"Well i'm here so i'll do it." Nic replied to jack as he hit the comms console and activated the image screen. As the man came on the screen nics eyes widened in slight shook and then smiled. "Hey, Invai. I can honestly say i'd be less shocked if the emporer had called me."

Jack looked at the man and at Jack "Friend of yours?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly looking forward to callin' you up in the first place especially since you're close to bottoms on my list. Anyways, let me just get to the point: I'm a bit overloaded with my last shipment thanks to a bunch of dogs, and I need someone to pick up the slack. If you're interested, the haul on this one is worth about 20,000," Invai said over the comm.

However, his offer wasn't exactly at face value. He was using an old smuggler's code to inform Nic that he had some hot cargo and was under too strict surveillance to get it to the drop off point.

Nic knew that the cargo must be somthing that someone didn't want moved from the way Inavi talked. "I may be interested, Where's the destination and whats the cargo?" Nic asked knowing that the answer would probably be in code... the amount of times he had smuggled 'fireworks' and 'health food' instead of Guns and medical supplies was too many.

Beryl had just finished at the cashier and was pocketing the credit chip with her winnings when someone tapped her on the shoulder from behind.

“Nice game. Can I buy you a drink?”

She turned around to see the good-looking man she had spotted at the bar. “Thanks,” she said, smiling.

“I’m Cord,” he introduced himself. “Hate to sound clichй, but… do you come here often?”

“Nope,” Beryl replied. “First time.”

Cord nodded. “Me, too. I’m on leave, and our commander said we’re not allowed to leave this sector. So, I figured that….”

“On leave?” Beryl’s brow raised, and her smile faded. “You’re an Imperial soldier?” Oh, no…not another Imp again…. Why is it that can’t I find a guy that I like that doesn’t work for the Empire or I don’t have to work with?

“I work for the Empire, yes, but I’m not a soldier.” He gave her a weak smile. “It’s a dull job. Wouldn’t want to bore you with the details, but it’s a living and it’s much better than the job I had before.”

“Which was?”

“Load master for a refuse ship.”

Beryl nodded. Well, most any job was better than working on a refuse ship. “Point taken.” She glanced over at the bar where Ryshana stood near Cloud and Oliver. “Well, nice to meet to you, Cord, but I think I’ve got to pass on that drink.” She started to back away. “I’ve got an appointment in a few minutes.”

Cord nodded. “Oh,” he said disappointedly. “I see. Should have known that someone like you would be unavailable.”

Beryl grinned slightly. “I’m not ‘unavailable,’” she said. “I really do have an appointment.” With a swoop bike, granted, but still…. “Nice talking to you.”

She headed towards the bar.

“Wait!” he said. “If you’re not having a drink with me, at least tell me your name?”

“Garajaminder,” Beryl said, grinning.

She reached the bar and slowed as she passed by Ryshana. “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered.

"Mostly precious metals and some maps. They need to be on the Old Temple Drop by next week," Invai replied. "And you'll need to avoid any bucketheads en route."

Of course, what he really meant was that he had some computer components and some kind of intelligence data which was a sure tipoff that the cargo was for military use. And the drop was located near the old Jedi Temple ruins on Dantooine. The last part meant that he needed to avoid contact with any Imperial Forces.

((from this, Nic should be able to deduce that the cargo is intended for the Rebel Alliance.))

______________

Just as Ryshana recieved her Corellian Ale, Beryl came up behind her and informed her that she wanted to leave. Quickly downing the Ale, Ryshana cringed as the alcohol left a bit of a burning sensation in her mouth. Bah, these Corellians always did like their Ales nice and strong, Ryshana thought as she set the glass on the bar.

As she turned to leave, she grabbed a 20 credit chip from her pocket and left it on the bar for the bartender. Heading outside, she waited for everyone else.

“I don’t believe it!” Beryl said frustratedly to Ryshana once she had joined her outside of the Cantina. “That’s three times now that I’ve met a good-looking guy, and he turns out to be an Imp!” She rolled her eyes. “First, there was that guy I sparred with at the gym on A12-76--turns out he was an instructor for Stormtrooper recruits. Then, that guy who I met in the forest on Naboo after I escaped those tusk cats? Imperial Sergeant-at-Arms. Okay, yeah, I knew he was an Imp to start with,” she added quickly, “but still….” She shrugged. “And now, that guy!” She looked askance at Ryshana. “Do I have “Dumb Blonde, Imps Considered” or something written on my forehead?”

