STAR WARS: SECOND REBELLION

Forty-five years after the Battle of Yavin, in the aftermath of the catastrophic war with DARTH CAEDUS, the son of HAN and LEIA ORGANA SOLO, the Galactic Senate has voted to dissolve the Jedi Order. Its members no longer trust those who wield the Force, believing that in the end, there is no real difference between the Jedi and the Sith. Indeed, they say, one might very well become the other. Not only have the JEDI MASTERS, including Grand Master LUKE SKYWALKER and his sister, been barred from Coruscant for life, but they and the Knights have also been exiled to planets billions of light-years away from one another. The future seems bleak, without hope as the Senate continues to maintain its hard line.

Meanwhile, the remnants of CAEDUS' followers have turned on themselves and murdered one another, under the influence of the darkest will that the Force has ever known--or manipulated. Is this the end of the Sith? Far from it, for this new threat aims to either convert or slay the exiled Jedi, putting an end to their Second Rebellion once and for all...

THE REPORT was all over the holovids. Galactic Senator Doran Kinta, one of the primary three who were responsible for the dissolution of the Jedi Order, was now short one highly-knowledgeable assistant. Her ransom was set at five million credits, and if not paid in three days, the kidnappers would sell their hostage as a slave. Either that, or they would do something worse...

"Reputable sources tell us that Vtorym Rtasi, first assistant to Galactic Senator Doran Kinta, was abducted yesterday by unknown assailants. They have set a ransom for her at the sum of five million credits, which only a planetary monarch would have these days! Nevertheless, Senator Kinta has said that he does not, and will not, negotiate with terrorists. If not paid by three days from today, the abductors have threatened to kill Rtasi or sell her as a slave. No comment has been forthcoming from the head of the Galactic Senate, who has declined to be interviewed on camera. More details will be revealed as the case unfolds. For now, this is Sri'ya Taana, signing off."

Vtorym Rtasi herself never got to see this report until she awoke from a deep and painful half-consciousness aboard some type of a well-worn freighter. She sat up on the cot in the makeshift medbay, rubbing her eyes and feeling blood ooze from her right temple. How had she gotten aboard this ship? Around her were several plasteel cylinders and metal containers--the fools who had head-butted her with a disruptor carbine had not even had the decency to lock her anywhere else but in the cargo hold! Her vision swam with shapes and hazy imaginings--where was the ship in space, and how could she escape? Vtorym tried to undo the lock on the cargo hold door, to no avail. Her security skills were above average, but not high enough for it.

She heard two aliens talking--one a Twi'lek, the other a Rodian, most likely.

"What do we do with the Senator's second if we cannot collect the ransom?"

"We sell her, you pair of limp lekku," replied the Rodian. "If she will not fetch the price we have demanded for her release, then we kill her. Understand?"

"How? Shoot her? Throw her out the airlock? How boring and uninventive."

"Leave the inventiveness to me, Tho'lyr. I'll think of something soon enough."

Vtorym froze. She had to try and escape, but how? She could hear the hum of the hyperdrive nearby, so she assumed the vessel was in transit. Her head felt as if a thousand Gamorreans had had a turn pounding on it. She tried to stand, but the most she could do was raise herself into a sitting position. With her last efforts before she blacked out again, the Senator's assistant managed to scoot her cot over to one of the plasteel cylinders. Perhaps it contained food or water, but she was not yet strong enough to find out...

Draze Hodrren sat up on the cold metal chair sipping some ale in the Delaya cantina. It was all over the holovids about Galactic Senator Doran Kinta assistant being held for ransom. He sipped the ale slowly as he watched the vid with a small smile upon his face. The Galactic Senate was foolish to send the Jedi into exile, and maybe that was something they would learn slowly.

"well maybe this little incident will teach the senate something." he mumbled to himself the cool glass still pressed against his lips.

Draze stood up throwing some credits upon the counter paying his tab for the drinks and walked out of the cantina. He had a meeting with a Rodian about a ship for sale. After working with a smuggler ring after he was sent into exile Draze figured it was time to set out on his own. Whether or not he continued following the smugglers path still wasn't certain but he wasn't one to be to seriously picky.

He walked out of the Cantina feeling a cool breeze softly caress his skin waking his mind. He wished well for the Senators assistant, hoping maybe the spirit of the force may guide her.

Kerlaya Honz silently contemplated recent event's, as she idly chucked a few loose credit's into the air. She was inside a small house, with a garage and personal hangar that she had purchased. Her estate was at the edge of a cliff-face, overlooking a broad sea. The hangar and garage were on a higher tier of the small plateau upon which her house was located, only a few moment's away if you were walking. She had a second tier of the R serie's still in her possession, which in her opinion was far more efficient than any of the new model's. The Droid chimed as it entered the room, alerting Kerlaya that her drink was ready.

She smiled at the Droid, patting it gently as she rose from her seat. Then suddenly a deep annoyance filled her eye's, as she sighed gently. The dark corner of the room suddenly lit up, as a explosion of plasma emerged directly toward's her in several salvo's. With no apparent effort she summoned her lightsaber from a nearby table to her palm, ignited it and excecuted three perfect wrist movement's to absorb the blast's. She then spoke in a gentle voice. "Go now, for your outmatched. Don't make me harm you."

The silent figure contemplated her word's then yelled abruptly in his alien language. She understood his speech, knowing the value of learning other language's. She passed him a chip worth two thousand credit's and muttered in a low pitch voice. "Your 'client' will be informed that you have cancelled your contract and how you 'disappeared' swiftly after." The alien seemingly absorbed this information, nodding thank's in her direction. He cocked his head slightly, then seemed to fade into the darkness itself. She flicked the lightsaber toward's the table, using the force to guide it to it's destination.

It landed perfectly in the center, facing skyward as it fell into place. She did not look back to see the result's, having twenty year's of experience reassuring her of success. That was the fifteenth assassination attempt this week and Kerlaya was sure it wouldn't be the last. She took a short stroll up the small rock-path, following it to the garage. The R2 unit followed her, seemingly content with simply following it's Master. She chuckled as she recognised the distinct chiming noise behind her and opened the door. R2 quickly buzzed past her, already recognising her intention's. As Kerlaya entered the R2 unit was already moving from various computer console's to another, quickly accessing a few file's, ensuring some protocol's. He then went over to a nearby corner and drew a white sheet off a nearby Humanoid contraption. The Droid was incomplete and of the millenia old HK Serie's. Originally programmed as Assassin Droid's, she intended to utilize this paticular one as a Assistant and companion, possibly bodyguard.

The Unit, or HK as she had took to calling him, was about to be programmed with a Combat Protocol, Kerlaya knowing full well that he would likely come face-to-face with an assassin sometime or other. Inside the garage was various other vehicle's, including a Speeder and three S-Bike's, all fully customized and regulary examined. Upstair's was the hangar, where Kerlaya had stored her Marauder Cruiser, along with other various ship's. Though a Jedi, Honz had learnt at a young age the value's of being self sufficient and had grown excellent at maintaining a steady cash flow, ensuring that in the need of crisis she would be prepared.

She had also purchased this estate at the age of nineteen, activating a lockdown and leaving R2 to attend to maintainence and other requirement's to sustain a household. Upon her return, she found it reasonably well maintained, save a few fault's here and there. With her arrival, however, they were quickly fixed and she set about living her life. Kerlaya had never once considered casting down her role as a Jedi, though the result was Bounty Hunter's by the bucketload. She found it entertaining sometime's and she had yet to harm any of them, save a paticulary vicious Tradoshan.

