MC: AOTE: Fraught With Disappointment

[stingerhs]

Looking down at his feet at the dead rat, Jeez looked back over at Sam and Beryl in befuddlement. "The turrets are on, and those creatures know it," Jeez stated as he stepped over the rat and started walking towards the two women. "They're smart enough to know better."

 

As Jeez reached the two women, he looked over at Beryl and said, "What happened yesterday was a lapse of judgment on the part of a "mutual" friend. Don't worry, he won't be getting in our way today."

 

Pausing for a moment, Jeez looked at both of them. "Well, I hope that you aren't having second thoughts about all of this because everything starts right now. May the Force be with us."

 

Turning around, Jeez started walking down the bridge.

[Rogue Nine]

The console beeped. Again. Conn sighed and placed his modified sabacc deck on his desk, the wiring all askew. He'd been tinkering with it to see if he could make the connection work both ways. He'd always been good with electronics, but his chosen profession didn't lend itself often to furthering his hobby. With Beryl's appearance, he'd been given an opportunity to test his device out and it had worked quite well. The last step was for him to be able to transmit a message to her.

 

Hearing another beep, he wheeled himself over to his console and tapped a few keys. High Priority Message, eh? he thought, raising an eyebrow. As he opened the message and read it, his other eyebrow rose to match the level of its twin. What in the...

 

Wheeling back over to his device, he hastily connected a few wires, then snapped the casing shut. Hefting it, he pressed a button on its side, causing a red diode to flash. Putting it near his lips, he quietly whispered, "Beryl, when you get this, don't be surprised. I've figured out a way to make this a two way communication device. When you respond, let me know how well it works as well as..." He paused, drawing in a breath. "As well as why your Imperial Admiral brother is coming to this facility. Conn out."

[JasraLantill]

"Well, I hope that you aren't having second thoughts about all of this because everything starts right now. May the Force be with us."

 

Jeez’s words caused a shiver run down Beryl’s spine. Jeez was a Jedi, like Ryshana, and yet he was a prisoner, like her and Sam. It was going to take a lot more than the Force to get them all out of here. It was going to take ingenuity and the ability to think outside “the box,” qualities that she knew she had. She looked down at the rat in her hand. Although lethal in its own way, and definitely outside the realm of conventionality, she still wished the venom-laced rat was a blaster right about now.

 

“No, no second thoughts here,” Beryl said frankly to Jeez as she pocketed the rat and hurried to follow him and Sam across the bridge. “You, Sam?”

 

“I didn’t have any ‘first’ thoughts,” Sam replied. “This was all your idea, sweetie, remember?”

 

“Coming here wasn’t my idea at all,” Beryl said. “It was… someone else’s.”

 

“I don’t mean that,” Sam said. “I mean, this.” She held up the rat. “This plan of yours. So, what if those Yasa-what-whats aren’t where you think they are?”

 

“They’ll be there.”

 

“But what if they’re not? You got a plan ‘B’?”

 

“You’re just asking that now?”

 

“You got one or not?”

 

Beryl grinned. “Yeah. I got one. Plan ‘B’ is Beryl threatens the nearest Imp guard with her poison rat and forces him to tell her where the Yasa-what-whats are.” Sam shot Beryl a dubious look. “They’ll be there,” Beryl said to her. “Don’t worry.” Beryl turned her attention to Jeez. “So, Jeez, who’s this ‘mutual’ friend of yours? And how can you be so sure he won’t have another ‘lapse’ in judgement and do someth…?”

 

She was suddenly interrupted by an unfamiliar buzzing sound and felt something move inside her boot. Her eyes went wide with surprise. “Erm… Jeez? Can we stop for a sec? I’m having a … shoe problem.” She reached into her boot and extracted the Sabbac deck. It was vibrating.

 

She gave Sam and Jeez a quick, but confused look, and then pushed the flashing red button on the side of the deck.

 

"Beryl, when you get this, don't be surprised. I've figured out a way to make this a two way communication device. When you respond, let me know how well it works as well as..." He paused, drawing in a breath. "As well as why your Imperial Admiral brother is coming to this facility. Conn out."

 

Beryl blinked with amazement, but Sam let out an amused snort and said, “Heh… word travels fast around here, don’t it, sweetie?”

[stingerhs]

Jeez stopped at Beryl's request. After hearing the message, Jeez then asked, "Imperial Admiral brother?? Well, this day keeps getting more and more interesting by the minute. Lets just hope that things don't get too complicated."

 

As he waited for Beryl to hide the "deck" again, Jeez looked off into the distance and spotted something with the aid of the Force. It was a very large one of the creatures, and it was much larger than the ones they had encountered just yesterday. Looking at it, Jeez recognized it as he would any individual. Imaharia, Jeez remembered. With a discreet wave of his right hand, the creature seemed to make an acknowledgment gesture and quickly moved back into the darkness.

 

Noticing that Beryl was ready yet again, Jeez motion for them to keep going and started walking down the bridge.

[starmark2k]

((Ok i need to move on to day 4))

Nic stepped in to a large room that did not look like it belonged in the middle of a rogue asteroid. It had high ceilings with a single chandelier hanging from the middle of it lighting the entire room, the walls were covered with Paintings and mirrors each trimmed with gold. In the middle of the room directly under the Chandelier was a small circular table dressed with candles and flowers.

 

He shaved and changed from the last time he had seen Carmen that day into a Corelian dress suit. Nic smiled as he looked around the room remembering the last time he was ‘invited’ to dinner. This time was better as it wasn’t at gunpoint and he wasn’t the one being eaten by some strange alien beast from an unknown world.

 

Nic began to step forward towards the table when he saw Carmen walk in from the other end of the room, She was wearing an even more overly elegant dress than before although it now suited the surroundings. As Nic approached the table he pulled out the crime lord’s throne like chair, She smiled at him and sat down.

