Jyot's eyes went wide and he held his hands up in surrender while he shrugged his shoulders. "How the hell should I know?" he said to Latch, as he reached inside the hatch and tweaked the inertial compensator setting to 95 as Ali had requested. "She's a woman. Does she need a reason to be mad?"

Latch cocked his head to one side. "Well, no, but... she seems like a reasonable sort of person to me."

Jyot's eyes narrowed. "Reasonable! Ali? Reasonable?" As he replaced the panel in the deck, he shook his head. "That woman isn't reasonable. She's crazy--completely and beautifully insane. She's an awesome pilot, intelligent, adventurous, witty, has a fantastic body, and a great... " He paused uncomfortably, rethinking what he was going to say. "... erm, sense of balance. But reasonable?" He flashed a grin, shaking his head side to side as he did so. "Never reasonable. That's probably why I was attracted to her in the first place."

"So why does she have it in for you now?" Latch asked. "You must have done something."

Jyot shrugged. "I just lost touch. I left the CEC, took a job in Bespin, and that's the last I ever heard of her." He let out a sigh. "Yeah, I meant to call her. But, you know how things go. You get a new job, you get busy, you're making new contacts...." He sighed. "But she never called me either," he added, wagging a defensive finger. "I mean, I wouldn't say we parted on 'bad' terms, but... well...." He rubbed his chin where Ali had hit him hours earlier. It still smarted.

He picked up his tool kit, intending to head to Arelyn's turret to finish the repairs. "She's already decked me once today, Latch. I'm staying well out of her way." He hit his comlink. "Ok, pilot," he said to Ali, deliberately remaining impersonal with her. "Engines are a go. Scimmy's all yours."

Latch chuckled again at his friend. This wasn't the first time Jyot had run into an old flame and gotten burned and he was pretty sure it wouldn't be the last. It was more amusing this time around, since Jyot and Ali would be in close proximity and would more than likely be forced to work with each other. Latch wondered how long it would take for Ali to deliver another beatdown on the womanizing engineer. "Alec's put you in a real pickle, hasn't he?" Latch remarked as Jyot was heading out.

"Tell me about it," the blonde Corellian muttered as he made his way down the corridor.

Latch shook his head, then jogged down the opposite corridor towards the front of the ship, making a beeline for the cockpit. Ali was in there, fiddling with the controls, adjusting them to her liking. Latch plopped himself down into the co-pilot seat and swiveled to face her. "I think we might've gotten off on the wrong foot," he told her, putting his hand out. "I'm Lachlan Vax, but call me 'Latch'."

((OCC- OK as we don’t want to do the whole journey as it’ll drag on I’m going to skip us forward a few hours. I’veput all owr characters around the dinner table as they are having a meal, hope no one minds.))

Alec sat in the common room with his crew around the dinner table, Stitcher had made the meal and served it up few minuets ago. The group were enjoying the food that had been bought on Nar Shaddaa as the crew had been on basic Rations for he past couple of weeks due to the cash flow problem.

Some how the conversation got cantered around Alec telling old stories about past bounties and some of Jyot’s more embarrassing moments with female crewmembers. He poured himself another glass of Corellian ale from the large bottle that kept getting passed around the table.

Alec was telling the story of his first Job of captain of the ship just after he employed Jyot, they had been hired to find a Twi’lek and bring him to Nar Shaddaa. The finding part on the job wasn’t difficult, it was the transportation as the Twi’lek weighed a colossal 400 stone.

“It took me, Jyot and for other guys to get him in the ship….” Alec told taking another sip of his drink. “…and that was just one of his Lekku.”

Jyot absently rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah, I still remember that bounty.... You know, I had to construct a hydraulic sling out of towels, bedsheets, and use part of a speeder motor to lift that Twi'lek slug into a makeshift holding cell, which, incidentally, took up nearly half the cargo bay."

He frowned slightly, as he thought about their next job. "Suppose that's a good thing about our next quarry," he said. "Jedi are not usually overweight."

"No, they're extremely fit," Ali commented dryly. "And that's why they are so difficult to find and bring in."

Jyot flashed his ex a quick but wry grin. "Thanks for pointing that out, Ali. I would have never guessed that."

"Just trying to remind you of the dangers," Ali said, as she took a sip of her ale. "You're so reckless sometimes."

"Me?" Jyot said incredulously. "Reckless? Hey, need I remind you that I'm not the one who went and played 'Dodgem' in a band of meteors with her test ship and then tried to land with only half a forward stabliser?"

Ali stared at him. "I landed it though, didn't I?"

"That's not the point."

"That's entirely the point. Reckless is when you ignore the risks and consequences. Daring is when you know the risks and know how to deal with the consequences."

"Oh, so you're 'daring', and I'm 'reckless'?" He gave Ali a doubtful look, then turned to the rest of the crew. "Do you guys think I'm 'reckless'?"

Latch looked up from his dinner, stuffing a slice of vegetable into his mouth and being only partially successful in disguising his smile. "You?" he addressed Jyot. "Reckless?" A stifled snort. "Let's just say there's a reason we don't let you fly the ship."

“Of course you’re not reckless Jyot.” Alec said with a sarcastic grin. “It’s not like you put a sadistic trigger happy assassin droid’s brain inside a little recon droid… then gave it a tranquilliser dart launcher which it fired at you seconds after activation.”

Alec laughed as he remembered finding Jyot on the floor as the whole left half had become paralysed by Zip’s dart. “and you don’t recklessly seduce three sisters at the same time only to have them find out and chase you halfway across Cloud city.” Alec continued laughing at the expense of his first mate.

"To be fair, seducing those three sisters wasn't so much reckless as it was stupid, boss," Latch told Alec. "Though it's funny how often those two traits coincide."

