"That's an ugly logo."

Conn looked up from his screen to see Lena standing next to the port viewport on the bridge. "What is?" he asked.

"That design they have etched into the moon," Lena replied, pointing.

"A design?" Conn repeated as he got up and walked over to the young Firrerreo and looked out the viewport. Sure enough, there was a large logo seemingly embossed onto the surface of the moon. It was angular and blocky and seemed far too... Imperial to have any sense of aesthetic pleasantness. "Yeah, it is ugly," he agreed after a few moments.

"I hope someone blows it up," Lena said, wrinkling her nose as she turned and headed back towards Engineering, ostensibly to check on the cloaking device. Somehow, the twins had managed to get the device to work in hyperspace as they had exited into sublight still cloaked, according to the probe they'd sent out. As expected, however, it taxed the ship's power plant considerably, forcing them to run it at the bare minimum to conserve and recharge. Running the cloak by itself did not place a great strain on it and was necessary, especially in hostile space, which is why they still had it up and were able to get so close to Carida itself.

Conn shook his head and headed back to his console. He was trying to figure out the garbled subspace communication frequency traffic and it was not proving to be an easy task, given how Carida was a well-known Imperial stronghold with tons of encryption on their outbound signals.

He glanced over at the console at the opposite side of the bridge where Max and Lana were hunched over, gazing intently at the readouts. They had tasked themselves with hacking the Imperial computer network which, like Conn's assignment, was no mean feat. Their proximity to the planet made it somewhat easier, but it was still quite the egg to crack.

Conn allowed himself one last wistful glance at the planet before turning back to his work.

"So let me get this straight," Teser said slowly. "You know Beryl's actively asking for your help... hid the plans in this letter here. But you don't trust your mentor enough to tell her about it?"

"That about sums it up," Jana confirmed. They were seated just outside a repair dock, where the Echo was undergoing a slight modification to allow access to Reibe's fighter from the cargo bay. "I just... how in Nine Corellian Hells can I trust her? It's pretty damned obvious she lied about my captain's death, even manipulated the Force to make me feel him die. Now that I think of it though..." She frowned. "I should have known... it wasn't the snuffing out of life I felt. I've felt that a couple of times these past two months. It was more like... it was muted."

She opened her perceptions, looking for Reibe. Fantastic, Jana thought to herself. Reibe was on her way. "I should tell her, though. It's not like we can go anywhere without her consent. She's in charge of this place, after all."

"Yeah," Teser agreed. "Talk to her on my behalf, will you? I've been cooped up here for near six months and it's starting to drive me crazy."

"Talk to her yourself," Reibe announced, coming toward them from the left. "Truth be told, Teser Quitaan, your information sorting days are over. You're being given a shuttle in which you'll be asked to... Jana, there's something you wanted to say."

"Beryl's calling for our help," Jana answered. "And I intend to take the Echo and provide whatever aid I can."

"Quite right," Reibe answered coolly. "She's a member of your crew. It's only right that you do as you intend."

"You don't want to keep me here?" Jana asked, surprised. Reibe laughed.

"We both know I could," she said. "But no. I'm not going to restrain you from doing something that means this much to you."

"And what about all your lies?" Jana confronted. "You muted Nic's life force in the Force so I would think he was dead."

"Had you gone to save him you would both have been killed," Reibe answered levelly. "I did what was best... if you truly think about it, I did what Nic would have wanted."

"That wasn't your choice to make," Jana countered hotly.

"But make it, I did," Reibe returned. "Jana, the past is over and therefore pointless to discuss. The modifications to the Echo will be completed in two hours. We will leave for Carida then."

Jana flushed bright red. "You knew? You knew all along where Beryl was and you didn't tell me?"

"Of course I didn't, Jana," Reibe replied, a slight trace of impatience running through her voice. "Had I done so, you'd have dropped all else and rushed to Carida to attempt an ill-fated rescue. Be reasonable, Jana. You had an Imperial tracer somewhere aboard and you would have rushed headlong into an Imperial infested system. Not 'Imp Bait'... 'Imp Chow'."

Jana reluctantly realized that Reibe was right. In essence, Reibe's lies had saved their lives. Jana had to grudgingly admit to herself that they were greatly in the Sith Hunter's debt.

"Teser Quitaan," Reibe said, turning to the young man. "We have very little time. Jana's birthday happens to be..."

"Wait a minute," Jana interrupted. "I didn't even tell you about... how could you possibly... my..."

"It's easier to answer a question when it has been fully expressed," Reibe commented wryly, "but I can manage without. Jana, I knew about Beryl's letter before you did."

"You've been reading my mail?" Jana growled. Reibe smirked.

"Of course," she answered. "Your mother is doing fine, by the way. Had a few concerns about her health, but your parents have moved out of the middle of the city and she's doing better. She wants to see you."

She held up a datapad with a letter from Jana's mother. Jana snatched the datapad away and stuffed it into a pocket, glaring fiercely at Reibe. The Hunter merely smiled.

"I'll send notifications to your crew that we leave in two hours," she promised. Then, she turned to leave.

"Oh, right," she said as if remembering something else. "Teser Quitaan, you were going to be assigned a shuttle and sent out to gather information. However, presently there is a more pressing need for you. Go to your brother, Rayne. I know your family thinks you're dead, but they need to learn otherwise. They've been sent a letter... presumably from you, apologizing for your lack of communication; you were shipwrecked on a planet on the Outer Rim..."

"Truth," Teser observed.

"The greatest, most believable lies are founded on truth," Reibe told him. "You cannot tell your family who you work for; the HIN is unknown in the galaxy and it must stay that way."

"What am I going to tell them, then?" Teser wondered. Reibe smirked.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," she offered. "At any rate, go to Rayne. Tell him what's going on with Beryl. The HIN will run some interference, but you must convince Rayne to do the same."

"With HIN so deeply rooted in the galaxy, that's easy to do without ever speaking to Rayne," Teser said with a grin. "Send dozens of shipping orders all about the galaxy, to arrive on a specific day at a specific time to Carida. Logistical nightmare in which we should be able to slip Beryl out easily."

"But Rayne and his people should know something's going to happen," Jana countered. Teser nodded.

"I can manage that," he said. "Sure, I'll go to Rayne. Lady Vailar, I'll still have access to the network, yes?"

"Yes, from the shuttle," Reibe confirmed. "Just be cautious. Use it too much and the network will be discovered."

"I'll be discreet," Teser promised. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you all again."

With that, he bowed respectfully and departed. Jana turned to Reibe.

"Two hours, huh?" she said quietly. Reibe nodded.

"And they'll make sure there's no tracers on board... and get rid of any conduit worms Jeez and Cloud may have missed," she agreed. Jana stared at her.

"Since when are you calling them by name?" she wondered. Reibe rolled her eyes and turned to leave.

"See you in two hours, Jana," she called over her shoulder.

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

The underground city was extremely high tech. It 'knew' exactly where each crew member was and in those areas, a chime tone went off and a gentle voice announced for the crew to hear, "The Echo will be departing in two hours. Attention to all crew of the Echo. Your ship is scheduled for departure in two hours."

Nic walked through the corridor slowly keeping a watchful eye ahead of him, Jessi walked behind watching there back in case someone came along to see them. Although the academy was normally bustling with activity but today it may as well have been empty with all the recruits in the city enjoying their limited shore leave. All the two did have to avoid was the occasional Stormtrooper who was just trying to keep up there security patrols.

They only had to duck into and empty room or hug the wall of a corridor around the corner, this only happened a few times. They had managed to hack the mainframe to find out that only one of the hangers were open due to a couple of pilots going on a special training flight, the hanger also contained an imperial Lambda class shuttle.

They approached the hanger entered the hanger slowly and quietly a couple of the hanger hands were filling the shuttle up and didn’t notice them enter. Nic was about to go and neutralise the threat when he heard a door open in the other side of the room, they both ducked behind some crates.

Two pilots walked out of the door and towards the large training TIE in the room, Nic decided to hold and yet these two go or it could cause to many problems. As the two approached he could hear their conversation.

“Don’t worry, TC-128-6. You’re an experienced pilot. You’ll get used to the gear quick enough. On the ground it’s not very practical, but just wait until we’re up in the air.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The helmet’s the same basic config as the Elite Stormtroopers wear, but with modifications for pressure, targeting, and nav systems.”

“Yes, sir.”

“There won’t be any other traffic up there today, so you’ll have time to do some experimenting.”

“Yes, sir.”

It didn’t take too long for them to enter the TIE and then leave the hanger, giving Nic his opportunity, the leaving TIE would distract the two imperials. Nic jumped up and crouched down to approach the shuttle, he saw one of them looking in a crate and taking out a bottle. The hanger hand opened the bottle and began taking a swig. Nic got close and quickly pulled out the stolen Vibroblade he slashed the imperials throat, The imperial fell to the floor, with Nic holding him to make sure the body didn’t make a sound as it hit the floor.

As he placed the body lightly Nic heard a sound from behind and turned getting his knife ready, he saw the second hanger hand pointing a pistol at Nic.

“Drop the knife.” The imperial Ordered.

“OK.” Nic said as he slowly began to kneel, all of a sudden his knife flew out of nics hand and struck the gun sending it flying into the air. Nic reached down and pulled out the blaster pistol he had also stolen and fired a shot into the Imperials chest.

Nic ran into the shuttle and turned around to see Jessi their. “Come with me.” He offered holding out his hand.

“I would have done anything to have heard you say that ten years ago.” She stated shaking her head. “I would’ve gone with you too, despite the fact you never loved me, I know you cared for me but I saw it in your eyes that your heart belonged to another, the person may have changed but the look is still in your eyes. Go get out of here Sharp.”

“I’ll be Seeing Ya.” Nic replied as he turned and began to close the door.

Moments later the Shuttle slowly began to lift of the ground and left the hanger.

