Star Wars: Shadow Wars

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Jethro, don't." she said. Her voice was soft, but held a sterness to it that belayed her distress. She pushed his hand aside, stepping back again as she shook her head. "Please..."

 

Sara couldn't look at him -- everytime she did, it wasn't Jethro that she saw staring back at her. His touch was the same, the emotion in his voice the same...she bravely fought back the tears. "Just...just please..."

[igyman]

''You do realize the pointlessness of that question, Mr. Tenkar? You know full well how effective this agency of the New Republic is, not to mention the many connections I personally possess.'' Thrawn II said, ''It is something I truly doubt you've forgotten.''

[The Doctor]

He narrowed his eyes, frowning. "Alright. Let's say you can help me get my memories back. What do you want from me?"

[igyman]

''The schematics for the shuttlecraft. My techs could probably acquire them on their own, but it would take awhile and from the looks of the situation, we don't really have time to waste right now.'' Thrawn II said, ''Listen to this...'' He played the message recording on the small pad in his hand, its ending was an introduction to something terrifying and unknown:

 

“By the Force…is that a ship???”

 

“I want all pod bays armed – wait a second…what the…HIT THE DEC---!”

 

The voices turned into screams and then the signal broke. The message replay ended and Thrawn II watched and waited for Daleth's reaction.

[The Doctor]

Daleth kept his face blank and neutral as his listened. When it was over, he frowned thoughtfully.

 

"I won't give you access to Stephanas," he said shortly. "But I can give you information you'd need to duplicate some of its systems yourself." He smiled cruely. "What fun would it be to give you all the answers?"

[igyman]

''I'm sure you'll be enjoying it.'' Thrawn II acknowledged, ''Here...'' He handed the datapad to Daleth, ''You have one hour to share whatever you are willing to share with me. Put it on that pad. After I verify that information you will be released from the brig and given private quarters. This part is not negotiable, if it doesn't suit you, then I've wasted my time and you obviously prefer the prison furniture.'' Thrawn II said with a dose of strictness.

[The Doctor]

Daleth shook his head. "If you want anything substantial, you'll have to give me twenty four hours. And I want out of here now, not when you bloody well feel like it. The sheets on this bed give me a rash."

[igyman]

''Alright, I'm a reasonable man, so I'll give you your twenty four hours, but being a reasonable man, I can't allow you to walk freely around this ship until I am sure you are not trying to double-cross me.'' Thrawn II said, ''Remember, I know you. We worked together for a long time, I know how you think which is how I know that you still don't trust me. If you were in my position, would you let a person you don't trust and who in turn doesn't trust you out of the holding cell?'' Thrawn asked, ''You wouldn't, not until you were certain of his honesty. You will stay in your cell until that data is verified.''

[The Doctor]

"Confine me to quarters then. But I need to have access to the Stephanas' computer banks for reference. You can monitor the connection if you want. I don't care. I have nothing to gain by betraying you at this point in time."

[TheExile_Hunter]

There he was, a Jedi knight, who just openly expressed his feelings, an odd thing for a Jedi to do. What did it do? It startled the person he loved. She refused to let out her feelings for a reason she didn’t want to explain. Jethro couldn't bear the very thought of losing her, but forcing her to tell him was out of the question.

 

The feeling of guilt pressed through him when he saw what he had done. It wasn’t his intention to upset her, yet he had somehow done it. “Look, I’m sorry.” Jethro replied softly. “If you really don’t want to tell me…” He avoided looking at her and turned away. “then.……forget about it.”

[igyman]

Thrawn II smiled, a rare reaction from someone as cold an calculated as him. ''You haven't changed one bit.'' He said, ''Very well, as patient as I am, I simply don't have time to argue, you will get your quarters. Get up, let's go.'' Thrawn II summoned the four escort guards to him. ''You'll get your quarters and your connection to the Stephanas, but I'll be watching. A lot closer than you think and if you dare trick me, your life may come to a sudden end. On the other hand, if you're on the level, I'll hold up to my end of the bargain.'' Thrawn II thought to himself. ''Getting that data is the most important thing right now, the technology within that shuttlecraft may be our only hope, if my suspicions are correct.''

 

The six of them - Thrawn II and the four guards, two in front and two behind Daleth Tenkar - walked to the turbolift and out of the brig deck of the Origin.

[Jason Skywalker]

((Man, i can't believe i missed this moment! ><))

 

The hours were passing, and still nothing.

 

"Look kids, i'm going to check on Luke, he should have contacted us by now."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"I'm sorry..." she whispered in return, turning around slowly, she wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes downcast. "I'm sorry, Jethro, I really am..."

 

She couldn't. He was a Jedi. She waws a pilot. It was irrational. Illogical. Impossible.

 

Or so she told herself.

 

In reality, it was fear that was holding her back. Fear of what she would feel. Fear of what would happen. Fear of repeating her past. All of this dawned on her as she began her way back to the ship, Jethro following at a distance.

[TheExile_Hunter]

The trip back to the ship was painfully silent. Neither of them turned to look at the other, nor did a word cross their lips. Nothing happened.