 

“Still the gentleman I see.” She commented as Nic walked round to his own seat.

 

“Well that depends on who you ask.” The mercenary replied sitting down himself. “So this reminds me of the last time we were here.”

 

“Our last dinner as well.” Carmen reminded. “Before you decided to leave.”

 

“You knew I was going, our contract expired.”

 

“I didn’t want you to stay with me as my bodyguard Nic, I loved you.” She replied annoyed.

 

“Look I didn’t come here to re-open old wounds.”

 

“I just saying we were good together.”

 

“What do you want me to say Carmen?”

 

“That you feel the same way.” Carmen replied getting annoyed.

 

“Well I can’t.”

 

“Why did you come here then?” She asked angrily.

 

“I ran into Kriss.”

 

“Ohh that explains it.” Carmen replied calming down “So is he still angry.”

 

“What do you think?” Nic asked rhetorically. “I killed his wife.”

 

“So how did your paths cross?” The sympathetic crime lord asked.

 

“We were doing job, Two of my people infiltrated a prison and he was patrolling the perimeter...” Nic replied with a nervous laugh at the end. “The worst part now s I can’t get them out as he’ll be watching out for me.”

 

“You know I could help you.” Carmen replied. “I have a confession to make, I’ve been keeping an eye on Kriss for you, I have five men on his ship. I can make it so you can get on that ship and disable it.”

 

“What do you want for that?”

 

“Nothing.” Carmen paused. “Yet, you’ll just have to owe… and finish this dinner with me.”

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

 

Day 4

 

Nic walked out of Carmen's bedroom wearing the clothes he was wearing when he ate dinner with her. His ears were ringing and head pounding from the glass after glass of alcohol he had consumed the previous night. Nic ran to the ship to change his clothes and get ready for the day ahead.

[JasraLantill]

After hearing the message, Jeez then asked, "Imperial Admiral brother?? Well, this day keeps getting more and more interesting by the minute. Let’s just hope that things don't get too complicated."

"Yeah, me too,” Beryl muttered. As she bent down to put the deck back in her boot, she pushed the button on the other side of the deck. “Congrats, Conn,” she whispered hurriedly. “Yes, it works, and yes, you surprised me.” And it’s a derned good thing I wasn’t surprised at an inopportune moment, or you’d be getting an earful right now, she thought to herself. “And, all I know is that my stupid brother’s coming here to, as he put it, oversee the disposition of ‘material resources’ and to do some sort of inspection on the Dreadnaught that’s stationed in orbit. And I have no clue what that means. I just hope he doesn’t arrive before we can leave. ’Cause I certainly don’t want to see him.” She paused, looking up briefly at Jeez, who seemed to be looking at something in the distance. Great, she thought. Reptiles on the move again. “Got to go. I’m just about ready to go inside. Beryl out.”

 

She knelt down and stuffed the deck back in her boot, then snorted with amusement at the thought that the next time her leg tingled it would be due to Conn. “Quarter Zeltron my foot,” she murmured as she adjusted her boot.

 

“What?” Sam asked.

 

“Nothing.” Just as Beryl stood up, Jeez looked over at her and started walking across the bridge, apparently none too concerned about what he had been looking at earlier.

 

Just as they reached the midpoint of the bridge, Beryl felt the emptiness engulf her again. The lack of Force disturbed her, but this time she tried not to let it bother her. But it still did, and her brows knitted together in an expression of discomfort. “So, Jeez, are you going to be with us the entire time again? Like yesterday? Or are we on our own once we get to the laundry?”

[stingerhs]

"I'll be with you as much as I can. There are other matters that are calling for my attention when you get things moving. Thus, we will be separated shortly after you begin loading the cart with clean laundry," Jeez stated as he activated the small device that allowed him to use the Force. And it is with no regret that I know this will be the last time that I have to use this darned thing, Jeez thought to himself unceremoniously.

 

As they continued forward, they finally reached the door leading into the Facility. Punching in the door code, the door then opened for Jeez. Motioning to Sam and Beryl, Jeez let them enter through the doorway first.

[Grace]

Jana strode confidently through the corridors of the base, ignoring everyone she passed until she came to Carmen's office. There, she entered without knocking and sat directly across the desk from Carmen.

 

"Not now, Jana," the crime lord ordered. "I'm busy."

 

"You have time for this, Carmen," Jana answered confidently. "Put down the paperwork and focus on me."

 

Carmen reluctantly looked up at the woman seated across from her. "If this is about me calling you Janey, I just can't help but wonder why you didn't threaten to snap me in half the first time I said it."

 

"Being called Janey isn't a problem to me," Jana answered. "I've been called many things over the years... Jana, Short Stuff, Tarla Vel, Arabelle..." She smirked. "What's in a name?"

 

Carmen pushed back from the desk a little, unnerved. "Who are you?"

 

"Then you believe I'm not Jana?" the other woman inquired with a smirk.

 

"Jana isn't this... creepy," Carmen answered. "Who are you?"

 

"Last time you saw me, I wore a mask," the woman told her. "But you managed to catch my face by camera. Didn't work out that well, did it?"

 

Carmen paled. "No..."

 

Waving two fingers, 'Jana' reverted to her natural form, revealing Reibe Vailar. "Hello!" she greeted with an almost evil grin.

 

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

 

Nic crept through the hanger by of the ship, although Carmen was hospitable enough to give his crew rooms on the station he knew that someone may have came back to the ship. He didn’t want any of the crew seeing him wearing the same clothes he wore before going to have dinner with their host, especially Jana who was bound to make a wise crack about it.

 

The ships captain quietly climbed the ladder that led to the main corridor where all the rooms were located and used all his stealth skills to not make sound as he moved to his room’s door.