"Ha, ha." Jyot gave a deadpan look in Latch's direction, before grinning and pouring himself another ale. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said waving a dismissive hand. "I admit the tranq dart was a mistake on my part. It was supposed to be just saline in the dart for the test." He raised an eyebrow at Stitcher, who snickered softly at the silent accusation.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist, Jyot. It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Jyot merely gave the doc a friendly eyeroll. "Uh-huh...." He took a sip of ale. "Nevermind, I promised to get you back one day, and I will," he said, wagging a finger at the doctor. "Now, the three sisters thing..." He rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I admit that was probably both reckless and stupid." Jyot smiled, a cross between slightly embarrassed and definitely mischievous, and then he sighed reminiscently. "But, a blond, a brunette, and a redhead all in one day? Boy, that was...." He suddenly became aware that they were in mixed company, with Ali and Arelyn both giving him hard stares from across the table.

"Fun?" Ali offered.

"Erm... educational," Jyot settled on, trying his best to look believable. "One of them had a degree in Integrated Circuitry."

"Uh-huh." Ali crossed her arms over her chest. "And what did the other two have degrees in? Biology and Physical Therapy?"

Aerlyn grinned, while Jyot looked flustered.

"C'mon, Jay," Ali said. "It's me you're talking to. I know exactly what you look for first in a woman." Her eyes flicked down to her chest, and then she stared back at the engineer. "And it ain't her degrees."

Jyot's forehead wrinkled. "So, what, you're saying that my only concern is for the beauty of the physical female form and I can't appreciate personality or brains?"

Ali grinned. "I don't believe you can, no. In fact...." She exchanged a secretive look with Arelyn. "I'd bet you 500 credits that you couldn't go six weeks without 'appreciating' female physical forms."

Jyot raised his brow. "Oh, ho! You think I'll fall for that one, do you?" He eyed both Arelyn and Ali dubiously. "Get me to bet 500 creds and then the first time I even look at either of you, wham! You'll hit me up to collect." He shook his head, then took another sip of ale. "Even I'm not that stupid."

"Oh, we wouldn't count," Ali said, and Arelyn nodded in kind. "Only women other than the two of us would count. I mean," she again exchanged a knowing look with Arelyn, "we work with you. You see us everyday. It wouldn't be fair if we penalized you for looking at us, now would it?"

The corner of Jyot's mouth twisted a bit as he thought about the offer. They were on the way to an ice planet in the middle of nowhere to capture a Jedi. How many beautiful humanoid women could be on an ice planet in the middle of nowhere? One? Two, maybe? And wouldn't they be bundled up most of the time due to the cold? "Six weeks, huh?" he asked Ali. "And humanoids only, right? I mean, you're not going to try and trick me into giving a compliment to someone's pet kath hound or something, right?"

"Oh, no. Humanoids only." She paused a moment. "So that means, no ogling, no wry comments, no chatting up, and definitely no physical contact with any humanoid female." She grinned. "For six. Whole. Weeks."

"Make it six hundred credits total," Jyot offered. "Payable as one hundred credits per week."

It was Ali's turn to think. She whispered something in Arelyn's ear, to which Arelyn grinned, then nodded. Ali reached across the table, sticking out her hand for Jyot to shake. "Ok. Six hundred total, but payable as only two installments. Fail before three weeks, and we get the entire six hundred. Fail after three weeks, and we'll call it even. Stick it out for the whole six, and you'll get the second payment. Deal?"

Jyot sensed that there was something fishy about this deal, but.... "Ok, you're on." He shook Ali's hand. "Deal. No womanizing for six whole weeks. Starting today."

"I'm sure you'll manage quite admirably," Arelyn told Jyot. Her voice was level and sincere, but her eyes twinkled with barely concealed amusement. Having another woman on the ship was certainly turning out better than she had expected. Ali clearly knew how to press the lusty engineer's buttons.

She held out her hand for Jyot to shake as well, but as she gripped his, she squeezed tight and pulled him close. "Oh, and just because we don't count doesn't give you free rein to ogle us," she told him sweetly, her flashing blue eyes inches away from his own. "Got it, Tyrell?"

"Ogling? Who's ogling?" Nevertheless, Jyot found Arelyn entrancing, especially having never been this close to her. He swallowed hard, and was about to make a remark to her, when a memory flickered across his mind. He looked at Latch askance. "Erm, Latch, you did say she broke some guy's arms for cutting in line at the med station, right?"

Latch nodded, and Jyot reassessed his situation.

"Yeah, okay, I'll do my best not to ogle," he said to Arelyn. Still he couldn't seem to help himself and his eyes flicked quickly downwards over her chest. Then he grinned sheepishly at Aerlyn. "Much." He held up his free hand in rapid surrender. "But before you pull my arm out of its socket, may I remind you that I still have some adjustments and repairs to do in your turret? It would be best to think about hurting me after I did the repairs."

The Scimitar flew over the icy plains of the backwater planet of Bryndar, the only two settlements were a small imperial Listening post and an old abandoned mining outpost that had been converted to a smuggling post. The Imperials were on the payroll of the Hutts to turn a blind eye to all that was happening on the planet.

As the ship approached the settlement it’s size showed how unimportant it was, two landing pads and four buildings is all that remained from the former mining station. The Scimitar didn’t even need landing clearance for a place like this as they rarely had one ship land here let alone more than two.

Not long after the touchdown the main airlock loading ramp began to lower and the whole crew stepped to together.

“I forgot how cold this place was.” Alec stated as he finished fastening the buttons on his jacket. “Spanner, Latch, Arelyn and myself are going to check out the Cantina, If Polcyc is anywhere he’ll be where the drink is.”

