(( There, I started a new page this time. Happy now, 3yks?:xp: ))
*Atton, no!* yelled the Doctor, grabbing Atton by the shoulder and pulling him away from Kelborn. *Violence is not the answer.* he looked at Kelborn. *You said that Mandalore sent you here to help Kira.* he said. *Well, she's in danger now, I'm sure. Please, tell us. Who was just here?*

Some archaic robot had detected him? He frowned, the cloack staying around him ... his arms holding him up with little effort. His body was honed to near perfection, his gray hair drifted beneath him brushing against the seat. He hoped nobody sat down, they might get a tickeling sensation from his hair. Well at least the mandalorian wasn't giving him up. He'd half expected to end up fighting right now.

Maybe the mandalorian will help me arrange my fight. A smile crossed his lips at that thought.

(Going X-mas shopping, and then to parent's, will be able to post more this afternoon. jsut so you all don't wonder why I'm not posting :P)

((ARCHAIC?!? I'm going to cry now.))

*Well Kelborn? Do you dare disobey Mandalore?*

Kelborn stared trhough his visor at the group surrounding him. "You all are directing your mistrust and anger at the wrong source. You should be preparing for battle rather than squablling over nonsense." He could see them all staring intently at him. "But like Mandalore said, I am here to help you." He turns his gaze towards Atton. "I admire your courage boy, but if you ever try laying a filthy hand on my armor again, i'll teach you some manners, the mandalorian way."

The group did not back away from him, he could see they wanted an answer. "If you must know someone was here. He sought Revan, wished to challenge him, an honorable request. But he has gone, vanished into thin air, much like her appeared. That is all I know, and Lying is not the mandalorian ways."

"He's telling the truth." Kira said. Stepping past the others, she put a hand on Atton's shoulder, gently bringing him away from Kelborn, "We can trust him."
"Kira..." Atton said warningly, but she silenced him with a look.
"He's still here." Disciple said, looking up towards the ceiling. "I can sense him."
"But we can't see him." Atton said, rather put-off, "How can we hit what we can't see?"

"What do you mean, he just vanished?" Karda asked, just coming into the cockpit. "Did you know anything else about him?"

The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver.
*If he dissapeared into thin air, then he must be using some sort of cloaking device. I might be able to disrupt it...*
The Doctor began fiddling with the sonic screwdriver, which emitted the strange whining sound at different pitches, depending on what frequency the Doctor set.

Kelborn remained as he always had been, calm and uneffected by what was transpiring around him. He turned to answer Karda's request. "All I know, is exactly what I've told you, he sought Revan, and said nothing more. Before he vanished from mys sight." He folded his arms impatiently accross his armored form.

.................................................. .................................................. ...

As the dark figure stretched out through the force, he could feel a slight tingle in his mind, an echo of his past was growing closer, this echo was searching for him. When this small ripple reached him, he would strike it down. " I can sense you Kreta, you seek to challenge me, only in your tiny mind could you concieve of yourself to be my equal. But I shall let you come, and I will destroy you, like I have to so many before."

Brax's eye twitched at the high pitched noises coming out of the sonic screwdriver, but, lucky for him, he was not a device, and so remained invisble through a variety of attempts the Doctor made to disrupt his cloack.

He was going to have to move soon though he realized, the effort of maintaing the cloack AND holding himself was starting to strain him a bit.

(and now I need all of YOU to post before I can continue :P)

*The Sonic Screwdriver doesn't seem to be revealing anything* said the Doctor, deactivating it and putting it back into his pocket. *K9, can you try to localize the disturbance one more time?*
K9's ears rotated again, his sensor probe protruding slightly. "Negative, Master." he said after a moment.

"Don't trust a robot to do the work of a telepath," Crystal murmured, more to herself than to anyone else. She projected feelings of dismissal, but deep within her mind, she searched for the stranger she knew was there... in the cockpit somewhere. A small corner of her mind thought through her words. Why had she said that? That corner of her brain gave a mental shrug, hoping that the Exile was the only one that heard it... for some strange reason, Crystal trusted the Exile.

