Corellia

[Skye Organa]

An exhausted Skye looked up at her former padawan. She had felt the wave of pain wash over her as the chaos reigned within the city over the horizon. Through another sense however she knew she would be needed elsewhere.

 

"I will remain here with my patient and oversee her progress while I rest. You all can go if you wish. Call me if you need me though I have an incling that my skills will be needed at the temple all too soon."

 

She looked round the group and then back at Fynn.

 

"You can go if you wish, otherwise we shall head off as soon as Armiena is well."

[Vladimir Faust]

A comm reaches Reagan on a personal line, coming in at an unusually encrypted and secure level, even for one such as Faust. It's surprisingly level and comm, with Faust's voice coming off as normal and casual:

 

Hello Reagan,

 

It's me. I hope you and the child are doing well. I've been held away on business following that incident on Coruscant, taking out a kind of extended contract with the Sith.

 

Something has happened on Coruscant and I'll need you immediately. Take of yourself and don't let anyone know you are coming. There is much we have to talk about and I wish for you to see me in person.

[ObliviousKnight]

Armiena felt a rumble in the Force, a tremor generated by a sudden wave of death and suffering. Soon after came a wave of pain, grief, and shock at something that just happened. The Jedi Knight cringed; she knew exactly what had just happened. Someone had managed to kill an awful lot of people at once.

 

For Force's sake, can't a Jedi get a moment of rest in this galaxy?

 

The sooner Armiena was back on her feet, the better. However, disobeying a living Healer's orders was somehow a lot more difficult for her than simply ignoring the medical advice of a medical droid. The woman sighed, and let her head fall back to her pillow. She would have rather preferred being on her feet and helping at the city that had just been attacked, instead of resting in safety, even though she was recovering from a fairly major operation.

 

___________________________________________________________

 

I-Nine rolled up to Skye Organa, and whistled a long phrase in his nearly unintelligible mechanical voice.

 

The closest translation was: "Your patient is awake... and she says that you're a genius." The droid chirped a few times, as if chuckling at Armiena's message.

[Skye Organa]

(I-Nine is more like a protocol droid than an astromech - sorry, should have specified).

 

Skye looked up as I-Nine approached.

 

"Thankyou I-Nine. Fynn, if you go into the city I'll let you know if I've got to head off suddenly. You can either catch a ride with someone or find another ship if you have to."

 

She headed back in to check on her patient.

 

"How are you feeling now? I took the time to redress your arm as well, it should heal well also. If you feel up to it, come into the living area and I'll fix you something to eat."

 

I-Nine came back in then, stating that Misal and Talia had brought Amon back inside. The other women had also brought in the luggage that Skye had placed into the house. Her mother handed Amon back to her as she spoke.

 

"I'm afraid the news from Coruscant isn't too good, you might be needed there Skye. The holo reports of the Jedi Academy are sketchy at best but something has happened. There was a battle on the rooftops that the holonet broadcasted, also another fight between a sith master and a jedi knight has been playing.. it seems the jedi knight was so casual he lit up a smoke."

 

Skye took her son, who gurgled and threw his arms around her neck, again grabbing for her wings.

[Fynn Relmis]

"Master Raziel, your student Horus has been of great help to me as of late, he is both strong and kind, a true credit to your tutelage.", Fynn said to the esteemed knight. He turned to Horus and Shawn once more. "Horus, its been good getting to know you, I hope we can meet again soon, there is much we should talk about, and you as well Shawn I have a feeling we three will meet again, also give my fond wishes to your master."

 

Turning to his master he contemplated leaving her. Fynn looked at Master Skye, thought he wanted to go with his teacher, he could feel that people needed help. He was torn for a moment, but then the desicion was clear in his mind. Rising to his feet Fynn bowed to his master. "I will catch up with you, i've got the coordinates i need, don't worry about me too much my master." Fynn bowed and turned to see to his things. He entered in his datapad an order for a skycab, it was the fastest way into the city, and without too much ceremony Fynn left the ship.

 

The small automated skycab approached the house quickly and with a loud hum landed in the small courtyard. The droid pilot bleeped a short message to Fynn. "The city, downtown, and step on it" Fynn said as he hoped in the back of the cab. The speeder took of with tremondous speed, leaving only dust clouds as it accelerated away.

 

Fynn contemplated the best course of action. Terrorists usually struck places with lots of people, trying to inflict the most damage and casualties. The most effective place for him was in the blast areas themselves. As he neared the outskirts of the city, Fynn could see large columns of black smoke billowing from several structures. The largest and most distasteful target was the hospital, only someone who was truly sick would attack such a place. This was no political statement nor was it accident, but a deliberate violent incursion.