“Does that mean we can stay in the warn ship?” Ray Blink asked jogging on the spot to keep warn.

“Yeah.”

“Thank the force, a Twi’lek could freeze their Lekku out here.” Ray exaggerated running back into the ship.

“Come on let’s move.” Alec said walking towards the cantina.

The news of any ship landing on the desolate planet always brought a flurry of activity and excitement. Since the ice age had taken hold of Bryndar, the planet had more or less turned into one big ball of ice, interrupted only by the small settlements that had become the equivalent of ghost towns over the years. Hardly any ships came by now-a-days, leaving what was left of the economy in a dead-end crawl. However, a new ship brought off-worlders - and off-worlders brought off-world credits. The minute the ship had been sighted, almost every merchant and business man's eyes lit up with dollar signs. Cha-ching.

Though the excitement wasn't evident on her face, Ellie could feel her heart quicken slightly as another swipe of hope took hold of her. This ship could be in need of a pilot, or...or...well, they could need something. She didn't care - she would be the ship's maid if it meant that she could get back to civilization without the aid of the scumbag Empire soldiers that were stationed at the outpost a few minutes' walk from her current position near the docks. She leaned against the wall, looking out on of the large, picture windows that looked out on both the ice land desolation and the two landing pads that were outside. The toothpick between her lips twitched slightly as she watched the crew disembark. There sure were a lot of them...but she wouldn't let that squash her hope. They would need someone, wouldn't they? Of course they would!

In order to get into the main settlement, Ellie was fully aware that they would have to pass through this very hallway - and she was currently debating whether or not she wanted to give them a chance to notice her as they passed, or if she should return to the settlement for a while and await them there. Perhaps in the cantina?

The toothpick swiveled again as her tongue moved against it, her lips readjusting around the wood as she watched the crew make their way up into the building. Decisions decisions.

Latch strode next to Jyot on the engineer's right as they all walked into the settlement. Arelyn flanked Jyot on the left, not too close, but enough to keep his head in her peripheral vision. She was on the lookout to try and catch Jyot with his 'wandering eyes' and Latch could tell that this made his friend a little uneasy. The dark-haired Corellian couldn't help feeling a little bit bad for his womanizing compatriot, but he also couldn't help but be amused at Jyot's predicament.

Following Alec into the cantina, the three of them made their way towards the bar where Latch ordered up a round of Corellian whiskey for all of them. As Jyot took his glass, he looked over at Latch and whispered, "Why so generous all of a sudden?"

Latch smirked and tossed his hair back. "Someone's got to cut you some slack," he responded with a quick glance at Arelyn.

Jyot nodded as he could feel the Mistryl's eyes boring into the back of his head. "Truer words never spoken," he muttered as he downed his whiskey.

Ali stared at Jyot for a moment before going over to Alec.

"I thought I could do this," she told him quietly. "I didn't think being around Jyot would be a problem. It's not working. Sorry for the short notice, but I'm only staying on until you can get another pilot... and it better be damn soon."

Kadis' endless stream of expletives was interrupted by a beeping from the sensors. Something with a fusion reactor was coming from orbit, he could see the blip on long-range sensors.

"A ship..."

He could finally get off this wretched hellhole. The ships hull had been buckling over the past few days, and his scavenged cold-weather gear would only last for so long. They had a speeder in the cargo hold, too. Time to get out of here.

He grabbed some food and other supplies, hauling the dead captain's blaster out of it's holster and shoving it under his appropriated coat. He shrugged.

"Sorry, boss."

No sense hanging around here. I need to get out of here or I'm gonna lose it. Kadis opened the door to the cargo hold, hissing curses as the icy air hit him. This was where the brunt of the impact had taken place. He pulled his coat up and wrapped a scarf over his mouth, covering the thermal breather. It was lucky they had been shipping cold weather gear, too. He switched the speeder bike on and began mumbling quiet prayers to anything that might be listening that it would start.

"A new ship landed today," the girl said impatiently. Her brother rolled over with a grunt.

"So?" he mumbled, only half coherent. He'd been sleeping and though he loved his sister dearly, he wasn't entirely pleased to be roused from dreamland.

"A new ship, Cole," Raelyn Lark answered, bouncing impatiently on her brother's bed. The information more than the bouncing was what finally woke Colin up.

"New?" he exclaimed, bolting upright. "Not been here before? Go scout! Tell me who they are and what they do. I'll be along in a minute."

Raelyn grinned eagerly and bounded away to do as her brother had ordered. For his part, Colin was hurrying to get dressed also. Maybe they could finally get off this hell-hole.

Alright, so maybe face-to-face meetings weren't exactly her thing - especially when she had no other reason to be there in that hallway than her desperate hope that maybe this new ship could get her off this damnable backwater planet. Being desperate was not a good way to get a position on the crew - and showing just how desperate she was would only put her in a position that she really didn't want to be in.

As such, Ellie had disappeared from the hallway by the time the crew came by, slipping away into the dimly lit cantina that bordered the docking area. The place wasn't exactly active, but it was far from sleepy. Half of those that still worked in the mine, salvaging whatever they could from the planet's core and the deserted buildings and stations that were left beneath the surface, were currently mingling in soft tones at the various table, one or two waitresses sprinkling themselves around the place. Knowing that no ship's crew immediately ordered a table, she took a seat at the bar and ordered herself a martini to wait.

Soon enough, she was rewarded. The group that had disembarked the freighter filed into the cantina, taking up spots at the bar. One of the men hardly seemed to notice that he took a seat only one over from where she was sitting, but she would change that.

"Offworlders, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him. "We don't get too many of those around here."