 

They finally reached the hangar in which the Northstream was docked. It seemed the ship was already refuelled since the fuel lines were already disconnected as they approached the ship. Jethro slowly walked up the boarding ramp, still following Sara silently.

 

Once onboard, he caught up with her and finally broke the silence. "Look..." Jethro said, half sighing. "I'll put what happened back there behind me." He said, trying to convince himself he would, yet he knew he would never be able to do that. Their eyes met briefly and he could see the uncertainty in Sara's eyes. "Just be sure it's what you want." After saying those last words, he took off and headed towards the dormitories.

[Jason Skywalker]

Kyle took the elevator once more, and met up with Luke.

 

"So, Luke, any progresses?"

 

Meanwhile, Zhane chatted with Jakyl...

 

"So, how're you doing?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

Sara watched after him for several minutes, his words replaying in her head.

 

Just be sure it's what you want.

 

It was what she wanted...wasn't it? She had been through this before. The sudden rush of emotion at first admittance, the wild beat the heart sets off at the touch, the kiss...the joy and passion as days wore on...the heartbreak and earth-shattering pain when it all falls apart...

 

The captain moved into the cockpit, watching the data from Deib's maintance check scroll across the screen, though nothing ever really registered in her mind. Too many arguments raged inside her for her to pay any attention to something so simple as that.

 

Love sucked. That's all there was to it. Years ago she had sworn to herself that she'd never fall in love again. Yet here she was.

 

He was a Jedi, though. Certaintly he'd have more respect, more feelings...but that was another reason why she had to ignore him, why she had to quell these ideas before...Jethro was a Jedi, and she was a simple pilot. There was no way. Things simply wouldn't work out. He'd be running errands on one side of the galaxy, she carting goods on the other side completely. Nothing could flourish -- how did he even know he loved her? She doubted he had been in any kind of relationship before -- they still hardly knew each other! Even the thought of what he had said was totally idiotic. It was impossible that feelings could develope so quickly; 'love at first site' was a myth. There was no way...

 

That's when she saw the flashing light on the comm. console. Leaning forward, she hit 'play'.

[JasraLantill]

Va’ala woke up in the Captain’s quarters in her bed. “What happened?” She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on her surroundings. Eventually, a blurry Krell came into view. “Krell?” She grimaced, then rubbed her forehead. “Ugh! I feel like I’ve been….” Suddenly, her brow raised, seconds later, she frowned and her eyes narrowed. “You stunned me?”

 

“Yeah.” Krell shrugged. “Sorry about that.”

 

“Sorry?” Va’ala slowly sat up. “You stunned me!”

 

“Well… it was the only thing I could think of to restrain Kat.”

 

“You. Stunned. Me,” Va’ala growled.

 

“And I said I was sorry.”

 

“I’m the captain! You can’t stun the captain! That’s mutiny!” She paused for a moment, thinking. “Isn’t it?” She paused again. “Yes, I’m sure it is.”

 

“It was an accident,” Krell lied. “And accidents don’t count as mutiny.”

 

“Oh, sure. Right. An accident.” Va’ala rubbed her head. Stunning always gave her a headache. Then again, so did long periods without any spice. “Just like Captain….”

 

“Hey, at least I didn’t stuff you in the closet like I did Kat,” Krell interrupted quickly. “Now that would be mutiny.” He held out a canister of Crash-n-Burn which he shook enticingly. “Will you accept a peace offering?”

 

She reached out for it. Her hand was shaking slightly.

 

“Ah, ah, ah…,” Krell said as he held it teasingly out of her reach. “You didn’t say you’d accept my apology.”

 

Va’ala reached for it again, and just as before Krell held it out of her reach. He grinned. “C’mon, Va’ala. Kat was making trouble for us. I had to do something. I mean, she already drove off Ex-Zar. What if she started on the rest of the crew?”

 

“Just give it to me,” she demanded as she reached out for it again, but Krell still held the canister out of reach.

 

“Apology accepted?”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Apology accepted.” Va’ala beckoned with her hand. “Now give it to me!”

 

Krell looked at her askance.

 

Va’ala sighed. “Please.”

 

Krell grinned. “That’s better.” Krell handed her the canister, and watched as she quickly injected it into her arm.

 

As Va’ala’s headache began to fade, she began to think about the prior events. “So where’s Ex-Zar?”

 

“On his ship, I presume,” said Krell. “Said he was leaving and….”

 

“Yeah, I vaguely remember that part,” Va’ala said slowly. “Kat made him think I was some sort of Glitterstim addict. That was right before I was going to explain that I know who's harassing his people and that….”

 

“It doesn’t matter what he thinks,” Krell quickly interrupted. “We don’t need him anyway.”

 

“We don’t... Krell! He's got a fleet for Galaxy's sake! We don't need him as an enemy. We've got enough of those. I’ve got to contact him and apologise and make him understand that I'm….” Va’ala frowned slightly. “Wait a minute… you think I am an addict, don’t you?”

 

Krell remained diplomatically silent.

 

“Hey, it’s not like a little Crash now and again is going to hurt me,” Va’ala said defensively. “I mean, it’s not like Gannarian Narco-spice, or Booster Blue, or Ryl, or…, or… Andris. It’s just a mild form of Kassoti. Just a relaxer. I don’t have to have it.”