 

As the craft neared the hospital Fynn could see the local authorties in chaos. No one wanted to go near the building for fear of collapse, or more bombs. The people who wanted to help were bound by fear of the unknown. Fynn directed the cab to be landed nearby the large building. As he paid the fare, he jumped out looking to see what he could do. A police man was holding the crowd back, as speeders zoomed by the building, some slowing down to gawk at the damage.

 

"Officer... where are the fire speeders, and other emergency personnel?" Fynn asked desperately. "Held up by the traffic, and responding to other sites of bombing. Sir I need you to back up its not safe here!" Fynn looked at the man and back to the building. The entire lobby, was engulfed in flames, and if no fire speeders arrived soon, anyone in the building would be beyond aid. "What about the buildings automatic fire suppression system?" Fynn asked the officer. "The blast knocked the controls offline, the tanks are stil there just can't get to them. Even if we could theres' no telling when or if the building might collapse."

 

Fynn looked at the building once more. "Where are the tanks located?" Fynn asked hurriedly. The officer scratched his head "How should I know!?" he said and turned back to the crowd continuing to yell for people to move back. "I know..." said a small voice. Fynn turned to see a young girl with a bandage on her head. "Its' on the 12 floor, I heard the nurses talk about it before." The small girl was injured either from the blast or from the crowd rush. Fynn kneeled, "Thank you, go back with your parents where its safe..." he said softly. "My parents are in there.", the little girl said as she pointed to the inferno.

[Skye Organa]

Skye turned back towards Talia, nodding. Then back towards Fynn as he made his decision.

 

"May the Force be with you Fynn. Good Luck."

 

Her comm went off then, with a message from Kirlocca regarding Ara. She turned to the others,

 

"I would like Armiena to rest for a bit longer before doing too much again. I fear she will be needed all to soon as well. Misal, if you could make sure she doesn't do too much until her face has properly healed. Shawn, if you could make sure as well. Just see that she doesn't go racing into another battle again for a while. Her face should heal fairly quickly as long as she takes it easy. And thankyou for helping, I hope you leant something during the process. If you wish to learn more about healing, just ask. Remember, a body isn't much different to fixing your hyperdrives, it is just with flesh and blood instead of machinery. Please assist Armiena into your ship but make sure she rests."

 

Skye turned back towards her mother.

 

"Thankyou for looking after Amon for me. I shall see you again soon." Skye slipped an arm around her mother in farewell as she led the others outside.

 

"Rizzy, Horus, it was good to see you both. Thankyou for your assistance Horus. The same goes for you regarding healing."

 

She watched Shawn and Misal assist Armiena over to the other ship, calling out farewell to them and last minute instructions for her patient, her mother heading back to her home and Rizzy and Horus heading over to the Static Angel. She waved briefly before taking Amon back inside and placing him in his cradle. Settling him before heading back to the cockpit, leaving I-Nine to see to the medbay.

 

She sent a quick comm off to Fynn telling him that she was now on her way to Coruscant to see to Ara. She then went through the preflight and lifted off, destination Coruscant.

[Shawn Kenobi]

He somewhat wished he could help those in need on Corellia, their pain was felt in the Force quite severely. However he knew he had a more immediate purpose, he couldn't ignore it. He followed quickly behind as their small entourage moved into his ship.

 

He would heed Skye's intsructions well, he hoped Misal would do the same. There would be plenty of time for fighting Sith and training after Armiena had recovered. He could use a slight rest anyway; for the past month they had been constantly trained for his path to knighthood.

 

He was still perplexed by his short and cut-off discussion with Fynn. Obviously the fellow padawan had concerns about the order, and apparently a plan to somehow fix it, or at least patch it. He would keep it on his mind, he was hoping to meet Fynn again, perhaps a chance to actually discuss things.

 

Once they were all finally on board he powered up the ship and began preflight. He walked back to the guest room.

 

"So, where do you want to go? The ship should be ready to fly in a minute."

[ObliviousKnight]

Armiena appeared unusually thoughtful, and her right hand slowly traced one of the scars left over from Skye's operation. With time and a healing trance, they would probably slowly fade into nothingness, leaving only memories behind. Awful memories, perhaps, but she would eventually recover from the ordeal... she had recovered from far worse trauma before.

 

Amazing. She thought for about the hundredth time in the last few hours. Her hand fell to the datapad lying on the table in front of her, and idly tapped a few keys. At the other side of the guest room, her mother meditated.