She shuddered at the memory of the creature's demise and sighed as she calmed her emotion's. The Hunter's death was his own fault and Kerlaya many'a time risked herself to prevent it, but she failed. The failure was not ultimately her's, as she emerged knowing that this paticular Bounty Hunter was foolish in his choice's. Kerlaya had no inner-conflict's as many Jedi did, for she knew that the Code was simple to follow so long as it was in your heart.

The stories of Vader's past had alerted her of the danger's and she took the information onboard well. She held nothing against the Senate for her Exile, knowing that they did what they thought was right and despite her own opinion's, that would not change. Kerlaya had become somewhat of a Local Hero to the population but she simply smiled at the gratitude, knowing that it was her Duty to cause such gesture's. Her contemplation's did not still her though, as she quickly finished programming the Droid. She closed the chest-panel, then activated the Droid using the force.

The Droid's eye's were yellow and it's plate's pure silver, a deep contrast to the original design. "Good morning Mistress Kerlaya! How has your day been so far?" She smiled at the Droid's quirky attitude, knowing how care-free a Droid's mind was. "It's been okay thank's. So HK, how do you feel?" The Droid gave a somewhat laughing response as it began to flex it's joint's. "Well well Mistress Kerlaya, it seem's I am the one who owe's thank's to you! I assume there has already been an attempt on your life hmm?" Kerlaya nodded, noting the emphasis on 'already'. "Feeling like testing that combat protocol huh?" She smiled again as she wiped the dust from HK's gleaming head-plate. The Droid tilted it's head back and spoke this time in a more peculiar tone. "Err . . . not at all Mistress . . . I just--" Kerlaya held up a hand to signal him to stop, as she fought back a grin.

The R2 unit quickly emerged from a nearby room, though Kerlaya had yet to note it's previous absence. She knew the HK Unit was jesting about his desire to fight, as she had noted he had a Jedi-like state of mind. She had programmed the Droid to develope it's own personality and she was most pleased with the result's, as she noted the Droid took pride in having his own nature. Kerlaya moved toward's the stairway, stopping halfway. "Well HK, I think your programming is finally finished so you can do whatever you feel like. If there are any problem's, just ask R2 for help." She gave the pair a smile as she reached the stairway and began her ascent to the hangar. Upon arriving she walked over to the far wall, quickly tapping command's into the console. The hangar door opened and she quickly moved to the edge. The door overlooked a large cliff, which dropped into a river.

Then another attacker emerged from hiding, leaping out at her with a vibro-blade in hand. This one, however, was a Droid, so she did not hold back. The Droid had followed her for sometime she imagined and likely noted that she had left her lightsaber at the house. Well . . . one of saber's. The attacker would not learn of his mistake. She put a foot back, lowering herself to the Droid's chest-plate and ignited a saber through it's chest. The Droid was hardly aware of her strike and proceeded forward to strike at her. Upon attempting to advance however, he found himself unable to do so. Looking down to his chest with his view-sensor, he attempted to discern the problem. It was only after that incident that he learned he had shut down. The chassis fell to the ground, limp and devoid of movement.

A Droid quickly emerged from a nearby compartment, rushing over to gather the part's for use. She quickly climbed into a Jedi Interceptor with yellow design's and cast a hand at a nearby Droid elevator. Within second's a T Series Astromech Droid emerged from the elevator, quickly making toward's the Fighter. After the Droid was secured in it's slot, she initiated a take off sequence. It climbed vertically for a few second's, then burst from the hangar at top speed's, moving to fast to see the hangar door's seal tight. She pulled the control's left, taking the ship into a series of roll's. Then she moved the control's up, still holding it left, which quickly brought the ship ninety degree's about. Then she rolled right twice, descending into a nearby valley, dominated by a river.

The ship darted between the rock's, a show of skill and excellent handling on the pilot's part. Kerlaya was not doing this simply for fun however, she did it to reach her destination by the most direct route. The river then reached a waterfall and Kerlaya mimicked the water's descent, dropping at amazing speed's and only pulling up at the last minute. She was greeted by more rock's, which were again easily avoided. The Droid chimed quickly and Kerlaya nodded, quickly pulling the control's to make the ship roll left.

The ship quickly climbed just over a hilltop, revealing a vast city below. Honz quickly manoeuvered the ship into position, preparing to land at the starport. The ship quickly ceased to move forward, instead descending rapidly in an orderly fashion. The cockpit burst open and the Droid was ejected, with Kerlaya quickly pulling her robe's around her as she examined the Droid. The sun's ray's loomed overhead, smothering the city in a blanket of heat. Kerlaya seemed unbothered by this, instead focused on her task.

Within minute's she and the Droid arrived at a local garage and Kerlaya retrieved a Speeder bike she stored their for traversing the city. She once agained thanked the owner for allowing her to store the bike, passing him a few credit's for a drink as she left. The Droid was left with the ship, it's security program's more than adequate for any would-be thieves. After zipping across the city at top speed's, Kerlaya quickly pulled the control's to bring the bike to a halt, directly outside the market square. She left the repulsorlift running, knowing she would only be a minute.

Trying to avoid too much attention, she pulled her hood over her head and let it settle across her golden hair. She held a palm flat over her eye's, allowing her to see more clearly, without interference of the sun's ray's. She located the part's she needed and bought them swiftly, tipping the stool owner for his kindness. She returned to the Speeder bike to find two local thug's standing over it, discussing where to 'store' it for the owner. She drew out her lightsaber and pulled down her hood, tapping one of the thug's on the back.

Both turned with a start and quickly realized their error. Both left without another word being said, though both did return their eye's more than once to the Speeder bike. She sighed, concerned about the number of thug's wandering about the city, taking what they wanted whenever they wanted. She cast a hand at the fading image of the thug's, hoping to restore some sense of moral values to the pair. She smiled in their direction, then returned to the garage. Upon arrival she noticed the owner was out, so she quietly deposited it and left a few credits on the seat.

The bike trip had only taken her about ten minute's, which was good time by her count. Upon her return to the fighter, she found a cloak figure, meditating next to it. She sat next to him, mimicking the stance. "So, what buisness does a Sith have on Dantooine?" The robed figure looked her in the eye's, the ferocious crimson orb's holding her gaze. "You." The figure replied blunty, but she picked up the message. She summoned the lightsaber from the cockpit, standing slowly and taking up a lightsaber ready stance.

The figure drew a lightsaber and upon ignition she recognised the blood-red blade. "Your move, Sith." The figure scowled, then unleashed a battle cry as he leapt at Kerlaya, bringing his blade down upon her's with full strength. She redirected the blow and took a step back, giving her more room to breath. She then utilized Soresu, preparing herself for his onslaught. The Sith again struck, but this time she did not give way. She knew that this opponent was different from her last encounter with the Sith and that this one was likely prepared.

She struck back with unparallelled speed, disarming her opponent and throwing him against a nearby pillar with the force. She pulled him forward, with him landing directly at her feet. The figure was rendered unconscious instantly, clearly taken-aback by the ferocity of his foe. Kerlaya felt no remorse for the figure, knowing that whatever person once inhabited that body, was no longer. He was simply a pawn of the Dark Side now.

