Mercenary Crew: Bounty Hunters: Jewels of the Core

[Corinthian]

Kadis nodded at Arelyn. She had a good point. Not surprising, from where he was sitting, Arelyn seemed like she had the best head of the crew. "I wasn't suggesting we just had Jewel a stack of thousand-credit chits. If we want to go for that generic sleazy criminal feel, we get a bunch of stacks of credits together in a nice-sized black briefcase, show it to her, and then demand to see her crew before she gets the first payment. After that, it's a fairly simple matter of dragging out the negotiations."

 

He ran some thoughts through his head. She was right about information. Unfortunately, he didn't know of any decent contacts unless they wanted to start dealing with Black Sun or the Hutts and that's a kettle of fish he'd be happier keeping his hands out of. I think I mangled that metaphor...

 

Then, naturally, Raelyn had some kind of loony fit. Not really surprising...she's not exactly mentally stable from what I've seen. She probably heard that, too. Ever since they had learned she was 'telepathic', he'd been uncomfortable. Might have something to do with not being alone with his thoughts.

 

The alien left the room, apparently in a rather sour mood, but that was hard to read. Duros always seemed to look mournful, who knew with Cathar. Better off sticking with humans, at least you usually don't have to worry about some of them having extra senses or an eye in the back of their heads.

[Writer]

((Joint post with BKK... and we do apologize for just exactly how long it got ))

 

 

Raelyn entered the kitchen not long after Jhamrok left the holo up for anyone to see. She recognized the photo immediately. That was the man whose life was taken in place of her brother. Forcing herself to remain emotionless, she sat at the table, staring at the picture.

 

"Someone you know?" she asked the Cathar hunter.

 

Jhamrok turned to see Raelyn as she questioned the picture of the reported Aidan West. Silently the Cathar nodded before glancing at the photo.

 

"Not necessarily know. An old bounty I traced for some time" he said before smirking and having his nose twitch as if to gain the scent of the man back.

 

"Something brough this bounty back to me here on the ship, yet I'm not sure of it. The data reads that the bounty has been captured and terminated," Jhamrok noted before glancing back at Raelyn with a curious twinkle in his clear blue eye. "Why?"

 

Thoughts of the comparison between the scent of 'Aidan West' and 'Colin Lark' drifted out to Raelyn from Jhamrok's mind and she shook her head.

 

"No real reason," she answered. "Just trying to make conversation..." She smiled faintly. "It's something Cole tells me I'm a bit... challenged by."

 

"Right..." Jhamrok noted, grabbing the holopad and shutting it off before dismantling the added pieces from the standard holopad. His swift hands, covered in a white fur and dark tiger-like stripes, placed the pieces back to where they came from before the Hunter stood up and walked to check the kitchen for anything he might find enjoyable to drink.

 

"So, Cole, the doctor, is your brother? Where did he educate himself as a doctor?"

 

Raelyn shrugged. "Sone big-name med school on Coruscant," she answered. Beaming, she added, "He's a genius, Cole is."

 

Jhamrok glanced over at Raelyn and shook his head. "How's that?"

 

"How is he a genius?" Raelyn asked. "Graduated top of his class, had a very comfortable private practice job for a while... people liked him. He knows doctoring very well. Very well."

 

"Does he now?" Jhamrok noted and raised an eyebrow as his hand grabbed a drink from what could be called the fridge of the ship. His claw sank into the metal, twisting it before puncturing the top so that the delicious drink inside the can could get out. "So he would've heard of a certain Aidan West, then? Might be even friendly with him?" he noted before smirking slightly.

 

Raelyn laughed. "I'll admit I've heard the name before. Not in a good way, though... I didn't get the feeling Cole liked Aidan that much..."

 

"Then you have probably heard of his sister too. She would be about the same age as you. Some reliable sources say she's a telepath," Jhamrok noted with a grin. You didn't need to be a mind reader to see what he was trying to do.

 

Raelyn didn't blink. "Met her once, I think," she said. "That's fascinating, really... about the telepathy... I didn't notice."

 

"Truly... I have found out that telepaths can be confused by strong thoughts and natural instincts," Jhamrok noted and grinned, placing the can on the table as he approached Raelyn, pushing her towards the wall of the kitchen.

 

"Results vary from serious migraine to stammering speech and unusual body movements," he continued with a slight growl and took a deep breath in an attempt to take in a scent he might recognize.

 

Raelyn growled in return, looking about ready to give him a fight. Instead, she said, "I've heard that as well." And after a brief pause, she inquired mockingly, "Smell anything you like?"

 

"Rather low quality perfume, human sweat..." Jhamrok told her before suddenly scratching her hand with his claw, thus taking a small amount of her skin and possibly blood with his claw to his nose, sniffing it.

