The Dark Apprentice of Darth Tyrannus stood by a window overlooking the landing pad where The Carnage rested. K'Nala Had finally completed her dark training under the Sith and found herself feeling stronger than ever.

Her Master stood by her side. "Soon we shall have our revenge."

"Yes Master." K'Nala replied. "I shall do my part."

"I Know my young Apprentice, You are the geatest Swordsman I have ever trained."

"Many Jedi will feel the Wrath of my Blade."

"Go Now, Meet The Crew i have Assembled."

K'Nala faced her master and bowed before walking off towards the ship.

In the small cockpit, Raze was going through the final preparations for launch. The Carnage was a fine ship--modern, quick, and with state-of-the-art armaments, but there was one thing that it came equipped with that she didn’t care for. A Dark Jedi by the name of K’Nala.

It wasn't the fact that she wasn't familiar with K'Nala. Most of the crew were new to her, but they all had a valid purpose--medic, engineer, gunners. K'Nala's only purpose, however, was to be Dooku's watchdog. And that's what Raze resented about her. Irritated by just thinking about being 'watched', Raze's skin flushed orange for a second--a genetic 'gift' passed to her from her estranged Falleen father.

She peered out the window where she could see Count Dooku conversing with his Dark Apprentice. Raze herself didn’t really like Jedi—dark, light, or otherwise. But Dooku’s offer to her to pilot the Carnage was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Outside, K’Nala bowed to Dooku, and then headed to board the ship.

“Heads up, Captain,” Raze said over her shoulder. “Trouble’s boarding.”

She flicked a couple of switches, then frowned at the display. She pushed the com button. “Hey, Logan,” she said into the mic. “See if you can tweak that left stabilizer. The adjustment looks off on my end.”

As the message from Raze echoed through the ship, Seth sat up and looked out his small dormitory window. K'Nala, the newcomer was heading towards the ships boarding ramp looking strangely tedious.

"hmm, this should be interesting" He mutters to himself as he sets himself back down and continues shining his blaster. He quickly wipes it for the last time and puts it in his holster. "Might as well take a look" he says as begins walking down the corridor.

Seth continues down until he reaches the boarding ramp where stands and waits for the new arrival and the rest of the crew members. As the boarding ramp goes down he leans against the wall and a calm expression spreads across his face.

Shadow inspected the ship he would be calling home. He was impressed with its design and layout, along with many other things that Count Dooku had armed it with. Whenever he saw one of the crew, he acknowledged that they existed but didn't really talk to them. There would be another time for that.

He was curious as to what their mission was going to be, but he assumed that Dooku, or his apprentice, would brief them soon. He was inspecting the exterior of the ship when saw a woman wearing black walking to the ship and went to greet her. She was most likely the apprentice K'Nala. Shadow didn't care for Jedi or Sith. Same religion, just different sides. He'd killed a few before the war and quite a few on Geonosis.

"Hello. I'm Shadow Gravemind." Shadow said as he met up with her. She was shorter than he expected, but then he couldn't expect everyone to be seven feet tall.

"Give me a minute," Replied Richard "It would be easier if the Sep's give me a blue-print or something about the ship. This is completely different from anything I've worked with. How are things with you?"

Vanir got out of the cockpit and saw Dooku's Apprentice, K'Nala, being greeted by Shadow. He walked up to her and engaged in a conversation.

"Greetings, Milady. You must be Count Dooku's apprentice, K'Nala, if i'm not mistaken. Welcome to The Carnage." Vanir told K'Nala. He wasn't called "The Raven" for nothing. He made sure his friends were close, and his enemies, even closer.

"This is completely different from anything I've worked with. How are things with you?"

Raze's eyebrow twitched. She pushed the com button. "If you are enquiring about my well-being, Logan, then things are fine. And things would be even better if you told me you were ready for a cold-start with the engines."

Her finger let off the button. "The sooner we get in space, the better," she said quietly to herself.

She waited a moment more, then pushed the com button again. "Logan, are you ready?"

"I am K'Nala Eco." She stated looking at the two men, She was given full reports on the whole crew and knew who they were. "and we have no time for plesentries, I will retreat to my chambers on the ship and familiarise my self with them untill my master calls us for the breifing."

