"Alright, I'll leave her alone" Psycho replied as he took a step with his bad leg.

Pain shot up through his leg and he almost fell back down. He pulled out a needle and injected himself with it. It contained a very small amount of Gen'Dai blood in it, a little something he stole from the Ithorian merchant back on Nar Shadaa. The Gen'Dai blood combined with Pyscho's bone tissue cells and re grew the knee back.

"Its good to make new friends, isn't it Mr...?"

"Its good to make new friends, isn't it Mr...?"

"Gelvik...Gelvik Verokin."

The Mandalorian found it slightly strange that Pyscho was trusting so quickly..but perhaps that was for the best. If they were going to bring him along on the mission, trusting eachother would be the first thing to do.

"Well, we've got to get moving.."

"Well, we've got to get moving.."

Psycho nodded in agreement and began walking back to Bastila's office.

"Hey you know what's fun to do, annoy ol brighteyes. Just walk in their like you own the place and bug her as much as possible. After all you are helping her. You know what else, we need a name for ur team up. I was thing the Psycholorians."

Psycho let that sink in as he kept walking to the office. His leg was feeling much better and he was happy. He opened the door to Bastila's office with a wide grin hiding under his helmet.

"Brighteyes I'm back! they were all out of your favorite flowers so I didn't bring any back."

Bastila's eyes were filled with thoughts of murder. Not only had Agent One returned, but he and the Mandalorian seemed to have teamed up. This was not good news. In fact, this was the worst news that the Grand Master of the Jedi Order had heard all week. She turned to Chandria, wanting to reach out and squeeze someone's throat until their neck snapped and they bled out the mouth. Nevertheless, all she did was smile wryly and tell her TSF spy:

"Chandria? This is Agent One, who is also on the trail of the Jedi Exile suspect. Agent One? This is Chandria Par Sakhar, TSF officer and one of my acolytes. She is not officially a member of our Order, but if she succeeds in capturing the murderer of two of our other spies, she will duly bypass the Padawan designation and become a Jedi Knight." Chandria stared at Psycho, but she did not bow. The aura surrounding him was of one essence: evil.

She--Chandria, that is--wanted to choke the criminal scum in the same manner in which Bastila wanted to choke someone else. Nevertheless, she restrained herself. She was a true Jedi, unlike the Grand Master, and she would not kill this fellow bounty hunter of hers. "Hello," she said icily. "My name is Chandria Par Sakhar, TSF Officer and Jedi Special Operative. I do not trust you. If you're going to hunt the Exile, fine, but you're going to have to do it without my help. May the best bounty hunter win. I hope you lose."

She almost spat on the ground again. "You don't deserve two million credits."

*******************

"Juhani?" Tysyacha Dvyx knew that the Ebon Hawk would land on Ord Mantell very shortly. All the same, she wanted to get a couple of hours of training in before they arrived on its surface. "Please give me a crash course on the techniques you know. At least enough for me to make full use of my Stealth Generator belt before we go after the crime lord with the UMBRA."

"Please give me a crash course on the techniques you know. At least enough for me to make full use of my Stealth Generator belt before we go after the crime lord with the UMBRA."

She shook her head in mock despair. "Why didn't you pay attention the last two times I talked to you about it?"

"Now..."I want you to surround yourself in the force. Let it cloak your presence...hide your presence. This is an important step of the process, it will make it easier to actually cloak yourself when the times comes to learn it."

Outside the Citadel

Jolee tracked their position through the force as best he could. He was old and it was much easier then for him then some of the younger jedi.

Now lets see here...Either they're heading for Nar Shaddaa or Ord Mantell...Hmmm...Mantell seems to be the most logical destination, what with the smugger's moon crawling with Bounty Hunters.

He entered the coordinates and watched as the stars turned to lines in front of him. He leaned back in his chair and grimanced.

Damn chairs.

"You don't deserve two million credits."

Gelvik had seen the short conversation between Psycho and Chandria, and her cold response had even stopped the Mandalorian in his boots.

She was obviously wanting the advancement to Knight pretty badly. He couldn't blame her, the title of Knight sounded very prestigous, but hopefully ambition wouldn't cloud her judgement. He'd already seen such things happen often in the Mandalorian military. None of them ended very well.

Gelvik simply waited by the side, not entirely knowing what he was going to do, or what would happen next. The situation already seemed tense, but at least Bastila wasn't paying any specific attention as to what had happened earlier. He hoped that they wouldn't encounter any more problems with Bastila, he'd had enough of the Jedi already.

Tysyacha slapped herself on the forehead again. She remembered a time when her teacher of shakhmaty first tried to help her master the basics. "Move your rook. No, your rook," he'd said when she promptly moved her knight.

"Gad! Sorry!" She shook her head rapidly to clear it and then closed her eyes. Think of Kreia. Think of all she meant to you. Think of the lie, the hoax, she helped to expose without cutting down a single enemy with blaster fire. She taught you that life is possible without the Force, so make it absent in you...

The Exile "blanked out" inside the Force, retreating inside the hole, the wound, she still possessed even after all these years. Would Juhani be satisfied?

"Gad! Sorry!"

Juhani watched the celling as the exile seemed to blink out of existance for a few moments before returning. Juhani could barely sense her but she could sense her nontheless.

