Mercenary Crew: Age of the empire:Chapter III:Rhea.

A weeks ago the crew of the Echo narrowly escaped the clutches
of lord vader, with the help of a jedi knight known as Riebe. After
departing their saviour, the crew travelled to Naboo.

However waiting them was two dreadnought-class ships and a large
amount of tie fighters.

Piolt entry 1..After dropping off the jedi near Alldereen, the crew didn't really know what to do. We were short on supplies and needed a job but we needed to stay under the imperial radar. It took us a few days to decide but we decided going to head to naboo. Not the smartest of all ideas because we when we exitted hyperspace two dreadnoughts and a few tie squadrons were waiting for us.
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The Dreadnoughts were not that far away from Echo and the tie squadrons were hovering around the mercinary ship like misquitoes.

"Mercenary ship 'Echo'! Cut power to engines and prepared to be board or you shall be arrest be destroyed" Hailed the Dreadnought ship.


Jack looked at the captain and said "I reckon I could get us out of this mess alive but we may experience some slight terpolence.. and proberly an explosion. Or we could us let them board us and arrest us..again." Jack took in a deep breath "And they'll be able to follow us"

((OCC- The intro is a bit slim on information. We need to know thing's like why are we going to Naboo? aswell as a basic idea of the stories plot.))

((and use the discussion thread so this one isn't cluttered. -stingerhs))

Cloud was in the engine room keeping the shields up. "Sooner or later, these shields might go down." thought Cloud. It was always the same way. Old parts about to become broken parts unless Cloud was there to repair them. Before, he had bought some parts for the shield out of his share(since Nic won't get them himself), but he hadn't had time to install them. And ever since Cloud got them into trouble when Sephiroth, Cloud's enemy, got them arrested and staring at Darth Vader's masked face, Cloud didn't really do anything or talk to anyone but Ryshana. He felt she could teach him about fighting Sith. It would certainly help when taking on Sephiroth, who is now an apprentice of Darth Vader. Suddenly, the engine stopped. "Spawn of a Space Slug." said Cloud. He then used Force Speed to speed himself up and repair the engine in a few seconds. He earlier found out that he was force sensative in an earlier adventure(see MC: AotE: Old Friends and New Jobs for more details). Ever since then, Cloud was getting better at repiring things with the help of the Force. He then went back to work repairing the shields.

Nic Looked at the sensors. "Being boarded once in a week is about my limit, Get us on the round away from the Imps" Nic said looking up at Jack "and if you could avoid the explosion, that would be nice."

"Erm, whose idea was it to come to Naboo?" Beryl said, looking at Nic as she stood poised at the entrance to the bridge, dressed in her fighter pilot's gear and ready to dart back to the hanger if the situation required it. "This is your home world, right? Don't you have any 'favours' you can cash in with any of the locals? A diversion would be nice right about now."

She stared out the port window of the bridge at the Dreadnaughts. "And I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather die than be boarded again." She shivered. "Just thinking about that Lord Vader and his lackeys makes my blood feel like ice water. I don't think I'll ever feel warm again."

She heard the engines go down, but before she could say anything, they came back on line. She let out a shuddering sigh. "Just get us out of here, Jack."

"This is your home world, right? Don't you have any 'favours' you can cash in with any of the locals? A diversion would be nice right about now."

"No, i don't no anyone here, not anymore anyway." Nic said continuing to look at the scanners.

Nic hadn't been to Naboo since he first left ten years ago just before the Empire was formed. It wasn't his idea to come here, he had spent his years as a Merc attempting to avoid Naboo, Nic had always told people it was because he didn't want to see his homeworld under imperial control, this was a lie. The real reason was far darker and Nic's personal seacret, no one else knew. Nic had tried to forget about it but he never could it kept coming into his mind, The memories had gotten stronger resently eversince the jedi came to his ship.

"Jana, Beyl get to battle positions." Nic said before he hit the intercom button. "Ryshanna it's time to earn your keep, I need you in the turret."