 

An incredibly complex diagram was on the screen of her datapad. It was an engineer's diagram of a prosthetic limb, a basic design that was available from the Holonet. Armiena planned to strip it down to its essential parts, then add her modifications... Perhaps an armored core... maybe strength enhancement. One thing was certain, she definitely missed Dine. With his holoprojector and infinitely powerful calculating abilities, he made this job much easier.

 

The Jedi Knight shrugged and pushed the datapad aside; she would have plenty of time to complete the prosthetic.

 

Armiena finally seemed to come out of her reverie, because she glanced up, and started when she saw Shawn right in front of her.

 

"Sorry... I got a bit drawn into my work. Just... thinking." Again, her eyes disfocused as she thought about where to continue Shawn's training and for her to complete her healing process. Not much left... Just a couple more lessons, then it'll be time for his trials. A faint smile crossed her lips. Where does the time go?

 

There wasn't much they could accomplish on Corellia. She knew that Fynn Relmis could handle the situation on his own, and she knew by painful experience that Corellia's emergency response system was excellent. One Jedi would excel in this situation... more would probably trip up on each other, and as much as Armiena wanted to help, she knew she was in no condition to rush into crumbling buildings and pull out injuried civilians.

 

There were plenty of peaceful planets in the galaxy they could go to, and that was exactly what Armiena wanted. A pleasant, peaceful planet, away from the troubles of the galaxy so she could heal, meditate, rest, and perhaps even complete Shawn's training. If the planet was sparsely populated, that would be even better.

 

"Borleias... let's go to Borleias."

 

Even though she knew the old Jedi Dojo on Borleias had been ruined during the Sith attack, she was incredibly fond of the world. Cherished memories far outweighed the bad ones, and she knew that the area surrounding the Dojo would have recovered by now. Of course, they didn't have to go to that region; there were plenty of peaceful areas in the mountains, untouched by the Sith.

[Shawn Kenobi]

"Alright, you're the boss. We should be there in a few hours."

 

Shawn was glad to see Armiena lookin and slightly acting normal now. He glimpsed at her work, a new arm already in the making. It seemed sort of ironic that she was going to use a robotic arm after defeating someone with a great deal of augmentation. However there wasn't much of an alternative.

 

He sat down at the console and began entering their destination. He had heard of some sort of attack on Borleias, one of the many the Sith had launched against the Jedi. But he surmised that some place on the planet was peaceful and a nice place to rest up. Shawn guessed that Armiena believed the planet would be deserted in terms of human life.

 

The computer beeped confirming the destination and proper coordinates. With a simple push they were off to the distant Borleias. He pulled the pad he had been working on out of his robes, most of the parts had been located. He half reclined the chair, put his feet up on the console, and began to continue redesigning his ship.

[Fynn Relmis]

Looking up at the burning building, Fynn could see no way to get in. It was going to be a challenge, but it had to be done. Stepping away from the small child, Fynn ran towards the uncoming commuter traffic. Timing his jump he force leaped, reaching out at the last second to grappling the bumper of a passing speeder.

 

The craft was moving at about 80 kph, and Fynns' weight did not go unoticed by the inhabitants of the speeder. "What the bloody...!" Said an angry man who looked over to see Fynn dangling from his car. Fynn had no time to waste, with gymnastic ease he backflipped upwards landing on the hood of the vehicle.

 

Looking to the next jump Fynn could see a large freighter transport passing overhead. Stretching out with the force Fynn jumped vertically 15 feet grabbing the side of the large transport. Dragging himself upwards, Fynn climbed on top of the freighter getting a better view of the burning building. He could see the middle floor were still realtively untouched, a condition that would not remain that way for long.

 

Grabbing his lightsaber in one hand, Fynn leaped towards the building the arc of his jump was just about up when Fynn snapped his lightsaber to life. The green blade sunk into the metal paneling on the building, slowly burning downwards. Grabbing a ledge Fynn cut a oval hole in the buildings paneling. Knocking inward with his boot Fynn waited a moment for the sides of the hole to cool and then crawled inside.

 

Inside his appearence was met by a few screams of nurses and a doctor. "Are you here to help us!?" the doctor cried out opun recognizing Fynn. "I need to get to the coolant tanks," Fynn asked the doctor who was visibly shaken. "There a few floors above us...but youve got to get us out first, please I don't want to die!" the doctor said clawing at Fynns' jedi robe. "Calm down, you want to relax, everythings going to be fine, make sure everyone is ok and gather them near the coolant releasers.", Fynn responded with a jedi mind trick. "Its' going to be fine, i'll gather everyone...", the doctor repeated as he began herding people away.

