Space

[Capt. Phillep]

The Charybdis Interdictor-class Heavy Cruiser made its way into Hyperspace aboard the planet of Arbra before taking off with its young Captain and present leader of the Imperial War Machine aboard.

 

The Charybdis entered hyperspace and exited it just outside the Gateway Space Station.

[Raynuk Montar]

*The Ogariv II shot through space without much incidence as Raynuk managed the controls in silence. He was waiting, sure of the fact that she would ask the question. The time was for questions, and him teaching her what she wanted, and needed to know. The ship continued on, and even he wasnt too sure where they would be going.*

[Forn Dodonna]

The twelve Skipray Blastboats of Skipjack 1 streaked through hyperspace. Again making sure that their route was undetectable and untraceable (including scanning for trackers), the starships made their way back home.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Silently, staring out the window at the starlines, questions filling her mind, Jaina finally worked up the courage to confront Raynuk with some of the darned things.

 

"Why did you do that?" The silence was as thick as ice - and Jaina's voice was the hammer that came down none too gently. "Why didn't you kill me?"

[Raynuk Montar]

"Because you deserve life quite honestly...I was there when Bishop trained you, I saw the power hidden within you. Plus other reasons..."

 

He trailed off, still making it quite obvious of his being busy with controling the ship.

 

"I only kill those I have to. I had no reason to kill you"

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

"Power?" Jaina, despite the círcumstances, grinned rather mischievously. "The first thing Bishop told me after I became his apprentice was that I had no power. I was nothing. And yet you say I am powerful. Interesting."

 

Turning her face back to the soaring starlines, it was a while before she spoke again.

 

"Where are we going?"

[Orrick]

On the way to Byss, drops out of hyperspace at an undisclosed location in space, where he picks something up of great importance to himself. However, in a matter of moments, he is back in hyperspace, moving towards Byss. On the way, Orrick could feel something dark, taunting the back of his mind, but he dismissed his feelings, and continued as fast he could.

[Raynuk Montar]

*Raynuk turned to her, and surprisingly smiled at her*

 

"Well...Bishop failed to train you as a true Sith now didnt he? And where are we going? Well...I dont know exactly. Where do you want to go Jaina?"

 

*The last question obviously surprised her, treating her more as a friend then a prisoner. But to Raynuk, she was a little bit of both.*

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

The question caught her off-guard, as did his smile. This is no way a Sith Master, she thought ironically, smiling back gently, yet a bit hesitantly.

 

And that's when it hit her. Where would I like to go...

 

She looked up with tearful eyes, abashed at letting herself cry in front of one of her most feared enemies.

 

Or rather - she didn't know what he was anymore.

 

"I want to go home," she whispered quietly.

[Raynuk Montar]

*Raynuk appeared to be full of surprises. He saw her start to cry, and after a moment his hand came to rest on top of hers.*

 

"And where is home Jaina..." He said rather quietly.

[Mathis]

Mathis's ship goes through space, on that never-ending journey of coming and going.

[JaggedFelII]

Jag raced out of the training bays, straight towards the hangar. He leaped into his Tie-Defender.

 

How am I going to get new blasters? he thought. I have next to no money. Oh well, I'll make do with what I have.

 

He powered up the ship, and careened down towards the surface of the Gateway.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

In surprise at the slight touch, Jaina nearly yanked her hand away. She closed her eyes, however, leaving her hand where it was, and quietly gave him a reply.

 

"Chad. I was born on Chad. My parents had a kelp farm - there's all sorts of things that can be extracted from it. I grew up there - with the Chadra-Fans."

 

Then, slowly, she shook her head. "But no. I have too many bad memories of that place - too many things I'd like to leave unsaid."

 

Her eyes turned up, her auburn-green eyes to meet with his flashing, twinkling ones.

 

"You decide."

[Raynuk Montar]

*He didnt really make a move to look at her, a sort of professional dignity on his part, but he spoke*

 

"You said you wanted to go home, which you say is Chad, and then decide that Chad has too many bad memories. Home is where the heart is, so...Chad isnt 'home', Chad is a place in space, just like all the others. No, home is where you wish you could be right now, where you wish you could be at every waking moment."

 

*Out of the corner of Jaina's eye, she barely saw a smirk rise from his stone cold emotionless face*

 

"...That is home."

[Officer Black]

As they criscrossed through hyperspacer Black ran a quick scan of the ship to ensure no homing devices were on board. To his relief there were none. He looked back again at Moon who seemed to be contently sitting in the cramped back seat. Black could sense and aura of calm patience around the bounty hunter. He was experienced and quite capable of handling himself. Black was glad he would help the alliance.