Alec took the whiskey from the bar and took it all in his mouth in one go, his face began to look like hehad justsuckedon the bitter Nula fruit of Naboo and spat the liquid back into glass.

“How can an alcoholic beverage in this cold whether go off?” Alec asked as he sat at the bar. “Got any corellian ale in a bottle?”

The bartender brought the bottle over and placed it on the bar surface in front of Alec as he looked around the room. As expected there was virtually no one there save for a couple of waitresses and a small group of spacers gambling their sad lives away.

"Offworlders, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him. "We don't get too many of those around here."

Tannis turned his head and noticed another women in the room speaking to him, his first thought was ‘Spanner is going to lose his bet’ as he noticed she was quite young and attractive, Jyot’s type… well one of them.

“I thought everyone on the ice ball was an offworlder.” Alec replied taking a gulp of his ale. “Only two kinds of people on a place like this; people who are hiding and people who are stranded.”

A faint, wry smile came to her lips as the man turned and spoke, moving her shoulders in a small shrug. She looked at him as she took a quick drink of her martini, her green eyes - almost catlike in their appearance - flicked from his face to the bottle of ale he had ordered, and back to him again. Corellian, huh? This guy took his liquor seriously.

"Eh, true." she conceded, "But even so...most of us have been stuck here for such a long time, we don't even bother to distinguish who was really born here and who just happened in, hoping to make a fortune in the mines. Obviously..." she cast a sweeping glance around the cantina, "Not many of us are exactly living on fortunes."

Alec chuckled at the comment made by the young women and took another gulp of his drink. "I guess you guys are looking for money and would risk alot to get some."

"From what i hear most of you guys got killed out in the icy weilderness a few weeks back." Alec turning his body to face the women and look her in the eyes. "Heard they went after a Jedi, that's why we're here, don't suppose you've seen an Abyssian by the name of Polcyc around or anything about this Jedi?"

His whiskey done, Jyot had ordered a round of ales and as Alec chatted to the female at the end of the bar, Jyot kept his eyes on his drink. Finally, though, he nudged Latch with his elbow. "So?"

Latch grinned at his friend. Jyot had demonstrated an incredible amount of control (for him) up to this point by not looking at the clearly attractive female talking to Alec at the end of the bar. Of course, Arelyn being so close probably put the pressure on him a bit more, but Latch couldn't help by admire Jyot's resolve. That didn't mean he was going to make it easy for his fellow Corellian, however. "Why don't you look for yourself?" he replied, hiding his lips behind his glass of whiskey.

"What, you think I'm that I'm that much of a bantha brain that I'd....?" he started to say to his friend. Then realizing that Latch was playing with him, Jyot gave his friend a derogatory frown and added, "Oh, you really are a son of a murglak, you know?" He took a sip of ale. "Just tell me," he whispered, "is... is she pretty?"

"Oh, I don't know if she's your type," Latch said, masking the glee in his voice. "But let me tell you, I know I'm enjoying the view."

Jyot groaned. "Aw...." He took a long swig of ale this time. "Long or short hair?"

"Short," Latch informed him. "With bangs that fall into her eyes, just the way you like."

Another disappointed groan from Jyot, and a self-satisfying sigh from Arelyn, who was leaning in closer to listen in. "Blonde, brunette or redhead?"

Latch put a finger to his lips in thought. "Hmm, light brownish, like ryshcate," he declared after a few seconds' deliberation.

Jyot bit his lip, and a whimper almost escaped his lips. He wanted to look so very badly, to take it all in. "Oh, you really are a mean little mudcrutch, aren't you? Do you have to be so descriptive?"

"Well fine, if you don't like the way I describe her," Latch huffed, acting affronted. He glanced down at Arelyn and caught her gaze. "Help me out here, Arelyn. What do you think?"

Kadis had never been a lucky man. But some unlucky men just lose their money in casinos. When Kadis walks into casinos, it means there's a bomb under the Sabacc table.

The speeder bike had apparently gotten cannibalized without his knowledge at some point. Great. Black smoke was pouring out of the repulsorlifts and covering him. The speeder sounded like it was choking on it's own radiator fluid, and it was definitely slowing, two hundred clicks from the settlement.

Always look on the bright side of life, Kadis.

A lesson his grandma had drilled into him. He rolled his eyes. On the bright side, he hadn't died instantly in the crash, and all this smoke around him maybe would rise high enough to be seen from the settlement. Other than that, he wasn't being chased by Cyborrean Battle Dogs or a platoon of Battle Droids.

The speeder died.

And it looks like I'm going to be getting some exercise, too.

He dismounted the bike and started walking, holding his datapad in front of him. The ship was transmitting it's sensor readings to it, allowing him to track the ship, hopefully to the settlement where he could negotiate passage off this rock...

Kadis patted his blaster. One way, or another.

Raelyn entered the cantina mere seconds after the crew of the new ship. She fell back a little and moved aside to a small booth at the back of the room. There, she could still see all the crew of the... she paused and angled her head. "Scimitar?" she asked softly. At that moment, Colin entered, paused, and located his sister.

"Give me details," he prompted, sliding into the booth across the table from her.

"Black Hair McDark-Eye there's the captain," Raelyn answered, nodding toward Alec. "Captain feel just sorta radiates off him. Blondie-Boy who's looking down and not at the pretty girls is mechanic and first mate. Sittin' next to him, head long hair brown..." She frowned. "That didn't come out right..." A shrug. "Brown hair, long head... long brown hair he... no head..."

"Yes?" Colin urged.

"Right," Raelyn agreed, snapping out of her wordfest. "Turret gunner number one and on the other side of him, pretty girl amused with Blondie Boy's determination not to look at all the pretty girls... that's turret gunner number two."

"And the girl talking to the captain?" Colin wondered.