"You carry a wound. You can't retreat inside that wound. You need to blanket yourself with the force, let it cover you and hide your presence. When you retreat inside the wound I can still sense you slightly. Imagine if you tried that with Bastila aroud. She would pick it up in an instant. Now...let the force hide your presence instead of retreating inside the wound."

Kriff. Tysyacha tried again, calling the Force to surround her. What had Juhani learned--what did she know--that the Exile herself had not realized yet? It had something to do with the Force, something with fear, something with what Kreia had taught her, and yes, something even to do with her favorite game. Nevertheless, she could not do it. She could sense herself, and if she could sense herself, she knew that the Cathar could sense her. I will not cry. I am strong. I will not be weak, not this time, or the hunters will catch me...

Gelvik took a step forward and confronted Bastila.

"So...what is it that you need done...capturing the Exile? Or do you have any ulterior motives?"

The question had popped in his head, and he felt a need to get it into the open.

For some reason, Bastila seemed corrupt, and if she was, then everyone needed to know. A corrupt Jedi was dangerous.

Juhani blinked in suprise as the presence of the exile suddenly blinked out. "That's it! I don't know how you did it so quickly but you managed to mask your presence in the force."

"Now...if you wish to take a quick rest you should. This next part is very difficult and it just keeps getting harder as we go along."

Bastila's eyes turned to stones as cold as those of Malachor V, which had been torn asunder. "My only motivation is to capture the Exile, bounty hunter. After all, she slew two of our other spies who were trying to infiltrate the Exchange's operation on the planet of Eriadu. Garrun Thax, a human male, and Yorran Thul, a Rodian, are dead. They were struck down by a lightsaber--Tysyacha Dvyx's. All I want is justice. That's why Chandria hired you, and why I heartily approve of her choice. I only wish you just as heartily approved of me and the Order."

She folded her hands on the desk in front of her, not saying another word.

"My only motivation is to capture the Exile, bounty hunter. After all, she slew two of our other spies who were trying to infiltrate the Exchange's operation on the planet of Eriadu. Garrun Thax, a human male, and Yorran Thul, a Rodian, are dead. They were struck down by a lightsaber--Tysyacha Dvyx's. All I want is justice. That's why Chandria hired you, and why I heartily approve of her choice. I only wish you just as heartily approved of me and the Order."

Gelvik nodded and chuckled, "I'm Mandalorian, we're naturally suspicious of people like you, Master Jedi...well unless you earn our trust..."

He glanced at Chandria, "Anyway...we need to start collecting leads and finding contacts if we're going to find the Exile. She's already moved extremely fast as it is, and it sounds like you want her captured as soon as possible, so as to avoid any more...accidents."

He looked at Pyscho, "This man will come along...as much as I would dislike to...he'll come in use. I also request that Chandria come along, she'd be incredibly useful with her forensic ability."

Chandria almost became violently ill. Being on the same ship with that--thing... Nevertheless, she nodded. "May I accompany them, Master Shan?"

Bastila sighed, her expression weary yet untrusting. "You may. You'd certainly do more good out in the open and on the actual trail of the Exile than you would being stuck here on Telos in your office. However, I must warn you, Agent One, that if you harm her, you will be executed immediately--either by the Mandalorian, by Chandria herself, or by me via the Force. Understood?"

*******************

Tysyacha meditated for a good twenty minutes and then opened her eyes. "I'm here," she said to warn Juhani, for she had done the cloaking technique while she meditated--just to practice her skills, of course. "What's the next lesson?"

"What's the next lesson?"

Juhani cloaked herself in the force and then moved behind the exile and let the cloak fade around her. "Now you are going to learn how to bend the lightwaves around you to render you invisible. This stage of the teaching will be taught in three steps."

Juhani sat down next to her and cloaked herself in the force. "The first step is to bend the lightwaves when sitting still. This will be quite difficult for you but it is the easiest of the three steps."

"Now concentrate...and bend them. Try and bend all the light that is directed toward you...and then use to the force to mask your presence."

"You may. You'd certainly do more good out in the open and on the actual trail of the Exile than you would being stuck here on Telos in your office. However, I must warn you, Agent One, that if you harm her, you will be executed immediately--either by the Mandalorian, by Chandria herself, or by me via the Force. Understood?"

"Oh..I'm sure he understands that...it seems we all want to kill him."

He motioned for Chandria to follow.

"Time is of the essence....we'll leave immediately...for where...I'll figure that out."

After some persuasion and exchanging of credits from hand to hand, Sam'kil made it to Carths apartment.
Hope this works better than with Bastila.
"Carth, hello my good old friend, hows it been?" Sam'kil said, stepping in and greeting the old Republic Pilot.
" And who are... Sam'kil?" Carth said. Sam'kil had made no attempt to hide himself or cloak his Identity, Carth would react better than Bastila.
" Hey, nice to se you again after, what? Ten years? I've lost count after 8." Sam'kil said, laughing heartily.
"Listen, before we get reaqcainted, I'm not here for that. I'm searching for the 'Exile', Tysyacha. You know her. Have you seen her recently?" Sam'kil implored, hoping to get a good answer.
"No, I haven't seen her, but her ship, the Ebon Hawk, albeit with new transponder codes, it arrived not long ago." Carth said.
"Thats great, real great pal." Sam'kil said, grinning with the biggest smile he'd ever given.
"She's not here now, however. No, she left for a general direction of elsewhere a while back. Sorry." Carth finished.
Sam'kil swore. Oh well, I've some time to kill.So they got reacquainted, and a few hours later, Sam'kil was meditating , searching the force for a sign of Tysy.