“I hope so…”

Beryl took the controls and began to perform manoeuvres that the Captain ordered—ranging from simple Split-S turns to more complex Cobra Turn with a Skew Flip Turnover. It was fun, but compared to her beloved Headhunter, the TIEsr was sluggish and unresponsive. Still, it was a ship and a means to an end.

"I'm impressed," Captain Aiken said to her. "You sure this is your first time in a TIE?"

"Yes, sir," Beryl lied, having had flown an older TIE model off of the Rhea with Jana a few months back.

"Well, you fly like a veteran TIE pilot already. No wonder they recruited you to be an instructor."

"Yes, sir." Beryl cast a glance down at the long range scanners. If she were going to make a run for it, she wanted to know what was out there. She pointed to a control on the panel. “Long range sensors, sir?”

“Yes.”

“Can I give them a go?”

"Feel free."

Beryl began scanning the area. It wouldn't do to kill Aiken too early in case she needed him to get past any long range patrols that might be in the area. So far, she hadn't found anything except a strange anomaly just near one of the moons, but she put that down to gravitational flux as it was known that the moon had a skewed orbit and a wobbly axis. She was just about to lay in a course for the co-ordinates she hoped she would meet Jana at when an alarm sounded. The control panel visible in her helmet visor indicated that she was losing oxygen--fast. A quick check revealed that the same was happening to Captain Aiken's O2 levels.

"Sir, we must have a breach in our life support. We're leaking Oxygen," she stated. "Starting a check on internal sys...."

"There's no need."

“Sir?” Beryl turned her head in his direction. The Captain’s hand was on the manual release valve for their flight suits’ life support and it appeared that he was deliberately releasing the oxygen from both suits into the vacuum of the ship. “Sir, what are you doing?!”

“Creating an atmosphere, Lieutenant. Of course there’s still zero-G, but I’m sure we’ll be able to manage.” Then he actually removed his helmet. He took a breath, coughed a bit, took another breath, deeper this time, and then smiled at her. "Ahh. Not exactly the freshest air, but breathable. He unlocked his harness and started to float back to the cargo area.

“Sir, I don’t think it’s…”

“Don’t worry. The sensor array is down for maintenance, so no one is tracking us. We’ll have enough oxygen in here to last us a couple of hours. Unless you happen to get very energetic,” he added with a lecherous grin. “Plus we still have an hour or so of air left in the suits. So, come back here."

Beryl rolled her eyes, knowing that with her helmet on the Captain couldn’t see her do it. Then she checked her air levels. He was right. She had just over an hour of oxygen left--which was not enough to make it to her rendezvous point with Jana.

"Just set a course to one of the outlying moons, then turn off the engines and come back here."

"Turn off the engines, sir?"

"That's right. Unprotected exposure to ion emissions for more than an hour gives me a headache." He began to unzip his flight suit. “There are some things I'd really like to show you in zero grav."

Beryl had certainly not expected this. Captain Aiken's overactive libido had left him very vulnerable. Having his helmet off meant that if there were a hull breach for any reason, the atmo he had just created would vent and he would suffocate. Not a pleasant death to be sure, but one that could easily be disguised as an accident. If she did ever get caught again by the Imps, at least she could say that the Captain's death hadn’t been her fault and that she had simply panicked and run. There had to be a manual override switch in the cargo area to open the bay doors.

"There are things I'd like to show you, too, sir." She turned around in her seat, unbuckled her harness and was about to move to the back when the proximity alarm went off. And it had nothing to do with the moon they were heading to nor the anomaly she had scanned earlier.

"TC-128, Carida Control," said an insistent voice over the com. "Class one security alert in progress. Unauthorised use of Lamdba class shuttle Dictator."

"The Dictator?" The Captain's eyes widened. "That's the Academy Commander's shuttle!" To Beryl's dismay, any amorous thoughts the Captain had were abruptly replaced by mission essential ones, and he hurriedly fastened up his suit. "Get on the horn and tell them that we are available for engagement!"

Beryl sighed. "Carida Control, TC-128-6 copy. We are available for engagement.” Obviously, there was no way she was going to escape today. Ground control would surely be scrambling other fighters, and if not, they would still be expecting the Captain to report back to them.

"TC-128-6, Carida Control, roger that. Move to intercept and disable. Repeat. Move to intercept and disable. Be advised shuttle is armed and pilot unidentified."

At the moment, Beryl didn't care who the pilot was or whether they were armed or not. They had interrupted her plans and they were going down. It didn't take her long to locate the Lambda on her scanners.

"Carida Control, TC-128-6, roger. Target sighted. Moving to intercept and disable." Or destroy, given how pissed off I am right now.

She zoomed in on it.

“Lambada Shuttle Dictator You are ordered to return to base or face dire cons…” The imperials commands were suddenly muted when Nic pushed the off button on the communication unit hanging over his head.

Nic had planned on that as the Sensors were down no one would realise the shuttle taking off without authorisation, but he didn’t count on someone in the Command tower from looking up from their monitors to see him flying off out the window.

This wasn’t Nic’s biggest problem, the shuttle required at least two trained pilots to fly it, three if you need weapons controls, Nic was a single untrained man who just about knew how to accelerate and turn the shuttle, let alone engage the oncoming Tie Fighter on his scanners.

Nic’s only option was to break the gravity well, locate the hyperspace controls, figure out how they work and then plot a course out of the system all before he got blew up by hostile vessels. As he realised the Enemy TIE was gaining Nic began his evasive manouvours, not the most tactical, but they should work long enough until he brakes out of the planets gravity well… Hopefully.

4 months after the Battle of Geonosis

"So, the only help the Chancellor has sent me is a ragtag group of just 4 soldiers and a Jedi?" a man stated as he stood there arrayed in his full military dress atire. The Fondorian had no hair, and Ryshana couldn't help but to notice his pompous attitude. "Well, I guess I'll just have to make due with what I have. I guess no help would be a far more grave situation."

"With all due respect, General Nyrera, these soldiers are Commandos. There are no finer soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic," Ryshana replied as diplomatically as possible. "These soldiers have been trained for the impossible missions. Were others fail, these soldiers will succeed."

Lifting his head a bit high in the air, Nyrera then turned away and walked over to a window that overlooked the Fondorian skyline. Pausing for a moment, Nyrera studied the skyline. Finally, he then said, "You know, Jedi, this war is a different sort of war. Here, my people have been blinded by greed and empty promises. Myself and the men under me are simply those that recognize the importance of swaying the masses."

Pausing for another moment, he then turned to look at Ryshana and said, "This is not a war that you're accustomed to fighting. There are few soldiers for us to face, and we only face the task of organizing the people. We must win the hearts and minds of the masses to achieve our objectives, and if we have to drive that message home by driving stakes into their hearts, then that is what me must do. This fight must be won at all costs, and the ends must justify the means. Do I make myself clear, Jedi?"

Thinking for a moment at exactly what the General had just said, Ryshana suddenly had a very bad feeling. Still, this was their assignment, and they had to get it done. "Crystal clear, sir," Ryshana responded.

Watching the exchange unfold from behind his visor, Jeez wondered about the implications as well. What kind of man was this General??
__________________________

Present Day

Jeez opened his eyes from his meditation. Delving deep into the Force, Jeez had struggled with the concept of exactly who this Reibe was. She was an unusual enigma for Jeez, and he was struggling to figure out what her intentions were. All he could see was plots entangled with new plots. Surely there was something that was lying underneath all of that. Something that made her human.

Hearing the announcement for the crew of the Echo to return to the base, Jeez quickly gathered his things and made his way to the lift.

"Conn, we've got action," Max shouted, moving to the pilot's seat.

Conn had almost decrypted the last sequences of numbers when Max had called out. "What is it?" he yelled back, trying to recover his sequence slice.

"A Lambda-class shuttle has just launched from the planet surface and is on an exit vector," Max replied, powering up the Hammerspace's systems.

"Why does that matter?" Conn asked. "I'm sure that happens all the time."

Max blew an exasperated sigh. "It matters because there's an ugly-looking eyeball chasing it."

This pulled Conn up short. A TIE Fighter chasing a shuttle...?

"Conn, you're not going to believe this..." Lena called out from her console.

The doctor looked over at her just as he hit the final sequence of commands on his keyboard. "What, Lena?"

"Beryl is---" the young Firrerreoan started, but was drowned out by the incoming communication over the loudspeakers.

"Carida Control, TC-128-6, roger. Target sighted. Moving to intercept and disable."

Conn's heart nearly stopped. "That's Beryl!" he exclaimed, moving to the co-pilot seat. "Follow that TIE," he told Max.

The petite Lorrdian grimaced as she hauled the Hammerspace around. "They're already on an exit vector, Conn," she gritted. "I don't know if we'll be able to catch them before they make the jump to lightspeed."

He arched an eyebrow at Max. "TIEs aren't hyperspace-capable."

Max sighed again, then punched up a schematic of the TIE on the console. "See those markings?" she said, pointing at a pair of vertical vents on the backside of the rotund TIE Fighter. "Those are hyperdrive coil exhausts, I'd know them anywhere." She put her hand back on the controls and tried to goose her ship just a little faster to keep pace with the two Imperial vessels. "If that shuttle jumps, I'll bet you that TIE jumps too."

Conn ran his hand through his hair as he watched the distance between them and the TIE increase. Then, a sudden flash of inspiration hit him. "Lena," he said, twirling in his seat to face her. "Is that subspace probe still in our launcher?"

Lena nodded, then widened her eyes as she realized what Conn had planned. "Right," she said, tapping her console furiously. The bridge was silent for a few tense seconds, then the Hammerspace shuddered slightly from a projectile launch. "Probe away," Lena pronounced. She continued to type for a few more moments, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Latched on," she said, finally leaning back into her chair.