 

"Hmm... This is a familiar scent," Jhamrok told her with a wide grin, staring her into her eyes. "Kiffar... Human... Hapan... You're of mixed blood. Either one of very few natural mix-bloods or a test tube child."

 

"You missed a few mentions in the mix," Raelyn told him, her eyes and her voice going sharp. Then, she pushed, forcing him backward with a much stronger shove than someone her size should be able to give.

 

"What do you want?" she growled softly, taking a single step back from him now that they were both away from the wall. Jhamrok stood straight after he recovered from her push, only a few very willing steps away from the woman. The Cathar growled one single name, softly yet powerfully enough to have a cityboy with a weak mind soil his pants.

 

"Katrine West."

 

"What do you want?" she repeated, not in the least bit intimidated. Rather suddenly, the bounty hunter burst out in a deep, whole-hearted laughter. He was rather joyous of the closure and once he managed to suppress the laughter, the Cathar grabbed his drink once more.

 

"Only closure. Nothing more. Like I said, an old bounty. An old Imperial bounty," he answered her, spitting out the word 'Imperial' like it tasted disgusting to have come from his mouth.

 

Kate was caught off guard by his casual dismissal of the present situation. "You... what?" she exclaimed. Frowning suspiciously, she prodded his mind and wondered, "After discerning the truth, I'd have thought you'd be considering a mention to Tannis and turning us in..."

 

"The bounty is settled. I dropped the bounty long ago," Jhamrok noted as he sat down to drink his refreshment before it got warm. "The reasons are mine, so don't be prodding, Katrine," the Cathar noted and flexed his neck muscles with a pop or two from them.

 

Kate withdrew from his mind. "Sorry... nervous habit." She smiled faintly. "You know, I had thought through a pretty convincing argument against you talking to Tannis about this... about how it's pointless to try collecting on us since the Empire already thinks we're dead..." As an afterthought, she added, "... not to mention I'm sure you know better than I how anti-alien they are... they'd dismiss you for being out of your mind." She grinned and tapped her own nose. "But the nose knows better than the eyes. You've taught me a lesson. I can change what they think they saw... maybe I'll have to look into what they think they smell, too..."

 

"I'm a predator, not just a hunter like the rest of them out there. A predator never forgets nor ever leaves his guard. It is of pure coincidence I myself managed to find you," Jhamrok noted with a grin. "Your secret is safe with me. You have my word. And the word of a Cathar is honorable."

 

Kate smiled fully now. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "I'll leave you to your drink." And with that, she bowed respectfully to him and departed.

[JasraLantill]

((A bit of jp, with Niner.)

 

"You did have a good thought, though. To get them interested in us, we'll probably have to go through a bit of subterfuge. Before that, however, we need to find out as much as we can about them, without alerting them, of course. If we just start asking around about a bunch of beautiful jewel thieves, word is bound to get to them at some point and they'd be on alert, which isn't what we want. Alec," Arelyn said, addressing the captain, "do you know of any trustworthy information brokers that we might get in contact with?"

 

Instead of responding, Alec had looked at Jyot. Then grinned slyly while he stared at him.

 

Jyot stared back blankly. "What?" Then after a moment, a spark lit up in his eye. "O-oh," he said slowly. "Is that one of those 'you-got-us-the-job-so-you-figure-out-how-to-catch-the-quarry' sort of looks?"

 

"That's the one."

 

Jyot nodded. "Ok, information brokers...," he said, thinking out loud. "Well,...." He cleared his throat. "I do know of someone," he said hesitantly. "She's not so much an information 'broker', so to speak, but she's got some big connections in the jewel industry—-from the mining to the final cut. I..., erm..., I mean, we might be able to convince her to give us some insider information on the Sisters. Or at the very least have her point out to us a potential target they might be interested in." He gave his friend Latch a worried sort look. "If she'll talk to me, that is."

 

"Oh, no. Not...." Latch laughed out loud. "Not ...DINA!"

 

"Hey, it's been a long time," Jyot reasoned. "She's probably married with a dozen younglings by now. Forgotten all about that little 'misunderstanding' we had."

 

Latch laughed even louder.

 

"Hey, it was a completely honest mistake!" Jyot said defensively. "I mean, when she told me we had a 'dinner engagement' with her family that night, I didn't know she meant an 'engagement dinner'. And certainly not ours!" He shivered. The very thought of marriage was just too distasteful for him. "Like I said, she's probably married with a family of her own now, and will have forgotten all about it."

 

"And if she hasn't?" Latch asked, still smiling.

 

"Then... I'll have to think of someone else to ask for information." Jyot rose. "I'll be right back. Might as well try to contact her on the HoloNet first. That way, at least she can’t slap me," he added under his breath.