 

Suddenly he heard he sound of something falling to the floor in Jana’s room, at first Nic Panicked and quickly tried to enter the doors security code. Then another noise emanated from his first-mate’s room, the sound struggling, his instincts told him something was wrong. Nic walked over to the other door and placed his back against the wall by the door’s frame, he punched in the code and allowed it to open. Nic then waited a couple of seconds before he peeked around the corner not sure what he might find.

 

A smile crept across his face as he then moved into the door way and looked down at Reibe tied to a chair and gagged. Nic took a couple of steps forward and laughed loudly so anyone else on the ship would have heard him.

 

“Oh some people go their whole lives not seeing anything that gives then half the mount of joy my eyes can see now,” Nic said almost smugly. “So little old Short Stuff got the best of the all powerful and wise Reibe.”

 

He laughed again, going around behind her to release the gag and asked, "So tell me, how's it feel?"

 

But the second the gag was released, Nic understood what was wrong. A long string of Old Corellian curses flowed from the now freed mouth, followed by, "You fool! I'm Jana!"

 

And at that very moment, her real appearance came through, revealing that it was in fact Jana tied to the chair.

 

"Oh i am going to kill!" Nic shouted standing up and rushing out of the room.

 

"Hey can you untie me first?" Jana called, but Nic was too far away already. Jana muttered a few more choice words and began to see about getting herself free.

 

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

 

"So here's the deal, Carmen," Reibe said calmly, though the crime lord had reached forward and switched on a full lockdown of the base. "I don't trust you to keep your word to Simon and company that you'll keep them hidden and get them past his Imperial brother. In light of that, I'm going to give you a little extra... motivation."

 

"What do you mean?" Carmen asked warily.

 

"First of all, I know all about your new toy," Reibe answered coolly. Carmen shifted.

 

"And what new toy is that?" she mumbled. Reibe grinned.

 

"You got a cloaking device," she replied. "If I recall correctly, Simon and Jana got that for you. Now, you've installed it on a shuttle of yours. If you don't play nice and do as you've promised, that shuttle will be gone before you can do anything about it. And you know who's gonna get it?"

 

"Nic White, your new best friend?" Carmen demanded bitterly. Reibe laughed.

 

"Actually, the man hates me," she said. "I killed him once, in case you'd like to remember. But yes, it'll go to him."

 

Carmen sighed, defeated. "Fine." She switched off the lockdown. "Now get out of my office."

 

At that moment, the door sprang open and Nic charged in to the room like a rampaging rancor. He held out his blaster pistol and pointed it at the woman he detested more than the Emperor and Vader combined.

 

“I am going to end this long life yours, Schutta!” he screamed getting ready to pull the trigger.

 

Reibe laughed at him. "You do remember how easy it was for me to avoid your shots when I killed you, don't you?"

 

With a cheerful wave at him, she spun and headed out the door.

[JasraLantill]

Motioning to Sam and Beryl, Jeez let them enter through the doorway first.

Beryl and Sam entered the airlock in front of Jeez. The door soon shut and when the lock had finished its sequence the three of them found themselves at the droid-manned security station.

 

“Hi. How’s it goin’?” Beryl cockily asked one of the two combat droids as she passed by it and stepped into the ID scanner. She put her her chin on the rest that faced a blue fixation light. After a bright flash, she stepped out, blinking to adjust to the spots that now floated in front of her eyes. “Ugh…I hate that thing,” she muttered.

 

Sam did the much the same, although with considerably less commenting, and the group headed down the corridor. At the door marked ‘Laundry’, they waited for Jeez to input the security code.

 

Despite being cut off from the Force, Beryl was beginning to feel a bit more confident that they could actually pull this escape and rescue thing off. She began to run the things she needed to do through her head. First, get into the elevator and stop it between floors. Next, crawl up through the hatch. Then, find those creatures and kill them. And then… then, with Jeez’s help, find Ryshana while Sam did the laundry rounds.

 

There was only thing that was nagging in the back of her mind—Jeez and that ‘spring jack’ thing in his head. What did it do? He seemed to act ‘normal’ enough so far, but she had seen how the prisoners in the laundry had reacted to his orders the previous day. Was there some trigger or some control that would do the same to him and make him an automaton like them? Her eyes narrowed as determination set in. She hoped she wasn’t too late to prevent Ryshana suffering a similar fate as Jeez. She couldn't let Ryshana down.

 

While Jeez tapped in the code to open the door, Beryl stretched, raising herself up on her toes, to limber up as well as to feel the vial of poison tucked securely in her left boot and Conn’s Sabbac ‘deck’ in the other. She was as ready as she was ever going to be for this mission. And failure just wasn’t an option.

 

“Ok… I’m ready,” she said to Jeez and Sam. “Let’s get to work.”

[stingerhs]

As Jeez entered the combinations, he was incredibly calm. Despite everything that this mission was going to entail, Jeez was still able to keep his feelings in check in order to stay calm. Finally, the door opened to the laundry, and Jeez led the two women down into the laundry room.

 

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Jeez then stated, "Now, I have some other business to attend to. I'll trust that you two can keep out of trouble while I'm away. If not, you'll find that the guards in this facility are not the most friendly of sorts."

 

With a barely noticeable wink to let Beryl know that he was just play acting, Jeez then turned around and headed for the elevator. Upon entering, Jeez breathed in deeply to help keep himself calm. Jeez was fully aware that it was his aching heart that was causing his unrest, but he also knew that he couldn't let it get in the way. If he did, Jeez knew that he would launch a foolhardy and bloody assault on the Level 5 Section of the Facility in order to save Ryshana. However, he was going to stick to the plan as he always did: as a professional.