"Ready if needed, Nic," Jana called from her turret. During the last week, she'd been very quiet, keeping mostly to her room unless needed. In fact, these were her first words of the day. She peered out, squinting at the dreadnaughts and muttered, "But I sure hope I'm not..."

Oliver was sitting in his room. He had dreamed the same dream again. Of course - it woulden't stop. He didn't actually care anymore. He could always drink so much, that he would forget it. He took a new bottle from his box. A nice one from Dantooine. He took a big gulp. And he suddenly realised, that something was wrong. The taste was so wierd.

He falled from his chair with a big noise. He was unconscious.

"Ready if needed, Nic," Jana called from her turret.

"What? She speaks?!" Beryl commented outloud on her comlink, as she headed for the Headhunter. "It's about damn time!"

Once inside and the hatch closed, she waited--waited for the hatch to open, waited for the Headhunter to drop, waited to feel the adrenaline surge that would come with the pleasure of seeing an Imperial TIE explode into nothingness from the touch of her finger.

"Drop me when ready, Jack," she said into her comm. Her eyes narrowed with determination. "I'm playing for keeps this time."

"Ryshanna it's time to earn your keep, I need you in the turret."

Jumping up from her seat, Ryshana quickly ran to the turret and strapped in. Putting on a headset, she flipped a couple of switches to get everything charged up and ready to go. "All set if you need me, Captain," Ryshana stated over the intercom.

"No can do phyco, if you go out thier you'll only ruin my escape plan because the captain doesn't like leaving people behind"Replied Jack

"Well jedi. Lets see how good you are on that turret! Open fire on all enemy tie fighters." As Jana and Ryshanna fired abon the tie squadron, Jack succesfully avoid the dreadnoughts fire for several minutes untill Jack was able to enter hyperspace.

After doing that, he looked on the computer screen to the left of him "For force sake! Don't these people ever quit. Bad news captain, one of the dreadnoughts is following us. Doesn't look like any ties is following us." Jack looked at Nick who wasnt really speaking "errm, this is the time were you give me an order.."

"Dmn it, We're going to have to land this thing, Take us down to the swmpland. We should be able to use them in the forest." Nic ordered as he began to redirect power and hit the intercom buttom. "Cloud we need all power to manouvering thrusters."

"Okay. This is going to be a trick move. It's not easy to turn around in hyperspace. But I can do it...just." With skill, he was able to get out of hyperspace and quickly turn around and reentered hyperspace, heading towards naboo.

The echo returned to naboo space "Looks like we caught them by sirprise. The most of the tie fighters have docked inside the Dreadnought, however, the ones that haven't are firing abon us.."

EARLIER

"On it, Captain." Cloud. Those were the first words he said to him in a while. As Cloud tough, his hands moved fast to move power to thrusters.

NOW

Cloud got up and looked around. The shields were holding up fine, the engine was working fine, and life support systems were at 100%. He felt like there wasn't much to do when he used the Force to help him. He got out and looked into the bottom turret. There were scortch marks from a fire, a burnt seat, and a targeting computer that had malfunctioned. That turret made Cloud's face pale every time he seen it. It was the turret Aerith died in. And every time Cloud passed it, he turned very pale.

Still sitting in the Headhunter, and still hopeful that Jack would drop out of hyperspace and drop her so she could get some TIE kills, Beryl sighed.

Since they had escaped Vader's Star Destroyer, Beryl had been feeling rather useless. There wasn’t much more she could do to enhance the Headhunter, and it was pretty useless when they were in hyperspace. Jana and Ryshana had the turrets covered, and everyone else seemed to have a useful purpose on board. Even Cloud didn't need Beryl’s help with anything anymore, not with his new found affinity with the 'Force'.