 

While Jhamrok and Raelyn were away in the kitchen, Jyot left and headed to the bridge. After a few minutes, he returned to the common room, but he didn't look all that pleased.

 

"Lemme guess," Latch said. "She's not helping."

 

"No, she's helping us," Jyot said, but sounding a bit unsure. "At least, she said she would. But... we have to...." He paused. "I have to meet with her first at her dad's mine. On Arkania. In person.” He swallowed hard. “And she told me to come alone.”

 

"Hmm, I'm not so sure Dina has a simple and pleasant tete-a-tete in mind, Jyot," Latch said.

 

"Yeah, well as long as what she does have in mind doesn't involve vows, signatures, or family dinners, I think I'll be alright." He looked at Alec. "So, Cap'n, is it 'Arkania here we come', or, after all that hard thought, did you have something else in mind for us to find these 'Sisters?'"

[starmark2k]

Alec Thought for a few moments then back up at Jyot. “OK we’ll play it your way, but all information and plans from now on have to go through me.” The captain turned and looked over at Kadis. “Iceman set a course for Arkania. Get us there ASAP, but avoid all imperial patrols and stations.” He then looked around as the rest of the group. “Everyone else is either going to help research the ladies in question or get prepped for battle, we’re going to need both for this job.”

[Corinthian]

"Ooookay, Boss."

 

Kadis stood and headed for the Bridge. Tannis had made his decision, even though this trip was likely to get Jyot killed. Meeting a spurned lover at a mine on some backwater desolate hellhole? What the hell was Arkania, anyway?

 

He settled into the pilot's chair and ran a checklist, idly wishing he had a cybernetic interface so he could patch into the Imperial Information Database. Ah, well, they had a long trip ahead of them, most likely.

 

He punched a few keys, bringing up the communications. "A-Twelve-Seventy-Six, this is the Scimitar, requesting authorization to depart the station."

 

A mechanical voice returned a moment later. "Scimitar, you are authorized to depart. Good journey."

 

Kadis activated the repulsorlifts, bringing the craft up off the hangar bay floor and spinning it, bringing them around to face the magcon field. He floored the thrusters, sending a backwash of blue fire as they cleared the bay. Iceman brought up the Navicomputer, opening a silent uplink to the station so he could pull the coordinates and almanac data of Arkania off their database. Bit of a long journey, from the Outer Rim to the Colonies...

 

He brought up a jump plotter. A four-way jump should be enough to get them past any Imperial patrols. Sticking to strictly Deep Space jumps would make avoiding them easier, but it'd take weeks to get to Arkania by that path. If he took the Corellian Trade Spine via the Ison Corridor, then took a quick jump towards Corellia, headed down the Corellian Run towards Nubia, then headed from there into the slice straight at Arkania...

 

He punched in the coordinates to the Navicomp and settled back. It'd be a minute or two before it finished the precise direction and speed calculations that would get them through or past the various stellar dangers in the area. He pressed the intercom.

 

"Captain, course is plotted. I can jump on your signal."

 

While he waited for a response from the Captain, he plugge his datapad into the ship's computer and downloaded the information he had pulled off A-12-76 into it, then proceeded to look at Arkania.

 

Dismay filled him.

 

It wasn't the fact that the place was for the most part a barren tundra wasteland where it would be a fairly simple factor to put a blaster bolt into Jyot and leave him dying on the cold wastes where it'd be weeks before anyone would find him. That's bad, but...another ice world? Where are we headed to next? The Hoth system?

 

Wait a minute...Diamond mines? Oh, no.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The ship shook to life, a low rumbling noise echoing through the hull as the thrusters pushed the ship out of the hangar of the space station. The Cathar had been through the feeling too many times to take any notice of it except for a mental one not to try to go outside of the ship without proper equipment. As he finished his drink, he kept glancing at the bag with him. To mend his armor, the hunter would require tools. Tools he would more than likely find in the cargo hold that also had a slice of it converted into a hangar for the Z-95 Headhunter.

 

Jhamrok threw the empty can into the trash before picking up his bag and leaving for the cargo hold. As he entered it, the place was quiet. The low hum of the engines and the beeps and whistles of the computers and droids were the only things filled the air. It was definitely not the same ship he had served on all that time ago. With what resembled a sigh, Jhamrok walked around the cargo hold, seeking for the tools he needed and any scrap he could use in the mending process. Once he found the tools and enough of scrap metal, he began his little project of mending the armor he had worn so many times on missions across the galaxy and back again. The armor was a hue of blood red with golden trims and a a golden lamba sign on the chest. The helmet was shaped after the head of a Kiltik and was littered with the same symbol over and over again. A symbol marking each killed Kiltik Jhamrok had killed during his Blood Hunt.

