Jyot grinned, but he kept his eyes to the snowy ground below him. "Nice to meet you, Ellie." Surely, pleasant conversation doesn't count as ogling, he thought. Or anatomical appreciation. No, I'm having a civilised discussion with an intelligent, resourceful woman who just coincidentally is....

His eyes flicked up for an instant, catching Ellie in a sideways glance. The icy breeze ruffled her short, treacle-colored hair against her smooth complexion as her lithe form walked gracefully beside him. Perfectly arched brows, long eyelashes, hazel eyes, defined cheekbones, soft lips, and....

...absolutely gorgeous. Instantly, he bit the inside of his lip. Damn! What is this place? Cold storage for potential fashion models? I'm going to go insane trying to win this stupid bet with Ali! He took a deep breath. Focus on the task, focus on the task.... Focus. On. The. Task.

He exhaled. "So, erm, what kind of transport did you have in mind, Ellie? Snow crawlers? Drive sleds?" He grinned crookedly. "Skis?"

Ellie grinned at the mention of skiing, lifting her wrist and pulling back the edge of her jacket, checking the planet's current time on the watch wrapped around her wrist. If they kept at this rate, they just might be able to make it during the shift change, when Ballon was on duty...

"Actually, I was thinking of sledding," she said, sounding almost completely serious - if not for the flash in her eyes, one would automatically assume she was telling the truth. "They've got a Tauntaun farm down on the lower levels of the settlement - grabbing a few of them and hooking them up to one of the sleds they used to use in the mines would make perfect mushing equipment."

"Why do I have to carry the stuff?" Stitcher complained, shifting the large pack on his shoulders while trying to keep the bags over his arms aloft.

Latch chuckled. "Because you're the youngest and therefore in the prime of your life. You should be able to carry twice this much!"

Stitcher shot Latch a look full of loathing. "I'm a doctor, not a pack animal."

Ali couldn't help laughing. "Hah, so you are," she said in between fits of giggling as she reached over and took a bag off of Stitcher's shoulder.

"You are still the youngest, though," Headshot told the annoyed medic, pulling another pack off of Stitcher's shoulders.

"Yes, thank you for reminding me," Stitcher said, sounding somewhat exasperated.

Latch grinned at all of them before turning to lead them into the cantina.

"I hope that hormonal engineer of yours is keeping to his word, Latch," Ali remarked as they shouldered their way through the doors.

"Jyot's a good Corellian, he keeps his word," Latch replied, though he was being only half-truthful. Jyot was, for the most part, an honest man. However, once you threw an attractive woman into the equation, all bets tended to be off. "Although, that chicky Alec told him to go with was rather pretty..." Latch glanced over at Arelyn. "Wasn't she?"

The Mistryl gave a curt nod in response.

Ali's eyes narrowed. "We better hurry up, then," she stated, quickening her step.

Alec walked out of the med-center and out into the icy whether, he began to walk towards the cantina where he would be meeting the rest of his crew. It was getting to midday on the planet and Alec realised the nearby snowstorm had almost cleared and allowed him to see further out into the frozen wastes. He moved to the edge of the settlement and continued to look out, he could see what appeared to be smoke in the distance. Alec didn’t think much of it as it was probably just a crater caused by a stray asteroid from the nearby belt. Alec shook his head and began to walk away from the edge.

”Save him.”

Alec turned at the whisper in the wind, trying to see if someone said it from behind him, But there was no one around except him. He shook his once again thinking he was mistaken and continued to walk away.

"Save the Pilot.”

Again Alec turned to find no one was there, once again he shook his head and continued to walk away towards the cantina. Once in the cantina he walked back over to the bar and ordered some water supplies for the journey they were about to go on.

"They've got a Tauntaun farm down on the lower levels of the settlement - grabbing a few of them and hooking them up to one of the sleds they used to use in the mines would make perfect mushing equipment."

"Tauntauns?" Jyot wrinkled his nose. He was good with machines, but he didn't have much experience wrangling animals. "Last time I saw one of those was at the Coronet City Zoo. By the Stars, they stunk," he added. "Though I suppose with it being so cold here, we'll have rebreathers on so the smell won't matter." He paused a beat. "So, Ellie, are they pretty easy to control? Or are you going to teach all of us to 'mush'?" Again, an uneasy pause. "Or will we just have to wing it on our own?"