 

The floor was dark except for the light of the setting sun. Grabbing deactivaing his blade, Fynn looked to the repulsor lift shaft. "Floor 10" was written in basic above the closed doors. He was two floors below the coolant tanks, and Fynn had to find away to get them. Approaching the the emergency stairway, Fynn got the strong smell of the fire below. Opening the door, Fynn saw the thick black smoke billowing up the staircase. The smoke was super heated, and without protective gear he would be burnt badly on the ascent. Deciding against it Fynn returned to the repulsor shaft.

 

Forcing the doors open, Fynn began climbing the runged ladder provided in case of needed repairs. Looking down Fynn could here the supports of the building groaning under the stress of the fire. He had already climbed up one story and was only six feet from his goal. Suddenly the ladder began to give way. The laders supports far below broke of, causing the whole ladder to bend backwards. Moving swiftly Fynn jumped to the ledge of floor twelve just in time. The entire ladder fell down the shaft, collapsing to floors below.

 

Squeezing the doors open, Fynn could see he was on a maitenece floor. ahead of him the coolant tanks were sitting ready to be deployed to extinguish the flames below. Running to the controls Fynn activated the tanks letting the fire extiguishing chemicals go to work. The coolant rushed into the building putting out the flames and removing the danger that had moment s before threatened to kill the hundreds left in the massive hospital. Fynn let out a sigh, as he looked out the window he could see police speeders and fire speeders finally arriving.

 

Fynn moved to the empty shaft. Activating his blade Fynn jabbed it into the metal side of the shaft. Putting his boots to side Fynn slide down 10 stories to the bottom into the burnt out lobby. He looked about studying the explosive pattern. There in a corner was a part of an unexploded device. Deactivating the simple device Fynn scanned it with his datapad. It wasn't made from native materials, and resembled the type of weapon used by bounty hunters.

 

Authorities were rushing in. News cameras and press right behind them. "Its a jedi!" One of the fireman said. Fynn made his way out ignoring the press as they tried to ask him questions. He jumped in his sky cab, telling the driver to take him to the local starport. Whoever made that bomb wouldn't want to be around when it went off and they certainly would want to draw attention to themselves. They were amatuers, and Fynn was going to track them down and bring them to justice.

[Apollo]

Raziel led Horus to his ship after saying his good byes to Skye. He wasted no time getting the ship up and going. He knew Fynn had already left a few minutes ahead of him, but that still gave no reason not to make haste. Once in the city Raziel reached out sensing Fynn at the hospital and helping there he made his way to another of the buildings that had been struck out at.

 

The hospital and political buildings seemed to be under control, but the hotel was a raging inferno and about to collapse. He landed his ship and turned to Horus as he stood up about to leave.

 

”œDo anything and everything you can to help, if someone says they need more help elsewhere”¦go there.”

[Fynn Relmis]

Arriving at the local starport Fynn began his investigation in earnest. There was no time to lose. Every ship that landed at Correllia starport was under scrutiny, and each ship would be tracked upon arrival and departure. It would be a simple matter of reviewing the tapes to find a suspicious, character. The security officer on duty resisted Fynns' questions at first. But a small mind trick got Fynn access to the security logs.

 

Taking a few minutes Fynn crossreferenced on ship in particular. A large frieghter that had no cargo, and which had left only seconds after the blasts. The vehicle had no resgistration number, but its markings gave it away. A sith transport vessel, old but still dangerous. The local authorties were too busy with fire control and the chaos to notice its depature. Fynn got a dry feeling in the back of his throat, this act of violence seemed random, uncooridinated, the actions of true phsycopath. They had to be stopped, and fast.

 

The video paused as the pilot of the ship came into view. A woman with brown hair and medium height. 'Quite attractive' Fynn thought to himself, 'but not your typical terrorist.' After anaylzing her flight patterns and last known trajectory, Fynn settled in on one possible destination, Tatooine. Given her actions he doubted she would stay long. "Your not thinking of going after are you? I mean she'd be long gone by now" the guard said. "Somone like this isn't going places without leaving a trail." Fynn said as he stood up. "Did she leave a name?" Fynn asked looking at the registry. "No, the law doesn't require it..."

 

After leaving the guard station Fynn made his way to a local used ship dealership. All sorts of rundown ship past thier prime were on sale. Before the salesperson spoke up Fynn already pointed to a ship. "How much for the old assualt gunboat?" he asked. The ship had a few dark splotches from repairs, overall thought it was in the best shape. It was the sort of ship that was fast enough for dogfights but heavy enough to stand up to turbolasers. "I'll sell it for 120,000 credits... a steal at-", "I'll take it...here take this." Fynn handed the man small credit chit. Tied to his fathers account, it contained what remained of his fathers fortune. A few moments later Fynn was lifting off the launchpad.

