The Hunt for the Sith Hunter

[Writer]

Caitlin stared down the waterfall. She glanced at Erica and Nadira and winced as Nadira pulled back and took a running jump. Erica stayed at Caitlin's side and whispered something in her ear. Caitlin nodded and the two walked to the edge together. Suddenly, Caitlin pulled back.

 

"Nadira has not resurfaced," she said. Erica looked down and frowned. Caitlin was right. Erica turned to Craig.

 

"Caitlin will jump, but you'll need to be with her," she said. "I'm going to see if I can figure out what happened to Nadira."

 

She jumped and plunged into the water. Caitlin stared at Craig. "This combines two of my least favorite things: water and heights."

[Curt-Man]

Curt saw Nadira come plummeting down, when she didn't resurface he dove down to try to find her.

[Flamehart]

Craig put the rappel rope away and shrugged. "I can agree with you on the height thing, never been a fan myself," He agreed. He turned and looked back at her, meeting her gaze, and tried to reassure her, "Don't worry about it Caitlin, I'll be right there with you in case anything goes wrong."

[Writer]

Caitlin trusted Craig, but the height and the water combined made her edgy. She let out a little sigh.

 

"Push me," she growled. "Push me off the edge.... it's the only way you're getting me down there...."

 

 

Meanwhile, Erica plunged into the water, barely missing Curt as he dove under to look for Nadira. Down and down she went, carried by water. Soon, she felt a hand reaching for her own hand and grabbed it. She was drawn off to her left and soon found herself in waist-level rushing water. A very wet Nadira was standing next to her.

 

"This is what the map meant by 'down'," she said. "Unfortunately, it shorted out the datapad. We have to figure out where to go next on our own."

 

"Curt was on his way down here," Erica said. Nadira moved over to the place she had drawn Erica from and waited for Curt.

 

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

 

Riebe didn't hear the calls of her companions and made the sharp turn into the temple. Just inside, she slowed her bike to a sudden halt and watched as the Sith leapt off of his and ran deeper into the temple. With a low growl, she launched herself from her own bike and ran after him... but something slowed her down.

 

A tattered cloak and a broken katana. "Craig..." she whispered. She gathered the torn cloth up in her arms and stared at the pieces of the katana. Then she frowned.

 

"He wasn't on Korriban..." she muttered. A look of shock crossed her face followed by confusion... and then replaced with anger. "You're not getting away from me, you good for nothing nerf!"

 

With that, she took up the chase again.

[jokemaster]

Roma and Martins arrived at the temple, and saw both the speeders. They ran in, and finally caught up to Riebe.

"What the hell are you doing? There's only one reason a sith runs like that, and that's ambush."

[Flamehart]

Craig raised an eyebrow, "I don't push ladies, so you're going to have to agree with being pulled instead if that's the case," he said as politely as he could. He bent down and quite literally swept her off her feet with ease, then called upon the Force and lept into the air. They both plummeted downwards into the water, then shortly afterwards, Craig emerged from the water near Nadira and Erica. Soon after emerging he began pulling Caitlin to her feet, having almost lost her upon impact.. "I sincerely apologize for it being so rough," he said, helping her out of the water, "but I promised I'd be here, I didn't say anything about everything going smoothly," he finished with attempted humor, trying to put a smile on her face.

[Writer]

Caitlin said nothing, but in the dim light, Craig could see her attempt a weak smile as she did her best to recover from the shock.

 

"We lost the datapad," Nadira told Craig. "We'll have to find our way around without it now."

 

"At least for now, it shouldn't be too hard," Erica said. "There's only one way to go."

 

((Keep in mind they are underground now... it should be fairly hard to see and should get harder as they go.))

[Flamehart]

Craig smiled back and gently patted her on the shoulder. "You'll be alright," he reassured her, then looked at Nadira. He stated, "Must be a crummy or outdated datapad if it's completely shorted out from the water. If we're lucky, Riebe invested enough into it and it'll come back on within an hour." He looked down farther into the underground, and continued, "If not, we've got the caves to go through, maybe I should take point given my area of expertise," he suggested.

[Curt-Man]

Curt arrived oddly after everyone else.

"Geez Nadira don't bloody do that again almost gave me a heart attack not resurfacing like that." Curt looked around, but he couldn't see. He took out his multi-pad and opened the blank holo screen, it lit up where they were.

"There we go."

[Writer]

Nadira tapped the datapad with her index finger and shook her head. "Not coming on immediately," she observed. "Come on... there's only one way to go right now."

 

"Thanks for the light, Curt," Erica said. They began moving and soon left the flow of the water.

 

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

 

Riebe froze at the mention of a trap. "Of course... trap... didn't think."

 

She stared at the remains of the cloak and katana in her hands and took a deep breath.

 

"The best way to avoid a trap is to spring it," she said slowly. "We move forward... slowly."

[Curt-Man]

"No prob." curt said as they moved forward, he was in the lead because of the light.

[jokemaster]

"Glad you got your senses back" Said Martins. "Now be careful."

As they began moving Roma pointed at the cloak and katana, and asked "What's that?"

[Writer]

"They once belonged to an old friend," Riebe answered. After a moment of silence, she went on. "He was declared dead in a ship malfunction in space over Coruscant... to find these here makes me question his death."

[Flamehart]

The cloak in Riebe's hands were rather tattered, but still intact. It seemed awfully heavy though for a cloak, as if something was still inside of it. While she was running, it seemed to have shifted the cloak's movement enough the weight seemed to have moved around enough it found it's way to the edges, and a circular-shaped object, one that looked strangely like an old data disk, that could be inserted into a datapad and have its contents read, slipped out of the cloak and onto the ground in front of Riebe...