Ellie smirked - for some reason, this guy seemed to have a problem with looking at her straight on. Which was, of course, the exact reason why she had said what she did the way she did. Shaking her head slightly, she gave a single chuckle under her breath.

"I can tell you love animals, just from the look on your face." she said, looking at him from the corner of her eye. "Luckily for you, it doesn't interest me if it doesn't have an engine on it. Now c'mon - if we want to get those transports, we're going to have to get in there while they're changing shifts."

Jyot's let out a tiny sigh of relief at not having to deal with tauntauns, but then his eyes widened slightly. "You're interested in engines?"

He felt his heart pound faster. Beautiful, has a sense of humor, and she likes engines? I think I'm in love.... Damn, damn, damn, that stupid bet!

He struggled to think of something to say, other than his usual lines. "So...does that mean you're interested in the swoop races?" Oh! that sounded so lame. She's going to think I'm an idiot if she doesn't think so already.

Latch spotted Alec at the bar and steered his companions over in that direction. "Okay boss, we're all here and accounted for," the gunner said, flicking stray bits of snow out of his long, black hair. "We packed warm, so where do we stash our stuff?"

She turned to look at him full-on now, raising a slight eyebrow as a slightly devilish smile came to her lips. "I've raced almost all my life." she said, before correcting herself with a shrug. "Well, I haven't recently - I had to leave my swoop back on Corescant when I left, but...yeah. I built it and everything."

Ellie could have laughed - with the look this Jyot guy was giving her, she was half expecting him to start drooling any second now. "And before you ask, no, I'm not Corellian." she paused a moment before continuing, "You alright, flyboy?"

"Until Jyot and his new chickita get here with a transport just dump it in the corner. Lets hope them and that Raelyn character get here soon i want to get going ASAP." Alec explained as he took the water and extra equipment to the corner.

As he moved closer he was stopped in his tracks by the ships sadistic little droid. "Undesignated Bounty Alec Tannis I demand that i join you on this Hunt."

"You know that repulsorlift won't work more than a few klicks away from the colony." Alec then thought for a moment. "But you will be useful... Looks like someone'll have to carry you!"

"I will not be carried like a common scanner!" Zip complained.

"Too bad it's not your choice." Alec slyly grinned.

"New chickita?" Ali repeated, arching an eyebrow. "And you let him go with her unsupervised?"

Latch was more concerned with Zip tagging along. "Oh, come on," he said to Alec. "We're bringing this bucket of bolts along? He'll probably stab us all with tranqs when we're not looking."

Ok, so she's got one fault, Jyot thought.

"You alright, flyboy?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," he replied quickly. "Just fine, never better, 100 percent." He still wasn't looking directly at her, instead was looking ahead. "Is that where you're thinking of picking up our transport?" He pointed in front of them where several snow-trackers ((like snowmobiles but larger and faster 'cause we're in the SW universe. :) )) were parked.

She grinned, nodding. "Those would be them." she said, glancing around. "The only problem is they seat two people each...meaning we're going to have to work quickly. No one's around, they must still be switching the shifts - c'mon!"

Ellie darted ahead, moving quickly, lithely, and subtly through the 'no-man's-land', darting between the rows of vehicles. "On the front of each there's a tow cable - use that to hook one up to the one that you're going to be driving." she told him quickly as he joined her. She didn't pause for him to ask questions - she was already going to work dragging one of the two cables from its reel in the front of the snow-tracker to the back of another, slipping the large hook on the end under the back end of one of the other trackers. She jumped over the one she had hooked it up to to connect a second.

((*kills posts*))

Jyot wasn't a stranger to 'borrowing' equipment. He had his snow-trackers hooked up and ready to go in about the same time as Ellie.

"Last one to the cantina is..." He took off in his tracker. "...buying!"

Ellie's jaw dropped as he took off, making her look both insulted and quite amused. "That little...cheat!" she said, shifting the gear into forward and jamming down on the throttle. She had very little experience driving something that had actual tracks on it, rather than a repulsor lift, and she had two snow-trackers attached to the back of hers as opposed to his one, but...somehow, in some ungodly trick of piloting, she was able to catch up on his tail.

"Didn't your mom ever teach you?" she called to him. The passageways were, thankfully, totally void of life other than the two of them, leaving her no distractions or obstructions as she quickly gunned the throttle almost full-out to get ahead of him, slowing back to her normal, safer pace once she had obtained her spot. "Cheaters never win!"