She snorted bitterly at the thought. 'The Force.' She didn't want to believe in it, but seeing Cloud's enhanced speed and skills firsthand, made it hard for her to deny its existence. As a young child, she had been earmarked as a 'Force Sensitive'—something that she, and her father, had always tried to deny. But Vader words to her on the Star Destroyer had made it chillingly clear that she couldn’t hide her affliction from him. Being a Force Sensitive these days was dangerous enough without attention from the Emperor’s right hand man, and with three Force Sensitives now on board, it wasn’t surprising that the Empire had taken such a sudden interest in the Echo.

She flexed her hands. Her frustration was building, and she needed an outlet before she ended up doing some serious damage to something.

"Aw, c'mon, Jack!" she complained indignantly into the comm. "Come out of hyperspace and drop me already! I need some action!"

Cloud didn't want to look at the turret any longer. He looked away and walked around the ship. He had been with it a long time, but yet he always felt like he was somewhere new when he walked around the Echo. "I guess I've been lost." thought Cloud. He always did feel like something was missing since Aerith died. He thought of home on Aldeeran. It was nice to think of home. The fields that never seem to end, the houses of his old friends, and the beaches where he use to swim. He missed it. But, he loves space. Cloud then focused around him and realized that he wasn't home. He was on the Echo. Cloud realized that nothing would go back to the way they used to be. "Nothing is the same for me anymore." Cloud said to himself. He then walked to the engine room and watched to see if anything was going to malfunction.

"Okay Beryl, but we're going to have meet up on the planet. I can't stop the ship to pick you up" Jack released the Headhunter and then dived the Echo towards Naboo "Everyone hold on to something. This is going to be a bumbt ride."

As the Headhunter dropped from the Echo, Beryl finally had a way to release her frustrations. She hung back a bit, watching until she saw the flare from the Echo's belly that signalled that it was entering the first layers of atmosphere.

The TIEs were approaching fast, paying little attention to her, their focus obviously on the larger Echo. That soon changed.

Not even bothering with the targeting computer, Beryl's eyes narrowed with deep concentration. Up until now, shooting down TIEs had been mostly fun and games to her. This time, Beryl was all business. In the short time it took the TIE squadron leader to realise that she was a serious threat, three of his twelve ships had been blown into oblivion and she was shooting at a fourth. But, fun and games aside, she still had time for some thrills.

As the leader swung his squadron around to face her, she accelerated, heading straight at the leader in what appeared to be a suicide run. She easily took out number four and five before forcing the leader and the rest of his pals to veer off or collide head on with her. But Beryl never even flinched.

She had done that same move several times in combat trials when she was a test pilot, which is how she had earned the nickname 'Psycho'. But she herself didn't see it as a risky move. Somehow she always knew which way and when the opposing pilots would move.

With the TIEs now going in different directions, she looped looped below them, targeting the ones closest to the Echo first. She dispatched number six and seven in short order. Number eight thought he would out-manoeuvre her by taking a quick dive and a roll to the left. He was severely mistaken, as she anticipated where he would be before he probably knew himself.

With only four TIEs left, she went after the leader next. He was a bit more challenging, obviously having more flight experience than the others. But she was neither a kid just out of flight school nor a rogue pirate or smuggler. She stuck on him like glue, and even with his quick moves, he couldn't shake her.

A flash of red passed by her. Obviously he had called for assistance, for Beryl soon realised she now had two TIEs on her tail. She rolled the ship suddenly left, then suddenly right, wagging the wings to narrowly avoid the enemy fire from behind.

An alarm began to sound. One of the TIEs behind her had locked on. In less time than it took to press a fire button, she reversed thrusters, and the two ships sped past her. The two TIEs that had been her pursuers were now her prey. A quick array of blaster fire soon made them regret their mistake in following her too closely.

She circled back to find the leader. He was alone now. His last remaining ship had ditched the battle and was heading for the safety of the Dreadnaught. Again she pursued him, matching him move for move until she was in weapons range.