 

The elevator doors then slid open to reveal a small waiting room and a security checkpoint. This checkpoint was manned with two real guards instead of droids. Nothing like "better" security, Jeez thought to himself. "Jedi Quiinzara, its a rather unusual time for you to be here," one of them stated as he stood up from the chair that he was sitting at.

 

"I know, but I need to check the security logs for Level 3, and I'm afraid that Level 3 is currently having some technical difficulties," Jeez replied.

 

"With all due respect, sir, but I'll have to check that before I can grant you access under Doctor Twerna's direct orders," the guard stated as Jeez approached the checkpoint to enter the scanner. As he was scanned down by one guard, the other disappeared into the Level 4 Security Room.

 

Sweeping a wand over Jeez, he picked up the normal items: the Force Replicator, the lightsaber, and the emergency rebreather. Then, he picked up something slightly unusual. "Something new, eh sir?" the guard asked as he removed a small, black object from one of Jeez's pockets. Examining the object in his hand, the guard then asked, "What exactly is this thing?? A stone??"

 

"I'm afraid not. Its a Mk-97 series Espionage Grenade," Jeez answered. Looking over at the guard, Jeez's face lit up with alarm and yelled out, "Woah!! Hold it!! That's not how you handle that thing!!"

 

Suddenly terrified that he might be holding a grenade that's about to go off, the guard nervously asked, "What do I do?! What do I do?!"

 

Quickly reaching over and snatching it out of the guard's hand, Jeez then pressed a couple of points on the grenade. "There, it should be fine. You know, you really ought to watch what you're doing," Jeez stated.

 

"What's going on in here?" the other guard asked as he returned from around the corner.

 

"Oh nothing. Its just that your partner here didn't know how to handle one of these grenades," Jeez replied as he held it out for the other guard to see.

 

After looking at it momentarily, the other guard then stated, "That's not a grenade; its just a black stone."

 

"Well, it's your loss then," Jeez stated calmly as he kept the object extended outwards. "It is such a fascinating little device. Its too bad that I don't have time to explain how it works to you blokes."

 

Then, Jeez calmly let the object slip out of his hand. The object moved almost in slow motion as a look of horror filled the face of one guard while a look of mere confusion lit up the other guard's face. As the object hit the ground, Jeez quickly closed his eyes as the object seemed to deform at a certain point and then rapidly expand outwards in a massive, noiseless flash.

 

Several minutes later, the two guards slowly began to stir on the ground. "I feel like I've got the worst hangover on record," one of them commented.

 

"Eh, so do I. What the heck happened??" the other one asked. In the small hallway, it appeared that nothing had moved in the least bit. Getting to their feet, it was rather apparent that the only things that had been disturbed at all was merely themselves.

 

"I'm not sure, but whatever it was, I don't want this reported. You know how frisky the doctors like to get with lazy employees," the first one stated.

 

"Yeah, I know," the other one replied with a slight shudder as he remembered what had happened to a former colleague of his. "No reports on this."

_____________

 

As Jeez descended the stairs, he reached outwards with the Force to gauge if the security measures had been taken down. Sure enough, the security systems seemed to be feeding false information to the main system. Nodding his head in approval, Jeez moved quickly to meet the women at the elevator after they had taken care of the ysalimiri.

[JasraLantill]

“Ok, c’mon,” Beryl said to Sam. “Let’s get to work. Grab that cart.”

 

Sam grinned. “I love it when you’re forceful and commanding,” she said with a wry grin. “Makes me feel special.”

 

Beryl couldn’t help but smile as she waited for Sam to retrieve a laundry cart. “You just keep trying, don’t you?”

 

“Try, try, and try again,” Sam replied as she began to push the cart down the aisle between the washing machines and hot dryers and the automaton prisoners that were running them. “That’s me all over, sweetie. I still have hope that one day, you and me can....”

 

“Hey!” One of the guards on the steel-grated catwalk shouted down to them. “You two! No talking! Just get to work!”

 

Beryl glared up at him. She sorely wanted to say something in retort, but she held back and bit her lip. Now was not the time to cause any trouble. She nodded to Sam and the pair of them headed off to the storage racks.

 

They checked the display to see what they needed, then scanned it all in just as they had the day before. But just as they were going to head towards the elevator, Sam swiped an extra bed sheet from the stacks and laid it on the top of the cart's handles. She winked at Beryl, but said nothing.

 

As they entered the elevator, the extra sheet ‘slipped’ off, with a careful nudge from Sam, and the door closed on it, catching it in the crack between the car and the shaft. The elevator began to rise, then began to jerk erratically. Sam hit the emergency stop button. An alarm clanged and the elevator stopped abruptly.

 

“Oh dear,” Sam said deadpan and monotone. “I think our elevator is jammed.” She flashed a quick grin. “We had better check to see if we can get out through the emergency hatch, just in case.”

 

“Good thinking, Sam,” Beryl replied in kind, amused at Sam’s ‘bad acting’. She looked down at her boot. “Uh oh. My boot laces are loose. Better tie them before I trip on them.” She knelt down, not to tie up laces but to extract the vial of poisonous viper kinrath venom from inside her boot. “You got the syringe?” she whispered up to Sam.

 

Sam nodded. Balancing herself on one leg, she raised her foot and then twisted the heel of her boot. It slid open to reveal a secret compartment from which she discretely removed a syringe.

 

Beryl stared at Sam’s boots in amazement. “Genesis boots?” She took a second look at them. Sure enough, the boots Sam was wearing were Genesis brand boots—a company that specialised mostly in gimmicks, gadgets and toys that were popular with the under-20 crowd in Corellia, one of which were their ‘Spy Boots’ complete with secret compartments in the heels.

 

Sam grinned as she secretly passed Beryl the syringe. “Careful,” she whispered. “There might still be residual poison on it from lacing the rats.”