 

Before leaving he checked his datapad. He had downloaded all the information he needed, including the update from his master. As he approached the upper atmosphere, he made last minute calculations. The ship dissappered into Hyperspace, leaving Correllia behind.

[Reagan McGreggor]

After receiving the encrypted message from Faust, Reagan managed to have it destroyed completely, and finished loading the ship... she departed her home leaving instructions with the help to close up the house and take an extended vacation, paid of course and she would be intouch when she needed them to return.

 

She took off for Coruscant.

[Horus Saast]

He had been assisting the injured when he felt his master violently thrown through a wall. The Padawan had been searching for another person to help when it happened, so Horus was able to immediately go to him. Manipulating the force to increase his running speed tenfold, he launched himself over rubble and debris with a deftness he had never known he had.

 

"Master Shardik, are your all right?" Horus stated as he began removing his field medic's kit.

[Apollo]

Raziel looked up at his padawan, his body was burned but not so severely he couldn't move. He let the cool, soothing energies of the force flow throughout his entire body as he got up from the floor in a hurried manner. ”œLet us take our leave, Horus. The building is highly unstable.”

[Horus Saast]

"Alright sir."

 

There was a little girl with burns over most of her arms and legs, clutching a teddy bear. She whimpered softly. He bent down to her, laying his left hand over her. The force flowed through him, and her skin began to heal. First the dead skin fell away, with new skin stiching together underneath. The little girl looked up at him and shed a single tear. He moved on to the next, a boy who could not have been more than eight, who had many cuts and scrapes on him. He had watched Horus heal the young girl, and had tried desperately to catch the young Jedi's eye.

 

"Hello, my name is Horus. What's yours?"

 

"I am Tyr sir."

 

Horus looked him over. He focused on the boy in the force, using it to heal his wounds without any physical motion that would normally be attributed to this act. The boy was force sensitive. Pulling his datapad from his pocket, he turned to the boy.

 

"Do you have any Family?" This was met with a shake of the boy's head. "Listen, I want you to take this ticket, go to the spaceport, and fly to Coruscant. Once there, go to the last call, a room is there for you. Wait until the battle at the temple is over, and then go there for training."

 

"Yes sir."

 

The rest took very little time to heal, and when he was finished, Horus turned to his master and asked -

 

"Where to now sir?"

 

((Sorry it took so long. My computer is broken and so I will be on much less. I'm still on though.))

[Apollo]

((It's cool, I am in no rush.))

 

Raziel smiled at Horus, he had done amazingly for his first attempt. He would truly make a good Jedi. ”œVery good Horus, you are coming along quite well.”

[Horus Saast]

"Where are we going master?"

 

He had been away from training for what had seemed like a lifetime, and he was eager to return. The force was calling him, and he wished to know more of it.

 

"Master, when I first met Shy-Ree, she contacted me through the force, without speaking. How does one do this?"

[Bad karma]

The Sith's Shadow dropped out of hyperspace above Corilla. Trowa removed his boots from the dash and moved forward in order to begin piloting the ship properly. He skimmed the surface of the planets wild side, taking it in and wondering how such a place could exist”¦even Naboo was corrupt in one fashion or another, how was this place corrupt?

 

He landed his ship in a hanger bay once he finished transmitting his codes to them. He waited as they made a few brief modifications to his ship to facilitate his other new ship, then after paying them he and both of his ships left the hanger.

 

Next destination: Cardia.

[Reagan McGreggor]

Reagan landed the ship outside the house, foregoing the hidden bay altogether... As the two women exited the ship, she noticed that the staff had already arrived and were busy at work within the house.

 

Ushering Anna into the house, she showed her to the living room, and went into her office to start to set up some proceedings for the funeral... she felt Anna standing at the door to the office, and looked at her...

[Anastasia Faust]

Anna smiles. "You know, despite the circumstances," she states, "they actually did, seem like nice people. A bit pretentious, but they do seem like honestly nice people."

 

As she enters the room fully, she starts pacing about, causing the click of her high heel shoes. "I find it unsettling in some ways..." there is a distant musing. "So Ara kills Vladimir, and despite everything he did, lacking any real connection or bonds of blood, regrets it..." There is an almost unfathomable expression on her soft face. "I can understand it, and at the same time, it's hard to believe." She looks down at her own hands. "So much blood spilled on Vladimir's account... I cannot look back and fathom what he did... yet... something must be done to set things right. It's all I can do..."