Cloud walked toward Beryl after finishing the ale he ordered and heard her say “Do I have “That’s three times now that I’ve met a good-looking guy, and he turns out to be an Imp... Do I have “Dumb Blonde, Imps Considered” or something written on my forehead?" "What?" asked Cloud. "I'm not good looking?" The he looked at the man again. "You could find better looking guys on Nal Hutta, and that place is full of Hutts"

Hearing Cloud’s comment, Beryl realised that she’d been ranting. So much for self-control, she thought. This ‘controlling my emotions thing’ Ryshana wants me to do is really going to be hard. She paused, and took a deep breath, but then grinned stupidly at Cloud. “So, are you saying that I’d have better luck with you, or a good-looking Hutt?”

"That's a trick question. Hutts are never good-looking." Cloud joked. "Now, are we going to get your swoop or not?"

Beryl chuckled at Cloud’s quick-witted reply. “Of course! Just as soon as Oli….” At that moment, there was the sound of a hiccup, and Oliver stepped through the door to join them. “Nevermind… he’s here.”

Beryl put a friendly arm around Cloud’s shoulder. “Well, c’mon, handsome. Let’s go.” She hailed a taxi, and soon they were all on their way to the Rex’s Repulsorlifts to purchase her swoop.

Once in the taxi, things were a bit quiet. Too quiet for Beryl, who was getting more and more excited the closer they got to the bike shop, even though she was trying her best to follow Ryshana’s advice and control her impulsive emotions.

“Wonder what Nic, Jana and Jack are doing right now?” Beryl asked no one in particular, trying to keep her mind off the swoop.

Oliver checked his chrono. “Well, Jana’s watching ‘Win or Die,’” Oliver stated plainly.

“Bah.” Beryl snorted with disdain. “Imperial propaganda….”

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed. “But tonight Gavin was going to tell Riqua that he had found a blaster hidden in Garik’s room.”

Beryl frowned. “Wait a sec… I thought Gavin and Riqua weren’t talking to each other. You know, after he found out that she was seeing Umber behind his back?” She cleared her throat. “Not that I watch it regularly,” she added quickly.

Oliver grinned. “Blatantly biased entertainment is better than no entertainment.”

“I guess,” Beryl agreed. The taxi went silent for a moment again, and Beryl began to get restless once more. Aside from the swoop bike though, there was something else on her mind.

“Ok,” Beryl broke the silence once again. “Ryshana, I might be out of line asking this, and I won’t be offended if you don’t answer, but what sort of ‘non-pointless’ item did you need 4000 credits for? ‘Cause I’d almost bet that it’s not a swoop.”

Ryshana thought for a second and then answered, "Well, first off, you're doing well to think like that. Second, the money is for something that a very close friend of mine will be needing here very shortly. The plans haven't been finalized yet, but everything will be set into motion before too long."

Beryl nodded. Although Ryshana's answer was a bit vague, Beryl accepted it and didn't pry any further accept to add, "Well, I took out a bit more than I needed for my bike, and won near a thousand at the tables. So, if your friend needs any extra, just let me know."

"Here we are," said the taxi driver. "Rex’s Repulsorlifts."

Beryl's eyes lit up. The bike she was after was sitting in the display window, gleaming in all it's Mobquet G3-I repulsorlift Supernova Red glory. "Would you look at that..." she said softly. She turned to the others. "Alright, I'd like to do this on my own. Can you all just wait here?"

She got out of the taxi, and after about twenty minutes haggling with the salesman (they could see her through the large glass windows of the shop) she came out with a huge grin and an an ignition key dangling in her hand.

"It's mine," she said proudly, and she nodded to where one of the red Mobquet-Zephyr custom hybrid swoop models stood over to the side. Then she produced another key. "And that one," she said, pointing to a blue swoop of a different model, is one we're going to deliver to the space port. Well, one Cloud's delivering anyway."