Jyot walked into the cantina and strode up to the bar. He slapped a credit chip down on the bar. "Corellian Ale and whatever she's having."

The bartender frowned a bit. "She?" Jyot appeared to be alone. "She who?"

"'She' with treacle-colored hair who will be walking in here any minute now with a ginormous grin on her face because I came in second in a field of two."

The bartender set the ale down, Jyot picked it up, and then, spotting Alec and the rest of the crew on the other side of the cantina, he went to join them.

"We got transport," he announced. "Snow-trackers, outside, and ready to go."

Ellie walked in only seconds later, and sure enough, her lips were spread with a wide grin. Seeing Jyot leave the bar and the bartender automatically turn his eyes to her, she figured he had already taken care of the drink. She caught his eye as he went to join the others of his crew and she tossed him a taunting wink as she strode up to order her drink.

Sipping on a fresh glass of Juma, she made her way over to where the rest of the crew of the ship that had just recently landed had gathered, swallowing the drink she had in her mouth before speaking.

"We've got five of them - two person to each tracker." she glanced at the large packs nearby that she guessed belonged to them. Just how far were they planning on going on this 'journey'? "I'm sure that, between five of them, we can fit whatever it is you need to bring."

Raelyn bounded in, an extremely wide grin on her face and Colin entered somewhat behind, frowning in the way of a man whose mind is presently occupied with other things. Both were dressed to suit the icy temperatures outside and Colin was carrying the bag.

"So," Raelyn announced decisively, coming to an abrupt halt in front of Alec. She reached back, seeming to instinctively know where her brother was standing, and pulled him forward. "This is my brother, Colin."

Finally, Colin's face broke into a smile... a polite smile, and looking a little fake, but a smile nonetheless. "I'm going to assume Raelyn has neglected to tell you that our help comes at a small price..."

Raelyn blushed, but said nothing. Colin glanced back at his sister, an unspoken warning passing between them.

"We are more than happy to help you, Captain..." Colin went on, pausing to give Alec a chance at providing his name.

"Tannis," Raelyn supplied promptly. "Alec Tannis." Then, she began cycling through all of their names. "Jyot Tyrell, Alindra D'Ayarra, Ray Brink, Arelyn K'zanthis, Kuun Lan, and Lach...lan?" She struggled with the idea of his name for a moment before settling on "Latch.. Vax. Oh, and transportation found by Elizabeth Kartyk... Ellie."

Colin was bright red by this point. "Rae," he mumbled. "People get suspicious when you know their names and they haven't introduced themselves..."

Raelyn frowned thoughtfully. "Whoops..." She grinned and tugged at her ears. "Good ears..." She tapped beside her eyes. "Good eyes." She wiggled her fingers. "Fast fingers."

"Right," Colin agreed, returning to a more natural color. "Anyway... price. I know you're not a passenger ship, but consider this help our payment. We're getting off this rock on your ship... or you're going to have an impossible time finding your Jedi."

Arelyn crossed her arms and studied the newcomers. Alec certainly did have a way of finding people who would do what he wanted them to do. For a price, of course. So far, none of them seemed threatening, although there was something about the female twin that unnerved her a little. Probably her knowing everyone's name before they even introduced themselves. Yes, that was it.

She noticed Zip struggling to activate his repulsorlifts. Moving to the little droid's side, she deftly slipped a restraining bolt onto his front socket, eliciting an indignant tweet from Zip. "Undesignated bounty Arelyn K'zanthis, what are you doing?!"

"Making sure you don't get us off on the wrong foot with our new companions, you abrasive little hover-rat," Arelyn replied, almost sweetly. "Now pipe down or else I will deactivate your vocabulator."

For once, Zip fell silent, but Arelyn could feel the droid's photoreceptors burning a hole in her head. Smiling smugly, she shouldered a pack and began moving towards the transport vehicles.

Latch grinned at the exchange between Arelyn and Zip. She'll fit in just fine, he thought to himself. Hauling his gear up onto his shoulders, he sidled over next to Jyot. "So, did you lose the bet yet?" he quietly teased his friend, looking pointedly at Ellie.

"We had very polite conversation about winter sports equipment, tauntauns, and swoop racing along the way," Jyot said matter-of-factly to Latch as he shouldered the pack Latch had brought for him. "And," he lowered his voice to an almost a whisper, "I didn't ogle her once."