 

This brought Black to another point of interest. He took in a deep breath and said, "I'll be taking you straight to General Dodonna to speak to her. If you have any information you can report it to her. But on the out and out, would you be able to tell me how exactly you are able to be of service to us, and vice versa?"

[Moon Knight]

Moon Knight had been afraid this would come up. If he was being honest he stood more to gain from this than the Rebels. And the chances they'd let him dictate who they should be attacking were slim.

 

"I have monitored the battles between the Empire and Rebels, and one thing seems clear to me. The allies of the Empire have not been targeted, like the Jedi, the allies of the Rebellion. The primary aide to the Empire comes from Whyl the Hutt and his forces. The way I see it the Rebels should be targeting the Hutts. Cut off the aide to the Empire in one fell swoop. I have both worked and been imprisoned in the Hutt Palace. In my opinion, it is highly vulnerable to a large scale assault. But no one has the courage to face the Hutt. I tell you he has grown weak."

 

Marc paused, choosing his words carefully. At this point he felt honesty was best.

 

"I'm not here to help the Rebellion, I apologize. I am here to destroy the criminal Wyhl the Hutt. I believe we will both benefit from that, but honestly my primary desire is revenge, and perhaps a small piece of justice for my allies that he slaughtered."

[Officer Black]

"It is an admirable cause non the less" Black stated with dignity. "It is fine that we can mutually benefit from eachother, even if you're not all for the rebellion. Any help is good help I always say." As he finished his sentence their many jumps through hyperspace had ended, and they had come out of hyperspace above Gala.

 

Black picks up his com-link and encrpyts the frequency between his and the bases then speaks into it. "This is Officer Black reporting to General Dodonna....requesting permission to land and bring aboard a possible operative."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Memories flooded her head - quite against her will. Memories of Searcy, Talon, Bishop, Adi-Wan ... the ones that she wished to banish. And as she closed her eyes even more tightly, reaching out to the Force to purge herself of them, another memory suddenly shot into place. Yet not a memory - a vision of things yet to come. Her thoughts were carefully blocked off from Raynuk, his gentlemanly attitude apparently crossing over into what he was willing to intrude on mentally.

 

Two solitary figures, walking along slowly on the beaches of Chad. One stopped and stooped to kiss the other - and in that moment, Jaina's eyes shot open. No - no, no, no, no... Catching her breath sharply, she looked up to him with slightly widened eyes.

 

"Then I am a woman without a home. Or rather, a gírl." A sigh interjected itself gently. "And it is inexorable that at some time or other, I'll have to face Bishop, my fate being what it will."

[Raynuk Montar]

*Her words were followed by silence from the both of them, mostly because he was chosing his words carefully, not wanting to push her in any sort of direction that she was not prepared to go.*

 

"Perhaps...but if it is to happen, and happen soon, I assure you, it will be under my watch Jaina. He never saw what I see in you now, and that is something I will not put aside for his own selfish ideas..."

 

*Raynuk paused for a moment, and set the ship on autopilot, turning to face her for the first time since Coruscant.*

 

"Not everything you see, such as visions of the future, are random visions."

 

The words visibly threw Jaina off, something Raynuk knew by the wave of questions that engulfed her mind.

 

"The vision you just saw, wasnt exactly a vision. Ive been having that vision for nearly two months now Jaina...and now I have shared it with you."

 

Towards the end, Raynuk almost sounded defeated, beaten, upset at the reality of the vision. He turned from her, facing back forward before standing up.

 

"I should go check on your sister...make sure shes not too mad at me."

 

He walked back into the rest of the ship without another word, leaving her alone to think about what he had said*

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

Unconsciousness can be termed a merciful state, if only for the sole reason of lack of feeling.

 

Coming out of that unconsciousness, however, is a different story.

 

As she began to drift to consciousness, Ashley's eyes squeezed more tightly shut, only to snap open as memories flooded her mind and she shot to a sitting position. "Jaina!"

 

No sooner had that happened, however, than she fell back again as pain rocketed through her head, and she squeezed her eyes shut against the light. "Force... what did he hit me with?" Slowly, she opened her eyes, squinting, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Knowing that her head would only hurt worse if she tried to sit up again, she stayed down, turning her head slightly to look around. And then she finally made sense of her surroundings.

 

A ship.

 

"Great... "

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

As her name echoed throughout the hold, Jaina sprang to her feet and set off at a slight jog in the direction Raynuk had gone. The thoughts she had been thinking - fearful, frightening thoughts - had been left behind her at the sound of her sister's voice. An interruption, perhaps, but a welcomed one. When she finally caught sight of Raynuk, he was standing with his back to her, front facing a closed door that led to a section of crew quarters.