 

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

 

Craig walked forward with the rest of the group, keeping his senses on alert. He knew very well in this darkness that once again he could not rely entirely on his eyesight. He felt a little unsure about the place, as if suddenly a sense of paranoia came over him from being in such a dark place. He looked around, and he could tell the others could see this distress in his expression. Finally he decided to speak his thoughts aloud, "Sorry for pointing this out..but the last time I was in a place like this, it was just wide and spacious enough for a small ambush. Keep your senses alert." As he said this, he drew one of his pistols and kept his hand on his sword hilt on his back.

[Writer]

Riebe stopped and stared at the disk and frowned. She picked it up carefully and turned to Roma and Martins. "Springing the trap will have to wait."

 

She took out a datapad and pushed the disk into place.

 

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

 

Caitlin shivered and placed her right hand on her lightsaber. Nadira glanced cautiously around. Erica did not appear to be doing anything other than walking. Suddenly, the ceiling of the cave began to collapse and the group was forced to run. Curt's datapad was knocked out of his hand and they were left in the dark as they continued to run. Finally, they were able to stop. The datapad that Nadira had been carrying flickered to life.

 

"Well..." Nadira muttered. "From the map, we're exactly where we need to be."

 

"Then we wait," Caitlin said. "And hope the ceiling doesn't decide to fall again."

[jokemaster]

Roma and Martins stepped closer so they could also see what was on the datapad

[Flamehart]

Text seemed to scroll across the datapad, containing countless information of Craig's activities after disappearing from the Sith Hunter group. The last recorded entry gave information as to a job he accepted in Coruscant. Craig seemed to have also documented the events that occurred in the battle above. It read:

 

"The primary and secondary weapons of the Ragnarok have been disabled...Damn..where did those Sith come from? I've managed to just barely escape into hyperspace...I left behind a pretty big explosion...I sent a message to the Coruscant authorities..told them to report it as a ship malfunction. Maybe that'll throw them off my trail. I'm arriving now at Coruscant..."

The text seems to ramble on about hiding his ship there, then finding an abandoned temple to temporarily hide out in, he recorded his dialogue stating, "It's very dark and damp here..and something's giving me a bad feeling.. What the..?!....*Fighting noise in background* <Error: Unexpected End of Recording>"

 

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

 

Craig looked around the room. "Don't worry, if anything sneaks up and tries to do us in, I'll see it first." His eyes seemed to have an eerie red glow about them. "And this is one trick I shall not be showing the students, Caitlin." He said with a slight smirk as he turned to look around the room. He could not see very far, but he could see enough around the immediate area to see if something would be coming or not.

[jokemaster]

"I don't like this. It means the sith have been here for a long time"

[Writer]

Riebe's face was pale and she was barely breathing. Her hands were shaking and the datapad clattered to the ground as her fingers lost their grip on it. Suddenly, with a powerful yell of anger, hate, and pain, she drove her right fist into the rock wall beside her. Again. And again. And again. Then, she collapsed to the ground in uncontrollable sobs.

 

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

 

"There's nothing alive down here," Caitlin whispered. Her hair was still wet and hung in tangles around her face, adding a sense of fear to the look on her face. "And we're trapped. No way out. The only way in is blocked."

 

"She doesn't like darkness either," Erica informed the group quietly. "And Craig... that eye thing probably isn't helping her either."

 

"For your freedom," the AI said. "Answer three questions."

 

"Ask it quickly before I find your source and crush it," Caitlin growled.

 

"Why are you afraid of heights?"

 

"Personal experience," Caitlin snapped. "You're asking personal questions."

 

"Why are you afraid of water?"

 

"An attempted drowning," Caitlin hissed. "Is there a point to this?"

 

"Why are you afraid of darkness?"

 

"What it hides!" Caitlin screamed. "What do you want from me?" She was crying now.

 

"To bring the earth to your feet, to bring you air underwater... to bring light to your darkness."

 

There was a loud cracking sound and Caitlin screamed again, but suddenly the little cavern was drenched in light and they were taken upward by the large circular lift they found themselves on.

 

"Light, land, and breath, you have," the AI said. "But you must still find a friend."

 

Caitlin was a sobbing heap as the AI said those words and Erica clenched her fists. She hated seeing a woman she respected in this state.

 

"Did you have to do this to her?" she screamed. The AI did not answer. Caitlin did.

 

"It was necessary," she gasped, trying to regain her composure. Her voice was still terribly shaky as she continued. "That was a direct quote from Riebe. 'To bring the earth to your feet, to bring you air underwater... to bring light to your darkness.' Riebe told me that a long time ago and I laughed in her face..." She sighed. "I'm not laughing now."

 

"I've never seen you like this," Erica said quietly. Caitlin took a deep breath and nodded.

 

"I know," she answered softly. "And I don't think you ever will again. Riebe knows now I am who I claim to be. She needs no further proof. Nadira, check the datapad."

 

"It says to go back to the ship," Nadira said. Caitlin nodded.

 

"We go now to meet Riebe," she said.

[jokemaster]

Martins looked around, nervous about the sith coming, meanwhile Roma kneeled besides Riebe.

"You didn't know he was alive, did you?"

[Writer]

Riebe shook her head and looked at Roma, trying to calm herself. "Did you?"

[jokemaster]

"He's with the rest of the group."

[Writer]

Riebe stared at him, her tears suddenly forgotten. "You mean... he didn't... he didn't di here either?"

 

She stared at the doorway the Sith had run through. "So... who... who was the captured man in the recording? His path does not coincide with Craig's..."

 

She frowned thoughtfully.

[jokemaster]

"There's too many coincidences here." Said Martins. "It's obvious the sith are interested in this place, but why?"

[Writer]

Suddenly, Riebe seemed extremely calm. "That's why we're going to spring the trap... to find out."

 

She stood slowly and moved toward the doorway the Sith had gone through.