Drayden had fallen asleep again, and awoke startled. Something was going on, obviously, because his strange feeling was coming back, only this time very strongly.

In fact, two things were going on.

Through a connection of some sort that he did not understand, he felt the presence of the hole he had seen in his dream...he did not know how to explain it. Only that they were definitely one and the same. A hole, not in space, but in the fabric of the universe...unknown to Drayden as the Force. The wound in space was only there for a few moments, however, and then it was gone, just as quickly as it had come.

And back in the physical realm, Drayden's ship was now beeping because it had just detected a ship traveling through hyperspace near his location. It seems he had precognition to notice it in advance, but that still didn't give him any time to do something about it.

So he slipped into hyperspace just as he tracked the ship being ahead of him, and began to follow it. He did not know whether the ship could detect his or not, but it did not matter.

Drayden had the strange feeling about this ship, too.

This is just too much for one day.

((I was intending the ship to be Jolee's.))

"Ord Mantell." Tysy wrinkled her nose. "One big, reeking junkyard." The Ebon Hawk landed unceremoniously at the main spaceport, unnoticed by the cantankerous and mean-spirited crowd. "Let's hope we find this crime lord quickly. Otherwise, I think we'd better head for Nal Hutta--even it smells better than this place." Breathing deeply, using the technique she learned from Kreia, the Exile turned her stealth generator belt on. "Ready to move out, Juhani? Niera?" She noticed T3-M4 and HK-47 suddenly come up to the cockpit.

"Query: Are you planning on departing the vessel again, Master?"

"Yes, HK. Please guard the ship with T3. We don't want any more thieves."

"Resignation: Very well, Master, though I do suspect you need my help."

Tysyacha highly doubted that. She waited for the Twi'lek and the Cathar.

(@Tysy: I think you're thinking of Raxus Prime, which actually is a junkyard planet. I don't think Ord Mantell is. Also, how are we going to handle the Twi'lek crime lord?)

"I'm ready." Niera replied, activating her stealth generator and stepping out. Though Tysyacha had instructed her to keep her metal bikini in her pack until they reached the crime lord's base of operations, but in truth, while Tysy and the Cathar were sparring, she had put it on under her clothes to save later. It was uncomfortable, but worth it. And of course, she had to put on a different top which showed considerably less cleavage, and she hoped they wouldn't notice.

((Stop following me :xp:))

Juhani slowly stepped out into the smelly air of the planet Ord Mantell. This places smells worse then Nar Shaddaa ever did.

She turned toward the sky and narrowed her eyes. "I do hope that Crimelord is here. Although I don't understand how he could take the particular stench of this planet."

She looked with distaste toward the entrance. "Lets go. And try to be quick about this."

Above Ord Mantell

Jolee could sense the force presence of the one who was pursuing him and he didn't like it.

"Damn the...I guess you could call it tracking strategies of the young." he muttered under his breath as he brought the ship back into hyperspace nearly ten seconds after he had brought it out.

Sorry Kid, I'm being followed. Looks like I won't be able to help you after all. he sent the message through the force.

"My name is Chandria Par Sakhar, TSF Officer and Jedi Special Operative. I do not trust you. If you're going to hunt the Exile, fine, but you're going to have to do it without my help. May the best bounty hunter win. I hope you lose."

"You broke all of my defenses there Chandria, I guess its why the 'truth' hurts." Psycho shot back implying he had overheard her without letting Bastila catch on.

"You don't deserve two million credits."

"You know, if I had a credit for every TSF officer I killed I'd already have two million credits," he shot back again.

"However, I must warn you, Agent One, that if you harm her, you will be executed immediately--either by the Mandalorian, by Chandria herself, or by me via the Force. Understood?"

"Of course Master Shan, track her down and bring her back as if I had just found her."

Psycho followed after his new "friend" Gelvik.

"So what's the plan for the Psycholorians Gelvik?"

"So what's the plan for the Psycholorians Gelvik?"

"If you are going to name a team, give it a better name."

Gelvik turned to leave Bastila's office.

"I'll be completely honest...I don't know where...we don't have any contacts...perhaps the Criminal Underworld may have some things to say, but I don't know, we'll see."

He began walking towards the Space Port.

"There's enough for 3 on the Basalisk, but it'll be cramped. So you and Chandria can't kill eachother until the mission is done..."

"There's enough for 3 on the Basalisk, but it'll be cramped. So you and Chandria can't kill eachother until the mission is done..."

Pyscho shot Chandria a quick glance and laughed.

"Don't worry Gelvik, by the end of the day we'll all be the bestest of friends!" he said as he put his arms around both of them.

"That reminds me, I gotta get my stuff. I call shotgun!" Pyscho yelled as he ran back to the ship he landed with.

Pyscho took a look around the ship deciding what he should and shouldn't bring. It didn't take him long before he decided he needed all his weapons. Pyscho put them in a crate and took off back towards the Basalisk. It was still there which was a good sign for him. He walked up the ramp and placed the crate somewhere. He then looked in and out of the ship until he found Gelvik.

"I know what we should do, maybe Chandria can locate the Exile through the force. That'll save us some time and some broken skulls."

Drayden smiled as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. Suddenly the strange feeling came back. He almost felt like he heard a voice, but it was unintelligible.