She put the ignition key in Cloud's hand. "I was going to ask to test drive it, but when I heard the two salespeople in the back discussing how they were constrained for time in getting a 'special' order to the docks tonight, I thought I'd volunteer our services. After all," she added, grinning slyly, "we are in the transport business. And, the bikes each seat two so we won't be needing a taxi back."

"So, which one of you," she said looking between Ryshana and Oliver, "is riding with me?"

Nic paused for a second and thought.... "Would the cargo be for a certain Alliance, cos if it is you should know better than to ask me about the transport of said metals and Maps"

"Ahh, come on, Nic. Don't let your issues get in the way of a big payoff. Think about it for just a moment: 20,000 credits. You've got what, 5 or 6 people on your boat, thats about 4 grand in your pocket if you split it even," Invai persuaded as best he could.
______________

Thinking for a second, Ryshana remembered how Beryl always talked about being "one" with the machine whenever she was piloting. Now with Beryl's offer out, Ryshana said, "I'm with you, Beryl."

Moving close to Beryl, Ryshana then whispered, "Considering how drunk Oliver is, its probably a good idea for me to be with you, anyway: I don't think that vomit is going to look very good on the red paint job."

"Big payoffs usually mean big trouble, and you know how much I just addore dogfights," Jack said "What's the catch?"

"Considering how drunk Oliver is, its probably a good idea for me to be with you, anyway: I don't think that vomit is going to look very good on the red paint job."Beryl gave Ryshana a deadpan look. "Good point." The salesman came out just then, and gave them all helmets, Beryl's being in the same Supernova Red as her new bike.

"Remember," he said, "Bay 23A, and the paperwork is in the cargo bin."

"Gotcha," said Beryl. "And thanks!"

She put on her helmet, hopped on her swoop, got comfortable in the Krayt Dragon leather seat, then switched on the engine. It purred. As she revved it, she closed her eyes and savoured the moment. "It's absolutely perfect," she said, satisfied.

She opened her eyes and looked at Cloud's bike, or rather, the one he was to deliver to the spacedock. If she hadn't had her heart set on the Mobquet-Zephyr G3-I, she would have gone for the one Cloud was getting on--the Ikas-Adno 22-B Nightfalcon. Of course, the Nightfalcon's top speed was 300kph, half of what the G3-I could muster, but being in the city, that didn't really matter. Neither one could go more than 10 metres off the ground.

As Oliver lumbered on behind Cloud, Beryl gave Ryshana a secretive grin. "Hop on," Beryl said to her, revving the engine once more.

With Ryshana sitting behind her, Beryl nodded at Cloud. "Ok. Last one back to the Echo has to..." She grinned, thinking of a job both she and Cloud hated to do. "...check for conduit worms."

"Oh, you're on!" Cloud said.

"What are condu--!" Oliver started to ask, but his voice faded out as Cloud punched the accellerator and took off without warning.

"Yeah, you'll need a head start!" Beryl called out to Cloud. "Hang on tight, Ry," she said over her shoulder.

In less than than ten seconds, she had caught Cloud up. Each of them dodged and weaved through traffic, people, and low hanging signs. Beryl was matching Cloud move for move, but when they started to get closer to the spaceport, she pulled up near him, gave him a nod, and pulled ahead with ease.

"This is the next best thing to flying!" she shouted over her shoulder to Ryshana. "And these controls are so responsive! One with the machine, Ryshana! One with the machine!" She let out a whoop as she slalomed through traffic and then performed a hairpin turn down a sidestreet. "It's incredible!"

"It's the Force!" Ryshana said.

"What?!" Beryl wasn't sure she had heard her right.

"What you're feeling is the Force flowing through you! It's not the..."

Ryshana was cut off as Beryl's bike suddenly shimmied, left then right, then totally lost control at the next corner. It over-rotated, spun, but just as it looked like the two of them were going to smash headon into the side of a spaceport hanger, Beryl managed to turn the bike into the alley and bring it to a sliding stop.

The bike wasn't at all damaged, but Beryl was silent for a long moment, utterly shocked at what had just happened. She'd been flying ships and riding bikes for just about as long as she could remember, and had never, ever lost control like that. Finally, she cleared her throat. "Sorry, Ryshana. I don't know what just happened there. Guess I'm not used to the controls yet."