 

The large feline creature sat silently reminiscing while the tools in his hands made miracles happen to his armor. Not only did a pile of half-exploded armor and a pile of scrap metal once again form a recognizable armor, but it also seemed to work like it should as soon as Jhamrok changed the power source. All the Cathar would need after finishing the shaping of the armor was the blood red and gold paint that had covered his armor before.

[starmark2k]

Alec left the Common room and decided to go straight to his cabin and get some more rest from all the stress he had undergone the past few days. As he entered the intercom blared as Kadis announced the ship was ready to go.

 

“Get us going.” The captain ordered pressing the intercom button and releasing it right after.

 

Alec collapsed on too his bed looking up at the ceiling and then slowly closed his eyes hoping to sleep the whole journey to Arkania

 

“Well this is interesting.” The Jedi appeared no sooner than his eyelids had fell.

 

Tanis opened his eyes and looked over to his right where the Zabrak appeared to be sitting on a chair by his console. “So, You’re back.” He said with venom in his tone.

[Corinthian]

"Right, boss."

 

He slammed the Hyperdrive ignition forward. The Scimitar lurched forward, stars turning into starlines before vanishing into the mottled blue-white of Hyperspace.

 

A feeling of tranquility ran over Kadis. Hyperspace was the ultimate safe place. You couldn't be harmed here, unless you had a faulty navicomputer or a suicidal navigator. Fortunately, as far as he could tell, the diagnostic system was up to spec, and the navigator checked out on the diagnostic. So he got to sit back, relax, and hope that Zip didn't find a loophole in his programming and jab him just for kicks.

 

He pulled up the information on Arkania again. It was pretty ugly, an icecube floating in the middle of the Colonies, populated with a fairly nasty people with a reputation for genetic engineering. Charming. This spot only falls slightly behind Tatooine and Bryndar on terms of 'Worlds where you can commit murder and never even have his death be reported.'

 

He had a hard time believing that Tannis was really going to send Jyot alone to meet one of his spurned lovers for information, about a group of beautiful thieves, no less. Talk about the ultimate insult. If he gets shot, I don't think I'll blame the woman.

 

That brought him to another line of questions. A Diamond-mining world, for information on a group of jewel thieves? It could be a coincidence, true, but it was naturally better to be suspicious than to be dead.

 

He settled back and began thinking. If Ellie took her Headhunter and sat a few klicks away from the meeting site, that craft could pull together enough speed to get her there pretty quickly, so as long as Jyot's girlfriend didn't open up the meeting with a blaster-bolt to the face, they should be okay. They'd need to bug Jyot, too. Having Latch or Arelyn, or maybe both, set up sniping positions might be a good move, too. Kadis ran the plan over in his head, but until they got to Arkania, it really didn't matter, and they had a pretty long trip to go.

[Writer]

"Undesignated bounty Colin Lark, I need to have a word with you."

 

The young doctor looked up as Zip sped into the infirmary. "Yes? What is it?"

 

"I have spent some time going over the records on you and your sister in the Galactic databanks," the droid stated. "In the process, I have discovered a few abnormalities even most droids would not catch. These abnormalities indicate that your records were tampered with. Furthermore, they indicate your records were altered by someone specific."

 

"And who is that?" Colin demanded coolly as his right hand casually slipped into his bag.

 

"Bounty 196409," Zip replied. "Known to the galaxy as Casey Vale, the Galaxy Hacker."

 

"You're a clever one, Zip," Colin said softly. "Too clever. I'm sorry, this is going to hurt..."

 

As Colin's hand came out of his bag, Zip attempted to retreat, but the door slid shut behind him. Colin tossed a tiny device, which immediately latched onto Zip, and hacked into his memory storage, shutting him off in the process. The little droid crashed to the ground and in a matter of moments, all it remembered about the event was that it had been attempting to investigate the contents of Colin Lark's bag, and Colin had retaliated.

 

"What have you done?" Raelyn cried, opening the door.

 

"He was getting too close," Colin answered softly. "He exposed Casey's edits."

 

"A bit odd he spoke to you first, don't you think?" Raelyn demanded. She lifted the little droid into her arms and carried it out, using her telepathy to find Jyot.

 

"Hey," she said when she reached him. "Zip tried to get into Colin's bag. Cole zapped him, sorry. He'll be a bit disoriented when you switch him back on, but there won't be any permanent damage." She held the droid out to the mechanic.

[JasraLantill]

“Couldn’t pick a warm place to meet, could she?” Jyot complained to Latch as he took cold weather gear out of the locker in the common room. “I mean, we just put this stuff away!” He dragged out a pair of boots and stared at them. They were oversized, clunky, and heavily lined. “Not the most fashionable footwear, huh?” He looked up at his friend. “I do not want to die in these boots, Latch.”

 

Latch chuckled as he pulled out his balaclava. "I know you don't," he said. "You've often told me how you'd like to die and as I recall, it doesn't involve very many clothes at all."

