excuse she'd rat him out. Even if he walked her into Gala himself they'd have a hard time keeping him. Where would he go? Would she stay if he asked? What would they do for money? He didn't know, and right now he didn't care. He just wanted it all to stop.

 

Who do I have to kill to make it all stop?

[Ariane]

"Then don't be the bad guy anymore," she said eventually. She wasn't sure what to do, whether to reach out to him or to just stand there and listen. He wanted her to listen, but she didn't consider herself much better. She'd joined the Alliance just to get back at the Empire.

 

She just let him hold her hand instead.

 

She wasn't sure where she wanted to go, what she wanted to do with herself.

 

What did he want? What did he need? Someone to forgive him for his sins?

 

Someone to be his opposite?

 

She hoped it was just someone to hear. She wasn't confident she could do much else.

 

"You just do what you have to do. Sometimes you have to kill. Sometimes people have to die for the greater good. I'm sorry. I'm not that good at this..." She touched his hand. "But you can talk to me if that's what you want."

[Oblivion]

= Communication Link Message: =

 

An etheral silhouette appeared on the screen of the desired party member's controls. Soon matched was a very monotone voice that seemed more of a whisper than ever carrying any real tone.

 

"My, you certainly are a hard woman to find... You must be wondering who this is. Call it a man of similar interests for now. We can discuss matters further at my estate... Your computer already has the co-ordinates by now. Seek me out if you wish to be enlightened... You've been gone from us for far too long. Let's hope that reputation of yours still holds true in these years."

 

The last lingering words were held up in space before vanishing completley, the projected screen returning to its neutral function in darkness.

[Andon]

In the vastness of hyperspace, the Rapture Star steadily hummed through the realspace perversion that defied all law. Inside this speck of metal against the backdrop of boundless emptiness there were three flickers of life, two of flesh and one of potential to be. One of flesh reached for the other, a simple grazing of fingertips along bare skin their only contact, a universal sign of affection. For this mortal man, it meant the entire universe. The wife within his touch, the reason he had been born; what she carried with her, the reason to go on. Soft brown met hazel-green as their gazes dared to catch one another's. Between their eyes now was all that would ever matter. She laid her gentle touch along the back of rough hand and pressed it closely to her stomach. It was enough to quell that doubt that brewed and entrenched his heart. The Jedi smiled and his eyes radiated with life.

 

**

 

The electric whirring of servo-drivers thrummed around the silver protocol droid as his audio-sensors attuned to the soft murmurs of the human couple behind the door he starred at curiously. Humans were such funny things after all, such strange fluctuations of pitch and quality when talking made it dreadfully hard to understand them. Subtleties and tones conveying their thoughts, it made him reaffirmed that he would never upgrade his emotions algorithm board. Heavens no. Vee let out a small chuckle, well, as close to a laugh as a mechanical man got.

 

"Droids always speak loud and clearly and no one ever misunderstood a droid!"

 

He spoke aloud to himself. Speaking is generally reserved for being around others, but it was lost on the silver linguist. Speaking around people was exactly the same as speaking alone, there's no difference when no one listens either way. No matter how relevant and astute the calculated odds and statistics were. He shook his head, well, rotated it 20 degrees to the right, 40 degrees to the left and then back 20 degrees right. It was hard when you had to rotate your entire torso just to change an optical view field for expressive purposes.

 

The protocol droid hobbled down the hallway towards the common room of the ship. A metallic sigh reverberated against durasteel walls, perhaps if he had some rocket jets like the smug astromech such a trip wouldn't be so bothersome. Atleast he wasn't chasing someone down to talk them out of improperly reasoned and weighed actions. Master Andon generally told him to shut up. He never did quite figure out what an "up" was on his components or how to shut it properly in accordance to maintain optimum efficiency of his functionality. Pausing, Vee made a note in his sub-systems to inquire the exact nature of the task Master Andon had detailed to him.

 

His tiny journey led him to face a table on which an obsidian lightsaber hilt lay, no doubt a project assigned to the R7 droid to which he could hear whistling and clicking in the distance. It had occurred to Vee that he had never actually examined a saber up close and being such a curious creature he decided to take this opportunity to learn. A viridian bar of energy crackled into existence, the power settings adjusted to "training" as it consequently knocked over a nearby cup. The droid found it to be quite startling and reacted as such when his torso rotated and he found this time the blunt energy bar sent a plate and a pair of forks spinning off towards the table edge.

 

Inquisitively, Vee swung the blade in a choppy slash that spattered against a different cup and launched it towards the ground. The silver protocol droid found this to be terribly satisfying. It occurred to him that this must be similar to the action Master Andon referred to as "rearranging faces" when recalling Mistress Jaina fight, because he was certainly rearranging the flatware! He continued to swing the blade sloppily, occasionally knocking over little things here and there without harm, but utterly occupied by the design flaw of his arms being perennially locked in angular variations of obtuse and isosceles triangles.

 

A metallic sigh hung in the air as he calculated the chances of this flaw impeding his progress of reaching Mistress Jaina's skill level in rearranging faces. His droid heart hoped he would eventually excel as to be qualified as a reconstructive surgeon, too.