"What do you mean 'Not used to the controls'? Before the skid, you were using the Force to guide your actions. You described it as being one with the machine; in reality, you're connected to the Force. Just after I told you that, you disconnected yourself almost simultaneously.

I'll tell you more once we get back to the Echo. Until then, lets get moving before we lose. And here's a quick tip: try it with your blast shield down." ((kinda like ANH ;) ))

Cloud saw what happened to Beryl and Ryshana. It was then he noticed her connection to the Force. Cloud thought that strange. He then revved his bike and continued towards the spaceport, unaware if she would catch up. Then, he saw Bay 23A. He went as fast as he could on the bike and even connected with the Force to move through traffic, crowds, and a food cart. He landed at the bay and waited for Beryl while Oliver went over to a rail and barfed over it onto the food cart they passed.

"What?!" Beryl physically turned around in her seat to face Ryshana. "With my blast shield down? I just nearly killed us and you want me to try and fly blind?"

"You'll do fine."

Beryl raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"Trust your feelings," Ryshana said confidently.

Beryl shook her head with disbelief as she turned back around. "And they call me Psycho...." She started up the bike again. The sound of the finely tuned engine piqued her confidence again, and she set off again.

Just out of the alley she had gotten them into, Beryl saw Cloud stream by on the main street. She took a deep breath, then took the plunge by flicking down the blast shield on her helmet like Ryshana had asked her to try.

For a moment, she was fine, luckily avoiding obstacles in her path. But as the seconds passed, she began to realise she could still see, or rather, 'feel' where she was actually going. It was a slightly different feeling than being ‘one with the machine’. It was… better. No… bigger. Deeper? Actually, it was hard for her to quantify the feeling into words, and the more she thought about it…. She felt a slight shimmy in the bike again, and quickly flipped up her blast shield. Soon, she was back in form again, but there was no way she was going to catch Cloud up.

She and Ryshana pulled up just in time to see Oliver vomiting over the rails of the docking bay, and Cloud standing smugly by the other bike.

Beryl shook her head, then let out a tiny sigh. "I know, I know," she said to Cloud. "Conduit worms."

Coming up behind Beryl, Ryshana put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry. At least you'll have an extra set of hands to help you out."

Of course, that was to imply that Ryshana was going to lend a hand. At least, she was going to lend a hand whenever they finally got started. That time was a ways off, and there were other issues present that would complicate matters by a couple of hairs.

((at this point, i think it would be best if Wild had Jana walk in on the little conversation going between Nic and Invai. ;) ))

Beryl gave Ryshana a skeptical look at her offer to help. "Are you sure you want to help me?” Beryl asked. “Looking for conduit worms has got to be the nastiest job on the ship. Unless you gas them out with Cyanoxis D-587, which is not only expensive but means a total evacuation of the ship for 24 hours, and Nic would never go for that. They're stringy, and fiddly, and creepy with those buggy little eyes peeking out from every which way. And, you have to crawl under the floor panels just to find the little bas….” Beryl suddenly paused, raising her brow. “Ah,” she said insightfully. “You’ve got a trick to find them, don’t you? A Force trick, perhaps?”

The dock foreman in charge of the bay came over to them, and Beryl explained to him that they’d been sent by Rex’s Repulsorlifts to deliver two swoop bikes to two different clients—one of which, Beryl told him, was the medium-sized freighter that was the Echo. Dock hands arrived to put the bikes on loader trolleys, and the foreman returned shortly with a credit chip for Beryl.

“Here,” Beryl tossed the chip to Cloud. “You delivered it, you earned it.” She looked around at the group, then smiled. “Well, it looks like everyone’s profited on our little outing tonight!”

“Not me,” Oliver moaned, finally over his motion-induced sickness.

“Yes, you did,” Beryl said. “You got free drinks.” Then she added, “It’s not my fault you couldn’t keep them down.”

One of the dockhands went to move Beryl’s bike, now safely loaded on the repulsorlift trolley, but Beryl quickly intercepted him. “Thanks, but I can handle it from here.”

She didn't want any scratches, dents or dings on it before she safely tucked it away to bed in the Echo's cargo bay, so with careful, gentle control of the repulsorlift trolley, she began to walk with the bike down the long, length of bays.

But after a few steps, she paused. "Erm...anyone remember where we're parked?"