 

Beryl nodded. “I always wanted a pair of those when I was in school,” she said longingly, still staring at the boots. “But they were contraband items.” She snorted as she looked up to study the elevator’s emergency hatch. “And I was always in enough trouble as it was without harbouring contraband.”

 

“Well, get a pair when you get out of here,” Sam said. “And you’d better hurry up, sweetie.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “It won’t take long for the maintenance droids to fix that door.” She knitted her fingers together and held out her hands to make a step. “I’ll give you a leg up, beautiful,” she said, with a wink and a smile.

 

Beryl took Sam’s offer of help, and in a moment, she had the hatch levers released and had climbed up through the hole onto the top of the car. The shaft was poorly lit, the only real light being what was coming out of the elevator hatch and a few small maintenance lights in the shaft, but as she had guessed there was a hidden space here between the floors—and the Ysalamiri. “Kriffin’ hell….”

 

“What?” Sam peered upwards, straining to see Beryl. “You okay?”

 

Through the dim light Beryl could see them, smallish, brown furry creatures confined in small cages uniformly spaced about three meters apart. And the rows of cages went on as far as she could see. “There’s hundreds of them,” she called softly down to Sam.

 

“What?”

 

There was a clattering sound from the other side of the elevator door, and then a mechanical voice came over the elevator’s intercom. “A mechanical obstruction has been detected. Estimated time of repair is three minutes. Please wait patiently until service is restored.”

 

Sam rolled her eyes. “They said it’ll be fixed in three minutes,” she called up to Beryl, to let her know she was short on time. Then, just in case they were being watched and listened to in the elevator, she added, “Better just get back here. What? What do you mean you’re stuck?”

 

Beryl couldn’t help but grin at Sam’s dramatics, but her grin soon faded. She needed to kill as many Ysalamiri as she could, and she couldn’t kill many one by one in three minutes. And with the creatures alive, there would be no possible way to use the Force, and therefore no hope to rescue Ryshana.

 

And then she saw it—an innocuous looking plumbing pump. As Beryl’s eyes followed the pipes and conduits that criss-crossed the crawlspace, she saw that they intersected each of the animals’ cages. And it appeared that this elaborate pipe system wasn’t to carry away waste products, but to bring liquid nourishment to the animals. She had planned to inject in the individual animals, but now… her plans had changed.

 

She gingerly stepped up the maintenance ladder at the side of the shaft to where the pump was, then carefully filled the syringe with the poison. The thin needle easily slid through the soft gasket in the main body of the pump, and she slowly depressed the plunger, injecting the viper kinrath poison into the entire system.

 

As the creatures nearest to her began to quickly die, she could sense the Force starting to flow through her again. She let out a sad sigh. She could sense the creatures dying now too, and it was an odd and disconcerting feeling. But, she reasoned, killing the Ysalamiri was an act of mercy—the creatures couldn’t have possibly been contented being drip-fed soluble nutrients while cooped up in tiny cages in a dark space several hundred meters underground in an Imperial prison.

 

Beryl quickly returned to the elevator car, and with Sam’s help, replaced the hatch cover. Just in time, too—the elevator started moving again.

 

“Well, that was good timing,” Sam commented. “So? How many did you kill?” she whispered.

 

Beryl inhaled deeply. She could feel the Force flowing through her again, and it felt good. Calming. And energising. “All of them,” she whispered back.

 

The elevator stopped, and the door opened to reveal Jeez. Beryl and Sam stepped out, pushing the laundry cart in front of them.

 

“Hi, boss,” Beryl greeted him, smiling broadly. “Ready to do some ‘collecting’?”

[starmark2k]

((OCC: I just realised that I still have most of day four and all of five to fill on the hidden station and I only have two small things that I need to get out of the way before the rescue. So If I do a lot of posts that seem pointless this is the reason.))

 

Nic walked through the quiet station trying to stay out of Reibe and Carmen’s way. Normally at times like this when he had nothing to do but wait he would have played a game of cards with Beryl to pass the time. He found himself missing the Corellian firecracker, she had a joyful presence that seemed always cheered him up when ever he felt down.

 

The Captain hoped that that both Beryl and Ryshana were safe on the planet and the Jedi had found whatever she went to that hellhole for. He considered both women his friends now and still had his doubts about the plan they had devised, so much could go wrong, but how would that have been different from any other job they’ve taken.

 

With the exception of his brief encounter with Jana tied up and when he bumped into jack on his way to change his clothes after threatening Reibe, he had little contact with his crew or anyone all day. The station was quite large and Nic remembered all the secluded spots onboard from his time working as Carmen’s bodyguard.

[JasraLantill]

((OOC: Well, Starmark, to that end I'll do a post for Cloud and Oliver. Maybe Nic can commiserate with them, eh? ))

 

In one of the small recreation rooms just off the hanger bay in Carmen's space station, Cloud slumped down against the couch. He let out a long sigh, then tossed a Pazaak card in the direction of an upturned helmet on the floor a metre and a half away from him.

 

"You missed," said Oliver, who was sitting beside him. "Again. My turn."

 

"Yeah, well...this is sort of boring. Besides, you're the one who said you'd given up gambling." Cloud sighed again, a mixture of depression and boredom. "We could be playing an actual game."

 

"I never said I'd given up gambling. And we are playing a game. Person who gets the card in the hat, erm... helmet, wins all of the other cards that missed." Oliver tossed a card towards the helmet. He missed the target again, too. "But I never said I was giving up gambling. I said that I wasn't ever gambling again with Beryl. She cheats. Your turn."

 

"She said she wasn't cheating on purpose," Cloud said. He tossed a card. It missed again. "And she apologised for it, and she gave you back your money. She was just using the Force and didn't know it. Your go."