Kreta's ship sropped out of Hyperspace in the rubble field of the remains of Septilon Aurek. He closed his eyes and swept space's recent Force evolutions. It hit him:
"I can sense you Kreta, you seek to challenge me, only in your tiny mind could you concieve of yourself to be my equal. But I shall let you come, and I will destroy you, like I have to so many before."
He was on Ziost! Kreta opened his eyes and let an evil grin form on his lips.
My tinymind, eh?" he thought. "It is you who will be destroyed, for killing my friend, and for trying to kill me."
He reset the coordinates and launched back into hyperspace.
***************************************
Kreta made his way down the ramp of his ship. He sensed thousands of the Massasi warriors in the ancient structures of the planet. Not wanting to destroy his future resources, he switched on his stealth belt and crept up to the nearest structure; but he stopped. The Force was tingling. Suddenly, it kicked him i the shins: he turned sharply. The quick movement caused the stealth belt to power off. In front of him, stood the Dark Lord he sought: Darth Malagant, behind him stood two terentateks and five Massasi warriors. Kreta drew his double blades from his belt and ignited all four ends.

(I'm back. Could someone give me a summary of what's going on?)

((Why not just read what's been posted since you left? It'll be easier...
Basically, Karda has boarded the Ebon Hawk, and the Doctor and K9 went to his ship with the TARDIS to learn more about him. They discovered that Karda is here to take Kira back to the Jedi council.
Brax has contacted Kelborn about a one on one duel with Kelborn. Once detected, Brax cloaked himself and is hiding on the cockpit ceiling. K9 and Disciple both know he is in the cockpit, but they don't know where. 3yks, Brax, needs everyone else to reply before continuing.))

The Doctor thought he heard Crystal mutter something. He bent down next to K9 and whispered to him, so that nobody would hear. *Did you hear what she just said, K9?*
"Negative, Master. Apologies."
*It's alright, K9.*

Brax felt some push at his mind, as if somethyign was searching for him, Crystal felt a glimmer of him, but he shifted, moving ... she knew where he had been, but he had turned his body, rotating on his arms, putting his feet on the back of the other chair, and then sliding silently to the ground behind it. He knealt, inches from that stupid archaic robot dog thing.

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling. He was sure he had seen something move.
"Master? I am detecting an increase in your heart rate and vascular pressure. Are you well?"
*Yes, I'm fine, K9. I thought I was...* he trailed off, grabbing the sonic screwdriver again. He began fiddling with the controls again.
"MASTER! ALIEN LIFE FORM DETECTED!!!" K9 yelled suddenly. He turned around, firing his laser at something a few inches from him.

((Crystal ain't usin' the Force, 3yks... read my post in the 'Casting Call' thread and correct your post... it'll feel more like a tiny bit of pressure on your mind... but still enough to perhaps startle you and get you to move. so in response...))

Crystal turned her head and muttered something in a strange language.

"I had him for a second," she murmured. "He's moved now."

She took a step into the cockpit and whispered, "Sorry..."

With that, she 'expanded her mind'. By taking control of a small portion of the brains of the others, she knew more... could expand her telepathic abilities further, now encompassing the entire ship.

"I'll find you," she murmured, touching his mind again only to feel it slip away yet again. "That's a promise."

The Doctor felt a small push against his mind. He turned to Crystal and saw her lips moving. He recognized the language, though he couldn't understand her. He pushed back with his Gallifreyan mind, easily resisting the mental invasion.

Stupid little thing. Brax's cl;awed gauntlet slashed out, force energy turning the red blood like marks on the end into something akin to a lightsaber, he slashed the dog across the face. His body came into view. He was a good six and a half feet tall, thyin and almost frail looking, his skin was a light blue in color, his eyes were black inside of white. His hair was grey, nearly white and rustled from his period of upside down time. He pushed up with his legs, launching himself past the others. Somehow managing to weave his way through their bodies ina matter of moments.

"I'm only here for Revan," He said, spinning and standing in the hall, looking in at them. Then, vanishing ... Crystal could feel him moving away from them, toward ... Karda's ship.

*K9! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!*
"Affirmative, Master. No vital circuitry has been damaged. Laser has been disabled, Master."
*Yes, alright.* said the Doctor, not listening much. *We'd better get you back to the TARDIS. *He can only run to the docking ramp, which leads back to mr. Karda's ship. I'll take the TARDIS there. Make sure he can't run back to the Ebon Hawk!*
Without waiting any more, he ran to the TARDIS after K9, the screeching noise (http://www.dwwa.net/Tardis/Takeoff2.wav) filling the ship seconds later.