Konz knelt down and held a palm over his head, seeing if there truly was any chance of redemption for this one. She shook her head as she learned of the result. The figure was left lying there as her ship cleared the starport, already up the waterfall. Then she felt a disturbance in the force. She quickly took the ship into space, tracing the source with her mind. She sent a short transmission to R2 and HK, informing them of the delay and that she had jettisoned the cargo to a nearby stash. Within second's she was in hyperspace and her fighter emerged directly above a damaged Freighter. She sensed three onboard. One was a Rodian and one a Twi'lek, whilst the last was a Human . . . a Human in pain. She landed aboard it, the small fighter just fitting on-top. Then, using the power of the force, she emerged from the cockpit unharmed by the vacuum of space, but she could not hold for long. She held herself to the Freighter, albeit barely and struggled into a nearby panel. Within the minute she had dropped into a corridor and was safe. She drew her hood over her head and brought the robe around her body. She then traced the suffering being's mind to the Cargo Hold, but found it shut tight.

But a Jedi was not that easily held. She drew her saber and rammed it into the door, attempting to burn her way through. An alarm sounded . . .

Jornik "Scar" Keriz slammed his fist onto the table between him and his contractor.

"THE JOB WAS FIFTY-THOUSAND CREDITS!! You are not holding to your word, Gerut! I have done the job and more! You still refuse to pay me the proper price! Will you not cooperate?"

A middle-aged man sat on the other side of the table, he had a short beard, brown eyes, a bald head, and two large thugs gaurding him on the sides.

"No, Keriz. We do buisness my way. Or no way at all. You got that?"

This angered Keriz even more, but he let out a breath slowly and stood, grabbing the thirty-thousand credit chip on the table.

"Fine. That's okay with me."

He began walking out of the room, but quickly turned around, drawing his E-15 blaster rifle, firing a few rounds into the two thugs guarding Gerut.

The two fell down, quite dead, and Gerut stared at Keriz, horrified.

Keriz fired a shot that hit the bulkhead next to Gerut's head, making the hair of his beard singe with the closeness of the shot.

"Now, you are going to pay me fifty-thousand, adding up to eighty thousand with the money you jsut gave. Pay up, or I shoot a little more to the left."

Gerut's eyes were wide with fear. He immediatley began digging into his briefcase, quickly finding a 50,000 chip. He handed it to Keriz, who took it happily.

"Pleasure doing buisness with you, Gerut. You're lucky. If I had been someone else, you'd be dead. Don't short change the people who take your contracts. Ever."

Keriz walked out of the building into the hot, arid, air of Mos Espa, Tatooine. The streets were bustling, and Keriz had to dodge away from a landspeeder that was carrying two drunk Jawas, and Keriz had the feeling the speeder wasn't there's.

He chuckled to himself and kept walking towards the spaceport that was literally across the street.

He quickly got into his small, needle-like ship, The Penetrator, and he began revving the engines.

He then checked the holonews display on his main console, finding out that a certain Senator's assistant had been taken hostage, and was now in the space above Tatooine.

Keriz's smile widened, and he decided that there was still one more adventure to be had above Tatooine. His ship lifted up without problem, and he began the ascent towards his new objective.

An alarm sounding aboard a freighter as old and clunky as the Captain's Adventure could only mean one of three things: a) another minor system was malfunctioning again, since slavers were typically good hunters but poor mechanics; b) a vital system had gone haywire, calling for a quick run to the escape pods; or c) someone was trying to break into and/or hijack the ship.

"Wake up, stupid bulb-eyes!" stammered the Twi'lek to the Rodian. "Someone has commandeered their way onto the ship, and from the sound of it, it sounds like they're trying to break their way into the cargo hold! Protect the merchandise!" The Rodian grabbed his sonic carbine and the Twi'lek his two stolen Ryyk blades. Tho'lyr had once worked for a corporation that enslaved Wookiees for heavy manual labor, and he had acquired the blades as a "present" from one of the "beasts" under his charge. In reality, Tho'lyr had disarmed Rorowyrr, and then proceeded to lacerate his entire body deeply so that he could not be mistaken for any one of his furry friends. Dashing toward the cargo hold, both the Twi'lek and his fellow were shocked to find...

"A Jedi?" Tho'lyr's lekku twitched. "I thought they were all in exile..."

"Shut up, you fool!" the Rodian spat quickly. He punched a wall terminal with quick motions of his stubby, scale-covered fingers. "This will activate the five 'loading droids' in the cargo bay and start their assassination protocol. They're not just good for carrying crates of illegal weaponry, you know. As soon as they're on, they'll circle around the slave with their flamethrowers and make sure the Jedi's fried if she even gets the door open! Attack!"

Vtorym woke to the sound of five enormous, hulking droids activating all around her. Each of them held an Aratech Series 6000 Molten Cannon, and she could smell the heat swirling in visible patterns right at her eye level.

"Do not move, organic," said one of them, "or termination will commence."

Vtorym sat still with fright, trying not to cry. Was this indeed the end for her?

The Penetrator had arrived quickly at the damaged freightor's position.

Keriz surveyed it carefully, noticing that someone else had already boarded.

He'd been beaten to the punch on this one, no reward, but that didn't matter, Keriz loved a fight.

His ship was smaller than than the freighter, but it didn't mean he was at a disadvantage.

He activated a custom designed tractor beam, quickly harnessing the freighter and bringing it closer to Keriz. Now came the fun part.

He jumped out fo the cockpit, and changed quickly into a low-grav suit, he then walked into the airlock, and prepared for the ride.

"What the--?!?" The Rodian swore and spat on the metal floor of the freighter. "Now I think there are TWO people trying to board our ship, so I highly suggest you run up to the cockpit and activate protocol K.I.L.L.--Kinetic Inertial Levitation Loop!" Tho'lyr nodded hastily and bolted toward the pilot's seat, momentarily relieved that no one was there yet. With his Rodian partner in the slave trade monitoring the wall console and the door to the cargo hold, and the 'loading droids' monitoring the 'merchandise',the Lethan Tho'lyr felt safe enough to push a few buttons and activate the protocol.

Unfortunately for everyone aboard the freighter, friends and foes, protocol K.I.L.L. would have been more aptly named "Protocol Make Everybody Dizzy, Lose Their Balance, and Throw Up." Tho'lyr was safely esconced in the pilot's chair, but as for the Rodian, it was all he could do to activate his lead gravity boots and hang on. Vtorym, for her part, was tossed around the cargo hold like a rag doll, and the droids shot flames into the air in random arcs, hitting anything and nothing in particular. To anyone out in space, they would have only seen a battered freighter twirling around rapidly and going absolutely nowhere...

Keriz looked closely at the ship.

Is it just me...or is that ship spinning? He thought.

He suddenly realized what had happened. The idiot pilot on that ship had activated their K.I.L.L. Protocol. Nearly everyone who didn't buy it knew it was a scam, it didn't work. In fact, it was a scam that Keriz had helped make, and now, well, he wasn't that much richer because of it.

The ship was coming closer and closer as the tractor beam pulled in the spinning ship.

Finally, the freightor was close enough.

Keriz pressed the button that opened the airlock, and he flew out, activating his suit's jetpack. He rocketed toward the spinning ship, hoping that it wouldn't accidently crush him.

Kerlaya broke through the door and found five Droid's spitting fire. She slashed at the nearest one, destroying it instantly. She recieved minor burn's from the second as she crushed it with the force. The third and fourth collided, due to a little influence on Kerlaya's part. The fifth spat fire at her robe, causing her to cast it aside. He jabbed at the Droid, destroying it. She ran forward and shielded the girl from the gravitational distortion, whispering in her ear that everything would be alright.

