Space

[Delta73]

The Sonic weapons were as ruthless as ever. The person jumping at him fell in a heap at the durasteel at Delta's feet. Delta winced and glanced down as the force driven fire puttered out. He turned to scan the rest of the hanger, taking not of the bodies that littered the floor. Brightly coloured heaps, most likely dignitaries of some 'relevant' world in the corporate sector. His fellow commandos would deal with the bodies, but now he had to investigate.

 

The person, female apparently, was crumbled on the floor, unmoving. Not dead by any means. He was very curious as who this could be. So he slwoly stalked forward until he could turn her over with his boot.

 

“God Kriff it. Isn't there anyone new in this universe?” He of course recognized her from the last time they had met. In the presence of the Golden Lord.

 

He stripped her of her weapons and outer cloak. He passed these to one of the advancing guards. And looked around the hanger again. He only saw a single figure in the distance applauding. Strange. He scooped the young woman up and with his guards escorted her to the New Corvette Marie. And placing her within a Force bubble presented by those curious little lizards, he instructed the helmsmen to take them to Bespin.

 

Meanwhile the entire operation was taken over by Black Sun troops, who gladly looted valuables, put down stray animals and after installing a new crew of BS loyalists, also headed to Bespin.

 

____________ Two Standard Hours Later ____________

 

He was dressed in a crimson Admiral's uniform, sipping on a glass of Wyren's reserve. Sitting beside the now handcuffed and redressed woman as she would no doubt awake soon. She had been redressed by slaves into an elegant red dress, with Sith writing along the hem. Her injuries re-patched with bacta.

 

As she awoke he smiled. “How are you this fine day madam? You took quite the tumble...”

[Emily]

Eris blinked several times as the world slowly came into focus again. The last thing she remembered she had been plummeting down, possessed of the certainty that she would not fail to get her revenge. Then waves of blue, and now...

 

A mocking voice reached her ears, and suddenly she was alert. She took in the situation with a glance. Delta sat next to her, his face smug as he gloated. She had been stripped of her armor and weapons and handcuffed, and the lingering stench of bacta informed her that any injuries his stun blasts had inflicted on her had been patched up. She felt odd, sort of nauseous, and tried to reach out with the Force to steady herself. But the Force had fled, leaving her merely a woman in a dress. She cursed mentally. She had only once before been in the presence of an ysalamiri. Frankly, she was in a bad position. Whatever he wanted, he would most likely be in a position to take. And the fact had not escaped her that she had been stripped and redressed into this elegant gown, although to what that boded she was unsure.

 

How could this have happened? The thought was overwhelming. The dark side offered her unlimited power. Power enough certainly to kill one lone man who wasn't even a Force-user! It should have been no contest whatsoever.

 

Not now! she told herself firmly. You can't lose it now. You have to focus. She turned her two-toned gaze on Delta, her eyes throwing daggers. "What do you want?" she asked, biting out every word.

[Delta73]

Delta smiled as she began to awaken but that smile quickly turned to a frown at the woman's expression.

 "What do you want?"

 

Delta rolled his eyes dramatically and shook his head. “You Sith are always so bitchy, what is there too much of a glass ceiling on the rank of Lord for you? Tone down the bitchyness, you remind me far too much of the last girl in my care.”

 

He pulled an E-11 and shot her in the face.

 

Luckily it was set to stun.

 

He quickly stood and ushered in more servants, who quickly changed the venue. Now when she awoke they would be in a luxurious dining hall with all the delicacies of the galaxy spread before them. Everything from spitted Ewok to fresh Calamari. Or Mon Calamari, or whatever.

 

They were both redressed in the garb of ancient senators. White togas and gold jewelry. He smiled cheerfully as she awoke and pressed a goblet of leaded wine into her hand. “Drink and be merry!Though you do not have the use of the force on my ship, you do have some small freedom. After all I did not kill you.”

[Emily]

His reply gave her a hint as to his mindset. She was going to speak again when he drew a blaster and pulled the trigger.