================================================== ==========

The Jedi ship sat there, quiet and empty. The TARDIS' engine niose (http://www.dwwa.net/dr4/Pyramids/quicklanding.wav) filled the main bay again, the TARDIS fading into existence just in fron of the docking ramp. The TARDIS was possitioned so that this... thing.... couldn't get past it. The Doctor stepped out the door, closed it behind him, and stood in front of it, his arms croosed, waiting.

(I'll be waiting to add more until others have had a chance to add as well. )

(( Good idea. You, wildjedi, and I need to let others post, too:xp: ))

Crystal was startled, distracted. She turned to stare at the Doctor. Just as easily as she was confused, she dismissed the confusion. With his strange mode of transportation, she was sure, he had a somewhat different mental structure than she was used to. She let it go, avoiding his mind in her reach for mental capacity.

The Doctor stood there, his mind racing. What was that mental push he had felt from Crystal? Did it have something to do with what she had muttered to herself? He would have to ask Kira later - he was sure that she had reacted in some way to Crystal's words. He was glad that he was able to resist her mental powers, having powerful ones of his own. He though of how she could missuse mental powers comperable to his own - she could be just as dangerous as The Master. He pushed these thoughts from his mind, and waited for the stranger to come - his cloak would no doubt be damaged, and he would therefore be easier to track.
*I hope.* he muttered to himself.

Revan used the Force. He sensed the thing inside the cockpit. He pulled out one of his lightsabers and ran to the cockpit. "Concentrate....." Revan thought. R3evan ran to where the Ebon Hawk was docked with Karda's ship. He put his lightsaber to the enemie's head, the end of it nearly touching the scalp. "I am the one you want." Revan declared. "Appear before me or else suffer a serious injury to the head."

Tegan woke suddenly. She thought she had heard someone enter the TARDIS. She lay there, not daring to move, when she heard the TARDIS engines begin to grind. She got up, trying to keep quiet. When she got to the door of the console room, the engine had stopped. She opened the door a tiny bit, and saw The Doctor bolt out the door. Opening he door the rest of the way, she ran to listen to what was going on outside.

(Uhm, brax is not in the cockpit anymore, he's currently moving from the hallway to the cockpit to where Karda's ship is docked with the Ebon Hawk.)

(Oh, I'll change it.)

((Hey, do you guys realize that this RP has surpased the Secrets of the Sith in number of posts, which was started months before this one?))

"No I won't" Brax said, standing a good five feet away, as he apeared, waved and dove into the other ship, reaching out with the force to press the cycling controls. The airlock cyceling, and letting him onto the other ship.

Tegan heard the sound of the airlock cycling, and wondered what was going on. Through the crack in the door, she could see the Docotor standing a few feet from the TARDIS, his arms crossed, waiting. A sudden movement behind her made her jump, and she saw K9 standing there, his face torn open.
"K9! What happened to you, are you alright?" she asked urgently but quietly - she didn't want the Doctor to hear her.
"I am damaged, Mistress, but it can be repaired."
"The Doctor's outside the door, waiting for something, by the looks of him. I want you to go wake up Nyssa; it looks like the Doctor is going to need our help."
"Yes, Mistress." said K9. He turned around and went out the door Tegan had come from, on his way to wake up Nyssa. Tegan returned to the door, just in case the Doctor needed her help.

==================================================

Nyssa woke with a start.
"Mistress Nyssa?"
"What is it, K9?"
"Mistress Tegan requests your presence in the consol room."
"Oh, alright, I'm coming." she said sleepily. She got out of her bed and followed K9 to the control room, wondering what on "Earth" she could want
.
==================================================