 

Anastasia takes a seat on Reagan's desk, pulling herself out of her introspective funk. "Reagan... I can understand your anger, but please be careful with it. I don't want anything to happen to you. We have a plan, and though our trust will be hard to earn, especially with the Faust name attached, given the history of deception and treachery associated with it, we cannot change this galaxy by ourselves. I want to work with the Jedi on this." Anna stands up and resumes pacing. "I don't know who else would be a natural ally. I want a solid platform before my brother's funeral... something that can bring people together to work for peace..."

[Reagan McGreggor]

Reagan sat and listened, but said nothing... Her anger was uncontrollable, and something new altogether... She rather liked how she felt, but at the same time, she had never before not be in total control of her situation. She looked at a picture of Jarrett on her desk and smiled at the boy. At least knowing that he was safe was a blessing, she had debated on bringing him to his father's funeral, but decided it was for the best not to bring him out of hiding and risk any of Faust's enemies getting a chance to take him.

 

"Anna, you be nice, it is your way... I can not change the way I have been my life. My business is not to trust... I have always run on the edge, making a living just under the law's eye, and the Jedi for that matter... And I have made an extremely good living at it. While giving away Faust's money may make you feel good, you need to come to terms with who he was... and what he did for a living. No amount of money is going to change it... they are still going to hate us. They will never understand that love we have for him... cause they never got to see him beyond the hired killer, the calculated bounty hunter that he was."

 

She sighed, and handed the picture of Jarrett to her... "He is who we need to worry about... He needs to know that Faust that you and I knew." She tapped her fingers on the desk, and looked at the plans she had been writing for the funeral... "Where do you want to have his funeral... ???? I think that Coruscant, while the central location of the galaxy, would be wrong, but again, it is the central location of the galaxy. I will take care of all the arrangement, and financial responsibility for the funeral... he was... " She didn't finish, she left the sentence hang there, and realized that she was crying... frustration and anger did not make a good combination when you needed to have a clear mind.

 

She wiped away a tear, only to realize that there were more right behind it... she just pushed away from her desk and paced the room... "I have no idea what is wrong with me... I seem to have a leak... I am usually in total control, and am not prone to emotional outbursts... but since Faust died... well, I can't seem to get it together..."

 

Taking a deep breath, she sat down on the sofa and looked at Anna... "We need to get his funeral planned, and it should be done quickly... the dead don't normally preserve well, and it has been more then a week... I will leave the working with the Jedi to you... and be your security... but you are going to need to do the talking cause I want to kill them all for what they did... "

 

She swiped her hand at her eyes again, trying to get rid of the tears.... Damn these leaks are pissing me off...

[Anastasia Faust]

Anastasia gives deep pause at Reagan's words.

 

...they never got to see him beyond the hired killer, the calculated bounty hunter that he was...

 

"That's not entirely true," Anna states softly. "Vladimir was more than just a hired gun. He was a hunter, and in his own mind, the hunter, which was how he validated himself. It was always struggle, and war, even no matter how peacable the galaxy appeared on the surface... such things were always there. He was a product of that was much as a contributor." Resolve flashes in her eyes. "That system- war on the surface and underneath, is something that must be undermined."

 

Moving over to take a look at little Jarret's picture, Anna thinks. "I am fearful for him. I don't trust what my brother's enemies would do to him, even those with the best of intentions. I want to train him, to work for peace... and at the same time, to be strong enough to stand on his own."

 

The softness edges out, replaced once more by determination. "For the funeral, the body can be preserved as long as it takes. There are ways. I think Coruscant would be the best place for it- a memorial to bury both the past, and set the corner stone for a new future. I wish to work on my coalition efforts first. I want it to be definitively where the old name of Faust tyranny is set to rest, and the new era, the one of peace begins." Anna looks at Reagan. "A pretty speech and sentiment, but convincing others of my sincerity will be hard. I'm half wondering how receptive the Empire would be... though Phillep is not one to be trusted entirely either..."

 

Finally, seeming tired, Anna gently goes over to Reagan, placing a hand on her shoulders, and placing one of her own rough and calloused hands around Reagans. "What is done is done... Vladimir is dead and there's no point in trying to bring back the past like you are worried about. I may not be what my brother was, but I can at least offer to support you, my dear sister, in the best way that I can. I think he would want you to work on more than just simple revenge and destroying the people who destroyed him... at least I'd assume that since me made me his hier.."