Jack was inspecting his turret when he noticed the Dark Jedi boarded the ship. "Great, that must be Dooku's puppet who will be coming along with the rest of us. "

He didn't bother climbing out of his turret. "The contract only stated I should carry out her orders, apart from that, I don't have to hold 'social talks' as long as I do what I'm told." he was thinking to himself and decided that he would not greet her at all. "Besides, she probably read the crew profiles before she got here."

"I'm ready." Richard replied after closeing the metal lid to the left stabilizer "Has Dooku's little watch dog arrived yet?" Richard has never liked Jedi or anyone who had the abbility to wield the force, he believed that the Jedi or Sith looked down on ordinary people like himself.

Trando Shan was inside the medical bay, unpacking his things. He wasn't sure if he would like any of his new crew mates and he had a feeling he would have to kill them. He would just have to wait and see. Doctor Death wasn't just a nickname for him. It was a title.

Raze grinned at the engineer's quip about Dooku's apprentice, and at that very moment, she decided that she and this Richard Logan would get along just fine.

She pushed the com button for engineering. "She's boarding now," she said into the mic. "So, we'd better get these engines started. No doubt she'll want to depart soon." She flicked another switch or two, then checked her displays again. "Preparing for cold start on my mark," she said into the com again. "Three. Two. One." She pushed a red button. "Mark."

The engines began to whine as they started up then leveled off into a low hum. Of a new design, they could stay in idle for hours without overheating, which made Raze's job of pre-flight that much easier.

Lights that were once dim now glowed brightly on the control panel in front of her as the ship came off battery power. "Checking life support systems..." she said to her engineer. "Can you adjust the air flow from where you are, Mr. Logan? The pressure gauge is reading a bit low."

Soon the others would be on the Carnage. Trando wasn't really looking foward to working with anybody, especially with a pawn of Darth Tyrannus. Oh well, this what his mission would be all about. If anyone turned on him, he would certainly use his instruments of evil to sort them out.

"I can but there's no point. The thing's at what it should be. We just to wait for it to warm up abit." Repled Richard, explaining the best way he could. He was never good at saying what he was doing. He waited a moment "How's the pressure gauge now?"

Shadow inwardly shrugged and followed her into the ship. He knew that she was there to watch them, but the watchers could also be watched. Shadow had a technique for killing Lightsaber weilders. Hose them down with more fire than they could deflect. That's where his Assault Rifle came in. It fired 15 rounds per second and they were projectiles also. Projectiles are too fast to deflect.

They were so caught up in the force, that they charged straight into enemy fire. Shadow had no gruge against Jedi. The ones he had met were good people, though if his job was to kill them, he would.

He headed straight to the carge bay to get his stuff and unpack.

Vanir went back to the bridge and took his seat as the Pilot and his First-Mate, Raze, as she liked to be called, fired up the engines. He simply sat back and relaxed. Their real missions would begin soon.

Trando left the medical bay and decided to go to the cockpit. He had to ask where the captain was planning to go.

"Excuse me Captain, where do we plan to go?" Trando asked, "And I didn't really catch anyone's names, so could you please tell me?"

The dormitories were empty when Jack was unpacking his bag and putting his equipment in his locker. "Let's see, the stealth field generator, blaster rifle, vibrodaggers, vibrokatana and my assassin gear. Looks like it's all there."
He dropped the empty bag next to his bed and looked around. The room was small but the the workbench, the locker and the bed would suffice.

"Can't wait to test out the new modifications."

"Well, i'm Vanir, she's Raze, Tyrannus's apprentice is called K'Nala, there's Richard the Engineer, the Zabrak Gunner is Seth, and the other two gunners are Shadow and Jack." Vanir told Trando.

"Also, we go were where told to."

"Which is?" Trando asked causually.

"Quite frankly Trando, i don't know and couldn't care less, as long as where paid, and how much we are paid, i'm happy. But if you really want to know, try to speak to K'Nala. I don't know why everybody seems to hold a grudge on her though." Vanir told Trando.

Raze gave a sideways glance as Captain Dres sat down in the chair beside her.