I must still be half-asleep.

Luckily, however, the strong presence of the other ship and the vector of the ship gave Drayden all of the knowledge he needed. Because now, as he continued on his course to Ord Mantell, he felt certain that he would find something there.

While, of course, he could be out of his mind, something else spurred him on. Perhaps it was his indomitable will--or perhaps it was the Force. But, he didn't know anything about that, and so he continued on in ignorance towards the planet. There was no sign of the ship he had been following behind him. He had a pretty good head-start already, he figured.

*****

It was going to be some time before Drayden arrived at the planet, and he had spent the last half hour arguing with himself half-asleep. Finally, as he began to notice that he was nearing the planet, his mood broke.

Within the darkness of his heart he searched space once more, as he had done before, looking for something....He was not quite sure what. But no, there was nothing there, just an endless void. It made him comfortable and yet sad at the same time.

He had spent his entire life so far getting by on doing the lowest possible crimes he could do. All this time, he had had so many mixed emotions about it, but there didn't appear to be a way out. But he just wanted to run away from his problems, and away from the bad feelings he'd experienced. He wanted to have control.

And was that so wrong?

He was about to argue with himself....But wait, there it was. A very faint presence. There was no strange feeling in him this time. No, this time there was a very empty feeling. Like a hole, a wound. It made no sense.

And there before him, as the ship dropped out of hyperspace and activated the sublight engines, was Ord Mantell. But, with Drayden's eyes closed, all he could see when he looked at the planet was a black hole.

He did not know why, but he was drawn to it. Possibly he didn't even have a choice of whether he could avoid it or not. But, whether anyone else saw it or not, Drayden felt something on this planet that he could only guess was because they were similar. He was empty, and here he found another emptiness....

While the Force can conceal you from others like you, what of the emptiness left behind? Is it possible to conceal that as well?

Chandria Par Sakhar rolled her eyes, and then closed them. She reached out through the Force, and she felt...nothing. Nothing at all. It was as if in all the hundreds of billions of light years across the galaxy, the Exile had died, or more fittingly, she had not even existed. That wasn't true. It could not be right. Tysyacha Dvyx, suspect in the murder of two Jedi Special Operatives, was still alive and well. It was no Force Ghost that had piloted the Ebon Hawk away from Telos and into hyperspace! Thus, the Exile had to be out there somewhere, whether one TSF officer/spy could sense her or not. It was a matter of--Wait. What was that emptiness, distant and subtle, so close and yet so far away? It was like a hole in the Force: a black hole.

"Just a minute," she said to Gelvik and Psycho. "There's something there...or rather, something's not there. Ord Mantell. I think that's where it is. Since when has the middle of that planet been a gigantic Force anomaly?"

******************

Tysyacha had the gift of Force Sight. It allowed her to see through normally-opaque objects and obstacles to the goal ahead, and it also allowed her to sense the auras of those around her, whether light, neutral or dark. She gazed at herself as she snuck through the spaceport of Ord Mantell and out into the open. Soft blue light, but barely on the edge of neutrality. She looked at Juhani. Pure azure radiance came from her--the aura of a true Jedi, a true servant of the Force despite her claim she had 'been done with the law long ago'. No matter what Juhani herself said, she had a real hero's heart.

As for Niera...Niera was an entirely different story altogether. She was silver, neutral, just as Kreia had been, but without that ominous undercurrent of hidden motives and cryptic remarks. Unfortunately, Tysyacha had picked exactly the wrong moment to gaze at her through Force Sight. She saw what Niera was wearing underneath her modest smuggler's eather uniform and blushed to the roots of her hair. A silver metal bikini, barely covering the bare essentials of the female anatomy--if that. Surely the crime lord with the UMBRA device would be distracted by such a lovely Twi'lek wearing such a lovely--Gah! Concentrate! Focus, Tysyacha, you barve!

"Sorry, Niera!" she said, almost stumbling into the azure form of the figure nearest her. "These Stealth Generators--uh--they make it hard to see the people in front of you when they themselves are also cloaked in shadow."

Would Niera "buy it"? Tysyacha hoped so. Otherwise, she was in trouble.

***************************

Bastila Shan hated crime. She hated theft; she hated murder; she hated rape and robbery and prostitution. Most of all, she hated the motivation that certain people had to commit crime. Once the Order was made perfect, then the galaxy could be made perfect as well. And, how could the Order be made perfect? By making the Jedi the instruments of delivering justice, not just of mediation and contemplation. A passive role did not suit them at all. The Jedi were meant to be heroes--warriors--but warriors of righteousness.

It was why Grand Master Shan had created her finest mechanical device.

The TIK was grand. In fact, it was more than grand--it was absolutely perfect. People deserved to die for their crimes, especially if their crimes were violent. Just like the ancients said 'transgression is transgression,' Bastila knew that crime was crime was crime. There was no real difference between a thief, a killer, an embezzler, and a lady of the evening. They had all broken the law, and they would all be made to pay the price for it. Thus, Bastila's first prisoner to undergo the TIK would be a violent criminal. Then she could move toward dispatching lesser scum as examples to the people.

She smiled. TIK represented the three Jedi Sentinel's principles of tracking:

Trap. Immobilize. Kill.

"There's something there...or rather, something's not there. Ord Mantell. I think that's where it is. Since when has the middle of that planet been a gigantic Force anomaly?"