Tegan stood at the door, staring at the back of the Doctor's head.
'What do--" began Nyssa as she entered the console room, but Tegan silenced her with a quick hand gesture. Nyssa lowered her voice: "What do you need, Tegan?"
"Come here a moment. What do you make of this?" she moved over so Nyssa could see out the crack in the door.
"It's the Doctor." said Nyssa, thinking this was a bad idea of a joke.
"Look at him."
"What about him?"
"He's just standing there. What do you think he's doing?"
"Waiting for something, by the looks-- wait, tis isn't the Ebon Hawk!"
"I know. I heard the engine noise - that's what woke me up - and I came here to ask the Doctor what was happening."
"K9, do you know what's going on?"
"Affirmative, mistress."
"Well? What is it?" asked Nyssa impatirntly.
"An unidentified alien life form was detected in the cockpit of the Ebon Hawk. It damaged me, and fled towards the Jedi ship. The Master Doctor is wainting for the life form, hoping to intercept it."
"Well we'd better hope that Kira will be able to help! We have no weapons." said Nyssa.
"K9 does! You have to go help him!" siad Tegan
"I would be of no assistance, Mistress. My laser is damaged and inoperable. I would be a huinderance, not an asset."
Well then it's up to us to help the Doctor!" Tegan moved past Nyssa to open the door, but Nyssa grabbed her by the arm.
"No! The Doctor probably has a plan. One that depends on us being out of the way! If he's in danger, we'll go out!"
So they waited with bated breath to see what the Doctor was up to.

As Brax fled down the Ebon Hawk, Karda heard the airlock making noise, and ran for his ship. It sounded like someone was trying to get in it.

As the others left, Kira turned to Disciple and Atton. "C'mon guys, you know what to do."
"Search and destroy." Atton said, making sure that the battery in his blaster was at a safe level.
Disciple and Kira took sabers in their hands and ran after the others, heading for what seemed to be the airlock.
"You don't think he's gone to Karda's ship?" Disciple asked, "What would be the point?"
"I don't know, but there's only one way to find out." she said, and continued on.
'Don't trust a robot to do the work of a telepath.'? What had she meant by that?

((3yks, I hope you're not planing in any way to have something to do with the tracer? Is that why you're going to Karda's ship? Because I have a plan as to how the tracer got there. One that affects the story a great deal, actually.))

Karda punched the controls for the airlock, which opened up to his docked ship. Drawing his lightsaber, he carefully walked into his ship, looking around for the intruder. He saw nothing, but he knew someone was in his ship, somewhere.

Brax had frowned at the Doctor, since the man was in his way. Luckily for him, the doctor's hope that his 'device' was broken, was wrong, he was only mildly injurd from the blaster bolt he had taken, and his device was infact, himself. So he cycled the airlock but stayed in the Hawk, moving out looking for EVA suit, and after a few moments located one. Pulling it on, and recloacking himself with the aid of the force to move a bit faster. The suit was standard, and his gloves clicked into place where the normal one's would have.

Now to get out of either ship to where his own could pick him up. He pondered this, part of him considered simply cutting his way out one of the walls. His claws were no sabers, but it wouldn't take them long to work through the hull. Still ... No, he didn't have any desire to murder those in the ship with no cause. He was really just after Revan. But he knew that the others would help Revan. He moved back to the Airlock, watching Revan looking for him. How to throw him off so he could get to the doctor.

((you need to read my post more carefully.... the TARDIS is blocking the hallway:
The Jedi ship sat there, quiet and empty. The TARDIS' engine niose filled the main bay again, the TARDIS fading into existence just in fron of the docking ramp. The TARDIS was possitioned so that this... thing.... couldn't get past it. The Doctor stepped out the door, closed it behind him, and stood in front of it, his arms croosed, waiting.

Ah well, who cares. It would suck to have your character get captured, especially this early.))

(I'm willing to change it, but is he In Karda's ship blocking the way? Or in the Ebon Hawk ... either way I will change it so that he gets the EVA suit int he hawk realizing he can't get into the other ship easily. (he'll still cycle the airlock to throw people off him) then come back and threaten the Doc ... *goes to change it*))

((Clicky (http://www.freewebs.com/doctor99/Sounds/Refrain.wav). Thanks. I think I PMd you about....maybe it can happen now.))

The Doctor heard the airlock cycle, and his hearts began to beat faster. The stranger would no doubt be arriving soon. The Doctor smiled to himself, imagining the alien's surprise to find that the Doctor had beaten him here.
*I love time travel.* he thought to himself.

((I don't mean to step on any toes and just 'barge' into the storyline, but I haven't heard a yes or no yet from Sion about joining and the Doctor and I were concerned that this thread is dying a quiet death. As this is my first post in the thread, its kind of long. Sorry.))
__________________________________________________ ______

From the cockpit of her small ship in orbit around Dantooine, Jasra Lantill grinned as the co-ordinates of her homing device indicated Karda’s location. “Ah, just out of Nar Shaddaa. The cesspit of the Galaxy. I should have known.”