"You're right, Mr. Logan," she said back to Richard through the comlink. "The pressure's slowly rising. Do any final checks that you need and report back to me."

The Trandoshan Medic came in just as she took her finger off the com button. While he talked to the captain, she checked the displays, and she pushed some more buttons, before finally addressing the inquisitive Trandoshan's question.

"We go wherever Count Dooku sends us," she said rather coldly. She looked at Vanir. "I'm running one last diagnostic on the scanners, Captain. After that's done, and everyone's boarded, we'll be ready to launch." She looked at him askance. "Has everyone boarded?" she asked him, raising a single brow that told him she was really asking how his encounter with K'Nala had gone.

Neither Raze or Vanir had answered Trando's question. This made him feel angry at them both. Trando would've killed them with certain drugs, but then Tyrannus would find out and Trando would be fired. Then where would he go? He couldn't go back to his homeworld.

"Well I'll be in the medical bay if anyone wants me." He told both Raze and Vanir.

He left the cockpit.

"Yes, everyone has boarded. What i don't know is, why do you hate her so much?" Vanir asked, raising an eyebrow as well.

Shadow unpacked and and made himself at home. This included camaras to small to see in different places, an auto lock for when he wasn't in the room, and a projectile turret. Perfect.

He decided to head to the bridge and meet the captain. He got there in time to hear "-why do you hate her so much?"

"Hate who?" Shadow asked.

Raze's perfectly symmetrical face tilted sideways with curiousity as she looked at Vanir and then Shadow.

"K'Nala," she said to Shadow. "And I don't hate her. I just dislike the fact that she's on board in the first place. Her only purpose is to watch us and report our actions back to Dooku. And even if we are getting paid quite handsomely, I don't like being evaluated and watched all the time. Do you guys?" She frowned slightly. "And it has absolutely nothing to with the fact that she's a female."

Raze had always felt more comfortable around males than females. Males were easier to manipulate, especially humanoid ones, as her pheremones proved time and time again. But females... Raze knew very well that they could be tricky and unpredictable and, sometimes, downright dangerous. After all, she was one.

"There's a simple solution to that. Watch her too. Sith are always trying to double cross each other for power. If we even have the slightest notion that K'Nala is planning something against Dooku, he will kill her. Besides, I don't really mind being watched. They have to be able to see you to watch you." Shadow said. Then he asked "What does her being a female have to do with it?"

The Falleen were exotic, reptilian humanoids with scaled skin, cold blood and pigmentation that altered according to mood, but the sleek symmetry of their facial features made them among the most beautiful of all humanoid species in the Galaxy. Enhancing that physical appeal were natural pheromones that made them practically irresistible to the opposite sex.

Raze’s father had been Falleen, but having a human mother had tempered some of these traits in her. She didn’t have scales. Nor was she cold-blooded. Outwardly, she appeared completely human. And as she had inherited the symmetry of her father’s features and the natural pheromones, she was an extremely beautiful woman to behold.

But she had also inherited the ability to change her pigmentation, although not as drastically as a full-blooded Falleen could and not in always such a controlled fashion. The Falleen were noted for their pensive nature and lack of emotional outbursts, but Raze was not entirely Falleen. Despite her normally cool and aloof demeanour, her pigmentation often gave away how she truly felt inside.

Raze flicked her dark, lovely, almond-shaped eyes upward to meet Shadow’s and she stared at him for a moment. She knew she was beautiful, and regularly took advantage of the fact to get what she wanted. And right now, she wanted Shadow to agree with her that having K’Nala on board was very inconvenient. Besides, having a 7-ft tall burly human male as a friend and protector was sensible. Raze herself was only of average height and strength--certainly no match for the well-conditioned K'Nala.

“Like I said, K’Nala being female has nothing to with the reason I don’t like having her on board.” But her skin belied her jealously, slightly flushing with tones of red and orange, before returning to her normal shade of pale cream. “But what happens if we do something that she thinks is unnecessary or contradictive to her Master’s goals? We’ll all end up dead.”