 

"You use the Force and you don't use it to cheat," Oliver said. He flung another card. It skimmed the helmet but still missed going inside, and he cringed. "Drat. Nearly had that one."

 

"I could use the Force if I wanted to and you'd never know it," Cloud said. He tossed another playing card, missing again.

 

"Yeah, but you won't," said Oliver. "'Cause that would be cheating." He flung another card. "Missed again, but close. Your turn."

 

Cloud tossed his card, missing by a mile. "So, if Nic or Jack shows up, you'd be up for a real game of Pazzak?"

 

"Yeah." Oliver flung his card, and this time the card nearly went in, teetering on the edge before falling to the floor. Oliver sank down further in his seat. "Sure. I'd play."

 

"I think Nic has a thing for that Carmen," Cloud commented out of the blue, as he tossed another card. "I saw him sneaking down the corridor this morning towards the hanger, and he was still wearing the same clothes from last night."

 

"Really?" Oliver tossed his card, missing the helmet entirely this time. "That's not like Nic, is it?"

 

Cloud shrugged. "Who's to say?" His thoughts drifted to Aerith for a moment. What he wouldn't give to still have her here. She'd have found out what Nic and Carmen were up to. "Just don't tell Jana. She might flip out." He half-heartedly tossed his card and it fell way short of the mark.

 

"Oh, I don't know about that," Oliver said, taking more careful aim this time. "Jana seemed rather calm yesterday. Weird, but calm." He launched his card, and this time, it landed inside the helmet. He raised his arm in victory, then sat up to go and collect his 'winnings'.

 

"Weird is right," Cloud said. "It was almost as if she wasn't really our Jana. Wonder if that Reibe had anything to do with that?"

 

Oliver shrugged as he gathered his Pazzak cards into a neat stack. "Wanna play again?"

 

Cloud shrugged. "I should go and check on those thermo-couplers I installed the other day. And still have to make a sweep for conduit worms. Beryl was supposed to do that, but...." His voice trailed off. "Sure, why not. You won, you go first."

 

Oliver sat down again and the two started playing again.

[stingerhs]

“Hi, boss,” Beryl greeted him, smiling broadly. “Ready to do some ‘collecting’?”

"She'll be the one collecting the laundry," Jeez stated as he nodded at Sam. "You, on the other hand, will be needing these."

 

With that, he tossed a set if binders to Beryl. He also reached up and placed a new number patch over the previous one on her chest which changed her prisoner number to "100273489". "Its time to transfer prisoner 100273489 from General Population to Secure Testing Facilty Level 5 Section 184," Jeez stated with a bit of a smile.

[JasraLantill]

Catching the binders, Beryl stared at them for a second. Oh great... not again, she thought. She didn't really care if Jeez picked up that she was unhappy wearing binders again, but she didn't want Sam to know.

 

Reaching into her top pocket, she pulled out the tracking chip Conn had removed from her arm. "Here," she said, holding it out to Sam. "You can take 'me' along with you on your rounds."

 

Sam tucked the chip inside her top pocket, then patted it. "I'll keep you close to my heart, sweetie," she replied with a cheesy grin. But then her expression grew more serious. "Be careful, 'k?"

 

Beryl nodded. She gave Jeez an unsure look before sliding on one of the binders, but before she secured it, she reached into her boot and withdrew her Sabbac 'deck'. "Just a second," she said to Jeez, and then she pushed the button on the deck and spoke into it. "Ok, Conn, we're in and I'm on my way up to Level 5 to get my friend. Just don't be sending me messages unless it's really, really urgent. I may not be in a position to answer. You know... binders and all," she added quickly. "B, out."

 

She tucked the deck securely back inside her boot, then fastened the first binder around her wrist. "You can get these off later, right?" she asked Jeez, who merely grinned engimatically.

 

Getting no definitive answer from the Jedi, but still feeling she could trust him, she secured the other binder. She didn't like being trussed up, but she'd bear it if it was a means to an end in freeing Ryshana.

 

"So, Secure Testing Facility, huh?" Beryl asked him as they left Sam to do the laundry rounds on her own. "What exactly do they 'test' there?"

[stingerhs]

"Its a fancy and more polite way of saying "Test Subject Mutilation Facility". Its where Twerna and the other doctors here perform experiments on live humanoid subjects. I haven't seen much of it, but it was not a place that I like to remember," Jeez stated. Realizing that he didn't need the Force Replicator anymore, Jeez reached behind him and pulled it off his belt.

 

Using the Force, Jeez twisted out the screws and removed the outer panel. Stopping for a moment, Jeez played around with the board for a moment and then replaced the panel once again. Looking over at the confused Beryl, Jeez then stated, "If you remember, there is a tracking device in this little box. I was making it so that the tracking device was still active, but the other parts are no longer functional."

 

Realizing that Beryl was unsure about a possible tracking device, Jeez then commented, "Don't worry about the tracking device. It only transmits that I'm using the device. It doesn't actually give away my position."

 

Looking down the hallway, Jeez then stated, "Alright, lets keep moving. The secure elevator for Level 5 is down this way." Looking over at Beryl, he then stated, "Remember, you're supposed to be my prisoner. Make sure that you understand that role. Given you background, though, I don't think that will be a problem." The last part, he stated with a slight smile curling around his face.

 

"Oh, there are some things that they shouldn't know about," he stated. "One of thing is this," he said as he held up a very small chip. "Hide this in your mouth, and when you're ready to undo those binders, all you have to do is to break the chip. The chip will release a signal that will undo the binders.

 

Another thing that they shouldn't know about is this," Jeez said as he removed a small lightsaber from under his robes. "Where do you want me to put it?"