She had been extremely fortunate to have intercepted the transmission from Master Verga to Karda. It hadn't taken her long to realise he could find the Exile easier than she could. And it had been easier still to place a tracking device on his ship before he had left. She tweaked a button on the ship’s console, and listened. It wasn’t long before the static gave way to a conversation, its modulation slightly distorted.

"This is Jedi Knight Karda, to the Ebon Hawk. Do you read me?"

"This is the Ebon Hawk; we hear you loud and clear, Karda. What's your business tailing us?"

"I was sent by the Jedi Masters on this mission. They sighted you off Hal Hutta, and they sent me to find out what the Ebon Hawk was up to. Who is this? Is this the Jedi Exile, or another occupant of the ship?"

"This is Kira, the Jedi Exile. What business does the Council have with me? I thought they were all dead."

"If you mean Vrook, Kavar, and Zez-Kai, then yes, they are dead. But the Jedi were able to rebuild and gather more force-sensitives to them after the war. The Jedi Enclave on Dantooine has been partially rebuilt, and is home to several Jedi. The current Jedi running things are the 'Masters' of which I spoke."

Jasra snorted with disgust.

Karda continued. "When you fled from the smuggler's moon, I followed you, perhaps not the only one.”

Jasra raised an eyebrow.

“My intentions were just to see what you were doing. Would you mind if I boarded, where we could talk better?" There was a pause. "I assure you, I mean you no harm, and I doubt I could cause any trouble there anyways. I need to speak with you."

"Very well, if you wish to board the Hawk, we will be waiting for you."

Jasra shook her head. “That was just too easy.” She drummed her fingers on her comlink, thinking for a moment before activating it. There were some bleeps as the link connected.

“Begin transmission,” said a metallic-sounding voice.

“It’s Jasra,” she said. “I’ve found her.”

“So soon?” There was a short pause, then the voice continued. “I see I may have underestimated your tracking abilities. No matter. Transmit the co-ordinates to me and return to the rendezvous point for further instructions.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. What further instructions?” Jasra frowned. “What about my payment?”

“All in due time,” said the toneless voice.

“Yeah? Well I say payment’s due now. No credits, no co-ordinates. That was the deal.”

“The deal was for you to locate the Exile and bring her to me.”

“No, the deal was that I locate her for you to speak to her,” Jasra said firmly. “I’ve done that. Once I give you the co-ordinates and frequency, you can speak to her all you want over a comlink. My job is done.”

“Her physical presence is necessary for the conversation to be productive.”

“You don’t speak to me face-to-face,” Jasra chided. “And if that’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for her. If you want the co-ordinates, then pay up. Otherwise, you can forget it. I’m not getting burned on this one.”

“Then perhaps we can come to another arrangement,” said the voice. “Bring the Exile to me and I will double my original offer.”

Jasra thought a moment. “Triple it and I’ll see what I can do. But I still expect payment for what I’ve done so far. I’ll need the credits to cover any unexpected expenses.”

“Agreed. I am transferring your payment now. Transmit the co-ordinates to me. They will be helpful in case you should fail.”

“So good to know you have such confidence in my abilities,” she said dryly, as she punched a few button on her console. “Done.”

“Excellent. Return to the rendezvous point for further instructions when you have the Exile. End transmission.”

Jasra let out a heavy sigh. “So much for easy credits.” She punched Karda's co-ordinates into the navicomputer and her ship jumped into hyperspace.

*******

Coming out of hyperspace, Jasra approached Karda’s ship. It was docked with another--the Ebon Hawk, she presumed. “Well, isn’t this convenient.” With the two ships linked together, it wasn’t as if either of them could jump into hyperspace without plenty of notice. She frowned slightly. “Too convenient,” she said slowly.

Something was odd. As former Jedi Padawan, Jasra could sense the presence of more than two Force users on board the two ships.

Not wanting her own Force Sensitivity to be detected by either Karda, the Exile, or whoever else was on board, she used the masking technique she had developed, drawing the Force so deep within herself as to be indistinguishable from any average sentient being. She didn’t trust Jedi. Not anymore. They had abandoned her, and so she had abandoned them. They had lied. And now so would she.