Latch looked at him with disbelief.

"Honest!" Jyot said, moving his fingers in the pattern of a Corellian promissory gesture. "Not once. Glanced, yes. Ogled, no." He looked over his shoulders to see if Aerlyn or Ali were within earshot. They weren't. "But, by the stars, she's a pretty one," he confessed. "And she likes engines. Just wait until you see her ride a snow tracker. She beat me by 10 seconds and I had a head start."

"If I didn't know you any better, I'd think you were in love," Latch remarked jovially to Jyot. "Too bad I do know you better. She isn't the first girl you've been all a-twitter over and she won't be the last." He cast a glance over at Ali and Arelyn. "Just hope that our two resident ladies don't hear you."

As they moved towards the doors, Latch caught sight of the twin newcomers, paying notable attention to the female who had recited all of their names. She was pretty, if a bit mysterious. Latch nudged Jyot gently in the ribs. The amorous engineer had probably seen her before he had, but Latch couldn't resist refocusing Jyot's attention on Raelyn after he'd been swooning over Ellie. "Hellooooo nurse," he told his friend. "You sure picked an awful time to make a bet like that, Span. This must be where they keep supermodels in cryostasis."

(OCC- OK Guys I’m going to do another skip forward so we meet Kadis a bit quicker and get more into the main part of the story.))

The group had set off on their journey on an eastern direction towards where Raelyn had told them the Jedi would be. Alec and the guide were walking out in front of the group who were driving on the four tracked transports. Although Raelyn was leading the way Alec walked by her side in case he had to use his tracking skills in order to find the Jedi in case they moved on from where Raelyn claimed she was.

Alec had given Zip to Jyot to carry and told him to make sure the little droid kept a constant scan of the area to make sure they didn’t miss anything. Unfortunately the interference that prevented the repulsorlift also disrupted the sensors making them pretty inefficient.

They had only gotten a few clicks out from the settlement and it was beginning to go out of their line of sight. Looking forward all that could be seen was more snow covered wastes and a small mountain range in the distance.

As Alec looked out suddenly for the briefest of moments he saw what appeared to be a sentient in a robe. Alec turned his head to focus on it but suddenly it was gone as if it was never there in the first place.

“Did you…” Alec began to ask as he continued looking, he noticed what appeared to be a slight mound in the snow but something was sticking out of it, a hand.

Alec began to run over to the mound and knelt down next to it and began to dig through the snow with his hands. As he dug he slowly realised someone was buried under the snow and they hadn’t been there too long. “Hey Stitch get over here!”

Kadis' eyes fluttered open, his mind clearing for a moment, only to have the confusion be replaced with panic. He couldn't move. A leaden weight lay on his limbs. Faintly, he could hear a rumbling sound and a man shouting. The weight seemed to be diminishing, but he still couldn't even make a fist.

He tried to take stock of his situation. He couldn't move his hands, his blaster was under the useless excuses for 'cold weather gear' that he was wearing, and if he wasn't mistaken, he was frostbitten and probably hypothermic. He felt a hand grasp his shoulder and flip him over, and he was looking up.

"I'm Stitch. Can you hear me?"

Kadis nodded feebly.

"This guy's in bad shape..." Stitch grabbed Kadis' hand and looked at it. "Can you touch your thumb to your little finger?"

Kadis tried, but failed. He shook his head.

"He's hypothermic, Captain. We need to get him somewhere warm."

"Did you?" the captain began. His mind finished the thought. Raelyn frowned thoughtfully, but then everyone's attention was centered around the man lying in the snow.

"He's hypothermic, Captain. We need to get him somewhere warm," the medic announced. In an instant, Colin was by the barely conscious man's side.

"The settlement isn't too far, Captain," he urged. "Your medic's right. We should take this man back. There's not much we can do for him out here."

"Help him, Cole," Raelyn whispered from where she stood. Then, she moved to whisper a few quick sentences in his ear. He glanced over at Ali for a moment before looking down at the man in the snow. He nodded in response to a question Raelyn must have asked him and began doing what he could to carefully get the man up onto one of the trackers.

"Let's get him back to the settlement," he said. "It's only a few clicks back. Won't delay the Jedi hunt for long."

“No!” Alec said abruptly. “Do what you can here but we carry on moving to the Jedi.”

Tannis may have seemed cold hearted but he knew that going back to the settlement wouldn’t have done anything. The man would die on the journey back so he needed immediate attention and he was fortunate enough that two doctors were in the group that found him.