"Wants to get off Bryndar as bad as we do," Raelyn finished. "I'd have picked up more if you hadn't been so fast... ship's called the Scimitar..." She let her words trail off. Then, she muttered a few rather colorful strings of words.

"Rae, what is it?" Colin demanded urgently. Raelyn shuddered ever so slightly.

"Cole, they're bounty hunters," she whispered. Colin nodded, seeming to take the information at face value, as the new crew's occupation and nothing more.

"I'm going to talk to him," Colin said finally. He stood and approached Alec, and Raelyn followed.

"Excuse us, Captain," Colin said. "We're looking for a ship to take us off Bryndar. So long as we don't end on an even more backwater planet, we don't particularly care as to the destination." As if sensing a moment's hesitation coming, Raelyn tapped her brother's shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"Payment is not an issue," Colin added.

“My ship isn’t a passenger liner, we’re here for a job and once that’s done our ship will be full and not a safe place for you and your friend there.” Alec replied to the man referring to the women behind him.

"Payment is not an issue."

“No, it really isn’t . There is no amount of scratch you can offer that will change my mind.” Alec added. “We’re here to bring in that Jedi and nothing more!”

Colin didn't even flinch. "Everyone's got a price at which they'll do anything," he said coolly. "What's yours?"

Raelyn seemed to be focusing intently on Alec's forehead. In the back of her mind, she heard, Find me the Jedi...

"I could find your Jedi, Captain," she announced boldly. She cocked her head to one side and added with unreserved confidence, "That's what you want."

"That's a truth." Alec replied taking another gulp of his drink, his eyes were then drawn to the Cantina entrance and he noticed the person he actually came to see walk in flanked by a couple of large body guards. Taking another large gulp of his drink to finish it off he then placed the bottle back on the table and stood up. “If you’ll all excuse me I need to see a Cyclops about a Jedi.”

Polcyc saw Alec and waved him over to a table in the corner he walking over to with his bodyguards. Alec took a few steps over to Arelyn and tapped her on the shoulder. “Come on, you’re with me, he like Jyot with his eye for pretty women and things’ll go a lot smoother with you by my side.” He then took one step back and lent down so his head was between Latch’s and Jyot’s to whisper. “Keep your hands by your holster, just in case he’s looking for a little payback.”

Alec and Arelyn walked over to the table and sat opposite the the Abyssian and his Human cohorts.

“<Ahh Mr Tannis it’s so good to be seeing you again.>” Polcyc sarcastically greeted.

“let’s Cut the false modesties and get to business.” Alec abruptly said without wasting time. “The Jedi where is he?”

“<I don’t know.>”

“You better not be kriffing with me.”

“<But I do know who does...>” The Cyclops began to bargain. “<For a price.>”

“I knew you were up to something.” Alec stated as he quickly drew one of his pistols and aimed it at the centre of Polcyc’s head. “Tell me where the Jedi is or you’ll use eye.”

After Alec left, Raelyn whispered something in Colin's ear. He nodded and said, "I'll make myself scarce. Go for it..."

He withdrew, leaving the cantina, and Raelyn drew ever so slightly nearer to the meeting between Alec and Polcyc. For half a second, Polcyc's gaze was distracted by the subtle movements of the young woman, but then, his eye refocused on Alec's pistol and a flurry of thoughts flew through his mind. Raelyn grinned in satisfaction and darted out of the cantina to find the man who knew where the Jedi was. If the cyclops' was right in his thinking, the man was in a coma in the settlement's small med facility.

And if that was right, Raelyn could prove to be of some use after all...

Arelyn, who was really quite enjoying watching Jyot squirm, was about to reply to Latch's obviously baiting plea for help when Alec tapped her on the shoulder. "Come on, you’re with me, he likes Jyot with his eye for pretty women and things’ll go a lot smoother with you by my side."

She sighed and stood up as ordered, but not before shooting Jyot a look. Falling into step next to Alec, she said, "Always glad to be of service, boss." As they approached the Abyssian, she expected to be ogled by Polcyc, but instead found herself tensing up as Alec pulled a blaster out. "Talk about aggressive negotiations," she muttered under her breath as she readied herself for anything.

Jyot stared at his half-filled glass, as Alec left with Arelyn, telling both him and Latch to keep themselves ready in case of trouble. Slowly, Jyot looked up and over his shoulder, only to catch a glimpse of the second unfamiliar female voice that had spoken to Alec just moments before. She was pretty, too.

"Aw, crap!" he complained to Latch. "Another one? How many pretty women are on this planet anyway? Where are the ugly ones like... like Mrs. Cyclops Polcyc and stuff?" He groaned. "Latch, I can't do this. I should never had made that bet. It goes against my entire nature. I have to ogle. It's a need for men to ogle a little bit, right?" He grabbed Latch's arm. "Right?"

He suddenly drew his blaster, pointing it in the direction of one of Polcyc's body guards just as Alec had drawn his and was pointing it at Polcyc. "See?" he said to Latch. "It's not like I can't pay attention to other stuff. I just like women." His eyes narrowed at the bodyguard. "Is there anything wrong with that?" he asked, sounding just a little bit stressed out.

Latch clapped a hand down on his friend's shoulder and squeezed, hoping to ease some of the tension that Jyot was currently under. The gunner knew that his womanizing friend would have a rough time with the bet he'd made, but with the newly tense situation they had at hand, he didn't know just how far Jyot would go.

"Easy there, Span," Latch said quietly to Jyot, using the nickname he'd acquired during their time at CorSec together. "You know Abyssians don't consider a negotiation seriously unless you point a blaster at them." To illustrate his point, Latch slowly drew his Bryar pistol and leveled it at Polcyc. "I'd do what the cap'n said if I were you, Polly," he addressed the cyclops. "My friend here is kind of peeved at the moment, and you really don't want to piss off a pair of armed Corellians."