Kerlaya pulled two loose panel's away and used the force to secure the girl using a small bit of wire. "Pull that apart if you need to escape! For now just hold on . . . I'll deal with them." She let go of the girl reluctantly and turned away, stepping on her cloak as she left. Kerlaya ran to the bridge . . .

...and Vtorym found herself unable to hold down her meager breakfast any longer.

She vomited unceremoniously onto the wall of the cargo hold, feeling herself swim in a sea of nausea as the ship continued to spin in place. What in space was going on? She had apparently been secured in two detached wall panels (how did they get detached? She remembered a calm voice, a soft touch, a lightsaber...lightsaber?!) As for the ship, it was none the worse for wear, except the metal cargo boxes had been melted into lumps of blackened scrap by the flamethrower droids. Please let me black out again, thought Vtorym, though no such luck came this time. She heard blaster shots outside the door to the cargo hold, presumably from one of her captors.

On the bridge, Tho'lyr brandished his cold weaponry, imbued with a solid cortosis weave. "To what do I owe the honor of this hijacking?" he asked, blood dripping at the corner of his mouth. "I am Tho'lyr, the titular Captain of Captain's Adventure. Unless you plan on being sliced to ribbons, I suggest you surrender immediately."

Keriz attached himself to the side of the freighter, climbing slowly around it as he search for a weak point.

He took out a fusion cutter and immediatley found a deck window to the lower hull.

He figured that he would only have thirty seconds after 'opening' this window, before the bulkhead defense closed it. He'd have to move fast.

He felt nervous, something common for him right before the plunge into combat.

He took a long breath and relaxed. Then he activated the fusion cutter, burning through the thick window.

It came down in a matter of seconds. He immediatley jumped through it before everything began to get sucked into space, but shortly after Keriz jumped in, the bulkhead cut off the leak. Now, Keriz was inside his objective's ship, and still with the element of surprise. He took out his blaster rifle and began walking slowly out of the cargo hold.

Please, dear Force...make the spinning stop...I'm going to be sick again...

First Assistant to Galactic Senator Doran Kinta was still sandwiched between the two metal panels of the freighter that had been severed from the wall of the cargo hold. A shadow flickered across her vision, tall and black, but she could not tell whether it was a male or a female. She decided that it was too tall to be the Rodian and too broad and bulky to be the Twi'lek. It didn't hold a lightsaber, either. Vtorym felt like cotton had been stuffed in her ears, as the noises of combat and alien cursing were muted and hazy. She decided to call out to the shadow, for this agony had to end.

"Have...have you come to rescue me?" Her voice came out in an uneasy quaver.

Draze walked slowly to the hanger bay on Delaya. The cool air he felt upon his skin was refreshing and invigorating. He walked with his eyes closed sensing that he was being followed. By what he wasn't sure, but he wasn't exactly going to pay them much attention. He figured if they were going to kill him then they were waiting for him to be in a more secure and less populated area, which wasn't going to happen. And if they were following him just to acquire information, then he hopped they enjoyed being quite bored. Draze kept his hands in his pockets and he raised his head from its normal eyes closed looking at the ground walk to eyes open looking straight ahead of him as he drew closer to the hanger bay.

He hoped that the Rodian he was suppose to meet was waiting for him. Draze didn't want to have to go looking for this little gray fellow again, last time it was way to much of a hassle for him. Draze had gotten word that a Rodian in one of the lower levels was looking to sell his ship with a protocol droid included. And apparently the fellow was selling it fairly cheaply. Rumors flew however as to why the ship was up for sale, but Draze made a habit not to listen to Rumors, or speculations more times then not they turned out to be false or inaccurate to some degree.

Draze was a straight forward person and if some one couldn't be straight forward with him then he didn't want anything further to do with them. Truth may hurt, but lying just gets you nothing in the long run. He walked threw the hanger bay reading the numbers of each door. When he reached Hanger Bay door number six a grin came across his face seeing the rodian standing there waiting nervously.

Draze slowly took one hand out of his pocket waving saying "Hey" as he approached the on edge rodain.

Draze sighed as the rodian spoke in its own language, not that he didn't understand him it was just an inconvenience for him to have to translate himself.

"well then lead the way" Draze said stretching out his arm signaling the Rodian to lead on.

He watch the little grey rodian punch in sum numbers on the computer pad and open the door. Draze slowly stepped into the hanger bay and saw in front of him a very nice ship. It was white with red stripes. Draze could tell that the ship was a YT-1930 (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/YT-1930) series space vessel.

Draze listened as the Rodian was speaking to what sounded like two Twi'leks. And from the sounds of things the Rodian mentioned Draze to the two bounty hunters.

With a grin upon his face Draze raised his hands in the air and turned around slowly. One of the Twi'leks spoke mentioning that Draze was more valuable dead, but he specifiably said more valuable dead Jedi. He wasn't sure how his identity as a exiled Jedi got out but he wasn't really in the mood for caring. With a flick of his wrists he ripped the blaster rifles the bounty hunters were holding from they're grip and threw the weapons behind him.

"You know I really like this ship." he said to the Rodian "How much was it again? Thirty-thousand credits?"

One of the bounty hunter Twi'leks came charging at Draze with a long sword. Draze with the force grabbed his lightsaber from his bag and ignited it. The blade was a brillent blue color. As the bounty hunter drew closer Draze jumped in the air and landed on the Twi'leks shoulders. Draze made a tisk noise as he shoved the blade inbetween the twi'leks shoulder blades killing him instantly. As the body fell to the ground Draze jumped off and landed on the mental ground looking at the Rodian noticing that the other bounty hunter ran away in fear.

Draze extinguished his lightsaber and walked back over to his bag placing it back in and pulling out a box. He threw the little box to the scared stiff Rodian.

With a smile he said "That should cover it."

Draze walked up the loading ramp into the ship and headed towards the cockpit. Knowing staying around much longer would only cause him problems he sent the ship into space and activated the hyperdrive instantly. Was he was sure he was a good distance away he left hyperdrive only to find himself witnessing and interesting event. It appeared one ship had captured another with a tractor beam and the other ship was spinning out of control. Draze decided to keep a safe distance and just watch, he figured he could use this time for some relaxation.

Keriz turned his head quickly to the woman's voice.

He noticed her, practically mashed in-between two large metal boards.

He brought a finger to his lips and gave a sign for a quiet.

He whispered,"Yes, my name is Jornik Keriz, and you must be the assistant to Senator....oh never mind. Wait for a moment, I will try to get you out of there."

Keriz approached slowly, his boots barely making a sound on the ships metal floor.

He looked down the hall a bit, noticing what looked to be a Jedi facing off against a Rodian. He turned back to the Senator's assistant.

He began to pry one of the boards away from her, making quick work of the weak metal. He then did the same with the other board, still moving quietly.

He then motioned for the girl to follow,"We do not have much time, can you stand?"

"If you'll help me..." Vtorym put her hands in those of her mysterious rescuer, and he helped pull her to her feet. The Senator's assistant lurched uneasily, and she felt grateful for the pillar of strength nearby, that was made of flesh and blood. Suddenly, her vison began to swim again, and she mewled, "Perhaps it would be best if you'd carry me over your shoulder. I don't think I could do ladders at this..." She hacked, preparing to throw up again, but nothing came out of her mouth. The ship spun and spun, and she felt herself being lifted. Thank the Force, which I can't use!

Keriz lifted the woman and placed her gently on his shoulder. He moved towards one of the nearby docking tubes, from there he could somehow navigate a way back to his ship.

But then an even brighter idea came to mind.

Escape pods.