"Great work," Conn congratulated her, then swiveled back towards Max. "If we can't catch up to them in sublight, then I'm pretty sure our Class .75 hyperdrive can catch up to them if they jump."

“He knows we’re on him, sir,” Beryl said. “He’s attempting evasive manoeuvres.” She snorted. “He’s not very skilled.”

“Probably a rebel spy,” the Captain suggested.

Beryl was now tailing the shuttle. It swung left and right, up and down, zigged and zagged, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She shot a couple of rounds from her cannon over the shuttle's bow, hoping to get the shuttle pilot’s attention.

“Hailing, Lambda shuttle Dictator,” Beryl said over the com. “You are ordered to power down your engines and surrender immediately.” Beryl waited a few moments. “No response, sir.”

“Try to disable him. Then we can call for a recovery ship.”

“Yes, sir.” Beryl set her aim for just underneath the left rear wing, as that’s where one of the main fuel lines ran. If the pilot had any visions of going into hyperspace, she certainly wasn’t going to let him get very far.

With one hand Nic tried to steer the ship while he used the other to try and plot a hyperspace jump, he was looking for any nearby systems to make a quick escape so he could have time to plot one further away once he arrived there. He had managed to power up the hyperdriveafter he found it and it was all ready, he just needed a destination. Searching the nearby systems he came across the AX System. ‘As good as anywhere.’ Nic thought shrugging.

As the course was plotted Nic reached over for the hyperspace lever and pulled it, as he jumped into hyperspace the ship shook violently and knocked him to the floor. Nic stood up and looked out the window to see he had jumped into hyperspace and was travelling in the right direction, His focus was soon changed to the damage control console that was showing he had been hit on the main fuel Line.

"Dammit! We've lost him!" Captain Aiken lamented as the stolen Lambda shuttle jumped into hyperspace. "He could be anywhere!"

"He could be, but he's not, sir," said Beryl as she input the shuttle's last known trajectory into the navicomputer. "Last known trajectory, broken fuel line... he'll be here, sir." She tapped the navigation screen with a gloved finger.

"The AX system?"

"Yes, sir. My previous long range scans indicated several habitable planetoids and moons in that system. And he won't be going very much further than that without fuel. With our ComScan equipment, he shouldn't be too hard to locate, sir."

Then an idea hit her. If she could convince the Captain to pursue the shuttle on their own, she might be able to ditch him on one of the planetoids. Maybe, she thought, she wouldn't have to kill him after all. Of course, previous attempts by her to 'persuade' him using the Force had failed. Still, she figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. Concentrating on the Force as best she could, she said, "There's really no need to call for backup, sir. We are flying a scout ship. We can pursue the shuttle on our own."

"You're right," the Captain said rather definitively. "Carida Control, TC-128-1. Shuttle has jumped to hyperspace, but we are in pursuit."

By the black stars, it finally worked! Beryl thought.

"Suspect target will try to land somewhere in the AX system," the Capatain continued. "As soon as we locate it, we Will transmit co-ordinates for commando recovery team."

"TC-128-1, Carida Control, roger that. Will prep a ground team and await your transmission. Carida Control, out."

Beryl blinked her eyes slowly with frustration. Not only was the Captain not going to just take on the stolen shuttle all by himself, but he was going to send in Imperial ground forces to wherever the shuttle had landed when they found it. Oh, he so has to die.

"Engage hyperdrive," the Captain ordered.

"Yes, sir." Beryl jumped the ship into hyperspace. It emerged a short time later, still within the Barma sector but now in the AX system. Using the ComScan equipment, it didn't take long for Beryl to locate the stolen shuttle. "It's nearing AX-3, sir." A more detailed scan revealed that the planet AX-3 had three moons. "Reading habitable atmosphere on one of the moons, sir. And lots of life form readings. Looks like--jungle, sir. A good place to hide." And, she thought, a good place to dispose of you.

"Take us down then," said Aiken.

Underneath her helmet, Beryl smirked. "Yes, sir."

"They've made the jump to lightspeed," Lana announced, though it was evident from the twin streaks of light ahead of them through their viewport.

"Where are they going?" Conn asked.

Lana scrunched her face up, studying the readouts intently. "Don't think they've gone very far. The TIE hit that Lambda pretty good, probably took out the main hyperdrive and it only has a class 10 for a backup..." She tapped a few more keys, then sat back and pointed. "A-ha, got them. Not even three parsecs away. Looks like they're in a smaller system. Bringing up the coordinates to you now."

"Thanks Lana," Conn said, swiveling back to face the front. He called up the infomation she'd relayed to him. "The AX system, huh?" He punched the location into the navicomputer and placed his hand on the hyperspace lever. "Good enough for me. Let's do it."

The Hammerspace, still cloaked, accelerated into hyperspace.

First week after the insertion on Fondor, 4 months into the Clone War

Blaster fire filled the air as Jeez crouched down behind a corner. "Ol' Blue, give me some cover fire," Jeez yelled out over the comm.

"Yes sir," Blue yelled back from where he was. With is sniper attachment on, Blue popped up from the small embankment and quickly pulled off several rounds. As soon as he popped up, Jeez quickly ran to the duracrete barricade just 4 meters away. Blaster fire impacted behind him, but it was way off target. Diving ahead, Jeez landed behind the barricade and rolled to a squatting position.

"Torch, what's the sitrep??" Jeez asked over the comm.

From his position situated on a small tower above the roof of the plant, RC-2004 looked through his scope. In front of him, he could see Jeez, or Blade as he knew him, behind the barricade. Four meters directly in front and to the left of Jeez was Ol' Blue squatting down behind another barricade as he reloaded a fresh clip of sniper rounds into his DC-17 rifle. Looking over to the right of Jeez and Blue, Torch spotted RC-1899, or Double Niner, preparing to set a charge on an exhaust port of the chemical plant they were currently on the top of.

"Sir, our sitrep is good. There are four security droids in front of you, two of them behind cover while the others are advancing on Blue's position. Double Niner still hasn't been spotted, over," Torch responded.

"Roger Torch," Jeez responded. Using the Force, Jeez could feel the two droids off to Blue's 11 o'clock position, and he knew that the two droids in front of him would soon begin laying down cover fire so the other two droids could outflank Blue. "Blue, toss an EMP in your 11 o'clock. Two meters," Jeez ordered quickly.

"Roger, preparing to toss the shockers sir," Blue responded as he quickly retrieved an EMP grenade from his backpack. Twisting the top to activate the delay fuse, Blue quickly tossed it where Jeez had ordered.

Without waiting for the grenade to go off, Jeez quickly popped up from behind his barricade and opened fire with his rifle in the default blaster mode. Blaster rounds impacted the large pipe the other two droids were standing behind. Activating their wrist-mounted blaster cannons, the two droids quickly returned fire. Before blaster bolts could hit him, Jeez quickly ducked back behind the barricade just as the EMP grenade went off.

Jeez could distinctly make out the sound of shorting circuits, and he could tell that the other two droids were temporarily out of action. "Torch, take out the droids in front of us. Blue, open fire at your 11," Jeez yelled out.

Moving quickly, Blue peered out around the left hand side of the barricade and sighted the disabled droids just standing there as they tried to automatically correct the numerous shorts in their systems. Quickly taking aim, Blue targeted the wrist cannon on one of the droids. A shot rang out, and the round almost instantly impacted and ricocheted off one of the structure joints in the wrist. Blue smiled under his visor, though, as he saw the sparking power converter that the blaster needed in order to fire. "One droid out of commission," Blue stated over the comlink as he took aim at the other droid's wrist.

Meanwhile, Torch zoomed in on the position of the other two droids. From his vantage point, Torch easily had a clear shot. Aiming for an armor connection joint at the top of the left droid, Torch took the shot. However, the round ricocheted off the top curve of the armor, and it hardly left a dent. Darn wind, Torch thought to himself as he took aim yet again.

As the droid took the hit, however, it immediately looked towards the tower and took aim at Torch. Just before it could open fire, however, it exploded into hundreds of pieces. The other droid looked over for a moment at its former comrade and then looked back at Jeez's position just in time to see Jeez lining up another shot with his anti-armor attachment on his DC-17.

As the second droid exploded into various pieces, Blue pulled off yet another shot just in time as the droid started looking in his direction. Putting its wrist up, it tried to fire only to discover that it couldn't do anything. Pulling its wrist up to its eye camera's, it tried to diagnose the problem. Determining that it couldn't do anything to fix it, the droid decided to charge and try to impale the Commandos. Just as it started running, it also exploded into pieces as an anti-armor round impacted it right in the chest. The droid right next to it also suffered the same fate.

"Double Niner, what's your status?" Jeez stated as he quickly removed the anti-armor attachments from his DC-17. Placing the standard blaster attachments on the rifle, Jeez inserted a fresh clip into the side port on the rifle.

Punching in the last couple of instructions on the arming sequence, Double Niner then received the confirmation signal on the charge. "We're good to go, sir. One minute till we open the roof access, over," Niner replied as he moved to Jeez's position.

Jeez, meanwhile, was looking down at some of the wreckage from a droid. Or, at least he thought it was from just one of the droids. A symbol that had been printed on its chest caught his eye, and Jeez adjusted his visor so that he could get a better look at it. "Advisor, this is oh-14. Confirm visual, over," Jeez stated over his comm.

"Roger Valnor Lead, I have your visual, over," Ryshana responded over the comm.

"Advisor, please confirm the symbol I'm seeing in front of me, over," Jeez then stated.

After a brief pause, Jeez's comm beeped twice as it notified him that he was now receiving a private comm signal. "I can confirm. Its the symbol for the Fondorian Civil Defense. Damn it, Jeez, they've sent us after the police," Ryshana stated over the private comm channel.

Switching his comm to the private signal, Jeez then replied, "What's the difference? We're here to help this Nyrera guy, right? What's the difference if we kill off a couple of droids?"