"Die," she said, as she depressed the fire button. One shot to the ion engine and it exploded, sending the TIE spinning out of control. Caught in the gravity of the planet, there was little the TIE could do but plummet towards the outer layers of atmosphere. She followed, diving at him, and with one quick blast, put him out of his misery.

She skimmed the atmosphere, pulling up just as an alarm told her the outside temperature had increased to dangerous levels due to her angle of approach. She checked her scanners. No TIEs in pursuit, but no Echo either.

"Crap." She flicked a few switches, and began searching not for the Echo's signature, but for its ion trail that led down to Naboo's surface.

Nic strapped in to his seat and continued to look at the sensors, he switched off add ID and activated the Jamming system. Nic felt the ship shudder as they hit the atmosphere, Nic switched the atmospheric shields to prevent the hull from over heating.

"Get us out of this alive jack, and i'll bye you a drink." Nic said as if Jack actually needed an insentive for not burning up the ship.

The echo kept diving towards the planet, the ground get closer and closer. After a minute or so of falling, the ship was at the point were, if the ship would fall for a few seconds more, the Echo would collide with the ground. But before that could happen Jack caused the ship to hault in mid air. As he did so the whole ship shook violently for a few seconds.

"You owe me a drink,captain" Said Jack as he got the ship into a better poistion for moving "You wanna land in the swamp or the nearby city?"

Nic had only just straitened himself up after the violent shaking and turned to Jack. "Land just outside the capital, In the forest. they won't think to look there, too obvious."

"My brain got knocked up to the cockpit there," Jana called dryly. "Someone want to return it to me?"

She came out of the turret and headed up to the cockpit. "Never mind, I'll retrieve it myself," she said, coming in. "Nice shakeup there, Jack. Warn us next time, could you?"

"Wheres the fun in that."Jack replied as he moved the ship towards the forrest.

"By the way, mind getting to the bottem turret and blast us a land spot in the forrest below?"

Jana smiled slightly and did as requested. Then, she came back to the cockpit. "There you are, Mr. Goren. A fresh landing pad for you."

Beryl followed the ion trail as far as she was able to, then it began to dissipate as it drew close to the main city of Theed and mingled with other ion trails from other cargo ships.

"Damn it," Beryl complained outloud to herself. "Where'd they go?"

As it was unlikely they had decided to land in the city itself, she began to scan the nearby swamps and forests. Nothing. Jack or Nic had most likely decided it was best to send out a jamming signal to disrupt any potential Imperial scans. Smart move, but it made them nearly invisible. But they had to be somewhere near by. She could feel...

"Stop it!" she said to herself. "There is no such thing as the Force! You can't feel them. It's just intuition and common sense." She let out a deep breath. "Intuition and common sense," she repeated trying to reinforce her belief as she skimmed closer to the surface.

Then she saw them. A small glimmer of metal in the middle of a stand of thick trees. She closed her eyes, and shook her head slowly. "Okay," she said to no one. "So I found them without much bother. But it's not the Force. It's luck."

She manoeuvered the Headhunter to land a few hundred metres west of the Echo in a small natural clearing.

Nic checked the sensors and saw Beryl land the headhunter west of their position, Nic knew someone would have to get her as the forest would be pretty dangerous. Unfortuitly the Echo was low on fuel and Nic knew he didn't have any Supplies onboard, Nic looked over at Jana.
"we need to split up, I'll take Ryshanna to go get our lost pilot. You lead the rest into thread get and some fuel and supplies."

((if this is o.k with Steven.))

Beryl opened up the hatch, then climbed out to have a look around. It was hard to see much except the trees that surrounded the clearing. She checked around the ship, looking for any type of damage.

"Looks good," she said to herself. "Now to hide you." She looked around. She didn't have any way to cloak her ship, but she could camoflague it using some of the abundant vegetation.

She climbed back up to the cockpit and recorded a message. "I'm going to look for vegetation to camoflague the ship. Then I'm coming to find you. I think you're only just under a kilometer away, so it shouldn't take long." She closed the hatch, then locked it (though anyone from the Echo would know that the security code was 768.)