Cloud looked at Beryl flying off. He had a little fun beating her and now he was off conduit worm duty. "Thank the Force." thought Cloud. He then took a quick cab from Bay A23 to the Echo. When he got back, the first thing he said to Nic was "Do we have a job?"

((Reason I haven't done anything, Stinger, is that I'm not sure... it almost sounds like Jana would know Invai also. Is that true?))

"Yes we do. And it's sound dodgy, much like all our other job's we've had in the past few months." Jack said, answering Clouds question "I think you guys had a past with our contact, why don't you say, he's on the line as we speak."

((at this point, only Nic would recognize Invai personally. all of the crew, except for Ryshana of course, would know about him since they were all involved in the incident mentioned earlier, but none of them were incarcerated alongside of him as Nic was.

i think the best way to proceed here would be for Jana to walk into the cockpit either right when Nic is turning down the offer or just after. sorry if this wasn't laid out earlier.))
______________
Beryl gave Ryshana a skeptical look at her offer to help. "Are you sure you want to help me?” Beryl asked. “Looking for conduit worms has got to be the nastiest job on the ship. Unless you gas them out with Cyanoxis D-587, which is not only expensive but means a total evacuation of the ship for 24 hours, and Nic would never go for that. They're stringy, and fiddly, and creepy with those buggy little eyes peeking out from every which way. And, you have to crawl under the floor panels just to find the little bas….” Beryl suddenly paused, raising her brow. “Ah,” she said insightfully. “You’ve got a trick to find them, don’t you? A Force trick, perhaps?”"I might have a couple of tricks for you to learn. Just find me whenever you're ready to get started," Ryshana said with a smile as she went on board the Echo towards her quarters.

Plugging the datapad into a terminal, Ryshana uploaded the messages into her computer. Asking for the code words to unlock the heavy encryption, Ryshana put in the words loyalty, obedience, love, and undying into the sequence. After a minute or so of processing, the computer brought up a message that indicated that the decryption was complete.

Looking at the messages, Ryshana now had quite a bit of hard, albeit dated, info on the locations of a number of Jedi that had been believed to survive the Purges. It was this data that Ryshana had been so interested in back on Corellia, and now she had it. As Ryshana went through the data, she had to swallow her feelings on a number of occasions considering how depressing the data would be to normal people.

There were few if any survivors. Most of the info detailed that the vast majority of Jedi were confirmed dead or were unaccounted for. Scrolling down towards "Yajisif Quiinzara", Ryshana was surprised to see that the Corellians had confirmed the information gathered in the Imperial Database on Jeez.

The biggest difference was that the Corellian information was much more detailed. Apparently, Jeez was one of about 10 Jedi that had been captured and were being held for some sort of experiment at the Prison. No other details were there, but it was enough for Ryshana to feel a bit concerned. Experimentation? What's that supposed to mean? she thought to herself.