"Jeez, if he can send us after the droids the police use, then why wouldn't he send us after the real police these people have? We need to just call for extraction and get out of here. This fight isn't worth winning," Ryshana replied.

"Yes it is, Ryshana. There are atrocities in war, period. Some times, you have to go the distance, and this guy knows that," Jeez quickly shot back.

"And for what purpose? All we'll be doing is promoting anarchy, not democracy. If we take out the police, then there won't be a way to enforce order," Ryshana shot back.

"Then we'll have to make use of military law, now won't we?" Jeez responded half-sarcastically.

"Look, this isn't the time. Is the charge in place?" Ryshana asked as the frustration was very noticeable in her voice.

"Yes, the charge is set," Jeez responded as he peeked at his chronometer. "Twenty seconds. Send in the cavalry."

"I guess," Ryshana responded half-heartedly.

Jeez's comm then beeped twice again to confirm that the comm connection was closed. "Squad, rendezvous at my 9 o'clock and prepare for the final assault."
_____________________

Back on the Echo

Placing his stuff down, Jeez then closed his eyes as he looked for Cloud with the Force. Sensing him way back in the underground city, Jeez then thought, What on Hutta are you doing there?

((OOC:Apologies to Steven for using Jack a bit in this post.))

"Oh, now this is nice," Sam said, and she ran her hands over a polished silver ball that was just about the size of her fist. "Sonic?"

"Indeed," said the merchant. "New design. See those marks on the bottom half? That's so you can adjust the size and power of the blast wave. Comes with a remote timer as well," he added.

"Nice." Sam held the grenade up to the light to further inspect it. "Does it come in black?"

"Certainly."

"Oh, please...." Cloud rolled his eyes. Sam, despite the fact that she looked every part a soldier and was browsing through a munitions stall, still shopped like a woman. At the last stall, she had been exchanging tips with the merchant on how to get explosive putty off of clothing without it staining. And the stall before that inquiring if the trigger on the blaster pistol she was looking at was adjustable as in it's present position she was worried that she could break a fingernail.

What on Hutta are you doing there? Jeez's thoughts came into Cloud's mind.

Shopping, Cloud answered Jeez through the Force. Then added, Don't ask. I'll be there soon. "Sam, hurry up. We've got to get back now."

"Yeah, I heard the 'now boarding' announcement." Sam looked at the grenade with indecision. "Hmm... I'll take two--one of each colour," she said to the merchant.

Her purchases done, Sam and Cloud headed back to the ship--Sam carrying their personal packs, and Cloud carrying everything else.

"You know, Sam, next time you want to take me 'shopping', just take a hovercart with you instead," Cloud complained as he set down his load in the cargo bay. He rumaged through the sacks, though, to extract some of the parts he himself had purchased. Nic wouldn't have allowed such extravagances such as spare nitrium relays, but Jana wasn't as picky about things like that.

"Hey, quit complaining. You could have used the Force to carry the load, you know," Sam said casually. "You're a Jedi, right?"

"Jedi Padawan."

"Same difference."

Sam looked up at the catwalk. Jack was there, staring down at her. She donned a friendly smile and waved. "Hi, Jack!"

Jack's eyes narrowed and he grunted something before turning away and heading back towards the cockpit. Sam shrugged and then picked up some of the supplies and headed towards the common room to stow them away.

Cloud shook his head, grabbed up a sack of supplies and headed to the common room as well.

Nic stood outside the landed shuttle looking just under the port wing, he was staring up at where the ship had taken damage just before he jumped. There were two min problems with his escape plan, the first was he didn’t have the equipment or skill to repair the line, the second was if he did somehow manage a repair he lost over 80% of his fuel and the only place he could reach before he ran out was Carida.

The only good thing about the situation was that Nic had managed to land the shuttle in a nice discreet part of the jungle and should be able to avoid any possible imperial pursuers. However this also meant any chance of a rescue by anyone was as unlikely as the Empire finding him first. “At least I got a hull full of food and alcohol.” Nic told himself.

Then a sonic boon could be heard close by to signify a ship had just entered the atmosphere, Looking over his head he saw the same TIE that had chased him in Carida. Ducking down he watched as it slowed and begin to land not to far away from Nic’s current position. “Well I got a new way to escape.”

As the TIE descended, looking for the shuttle, the Captain tried to contact Carida Control to inform them of their location. Fortunately for Beryl, there was too much magnetic interference from the planet for the scanners or the com to operate properly.

"Damn, we’ll never find him like this. We'll have to turn back," the Captain said.

"Turn back, sir?" Oh, no, no, no, no, Beryl thought. That is not in the plan, Aiken. I’m flying this ship, we’re not turning back, and you will co-operate one way or the other.

"We know he's down there,” Captain Aiken continued, “but we're pilots. Let the marines handle a ground search."

"We could descend and see if we can get a visual, sir," Beryl suggested, again trying her best to influence his thoughts with the Force. "At least then, the marines will have some co-ordinates. There's not too many places for a ship to land down there."

That part was true. Thick jungle covered the surface of the moon, and although there were small scattered clearings where a ship could possibly land, finding one that didn't want to be found would be difficult.

The Captain paused for a moment, and then said, "All right, let's do a quick fly by and see what we can see."

The TIE descended slowly, and Beryl spotted what looked like a small blemish in the tree canopy--a place where the shuttle could have landed. She scanned the ground with her eyes, and found a small clearing nearby. She began to land.

"What are you doing?" the Captain said suddenly.

"Landing, sir."

"I told you we were only doing a fly by."

"So, you did, sir. My mistake." Nevertheless, she didn't stop what she was doing.

Captain Aiken tried to take the controls, but before he could do it, Beryl used the Force to keep his hands to his side. "Quitaan!" he said, sounding just a little bit panicked.

"Yes, sir?"

"There's something wrong!" The Captain struggled to move, but it was as if something was pinning him down. "I can barely move!"

“Perhaps your oxygen levels are too low, sir,” Beryl said as the TIE touched down lightly on the ground. “From creating your ‘atmosphere,’” she added.

“They aren’t that low!” the Captain protested.

“Are you sure, sir?” Beryl asked as she hit the button to release the hatch. “I think we both could do with some fresh air.”

There was silence from the Captain for a moment as he suddenly realised he could move again.

Beryl rose and started for the hatch door. “Perhaps we can find the shuttle and its pilot on our own, sir.” Just at the threshold, she paused and glanced at him askance, then she stepped outside and looked around.

Yup, it was jungle all right—thick, dark, and humid. She disconnected her life support and began to breathe through the helmet’s filters. She sensed a multitude of life forms around her--some she could see through the helmet’s visual enhancements, and others she could sense through the Force--but none of them seemed very large or posed any potential danger—or would be a potential witness to what she was about to do.

The Captain came down the ship’s ramp and stood next to her. His sidearm was drawn. “Anything?” he asked as he looked left and then right.

Beryl eyed his sidearm. “No.” Suddenly his sidearm flew from his hand and landed in hers. “Nothing at all, sir.”

“What are you d….?” The Captain began to sputter and his hands flew up to clutch at his throat in a reflex reaction.

Beryl didn’t respond to him right away. She was concentrating, her free hand slightly outstretched and contracted, using the Force to put increasing pressure around his throat. “I’m sorry, but this is mostly your fault. I just wanted to escape. You, being the lecherous adulterer that you are, wanted a ‘tandem’ flight. But I can’t have you telling my brother or especially that creepy Dr. Ferrana that I’m leaving.”

Gasping and choking, the Captain shook his head as he sank down to his knees.

“You should have just let me go up in a ship of my own," she continued. "I would have disabled yours, and then taken off. And then you could have been rescued and home this evening to eat your roast nuna dinner.”

In a few more seconds the Captain fell face forward onto the ground. Beryl stood there for a moment, feeling his life force fade until it was nothing. Then she took his blaster pistol and shot him twice—just to make sure he was dead.

Now, I just have to go and find that shuttle pilot to use as a scapegoat, she thought to herself. Kill him. Replenish my oxygen from the shuttle’s supply, and then fly to the co-ordinates I gave Jana. Simple.

"Take us down," Conn said, sliding into the co-pilot's seat.

"No," Max responded, crossing her arms and leaning back.

It took Conn a few seconds to process her response. "W-Wh-What do you mean 'no'?" he sputtered. "Beryl's down there, we have to get her!"

"We think Beryl is down there," Max corrected. "But we can't be completely sure, so until we are, we stay put."

Conn grimaced. "Max, I would bet my life that she's down there."

"I'm sure you would," she replied evenly. "But I wouldn't bet my life on it. I wouldn't bet Lana's life on it either." She gestured to the Firrerreo sitting at the side console. "And I sure as heck wouldn't bet my ship on it unless I was absolutely, one hundred percent sure of what I'm getting into."

This quieted the part-Zeltron doctor for a few moments. "This is your ship, yes," he conceded, "and I apologize for being insubordinate."

Max snorted at him. "'Insubordinate'? Please, Conn," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, then looked Conn right in the eye. "I know you want to see her again and they're nothing wrong with that. But you have to understand that we're in a precarious situation here. We're in Imperial-controlled space, for one. We also can't be sure of the conditions on the surface." She paused, then gestured towards the hallway leading to Engineering. "And we know for sure that our cloak isn't going to hold up descending into atmosphere. So before we go in all heroic-like, I want to be damned sure that that is Beryl down there."

Conn couldn't help feeling sheepish. "You're right, I'm sorry," he said, cowed.

Max reached over and gave Conn an encouraging slap on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I think she's down there too. I just want to be prepared for any eventuality. So the best thing you can do is hop on those long range sensors and start scanning the area."

"Aye aye, Captain," Conn said, giving Max a mock salute before heading back to sensor control.

Max sighed and cast a sidelong glance at Lana, who gave her a shrug. "I hate it when he calls me that."