 

Jyot gave his friend a deadpan look. “Yeah, and it didn’t involve ‘Dina’ either.” He shivered. “You know, I love women. I really do. But for her, I’d make an exception.” He looked at the boots again. “I don’t know why I agreed to meet her. She’s gonna kill me. Either her or her old man. I need a plan, Latch.”

 

"Don't worry, Jyot," Latch soothed. "We're not going to let you go into something like this without a plan." He placed his balaclava on top of his own set of winter gear. "Besides, maybe it is as you said. She's gotten over what happened and just wants to meet you and catch up. Maybe."

 

He sighed. “It’s Dina, remember? Not Catrine, or Una, or Tasha… Dina. The one I ‘stood up’ at the altar that I didn’t know was gonna be there. Dina.” Jyot let out a sad, hysterical sort of laugh. “Yeah…she’s gonna kill me.”

 

Just then, Jyot brightened. “Hey...! I have a great idea!” He picked up Latch’s balaclava. “No one can tell who you are when you’re wearing all this gear, right? So, you wear all this gear, and you go and meet Dina in my place. That way, she’ll think she’s meeting me, and she can’t possibly kill me.” He smiled broadly. “What do you think, huh?”

 

Latch arched an eyebrow at his fellow Corellian. "What, so I can get kidnapped or maimed or shot in your place? That's not quite tactically sound."

 

“Bah! Details, details…” Jyot crossed the room and sat down hard in the chair. He thought a moment, and then said, “Ok. I’ll meet her, but I need you to help me do some alterations to my cold weather gear. Specifically, to line it with armor.” He raised his brow. “Just hope she doesn’t want to meet me on thin ice. Armor's heavy.”

 

Just then, Raelyn walked into the common room.

 

"Hey," she said when she reached him. "Zip tried to get into Colin's bag. Cole zapped him, sorry. He'll be a bit disoriented when you switch him back on, but there won't be any permanent damage." She held the droid out to the mechanic.

 

“Thanks.” Jyot gave her an odd sort of look as he took the small droid from her. He flipped the droid over and examined it before sitting it down on the table. “Zapped him, huh?” He scratched his head. “Crazy droid….”

 

He was about to turn him on when an idea came to him. “Hey, Dina said to come alone, but she didn’t say I couldn’t bring a droid with me. A little reprogramming with a few lost journal entries and….” He grinned. “Oh, Latch, this is going to be good. Zip can save my two-timing, altar-skipping butt! If I program a few journal entries into his memory core—you know, things like how I was really upset about leaving her, and how I was completely ashamed about standing her up at the altar, all that mushy, sentimental stuff that girls like to hear… No offense, Raelyn,” he added quickly. “Then Dina couldn’t possibly want to do me any harm. Just have to remember not to overdo it though,” he added. “I don’t want to die, but I also don’t want to get married either. But surely she’d give us the information we need on where to find the Sisters.”

 

He looked at Latch. “What do you think?”

 

Latch rubbed his chin, contemplating Jyot's idea. "It might work," he said finally. "I just hope that you survive long enough for Dina to ask Zip about your 'rueful' journal entries. And that he doesn't try to zap her into oblivion."

 

“As long as he doesn’t zap me, everything will be copasetic.” Jyot set the droid down on the table. “I’m hungry.” His appetite had returned now that he had a game plan to deal with Dina. “Anything to eat around here?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Ok, that should do it.” Jyot turned on Zip and waited for the droid to reboot.

 

At first the droid just hovered in the air, saying nothing, doing nothing.

 

“Zip?” Jyot asked, sounding a bit worried. “Status report.”

 

“Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, all systems functioning within normal parameters.”

 

“Functional report.”

 

“Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, Primary function: Search and… incapacitate.”

 

Jyot nodded with approval. “You sound okay to me. Patrol mode.”

 

Zip floated off on ‘patrol’ of the ship.

 

“So, Latch, did Ice Man say five minutes ‘til arrival on Arkania?” He rubbed a hand across his chin. “I’d better shave!”

 

He darted off to the refresher.

[Corinthian]

The second, third, and fourth legs of the trip were chronically boring, other than a belligerent Aqualish who had felt the need to repeatedly cut them off during their sublight transit through the Ison Trade Corridor.

 

The Scimitar slid out of Hyperspace.

 

"Arkania Traffic Control to unidentified Alpha-Twelve-Niner Class Bulk Freighter, state your intended course and identify yourself."

 

Kadis bit out a few rich Brentaalian curses. IDing them was probably a bad idea, but as far as he knew, there were no outstanding warrants out on this ship but given the rather shady history of half it's occupants he wouldn't be surprised if he woke up sharing his bunk with a Weequay serial murderer who collected human faces.