((OOC: Ok, to get things rolling here again, I'm taking over Jana for this post, since WJ has decided to quit the thread. Hope I do Jana's character justice....))

~~~~~~~

"I might have a couple of tricks for you to learn. Just find me whenever you're ready to get started," Ryshana said with a smile as she went on board the Echo towards her quarters.

“Excellent!” Beryl replied. “I’ll do that.”

After tucking her bike safely away in the corner of the cargo bay, Beryl went up to the common room. Jana was slouched comfortably in one of the chairs, watching the ending credits for a holoprogram.

“Win or Die?” asked Beryl as she sat in a chair opposite Jana.

“Yup. Just finished.”

Beryl nodded at the holoprojector. “So, what’s on after this then?”

“New program,” Jana said. She looked over at Beryl. “Galactic Bandits.”

“Oh, yeah. I heard about that,” said Beryl. “They profile ‘criminals’ of the Empire, dramatise their crimes, and then ask for citizens to call the ESB with any information. More propaganda, no doubt.”

“I dunno.” Jana yawned. “Looked pretty good. During the last break, they showed a highlight of tonight’s show--a suspect endangering the public by speeding recklessly through Coruscant on a red swoop bike.”

Beryl’s grin suddenly faded. “What?! But that’s impossi….” Then she noticed that Jana was trying not to smile. She was baiting Beryl.

“You…!” Beryl tossed a seat cushion in Jana’s direction. “That wasn’t funny!”

“Ah ha! So you were racing!” Jana accused.

“Yeah, well….” Beryl shrugged. “But only against Cloud. And I lost, by the way.”

“Lost? Again?” Jana shook her head. “Just ain’t your day, is it? So, how much you lose this time?”

“Didn’t bet creds,” Beryl said. “We wagered on conduit worm duty.”

Jana grimaced. “Eew. It’s really not your day.”

“So, Nic get us a job while we were out?” Beryl asked, changing the subject.

“Maybe,” Jana said. “Just overheard him and Jack talking to someone on the com in the cockpit. And Cloud just went in there just before you came in. Suppose we could have a job by now.”

“Could have? Suppose?” Beryl gave her friend a strange look. “Wait a sec…. Lemme get this straight. You suspect Nic is negotiating for a job, and you’re not up there with him supervising the offer?”

Jana motioned with her hand at the holoprojector. “Win or Die was on,” she stated plainly.

“Well, some first officer you are." Beryl rolled her eyes, then rose from her chair. "Well, I’m going to go and check out what's going on in the cockpi...." Beryl frowned slightly. Something wasn't right. “Erm… you and Nic have an argument?”

“Nope.” Jana folded her arms over her chest. “Just a difference of opinion on the meaning and existence of honour.”

“Ah,” Beryl nodded. “He didn’t understand about the Bloodstripe incident at the Cantina, did he.”

“Nope.”

“Well, he’s Nabooan. They’re all… well… you know….” Beryl frowned, searching for the right adjective. “Nabooan.”

Jana gave Beryl ‘the look’. "Fine. I’ll go with you and see what’s going on in the cockpit,” she said reluctantly.

They arrived in the cockpit to hear, Jack saying to Cloud, “…sounds dodgy, much like all our other jobs we've had in the past few months."

Then a sort of familiar voice on the com was heard saying, “Think about it for just a moment: 20,000 credits. You've got what, 5 or 6 people on your boat, that’s about 4 grand in your pocket if you split it even?"

“Twenty thousand?" Jana's eyes widened. "Dodgy or not," she said to Nic, but not loud enough to be overheard by the person on the com, "we haven't had a decent paying job like that in months, Nic. What’s the cargo? Parts? Bacta?"

“Swoops?” Beryl offered.

((OOC: Ok, Nic needs to refuse the job now and then I think we're back on track, if I correctly understand Stingerhs plot plans. But if I need to edit anything, just let me know.))

((I've edited this post since yesterday, to bring Jana into the cockpit with Nic, as per Stingerhs plot plans. So, it's your turn to post now, Starmark, and then I think we're back on track.))

Nic turned around to look at Jana. "It don't matter we ain't taking it." Nic said before turning back to the screen "Sorry, But you'll need to find someone else." Nic then switched off the comm unit.

"What?!" Jana and Beryl said simultaneously.

"What do you mean we ain't taking it!" Jana continued. "It's 20,000 credits! Dodgy or not, we need a job, Nic." And then she gave him 'the look'.

Beryl, who knew that particular look well, took a side step towards the door. "Uh, oh...," she said under her breath.

"It could be a million credits for all i care." Nic replied as he pushed past the Two women and cloud. "I ain't doing any work for the Rebel Alliance."

"Who cares if it's for the Rebel Alliance or not?" Jana continued, following Nic out of the cockpit and into the common room. "It's twenty thousand! And it's not like we'd be targeted by the Empire anymore than we have been already. We've got three Force users on board!"