Gelvik nodded and pounded his fist on his hand.

"Then that is where we'll start!"

He started walking up the ramp, "Right now, I am extremely thankful for the force...it just saved us an unknown amount of man-hours that could've cost the hunt...excellent work, Chandria."

He sat down in the Basalisk's pilot seat and began activating the ship.

"These Stealth Generators--uh--they make it hard to see the people in front of you when they themselves are also cloaked in shadow."

Juhani's eyes narrowed momentarily and she felt a surge of jelousy and protectivness flare up before she managed to shove it back down into her mind.

She cast a sideways glance at the Twi'lek.

Schutta

Hyperspace above Ord Mantell

Jolee no longer felt the presence following him and so he brought his ship back out of hyperspace only to be shaken violently from his seat as the hyperspace engine blew out on him.

That's not good. These things are wired so that the hyperdrive supplies power to everything including life support. Damn it.

With smoke trailing from the rear of the shuttle, he aimed the nose of the shuttle down toward the planet and threw himself back in the chair and strapped in.

Damn these old ships.

He watched as the planet grew closer and closer through the cockpit windows.

(Niera's a smuggler, not a bounty hunter)
In response, Niera glared at the Cathar, and using only her lekku, said the Twi'leki translation of E chu ta! Sure, she was going to let a man charge jump her loading ramp for sole purpose of distracting him, but it was going to work, and that was the important thing. It's not like she needed the Jedi's approval for everything. Someone had spent a few too many nights alone with her lightsaber, by the looks of it, and needed to find herself a man, or woman. Personally, Niera was fine with either.

Noticing Tysyacha's stuttering, she said, "I know what you mean. I've had a number of awkward, though eventually fun moments in the past because of that." Though she didn't admit it, Niera could always tell when a man or woman had the hots for her, and now seemed like one of those times.

There, right there. She's using force sight, perfect. She's on Ord Mantell, which is a few days fly away.
"Hey Carth I need a ship, one with a hyperdrive." Sam'kil said to Carth.
"Now, why would you nee-, right. Well, I've got a few ships to spare, and by that, I mean I've got a fighter or two that I could spare." Carth responded.
"Thanks Carth, your a life saver" Sam'kil said as he walked out of the living room, said goodbye to Carth, and left for the Hangar bay.
A few minutes later...
"Okay, set the auto pilot for Ord Mantell, got a few days of food lying around. I'm good." Sam'kil made the checklist mentally.
"And here we go!" Sam'kil said, punching the start up button and flying out of the atmosphere. After a minute of flying, Sam'kil hit the Hyperdrive, making the trip much shorter than he had expected.
A few hours later....
Ord mantell. Not much here has changed. Alright, onto the hunt.
Sam'kil searched throught the force, and found her quickly enough. She was the one that felt much different from anyone else he'd met, and sent a signal loud and clear to anyone searching hard enough.

Drayden was flying low over the planet, avoiding the industrial areas, which likely held turrets. He did not want to get shot down. The entire time, his guide was the wound in the Force, and he could track it quite well, now. He knew where he had to go....

Ships began appearing on external sensors. Of course, they were still in the planet's atmosphere, but what worried him was that one of the ships had a presence aboard. Nevertheless, Drayden continued along in silent contemplation.

Ahead his sense of the wound began to get foggy. Something strange was going on. Suddenly, he couldn't even see clearly. His vision kept fluctuating, and so he lowered to the ground until he could safely dive into it.

It was quite a rocky landing, but the ship didn't move very much and appeared to be undamaged. Still, it was not quite the glamorous landing that Drayden had hoped for.

Getting out of the ship, he began to follow blindly after the wound, as focusing on it too much apparently had ill effects. Regaining his senses, he began to head for the nearest area full of people. But he did not see anything to qualify as a wound.

There was a disturbance here, however, and Drayden knew that there had to be a connection. He could not sense anything, however. Even the strange feeling was not there.

Whatever this wound was, and whether it had any connection to the Exile or not, did not matter. What mattered was that it was very good at staying hidden. And Drayden had not the slightest idea what to do about it.

As he began to walk around, he got some strange and frightened looks. However, Drayden himself probably did not look very angry, as he usually did. No, this time it was a look of utter confusion and curiosity.

He needed to find what he was looking for, and maybe then he could figure out why he was looking for it.

Carefully, now...carefully... Tysyacha, cloaking herself in the Force with the Stealth Generator around her waist for backup, followed Niera and Juhani toward the hidden headquarters of one inconsequential Twi'lek crime lord in order to retrieve the one device upon which all other consequences depended. UMBRA would hide the Ebon Hawk in permanent shadow. UMBRA would cloak their presence in a shield of radiation that would scramble the devices of any other ship's dashboard if it got too close. UMBRA would make their steps untraceable, their ship invisible, and their movements undecipherable. UMBRA would save the Exile from eight years at hard labor.

That is--if she played her cards right and helped Niera distract the Twi'lek...

"There." The Exile pointed. "Is that it? Up ahead? That gigantic, sprawling warehouse that smells worse than a Hutt's rear end?" Indeed, the edifice in the distance did remind her of Vogga the Hutt's "palace" on Nar Shaddaa.

"Right now, I am extremely thankful for the force...it just saved us an unknown amount of man-hours that could've cost the hunt...excellent work, Chandria."