Ellie watched the man and woman - a brother and sister team, if her senses told her correctly - as they approached the captain about getting a ride, raising an eyebrow as the captain flat out refused with a stone-cold answer. So he was one of those types - the my-way-or-the-highway kind that always got the job done. Well, she could appreciate that.

His mention of how dangerous the ship's voyages were didn't really perturb her. She had lived in the deepest, darkest slums of Coruscant, flown a ship to practically every corner of the known galaxy, and battled pirates who had decided they would try and rob said ship of whatever valuables it had. In her mind, there wasn't much that she was afraid of being unable to handle.

And when she saw the negotiations suddenly getting rather...tense, she seemed to understand exactly what the good ol' captain had meant. The sudden pulling of a blaster made her eyebrows shoot up - whatever these people were doing, looking for this Jedi, they sure as hell meant business. Then again, not many people were looking for the fabled warriors of old. At least, not many normal, sane people.

She shifted slightly, and felt her own gun holster press into her hip from where it was hidden beneath her jacket. It reassured her - having a weapon within easy reach always did. She also knew that her arsenal of throwing knives were placed on her belt and in her sleeves, the thought bringing a faint smile to her face. Running her hand through her pixie-short orange hair, she glanced at the other two male crew members, who were only a seat down from her.

"You're captain always that much of a firebrand?" she asked, raising an eyebrow towards the negotiation scene.

Next time I crash, I'm doing it on Commenor.

He stumbled over a sand drift, sputtering. Apparently, the captain had been a bit of a cheapskate, this cold weather gear wasn't up to spec. He gasped with relief, he could see something over the horizon. Either the settlement was relatively close, or he was hallucinating. He broke into a run towards the lights.

"Excuse me, miss, but I can't let you stay here," the young medical technician objected as Raelyn approached the bed which held an unconscious man. Raelyn turned her brown eyes innocently toward him and then, she glanced down at herself.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "No scrubs. Yeah, sorry. Really really new here. I'm a new nurse."

The technician looked as if he was about to object, but he merely frowned and scratched his head. Another moment of looking puzzled and he was gone. Raelyn watched the comatose patient for a few seconds before hurrying off to find some scrubs that would fit. Once that was accomplished, she returned to the bedside.

And here, she would wait.

“The game is speak up or die Polcyc.” Alec stated keeping his gun pointed to the Aliens single Eye. “The survivor where is he.”

“<You son of a Murglak, I invite you to my world for business and you threaten me.>” The Abyssian defiantly hissed. Alec just quickly whipped out his second pistol and aimed it at the lone Abyssians eye. “<The med-center, but you won’t get anything out of him, he’s been in a coma for almost a week now.>”

Alec placed one of his pistols backing it’s holster and stood up, he then used his free hand to signal the others to leave the cantina. Alec slowly walked out of the cantina backwards while continuing to aim his pistol.

The four crewman of The Scimitar walked into the med-center in order to check if Polcyc’s story was the truth. On arrival Alec took a brief look at his chart and then turned to Jyot and Latch. “Can one of you guys go and get Stitcher, these docs probably ain’t the best.”

"You're captain always that much of a firebrand?"

"Only when he's had whiskey," Latch replied coolly, never taking his eyes away from Alec and Polcyc. As his captain started to back out of the cantina, Latch gripped Jyot's arm gently and backpedaled to keep pace with Alec, his pistol still up. Offering an apologetic glance at the young woman who had spoken to them, he exited the cantina along with Alec and Arelyn, Jyot in tow.

Once outside, they trotted a safe distance away from the cantina before holstering their weapons. "Jeez, boss," Latch said, brushing a stray strand of dark hair out of his face. "You could have at least given us a heads-up before you decided to go all 'Win or Die' on us."

*******

"Can one of you guys go and get Stitcher, these docs probably ain’t the best."

"Yeah, I'll get him," Latch said, pulling out his comlink. "Be back in a jif."

Jyot leaned up casually against the wall near the door, arms crossed, looking rather disinterested and bored, and not going into the room with the comatose man.

"I really hate hospitals," he said. "The smell, the food, all the poking and prodding and...." Suddenly, he stuck his head further into the room so he could peek around the corner. There was a nurse sitting beside the patient's bed--face mask up and wearing surgical scrubs--and she had the most alluring brown eyes.

"Oh? Hello, there," he said smoothly, starting to relax his stance and smile. But then Arelyn caught his gaze and his smile quickly dropped. He cleared his throat. "So, erm, Nurse," he started, trying to sound as professional as possible, "what's his prognosis?"

He shot a quick look at Arelyn, and mouthed the words, "Just asking, not ogling" to her.

"But I wanted to stay on the ship!"

Latch blew an exasperated sigh as he pushed Stitcher onwards. The young doctor had been quite reluctant about setting foot on the planet and was not very cooperative. Only when Latch had threatened to hog-tie him and drag him out physically did he give in. That, of course, did not mean he wasn't going to complain along the way. This made Latch seriously consider stuffing a gag into his mouth. "C'mon, Doc," he said, trying to reason with the increasingly unreasonable medic. "You've been on Nar Shaddaa before, this iceball should be a piece of cake."

"I didn't exactly set foot on Nar Shaddaa, did I?" Stitcher retorted, his voice whiny now.

Latch sighed, wishing he could reach for the stun gun at his belt and taser the medic into submission, but Alec probably wouldn't like that a whole lot. Instead, he endured the constant stream of complaints and resolutely pushed Stitcher to the hospital where the rest of the crew awaited.