He could control one of them into the hangar of his smaller ship.

Chances weren't the greatest, but that really didn't matter. He hoped that the Jedi over with the Rodian could handle herself, but she was providing a good distraction for the moment.

"If you are feeling dizzy, it might help to keep your eyes closed, looking around while spinning doesn't help much. We'll be back onto my ship not to long from now, and from there, your safety."

Keriz spotted one of the escape pod modules and moved quietly towards it.

Vtorym felt herself relax, closing her eyes and letting her head droop limply. How in the whole kriffing galaxy had she gotten herself into this predicament? She supposed it was only a part of the job, getting taken captive by slavers and held as a potential hostage or potential corpse! That didn't mean, however, that she would take her situation lying down--no pun intended. She would find her boss as soon as possible and tell him what she thought of him! Either that, or she would stay with her rescuer for a time, recovering and planning her next move. She and Senator Kinta hadn't seen eye-to-eye lately.

It all started with that Mandalorian-loving son-of-a-schutta Darth Caedus. If it had not been for him and his foolish cadre of Sith followers, Kinta would not have seen his opportunity to make a power play in the Galactic Senate after the war two years ago. If Kinta would not have seen his opportunity, then the Jedi Order would not have been dissolved and its adherents sent into exile. If the Jedi Order had not been dissolved, then Vtorym's employer would have found himself stuck in the same position in which he'd always been--minor-league, which was the way Vtorym liked it. However, that was not the way things had turned out. It was Kinta, as a matter of fact, who had come up with the GAMMA Initiative in the first place.

GAMMA stood for Galactic Antiterrorism Measures, Mandates and Acts, and according to 99% of the galactic population, it was exactly what they all needed right now. Hundreds of millions had been suspected, millions had been detained, thousands had been put on trial as war criminals, and hundreds had been sent to the electric cages. The others had been either put to hard labor or condemned to exile, as the Jedi had been. All in the span of two years! As for Vtorym, she had cautioned Kinta to maintain his centrist position, but he would have none of it. He would not have her resignation, either, seeing as how she knew potent state and galactic secrets that could endanger lives.

What were that Rodian and Twi'lek idiot thinking, holding her for ransom and intending to sell her as a common slave? They didn't know whom they held...

Keriz opened the door to the escape pod. He placed the woman carefully down on one of the seats of the pod. He made sure she was as comfortable as possible. Her eyes were closed, so he tried his best not to disturb her.

He closed the door and activated the pod, launching them into space. He took the controls and guided the ship carefully into the small holding hangar on his ship.

The pod docked perfectly into the small hangar, and it quickly pressurized, making it possible to walk outside. He opened the pod's door again, but paused. He looked at the girl again, making sure she was alright.

He put a hand on her shoulder and spoke in a calm voice.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but we've arrived on my ship, we are only a few hundred meters from the ship you were captive on. This is safe territory. Are you still dizzy? Any other wounds?"

Keriz, though quite rough by nature, could be quite caring at heart. He needed to make sure, though, that his guest was alright.

Sam'ker put on his armor. The blaster resistant material on the front was flexible enough for the possibilty of needing to use the Force. The blaster of choice was a design of his own. The Teklar Carbine had a black sheen to it, and the retractable stock was set at the right length.( its a star wars M4) Taylor Shan sat next to him, applying her leg plates. Their armor had a camouflage to it, and a stealth belt. Taylor kept her lightsaber in her sleeve, using it like a stilletto, a spring could push it out when needed. Which was, thankfully, never. Sam'ker kept his lightsaber in the same place, and he put a Westar-34 extensively modified pistol in his holster. He has a thing for Mandalorian tech. Fianlly they were ready for another day of Horrendously exciting... Guard duty.
" Don't worry, At least I get payed for it" Sam'ker muttered.

Feri was on the cantina when he heard the news on the holo vids. He was interested on what it was been said, but he did felt that they got what they deserve for doing what they did to the jedi's. Feri finished watching the news and went back to his ship, Feri has been dedicating to live from a nice farm he has on Dantooine, it has been some time since he has not visited the farm and after a few months he has decided to return and check how everything is going on.

"Ahh, Dantooine, calm place and nice wather, perfect place for a jedi"- Feri said as he entered his ship.

Draze notice an escape pod launch from the spinning ship. He had to stop watching the ship or he was going to lose his lunch, and he didn't like the idea of getting his newly acquired ship all dirty so soon. He sat there watching the escape pod fly into the hanger bay of another ship. A grin formed across Draze's face, maybe this could be an opportunity to make some new friends.

"Now where is that button to send messages." he searched the council in front of him. So many buttons so little time he thought to himself. Then he spotted it, almost missed it. He laughed at himself slightly thinking if it had been a dangerous animal he'd be dead by now.

He pressed down the button sending a secure message to the ship the escape pod landed in.

"Uhh... Hello? This is..." he broke off thinking if there was a bounty on his head would giving his real name be a wise choice. He shrugged and again figured he had no reason to be ashamed if there was, at least he was popular "This is Draze Hodrren. Is everything alright?"

He could feel the excitment build up inside him. Either he could go on his way peacefully, or he was going to have one hell of a space fight on his hand. Draze had one thing going for him however. In all his years of studying in the Jedi Academy he had always been a quick study.

Vtorym opened her eyes. "Yes, I'm all right...except for the terrible ache in my right temple..." She turned her head slightly to show Keriz the wound. It was dry and scabbing over, not lethal, but not quite a simple "bump on the head," either. "Thank you for getting me off of that stinking wreck of a ship, by the way. I thought that the slavers were mechanics that had come to the Senate garage to fix it, but I guess I thought wrong." She held out her hand. "Vtorym Rtasi, Senator Kinta's assistant."

Keriz nodded as he listened. He then suddenly realized that his gas mask was still on, sometimes he would forget to take it off while entering his ship, it had become sort've a habit.

He quickly undid the seals on the mask and took it off, taking a breath of fresh air that ultimately relieved him after the mission.

He then took her hand and gave it a firm shake.

"I am glad to meet you, Vtorym. It was my pleasure to get you off, nothing like a little excitement, eh. Anyway, this makes me think, why would those slavers want to take you hostage, I think there is probably more to this then just a want to get rich."

He took out a medical kit as he spoke, quickly applying a small bacta package to Vtorym's minor wound. This situation did intrigue him quite a bit.

Vtorym felt the healing solution sting a little on her wound, but she was glad for the antiseptic. There was no telling if being left on a dirty cot in the cargo hold of the Captain's Adventure had caused or would cause an infection. Slaves were never treated well in this galaxy, even in transport. As for why she herself was captured, Vtorym had three theories, all murky:

"First of all," she began, "the situation on Tatooine is becoming desperate. The rich, meaning the ones who have connections to the Galactic Senate or to Senate staff, are consuming all the water and resources on Anchorhead, leaving almost nothing for others. The poor, to keep warm at night, have taken to either kidnapping those who are poorer than they are or even sacrificing members of their own families as what are called semaxii-- living torches. Tatooine may be scorched by twin suns in the daytime, but when the suns set, temperatures can drop to great extremes below zero. You might think the poor would keep themselves warm with solar energy or electricity, but you have to pay for those on Tatooine. Such is life," she said.

"Another theory," suggested Vtorym, "is that the slavers were hirelings of one of Doran Kinta's many rivals. That's the theory I'm banking on for the present moment. Anyone who flies a starship, even one as decrepit and antiquated as the one I was on, has to have a decent amount of money already. My boss, one of the Cadre of Three, was one of the ones who demanded the dissolution of the Jedi Order. Many others are angry at Kinta for lesser things. I would not be surprised if the slavers were even thugs under a crime lord."