She hailed the Ebon Hawk. “This is the Republic scout ship Moon Shadow. You appear to be adrift. Can I offer you any assistance?”

Crystal was just leaving the cockpit when the transmission came in. She glanced around uncomfortably and found that she was the only person still there. With a little sigh, she moved to the comm unit.

"This is the Ebon Hawk," she said. "We are not adrift, thank you, Moon Shadow. A meeting between Jedi is taking place... not quite my cup o' tea... then again, not much happening over here is really anything I'm too happy about." She shrugged. "Then again, I'm more or less unimportant to the others, so who cares what I think?" She allowed a bit of annoyance into her voice for her last words.

Tegan stood there in the Ebon Hawk, staring at the back of the Doctor's head. A sudden sound from the TARDIS console made her jump - someone was trying to contact the Ebon Hawk, and the TARDIS was picking up the signal.
"This is the Republic scout ship Moon Shadow. You appear to be adrift. Can I offer you any assistance?"
"Nyssa, do you hear that?"
"It sounds like someone is hailing the Ebon Hawk."
"Why are we hearing it?"
"I don't know." Nyssa scanned the TARDIS controls for a moment. "There - the spacial transiever is active for some reason. The Doctor must have forgotten to deactivate it after the message from Gallifrey." ((The message from Gallifrey has no bearing on the current story.)) "If I can modulate the frequency to the same as that of the ship out there, we might be able to call for help."
She fiddled around with the controls a little bit, not entirely sure she knew what she was doing - she had only ever seen the Doctor operate the transiever once before. She bent over to speak into the microphone in the console.
"This is Nyssa of Traken, onboard the Ebon Hawk." she said. "In a way." she added under her breath. "There's something strange going on here. The Doctor - our "captain" of sorts, and a friend of Kira Starr's - is standing inbetween the two ships, wainting for something. We don't know what."
There was no response. "It didn;t work. We must not be able to transmit through the hull of another ship."
"Then we'd better hope somebody else responded." ((You are not supposed ot hear this, Jasra. I posted this before I saw WJ's post, and have modified it so that the Doctor still turns his back to the Ebon Hawk - it's important.))
====================================
The Doctor heard voices. They were coming from inside the TARDIS. He turned around a opened the door, and saw Tegan and Nyssa at the console. He opened his mouth to speak...

((3yks, this is a good time for what we discussed to happen))

((where the heck is Darthsion101? he is needed to make our part continue))

((Well, if he doesn't show up soon, Jasra and I have a cool idea where ths story could go. PM me or her if you want to know more. I PMd him about it, but he hasn't answered. Maybe if we emailed him, we could get permission to implement our idea.))

"This is the Ebon Hawk. We are not adrift, thank you, Moon Shadow. A meeting between Jedi is taking place... not quite my cup o' tea... then again, not much happening over here is really anything I'm too happy about. Then again, I'm more or less unimportant to the others, so who cares what I think?"

Jasra raised a doubtful eyebrow. She had expected either Karda, the Exile, or perhaps the Ebon Hawk’s pilot to answer her query, but the woman who was responding didn’t sound like any of them. But she didn’t particularly sound like she was part of the crew either. In fact, she seemed unhappy to even be on board. Jasra’s eyes narrowed as a suspicion rose in her mind that the voice on the comlink might belong to a servant, or even worse, a slave. She despised slavers, and took the greatest of pleasure in disposing of them at every opportunity. It seemed unlikely that a Jedi would keep slaves, but Jedi could not be trusted. And if the Exile had fallen to the Dark Side….

She needed to know more.

“Ebon Hawk, this is Jasra Lantill on the Moon Shadow. Identify yourself. Are you sure you do not require any assistance?”

Yet even as she spoke, she flicked the switches that activated her shields and charged her cannons, readying herself for a potential battle.

"My name is Crystal," came the reply. "Not a member of the crew... just a passenger, you might say, but when everybody else runs off somewhere, who else is there to answer your call?" She paused for a moment. "As far as I know, we don't require assistance. I'd get the Exile in here to talk to you, but I'm not sure where exactly she is... should I look for her?"