[Reagan McGreggor]

Reagan sighed, there was no changing Anna's mind... and there was no way that her son was going to be trained in the ways of the Jedi... Jedi that killed his father.

 

"Lets get this funeral planning done, and move forward with what you need to do. Then we can worry about Jarrett after... he is safe right now, and well hidden off world, no one will find him. There is another office down the hall with a communication set up in there... you can make any calls you need to, I am going up to shower and change, the staff will have dinner ready in an hour... I will see you then ... I think we could both use some good food and rest for just one night... and tomorrow we will get started on all the plans...

[Anastasia Faust]

Anna heads into the office, musing over how to proceed.

 

She started out with making reparation attempts with the Jedi. That was a start.

 

How then to show that she was committed to peace and righting her brother's wrongs? Confidence in the Faust name was absent as ever... so how to restore it?

 

Absently, she flips on Holonet, finding news about Imperial expansion in the Hapes cluster. Immediately alarm bells ring in he head. Perfect! It might be trouble in the short run, but with an enthusiasm that can only be attributed to either confidence or naiviette, she drafted a plan to talk with the commanders there and get them to move out.

 

That settled, she with drew up stairs for use of the shower herself, desiring to relax as well after a long, stressful day.

[Reagan McGreggor]

Reagan left Anna and went up stairs to relax and shower before dinner. It has been a long few days, and she need a long hot shower to let the water run on her back. She went into the fresher, and turned on the shower as shot as she could stand it, and as the steamed filled the room, she undressed and let down her hair. She had forgotten that she had pulled it up days ago...

 

Stepping into the hot shower, she closed the glass door and let the water run down her body... as the water soaked her hair, it ran down her face and over her body... The steam surrounded her, and she was lost in her thoughts... she closed her eyes, and could see Faust there with her... in his white shirt...

 

She had been in the shower for a very long time, and the steam was thick in the fresher... she never heard Anna come upstairs or even into the fresher... She opened her eyes and looked up as the glass door opened to the shower....

[Lycus Thorpe]

The "Canus One" came out of hyperspace silently, slipping into an orbit high above the planets surface. The ship came to the dark side of Corellia where morning was still 6 or more hours away. As the modified Correllian Gunship angled for descent, a small capsule, no larger then an escape pod blasted away from its port side. The small mettalic cannister entered the atmosphere at a steep angle, making it appear to be nothing but a bit of space junk burning up in the atmosphere.

 

Landing in the dense forest a good distance away from the nearest settlement, the capsule crashed into the treetops. Ripping through the forest it came to rest in thick pond of mud. As the outershell of the capusle cooled, it caused a small localized brushfire. After a minute, the outershell split in two leaving a thick metallic figure exposed to the elements.

 

----

 

"Start droid ignition, give it the targets and initialize its power cells." Lycus said as he stood on the bridge of the "Canus One" near a small monitoring station set up by the crew. The two young officers in charge of the droid immeadiately followed Lycus' commands. "Do you really think this droid is as capable as the builders say it is sir?"

 

Lycus tapped his chin, wether or not the test went well would determine the next step in his plans for the future. Either he would be back at square one or...

 

----

 

The Lyger12 expanded from its sitting postion, reaching its full hieght of 6' 1" with fully articualted legs. Stretching its titanium alloy arms it stretched almost like a predator, awaking from a long sleep. Spinning its claws in a practice routine, the droid powered up its sensors and began sending telemetry to the "Canus One" by means of its internal anttena. Signalling it was ready the droid made a series of resonanting beeps and affirmative chatter.

 

Scanning its database of creatures, it chose a form and began folding down into a smaller figure locking into a feline shape, using an advanced holoprojector it created the illusion of a medium forest dwelling cat. Soon, it was bounding through the underbrush at full speed, its target it mind.

 

Without the restrain of mortal muscle it kept on going for an hour covering 75 miles. Soon it came to a small outcropping from the jungle, approaching Bela Vistal the nearest development on the planets surface. The first target was a small time thug who had been collecting protection money by threatining to the blow the whistle on the illegal operations that Thorpe Co. was profiting from.

 

Entering the city the droid reformed its shape. As it reached a small side alley, it folded upwards taking the from of a large muscular man. The advanced holoprojectors gave the droid a long flowing brown overcoat and corellian blood stripes on its pantlegs to blend in with the locals. Walking with a heavy meter it entered a small pub still open to the wee hours of the morning.

 

As it entered the bartender looked to the potential customer. "What can I get you good sir?" Turning to the bartender slowly, the droid cocked its head to the side. "Do you know a man named Ryler Skyles?" The droid ask in a voice not quite human. The bartender looked a little spooked at the voice. "Over there boasting as usual..." he said as pointed to a big man in the corner with three women and a couple of thugs crowded near him.