Shoving Stitcher into the room, he nodded at Alec. "Here you go, boss. One supremely uncooperative doctor for you."

The town was so close, he felt like he could touch it. Touch it...

He noticed that something was on him. Snow. Heh, that was funny, he didn't remember falling. It was damn cold here, and he'd been walking for hours. He just needed to...rest. He felt his eyes closing.

Just...just a few minutes, then I'll keep moving.

“So stitch, what’s the problem?” Alec asked holding the Datapad with the medical notes out in front of him.

“I’m Cold and my bums gone numb.” The medic explained still complaining.

“Not with you! Him.” Alec explained frustrated waving the pad in front of his medics face. Stitcher took the datapad and examined the data for a few moments and shookhis head in disapproval.

“This Guys got advance pneumonia, Suffering signs of exhaustion and has frost burns over most of his body.” Stitcher explained. “If I saw him two days ago and had a bacta tank I may have been able to help him, but it’s far too late for that now. He’ll be dead in 24 hours.”

“Krif me! So now we have no way to find this Jedi.” Alec complained holding his head in his hands. “Looks like this trip was all for nothing unless we can find some other way to find a trail.”

"I can help you there."

She stood leaning against the open door, her arms folded over her chest. Quite aware that she gave quite a few of the occupants a fright - good old Sneaking Shoes never let her down.

Ellie smirked faintly as she stood straight, striding right by the crew member near the door as she moved into the med ward, pulling the toothpick that had been left from her martini from between her lips, resting a hand on one hip. Fully aware - and a slight bit pleased - that every eye in the room was on her, she spoke up again, her eyes zeroed in on the captain.

Eye contact is the first thing people look for, especially potential employers. she thought to herself, Keep a lock on their eyes, and they won't be able to look away.

"A spacer has to find some way to keep themselves occupied on a rock like this. Me? I like to explore - see what kind of things I can get into. If you think your 'Jedi' is anywhere here on this rock, I can probably find him." Okay, so without much to go on, it would be near impossible to find the Jedi on this frozen ice cube of a planet. But who ever told the truth on their resumes?

"Oh? Hello, there," he said smoothly, starting to relax his stance and smile. But then Arelyn caught his gaze and his smile quickly dropped. He cleared his throat. "So, erm, Nurse," he started, trying to sound as professional as possible, "what's his prognosis?"

"He's in a coma, he's dying," Raelyn answered coolly. She paused for a moment. "And now very frightened because he doesn't want to die." She shrugged. "But there's nothing this facility can do for him, so he has to resign himself to his fate..."

At that moment, 'long brown hair he... no head'... Raelyn allowed herself a tiny smirk of amusement. Gunner number one came back... Lachlan, she determined was his name, and with him was a medic. Raelyn sighed and waited patiently as the captain consulted his medic concerning the patient's health. She laughed softly as the captain began complaining of no easy way to find the Jedi.

Hey, comatose guy, she thought as loudly as she could. Since you're not likely to wake up... sorry about that, by the way... but mind helping me and my brother get off this icy death-ball? Where's the Jedi?

After determining the voice echoing in his head was not his own, 'Comatose Guy' pondered how to respond, to which Raelyn impatiently 'thought to' him that she was a telepath. There was a flurry of nervous thought, which turned into a brief argument in which Raelyn told the man it hardly mattered what was inside his head... except where the Jedi was. Then, he told her...

... just in time for Raelyn to hear that girl with the crazy hair boast that she could find the Jedi. Annoyed and feeling just a tad childish, Raelyn concentrated on the girl's mind and attempted to work a tiny little thought into her subconscious, which quietly proclaimed, I couldn't possibly figure this out... I'll have to find some other way to join up with this crew...

On second thought, Raelyn wondered if perhaps the thought had been a little too long for the subconscious to fully capture... but maybe it would have the desired effect... she watched the other girl to see if she may be having second thoughts on her plan...

"...so he has to resign himself to his fate..."

It took a lot of willpower for Jyot to tear his eyes away from the nurse's. "I know exactly how he feels," he said under his breath.

Preoccupied on how he was ever going to win his bet with Ali and Aerlyn, he only caught the last half of what the girl behind him was saying to Alec. ..."you think your 'Jedi' is anywhere here on this rock, I can probably find him."

"Well, finding him's only the first step," Jyot said, turning to face Ellie and trying very hard to keep his eyes on hers instead of her...other assets. Then a horrible thought struck him. "Or her." His face went ashen.

"Oh, cripe, why did I take that stupid bet....?" he said, mostly to himself. Worried eyes sought out Latch's. "What if the Jedi's a woman, Latch?" he whispered urgently. "Ogling quarry doesn't count, does it?" He then turned to Aerlyn. "Quarry can't count!" he hissed.

Suddenly aware that he might be causing people to think he was slightly crazy, he flashed a quick grin at Alec. "Erm... sorry," he said sheepishly. "Just ignore me." He cleared his throat. "Back on topic--Jedi, rock, find her. Erm... him! Find him, I mean."

Raelyn cleared her throat. "Okay," she said. "First of all... I'm not a nurse. The scrubs just help divert attention from the fact that people have never seen me here before. Second, and more importantly, Captain, as I said before, I can find your Jedi. Now, before, you didn't let me finish my thought. I've seen the Jedi twice before and I know which direction it went."

She turned to Ellie, suddenly feeling a conscience attack. "Sorry to step on your toes like that, but..." She paused for a moment, scanning surface thoughts. "I'd have to guess you've been planetside longer than my brother and I... perhaps you could work up some transportation? We're gonna need it."

Only the first step?