Pyscho too was thankful, it meant he would be able to shoot things. Even if he couldn't kill or even harm the Exile he could still shoot at everyone else. He thought about how the three of them would take on however many crew members Tysyacha would have. He also remembered the cathar with the force, she would be very deadly. Chances are she would have that small little droid too and possibly the HK one. That was enough daydreaming for now, he'd get his fight soon enough.

"So now what...anybody have a good story to tell?"

(since you didn't mention the Twi'lek crime lord's name, I decided to give him the name Adon Rha)
"If I know Adon, this is his place. And yet, he's not compensating for something, or at least not for what you'd think." Niera commenting, referring to the three things she liked long in Twi'lek men. Of course, she still had to figure out a way to walk out on him once Tysy and Juhani had acquired the UMBRA device without giving him the right idea.

[crap. I was gone for a few days and now I lost track. Can anybody kill me? @Tysy, can I join with another character?

Grand Master Bastila Shan, of the Jedi Order, was positively elated. She wasn't elated in the way that you would be after a wedding or a birthday party. She wasn't even elated in the way you would be after you won a game of pazaak or shakhmaty. She was elated in the way a deity would be after a sacrifice was made. Bastila had located and apprehended her first loathsome, violent criminal to be led to the slaughter of the TIK machine.

His name was Gorrak Veel, an Exchange crime boss. He was Chiss. A few of Bastila's Jedi Knights, newly promoted, had sensed a disturbance in the Force and had known it meant trouble. They had tracked the anomaly to the ship of the sentient being who was causing it, and because of Gorrak's record, he was promptly arrested in the name of the galaxy and the Jedi Order itself. He was given a "trial" by the Order, duly convicted, and sentenced...to death.

Right now, Veel thought he was in a prison cell. A very small one, to be sure, but weren't all prison cells a little cramped? He heard a voice through a loudspeaker, a PA system, that had been installed into the ceiling:

"Back to the wall, Mr. Veel. Face forward, please." He did so. He heard a female voice, strident and yet incomprehensibly beautiful, speak to him. "By verdict of the Jedi Order and the people of this galaxy, you are to be executed for organized crime, racketeering, commanding a ring of prostitutes, illegal gambling, robbery, sexual assault, and murder. Let the sentence be carried out. May you become one with the Force, if it chooses to spare you."

Gorrak Veel closed his eyes and smiled to himself. You won't even give me a chance to say my last words, schutta? Nevertheless, he heard the door of the prison cell lock, or go into a greater state of lockdown. Fine. However, four heavy metal shackles, thick as bantha steaks, suddenly came out of the wall and encircled his four limbs. Clamp. Clamp. Clamp. Clamp. Right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg. Another shackle went around his neck. Clamp. A suction device attached itself below his waist to collect the waste he would no doubt release upon the moment of his death. Clamp.

He was completely trapped and immobilized. Now for the third stage...

A mask sprung out of the ceiling, powered by mechanical arms, and attached itself to the Chiss' face, fitting itself completely over it. He couldn't cry. He couldn't hear. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He couldn't move. The mask had a hose attached to it, and Gorrak thought he knew what that was for. "MMMMM! MMMM! MMMMMMMM! He struggled against the metal restraints, knowing it was absolutely useless. He knew what came next.

As he thrashed and tried to scream despite the mask that fit completely over his face, a flood of noxious gas poured through the hose and suffocated him.

Bastila opened the cell door and released the corpse that had, only two minutes ago, been a living, breathing prisoner. He fell forward to the ground, only to have the crowd watching the execution roar in triumph. One crime lord dead, one more street safer, one more family that wouldn't have to live in fear at night. That was all that mattered. Gorrak Veel was scum. He didn't deserve to live. Neither did Agent One--"Psycho"--or any other criminal.

The Chiss had been her first successful execution. She knew her next target:

Agent One, if he didn't produce the Exile in three days. She'd betray him.

Then she would put that fool bounty hunter, Sam'kil, to death for trying to pretend he was the only man that Bastila had ever loved. He was a traitor.

Last, but not least, she would finish off Tysyacha Dvyx, hard labor or no hard labor, if the Exile did not tell her of the whereabouts of Revan.

She smiled. Life was grand. She had done justice a good turn today.

Juhani looked up sharply as she felt a slight disturbance echo throughout the force in the armosphere of the planet.

She slowly turned to the exile and pointed upward. "I think we've been detected. The skies of this planet are suddenly much busier. We should conclude our business quickly and then get out of here as fast as we can."

She narrowed her eyes in confusion as her senses picked up something confusing. "One of the ships seems to be in...distress. I think it's going to crash near our position."

She looked up at the sky again and watched a small shuttle with flames trailing out of it's engine compartment break through the sky and begin heading for the ground.

"Should we render assistance to the pilot?"

Crashing

Jolee slammed his hand down on the control panel as the shuttle continued crashing and watched as the ground grew ever closer on the main screen.

"This isn't going to end well."

He watched as the ground ran at him and then he heard the begining of a massive crunching noise as the back of the shuttle slammed into a hill and then the rest of it slammed into the ground.

Damn it!

((Jolee's out cold now.))