She smiled wryly. "Kinta is a hard-liner, but he sticks to the letter of the law. This brings me to my third theory, which is that the slavers had recently been released from prison, stolen their starship, and then kidnapped me after finding out my location through their connections on the 'inside'. Whatever their reasons, something tells me we haven't seen the last of those two, or their vessel. I suggest we--hold fast to one another, in case that happens."

Keriz nodded to Vtorym, for some reason he couldn't stop looking at her, he hoped that it didn't seem awkard, though.

"Yeah, those theories sound rather sound. You are also right on the stick together point, by saving you, I think whoever the enemy is has probably targeted me as well. So, until I get you to the place you need to go, we stick together. Perhaps we'll figure out more of this predicament later."

The bacta application was finished and her wound was now covered with the antiseptic.

"Do you still feel any aches? Any other wounds?" Keriz heard the distant beeping of his comm on the bridge, someone was trying to make contact.

"None that I can think of, save some bruises that will end up the size of a continent."

Vtorym winked, giving Keriz a look that said, What's that buzzing noise?

She sat back and relaxed, falling into a doze, which she needed badly...*good night!*

Keriz was slightly confused at Vtorum's wink at first, but he understood quickly and stood, walking out of the pod.

"Good night. If you need anything, give a shout."

Keriz walked to the bridge and activated the comm.

"I copy you Draze Hodrren. No, I think we have the situation handled, but there may be a problem on the freigher over here. I remember seeing a Jedi, she may need help, she's not on the best of terms with the crew. If you wished to handle that, then I suggest a rendenzous somewhere on-planet. Give me your traveling coordinates, and we'll meet there. We can have introductions later. If you decide to help the Jedi and need support, give me a call. I'll be here."

Keriz let out a slow breath and deactivated the comm, he then slumped into the command chair. He stared into space for a time, completely exhausted after handling a large mission on Tatooine, and now this one. He closed his eyes and decided to wait and rest until Draze's response.

After a while Draze received a response over the comm. He figured he wouldn't get a response right away since he contacted them as soon as the pod landed in the hold. But what he heard was certainly in its own way a surprise.

"I copy you Draze Hodrren. No, I think we have the situation handled, but there may be a problem on the freighter over here. I remember seeing a Jedi, she may need help, she's not on the best of terms with the crew. If you wished to handle that, then I suggest a rendezvous somewhere on-planet. Give me your traveling coordinates, and we'll meet there. We can have introductions later. If you decide to help the Jedi and need support, give me a call. I'll be here."

Another Jedi? all responsible part of him said to just let the other Jedi handle the situation on they're own he was sure they could handle it. But if it was some young padawan who hadn't completed their training then this could be a very bad situation. Draze sighed as he pushed down the button sending another message to the ship.

"Yea, I'll go take a look. Just to make sure the Jedi didn't become a nice wall patter on the ship interior. And I didn't really have a course, it's basically where ever I ended up. So if you have any idea's, just send the coordinates to my ship."

Draze leaned over the chair he was sitting in and pulled his bag into his lap. He reached his hand in pulling out his lightsaber, he had hopped he wouldn't need this again. But if that particular Jedi fell to the Dark Side, then he felt better safe then sorry.

He piloted his ship closer to the freighter and hacked into the systems computer. He got the loading ramp to extend and connect to his ship. Draze calmly walked out onto the loading ramp and onto the other vessel. He could hear sounds of combat not to far. He found the other Jedi on the bridge handling herself quite well.

"Well definitely not a Padawan." he mumbled to himself as he watched. He leaned against the door frame watching the Jedi fight. As he watched he faced his palm towards the ceiling hovering his lightsaber slightly above his hand in boredom.

Kerlaya thrust forward, distracting him. She then quickly connected her foot to the Rodian's chest, then pulled him as he went back. Then she knew what she had to do. Drawing her lightsaber skyward, she thrust it up, letting solar wind's sink into the atmosphere. Within second's she was pulled from the corridor, leaving the breach wide open. Her fighter moved to catch her, sealing the cockpit as she hit. "T3. Signal for that ship to follow us . . . both of them." T3 chimed as he programmed a message to the other ship's, requesting that they follow Kerlaya's course.

She quickly set the navi-computer to Dantooine, her ship being flung into hyperspace. The entire frame shook as she increased speed, trying to come out of hyperspace directly above her estate, just outside of the atmosphere. She succeeded and pulled her control's into the automatic slot, setting the autopilot to guide her ship into the hangar. As the fighter glided just in front of the hangar she jumped from her seat, landing at the cliff-edge just below the structure. With two small leap's she was next to the structure, her palm shielding her eye's from the sunlight.

Keriz's comm chimed again.

He awoke from his light sleep and activated it.

He had just recieved a message from...the freighter?

The Jedi, He thought.

He read the message quickly and began activating the hyperdrive and programmed a course to Dantooine. It seemed like a good idea, an area on the Outer Rim, little to no contact with the vaunted New Republic, maybe more so with the Second Rebellion, but Dantooine still had to be safe ground.

He then sent a copy of the message to Draze's ship, just in case he did not recieve one.

Keriz punched in the coordinates.

Before the freighter could jump into hyperspace Draze quickly ran back to his ship and jumped into the pilots seat. When he looked down at the council he had received messages from both ships giving him the coordinates to Dantooine. He smiled and laughed a little, thinking that they really wanted him to follow. He hoped if anything that he never met the other Jedi before, and if he has well then he hoped he didn't get a speech on the lure of the Dark Side. Last thing he wanted from anyone was a lecture.

He punched in the coordinates and jumped into to hyper space. He landed his ship in a field not to far from the freighter and the other vessel. Draze lowered the docking ramp and walked off the ship. The air was nice and refreshing. He knew he could enjoy this planet as long as nothing tried to kill him. He flung his bag containing his lightsaber over his shoulder and started walking.

He reached a structure with a woman standing next to it. Draze didn't really pay her much attention, if she was the one who sent the coordinates she'll ever make it known or ignore him all together. He sat down upon the ground leaning his back against the structure and placing his bag at his side. So far he rated the day as a pretty eventful day.

"Draze Hodrren I assume. So, your a Jedi also." Kerlaya turned her attention to her companion. "I am Kerlaya Honz, Jed Knight of the New Order, Sentinel and Veteran of Soresu, the Third Form." She offered him a bow, having replaced her robe's inside the fighter. "Welcome to my Estate and home. You are free to remain here as long as need be and if you wish to take up residence that would be fine." She would of spoke less formal, but realized that she would set a bad example to one that appeared to be a Jedi. Perhap's if she ever knew him better, she would speak as such. But not today.

The ship was in transit, maybe only five minutes out from the coordinates given.

Keriz considered waking Vtorym, but thought better of it, someone who'd been through what she had would definately want some rest. He'd wake her when they made it planetside.

Finally, the ship broke out of hyperspace above the green planet of Dantooine.

He took the controls and began piloting the ship towards the coordinates highlighted on his radar.

It only took a matter of minutes, and The Penetrator landed next to the other two ships assembled at what looked to be an estate.

Keriz sighed and stood, he looked around the area and then went to go wake up Vtorym.

Draze ran the Jedi name threw his mind, but nothing came to mind. He found it amusing that she was speaking to him so formally. Another who followed the code blindly with formality. Draze wasn't really one for formality, in fact he'd rather let people see who he really was instead of the image is was forced to portray.