Jana wasn't as picky about the purchase of things as Nic had been, but it was still uncomfortable to see a pile of purchases being deposited in the common room by Sam with so few jobs under their belt lately.

"Cloud, what are those?" she inquired as the engineer came into the common room. Cloud stopped and looked down at the items in his hands.

"Various engine components," he answered, generalizing in the hope that it would ward off a little scolding. "A few spares of things that tend to blow out." Jana looked ready to scold, so Cloud added, "Was I wrong to buy 'em? I could take some of the stuff back..."

Jana's expression softened a little. "Don't take it back," she decided, "but at the very least show a little restraint until we can get a job, alright?"

Damn, Cloud thought, I'd almost rather be scolded... "Aye Cap'n. Sorry."

He ducked out toward engineering and Jana turned her eyes on Sam. As she took notice of a few of the things Sam was unpacking a look that was a mixture of frustration and confusion passed over her face.

"I don't..." she began. Taking a step back, toward the dorm section, she said, "I just... don't wanna know..." And with that, she was gone. Seconds later, Reibe entered the common room and observed Sam's purchases. At first, she looked as if she might speak, but then she frowned and walked away muttering something about freaks and their toys.

She found Jana in the cockpit. "Your crew awaits your orders... Captain," she suggested. Jana nodded and switched on the intercom.

"Attention, this is your captain speaking," she said, adding to Reibe, "I'll never get used to that." She turned back to the intercom and continued, "I realize I said we'd be here for a few days, but I received a letter that's changed my mind in a hurry. Meet in the common room in five minutes and I'll go over the details before we leave."

Despite having to use a walking stick to traverse the jungle floor Nic had managed to move stealthily towards the crash site. He managed to determine a rough location for where the TIE had landed so he moved slowly in that direction. It wasn’t too long before he heard two shots fired from a blaster pistol in the direction he was heading, his first instinct was to pull out his blaster.

He continued walking softly intent on getting to the TIE quicker and hope the shots he heard didn’t mean it would be harder than it should be.

Even though Beryl’s TIE fighter helmet was a bit cumbersome when it came to using it outside the confines of the cockpit, it did have a few nice features—one of which was an infrared visual interface (an I.V.I., or Ivi for short) and a lifeform detector. If she wanted to locate the pilot of the stolen shuttle craft, kill him, and then leave this place before Carida Control noticed there was problem and sent a recovery team, she was going to need all the help she could get. She activated the lifeform detector.

It went haywire. All around her the jungle was teeming with life forms, mostly small animals, but the lifeform detector couldn’t distinguish between a single large life form and a cluster of smaller life forms. She turned it off. “Typical Imperial technology--useless in a real situation.”

She tried to reach out with the Force in a similar manner, but being self-taught and not completely practiced in the technique, she was running into the same problem. She couldn’t distinguish between the various lifeforms, and they seemed to be everywhere. “Ugh!” she uttered in frustration.

She turned on the Ivi. “Ah, now this is handy.” Using it, Beryl could see the outline shapes of the lifeforms around her in various degrees of illumination depending on whether the creature was warm or cold blooded.

Holding the Captain’s blaster in her right hand, she started moving carefully into the thick of the jungle and headed in the direction she thought the shuttle might have landed. It wasn’t long before she spotted a human-sized heat signature moving slowly through the trees up ahead. She crouched down. She didn’t have a clear shot at it through the trees, but even knowing she’d miss, she aimed the blaster in its general direction anyway.

If it’s an animal it should run immediately, she thought. But if it’s the shuttle pilot, then it’ll take cover first, then either flee or take a stand and fight.

She fired two shots.

Two blaster shots splashed against the side of trees just in front of Nic, his experience told him roughly where the shots had come from so he aimed his pistol in that direction. Letting off three shots he dived behind a tree that would be between him and his attacker in case he missed the target. “Whatever happened to imperial’s giving ultimatums before they shoot?” Nic asked himself

Beryl sensed the shots coming. She hit the ground and rolled to a prone position behind a fallen log just as the three return shots hit nearby.

Well, that certainly answers my question as to whether or not its an animal, she thought.

Her aim was to kill him, so that she could blame Captain Aiken’s death on him if the Imps ever did manage to catch up with her, and with the help of the Ivi she could tell that the shuttle pilot had now taken cover behind a tree. Obviously he was not planning on fleeing but planned to hold his ground and fight.

Great. I’ll have to move to get behind him somehow…

She waited a few seconds, taking a moment to reach out with the Force to see if she could detect him now that she knew where he was. She could. And then she thought she detected…

He’s injured? No… he’s lame….

But it didn’t feel to her that his injury was recent, meaning she hadn’t hit him yet. Maybe that was the reason he was holding his ground. If he was lame, he’d be slower to move and easier to hit. All she needed was a clear shot. Rising slowly, she let out a barrage of shots in his direction—cover fire for herself as she moved to her left to attempt to circle around him to get a better angle.

Several more shots fired around Nic’s head. ’Sloppy, Very Sloppy!’ he thought to himself, the pilot was only giving Nic more of what he needed to target the attacker. “One shot then move in for the kill.” Nic told himself as he brought his weapon to full power.

Quickly Nic rolled out from behind the tree and fired a single shot out towards where his attacker was.

Beryl had taken cover behind a tree, her back leaning against its trunk, when a blaster shot rang out. She leaned to one side, narrowly avoiding the blaster bolt as it hit the side of the tree. Then a sudden pain hit her. Confused, she looked down at her thigh. There was a large splinter of wood lodged in it.

Terrific. “Kriffin’ trees…,” she said softly to herself.

Leaving his stick behind he got up and began to limp his way over to where he hoped he’d find the dead Imperial. As he got closer he saw the black uniformed imperial moving around on the ground, taking the vibroblade from his pocket, throwing it with his usual precision it contacted with the imperial’s gun and flinging it into the ground.

Nic stepped forward in front of the unarmed imperial, pointing his gun at their head.

Beryl was completely taken by surprise as a knife impacted with her blaster, sending it flying into the undergrowth. She was even more surprised to see a blaster aimed at her head. And she was completely gobsmacked to see who was holding it.

"Nic?" Beryl slowly raised her hands in surrender, hoping that Nic wasn't going to be trigger happy and shoot her before she could take off her helmet and identify herself.

"Nic?"

Although distorted by the helmet the voice still sounded familiar to Nic, he looked at her with an inquisitive look raising one eyebrow and lowering the gun down to the imperial’s chest. “Beryl?”

"Yeah," Beryl answered. Still a bit unsure if he'd shoot her or not, she slowly took off her helmet. It was hot, and she was sweaty, and she had to blink a few times to see if she really was seeing what she thought she was seeing. "It's me."

Her right leg was starting to throb where the large splinter of wood had punctured her through her flight suit, and as she looked down she noticed some blood around the base of the shard. "Damn...." she muttered. Then she looked up at Nic. "I thought you were dead," she said, staring at him with utter disbelief. "The explosion... on the training course... after I shot you in the leg...." She shook her head. "They told me the Sarge and two 'targets' died. You died."

She looked at him again and blinked as if she still couldn't believe what she was seeing. After all, she had seen Ryshana in her room. Was she somehow hallucinating now for some reason?

"Nic, is it really you?"

"It'll take more than an explosion and a collapsing building to finish me." Nic replied putting his pistol into the holster by his side, he knelt down by Beryl’s side and looked at the large piece of wood in her leg. “Sorry, let’s get you to the shuttle, there’s a med kit in there.”

"Sorry?" She put a hand on top of Nic's shoulder and used him to brace herself as she stood up. "The wound's not that bad," she lied. "And I was trying to kill you. Of course, I didn't know it was you, but still...." She shrugged. "I was overconfident. I sensed you were lame and thought you'd be an easy kill." Then she looked at him and then at the leg she sensed was injured. It was the same one she had shot a few weeks earlier. "Oh, cripe, is that my fault? I shouldn't have shot you. I'm sorry."

Both of them leaning on each other for support, Nic led the way back to the shuttle.

"Wow," Beryl said as she noticed the blast hole where the fuel lines ran. "I didn't think my shot was that good." She grimaced. "Med kit or not, we won't be going anywhere in this anytime soon."

"I thought I heard blaster fire."

Conn leaned back in his chair and turned his head towards Lana, who sat with a headset to her ear. "Blaster fire?" he repeated.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "The electromag interference is making it hard to discern anything on the surface, but I definitely thought I heard blaster discharge."

"Well, that TIE was chasing the Lambda for a reason," Max surmised, leaning against the doorway. "Make sure that's what you heard, Lana," she ordered.

Conn tried to keep his emotions in check. "That isn't good enough to bring us down?" he queried the petite Lorrdian.

Max gave him a curt shake of the head. "Not quite, though it does make things interesting. Keep working on punching through that interference."

Conn nodded and turned around to focus back on his work.

“Well we need to sort you out before we try to find away off this rock.” Nic informed as he helped her up the loading ramp and into the ship, he set her down on one of the seats near the Med Kit. Taking the Kit he opened it and placed it down next to Beryl. He looked up at her face and smiled. “Don’t worry an injury like that will heal in no time, trust me I have experience with Leg related injuries.”

Nic raised an eyebrow and stood up still grinning. “You know what you need more than bacta.” Nic said as he walked over to a nearby crate and took out a Bottle. “Care for some of Kamino’s finest… I thought this stuff was illegal.” Nic informed handing the bottle to Beryl. “Can I steal a ship or can I steal a ship.”

Beryl took the bottle and looked at the label. "Thirty years old. Premium stuff."

She looked around. The inside of the shuttle was very plush, and Beryl suddenly checked to see that she wasn't getting blood on the seat she was sitting in. The drinks crate, (well, more like a trolley now that she looked at it) was fully stocked with all kinds of liqueurs from all over the Galaxy--some legal, some illegal, and all expensive.