 

When the blackness receded again, she was in a different room and a different outfit. A feast was spread before her, and when Delta saw she was awake, he pressed a goblet into her hand. As thirsty as she was, she didn't dare eat or drink anything. Not that she was afraid of poison. After all, she knew that the only way she would most likely get out of here would be through death. But she felt bad enough already without the added affects of drugs in her system. She remembered well when she had been captured and drugged by those pirates, and she wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

 

So she set the goblet down carefully and studied her host. "Why not?" she asked in response to his last comment. Gone was the bitterness in her tone. She simply asked. There was no point in keeping up pretenses. She was a mirror that was cracked, and the cracks were spreading more and more rapidly. It took all she had left not to shatter on the spot. As a result, she didn't really care what Delta had up his sleeve--or in this case, she supposed, his toga. Everything paled in comparison to the one thought that would not let her go. It was all a lie.

[Delta73]

Delta smiled softly as he sat back in his seat.

 

"Why did I not kill you? Well...."

 

He ate contemplatively, munching on some Banth Steak.

 

"You reminded me of someone you see, A nightsister, I am sure you know her or of her. And I would not think to kill an unconscious lady Sith."

 

He ring a silver bell and a pair of female slaves appeared with a plate piled high with pastries. He selected one that was described as a bear claw. Whatever a bear claw was. He washed it down with some Wyren's Reserve and looked at her. "Please do eat..." He handed her a goblet of water. "The influence of the pain meds will decrease in time."

[Emily]

Eris couldn't keep back a snort of laughter. "But a conscious one, even if that one was doing you no harm whatsoever, that's perfectly fine."

 

Of course, as a Sith, she wasn't really in a position to judge morals. Each being had their own, and there was no real such thing as objective right and wrong anyway. But in the moment, Eris felt nothing but her old scorn and anger stirring.

 

She didn't take the water he offered. "Thank you," she said with cold politeness. "But I make a it a rule not to eat or drink food offered by my jailer."

 

She was puzzled, however, by the reference to the pain medication. She could tell she was under the influence of some, but did he really think she wasn't able to handle the soreness and bruises from being stunned? She had dealt with much worse pain than the aftereffects of a few stun blasts. Of course, it was possible he had done something to her after she had been rendered unconscious, but there were no visible marks on her body, so she knew it probably wasn't anything serious. Besides, if the time came, she'd deal with it.

 

"That explains your actions earlier. But what is preventing you from killing me now, then?"

 

You'd never catch a Jedi just sitting here discussing their own death, she thought with a touch of crazed amusement. The strain was beginning to take a hold of her.

[Delta73]

Delta shook his head at her laughter. "Why must you always mock my hospitality? Well to answer your question, I would say I would hesitate to kill a female if it takes me more than one post." He paused and looked past her. "Or more like if they put up an honourable fight." He coughed delicately.

 

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Now now, I wasn't the one that attempted to slice me open with a sabre." He laughed bitterly, remembering a conversation with a younger, and prettier sith woman. His heart longed for her. He took another bite of pastry before looking at the girl again.

 

"Why would I not kill you?" He grinned horribly and reached for a silver box. Inside were a beautiful array of gold wrapped cigars, he took one and lit it.

 

"You are a guest at my table. And I have no doubt that you have much to say. But let me ask you this...."

 

He smiled and took a drag of the rich perfumed cigar.

 

"Why did you try to kill me? Was it because of that little incident with the air lock and the flechettes?" He patted her hand, "Because that's hardly a reason. You were quite annoying..."

[Emily]

"On the contrary," Eris replied. "It's quite a good reason. Come now. You surely realize that little happens in this galaxy that is not motivated by revenge, anger, or betrayal. What little occurs that does not fall into that category usually has to do with proving oneself to one's peers or to oneself." She offered a wry smile. "I'm surprised that you do not recognize that fact."

 

Leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs, and resting her manacled hands on her knee, she met Delta's gaze. "You ask as to my motivations? I would say all of the above."

 

Even if he was going to dance around the questions and not give her any straight answers, she wouldn't play that game. She had never cared for politics or twisting people's words around. She preferred directness and frankness in most situations. However, she had spent enough time among her Sith brethren to learn how to choose her words carefully and delicately. It was something the Dark Lord was particularly practiced at.

 

Besides, nothing really mattered at all to her right now. She had come to the realization that she was nothing, and it had left her an empty void. So she might as well banter with her murderer. Because why not? She was perversely amused at the thought.