Tysyacha nodded. "We should. The one I sense through the Force might very well be a new ally. I sense age around him, maleness, a cantankerous nature. He seems to be not too far away, so I say we postpone looking for UMBRA for now. There's someone in trouble, and he needs our help." She and Juhani, with the Twi'lek following behind, located the mangled wreck of a ship that had once been a rather strong vessel. Through the Force, the Exile located the limp and unconscious--but still alive--body in the midst of the debris. Gently, she moved it out of the way of harm and lifted it up, gently putting it on the ground near her. Who was he? What did he want? Was he hurt?

"He looks like a Jedi. I think Bastila sent him after us." Niera suggested. "I say we pump as much information as we can out of him, and then ditch him somewhere out of the way." If the Jedi Order was as corrupt as it seemed, and Bastila knew where they were, they were in serious trouble.

((When is Bastila going to realize that Jolee is gone?))

Juhnai's eyes widend in suprise when she saw who it was.

"Jolee! Jolee Bindo!"

She quickly leaned down and took a closer look at him and then turned to the exile. "This is most likely the man who you heard talking to you earlier in your head."

"I say we pump as much information as we can out of him, and then ditch him somewhere out of the way."

Juhani didn't look up at the Twi'lek but her voice cooled and became very soft. "Are you suggesting that we harm an innocent old man? Are you suggesting that this old man...who was just in a shuttle crash is a threat to us in his present condition?"

"He's a Jedi, and the head of the Order is corrupt and mad with power. With the exception of you two, are you really sure we should trust anyone with a lightsaber?" Niera asked, raising a valid point. "Although, you seem to know him, so I'm still not too sure about him."

Detecting the disturbance, Drayden moved around the area, and suddenly he noticed a shuttle in the distance, which crashed into a nearby hill. Barely anyone else seemed to notice. Except...yes, it was the ship with the presence in it, and...something was moving towards it.

Approaching the shuttle took about ten minutes, when finally Drayden noticed what the disturbance was. Ahead of him were now three people, who all uncloaked their stealth generators, and they were attempting to render assistance to the Jedi he had been stalking earlier.

But Drayden did not notice the Jedi inside the ship. All of his attention was focused on one thing. He wasn't even aware that he was now out in the open for anyone to see.

There she was...a hole in the Force, something that would never be the same again. She was obviously a Jedi, from the fact that she held a lightsaber, and the aura that streamed from her...this was the Exile he had been looking for. She was beautiful.

Suddenly, realizing where he was, he backed into a metal debris and hid behind it, watching what was going on.

It was only then that Drayden came to the realization that the Exile was the same one he had seen before...years ago, on Coruscant, with an angry look on her face. She had the same look of darkness that Drayden could recognize in people, and her eyes...they were not the right color at all. If Drayden had known anyone besides Bastila who looked like a Sith, it was the Exile.

So...Bastila was trying to put a bounty on her, then? At the time, he had sensed something was wrong, and now he knew what it was. For a Jedi that served in the Wars, and for one that had obviously changed...what reason did Bastila have to put a bounty on her? Bastila Shan...there had always been something wrong about her in his eyes, and he was determined to do something about it.

The Force influenced him in so many ways, and now maybe he was finally going to obey it.

Sam'kil walked towards the group, he'd left the rented Landspeeder a few kilometers back, so he could sneak up with no noise, hoping they hadn't sensed him in the Force. He recognized Tysyacha, and T3 was there, but he couldn't figure out who they were surrounding. When he searched out with the force, he found out who it was.
" Jolee?" Sam'kil said, forgoing stealth and hoping for help.

((J_M. I highly doubt that your character knows Jolee. He was in hiding during the War and thus wouldn't have known him. At all.))

Juhani's head instantly whipped around and she captured the stranger with the force in what could be considered record time. "This one is a bounty hunter. I can feel it. Would you like to execute him or Shall I?"

"No arguments from me. I hate bounty hunters." Niera commented, for once saying something to Juhani that wasn't meant to insult or anger her. "Vogga's bounty hunters have probably picked up my trail by now."

Tysyacha felt pressure building up inside her skull--insidious, dangerous, might-make-you-have-a-brain-aneurysm kind of pressure. She was so sick of this: so sick of being chased, so sick of being hounded, so sick of being pursued by bounty hunters, potential ship thieves, and otherwise. True, Juhani was not a bounty hunter or a thief. Neither had Niera been, once the Exile had stopped trying to threaten her and started trying to listen to her instead. Besides, the Twi'lek maiden was a smuggler, anyway! However, this one had a different aura about him, a different pattern of behavior that could be sensed through the Force. It was the pattern of a liar, or at least a man who was very skilled at cloaking himself in shadow. Anger roiled to the surface of the Exile's mind. It tasted like stomach acid inside her mouth.

"Please, do with him what you will, Juhani," she said softly but coldly. "This man is one who is pretending to be something he is not. Even you were more clear about your motives! You spoke the truth, but this one is skilled in lies!"

Calming down a little, she said, "I'm going to tend to the old man. He's out cold, completely unconscious, and I want to take him back to the Hawk for some diagnostic testing in the medical bay. T3 can do it, and as for HK, he will recognize him. I'm sure of it. Something in the Force is telling me that assassin droid will do absolutely nothing to harm this man." She saluted Juhani and Niera crisply. "Wait here by the wreckage for me. I won't be long. I can't do the tests myself because I sense our window of opportunity is closing in order to try and distract Adon Rha--our mission."