"Then simply don't give her a reason. You do your job, she does hers, and we all get paid. A watchdog is really not much of an inconvenience if she can fight. As long as she doesn't go digging around in my head with the force, then she's acceptable. Although, we do agree that she is 'expendable'." Shadow said carefully. It wasn't good to choose sides early on. While he agreed that she was expendable, he didn't agree that she was an inconvenience, leaving him neutral.

When Shadow saw her skin color change, he knew what she was. He'd killed a few of her kind over the years he'd been an assassin, in which he was about 14 when he started so over ten years. Some were half, other whole, but it didn't really make a difference. He also knew about their... special abilities and made a note to keep his breath mask near him at all times. He hadn't seen one in some time, but he could've sworn that she was jealous when her skin changed.

"Interesting." Jack murmured as he was leaning against the wall in the hallway just outside the cockpit. He followed Shadow to the cockpit and decided to listen to the conversation between the three mercenaries.

"Sounds like the First Mate considers the Dark Jedi as unwanted competition. "

He knew all too well how dangerous seductive women could be. During his service for the republic, he worked with a female assassin who used similair methods to get close to her targets and eliminate them.

"Better watch out for this one."

"Competition?" Raze turned fully around in her seat to look at Jack, cockily leaning against the corridor wall. "It's only competition when you have two or more people striving for a common goal. My goal is credits to purchase a ship of my own. Hers is... not." She gave Jack the once over with her eyes. "And there's nothing you have to 'watch out for' from me, unless you plan on making unsolicited presumptions. Not to say that I haven't killed before, but I'm not an assassin." She smiled then, but her smile wasn't entirely friendly. "Are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Jack said when looking Raze in the eyes.

He was dying for a fight, but he wouldn't risk provoking any of the crewmembers. "Hopefully we will get the mission briefing soon." he thought, which reminded him of why he followed Shadow in the first place.

"Did K'nala happen to have said anything about our first mission?" he asked, when he turned to Shadow and Vanir.

"Hell if I know. She said she would retreating to her chambers until Dooku contacted us for orders." Shadow said.

"Too bad, I was hoping we'd get to see some action. This ship isn't so bad, but I don't like floating around in space doing absolutely nothing." he said while being a bit dissapointed.

"Then just have patience. The time to kill will come soon enough." Shadow said and left the cockpit, leaving his converation with Raze and Jack unfinished.

"So, it's those women things, isn't it? It's okay, i respect that. Although sometimes, i think you are all a bit crazy when that comes." Vanir mocked, laughing.

"So, Captain," Raze said to Vanir as she ran her hands over the flight controls, "did Count Dooku or his 'apprentice' give you any preliminary co-ordinates for us? Or are we to just sit here at the space port until this mysterious briefing of his? Because our crew seems anxious to get underway." She glanced at him sideways. "As am I."

"Well Raze," Vanir said, putting his hands behind his head and his feet crossed over a part of the ship, "no, they didn't, so, i'm guessing it is the latter choice." He told her, relaxing like nothing was happening.

As Seth made his way towards the cockpit he listened to the conversation between the crewmembers. "You do know that she could be listening to all of this, she is a dark jedi and their capable of reading thoughts and listening to conversations from afar, i wouldnt be so quick to go announcing your opinions" He said as he walked into the cockpit. "Any way, i think should change the subject, we shouldnt bother with her, she's her to watch so let her watch and we do what have to do"

Once finished set takes a deep breath and parks himself onto one of the seats." So...Jack, what do ya think of the turrets, nice eh? Ive never seen anything like them, different set up to anything ive ever worked with...comfy chair too."

K'Nala sat meditating in the middle of her designated Quarters, she decided the best way to follow Dooku's orders was to bypass talking to them and concentrate on the force around them. Her mind started with the ships captain and was glad to find the main topic of conversation within the cockpit was all about her. K'Nala was very vain, She was attractive and often used this too her advantage, much like the other Female. Rave the half-blood pilot, the women who used her falleen blood to influance males, she will be interesting to observe...

Her mind spread amongst the whole crew, although she did not pry to deeply she knew there minds were all hiding somthing dark secrets of their pasts. She will be interested in discovering these, and perhaps she can use this information to aid her personal quest. To kill Tyrannus and then Sideous.
_____________________________________

The Communications console in the cockpit began to beep, Dooku was ready to give his orders...