[Delta73]

He laughed and took another long drag from the cigar. "Yes, life is driven by lust, revenge, hate, love and anger." He looked down at the golden goblet and grinned. "Let's not forget money now deary."

 

He set the goblet down and retrieved some grapes and bread from one of the serving girls. "So you are motivated by these base drivings, almost disappointing. Do you have a lover to motivate you? Some Sith Lord that wanted young flesh?" He patted the table near her hand. "I know much about death and revenge and love, you see I have loved twice, and both have been cruelly snatched away by fate. Or as the Jedi say, the force's will." He looked at the feast and shrugged. "Do you tire of this life of revenge and sith matters? How would you escape it? Surely you are not satisfied with your life. After all, here you are, in the captivity of a Black Sun Vigo."

 

He took another sip of wine.

[Emily]

"Yes, money, of course," she replied dryly.

 

When he continued to pry into her motivations, she was puzzled. Why should he care? He mentioned having loved two different women in his lifetime, but she was not about to discuss her relationship with Quietus with this man. It seemed he was trying to be almost a sympathetic character, and then he would counter that in the next sentence with a patronizing hand pat or reminder of her captivity. She didn't understand him. Why would he try to elicit her sympathy by telling her of his loves that had been snatched away? Because of all the people in the galaxy, she certainly could sympathize with that. Fate--or the Force--was a cruel tyrant. It had stolen from her over and over again all that she held dear, and it was her deepest fear that it would do so again.

 

When he moved his prying away from her love life and onto the pursuit of happiness, she shook her head. "And what reason do I have to discuss any of this with you, vigo? I believe my love life and whether or not I am satisfied with the life I have chosen are my business. I would barely discuss this sort of thing with a friend, much less my captor."

 

At the same time, she suddenly realized a certain truth. This man wasn't particularly her enemy. He hadn't said much, but from what she gathered, he had been simply the hired gun. She could no more blame him for killing her than she could blame a blaster for firing. The thought only increased the nausea she was feeling from being cut off from the Force. She had been so incredibly blind.

 

She suddenly sat forward in her chair. "I tried to kill you because I was testing a hypothesis," she said bluntly. "I failed, and so my hypothesis is disproven." She looked away, off to the side, and spoke under her breath, a faraway look in her eyes. "I am not who I was."

 

She refocused her attention back on Delta, coming back to the present. "I'm curious. You said you're disappointed that I was motivated by these 'base drivings'. Are you not? What motivates you?"

[Ruby]

Cleaner and slightly less tired that she had been a few hours prior, Ruby sat in the cockpit next to Sapphire, anxiously awaiting their conversion to realspace, the vibroknife spinning nervously from finger to finger betraying the stoic expression on her face. At the nav computer's insistent beeping, she reached over and pulled back on the hyperdrive lever, bring them out of hyperspace.

 

She stared silently at the Star Destroyer-turned-luxury liner looming in front of them, a growing sense of dread gripping her. "I hope this works," she muttered to Sapph, the vibroknife continuing its journey back and forth across her knuckles as she tried to ignore the desperation she was feeling in her guy. "I really hope this works."

[Delta73]

"Why yes would you discuss this?" He scratched at the stubble on his face and took another long drag of the cigar. "Because I want to know you better. I like to know my friends, or my enemies whatever you choose really..."

 

He laughed softly, his smile slackening. "What hypothesis would this be? Is there a way I can help?" That is if it didn't involve his death. "Ahh what drives me is love. Not lust, not greed, not revenge. I have had plenty of that for a lifetime. What I need now is someone to spend my life with." Not this woman surely. Soon they would be at bespin, and she would be free to go.

[Emily]

Everything about the man was getting so unexpected that she couldn't help but chuckle. "I see now. We are not enemies. Maybe we're not friends, but I have no reason to wish you harm."

 

She leaned forward and rested her handcuffed hands on the table. "You wish to know about me? Then know this. I am Darth Eris, Lady of the Sith. But despite belonging to the Sith Order, I was trained by the Jedi. Unlike many Jedi who talk of 'falling' to the Dark Side, I willingly chose to walk both paths. It was the wish of my parents, who were both Force-users of some fame in the galaxy, that I seek to learn about the Force as a whole. It is my philosophy that both Force orders are wrong when they follow only one aspect of the Force. Both sides limit themselves out of fear."