Alec took out a small portable heater unit and activated it before throwing it on the floor near the fallen man. “The unit will only work a few minuets here so get busy.”

Stitch grimaced. "Captain, that's not possible..."

"It just might be," Colin countered, dropping to his knees. "Ray... Stitch, help me out here. If we have any extras, find some more cold weather gear in the baggage we've brought along."

"Didn't catch your name, but my question's the same," Stitch said. "Are you out of your mind? He's got barely a chance out here. He may die on the way back to the..."

"My name is Colin Lark," the young doctor snapped, "and I don't give a damn that you've never heard of me. I'm a doctor and you're going to do what I say."

He switched on the portable heater. "Listen to me," he told the man in the snow gently. "I want you to do what you can to focus your mind. Panic isn't going to help you now. I think maybe I can..."

The heater was set to its absolute lowest setting. It would do more harm than good to warm the man up too quickly. As Colin worked, Raelyn knelt next to the man's head.

"Can you hear me?" she asked softly. "My name's Raelyn. I'm Colin's sister. Don't worry. You'll be okay."

Stitcher returned with some extra cold weather gear and Colin instructed him to put it on over the gear the man was already wearing.

"Can you speak?" Raelyn asked him softly. "What's your name?"

As his sister continued to try and get answers from the man, Colin continued his work. Slowly but surely, the man seemed to be recovering. Gradually, Colin increased the heat on the portable heater. It took some time, but finally, he stood back. Just as he did so, the heater sputtered and died.

"He'll live," Colin said finally. "Close up the new cold weather gear. He's got enough body heat of his own now. It'll function as it should."

He helped the man sit up. "You'll be fine now," he determined. "I realize you still don't feel warm... but you will. Exercise will help. We're only a few clicks away from the village. My suggestion to you is..." Raelyn whispered in her brother's ear. The brother and sister had a momentary, intense, whispered conversation.

"I suppose now that you're able, we should let you decide what you want to do," Colin said finally. "Furthermore, you ought to decide what it is you wish to do at this point..."

"My long-winded brother will now shut up and give you a chance to say something," Raelyn cut in, grinning at the man, who by now was able to stand.

He rubbed his hands together. "Kadis Venarm." He mumbled around chattering teeth. "Decide what I want?" His mind was clearing, he could remember what he was doing out here. "Wait a minute. You're the ones with the ship, aren't you? What's a lift off this ice cube worth to you?"

Alec stood over the doctors while they worked to heal and warm up the man that had fallen in the snow. He was quite impressed with how efficiently Colin worked and how his sister helped the situation by calming the man. When it was all finished Alec knelt down on to one knee by the man hoping to find out who he was.

"Wait a minute. You're the ones with the ship, aren't you? What's a lift off this ice cube worth to you?"

“Why in the nine Corellian Hells does everybody think my ship is a passenger liner?” Alec rhetorically asked himself as he looked at the quickly healing man. “There is absolutely nothing you can offer that will get me to take another passenger on my ship.”

"Alec," Jyot motioned Alec over towards him and Latch so that they could have a private conversation. "Unless this guy's completely wacko and likes to take long walks in the snow, he's obviously been crew on another ship or something. I mean, look at the way he's dressed? Indoor attire if I ever saw it." He glanced at Kadis. "And look how fast he's healing? Definitely got a strong constitution and we could use some more muscle. Especially if we're hunting a target like a Jedi," he said in a low whisper.

Latch looked the near-frostbitten man. "Yeah I agree, boss," he said to Alec. "And worst comes to worst, we could use him for lightsaber fodder." He chuckled and winked at Alec. "Though, with all these people looking to join up with us, we should start a passenger service anyway. Make some money off of it, eh?"

“The two million Jedi bounty not enough for you?” Alec asked rhetorically looking over at latch, he thought for several moments then shook his head. “Okay… Okay, I’ll see if he’s any good in fight.”

Alec turned and strolled over to Kadis and kneeled by his side once again. “If you’re any good in a fight and help us bring in our bounty I’ll take you off this rock.” Alec explained. “Before you just agree you should know the bounty is a Jedi.”

"A Jedi!?" He stroked his chin, encountering thick stubble. On one hand, Jedi are deadly. I've seen them in combat. On the other hand, I've got three years of Kessel to repay them and it's probably my only way off this rock."I'm game. I've got no love for the Jedi."