 

Krell raised a doubtful brow.

 

“I don’t!” said Va’ala. She looked at the empty spice canister she held in her hand. Her hand was no longer shaking. She tossed the canister angrily to the floor. “I don’t.”

 

“It doesn’t matter to me if you do or not,” Krell said, moving to sit beside her on the bed. “Like you said, it’s just a relaxer.” He deftly slid his arm around her and moved his face closer to hers. “Makes you more….”

 

Suddenly, they heard Wabacca roaring, calling for Krell.

 

“Krell? Did you say you put Kat in a closet?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You do realise she’s a telekine, right? That she can move things with her mind?”

 

“Yeah. So? There’s nothing to move in the closet. Not even a mop,” Krell added with a grin.

 

“There’s the door latch.”

 

“Crap.”

 

The two of them scrambled out of the room and down the corridor only to witness a flying Wookiee once again.

[Dark_Lady]

"Oh, I'm doing fine," Jakyl said to Zhane, a hint of a smile playing about her lips. "It's been slightly boring around here, though. I can't even get in a decent lightsaber match anymore. Anyway, how are you and Kyle?"

[Jason Skywalker]

"We're fine. Just got back from our assignment. Turns out the ex-Stormtrooper guy had a datapad about the Imperial Remnant returning, but it was vague, so Master Luke's decoding it. Sounds bad."

[Dark_Lady]

"Imperial Remant?" Jakyl said. "You're right, that does sound bad. What ex-Stormptrooper guy, by the way?"

[Jason Skywalker]

"Erlong Trarace, a millionaire living in Tatooine."

[Dark_Lady]

"Hmm, never heard of him. If he has connections with the Remnant, they're going to know we found out about them now. They might get pushed into doing their plan earlier than they would have otherwise."

[Jason Skywalker]

"Let's just hope that doesn't come true, now won't we?"

[Master_Archon]

Ex-Zar stepped aboard the Sovereign, Sarfas was there waiting for him. "What is it?" Asked Ex-Zar, sounding rather tired. Sarfas held up a holodisk, an image appeared, it was a Corellian Corvete, information poured down the 3D image screen.

 

Ex-Zar slipped his helmet off, his expression showing he was contemplating the info. His face slowly distorting from concentrated to anxious, and stern. "Sarfas, get the fleet into a Delta formation, prepare to jump to hyperspace on my mark; he's not getting away from me this time," he said, his voice dripping with anger.

 

Ex-Zar trudged off towards the bridge, leaving Sarfas to do what he was bid. Reaching the bridge he found Blink, she walked up to him, her helmet was on.

 

"So...what happened exactly?" She said, her voice muffled by her helmet.

 

"Found out Va'ala was a spice adict." He said bluntly.

 

"So," she said nonchalantly. "So, she's someone I cant trust," he said in response.

 

Blink just shook her head, "what's so bad about a someone who uses spice?" She asked.

 

"You know my father used spice?" He asked her in retort. She nodded; he continued, "you know he made it himself, and that it was an upper, not a downer, right?" She nodded, only more slowly.

 

"Being an only child hurts," he said, his face solomn, and stern. Blink didn't nod this time, she just stared at the floor, "oh, I forgot," she said quietly.

 

"Not to mention half my life in the Imperial Stormtrooper Core, I was surrounded by idiots who used spice; only one spice user I remember survived our first assignment. Then we got new people, most of them spice addicts again, most of them died, most of the time I was the one to see their internals blowout of their skull...not pretty." He said turning away.

 

"Sir, we are in formation," shouted one of the bride officers from his console.

 

"Good, prepare to jump on my mark," said Ex-Zar. Then turning to Blink he handed her the large package, "take this to my room for me," he said, Blink took it, and headed off.

 

"Where to sir?" Asked the officer, after everything was in full order. "He's heading towards Fellusia, but we should be able to cut him off around Yavin IV, set co-ordinates for there," he said, his voice showing he wanted no questions or arguements.

 

Ex-Zar contemplated for a moment, "jump in 7 minutes, that should be enough time to do something before we leave," he said to the officer, then turning he headed off the bridge, and down the hall. He came to a small comm system, and stopped, punching in the communication link to the Reiver, he waited for a response.

[Writer]

By the time Va'ala and Krell saw the 'flying Wookiee', the string Kat had been tied with was unravelling itself from her and gliding smoothly toward Wabacca. Kat turned as Va'ala and Krell came into view and smirked.

 

"Oh, that's even better!" she exclaimed. The string zagged sharply, driving toward Krell. He attempted to draw his blaster again, but the string flipped the blaster away from him and bound his arms firmly to his sides.

 

"So how's a flying Krell look?" Kat wondered.

 

"Uh oh..." Krell muttered. And with that, he 'flew' into the closet and the door slammed shut. Satisfied, Kat turned to Va'ala.

 

"That makes me happy," she said cheerfully. "So, let's have a little chat."

 

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

 

On the bridge, the comm system started flashing. Curious, Bob moved over to it and started pushing buttons, each time managing to miss the 'answer' button...