 

She paused. "However, in the past few months, I have drawn exclusively on the Dark Side. I wished to plummet into it's depths and harness it's power. All the Sith around me were claiming that the reason I thought of the Light Side being just as powerful as the Dark was that I hadn't fully experienced it. And the Dark Side offered me so much. It's voice truly is seductive. It offered me everything I ever wanted--love, power, freedom. That is the hypothesis I referred to. But now I see I was right all along. The Dark Side twists your mind until you can no longer see what you care about. It tricks you into destroying what you hold dear." Her tone was bitter. "And it betrays you when you believe it's lies."

 

It was interesting hearing herself telling him this. There was some kind of freedom talking to a perfect stranger. She had never really put any of this into words before, except to Roe'gall, and he didn't really count. Soon, she'd have to have a similar, if deeper, conversation along these lines with Quietus, but that would come when it would.

[Delta73]

Delta laughed, "Well, then to that I agree, when we are through with the meal, we will depart as acquaintances, if not friends." He lifted his glass and smiled.

 

"Ahh so you were once a Jedi, how very interesting, did I tell you, that I once wished to become one?" He smiled bitterly, "But alas, my love of violence gets in the way. For you see violence has scarred all our lives, and some of us take a liking to it when we have nothing left. I applaud your doubts in the dark side Lady Eris. May you find happiness on your journey. You are free to go as you please, once we hit Bespin." He looked towards the bridge. "Helmsman, do tell me we are almost there. I do so hate to backseat drive."

 

The ship fell out of hyperspace like a Naboo Dove diving into a serine lake.

 

((I will let you continue this on the Bespin thread!))

[Sapphire]

"Me too," Sapphire replied. She took a deep breath. "But I suppose we will just have to take a bad situation and do our best."

 

She hung back from the Star Destroyer, merging into another space lane as she settled in for a long, completely normal approach to Corellia. They didn't need to actually land, but it needed to appear to any observers that they were going to. Once they were on the approach, she turned the pilot's chair over to Ruby and moved towards the passenger seats. Taking one of them, she pulled out her professional datapad. It had many gadgets and wires coming out of it, and it was a hacker's best friend.

 

A few keystrokes, and she had accessed the Gambit's systems through the link she had set up previously. She made her way through the lines of code to the cell block security cameras. As quickly as she could, she accessed each one sequentially, for only long enough to determine who the occupant of each cell was. Urgency pressed at her. If she lingered too long, she'd be detected. But she forced herself to calm down. She had done this many times before, with systems more secure than the Gambit's.

 

After a few minutes, she was done. But she didn't have any good news. "Rube..." she said, "she's not there. She's not in any of the cells."

 

A few more tapped keystrokes and she had accessed a camera overlooking the main cell block entrance. There was nothing out of the ordinary. "I'll look back. Maybe they moved her?" Sapphire couldn't shake the bad feeling causing her insides to crawl. Scrolling back in the camera's logs took only a moment. Nothing, nothing, nothing...then--"Ha! There she is!" She examined the time stamp. "Looks like they moved her about an hour ago."

 

This threw a wrench into their plans, but Sapphire was determined to roll with it. "I can access hall cams and work out where they took her. But it'll be time consuming. There are thousands of cameras on that kriffing ship."

[Emily]

A Sith ship, piloted by an acolyte and carrying one Sith Lord, travels through space.

 

The woman--Eris? Emily? she wasn't quite sure--sat quietly in the passenger area. She needed to decide where to go now. The main part of her knew that her pilgrimage was over, and if that was the case, she needed to return to where she belonged. Which meant, at the moment, the Shadow's Gambit, which she knew by now would be in orbit over Corellia. Of course, it wasn't the luxury liner that was her home. She missed Quietus. It was like a constant ache. She kept wanting to seek his advice, to point out something she knew he'd find amusing, or just to have his steady and powerful presence beside her. She wanted to share with him the things she had learned about herself. But at the same time, that thought terrified her. What if things had changed? She didn't doubt that he had heartily approved of her dedication to the dark side. Would he turn her away now that she had become disillusioned by it? What would she do if that happened? Were her beliefs more important than he was? She wasn't sure. And she also knew she'd have to tell him about everything, including the abortion. She had no idea how he'd react, which is why she had kept it from him in the first place. But now she wanted no more secrets between them. If their relationship survived, it would be stronger because of it, and if it didn't...well, she knew she'd be crushed.