 

"This is transport Scimitar, on approach to Arkania Spaceport."

 

"State your business on Arkania.

 

"We're here for vacation." The urge to fling a sarcastic jibe in there alongside the blatant lie was almost overpowering.

 

A long pause followed.

 

A VERY long pause. Then...

 

"Transport, you are clear to proceed to Adascopolis Spaceport."

 

"Praise the Emperor..."

 

He brought the craft's sublight engines to full power. "Alright, folks, we are proceeding to Arkania spaceport. Please buckle in. To your right as we come in is the famous Adascopolis Financial Exchange..."

[Black Knight of Keno]

As the ship touched down on the planet, Jhamrok stood up.

"Perfect timing" he said to himself before looking the armor from top to bottom. It was amazing what some spaceship hull debris could be molded out into and especially when the Cathar had molded his existing armor on top of the new one as a protective layer, it would be quite useful in years to come. It had been months since the man had molded spaceship hull metals into anything and apparently he hadn't lost his touch yet. With that he began to strap himself to the armor.

 

The new armor was undoubtedly heavy, yet the Cathar hunter managed to move with it nimbly as a cat would. And no wonder at that. He had been constructing his own armors since before he joined the glorious profession of bounty hunters. By now it had to have happened that he figured out a design that would allow him to move as well as one could with armor on, despite having a rather heavy armor. As the Cathar entered the common room, he opened a small locker on his outer thigh, placed his vibroblade into the sheath inside and then closed the locker. After this he holstered his blaster pistol on the holster situated on his left hand side. As a rather irregular move, he had placed the holster the holster the "wrong" way with the grip of his blaster sticking out in front of him for the right hand to draw it. Unfortunately for him, all that was left of his sniper rifle was the scope and a few clips of ammo. Sure he could just go off an buy a new rifle and add his trusty old scope to it, but it was still a shame.

 

Jhamrok reached into the bag for the final time before throwing it to the corner of the common room to wait for him to throw it to the nearest junk barge. He took out his helmet and place it on the table before sitting down himself and taking a more comfortable position.

"So, you think he's going to die fast or quicker?" Jhamrok asked Latch with a grin of sorts. Whatever you could count as a grin on a Cathar

[JasraLantill]

Jyot was just putting on one of his boots, as the Cathar made his comment. "Ha, ha," he said dryly. "As a matter of fact, I've come up with a brilliant plan." He put his foot down on the floor, testing the fit of the boot, and then began to put the other one on. "At least, if Zip co-operates. Zip!" He called out for the droid.

 

In a moment, the tiny droid whizzed into the room. "Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell," the mechanized voice said. "Specify target to eliminate."

 

Jyot raised a brow. "Erm... eliminate?"

 

There was a pause. "Syntax correction," the droid stated. "Specify target to ...'incapacitate.'"

 

Jyot gave a quick glance at Latch and then Jhamrock. "Is it me or did Zip just sound, I dunno... snide?"

 

"Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, my program parameters do not allow for the conveyance of emotion. Therefore, the word 'snide' cannot apply."

 

"Oh, really." Jyot raised his other eyebrow.

 

"I can, however," the droid continued, "use vocal inflections to demonstrate that there are potential conflicts within my program directives, or use them to cause distress in potential targets. That technique is particularly useful during interrogations."

 

"But I'm not a potential target, Zip," Jyot reminded the droid.

 

There was a long pause.

 

"Zip?" Jyot started to frown.

 

"Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, you are indeed not a potential target. At present," the droid added poignantly.

 

The engineer sighed. "Maybe I should run another diagnostic on you..."

 

Just then, there was a bleeping sound from the comm panel. Someone from outside the ship was trying to contact them.

 

"Great. That'll be Dina," Jyot said glumly. He let out a sigh before crossing the room to answer the call. "Scimitar," he answered. "Go ahead."

 

A light and cheery female's voice responded. "Erm... is this thing on? Oh, right, okay. Hullo? Jyot? Is that you? It's Dina!"

 

"Hi, Dina," Jyot said, trying to sound enthusiastic but not quite meeting the goal. "We just landed. I was just about to call you."

 

A melodic little laugh came through the speaker. "I thought you'd say something like that. You haven't changed a bit, J. Still so shy. I knew I'd have to make the first move."

 

Jyot rolled his eyes. "Yup, that's me. Mr. Shy Guy."

 

Dina giggled. "Well, I can't wait to see you! I'm in my father's office now, but I'm just about to leave. I'll meet you at the place we had our first kiss."

 

Jyot's brow raised and he paled. "Erm...." He racked his brain, trying to think of exactly where that had been. "It's been such a long time, Dina. Does it still look the same?"

 

"Look the same?" There was a pause, and Jyot cringed as he waited for her to answer. "Well," she started slowly, "I suppose the landscape has changed a little bit. But the bench is still there, and it still overlooks the diamond pits."