Ellie couldn't help but raise a slight eyebrow before catching the expression, and setting her face straight again. Sure, she was put off ever so slightly by the question of what, exactly, the second step was, but...there was no reason to let it show. Not yet. Besides, why would someone put all the effort into finding the Jedi and then just...do nothing? These guys looked like they could handle themselves.

Her green cat eyes turned to the other woman in the room, the previously-thought-to-be nurse, as she spoke. Now Ellie did allow her eyebrow to raise, shifting her weight to one foot as she studied the woman's eyes. Finally, she spoke.

"What kind of transportation are we talking about?"

Raelyn considered this for a moment before replying, "Preferably non-repulsorlift transportation. Something that can grip the ground." She stripped off the scrubs from over top of her clothing, satisfied that the doctors and technicians would no longer need to be convinced she was a nurse.

"Okay, so you work on transportation," she said to Ellie. "I'll run grab my brother. And we'll all meet up... cantina, yeah?"

And with that, she headed toward the door. "Ooh!" she exclaimed, halting abruptly. "Sorry, I hadn't introduced us..." She bounded back to Alec and extended her hand to him. "Raelyn Lark. My brother's Colin." She shook his hand and scampered out of the med facility to find Colin.

Ellie raised an eyebrow slightly. They wanted a transport...with wheels? Who the hell would want one of those old things? And better yet, where exactly did they expect her to find something that could fit all of them?

Actually... she thought to herself, She didn't say that it needed to fit everyone...at least, not at once...

A faint smile lifted her lips as she began to plot, her eyes distant. "Alright," she said, a little distractedly, "I can handle that." And with that, she was gone.

Alec was a little taken aback by the two impulsive women who had just stormed into his life and were going to help them track the Jedi. As they both left he sighed slightly and turned to his crew. “Well it seems we have got some help for this job.”

Tannis sighed and looked over at Jyot who was trying to stare at the back of one of the women who had just left “Spanner, go with the transport girl and check to make sure it is in working order. Latch, Arelyn, Stitcher go back to the ship and collect supplies for winter survival.”

“Why does it sound like I’m going on this little expedition?” Stitched asked continuing his complaints.

“ ‘Cos you are, in fact we all are, tell Aly and Headshot to get prepped.” Alec explained. “And watch these noobs, we can’t be sure we can trust ‘em.”

"Girl. Check. In working order." Jyot shook his head sadly at Alec. "You know, you're really not making this any easier for me to win my bet."

Nevertheless, he trotted after the 'transport' girl. "Hey! Wait up!" He caught up with her in a few seconds, and fell into step with her.

Still doing his very best not to 'ogle' her, he asked, "Erm, I don't believe I caught your name? I'm Jyot, by the way, but some people call me Spanner 'cause I'm a mechanic." He smiled. "I'm a hands-on kind a guy. If it's broken, I can usually fix it."

"A mechanic, huh?" she asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye as he fell into step beside her, both heading towards a staircase at the end of the hallway. She skipped the first step out of habit. "Good, you can help me."

She allowed the silence to span for a moment before finally turning her head towards him to look at him fully. "I'm Elizabeth." she said, "Elizabeth Kartyk. You can call me Ellie."

"I did it, Cole!" Raelyn squealed in delight. Colin merely looked up at her for a moment, a sparkle of amusement in his eye. Despite her unsurpassed intelligence (thanks mostly to telepathy, he knew), Raelyn had a habit of being so overwhelmingly childish that it counteracted any suspicions anyone might have of her ever being anything remotely resembling a genius.

"I knew you would, Rae," Colin told her. "That's why I've been packing... not that there's much to do, but..."

Raelyn giggled and wrapped her brother up in a spontaneous embrace. Though he hadn't communicated it verbally, the telepath knew he needed the hug. Besides, Raelyn thought to herself, it ain't like it does me any harm either... Especially since Colin reflexively returned the gesture.

"So you got us a trip offworld?" the elder brother asked, displaying his talent for worry. Raelyn laughed.

"I convinced comatose guy to tell me the general area where the Jedi's hiding away," she said. "I can lead us in that direction, the motley crew of hunters can do what they do best... and you can do what you do best since they are really a motley crew. There's bound to be some shooting and... injuring. After all, it's a Jedi they're trying to take down."

"Raelyn, promise me you won't involve yourself in the fight," Colin pleaded, knowing his sister's inclination to put herself in danger. "Even if you know without a doubt you won't get hurt. Like you said, this is a Jedi... and don't say it... I know you can read the Jedi's mind to predict his moves, but..."

"But Jedi can sorta do the same," Raelyn interrupted impatiently. "You know I've heard all the same arguments before, Cole. And my answer's the same. Only if it'll make you feel better."

"Anytime you say that, it means you still intend to get involved," Colin fretted. "I'm not going to lose you, Rae. Don't get involved."

For the first time she could remember, Raelyn could not detect any emotion besides fear emanating from her brother. He was genuinely afraid that if she involved herself in the struggle to capture a Jedi, not even his doctoring skills would be able to save her. That scared her.

"I..." she stammered. "I-I won't, Cole. You have my word."

Colin nodded and Raelyn felt relief rolling off of him in waves.

"Then let's go meet them," he said, shouldering his bag, which contained all the possessions they retained in all the galaxy. But one of their most important possessions was not in the bag. It was a rather long number, which Colin never bothered with since he knew Raelyn had it permanently memorized.

Indeed, somewhere in the back of her mind, beneath her perceptions until she wished to call it up, Raelyn's subconscious repeated...

0141906733710... 0141906733710... 0141906733710... 0141906733710......... 01419067337100141906733710014190673371001419067337 100141906733710......

On and on, it droned... to be connected to another dot in the back of her mind only when money became important, this number was the 'identity' on a very full bank account.