At the edge of the clearing, she gathered some of the branches that had been broken off when she landed her ship, and hastily hoisted them across the top of her ship. It wasn't perfect, but anyone looking down from the air would have a hard time spotting it amongst the trees.

She brushed off her hands and started to head east through the trees. Just a few metres into the forest though, the hair on the back of her neck began to rise. She stopped, listening for any out of place sounds.

A branch snapped, and she turned to the left to see...

"Oh, frack!" she said in a hushed voice, as she slowly began to back away from the biggest, toothiest, Nabooan Tusk-Cat she had ever seen. She reached down where her blaster should be. "Double frack!" she whispered again. She had left it on the Echo. She grinned nervously as the beast growled, and her eyes darted around for something to use as a weapon, or failing that, a tree that she could climb. "Nice kitty..."

"I looked at the scanners. The dreadnoughts seems to be waiting in space and scanning for us. I wouldn't be sirprised if they had men in the city looked for us. I could stay here and think of an escape plan. But it's up to you captain"Suggested Jack

Jana looked around for a moment. "Well, I'm not terribly interested in sitting around," she said, snapping just a little more than she intended to. "Come on, Cloud. Let's head into Theed." She turned to go, but paused and glanced at Jack for a moment. Then, she nodded and headed off into the jungle toward the city.

A black bird hopped around on the forest floor, pecking at the ground as it looked for something to eat. Suddenly, it stopped. Cocking its head to one side, then the other, it reached out with its beak and began to peck at the raw edges of a small scrap of black fabric. It lifted it, peering underneath to see if it hid perhaps a small beetle or other tasty crawly bug. But it hadn’t been on the forest floor long enough to become a hiding spot for any insects yet.

The bird continued in its search, hopping in and out of the large feline tracks in the soft ground of the forest floor and still other depressions in the ground, these patterned as they were made by the sole of a boot. It moved cautiously, pecking and hopping, cocking its head and looking and listening for any sounds of danger while it searched for food.

Something caught its eye. A spot of bright red on a leaf. Thinking it might be a type of beetle, it pecked quickly at it, but the spot was liquid, not solid and the bird lost interest.

Further into the brush, it crossed over two parallel tracks dug into the dirt. Whatever had been dragged this way had cleared away the forest’s leaves, exposing some tasty ground crawlies which the bird gobbled up quickly.

Then there was a sudden rustle of leaves. Sensing danger, the bird spirited away.

It skimmed through the treetops, following the tracks until they crossed a path in the forest. The path was used by the herd drivers of the plains as they drove their animals into the bustling city of Theed, and it was always filled with potential meals for a hungry bird.

Something shiny on the path caught its eye. It dove towards it, landing close to the round medallion lying in the soft dirt. The bird picked at the dark string attached to it, thinking it might be a tasty and unfortunate worm.

Footsteps heralded the arrival of a potential predator. The bird took flight, finding refuge on a nearby tree branch, where it squawked and shouted at the creatures that had interrupted its foraging.

((hmm, i take it something bad happened to Beryl. should Ryshana notice, or are you planning something else???))

As Ryshana watched Jana leave, she finished attaching her lightsaber to her belt. "Come on, lets go get our pilot, Captain," Ryshana told Nic with a slight smile.

((Ryshana can notice if you want her to. Safe to say, nothing is planned, Beryl is not severely injured, nor is she dead. She just is...missing, for the moment. There are clues that either party can find to tell them that something's happened to her, but exactly what will largely depend on the responses from you and the other players.))

Jana walked in silence toward the city of Theed. She felt rather irritable at the moment and it bothered her that she couldn't quite pinpoint why. Therefore, she had decided it was better to avoid speaking than to snap at Cloud.

It only added to her mood when a bird began screeching at her. Annoyed, she swore at it in Corellian, turning to glare. It flew away further, satisfying Jana... until her foot caught on a branch hidden beneath dead leaves. Swearing again, she rolled over, preparing to get up. Then, something caught her eye.