 

"Point Razor," Jyot said, nodding as he remembered. "Yeah, okay. I'll meet you there."

 

"You're... you are coming alone, right? Like we agreed?" There was an edge in Dina's voice.

 

"Erm... yeah. Sure. Alone." Jyot's brow wrinkled with uncertainty. "Not another living thing will be within an Old Corellian mile of us. Just you and me. I promise."

 

"Great!" Her voice had lightened. "Oh, and don't forget to wear something warm. It's cold up there, remember? Perfect cuddling weather," she added, with a seductive sounding lilt.

 

Jyot swallowed hard. "Yeah. Cuddling weather. Right. I remember. See 'ya soon. Scimitar, out." He clicked the comm button off.

 

"In the name of crushing black holes, what have I gotten myself into?" Jyot said, looking up at the ceiling as if asking for help from any type of galactic divinity who might take pity on him. "A meeting at Point Razor? She's definitely planning to kill me. Cuddle me and then push me off the cliff and laugh as I'm impaled on the razor sharp rocks below."

 

He looked at Latch and Jhamrok. "Fortunately for me, though, there is another 'observation' point about 500 metres up the path. And that's where the calvary should be placed. It's like a lover's lane up there, so if we could talk Raelyn or Ellie into going with us, it wouldn't look like you were with me. And if my plan with Zip doesn't work out, at least you'd be able to save me. Hopefully," he added.

[Black Knight of Keno]

Jhamrok had difficulty in not laughing during Jyot and Dina's conversation. His head was tilted back and he bit onto his other hand to stop himself from cracking up and managed quite well with it until the conversation ended and he blasted out laughing.

"Sounds like she's going to love you to death" Jhamrok said and stood up, leaning against the table this time. He took a deep breath and calmed himself even if he still would chuckle afterwards for a long time.

 

"500 meters is a short distance. She'll know we're with you. You give me a rifle, point me a good vantage point and you've got yourself a sniper" he said with a smile to Jyot. The Cathar glanced at Latch and then at Zip as well before returning his eyes on Jyot to seek an answer to his proposition.

[Quist]

"The Scimitar already has two snipers," Arelyn stated matter-of-factly as she rounded the corner into the common room. "Two very good snipers," she continued, giving an imperceptible nod to Latch. "But I'd like to think that it won't come to that. I don't really relish the idea of having to potentially fire into a crowd of civilians. That tends to get messy."

 

The Mistryl took a seat across from Jyot. "We'll trail you. I'll probably go out and scout the area before you get there, try and pick out potential ambush spots. You might want to get as much information out of her before she leads you any place that we can't follow you, however. And be sure to let us know if you need bailing out." She shot a glance at Jhamrok, then looked back at Jyot. "Just don't call for the cavalry unless absolutely necessary or we probably won't be welcome on Arkania anymore."

[Corinthian]

The great thing about most standard communications was the utter lack of anything remotely resembling a decent encryption. Kadis grinned as he listened to the girl talking. He really couldn't see this girl as murderous, although inflicting some rather permanent damage to Jyot's favorite parts was certainly not out of the question.

 

His part in this little job was most likely over, so it was time for lunch. He pressed the record button on the conversation - the possiblities were endless - and headed out of the cockpit, whistling a jaunty tune he had learned on Abregado-Rae.

 

Kadis dropped into a chair, pulling out some ration bar of an unidentifiable substance. Idly, he commented to whoever might be listening,

 

"It's funny. We're on the trail of a bunch of jewel thieves, and our contact is connected to a diamond mine? It'd be pretty ironic if this Dina girl turned out to be one of them."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"No need to 'talk Ellie' into anything." she said, appearing from around the corner, a smirk still plastered on her lips from the conversation she'd overheard on the comm. As she laid eyes on Jyot, she had to bite her lower lip hard to stop a fresh wave of giggles from rupturing over. Clearing her throat, she forced her face straight again. "I've been cooped up in this damn ship for far too long. Half the reason I was stranded on that ice ball was because I had gotten sick of the last ship I was on - and the bastard of a captain who thought I was..." her brain seemed to catch up with her mouth, her voice drifting off before the rest of the words could fall out of her lips.

 

"But I'm getting off. Anyway." she said, adjusting the leather gloves that had since been cleaned of their oil spatters since she'd finished working on the fighter a few hours earlier around her wrist and fingers. "Do we happen to have a speeder stored anywhere on this ship?" she asked, glancing around. When everyone looked at her bewildered, she took that as an answer. "Then...does anyone know if it's illegal to hotwire a speeder here?" She blinked at the looks she got, not understanding why they seemed to think she was crazy. "What? It would be a hella-cleaner get away for Jyot if something went wrong than if we had to open fire with a couple of snipers. Get another speeder with another 'couple' at the other point, and dive off the side to get him if things start getting dicey. The only thing we have to worry about is Jyot's jump being long enough to reach - cause otherwise he's landing on something much sharper than his tongue."