"Yea, that be me. Formally a Jedi Knight Guardian. But now I'm just me doing what ever I can to survive."

He looked around the estate for a moment, the place was big enough and appeared to be out of the way of any major city or town. The place got classified as boring and uneventful in his mind.

"By the way nice place you got here" he said while knocking on the side of the building.

Feri arrived Dantooine approximately half and hour, he was working on his ship with his R3 unit when he saw this ship arrive, he sensed something akward.

"Hmmm, I sense something strange heading this way."- Feri thought saying it loud. Feri knew that Dantooine can be a pretty bad place for a Jedi, since they are not suppost to be on Republic space so he decided to hide his lightsaber on his ship, The Akareos, "R3 here,take my lightsaber and place it on the secret compartment."- Feri ordered the robot as he answered with beeping sounds. "Let us hope nothing bad happens"-Feri said.

She noticed the other ship land, the one carrying the Human. The sound of a door opening caught her gaze, as R2 emerged from the garage main door, a speeder bike in tow. She nodded thankfully and climbed on. "You can make full use of the facilities here as need request's. I will be back within the hour, if you need anything just ask HK." Kerlaya nodded toward's the Silver Plated Droid and then zipped off the cliff edge, speeding eastward's. She was still within view when another speeder bike emerged from the foliage. The rider manouevered toward's her, with an obvious purpose. He quickly rammed her side, trying to force her into a tree. She moved left with the push, dodging the tree with ease. The other rider did not relent, drawing out a vibrospear as he moved in for a second strike. She retaliated in kind, drawing her lightsaber and igniting it through the plasma generator's on the side of her bike. She then rammed the exposed the generator to the other rider's leg' stunning him momentarly. The shift of focus caused him to narrowly miss a tree stump. She immediately flew up and reversed direction, heading back into view of the estate.

The other rider dissappeared momentarily, only to return with two other Hunter's. One was equipped with a vibroblade, the other a steel whip. The original Hunter thrust the spear into the back of Kerlaya's speeder and came close to inflicting injury upon Kerlaya herself. She quickly moved upside down, slashing at the underside of his speeder. Within second's the bike overheated, blasting the rider and catapulting him into a tree. She then span and grabbed a tree, rotating her bike as to come at the other's from the side. She directly smashed into the side of one of the Hunter's, his vibroblade slashing at her. The other jumped from her mount, bringing her whip to bear against the Jedi.

Meanwhilst a Sniper sat in the foliage adjacent to the hangar, his beam rifle steadied as he slowed his breath's. The beam now sat over Kerlaya's head, as he waited with purpose.

Back in the forest edge the Kerlaya struggled against the survivor's. Within second's she had destroyed the whip, it's petty design having little against a lightsaber. The Rider herself had now drew a pistol, trying to stun her as she fought with the main Hunter. He quickly took a swipe at his leg, throwing him off balance. She drew off his hood to reveal another Droid and she had no qualm's with burying her blade in it's chest. The female kept up her salvo, trying to catch Kerlaya off guard. She had picked the wrong weapon, as Soresu was a formidable defense against a blaster. Then a beam erupted into her leg, fired by the Sniper. Kerlaya dropped her lightsaber and fell to her knee's, her leg contorted in an obvious display at agony. The Hunter on the ground quickly drew out an energy net, throwing it over Kerlaya as she tried to heal the wound. At first she had success, but the net seemed to prevent her abilities.

The smell of Yslamari gave the game away, as they were known to project force immune sphere's. The net seemed to be made out of cortosis weave and coated in a Yslamari product. The Hunter quickly unleashed a salvo of blaster fire into Kerlaya's back, causing her to black out. She smiled triumphantly, having gained a valuable prize. She quickly brought out a holo-projector and a cloaked figure emerged from the disc.

The figurestared at her from under his hood, the darkness enshrowding him being no natural product. "Do you have her?" The Hunter nodded. "Unfortunately we lost--" The hooded figure hissed in spite. "I care little for your 'friends' death. Just make sure the cargo arrive's intact and unspoiled . . . so I may have the pleasure of destroying her myself." The figure spoke with such venom, such evil. The Hunter deactivated the holo-projector, disturbed by her client's word's. She looked nervously at the Jedi, wondering if she was simply feigning her state. The net was supplied by her 'client' so she had no idea as to what properties it possessed. She expected poison, but then realised that her client truly wanted this one alive and well.

She switched her blaster back to stun and took another shot at the fallen Jedi, reassuring herself that she was rendered incapacitated. She nodded to the Sniper, who remained hidden in the foliage. After securing her prize to the land speeder stashed nearby, she at last wondered what her client wanted this one for. To offer such a high price, she must be valuable . . .

The Hunter then experienced a strange feeling of danger and looked to see the Sniper aiming at Kerlaya's head. The comm buzzed to life. "Now I shall have vengeance . . ."

The female Hunter's comm chip malfunctioned, killing her instantly as it unleashed violet ray's across her body. Kerlaya opened her eye's slowly, to recognise the Sniper as the Hunter she had let go free earlier. "Draze . . ."

Kerlaya closed her eye's, trying to warn Draze about the Hunter, telling him to save himself and the other's by leaving, fast. She gave in to the strain of her effort's and allowed darkness to claim her.

Vtorym awoke on a strange vessel and a strange planet, redolent with the scent of fresh air and a hint of bantha dung. Where am I? she thought, rubbing her eyes. She brushed down her wrinkled bodysuit and sniffed under her arms daintily--it had been at least a day, maybe two, since she had a decent bodyscrub in the refreshers. Shrugging her shoulders and feeling a tautness in them, she clambered out of Keriz' vessel and saw him standing with a group of others, Jedi included.

Oh, no! thought the First Assistant to Senator Doran Kinta. [I]If my boss ever finds out I'm here, that would be bad enough, but I can't be seen associating with galactic terrorists! The Jedi were sent into exile for good reason, because as we all know through our thrilling interactions with Darth Caedus, he was once a Jedi, too. Vtorym debated whether or not to go back inside the ship, but she decided against it. She would wander off somewhere and call Senator Kinta on the comlink, and have him arrange a transport for her back to Coruscant. Too late--someone spotted her!

Draze sat there with his eyes closed until he felt a disturbance. Slowly he stood up shaking his head. He reached his hand into his bag and pulled out his lightsaber. He turned around to face the HK unit Kerlaya had left behind. Silver plated nothing to fancy but right now he wasn't going to be to picky.

"Well" Draze said to the HK unit "It appears your master has gotten herself into quite a perdicumint. Don't suppose there is another speeder bike laying around some where?"

"Certainly." the HK unit responded and headed into a near by garage pulling out a speeder bike.

Draze quickly forced jumped onto the speeder bike and started it. He shouted so that anyone else in ear shot could hear "Get back on the ship it will be safer there."

With saying that Draze headed to the forest following Kerlaya presence. She was still alive but something was different. He wasn't one to leave people behind, he learned that lesson once and he really didn't feel like learning that again. When Draze arrived it appeared as if Kerlaya was laying on the ground unconscious from appearance surrounded by dead droids and hunters.

Draze put a hand on Kerlaya's shoulder and shook her gently "Hey, this isn't a place for beauty sleep. Wake up, come on."

He could sense another presence near by but he wasn't going to show that he knew to who ever was watching. One thing Draze knew about himself, other always underestimated him.