 

"So I say to the guy, you pay me a little extra each week and no one has to know about this, trust me I got dirt on this guy so deep if I rat he'll be buried farther down then my old grannie..." Ryler said with big grin. "I don't know Ryler...they may not be too smart" said the girl on his arm. "What do you know about it? Look the guy was a pushover, you know one of them datapad punching punks, always looking down on people. Now all we gotta do is wait for the credits to roll in."

 

Suddenly he looked up at a the figure approaching him. "A!...what you starin at pal...?" Ryler said as he looked suspiciously at the strange man eyeing him. "Ryler?" the droid asked. "Yeah? Who are you?"

 

"A representative...." The droid said in its odd voice, suddenly its holoprojector snapped of as it began firing a small blaster repeater out its left had at the group in rapid succession. Ryler ducked in time to avoid the intial blasts. His lady friends were cut down in an instant. Two body guards stood up from thier strategic positions blasting away with thier small arms. Turning a sensor each way the quickly the droid targeted each of them, sending a barrage from each weapon concealed in its arms reducing them to mere corpses in moments.

 

Ryler had just made it to the back entrance and out into a dark alleyway when a claw ripped through his back. Falling down he rolled over to see that the droid had extended one of its' arms like a mace and chain. The claw snapped back into the droid with an efficient snaphiss. It approached him as he tryed to backpedal away on his back. A small red dot on his chest made Ryler realize he had messed with the wrong man. A muffled scream was heard from the back alley as blaster fire rang out for a few moments. Soon the silence of Corellias' night returned.

 

---

 

Lycus stood on the landing ramp awaiting Ka-Rith. The Lyger12 had completed all its objectives with relative ease. As it was programmed it stopped all telemetry except its video output to the "Canus One". Now it would be up to Miss Ka to finish the job.

 

Lycus listened to the morning news on Corellia. -

 

"Police are baffled over the deaths of four local crminals, the gangsters were all found brutally murdered this overnight. Several witness have come forward, and at least three suspects are currently being targeted for questioning. The first was a young woman who barged into a local fitness center and began firing, another is described as a tall muscular man in his early 30s', More details as this story develops..."

[Anoon Bondara]

"It would seem you babysitter is alittle busy right now." Anoon smirked, strolling down the landing ramp. "If there is anything I can do..."

 

Bondara stopped standing at the side of Thorpe. "She didn't realy go into detail about what you do or what you want her to do... So please humour me."

 

Anoon stood staring into the distance, waiting for Thorpe to reply.

[Lycus Thorpe]

"Miss Ka and I have a symbiotic relationship, she supplies the raw talent of her considerable skills and I apply them to specific tasks. It is that simple. I have other body guards and safeguards of course. But she is different...she is the best at what she does."

 

"Your part in this equation is still uncertain, and you will have to define what is you bring to the table by your actions."

 

Lycus said as tapped a control counsel and brought up a small display screen so that Anoon could see the target. "This droid, the Lyger12 is one of the most sophisticated assasins ever built. It can mimick over a thousand forms, and manipulate its shape and size. It has several hidden gun emplacements and it can run faster, hit harder and take more punishement then any droid I have ever seen. Its out thier right now, awaiting its final task, to kill anyone that opposes it."

 

"Miss Ka's task is simple... to destroy it...and make sure the local authorities don't recover the wreckage." Lycus said as he snapped the view screen of.

 

"Wether or not she wants you to participate is her descicion, a word of advice Anoon...treat myself and her with respect, she as deadly as I am dangerous. Even though I am but a mere human-" Lycus walked a short distance up the ramp and looked back at Anoon. Suddenly Lycus vanished...and reappeared right next to Anoon with a blaster in hand aimed at his head. Vanishing again he reappeared in his original position. "-this does not mean I am helpless.That was not a threat Anoon I no more desire killing you then I would anyone else. Besides, I don't like threats they are distasteful to me...," Lycus said as he nodded to the force user. He took couple steps up the ramp awaiting Ka-Rith.

[Anoon Bondara]

"Trust me Mr Thorpe i have the utmost respect for you, you saved my life after all." Chuckled Anoon, then turning serious, "As for what i bring to the table, well alot more than you expect. My hunting skills are unparalleled and intelligence to match, im sure, even your infinite knowledge."

 

Bondara tunred to head back up the landing ramp. "But we'l let Miss Ka be the judge of that." He then disapeared back inside the ship.