"TCTA..." she murmured, crawling over and plucking a medallion from the forest floor. Suddenly, she was angry. "Oh, Beryl," she grumbled, "What have you gotten yourself into?"

She turned to Cloud. "You go on ahead into Theed. Get some supplies and get back to the Echo. Beryl's not at the Headhunter and I'm going to look for her. If I'm not back to the ship by the time you get back, let them know I'm hunting for her, ok?"

Without waiting for an answer, she slipped away into the jungle, following the few signs she saw... the scraped ground, indicating something was dragged, bits of cloth. Soon, she was out of Cloud's sight.

Nic though the Betsy over his shoulder and began to walk out of the ship. "we're heading west." He told Ryshanna without stopping. Nic and Ryshana began to walk through the forest.

As they walked Nic's mind kept wondering about differant thing, His mind started with the resent Events involving Vader and Reibe. Reibe, the Jedi who killed him and saved his life, the women who told him to protect Jana. It became perfectly apparant that Reibe Tested Nic all those years ago to protect her Desendant. The past week Nic stayed out of Jana's way, Nic knew that if Jana was a desendant of a Jedi she would probably be force sensitive, Just what the crew needed another force sensitive. He knew they had A few now Ryshana, the resently discovered Cloud, Jana and of course Beryl. Although Nic was unsure if Beryl knew she was sensitive but he did, It didn't take long for him to work it out, she was a superb pilot but she was too good for her not to have some assistance from the force. Nic never confronted her about, it wasn't his place. Nic looked back at ryshanna while still walking.

Oliver was still laying in his room. He was awaken agian - but he coulden't stand up. He saw double, and he could feel a great pain in his liver. He tried to stand up, but he was too dizzy to control himself. "Help....me" he shouted, but there wasen't an answer. Only a deep silence. He could remember the silence, and it scared him. He tried to get a communicator (OOC: I suppose we have a thing like that?), and tried to reach Nic. But suddenly he coudn't speak - and when he got contact to Nic, he was beginning to die on the floor. He was tottaly alone.

(Well - Oliver is posioned by one of his drinks. A deadly poison poison I'm gonna follow it up, when i'm heading the RP :) )

As they walked along throught the forest, Ryshana remembered back to her meditations, more specifically the meditations about Nic. It was a bit disturbing, especially the meditation that had labeled him as a murderer, but she wondered if now would be a good time to ask him about it. It probably wouldn't be a good time. I think a bit more in depth meditation on the matter would reveal more, Ryshana thought to herself.

Suddenly, Ryshana suddenly got the feeling that something wasn't quite right with Beryl. It was a bit strange since she hadn't really been thinking about her for the past couple of moments.

Finally, they came into a bit of a clearing where the Headhunter was. "Looks like she tried to hide it," Ryshana observed out loud as she noticed the branches and limbs hastily thrown on top of the Headhunter. "That is a bit odd, though. She's not here," Ryshana stated.

Nic looked around the ared and saw some foot-prints, They where standard pilot's boots, the kind Beryl wore. "It look's like she was heading back toward's the ship, But her direction is off by a few degrees, we probably walked right past her and didn't notice." Nic looked around and tried to remember what was in the direction Beryl had taken. "Oh Beryl, Not that way."

Looking somewhat oddly over at Nic, Ryshana asked, "Is something wrong with her going in that direction??"

((Along the way, you guys should also notice Jana's footprints, as she also headed after Beryl.))

"Tusk cat Hunting grounds. She may still be fine, If she's lucky she came across a Female who will take her back to it's cave for the cubs to feast off of." Nic says still examinig the ground, he turns back to Ryshanna who is obviouly wondering why It's a good thing. "They like to feed their young live food. Let's go we still may have time."

Jana plunged through the bushes into a small clearing. Two tusk cats were fighting over a piece of meat there.