Vtorym looked around the expansive landscape of Dantooine, impressed by its beauty and serenity in the midst of the utter chaos that was her life right now. She reached into the pocket of her bodysuit uniform and found her comlink, but unfortunately, all of her present ordeals had damaged it beyond repair. She sighed regretfully, kicking herself for not buying the most advanced model from CommuniTech. Senators' assistants were supposed to have good comlinks, and hers was, although it had not stood up to being assaulted, kidnapped, thrown around a spinning ship, and being rescued thereafter.

She spotted Keriz a few feet ahead. "Would you care to introduce me to your friends?"

Keriz watched the scene in front of him, trying his best to analyze whatever happened to the Jedi.

He heard Vtorym from behind, and he looked back and smiled.

"Ahh, it is good to see you up and about. To be honest, I do not know these people, and the situation has probably not approved for them. But my guess is that the man over there..." Keriz pointed to the man who was standing over the Jedi, "..is Draze Hodrren. Might as well introduce ourselves."

He began walking towards Draze and motioned for Vtorym to follow.

Vtorym followed Keriz toward the man he called "Draze", or more specifically, the Jedi he called Draze. Technically, she was supposed to report sightings of all Jedi to her employer in the Galactic Senate, to monitor their exile and make sure that the Knights would not regroup and re-establish the Order. If her comlink had not been destroyed through its maltreatment, and if the Jedi had not helped to rescue her, the Senator's assistant would have done so immediately. However, she held off on doing so and asking Keriz to return her to Coruscant. The Jedi had saved her life, after all, or at least saved her from a life of slavery. She wondered how her two alien captors were doing now...

"Keriz?" she asked. "Erm, Draze? My name is Vtorym Rtasi, and as you've probably heard on all the holovids from here to the Unknown Regions, I'm the First Assistant to Galactic Senator Doran Kinta. I'm sure you're quite...familiar with him." She smiled wryly, sure that Draze, being a Jedi, would not find that "joke" very funny. "Some slavers got it into their ferrocrete skulls that it would be a good idea to kidnap me and try to hold me for ransom. If Senator Kinta, my boss, didn't come up with five million credits in a hurry, then they'd sell me on the black market as a slave on Tatooine. That's my story. What's yours?" she asked, to Keriz as well as to Draze, "other than you've had more than your share of adventure over the past twenty-four hours?" She smiled.

Keriz sighed, "Well, I don't have much to tell...I'm a part-time smuggler, full-time mercenary. I was handling a rather interesting mission on Tattooine, and after finishing it, I heard about your predicament, and since you were near, I decided to help the galactic community."

Keriz went into a quieter tone,"Also, would it be alright if you did not inform your superiors that I helped you, I'm not on the best of terms with them, and they would reprimand you severly for letting me get away."

Keriz let out a breath and looked back down at the Jedi, the one on the ground.

"So, what happened to her?"

"I don't know," Vtorym said, "but if she was the Jedi who tried to help me escape from the Captain's Adventure, then she got in a fight with my captors and five hostile assassin droids wielding flamethrowers. I'm not surprised that she's on the ground," mused the Senator's assistant. She made a quick survey of the woman's body--light hair, closed eyes, standard white and brown Jedi robes. She sensed a calm, healing energy within her.

Keriz shook his head,"Hmpf. I wonder why these assassins came, and who sent them."

His military instinct kicked in.

"We should not be standing in the middle of a field like this. Find cover and stay there, I'm sure there may be more of these assassins. If they think we are friends of this Jedi, they will definately fire upon as well."

Keriz broke into a crouch, wielding his rifle, and thne he moved into the tall grass, putting on his gas mask as he moved.

Draze stayed bent down by Kerlaya,trying to get an exact position of the sniper who was watching them. It was difficult it felt like something was blocking his senses. Momentarily his sight was brought to the Senators assistant and he formed a grin. His first thought had to be getting these two to safety. Since the exile Draze hadn't been one for following the Jedi code to the exact letter but he would make an exception this time. Draze moved closer to the mercenary and whispered in his ear, making sure no one else could here what he had to say.

"Take our assistant friend back to the building not to far form here" Draze points to the speeder bike he used to get here "use that thing. It will be the only building you'll see. There should be a silver HK unit standing on the property. There is danger here, I sense it."

Draze crouched back over to Kerlaya and started to pick her up over his shoulder. Staying here meant more killing, and he had a better chance of protecting everyone in the little house that Kerlaya seemed to have created for herself. At least as this moment thats what he was hoping for.

Keriz nodded, he then checked the clip on his blaster rifle and slung it over his shoulder.

He moved towards Vtorym.

He put a hand on her shoulder and made eye contact, he then twitched his head in the direction of the small house, sort've saying, "Follow me."

He began moving through the grass towards the house.

Vtorym followed Keriz, her heart starting to race again. She thought that she heard the word "assassins" whispered on the breeze of Dantooine. If they were after the Jedi, either Draze or the mysterious woman who was lying supine in the grass, that meant only one thing: trouble. She had thought that since all the members of the Order had been sent into exile, the problems with annoying bounty hunters and assassins would stop for good. Since this was clearly not the case, she began to realize that perhaps the plans of the Cadre of Three were misguided, if not outright wrongheaded.

Still, with the Jedi scattered to the four winds, there had been no Sith attack since the war with Darth Caedus. This would make sense--if there were no centralized galactic target for the Sith, if that threat had been eliminated or at least mitigated through mass exile, then what would the Sith want with everyone else who wasn't a Jedi? More corpses? Even the Sith weren't that stupid. Darth Caedus had chosen his followers--and his servants--well.

She followed Keriz inside the safe house, wondering about their next move.

Feri sense the danger around, he went running to his ship to get his lightsaber and went straight to the field, he kept his lightsaber inside his cloth where it could not be seen and he took his blaster out. He saw at the distant two persons, he kept his distance as he saw the people. “hmm there’s something wrong here” Feri thought “ I will keep my eye on dose two.” He saw as they went to a near house and entered.

Keriz bashed out a window with his rifle, he then took cover under it.

He steadied his breathing, and checked the surroundings, scouting out any alternate entrances and escape roots.

Something came to his mind.

He unzipped a small pouch on his shoulder, taking out a small metal piece. He then did the same with a pouch on his knee, arm, leg, back, and neck. He snapped all of the pieces together, and just like that, he had a blaster. He was immediatley thankful for his creative mind. He took out a clip of ammunition and loaded it.

He looked to Vtorym, "Here...catch."

He made sure the safety was on, and he tossed the small blaster.

"You'll need a weapon."

He scrunched down under the window, breathing slowly and waiting.

Draze kept Kerlaya proped up against him in the tall grass continuing his search for the sniper who was still in hiding as well. If she was his target he wasn't about to leave her alone. He knew that shacking her would be a bad idea, with the tall grass it would give away they're position. He started to think of what he could do, whats the one thing a Jedi Female would hate most. He laughed slightly at himself, he had trouble understanding regular women let alone one sensitive in the force.

"Kerlaya, ohhh Kerlaya" he whispered softly in her ear "It's time to get up. We have training to do. Your master wishes to see you."

He hoped that she'd be one to respond to a Jedi Masters summons since she was so formal with him earlier. This whole situation was nerve racking, the Jedi were in exile and being hunted. Did the senator higher bounty hunters to try to take out the Jedi? or was this the Sith doing?

Draze wanted answers and so far his only source for those answers waited for him back inside Kerlaya's house. If this was the senators doing he had lost his mind completely, trying to destroy the one thing that could defend the galaxy from destruction.