He nodded at the other man who had spoken. "Yeah, my ship crashed, must be two hundred klicks...uh...that way, I think." He pointed in a random direction. "Long story."

“OK then.” Tannis said standing up and holding out his hand to help Kadis to his feet. “I’m Captain Alec Tannis, you can get to know everyone else on the way.”

Alec pulled the man up and looked over at the Snow Crawlers. “You better take a seat on one of those to recuperate.” Tannis then turned to look at Jyot and Latch. “So watch one of you guys wants to walk up front with me and our Guide?”

"Latch'll go with you, Cap'n," Jyot said, strategically stepping behind his friend. He gestured over his shoulder, vaguely pointing toward Ellie. "After all, I've established a rapport with El. I should really sort of, you know, keep her company."

"Oh no you don't, Tyrell," Ali snapped, stomping over. She set her fists on her hips and looked him in the eye. "Don't think I'm not watching you." She cast a glance over at Ellie, then turned back to Jyot. "I think I'll go over there right now and let her know what a charmer you are." With that, Ali put actions to words and steamed off.

Latch stifled a laugh. "Yeah, I'll go with you, boss. Looks like Jyot's gonna have his hands full anyway."

Jyot watched in horror as Ali trudged across the snow in Ellie's direction. Then he looked at Latch, and then Alec.

"Tell me something," he said slowly to the both of them. "Was I like really, really drunk, like, barely-conscious drunk at my wedding?" He pointed directly at Ali. "Because I certainly don't recall marrying her."

“Jyot I’d tell you to take a cold shower but on a planet like this I’d think it wouldn’t be necessary.” Alec stated looking over at his mechanic. “Try to keep an Eye on Zip rather than the that Girl you’re next to… Latch do me a favour and keep your eyes on the sister, Something about her don’t seem right.” He whispered so only Jyot and Latch could hear him.

Alec then looked over at Raelyn. “Time’s a wasting girl, Lead the way.”

Raelyn smirked and shook her head. "Can't waste time... not possible." Without any explanation for her statement, she turned and began leading the way east. As they walked, Raelyn 'listened' for any signs of the Jedi. Meanwhile, Stitch and Colin were wrapped up in some form of medical discussion tied to what had just taken place with Kadis.

"I still don't understand," Stitch finally gave up. Colin shrugged.

"That's why I'm a doctor and you're a medic," he said, not unkindly. "Look, I realize I'm just meant to be a passenger of convenience to you all, but if you're interested, I'm sure there are things I could teach you that would help you do your job better."

Stitch seemed a little defensive. "I do my job just fine. You don't see any of the crew with leftover scars and stuff, do you?"

"A scar is an easy thing to take care of," Colin countered. "What about the injury beneath? How can you know if you've fully healed the damage beneath the scar?"

Stitch fell into an uncomfortable silence and Colin sighed. "Look, I don't mean to make you feel incompetent. I'm sure you're not, but you have areas in which you can use improvement. I can give you some of the additional training you might need."

Stitch shrugged. "I'm not saying no..."

Colin nodded. "That's all I ask."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


"So hunting Jedi, huh?" Raelyn asked Alec as they trudged along. "Not exactly the easiest of bounties to go after. Any particular reason you got for taking on a Jedi?"

It would have seemed like an innocent question... but after Raelyn's flippant introduction of the entire crew and Ellie, it was hard not to read more into her questions than just the face value of the question itself.

“The only reason a bounty hunter needs.” Alec stated continuing to look along the ground for any tracks that may help find the Jedi. “A big payday.”

Alec laughed as they continued to walk across the seemingly endless wastes towards the distant mountain range and where Alec was presuming the Jedi would be. The Jedi would need to hide out in a place where they could find shelter, food and clean water, so the mountain range would be the best place for that.

It wasn’t a long walk from finding Kadis until Alec noticed some faint tracks that had occurred since the recent snowstorm. The tracks appeared to be that of a sentient, Humanoid around six foot tall. “Let’s follow these.”

"Big payday's great, sure," Raelyn agreed dismissively. "But some paydays bring more harm than benefit. How much is two million worth to you? How many of your crew are you willing to lose to capture this bounty?"

Alec seemed interested in leaving that question unanswered, for he gestured to the footprints in the snow. Raelyn observed them for a moment and nodded. "Snowstorm blew through last night... I'd say you're right with your guessing."