[JasraLantill]

Beryl nearly choked on the binder-release chip Jeez she was placing in her mouth. "That's for me?" she asked, dumbfounded. She was a bit surprised that Jeez would give her a lightsaber to use instead of a blaster. Lightsabers were strictly a Jedi's weapon, and she wasn't anywhere close to being one. And she recalled having 'played around with' Ryshana's lightsaber once on the Echo--and slicing through one of the stairs on the ladder to the hanger bay in the process.

 

"I... erm... I don't know what to say, but thanks," she said to Jeez. "I suppose you can stash it in my left boot," she said to Jeez. "Just take out that poison vial first though. And," she added slowly, "just so you know, I'm not very proficient with those things yet." Beryl cringed. She hated to admit her failures. "The last time I used one, I sliced though a step on a ladder."

[stingerhs]

"Hmm, then perhaps it would be wiser to give you this," Jeez stated as he removed a hold out blaster from a hidden compartment in his shoe. "This one is different from the one you used last time. Besides, if you fire it this time, it will be against unarmored humans and not thick-skinned reptilians."

 

Reaching down carefully in order to protect Beryl's modesty, Jeez hid the small blaster inside her boot and then returned the small lightsaber to his belt. Heh, besides, what would I need a blaster for?? Jeez mused to himself.

 

"Well, lets get moving," Jeez stated as his face suddenly became very serious. He then gingerly grabbed Beryl's left arm and led her down the hallway. A short while later, Jeez and Beryl turned another corner and saw an elevator at the end of the hall. In front of the elevator was a security checkpoint with four armed guards.

 

"Wait for my signal, and don't be afraid to get into character," Jeez stated very softly without shifting his focus away from the checkpoint. "And, if at all possible, don't kill them."

[JasraLantill]

Beryl nodded almost imperceptibly to Jeez's request. She felt better having a blaster instead of the lightsaber, but that didn't keep Beryl's heart from racing with excitement and anticipation as they approached the checkpoint. She desperately tried to focus on the Force to calm herself. She wasn't that familiar with Jeez's tactics and wasn't sure what he had in mind, but the 'if possible, don't kill them' told her to expect trouble.

 

Calm, calm, calm.... she thought to herself with every measured step towards the checkpoint. Keep your head together. Eyes sharp. Listen. Watch. But the adrenaline was already coursing through her veins, making it difficult for her not to be jumpy. But, she reasoned, she was supposed to be a prisoner being taken to a strange place. She should be jumpy, right? Besides, there were only four guards--that worked out to only two apiece, and they wouldn't be expecting any trouble. Well, shouldn't be. Well, at least shouldn't be expecting it from Jeez. They might be expecting trouble from her. Maybe. Breathe, Beryl, breathe! she told herself.

 

She rolled her tongue over the chip in her mouth, getting it ready to crunch between her teeth and release her binders if need be. Whatever Jeez had planned, she was as ready as she was ever going to be.

 

They were nearly at the checkpoint. Beryl gave Jeez a look that told him she was ready, although anyone else might have interpreted it as an angry glare.

[stingerhs]

Jeez picked up the glare and tried his best not to smile at her. Oh, this is definitely going to be good, Jeez thought to himself.

 

"Jeez! What are you doing up here, my old friend?" one of the men stated with a smile. Much to Beryl's surprise as she got closer, the man was clearly a former clone soldier minus the armor although she could tell that he was quite a bit older than most of the clones that were in the Empire's service.

 

"Good to see you, too Blue," Jeez stated with a smile. "How's work these days?"

 

"Ah, you know, same slumdudgery different day. You?"

 

"Nothin' new here except for this," Jeez stated as he gave Beryl a fairly rough nudge. "Got caught with more than her fair share of contraband, and it seems that the Imps decided that she was due to become another training dummy."

 

Shaking his head at Beryl, Blue replied, "Its a shame. She's a pretty fine specimen, too. Well, I guess some looks can indeed kill. What's her number?"

 

"100273489," Jeez replied slowly as Blue compared the number to a roster on a datapad.

 

"Ah yes, the orders came in this morning from the Colonel himself," Blue stated as he eyed up Beryl suspiciously. "My, my, you must've had some pretty extreme contraband for the Colonel to put his autoprint on the orders himself. I wonder if there wasn't something else that the Colonel just simply didn't mention in the orders, hmm?"

 

"Probably. You know how feisty some of them can get, especially the women," Jeez replied.

 

"Indeed. Well, I can take her from here, Jeez. Duty calls."

 

"No, Blue. The duty shall fall on me," Jeez commanded sternly. Blue then looked over at Jeez, and the grin that had been on his face was completely gone. Jeez's right hand then gingerly moved to the edge of his robes in case he needed his lightsaber. The other three guards had heard the statement and were also reaching for their blasters they had holstered on their belts.As Beryl looked on, she could see a hardly perceptible nod from Blue as he turned around to grab a datapad.

 

"Very well, Jeez. You can go on through. She's been assigned to Room Q793. If there's trouble, let me know," Blue replied as he applied his autoprint to the datapad. Jeez then relaxed somewhat as did the other guards. Looking up at Jeez, he passed Jeez the datapad and nodded his head in encouragement. Pressing a button on a panel, Blue called the elevator.

 

Taking the datapad, Jeez then pulled a reluctant Beryl towards the elevator. When they reached it, the doors slid open, and Jeez took Beryl inside. As the door closed, Jeez breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Well, its nice to know that Blue is still a trusted ally. Its fortunate for us that Twerna still hasn't been able to experiment on him," Jeez said to Beryl.

[starmark2k]

Nic walked into the ships cargo hold and over to a half open crate in the middle of the room, He looked into it and checked the contents before sealing it shut. He heard a noise behind him and looked around to see Reibe standing there, he frowned and decided to ignore her before going back to sealing the crate.

 

“You hate me Simon.” She announced.