"He has a point, remember what happened last time we got ourselves involved with the Rebel Alliance?" Jack said, agreeing with his captain "Captain, we could try our hands once again on Naboo, perhabs we wouldn't be forced to find some old Relic for a corrupted Dreadnought Captain. Wait did you say three force users?"

Jana was slightly taken aback by Jack's question, while Beryl cringed in the background.

"Wha...? I...," Jana stumbled over her words, then frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "It doesn't matter what I said, Jack," she replied hurriedly. "That's not the point! The point is, we need a job, someone's offering us 20,000 credits for one, and Rebel Alliance or not, we should take it!"

"Three?" Nic repeated looking at Beryl. "So Ry told you, or did you always know and think i wasn't any the wiser about it?"

"20,000 credit's means big trouble nowerdays. Espically with the Imperial's crack down on illegal activity," Jack paused "What do you mean three. Last time I checked we only had one."

"Three?" Nic repeated looking at Beryl. "So Ry told you, or did you always know and think i wasn't any the wiser about it?"

Beryl just stared at Nic for a moment. "Erm... thought we were talking about jobs...," she said, trying to shift the focus of the conversation back.

"We are," Jana said, stepping closer to Nic, and blocking his view of Beryl (or at least attempting to given her diminutive stature.) "And since when have we been concerned with illegal activity, Nic? Nearly every activity we do while in Empire controlled space is illegal. I know you don't like the Alliance, but it's twenty thousand. And we need a job."

Jack realised quickly what Jana and Beryle were trying to do "Beryl, your force sensitive!?"

The more Ryshana thought about it, the more she wanted to figure out what was going on. Closing her eyes, Ryshana did her best to connect with the Force.

She had been struggling to connect with the Force over the past couple of weeks, but then again, she hadn't been able to focus on anything in particular. Now, however, she was focused solely on Jeez. Slowly, she began to bring things into focus, but it was extremely difficult to so with a lot of black haze around her.

Waves of emotion ebbed and flowed around her along with a searing pain that she could feel from a number of different people around her. Then, she could see a large complex built into the side of an asteroid. In that complex, she could see finally see Jeez through the Force for the first time since she had last seen him with her own eyes.

Then, the scene quickly shifted and faded suddenly as Ryshana could hear yelling coming from the Echo's Common Area. Opening her eyes, Ryshana was curious as to what was going on. Shutting down the computer terminal, Ryshana suddenly got an idea.

There wasn't anything Ryshana wanted more than to find Jeez, especially now. And over the past couple of weeks, Ryshana had felt a bit useless. But Beryl, Ryshana thought. She had all the reasons to leave the Echo to go after Jeez except for Beryl.

Still, there was still the pressing issue of what was going on in the Common Room. Getting up from the terminal, Ryshana went into Common Room and was greeted by the sound of arguing among Beryl, Nic, Jana, and Jack.

"Hold it!!" Ryshana yelled out. "What's going on around here?"

Beryl breathed a sigh of relief when Ryshana appeared, thankful for the diversion. "Erm...Nic's turning down a job," Beryl said to Ryshana, avoiding the answer to Nic's and Jack's Force Sensitivity questions as well as Nic's gaze.

"A very lucrative job!" Jana added, stepping to the forefront once again. "Twenty thousand credits worth of job, Ry. And he’s turning it down just because it's for the Alliance!” She gave a glance at Beryl. "And we think he should take it," she added.

Beryl raised her brow. "We?"

Jana nudged Beryl with her elbow.

Again Beryl felt put on the spot. "Erm... yeah. Right. We think he should...." Beryl then gave Jana a curious look. Before joining up with the Echo, Beryl had been a pilot for a blockade runner. She knew how dangerous it was running supplies in to blockade planets, and even more so running in anything directly to any Alliance strongholds. And she knew firsthand the consequences of getting caught. Had she and the crew she'd been with not been caught by Beryl's 'Imperial' brother, she and the rest of her old crew would likely be dead now. “Are you sure, Jana? I mean, there’ll be other jobs that’ll come up. Eventually,” she added quietly.

Jana wheeled around to face her. “What?! You’re siding with him now?” she said incredulously, gesturing to Nic.

“Well….” Beryl shrugged. “He’s the captain. And Alliance jobs are pretty risky….”

“It’s twenty thousand credits!” Jana argued.

“Look, I’m sure Nic’s got his reasons for not taking it,” Beryl started.

“Well, I’ve got twenty thousand reasons why we should!” Jana let out a disdainful snort. “We don’t all have ‘trust funds’ to rely on like you do, you know.”