 

The Sith ship arrived at the smoking Golan defense platform, and the woman rose and headed down the ramp. She strode over to where she had docked the Shadow's Shine, entered the appropriate codes, and lowered the ramp. As soon as it came down, Roe'gall came bounding out, intent on expressing his relief that she was alive. She submitted to his attentions for a moment, letting him know how good it was to see him again. "But, Roe'gall," she said, "next time, don't cower in the corner if something happens to me. Your duty was to protect me, even when I was stunned. You should have attacked." In all, she was glad he hadn't, given how things had worked out, but still.

 

He lowered his head and whined. She rubbed his nose affectionately. "All right you. Let's get out of here."

 

Once in the cockpit, she ran through the preflight checks. She was just lifting off when an idea came to her, swiftly, out of nowhere. Darkfire. Before she headed back to Quietus, it would be good to get Darkfire's advice. If only to know that someone else had walked this path. She was in a much different place now than she had been the last time they had met. Perhaps the Hermit would simply give her more cryptic advice, but it was worth a holocall.

 

Setting the navicomputer to take her to Corellia, she headed towards the conference room to make her call.

[Emily]

Unfortunately, Aryian didn't answer. The raven-haired woman sighed and didn't bother leaving a message. It was mostly her clinging to something she should let go of anyway. She didn't need Aryian's approval or his sympathy. She was her own woman and could make her own choices.

 

With another sigh, she grabbed a sanisteam and a change of clothes, dressing in her favorite outfit of a low cut top, leg wrappings, tall boots, and a tabbarded skirt. She crisscrossed a pair of belts around her waist and hooked her lightsabers to it. She left her long black hair loose and threw a long black cloak over the whole ensemble.

 

By the time she had finished, the proximity chime was sounding as the ship warned that it was approaching Corellia. Once back in the cockpit, she pulled the ship out of hyperspace.

[Ruby]

Ruby grunted in frustration at Sapph's words,, knowing all too well just how thorough that ship's surveillance system was. "Kriffin' figures," she muttered, resisting the urge to pound her first on the control panel, knowing how her compatriot reacted to damage to the vessel. "Nothing about this job is going right, and I'm getting sick of it."

 

Not for the first time, she wished that they had talked Emerald out of this and gone after a different target. This hit was making her feel like an amateur, not to mention the guilt that was still plaguing her about leaving Em to the mercy of the ship's security team.

 

She sat there in silence as Sapphire worked her magic, the only sounds in the cockpit the clacking of datapad keys and an occasional beep from the navicomputer regarding their flightpath. Ruby chewed nervously on one of her fingernails after another, reducing them all to nubs. Finally, she couldn't take the silence anymore and glanced back over at Sapph. "Find anything yet?"

[Sapphire]

Faster, faster. There was a mental clock ticking in Sapphire's head. She had to find Emerald before she was detected in the system. And she had to find Emerald before something bad happened to her friend. This whole plan was an absolute wreck. They should have just cut their losses back when they had first realized Sapphire hadn't been able to get onto the ship. But Emerald had been so insistent.

 

Once Sapphire had established the time stamp, she only needed to linger on each camera for a short time. But it was still a thankless, time consuming chore, made worse by the pressure and stress. But finally, finally, she reached a camera that was in a hallway outside a set of rooms. She couldn't pick up the trail again on any other cameras. When Ruby finally spoke, therefore, Sapphire had just reached a place where she had something she could say. "I think I found her. This is the last camera I can find her on. Chances are she is in one of those rooms." She let Ruby see the camera feed. There was a large animal of some sort prowling the hallway. Sapphire didn't like the look of the thing at all. It was...unnatural. "There are no guards, just that beast. Unfortunately, all the cameras in that room in the middle there are shorted out. That means that Em's probably in there, but there's no way of making sure."

 

She took a deep breath. "I really don't like this. The lack of security or cameras is a bad sign. But this whole thing is a kriffing mess anyway. I suppose we just go through with the plan?"