They turned and began following the tracks and Raelyn asked again, "How many of your crew are you willing to sacrifice, Captain? You can't be sure you'll all return from this..."

Latch tilted his body forward to look at Raelyn. "Pardon me, Miss, but that isn't quite the best attitude to go into an engagement with," he said cordially. "We've gotten through a number of scrapes before and I don't think they're any reason we should change our outlook on things, even if we're going after a Jedi."

Kadis nodded. The woman had a point. "She's got a point, confidence and even sheer force of numbers can't guarantee victory against a Jedi. I saw one in action on Brentaal...absolutely devastating. The simplest way to deal with her would be to pick her off with a longblaster, but I take it you need her alive..."

"So, how do you plan on bringing the Jedi down? Stokhli spray sticks? Coma gas?"

“Don’t worry we’re pros, we have it all covered.” Alec explained calmly as he continued to follow the tracks. “And we know the risks or we wouldn’t be he…” Alec paused he saw what was obvious an unnatural levitation in the snow.

Alec begun to run forward towards it and quickly began to realise what it was, an old Republic Gunship from the Clone wars. Although it was half buried in snow the inside of the LAAT/I could be seen, the clones were all inside and seemed to be frozen at the point of impact which was odd. But what was more odd was the fact that they could see inside, it should have been completely covered in snow judging by how long it had to have been here for. “I didn’t expect to see one of these here.”

"Well, I'll be. I haven't seen one of these since Brentaal. A Larty..."

He stepped into the ship and started taking a look around, poking around the clone's armor. "Hopefully, their rifles are still intact. I always liked those things, even when I was getting shot at by them."

"Jedi, Jedi, Jedi - I swear, you're obsessed, the lot of you!" she muttered under her breath, "You know, we kinda have to know where the Jedi is before we can even begin thinking about how to fight him." she paused a moment, a slightly quizzical look on her face. Could Jedi be female? "Or her. It. Whatever."

Ellie gently twisted the throttle of her snow crawler, standing up over the seat as she followed the captain and the icicle-man run over to a dark shape just a few yards off from their current position. She was the only one on it at the moment - her partner had abandoned her, and she saw no reason why those on foot already could just walk the few yards.

Her brows furrowed slightly at the site of the ship, her green, cat-like eyes surveying it quickly with a spike of curiosity. Even living on the capital of the entire Galaxy, she had never seen one of these LAAT dropships in person.

"They look like they were flash-frozen." she muttered, the corner of her lip turning down slightly.

"It's not that cold on this rock. Strange. Not much combat damage, the bodies seem to be intact...for a ship that's been on this ice cube for ten years, or longer, it's remarkably intact."

Kadis reached under his gear and pulled his blaster. "This thing should have been buried, and it should be full of snow, too." He glanced over his shoulder. "It's probably just somebody looting the wrecks, but..." His voice trailed off.

Latch tied his long hair back and approached the downed LAAT carefully. "They sure picked a helluva place to take that ski resort vacation," he quipped as he trotted over. Slipping off his glove, he touched the frozen vehicle's skin, tracing his bare fingers along the hull. He blinked a few times, then withdrew his hand quickly. "That was odd..." He glanced over at Alec. "I have a bad feeling about this, boss. We should keep moving." Latch's normally cheerful face was set into a grimace.

Four snow trackers--two driven by Jyot and Ali, with Headshot towing an extra behind his own--pulled up near the crashed Clone Wars ship. Jyot guided his tracker over near Ellie's, while Ali pulled hers up between them, and Headshot stayed out on their flank. Engines at an idle, Jyot raised himself up in his seat to take a better look.

"Why are we stopping?" Jyot asked. "It's just some old Clone War wreck."

"Is it?" Ali asked him, her eyes narrowing. "Looks like there are bodies still inside."

"Yeah, well, it's not like anything organic would rot on an iceburg, now would it?" Jyot retorted. "I'm just saying that it's not really what we're looking fo...."

He frowned suddenly as he noticed Latch, standing by the ship's frosty hull, his face set in an oddly grim expression. Automatically, Jyot's hand reached for his blaster and his eyes scanned the area around them. "Hey, what is it, Latch? Something wrong?"

"Dunno, 'Span," Latch replied, drawing his Bryar pistol from the holster at his hip. "But I don't think we should linger here any longer than necessary. Something feels off."