She hoisted Jolee onto her broad but fragile shoulders, bearing his entire weight through the Force. Carefully, she walked with his body draped across hers until they reached the Ebon Hawk. T3 beeped uncertainly. Back so soon? The Exile responded, "To the medbay, little guy. This not-so-little guy needs some diagnostic testing. He's out cold. Please make sure he is unconscious--not dead--and then give him some intravenous nutrients. If he wakes up, reassure him he is in no danger. Introduce yourself to him. Tell him who I am, and about Niera and Juhani. Tell him that we will return soon."

T3 gave his assent, and then the Exile laid him down on the medbay cot.

After a few readings of vital signs, Tysyacha said, "Good. He's not dead. I'm going to have to return to the mission at hand, but I will be back. With the UMBRA device, no doubt. Stay with him, T3. I owe you one." The utility droid made some encouraging and gentle sounds for his Master as she left the ship for the second time that day. The Exile clothed herself in the Force again.

Upon returning to the wreckage, she found Niera and Juhani still there, with Juhani holding the mysterious stranger (also still there) in a Force Choke.

"Need some help?" the Exile winked. "I could always do a Force Wave on him."

((Permission to kill character granted? (Very hopeful.)))

"Please, do with him what you will, Juhani."

She smiled a feral smile at the man who suddered in fear.

"I've had enought of Bounty hunters...slavers...the common thug for a lifetime. It was people like you who allied with the mandalorians when they attacked Cathar...But most of all, I hate the lies. I can sense them in you...I can sense the imprint of the fear of the people you've met on you..."

Juhani pushed past his mental defenses and her feral smile quickly turned into a snarl.

"You used the force to choke innocent bystanders because they laughed at you?! And...you've met with Bastila...Even Bastila rejected you!"

The cathar laughed.

"Need some help? I could always do a Force Wave on him."

Juhani turned toward the exile and nodded her head. "This man used the force to choke innocent bystanders when Bastila threw him out of the temple...They laughed at him and he choked them."

Juhani tightend her grip slightly and the man sputtered. "If you would like to kill him do the honors. He is not worthy of speaking in his own defense if you want my opinion."

((NOTE TO ALL: In chess, especially in the "midgame", a lot of pieces end up getting sacrificed or captured unless one or the other players is really weak and/or inexperienced. The pieces are sacrificed for position. I know some backstory about Jedi_Man's character, and if he gets killed, that will TOTALLY SCREW UP BASTILA'S PLANS AND SCREW BASTILA OVER. BIG TIME. If the character dies, the endgame for Bastila is more likely to be very unpleasant.

Thus, permission granted. If Sam'kil dies, Bastila is basically up Spit Creek...))

The Exile shook her head humbly. "No. I've--I've had enough killing. I'm on the run for two murders that I committed in fear and haste, and I'm not going to make the body count three. That will just make Bastila more suspicious if she finds out I've--removed--another one of her sickening pawns from the board. Remember, she is still blackmailing me, and I'm still paying her off with credits. I'd like you to do it, Juhani. She doesn't know you're with me, so she will never suspect you're the one that killed one of her bounty hunters. Besides...something tells me your loathing for this man runs deeper than anything I've sensed. Permission granted. Make it quick." She closed her eyes. "Let him die in peace--not like a gut-shot bantha."

"Make it quick."

"Fine...but he doesn't deserve a quick death. He deserves a slow...painful death."

Juhani quickly ignited her lightsaber and then rammed it through his chest and watched his body fall with a sigh.

"We could have sent him back to Bastila...to warn her that her days are numbered and the numbers are quickly fading...day by day."

She deactivaed her lightsaber and turned to the exile. "What is Jolee's condition? Is he alright?"

Tysyacha saw the body fall. He was definitely dead--what sentient being, male or female, human or alien, could withstand a lightsaber blade plunging straight into the heart? The answer was: none. Sobered by Juhani's decisive act, she said:

"You've done well. He is dead, and there is no way any amount of resuscitation, through normal means or the Force, could bring him back to life. As for Jolee, I wouldn't say he's 'fine'--he's still unconscious--but I took him back to the Ebon Hawk and had T3 do some diagnostic testing on him. Once he wakes up, he'll be okay. He's definitely in a stable condition."

The Exile glanced at her surroundings. She sensed a gravel pit nearby, a long-abandoned quarry which had been stripped of all its valuable minerals. It was into this pit that she lowered the body, covering it with the worthless slag and rubble she found there. Buried under such debris, there was no way grave robbers or scavengers would ever get to it. She turned to Niera and Juhani. "Now, then...we go for Adon Rha." She smiled. "Move out!" They did.

*******************************

Bastila Shan suddenly found herself doubled over in pain as she perused the latest reports of crime activity throughout Coruscant and the worlds nearest it. Her vision went red as she squinted her eyes shut and fought the agony, summoning all of her courage and the detachment from suffering that she had learned to use as a young Jedi. The techniques were simple but effective, and yet they did not block out the waves of fire completely. She felt as if someone had thrown her into one of the incessantly-burning trash pits of Raxus Prime or even Ord Mantell. Hastily, she mashed her fist down on the button which would summon her two servants at the Temple. They ran...

"Master? Master!" they cried. "What's wrong! Are you hurt? Talk to us!"

She opened her eyes. The pain finally seemed to be subsiding at long last.

"It's Grand Master, you fools, and I felt like I was hurt through the Force."

She shook her head. "Leave me. I need to be alone and recover." They left.

Idiots. Didn't they know to offer more than words of false comfort?