 

The red-head didn't wait for a reply. Taking another deep breath, and wishing for a glass of rum--no, make that a bottle of rum--she initiated the program that sent the lights flickering in Emerald's "cell"--flickering just barely, but in a pattern the pirate would recognize. It would mean that the others knew she was there, and that in a few minutes, the locks on the door would disengage.

[Onderin Starlisk]

The shuttle bearing two Jedi and two Nightsisters hurtled through space.

 

Onderin remained for now in the cockpit, checking up on any responses he had gotten from the queries he had placed before their arrival on Dathomir.

 

((Kind of a filler. Anyone can start something now if they want. I'm not 100% sure what I want to do next, so I'm open to suggestions.))

[Qaela]

"So, Master, now that we're technically guilty of a galactic offense of kidnapping a minor, where are we going next?" The stars stretched into brilliant streaks of blue and white. "Perhaps we should let someone know that we removed her from an environment that was a danger to her well-being before the accusations start flooding in."

 

Though she didn't enter the cockpit, Qaela could hear the Jedi Pup's concern and couldn't help but snort in wry amusement. "What, do you think her parents are going to complain? They are dead, and nobody else in the Clan would let her live if she showed her face there again. You Jedi are so concerned with the 'proper way' of doing things that it is a wonder you can ever do anything at all."

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin shrugged. "The Jedi Order has been kidnapping Force sensitive children throughout its history," he said. "Qaela's right--with no parents to give permission, there's little chance of any questions being asked." He had to admit he was a little amused at how Ads spoke of Arleigh, clearly thinking of her as just a child whereas Onderin was attributing her with the responsibility of an adult. He wondered if Ads had any idea that Onderin was going to make him a Jedi Knight and ask him to take Arleigh as his padawan if the girl chose the path of the Jedi. To Onderin, the Force had a clear hand in all of this--the circumstances just seemed too unlikely to be a coincidence.

 

Of course, that whole Jedi Knight business couldn't exactly proceed until Ads at the very least had his own lightsaber. Perhaps a detour from their path toward the core worlds was in order. The Jedi Master considered for a moment going to Ilum, but he didn't think Qaela would be particularly fond of that idea. There were other places to get lightsaber crystals anyway, like Dantooine. Incidentally, Dantooine was fairly close to Dathomir on the galactic scale. It would probably only be a couple hours to get there.

 

Onderin brought the ship out of hyperspace and redirected it toward Dantooine. "I think it's time for you to build your own lightsaber, Ads," he said. "I'm sure the secessionist movement can wait a couple days."

[Arleigh Burke]

Arleigh laughed to herself at Ad's response about her age. She fiddled with the crash webbing until she was able to lean forward easily, "You have little to worry about master jedi, they will not miss me, nor shall I miss them." She looked to Ads, "Your first time with a weapon?" That was strange, he seemed to be an adult. Hell even she had a bow with her. "Are you not carrying one right now?"

 

A new planet. This flying sensation was turning her stomach. Arleigh Gripped onto the arm wrests nervously as they fell out of hyperspace. That was a weird feeling.

[Ads-Gop Flif]

((Sorry, guys, I didn't realize we'd switched threads.))

 

Onderin's words excited Ads, but before he could respond Arleigh spoke up. "First time with a weapon?" Ads, amused, turned around to face Arleigh. "That depends on what you call these." He picked up his pack, set it on his lap, and opened it up to reveal a small arsenal of weapons. "So, no, this will not be my first time with a weapon, but rather something much more exciting that I have been waiting over a decade for: building my own lightsaber." Turning back to Onderin, he smiled before telling him, "And really, Master, thank you for this and I am very excited."

[Qaela]

Qaela said nothing at this, but rather retreated away from cockpit where the others were. Once there, she checked her bag and made sure nothing had been damaged. Since she didn't know where Starlisk would have her sleep in the crowded ship, she would wait here until told otherwise. She could sleep on the floor if needed, and in this ship, she wouldn't need to worry about frostbite.

[Onderin Starlisk]

((I'm slow and I know it. A couple of 50-55 hour weeks later and I'm starting to realize why people let themselves go inactive "due to RL".))

 

Onderin gave Ads an encouraging nod. "Especially after all this time, you've certainly earned the right to build and carry a lightsaber," he said. "I believe that the art of its use is a critical part of Jedi training and philosophy. But all this time without it has not been wasted--for being without it may have taught you the temperence required to draw it only as a last resort."