"Not Beryl," Jana observed quietly. The cats stopped and stared at her and she backed away slightly. "Definitely not Beryl."

She was glad for her weapons. She didn't wait for the cats to attack. With her blaster, she shot and injured one. The other lunged and Jana barely managed to get her knife out before it was on top of her. With a loud yell, she drove the knife through the cat's throat. It struggled for a moment before collapsing and rolling off.

Jana lay there for a moment, asessing her condition. Her sleeves and pant legs were a bit torn, but she decided she was fine other than the scrape on her left arm. She ripped some of her shirt and wrapped the injury. She'd deal with it later.

The injured cat was nowhere in sight, so Jana gathered her weapons and went on.

"You go on ahead into Theed. Get some supplies and get back to the Echo. Beryl's not at the Headhunter and I'm going to look for her. If I'm not back to the ship by the time you get back, let them know I'm hunting for her, ok?"

"But..." Cloud said before Jana disappeared into the forest. He was going to tell her that he didn't have any credits and that he spent his own new ship parts since Nic doesn't pay for them himself and that Nic forgot to pay him this morning. Cloud sighed. He continued walking through the forest when he seen a Gungan. It was walking around looking for food. Cloud noticed that a kaadu was with him. He decided to communicate in their language. "Ex squeezee me." called Cloud. The Gungan turned toward Cloud. "Heyo dalee!" said the Gungan back to him. "What can mesa be doin for yu?" "Mesa... er... looking for... uh... Theed." Cloud said in a bad accent. He wasn't very good at speaking Gunganese. "Hmmm..." thought the Gungan. "How bout mesa takin yu to Theed? It be hard walkin in stickgooshy." "Er... Okeeday." Cloud said. They both hopped on the kaadu and rode off towards Theed.

((http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gunganese)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Old_Gungan)

Links to Gungan language above.))

Looking at the ground a bit closer, Ryshana noticed that one of Beryl's prints had been stepped on by another print. "Just a second, Nic. There's another set of prints here," Ryshana stated as she pointed out the different print. Moving her eyes along the direction of the print, there was another print. "This set of tracks appears to be following Beryl and whatever that cat is you referred to."

Suddenly, the distinctive sound of a blaster going off was heard through the branches of the trees followed by a bit of distant commotion. Without waiting for Nic, Ryshana very quickly ran towards the commotion.

Nic watched ryshanna charge past him quickly. "Ryshanna Wait!"

Nic then grabbed betsy and armed it. "What is it with women and running strait towards danger."

Nic then ran after Ryshanna.

Ryshana quickly ran into a small clearing and was about to activate her lightsaber and attack, but there was nobody in the clearing. Just a dead cat, Ryshana thought. Leaning down, she could still feel a bit of the Force within the animal which meant that it had been killed within the last couple minutes. Looking towards the ground, Ryshana saw the same set of tracks heading furthing into the jungle.

Placing the lightsaber back onto her belt, Ryshana stood up and waited for Nic.

Nic ran through the forest until he reached a Clearing where Ryshanna was, Nic Stopped near the edge and leant over resting his hands on his knees. He began breathing heavily as the sprint wore himout as he tried to keep up with the jedi.

"Why... do... you... have... to... run... so...fast?" Nic said as he stood up strait almost breathing normally.

Ryshana tried to hold back a smile at Nic's comment. "Aww, come on. Its not that difficult," Ryshana joked. "Come on, the tracks lead this way," Ryshana stated while nodding in the direction of the tracks. "And we're close. However killed this thing did so within the past couple minutes. So, let's get moving."

With that, Ryshana walked off slowly and followed the tracks.

Nic Followed Ryshana keping all his sences open incase a tusk cat decided to try her luck, They weren't fussy about who hey attacked. Nic Looked at Ryshana, the past week there was somthing strange about the way she acted arround him and looked at him. He didn't really know why it was strange, it may just be her way, afterall he had only known her a week now.