“…not sure exactly where she is….” The words made Jasra’s head ache, and with two fingers she lightly massaged her brow between her eyes. Even when she had found the Exile and her ship, she still eluded her! Well, at least she knew that the Exile was definitely on board, and she exhaled a breath of relief in the knowledge that the Ebon Hawk was not a slaver ship.

Now she just had to figure out how to get the Exile to the rendezvous point and hand her over to Jasra’s employer. She had a few ideas. Time to test the waters….

“Thank you, Crystal, but no,” Jasra said, trying to sound as nice as possible while she typed a message into her comm unit. “You just stay put for now. This area of space is known for pirates and raiders, so it would be good to have someone manning the bridge at all times.”

She added her co-ordinates to the message.

“Having said that, I’ll try to keep an eye out for you until your captain returns to the bridge and takes over.”

She filtered the message through an encryption device.

“But you could you tell me what’s happening on the Ebon Hawk that is so important that they left you in charge? It seems like an awful responsibility for a passenger to bear.”

If the Exile was being distracted by something or someone on board, Jasra wanted to know what it was. The information could prove to be useful to her later on.

“And quite an unusual protocol.”

She hit the ‘send’ button. Message away. Now all she had to do was wait.

Crystal was suddenly uneasy. She had telepathic abilities, but had also trained herself to listen to voices... this Jasra Lantill was trying to sound friendly... almost too much so. Again calling on part of the minds of her companions, she stretched her 'thought bubble' out, enclosing Jasra's ship as well.

Just as quickly as she'd located Jasra's mind, she pulled back. It would do her no good to be detected. So she kept her consciousness on the fringe of Jasra's mind, trying to pick up any lies the other woman might be telling.

"Truthfully, I'm not sure," Crystal said, allowing her voice to fill with uncertainty. "They said something about a stowaway before everybody hurried out." She paused for a moment. "I'm really quite unsure what to make of the whole situation."

((Jasra, just so you know, Crystal is not Force sensitive. Her prodding of your mind won't feel the same as a Force sensitive might and it'll be harder to repel... though you'd probably feel it after having had Jedi training yourself. :) ))

((Thanks for the info on Crystal, WildJedi. Since Jasra was only a young Padawan when she lost her Master, she's not that experienced with the Force. (Even though she's been learning a few things on her own.) I don't think she would detect Crystal's intrusion unless it was rather blatant. So, if Crystal wants to probe her mind, let her do so. :) ))


“A stowaway?”

Jasra recalled Karda’s transmission in her thoughts.

"When you fled from the smuggler's moon, I followed you, perhaps not the only one.”

Was someone trying to steal her bounty? Or had her anonymous employer hired another to bring in the Exile, just to ensure success?

"Transmit the co-ordinates to me. They will be helpful in case you should fail."

He did, Jasra thought. That slimy little hutt-slug! Just wait until I get my hands on him. But if there was someone on board the Ebon Hawk with intentions to bring in the Exile, she had to deal with them first. The Exile was hers. And since Jasra was outside the Ebon Hawk, and the interloper was inside, she needed to act quickly.

“Crystal, listen to me carefully. I want you to close and lock the door to the bridge. Lock yourself in. I believe that your stowaway could be dangerous.”

Well, that wasn’t a lie. If the stowaway was a bounty hunter, they most certainly would be a danger to anyone who got in their way.

“There have been recent pirate raids in this area…

A half truth, granted, but still completely plausible. There had been pirate raids out here, but none recently. She’d seen to that last month. Had been paid well for bringing in the leader’s corpse, too, as she recalled.

“…and this could be an attempt to overtake your vessel by causing a distraction elsewhere on the ship, leaving the bridge unattended.”

Because that’s what I would do, she thought.

“If that’s their intention, you must not allow them to have access to the bridge controls.”

Because then they will attempt to shut off life support in order to knock everyone unconscious, so they can take the Exile intact to wherever they want. Not a bad plan, Jasra thought. Too bad I didn’t think of it first.

“Do you understand, Crystal?”

She hoped she did. Crystal sounded like she was genuinely confused about what was happening on board the Ebon Hawk, and even though Jasra brought in the occasional bounty, she didn’t like to see innocent bystanders get hurt in the process. It was just bad form. Anyone else though…well, they just got what they deserved.

"Crystal?"