 

Lightsaber philosophy, the significance and symbolism of the blade, the responsibility governing its use, were just as important as the art of combat. Looking back over his own life, Onderin had to admit to himself that he hadn't always been the best role-model when it came to patience and temperence toward his enemies. He had been fighting since his youth for some set of ideals which, while admirable, often got obscured behind tactics and warfare. He'd given commands in order to hurt the enemy as much as he could, and sometimes civilians had been caught in the crossfire. The Empire had been defeated and their citizens freed from the fear and oppression they'd suffered under the regime, but Onderin realized now that more than once he'd lost sight of his ideals and what it meant to be a Jedi in order to get there.

 

When he'd resigned his commission, he'd known it was time to take a break from that mentality and get back in touch with the Force. Locked up in the Imperial Spire for the final days of the war, he'd had plenty of time to think. He'd come to terms with the war and rededicated his life to being the best Jedi he could, but it meant several months of relearning just what that meant, rediscovering the compassion that a fleet Admiral buried away. The fruits of that change were already starting to show up, as evidenced by the presence of Qaela on his ship at this very moment.

 

Now, he only hoped that he could pass those new teachings on to Ads, and continue to rediscover for himself through meditation and reflection what the Force required of a Jedi, whether that matched his old philosophy or not.

 

Onderin sent a glance over at Arleigh. "I would like you to also accompany us into the crystal caves on Dantooine. You may find that the Force is quite strong there, but that the dark side has no foothold. It may provide some perspective."

[Sapphire]

Sapphire had been about to trigger the locks on the doors in Emerald's hallway when a chime sounded from the cockpit. Her heart dropped out of her chest. Leaving the datapad behind, she dashed to the cockpit. There--the light was flashing indicating that they were being tightbeamed an invitation from the Shadow's Gambit to board. She slumped back in the pilot's chair. "Well, the game is up." They had found the Nebula's Glory.

 

It was interesting that the ship had simply invited them onboard. Sapphire knew that had they wanted, they could have blasted her ship out of the skies, especially since her shields were down. The fact that they wanted them alive meant one of two things: either they wanted to torture them for information--something likely if there was indeed a Sith running the show--or Emerald had somehow pulled it off and gotten them a job. Given the disastrous nature of the mission so far, Sapphire doubted the latter. But would the Sith really expect them to come meekly in? What did he or she take them for?

 

Once again, however, Sapphire felt her hands were tied. If she didn't bring the ship in, she had no doubt that the offer to board would be exchanged for firing upon the pirate ship. Her only other option was to cut and run and hope that she could keep the ship evasive enough to escape. But that would mean leaving Emerald behind. Could she really do that? They had come so far. Sapphire had had her chance to run, and she had chosen to stick it out. But to willingly face torture and possible death for her friend was asking a kriffing lot.

 

Her blue gaze turned to meet Ruby's red one, and she knew she would have to go through with it. Ruby would never forgive her if they left Emerald behind, and frankly, Sapphire wasn't quite sure if she would forgive herself. "Kriffing Sith," she muttered, "making me go play hero. Well, I'm not going in without a show."

 

Bringing the Nebula's Glory around and letting Ruby handle communications, she flew her ship into the belly of the massive golden Star Destroyer, landing in the hanger they were assigned. Rising, she pulled on her long leather coat and strapped her blasters to her hips. With one lingering caress on the Nebula's control surfaces, she hit the release and strode down the landing ramp with all the swagger expected of a pirate.

[Arleigh Burke]

(sorrry guys, my laptop asploded)

 

She looked back at the old jedi master, "of course I will come along sir, any chance I can get to learn" She looked at Qaela "Are you to come as well?"

[Qaela]

From the cabin, Qaela shrugged. "I have nowhere else to go," she said with dry bitterness touching her voice. "I go where Starlisk goes."

[Ads-Gop Flif]

"So we're headed to Dantooine?" Ads asked, glancing at the navicomputer. "I don't know if I've heard of there. I imagine it's better than Dathomir, though?" He asked, suddenly realizing who was behind him. "No offense," he called over his shoulder to Arleigh. "Looks like it's just going to be a few hours to get there. If you want to go get some sleep, I'll stay up here, I don't think I'd be able to go back to sleep anyway."