 

"No, here - let me." she whispered, squeezing in past him. As her fingers covered his, she depressed the door release, and it hissed open as she calmly, slowly sauntered in to take a seat on the side of the bed.

 

"Morning, Ash..."

[Raynuk Montar]

(Gah...you messed up my post.)

 

You should stay laying down Ashley..."

 

*The voice came from behind Jaina, when she looked, revealed Raynuk's back at a small stove for cooking. He seemed oddly calm for the situation, taking it as if there was nothing unusual about having two Jedi, one of which who he had knocked out not much earlier, on his ship.

 

He finally turned after a few moments, stiring a mug of some sort of steaming liquid. He remained silent, as he put the mug down next to Ashley, and turned back to pour two more mugs.*

 

"And Jaina is perfectly fine, so quit your worrying. She's been up in the cockpit up untill right now if your wondering, and we're on my ship, in space."

 

*He took a sip out of his own mug and continued as he handed Jaina her own mug*

 

"You should drink that..." he said motioning to the mug he had placed next to her. "...it'll make that headache go away alot faster."

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

With a slight groan, Ashley pushed herself up onto one elbow, reaching for the mug Raynuk had set down beside her. She drank part of it, then carefully lay back down again, rubbing a hand across her eyes before opening them again and squinting at Raynuk. "Did you hit me with your fist?"

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

A slight giggle escaped Jaina before she could control it. "Ash - he hit you with my lightsaber. You're lucky it wasn't lit." Turning her face up towards Raynuk, she narrowed her eyes in curiosity. "Speaking of, can I have it back?"

 

She took the mug while waiting for his reply, taking a whiff of the steam rising off of it. About to ask him what it was, she was met with something entirely unexpected.

 

The scent reminded her of pure, unadulterated light. It was strange, coming from him - someone who was supposed to be consumed with darkness. It reminded her of the sun on the sparkling waves on her homeworld, of the hazy colors of the sunrise on Almania.

 

"What is it?" she asked, amazement tainting her eyes.

[Raynuk Montar]

*Raynuk kind of laughed, sort of a chuckle with a smile*

 

"Acually...you can mostly blame yourself. Your the one who came charging at me, all I did was hold this up..."

 

*With that Raynuk dug into the depths of his robes and pulled out Jaina's lightsaber.*

 

"You ran into it. I didnt exactly HIT you with it."

 

*He smirked and put the lightsaber away before taking another sip of his drink*

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

Ashley chuckled dryly. "Yeah.... guess that wasn't the smartest decision I've ever made." She reached for the mug again, glad to note that at least she could keep her eyes open now.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina smiled gently.

 

"Well, Ashley, Raynuk and I are at an impass. Neither of us knows where we are to go. Any suggestions?"

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

Ashley shrugged as she slowly pushed herself to a sitting position, using the wall as support. She closed her eyes briefly, willing the pain in her head to go away. "Not really, no..."

[Raynuk Montar]

*Raynuk sat down on the bunk across from Ashley and Jaina*

 

"Then I guess for now we will just stay here."

 

*He made the comment almost as if he didnt care, which he really didnt. There were greater things going on in the world, and in his life, but he was here for a reason that even he wasnt too sure of. But, he seemed, and was quite content with just drinking his mug, and waiting for the two sisters to make a decision*

 

"So, since we're not going anywhere, do either of you have questions? Im sure you do."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina shot her sister a cautious, calculating glance as unsaid words were exchanged between them. Looking back up to Raynuk, she tilted her head to the side fractionally and folded her arms.

 

"Well," she began, "what are you going to do with us now? You say I have great potential as a Sith, potential that Bishop overlooked or ignored. Okay, fine. So what are you going to do with me? Am I going to be sent back to the Sith and re-apprenticed to Bishop, though I'm more likely to be slaughtered? And what of Ashley? It's my fault she's in this predicament - I should have left her on Ma..."

 

Her voice trailed off as she realized the full, bracing impact from the word she had almost said. Thoughts swirled in her head - if she was, truly, a Sith, as Raynuk had said - then why should she still care about the Jedi? She had friends among them, good, strong people that never did her any harm - why should she betray them? Torn between one and another, she closed her eyes tightly and covered her face with her hands.

 

Traitor, the word rang in her mind. That bit of malice had been thrown at her so many times, Jaina was sick of the word. The Traitor's Hope had been christened after its owner, as Jaina's escape route to everything she had wanted out of. So eager to learn, so eager to live, the gírl had bounced from one thing to another, unaware that the action would scar her for life. Learn the ways of the Force...see a side of the galaxy the tourists never do. Tears leaked out between her fingers, running down the length of her arms.

 

"No..." she whispered.