As Seth made his way towards the cockpit he listened to the conversation between the crewmembers. "You do know that she could be listening to all of this, she is a dark jedi and they're capable of reading thoughts and listening to conversations from afar, I wouldnt be so quick to go announcing your opinions" He said as he walked into the cockpit. "Anyway, I think we shouldn't be bothered with her. She's only here to watch us so let her do her job and we should continue doing ours."

Seth takes a deep breath and parks himself onto one of the seats.
"So...Jack, what do ya think of the turrets, nice eh? Ive never seen anything like them, different set up to anything ive ever worked with...comfy chair too."

((I made a couple of changes in the quote Chubbslegend, might want to look at it. As you might have read, Shadow already left the cockpit.))


"Yeah, they're nice. The technology is state of the art, but I don't care about luxury chairs as long as the turret works fine. As for K'Nala being able to read minds, I already knew that but let's just say my previous occupation included some 'special training' which taught us how to protect ourselves from certain jedi tricks and keep our thoughts hidden. " Jack grinned as he turned to Raze. He knew that basicly answered her question about him being an assassin.

((The Republic wanted to make sure the assassins didn't leak out any information to the Jedi because some of the secret assassinations were not really permitted by the Jedi council. ))

"Yeah, well ive had no training like that before" He said grinning, "So im gonna look out" he adds as he tries to get comfartable in his chair.

After a rather long silence Seth begins to speak, "So....does anyone have a planet that they would particularly like to visit. I want somewhere cool, im sick of being on warm planets, its driving me crazy".

(( @ Chubbslegend: :lol: ))

"Should I remind you that we get our orders from count Dooku and that we aren't going to be joyriding this ship throughout the galaxy just because one of us thinks the last couple of planets were too warm?"

Trando lay on his bed in the medical bay. He felt tired and he wanted to get a good rest, before their first mission, whatever that was. Soon he drifted off into a long sleep.

Hearing the com console bleep, Raze put in her earpiece, nodded and then hit the com link for the entire ship.

"Okay, it's briefing time, people," she announced loudly over the ship's speakers, so as to wake anyone that may have drifted off to sleep out of boredom. "Pay attention!"

She opened the channel, turned on the speakers so everyone to hear, and then waited for Count Dooku to speak.

The speakers woke Trando up.

"Damn!" Trando shouted, "I was asleep. Why did you have to wake me up now?"

(( @ Chubbslegend: :lol: ))

"Should I remind you that we get our orders from count Dooku and that we aren't going to be joyriding this ship throughout the galaxy just because one of us thinks the last couple of planets were too warm?"

"aah come on, i know somewhere inside of you, your hoping that we get to visit a planet with your vision of the perfect climate" Seth says while laughing

"Now, come on, lets hear this briefing so i can go to bed" he says changing the subject.

A small holographic image of Count Dooku appeared on the console inside the cockpit. "Good day Mercenaries. You are here because you are the best at what you do in the entire galaxy. Your first mission is to find a Republic Listening post and.. Neutralise it. Our resent assults in the outter Rim have all been quashed by the Republic forces as this listening post has been picking up our communications and sending in enough ships to stop us. We do not know where it is but we beleive a Hutt lord, by the name of Gualla, has helped them build the bace and knows it's location. He is on Nar Shaddar, Find him and you've found the Listening Post." The hologram disappeared.

"aah come on, i know somewhere inside of you, your hoping that we get to visit a planet with your vision of the perfect climate" Seth says while laughing

"Now, come on, lets hear this briefing so i can go to bed" he says changing the subject.

"Ah yes, I really desire to visit a desert planet with blood raining all day long."
Jack joked.

"but I guess Nar Shaddaa will do."

"About time that semi- old man gave us orders" he thought.

A grim look appears on Seth's face. "Ahh No, not that place, ive got bad memories there and people i know who hold grudges. At least im not involved with that Hutt." he says looking slightly unhappy. "Oh well, this time im in better company". Seth sits back down in his chair, puts his hands in his head and begin thinking heavily.