"I guess rank does have its privileges." Hesitant to take a drink, she looked at Nic. "You do realize that this is the base Commander's shuttle."

Nic laughed as looked back into the Med Kit. “Yeah, It’s quite nice although I’d have fired the decorator.”

Nic took out a Bacta patch and handed it to Beryl, he then looked down at the wound and without saying anything he knew that Beryl knew what he had to do next. Placing his hand on the large splinter he gripped it tightly and looked up at her. “Second it’s out slip that on and hold it there… sorry this will hurt.”

Beryl just stared at him, her eyes sort of vacant as if she was thinking about something else.

"What?" Nic asked, poised and ready to extract the splinter.

She looked over her shoulder towards the cockpit door. "Is your com working?"

"Ye-ah," Nic said slowly. He gave her an odd look. "Who were you planning to call?"

"My commander," Beryl said flatly.

Nic raised an eyebrow.

"Who do you think?" she asked rhetorically. "Jana. I'm supposed to meet her at Ruusan." She frowned a bit. "That is, if she received and understood my message," she added. Looking back at Nic, she said, "We'll have to send out a signal to her. One that she would know was from me. Because we can't stay here very long. Carida Control will be sending out recon for us soon." She pressed her lips together. "Well, looking for me anyway." She thought for a moment. "I suppose I could reprogram the distress beacon. That should get through any magnetic interference from this place." She started to rise.

"Sit!" Nic pointed at the chair. "I'll reprogram the beacon. And I know the perfect signal." He grinned. "Just need a security code."

Beryl reached inside her flight suit and pulled out her code cylinder. "Here, sir. Use this."

Nic took it and was gone for a few minutes. Then he returned. "Worked like a charm," he said, handing the cylinder back to her.

She looked down at her leg and the splinter, and then up at Nic.

Nic raised his brow. "Like I said, it's going to hurt, Beryl."

"I know, sir," she said matter-of-factly. "I can take it."

Nic yanked out the splinter with one pull. Beryl did flinch slightly, but didn't cry out and didn't wince. She just calmly placed the bacta patch on the now bleeding wound and pressed down on it.

"You got something to hold this on, sir?" she asked. "I don't want to bleed all over the Commander's plush seat covers."

“Sure.” Nic replied smiling as he moved around some bits inside the Med Kit after a few moments he took out a black band and unravelled it. He Lightly raise Beryl’s leg up and began to tie the strap around her leg and the Bacta Patch. Once done he closed the kit and placed it back where he came from, then he sat down on the chair where it was next to Beryl. Taking the bottle from Beryl he took a gulp of it and offered it back to her. “Good Year… So now all we have to do is wait for Jana to arrive.”

The crew meeting in the common room had scarcely taken ten minutes. Twenty minutes after the meeting, the ship was moved and raised to the surface of the planet once more. No more than forty-five minutes after Jana called for the meeting, they were leaving the Watchtower System behind.

Their destination was Ruusan, Jana had determined after the fifth time re-reading Beryl's letter. In that case, there was little use in sending numerous shipping orders to Carida and they were canceled. Teser Quitaan was a little aggravated at being commissioned to cause a diversion when it wasn't needed and insisted on meeting the crew at Ruusan, if only to reassure himself that his sister was safe.

The trip to Ruusan was a long one, even in hyperspace, so there was plenty of time for the stress of the situation to mingle with the excitement of the chance at getting Beryl back, a mix which put several of the crew on edge; Cloud kept mostly to engineering, Jana spent most of the time trying to dodge Reibe while Reibe seemed to drift from one place to another without much of a pattern. Jack stayed mostly to the bridge and Sam... well, Sam tended to drift a bit as well, though she seemed to have a bit more of a purpose in her drifting than Reibe did. Jeez kept to his room for the most part.

Reibe's drifting led her eventually to the bridge, where she sat next to Jack. Initially, she said nothing, seeming content merely to sit and watch as the ship passed through hyperspace. But finally, she stirred and looked over at Jack.

"Some crew this ship's got," she observed. "The resident Jedi's a war hero, the captain's a Force magnet, the mechanic's Force sensitive... then, there's you and Sam, quite the interesting pair you make. Don't think I hadn't noticed how you're each trying discreetly to off the other. And me... well, I'm a freak show in my own right..."

She was silent for a couple of seconds, but then she stood and stepped back to close the door between the bridge and the common room, calmly stating, "I know your secret, Jack... the thing you've been working so hard to keep from the crew. Way the records read, the Rhea left a big mark on you..." She put a hand on the door. "This is my promise to you. Your secrets remain secret until you make the decision to reveal them."

She came back to sit beside him. "But keep in mind, of the people on this ship right now, I'm the only one who knows what you went through... that isn't aiming to hurt you. You ever feel the need to talk, I'm here."

It occurred to Reibe before she entered the bridge for this discussion that she had never addressed the crew by name. Indeed, she'd been extremely cold in dealing with any of them. But Shaam's scolding about her harsh manners had struck her deeper than she would ever admit. She had allowed her years of experience with betrayal eat away at her ability to trust. So did she trust this crew? By no means! But they didn't need to know that... and they could benefit from her knowledge as much as she could benefit from their emotional reactions.

Reibe sighed and stared out into hyperspace. Letting Jack know she was available if he ever needed anyone to talk to was the first step in truly becoming the ship's adviser. Somewhere deep in her mind, she wasn't sure that's what she wanted... but you could never really know something until you tried it...

Beryl was experiencing an unexpected feeling as Nic tended to her wound. His touch on her bare skin was tender and gentle, and his manner in bandaging on the bacta pad calm and composed--not at all like the way the medics at the Academy infirmary would have treated her. More like the way Conn would have.

Conn. Beryl was almost sure he hadn’t made it out of the prison. "… a couple of manslaughter and serious assault charges—mostly staff at the prison and a few soldiers under the command of an Imperial Moff…." That’s what her brother’s aid, Major Payne, had told her when she had first been detained on the Dreadnaught Reaper. Beryl had no doubt that Conn, being the prison’s doctor, was included in the category of prison ‘staff.’ It didn’t really surprise her that he’d be dead—all of her former lover’s had all died suddenly for one reason or another. Why would Conn be any different?

And now, here was Nic, risen from the dead in her mind, tenderly taking care of her even after she had aggressively tried to kill him. She had always liked him—his casual manner, his sense of humour, his quirks about money, the way his eyebrow would twitch just that little bit when he had a good Sabbac hand….

Nic closed the kit and placed it back where he came from, then he sat down on the chair next to Beryl. Taking the bottle from her, he took a gulp of it and then offered it back. “Good Year… So now all we have to do is wait for Jana to arrive.”

“It might be a very long wait, sir.” She studied the bottle in her hand, and then took a swig herself. “Jana may not have understood my message. If she got it at all.”

Nic was her Captain, her employer, her boss. She had never acted on any of her impulses towards him, feeling that it was inappropriate, though she’d been quite content to flirt with him every now and again. But could she really go through the pain of losing him again without first letting him know how she felt about him?

Beryl suddenly reached out and put her hand over Nic’s, gripping it tight. “Sorry,” she said, as she gently bit her lower lip. “I still can’t believe you’re alive. I just wanted to make sure that you were real.”

As Beryl took his hand, Nic looked into her eyes and felt what he had not for years, he did love her but he knew they shouldn’t be together. He had killed the only women he had ever loved back on Naboo, one of the two mistakes he made that led him to become Nic White. The mistakes that led him to make three promises to himself that he would uphold no matter what.

The first was never to touch a Sniper Rifle again as the two mistakes were made looking through that weapons scope. The women he had killed and shouldn’t have and the man he should’ve killed but didn’t.

The second was to never help a Jedi again, the first mistake had begun when he joined up with the Jedi and aid him in the war effort. He had already broke this promise after Ryshana saved his life, but it was more important to save the Jedi than to help himself.

The third was seemed so simple, and he had achieved it for so long until he had met Beryl, this promise was the most important the one to stop him feeling the pain he felt when he killed Tanya. He promised that he would never fall in love again, a promise that was breaking and would hurt not only him if broken but Beryl aswell.

He still looked into her eyes his heart and mind were in conflict but Nic knew what he had to do. "Beryl we can't, you'll get hur..."

“Hurt?" Beryl interrupted him. "I don’t care.”

“I do.”

Beryl’s grip on his hand tightened. “I’ve been hurt lots of times, sir. Not as much as my ex-partners, mind, but….” She bit her lip. “Maybe you’re right, sir.“ She paused. “I’ve got a really bad track record with men. They tend to, well, die, sir.”

"Die?"

"Not by my hand, sir," she said quickly. "Freak accidents mostly. Except for the last one. He got shot by Stormtroopers."

She paused for a moment, then cocked her head to one side. “Aw, to hell, with it, sir…. You already died once.” Her hands cupped his face as she leaned forward and kissed him full on.

Jack looked strangely at Reibe at she talked to him and tried to get him to open up to her. This whole thing completely took Jack off guard. Even when Reibe had finished talking and began to look into the hyperspace, Jack still wore a confused expression on his face. He looked at Reibe and then at his half full beer bottle before realizing he hadn't drunk enough to make him hallucinate. It took a few minutes, but it soon sank in that Reibe had said something remotely human.

Jack stood up and stood beside Reibe and looked out into hyperspace. "Well since you know so much about little old me, and I know nothing about you.. Who are you Reibe Vailar? I looked around the good old holonet and found some interesting rumors... one of which is that you share the same name of young twi'lek who is very big in the twi'lek/rodian porn industry but let's not get into that..."

Reibe did not answer immediately. It was a question she'd been asked countless times, but one she had scarcely given much thought to. Her typical response to the question was, "No one..." but if she was to be an adviser, that would not do. She'd been suppressing every piece of information on herself that she might not be known by anyone. That wouldn't work anymore.