Beryl frowned at the quip against her privileged background. She’d had arguments with Jana before on the subject, but the issue had never really been resolved and was still a bit of a sore point between them. “That’s so unfair, Jana,” Beryl said, her eyes narrowing with irritation. “Just because I have… independent means, doesn’t mean I don’t want us to have a kriffin’ job! I pull my weight around here just like the rest of us!”

“There’s a difference between a ‘job’ and a ‘paying job,’ Beryl,” Jana said. “This isn’t charity work I’m talking about here. It’s twenty thousand credits! Not that I’d expect a spoiled little shutta like you to understand the difference!”

“Spoiled little... what?!” Beryl spluttered. “Better that, than a diminutive but overbearing lum-guzzling di’kut who can’t see sense for…!”

Just then, for no apparent reason, Jana unexplainably lost her balance and fell back hard into Nic, causing both of them to tumble to the deck.

Beryl blanched. Oh, crap, Beryl thought. Did I do that? She gave a brief, but panicked glance at Ryshana. Beryl had been thinking of pushing Jana away, but only thinking about it, not expecting it to actually happen.

“Jana? Nic?" Beryl asked tentatively. "You alright?”

Instincts told Jack to pull out his dagger when he saw Jana falling over. It didn't take long to realise what happened. Sliding the knife back into his belt, he asked "Beryl what the hell did you just do?"

Nic pushed Jana off of him and stood up. "Look the empire is clamping down on anything slightly related to any kind of rebels. What makes things harder is having the Emperors most wanted on board and as it seems a pair of force adepts that need to learn to control their powers." Nic made sure he was looking at beryl for the last part. "We're not a democracy on this ship, here i am the emperor and what i say is what we do and we ain't doing this job."

In a flash, Ryshana suddenly had an idea. "Fine then. If I can make it a bit easier for you, then just turn me in to the Empire and take the bounty for yourselves. Its a big payout; last I checked, turning in a live Jedi was worth almost 75 thousand. With me gone, it'll be one less reason for you to not take the job," Ryshana said with just a slight hint of sarcasm.

Beryl’s mouth dropped. Was Ryshana serious? She’d turn herself in? Risk being executed, and just leave us, leave me, just like that?

“You can’t!” Beryl blurted. “You can’t turn yourself in! You’ll be executed, or… or… or worse!” She looked at Nic. “Nic, you’re the captain. Tell her… no order her that she can’t do that!”

She then looked at Jana. “With a few mods, I can get at least 15,000 for my swoop on Corulag. The Stasia Classic is coming up and there’ll be more than a few looking for a good bike. That’ll keep us going until we can find a better job.”

She looked back at Ryshana. “You said you’d train me,” she said in a voice just above a whisper. She glanced at Cloud. “We need you. You’re part of the crew now. Please, don't go.”

"Turn you in? Over my dead body. Like Beryl said, your one of us." Jack objected "What is surrendering you got to accomplish anyways?@

"Hey as much as i hate the rebellion i hate the Empire ten times over..." Nic stated. "We ain't going to hand you in, i always keep my word and i still owe you."

"Actually, I'm being very serious, but that's just the first part of a job that I can give you. You see, the other part of the job is where you guys meet me at a rendezvous point and pick me up," Ryshana stated with a bit of confidence.

Thinking for a second, Ryshana then said, "And I think that when you 'turn me in', it would do you some good if you had an 'accomplice' to turn in alongside of me. Someone like Beryl perhaps." Ryshana paused and then put on her best salesman voice. "Just think about it: 75 grand, and probably more, and all you have to do is to drop us off at a rather specific Imperial Prison and then pick us up about a week later. You can't tell me that you wouldn't be interested in a simple job like that, Nic."

"Out of curiosity, what do you plan to do inside prison? And which prison?" Jack asked, curiosily. "And what are we ment to in that week?"

"More importantly." Nic stated not letting ryshana answer Jacks question rightaway. "How are you so sure they won't just kill you and take beryl Away where noone will ever see her again."

"If I did my research correctly, they don't want dead Jedi where I want to go. As for Beryl, I know that she can fend for herself, especially if she has a little help," Ryshana responded with a bit of a wink in Beryl's general direction.

"As for the prison I'm wanting to go to, it's in an isolated asteroid cluster about 3 parsecs from here. The facility isn't named directly in the Imperial Database, but its operating number is IS4583. Most bounty hunters would know of the facility since it is specifically mentioned in the bounty sheets for Jedi as the place to take live Jedi, and that would serve as your cover for bringing me in."

"Makes sence," Jack said "Expect there's one small detail I don't get. Why in god's name do you want to go into an Imperial Prison? And how do you plan to get out?"