Nic had checked all entries on this Twi'lek and discovered a great deal of things, she was a slave but had quickly found a home with a jedi. as she was a jedi she became a general in the clone wars and managed to make a commando squad turn against the empire, but that was about all he could discover about her.

Nic just continued walking letting these thoughts play in his mind.

Beryl awoke to realise she was lying face down on the ground, but her instincts told her not to move or open her eyes just yet. Her head was throbbing, her ribs ached, and her neck was stiff. The last thing she remembered was having a Tusk Cat leap at her and knock her to the ground. The musky smell of the beast still hung strongly in the air, and so she knew she wasn’t out of danger just yet.

She listened for a moment, hearing snuffles and low purring growls nearby, so very slowly, she cracked open one eye. Wherever she was, the light was brighter to the left of her than to the right. A cave, she guessed. Something white caught her eyes. As she tried to focus on it, she realised it was a bone. A very large bone.

Something roughly pawed at her thigh, and Beryl tried hard not to flinch or wince. She stilled her breathing, playing dead for the moment while she gathered her senses. A loud snuffling noise crept towards her head. She was being sniffed. The bone wasn’t too far away. If she was quick enough, she just might be able to grab it and whack the creature in a sensitive area, distracting it long enough for her to get away.

Another paw and a nudge, this time, seeming more urgent. A low growl began to rumble up from the Tusk Cat. It was now or never, Beryl thought.

She snatched the bone in her hand and struck out behind her, hoping to hit the sensitive nose or eyes of the beast that was obviously intent on having her for lunch. The creature roared in pain, and without a backwards glance, she scrambled to her feet and headed for the light of the entrance.

Something caught her foot, and she hit the ground, rolling like she had been trained to come to rest on her back.

The Tusk Cat’s claws were embedded in her left boot. The animal bared its teeth and let out a thundering roar that echoed off the cave walls. Aiming for its head, she kicked the animal as hard as she could. It yelped, releasing its grip long enough on her half shredded boot for her to pull her foot out of it.

She scrambled backwards, noticing that the Tusk Cat had younglings that were approaching her. "I’m a training tool?” she thought, as she managed to stand.

The angry mother Tusk Cat lunged at her again, this time sinking her claws into Beryl’s flight jacket. A quick and violent tussle ensued, but Beryl managed to slip out of the jacket, leaving the cat to chew on leather instead of her.

Then she ran. She could sense the cat hadn’t given up and was pursuing her, and she looked over her shoulder.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a swoop bike and before she knew it, she felt something grasp her arm, followed by the intense pain of her shoulder popping out of its joint, and she was lifted from the ground, hurling though the air, leaving the roaring Tusk cat and its kittens behind her.

Jana's ears caught the sounds of a swoop bike nearby and she rushed forward, hoping to ask the rider about Beryl. She stopped abruptly when she realized the rider was a Stormtrooper... and that a mother Tusk Cat and her children were staring hungrily at Jana.

"Sorry, babes," she murmured, wasting no time and shooting the mother. Crying, the kittens crawled around their dead mother, trying to understand what just happened as Jana hurried past. As she did so, one of the kittens got over its confusion enough to latch on to her leg. With a cry of pain, she stumbled and fell. The kitten gave a little yelp as she fell on it, but quickly righted itself and pounced.

"I don't think so, little cat," Jana growled, bashing her blaster against its head. It yelped and leapt back, giving Jana the time she needed to scramble to her feet. Her left hand gripped at something and it came away from the ground with her, but she didn't pay much attention to it. Eyeing the kittens incredulously, she fired a few shots around the area, sending them crying back into their cave. Then, she limped away as quickly as she could.

Only then did she realize she was holding a shredded boot... one that belonged to Beryl Quitaan.

((Perfect place for Nic and Ryshana to run into her, eh? Bite marks on her leg, torn shirt, hair all over, and almost more importantly, holding Beryl's shredded boot. ;) ))