"I've been asked many times," she said finally, "but I've never really cared to give an honest answer. And in the end... well, there's no easy answer." She paused, unsure of how to continue.

3 Hours after the attack, 4 months into the Clone War

"I would choose my words a bit more carefully, Jedi. If I wasn't mistaken, you have just implied that my leadership abilities are not up to the challenge of reuniting Fondor under the Republic. Hopefully, I am mistaken," Nyrera stated calmly as looked at Ryshana and the group of four Clone Commandos standing behind her.

"I imply nothing, General Nyrera. I am merely voicing my concern that perhaps your strategy does not line up with the ways of the Jedi," Ryshana replied as diplomatically as she could.

"Well, I doubt that there would be any other way, General Ryshana. One must go to extremes whenever the situation calls for it, and as of right now, our situation does call for it. It would be a shame, however, if I were to mislead you in any way. I'm well aware of your responsibilities as a Jedi, and I can assure you that if I do send you out to kill or capture, it will be in the name of democracy, fairness, and justice," Nyrera responded. "Now, if that is all, General Ryshana, you and your men can be dismissed for six hours of rest. I'll be expecting that you and your men will be ready for their next assignment."
___________________

15 Minutes later

"Well, what would you have me do? Its not my fault that you decided to run your mouth about Nyrera to his face," Jeez stated harshly. Standing in front of Ryshana with his helmet removed, his face was almost completely devoid of sympathy.

"I don't know. This is just so frustrating because we're supposed to do one thing and still serve as a Jedi. I'm just wondering if we're going to be able to do both at the same time, or if we'll have to forgo our duties to the Jedi or to the Republic," Ryshana responded as she seemed to reserve herself to thought.

"Well, if the Fondorian News Reports are at all accurate, then I can say that Nyrera is a fairly ambitious man. He's been attacking Techno Union strongpoints and factories across the system for about two months now. He is putting a lot of pressure where it needs to go," Jeez commented.

"But what about today? How do we explain why we just attacked a factory that is used exclusively to manufacture droids for the Civil Defense? We didn't attack the Techno Union today, Jeez. We attacked the Civil Defense," Ryshana reiterated.

"I know that, but neither of us can see the entire strategic picture. If we're going to help Nyrera re-establish Republic control here on this system, then we have to trust him. The process can be a bit unsettling, but in the end, we have to get this accomplished. To do that, we have to trust him."
________________________

Back on the Echo in hyperspace towards Rusaan

"Well, I have to ask: how would you describe the Force? I never really did ask Ryshana, but recently I've been curious," Cloud asked Jeez who was sitting across from him in the Common Room. In front of them, there were a couple of plates with what appeared to be a very delicious and well prepared meal.

"For starters, that is a very simple question, but yet, it has a very complex answer. First, you have to understand what the Force is. Life creates it and binds all to it, and in equal measure, death also creates it. In the Force, all of life and all of death exists," Jeez stated. Seeing Cloud's awkward expression, Jeez then continued, "Just think of it in simple terms. In order for death to exist, there must be life. As life creates the Force, it also creates death since everything has to die. Conversely, without death, there would be no life. Plants are fed from the decay of dead things that lie buried beneath them, and animals feed on them from there. As such, death creates life, and that translates directly into the Force."

Still chewing on a bit of meat, Cloud then said, "So, death and life. That wouldn't correlate to dark and light, would it? Because, that's all I ever hear about: the Dark side versus the Light side and so on."

"Well, in a manner of speaking, yes. In darkness, there is little life, and the life that does exist decays quickly. Here in life, you can see this manifested in the Dark side. By using the Dark side, you are in essence destroying life while you yourself are decaying as your own life feeds the darkness. The opposite is true of those that use the Light side of the Force. Everything falls into the cycle of life and death, and in that cycle lies the Force," Jeez responded as he used his fork to take another bite of food.

"But what about good versus evil and how that relates to the Force? Why is darkness always associated with evil and so on?" Cloud asked.

"Well, that probably has a lot to do with the fact that we are living creatures. Even though life requires death to exist, that does not stop the living from wanting to prolong the inevitable. As such, anything that takes life away at will for its own purposes is often times viewed as being "evil"," Jeez stated. "But don't think for a moment that that is the only part of what we consider good and evil. Those that wish to bend the Force to their will often times find themselves using the Darkside of the Force if and only because they both serve each other until the more powerful entity claims the other.

Death serves the man that wishes to destroy his adversaries so that death can continue to exist. Conversely, the same man serves death as it uses the man to accomplish its own ends until it claims the man. Although the man thinks it is he that is bending and shaping the Force to his will, he is unaware that the Force is using him to accomplish its will."

As Cloud continued to eat, Jeez then said, "Now, my question to you is this: is it possible for a man to use the Darkside to accomplish good?"

Thinking for a moment, Cloud sat there as he finished the last bits of food on his plate. Then, he said, "Well, my guess is that one would have to serve the Darkside of the Force instead of trying to bend it to your will. In that way, you would be able to take life from those that are trying to bend the Force to their will. In the end, good would be the result."

Thinking for a moment, Jeez hesitated in his response as he thought for a moment. "Well, that's one way of putting it. To be honest, that's actually one question that I've been thinking about for a long time. In all my years as a Jedi, I've seen a lot of the whole "ends justifying the means", and I'm honestly not convinced that its a good idea. I used to be, but it seems that life has taken me in a different direction as of recently."

"If you don't know the answer, then how am I supposed to learn, though?" Cloud asked.

"You will learn in time as I am. Like I said, its an easy question to ask with a very complicated answer. That answer is open to all kinds of interpretation, and I'm sure that at least one of us will discover it in the end."

"They're using some sort of odd frequency modulation that I've never seen before," Lana said, pursing her lips as she listened to the odd static emanating from the speakers.

Conn peered intently over her shoulder at the readouts. "I've never seen those before either...but why would they be sending out subspace signals if nothing else but for a distress call?"

Lana smirked. "Can't be a very good distress call if it's all garbled."

He furrowed his brow. "Maybe it's not," he said, taking out a datapad. "Back when I was decrypting their frequencies, I noticed a very similar scramble algorithm in their communication." Conn reached out and tapped a few keys on the console after examining his pad. "I wonder..."

Just then, the static abruptly stopped and gave way to the sound of electronic synthesizers and a low, melodious female voice belted out a chorus. "Emoooootionaaaallll Hoooostages..."

Lana, who was obviously too young to remember it, frowned. "Eh?"

But Conn's eyes opened wide. "I know this song," he said urgently. "This is from when..." He fell silent for a few moments, then shook his head and pointed at the console. "Remodulate on frequency 100.3, channel Z."

The young Firrerreo raised an eyebrow, but did as she was told.

The song crackled, then cut out, being replaced by a male voice, unfamiliar to any of them. "This is Nic and Beryl, requesting emergency recovery. Jana, please respond. This is Nic and Beryl..." The message began to repeat itself.

Conn looked over at Max who was leaning in the doorway. She smiled, shook her head and beckoned him towards the cockpit. "Help me bring this bird down and let's get her back."

As Conn bounded towards the cockpit, Lana arched an eyebrow. "I know who Beryl is," she said, mostly to herself. "But who's Nic?"

*****

Conn guided the Hammerspace down through the atmosphere, squinting through the cloud cover until it dispersed, revealing the forested green land. It was devoid of anything artificial, save for two hulks of metal marring the landscape. He couldn't help but feel a shiver go up his spine, as the situation was very similar to the one where he had met Beryl for the very first time. He had responded to the distress call before bringing the Hammerspace down, but had not received a response, so that made him just a little bit worried.

Setting the freighter down between the downed vessels, he quickly ran through the power down checklist, then bolted out of his seat and back towards the loading ramp, where he met Max and Lena. They had their blaster pistols out. "Not taking any chances?" Conn asked as he slapped the controls to lower the ramp.

"You know me, Conn," Max replied, rolling her eyes at the doctor. "Besides, it might be a trap." She and Lana moved forward as the ramp came to a stop on the ground, blasters up and pointed at the odd TIE fighter a few meters away. They had landed next to the fighter since it was in a clear patch of area, whereas the shuttle was in a shady copse off to the side. Max carefully picked her way over to the area, pausing just in front of the open ramp. "There's a body here," she said.

Conn's heart leapt into his throat as he made his way over to Max and Lana. Sure enough, there was the body of an Imperial pilot laying on the ground, helmet still on. He stepped forward and knelt down, sweeping the helmet off, then breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a male face he did not recognize. Conn put his fingers to the man's neck, confirming what he already knew. "Dead," he pronounced. "Rigor hasn't set in yet, he was probably killed no more than forty-five minutes ago."

"He was shot?" Lana asked.

The doctor nodded, prodding around the dead man's flightsuit. "Yes... but I don't think that's what killed him," he said, pointing at the man's throat. "His neck is tender to the touch, meaning his windpipe was crushed." Conn lifted one of the man's eyelids, then grimaced. "Yeah, he was asphyxiated," he affirmed, indicating the burst blood vessels in the corpse's eye.

The Firrerreo gulped. "You think Beryl did this?"

"I hope she did this," Conn replied, straightening up. "Means she's still alive." He turned his gaze towards the Lambda a few dozen meters away. Sensor scans had shown two humanoid life forms in the crashed shuttle, so that's where Beryl and this 'Nic' person had to be. He moved purposefully towards the Lambda craft, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "BERYL!!!"

With hearts pounding and breaths quickening, Beryl and Nic had succumbed to their passion for each other and had adjourned to lay on the soft, plush couch at the back of the shuttle leaving a trail of clothing on the floor in their wake.

“Nic… Nic….” Beryl gasped. She pulled herself away from Nic for just a moment to take off the gray undershirt she was wearing. But she had only just gotten the shirt over her head when she thought she heard something.

“What was that?” she asked, her arms still stuck inside the shirt.