 

“Wow your Jedi senses must be tingling.” Nic replied with more than a slight sarcasm.

 

“I find your reason a mystery.”

 

“What, are you Serious?” Nic asked confused. “Or are you forgetting that you killed me?”

 

“That’s not why you hate me.” The Sith hunter replied. “It’s because I saved your life and you want to die”.

 

“I don’t want to die?”

 

“Perhaps not, but you most certainly don’t want to live.”

 

“And what makes you think that?” Nic asked turning back around to sit on the crate he had just sealed.

 

“You your home and change your name, literally giving yourself a clean slate, a new life. Now you have choice, what to do with your life in the new imperial galaxy and you chose to be a mercenary…” Reibe began. “The most dangerous occupation at the time with the navy cracking down on all criminal elements. Unfortunately, at least from your point-of-view, you were good at it. So you continue doing it until you meet Carmen, You gamble with her, and bet your own life as it’s worthless to you. She then owns you for six months, which gave you a reason to live. But she falls for you and you know it, this gives you a purpose, someone who needs you that allows you to give up your need to die. Your time with her ends and you decide to go to Irodia where they just happen to be recruiting mercenaries for what was described as a suicide mission. You end up on Coruscant where you meet Jana and she needs rescuing, not from death but from the life she was living, and you do that. Then the time approached for you two to part ways and you want to die again. Your chance comes when I approach you and Jana wielding lightsabres, a foe you can’t defeat, You do as expected and make sure Jana can’t be hurt and then you prepare to die. That’s when I bring you back from the brink of death, I never felt so much anger in a being than at that moment. However I then give you what you needed a purpose a reason to live, protect the girl, and you have done an exceptional job at that… and it’s over, she doesn’t need protecting anymore, so soon you will die for your reason to live is gone.”

 

“Have you seen my end?” Nic asked seriously.

 

“No but, but you won’t return from your mission to your brothers ship.” Reibe foretold. “You just need an excuse.”

 

“And what will that be?” Nic asked returning to his sarcastic tone.

 

“Captain Raikellii has made a deal with Oliver… He will betray you and it will end in death.” She stated smiling like she had just given good news.

[JasraLantill]

"Well, its nice to know that Blue is still a trusted ally. Its fortunate for us that Twerna still hasn't been able to experiment on him," Jeez said to Beryl.

Beryl raised her brows giving him a dubious look, and for a moment, her trust in him was a bit shaken. "Trusted ally? But… he's a clone.”

 

She had two brothers who had fought in the clone wars. She had heard firsthand stories about the clones’ prowess and fearlessness in battle—suicidal missions, infiltrations, assassinations, never mind the extermination of the Jedi. Clones were loyal agents of the Empire. They couldn’t be trusted—ever.

 

"No one can trust clones. And being a Jedi, broken or not, I would think you’d have even more reason than most not to.” She gave him a concerned look, and added softly, “Even if that clone didn’t have a spring jack in his head....”

 

She frowned then. “And what did you mean by ‘training dummy?’” she asked brazenly. “Training dummy for what?”

[steven]

Jack was messing around with the Echo's security camera while everyone else was busy with whatever. From his messing around he saw Nic appearing wearing the same clothes Jack last saw him with, Jack smiled and said to himself "Oh I wonder what you've been up to Nicholas." Jack then continued to mess around with the computers untill a message box came up, indicating that he had a message. He read it "This was sent a week ago, strange it's only now got here, probabbly problem in the comm-systems, gotta talk to Cloud about that." he muttered to himself before reading.

[stingerhs]

Beryl raised her brows giving him a dubious look, and for a moment, her trust in him was a bit shaken. "Trusted ally? But… he's a clone.”

 

She had two brothers who had fought in the clone wars. She had heard firsthand stories about the clones’ prowess and fearlessness in battle—suicidal missions, infiltrations, assassinations, never mind the extermination of the Jedi. Clones were loyal agents of the Empire. They couldn’t be trusted—ever.

 

"No one can trust clones. And being a Jedi, broken or not, I would think you’d have even more reason than most not to.” She gave him a concerned look, and added softly, “Even if that clone didn’t have a spring jack in his head....”

"Actually, Blue isn't a clone like the rest of the Emperor's goons. He is a clone, yes, but he's a much closer copy to the original man then your standard Clone Trooper. You see, if you know anything about the various types of clones that fought in the war, you'll know that you had the basic Trooper, the Commanders, the ARC Troopers, and then the Commandos. Blue was a Commando with Stingray Squad; the same squad that I served with throughout the Clone Wars," Jeez responded. "And the entire squad proved their comradeship to Ryshana and myself whenever 66 was given as well as the firefight against other Clone Troopers to help us escape. I have many reasons to trust him, and you should as well."

 

Pausing for a moment, Jeez sighed to himself. Why was this woman so wary of him?? Didn't Ryshana tell her about him??

She frowned then. “And what did you mean by ‘training dummy?’” she asked brazenly. “Training dummy for what?”

"Its a term that we use for the prisoners that are assigned for melee combat practice against the Jedi Twerna controls. The fights between the prisoners and the Jedi are always to the death, and I've yet to hear of a fight that one of the Jedi lost," Jeez replied with a degree of reservation as he remembered something that Twerna had forced him to do.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl blanched. "Oh." She didn't say anything for a moment or two. Had Jeez participated in this 'prisoner combat'? Is that why he classed himself as a 'broken Jedi'? And was she already too late to save Ryshana from getting one of those things implanted in her head? Was this Dr. Twerna controlling her like Jeez said he controlled the other Jedi? She swallowed hard, her confidence in completing this mission ebbing away.

 

"So... is it your plan for me to face Ryshana in combat?" she asked quietly. "Is that how you plan to get her out?"