Nic wrapped his arms around her bare back and pulled her down towards him. “What was what?” he asked. “I didn’t hear anything.”

Beryl quickly agreed, and hurriedly tossed the T-shirt away. But only a few seconds back into the throes of passion, they were again interrupted by a sound.

“There it is again,” Beryl said, between kisses. She lifted herself up onto her elbows and tilted her head in the direction of the cockpit. “Something’s bleeping. I think someone’s answering our signal, Nic.”

“Beryl…!” Someone was calling her name from outside.

“Yeah, and they must’ve got a really good com system 'cause it sounds like they’re right outside,” Nic observed, deadpan.

Beryl blanched. It had only been one word, but she recognised the voice. It was Conn. She looked at Nic, and then at the shuttle’s open door, and then back at Nic. “Oh, crap! Get dressed!”

She hurriedly untangled herself from Nic, grabbed her shirt from the floor and put it on.

“What?” Nic asked, confused. He began to search under bits of clothing for his blaster. “Imps?”

“No. Yes. Sort of,” Beryl said, now putting on her boots. “Nic, just stay here. I’ll be right back. Ow!” She winced as she stood up, noticing a dark stain welling up on her black trousers. Her wound was bleeding again. “Oh, great,” she grimaced as she poked at the bacta bandage. “Just great.”

One last look over her shoulder at Nic, and then she headed out the door and down the ramp of the shuttle.

“Hang on!” Nic called as Beryl ran out of the ship, he began looking around the room. “Where’s my shirt?” Nic shrugged his shoulder and reached to grab his stolen gun and vibroblade holstering them both, he then gripped the walking stick and began to follow Beryl out of the Shuttle.

Conn was mere meters away from the shuttle when a pair of black-booted feet appeared at the top of the ramp and started descending. He stopped, laying a hand on the pistol at his hip as the person came into view, just in case it wasn't Beryl. But his caution proved to be unnecessary as the blonde Corellian pilot stepped off the ramp and onto the jungle floor. He strode towards her just as she squinted through the daylight at him. "Beryl!" he repeated.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he approached. "Conn?" she asked, her expression incredulous.

"You were expecting someone else?" he responded, covering the last few meters between them.

"Well, actually---" The rest of Beryl's reply was cut off as Conn pulled her into an embrace, crushing her to his chest.

"Finally," Conn said, holding her close. The pent-up frustration, anxiety and worry rolled off of him in a wave after having found her at last.

"Finally?" Beryl tried to think what he meant. "I thought you were dead. What, have you been looking for me this whole time?"

Conn pulled his head back to look at her and eased his arms away slightly. "I thought you were worse than dead," he replied. "And yeah, I have been looking for you. You're awfully hard to track down, y'know."

Beryl began to feel all sorts of feelings that she hadn't felt for a very long time--elation, relief, happiness, wariness, guilt. It was making her head spin. Her Imperial training told her to hold them in check, but being this close to part-Zeltron Conn made it very difficult. She bit the inside of her lip in an attempt to steel herself before speaking. "Personal contacts aren't allowed while in training," she finally managed to say.

"Training?" Conn repeated, arching an eyebrow. "Your brother made you go through Imp training?" He wrinkled his nose as he noticed something. "I don't rememeber them teaching me to wear my shirt inside out."

Beryl glanced down, then reddened slightly, but before she could get more words out, Max spoke up from behind Conn. "Imps, huh? Well, that explains the shuttle and the TIE, newsie," the slight Lorrdian intoned, approaching with Lana in tow. As Conn and Beryl separated, the Alderaanian doctor standing to the side, Max raked a critical eye over the blonde pilot. "You look like hell, Beryl."

At Max's comment, and slightly embarrassed about her recent romp in the shuttle with Nic, Beryl quickly smoothed a hand over her hair. "I'm in better shape now than I've ever been," she replied, as if she were repeating something. Then she looked down at her thigh. "The flesh wound is recent," she added dismissively.

"Flesh wound?" Conn repeated again, arching his other eyebrow as his gaze traveled down to Beryl's right thigh, where the pooling blood stood out even against the black of her trousers. "We heard blaster fire before we landed here. Were you hit?" He frowned. "Did this 'Nic' person do this to you?"

"Nic? No, sir, not on purpose. I was actually trying to kill him, although I didn't know it was him at the time," she added. "And this just sort of... happened by accident."

Kill him? Conn thought. Who is this guy? And why is Beryl calling me 'sir'? He was about to verbalize his thoughts into words when he heard sounds of a second person coming down the shuttle's ramp.

A shirtless Nic limped out of the Shuttle and looked around at the people in front of Beryl, normally in this kind of situation he would take out his pistol, but Beryl seemed to know them so he left his gun holstered. His body was still strong, but it also still showed the scars from the various torture sessions he had been through over the last few weeks as well as the lightsaber wound on his gut.

Still standing on the ramp he leaned on to his walking stick and smiled at them. “So I guess the thing to do now is introduce myself. I’m Captain Nic White, but you can call me Nic, everyone else does.” Nic extended his hand out to the new man and women as he sniffed the air, there was a slightly familiar smell in the air and he had to think before he could remember what it was. “Is there a Zeltron round here?”

Conn looked over the newcomer who had introduced himself as 'Nic White'. About the same height as he was, with a well-toned physique which was easy to see, since Nic's torso and arms were bare. Nic held a shirt in his hand, however, as if he'd just grabbed it as he came down the ramp. Conn furrowed his brow at that thought, especially in light of Beryl's disheveled appearance, even as he raked his keen physician's eyes over Nic's scars and a particularly nasty looking gash across the abdomen.

Nevertheless, he reached out and gripped Nic's hand in his own. "Doctor Conway Harlowe," he said, giving Nic a firm handshake. "I'm also the Zeltron here. Quarter Zeltron, anyway."

Max was next. "Captain Nic White?" she repeated. "And what ship do you captain, good sir?"

"The mercenary ship Echo," Nic replied, shaking her hand.

"Ah good," Max as she released his grip, then reached into a pocket and pulled out a credit chit. "I'm Captain Maxxenandra Coronis of the freelance ship Hammerspace and I do believe this is for you." She tossed him the chit.

Nic caught it one-handed, then held it up to look at it. "What is it?"

"One point five million authorized Imperial credits."

Nic looked at chip carefully think it was a joke but the chip was real, he looked at Max quizzically. “And why is a virtual stranger giving me so much money? Or is this a new way how ship Captains greet each other because I can’t really see it catching on?”

"It's Ryshana's bounty," Beryl said tonelessly. She stared at Max, then Conn, and then Nic. There were certain things that she didn't ever want to think about, and Ryshana's bounty was one of them. If it hadn't been for Ryshana convincing Nic to cash in on it, they wouldn't have gone to the prison in the first place. Ryshana would still be alive and none of the events in the past two months would have occurred. Now that Ryshana was dead, it felt wrong to Beryl to have the money. But she knew Nic, and quite possibly Jana, could use it, and so she said nothing more about it.

"We've got to go," she said instead, abruptly turning her back on Conn and heading for the inside of the shuttle. "I'll get my gear."

Nic Looked at Beryl as she walked into back into the shuttle and then at the chip in his hand. He threw it a few centimetres in the air and grabbed it in the same hand, his expression changed to one of anger as he through his hand back and then quickly forward again. The chip left his hand a great speed as it shouted out loud to express his anger. The chip flew out into the forest and slowly down towards the jungle floor where Nic hoped it would be lost forever. He said nothing as took his shirt and placed it over his head and back on his body, he slowly turned and walked back into the shuttle.

Conn stared after Beryl as she stalked up the ramp and rubbed a hand over his face. Something was wrong. When Nic had appeared, Beryl had exuded surprise and apprehension, along with a twinge of guilt. That, coupled with her unkempt appearance and Nic's shirtlessness led him to believe they might have been up to something inside the shuttle. Nic's appearance and easygoing manner was the only thing that had kept Conn from saying something to her. He would query her about it later, though he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Secondly, Beryl's attitude was far, far different than Conn remembered. She was subdued, almost detached. Her use of 'sir' spoke volumes to him about just how much the Imperials were able to get to her, as she was always one to buck authority and defer to no one. The fact that outwardly she hadn't seemed all that excited to see him also stuck out in his mind. She had always been an emotional person, wearing her feelings on her sleeve, but now it was almost as if she was repressing them. Conn was sure this was an Imperial mannerism as well, but it bothered him how much she had been ingrained into it. That was something he'd have to discuss with her as well.

He watched Nic fling the credit chit into the trees and stalk back up into the shuttle. Turning to Max, he saw her shaking her head. "Glad I didn't have to tell him what it was," she remarked. "Otherwise, he might've thrown it at me."

Lana, who had been silent up to this point, blew out an exasperated sigh. "That would have been better," she exclaimed, her nictitating eyelids blinking furiously as she bounded toward where Nic had thrown the chit. "At least he wouldn't have been throwing a million and a half credits away." She threw up her hands as she pushed through the leaves. "Don't they want the money they were after?!" she asked rhetorically. "What kind of mercenaries are they anyway?"

As Lana searched through the undergrowth muttering, Max came up next to Conn and crossed her arms, joining him in staring at the shuttle. "You're confused," she said, not looking at him.

Conn chuckled ruefully. "I thought I was the empath here," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"You are, but you also project more feelings than any other Zeltron I've known," Max replied.

"Can you blame me?" He sighed, bringing his latent empathic abilities under control, something that usually came easy to him but was rather difficult at the moment.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "No," she admitted.

"She's changed, Max."

"I know. You don't need to be a Zeltron to tell that." She closed her eyes. "You're just going to have to find out how much, and if you can change her back."

"Right," Conn replied mockingly, as if the task in and of itself was nothing. "Then there's 'Captain Nic White' to deal with."

"Don't forget the dead Imp back there."