[Writer]

As Ellie's brain caught up with her tongue, Raelyn entered the room, having 'overheard' the same bit from Jyot that Ellie had. "Talk me into..." she managed to get out before Ellie's unfinished comment caught her and she gasped, for Ellie's mind had subconsciously taken her to what she thought her old captain might have considered doing to her.

 

Then, drifting from mind to mind, she understood what Jyot had been referring to and shrugged. "If Ellie wants it, Ellie can have it. I'll do..." She frowned. "... something. Something else..."

[JasraLantill]

"Well, so glad I have the whole crew supporting me in my hour of need," Jyot said to the lot of them. He looked around. "Except for Alec, that is," he added, sounding slightly worried about his friend and captain who hadn't been quite 'right' in Jyot's opinion since they had encountered that Jedi on the ice planet.

 

He quickly shook it off. "Nevermind. Time to get this show on the road and find out where our quarry is hiding." He slipped on a parka-type jacket. "Zip? You're coming with me."

 

"Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, please define my mission parameters."

 

"Personal security mode for me, until I say otherwise. Got it?"

 

The droid hovered in silence for a moment. "Affirmative," it finally answered.

 

The corner of Jyot's mouth twisted up in a slight grimace. "You know, Zip, for a moment there you sounded a bit uncertain."

 

"Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, droids are never uncertain. It is only your perception of a... program run-time delay."

 

Jyot glanced askance at Latch. "Uh-huh," he said slowly. "Well, let's hope you don't have any run-time delays when it counts. Ok, people... let's move out. I'm going to stop off at one of the merchants before I head off to Point Razor. That should give you all some time to set up your positions around the lookout point before I get there. And hopefully, before Dina gets there as well."

 

He started down to the cargo bay, but paused on the ladder. "Zip?!" Instead of shadowing Jyot like it should have done in personal security mode, the droid hadn't moved from his position in the common room.

 

"Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, apologies. Run-time delay." The droid hovered forward to join Jyot at an unusually slow speed, almost as if it didn't want to go.

 

Jyoy sighed. "Oh boy...," he muttered as he headed down the ladder and then out of the ship's airlock door in the cargo bay.

 

Outside, the weather was slightly windy and cold, but not near as bone-chilling as their last planetary stop. At least this place had landing pads and hanger bays, and was big enough to be called a city.

 

With Zip in tow, he headed towards the merchant district to a particular shop he remembered from his last visit here a few years back. He first looked over his shoulder, to see if anyone was watching him with any particular interest, then ordered Zip to wait outside for him before entering the shop.

 

"Erm, excuse me," he asked the shopkeeper. He pointed to the display window. "How much for those?"

[starmark2k]

Alec had left his room and managed to hear the plan of meeting the girl, Dina. Because of his headaches he was quite happy someone had taken charge of the situation while he was incapacitated, but he was the Captain and the time to take charge was now.

 

"Okay unless anyone wants to stay behind we all head for the 'observation' point. Once there some of us will set up snipers the rest of us will see if we can get closer without being seen." The Captain Ordered. "Unless anyone has any questions let's get going."

[JasraLantill]

((OOC: Ok, I’m very sorry about not posting in this thread for a long while, but let’s see if this post can’t resurrect it and get the story going again. Anyone can respond to it. ))

 

 

Jyot shivered as he climbed the hill that led to the lookout point at Point Razor where he was to meet Dina. It was always cold here, but as the temperature only warranted moderate cold weather gear, Jyot knew it was 'summertime'.

 

As he walked, he looked to his left. Then to his right. Then over his left shoulder. And then over his right shoulder. There were a few people out and about at the Point--couples mostly as this was the traditional place where lovers would meet because it was isolated and had a great view of Razor Canyon, so-called because the jagged mica-like rocks below were masses of razor sharp shards. Unfortunately, because it was isolated and had a great view of Razor Canyon, it was also a place where 'accidents' liked to happen. Like when someone 'accidentally' forgot to pay off their illegal loan, or 'accidentally' had an extra-marital affair, or 'accidentally' crossed a crime boss, they would 'accidentally' fall from Point Razor and 'accidentally' impale themselves on the jagged rocks below.

 

Jyot swallowed. "Zip, do you detect any of our crew nearby?"

 

The droid, floating a few paces behind Jyot, didn't answer.

 

"Zip?" Jyot stopped and turned to face his mechanical chaperone. "I asked if you...."

 

"Undesignated bounty, Jyot Tyrell, my apologies. Another run-time error." There was a pause, then a whirring noise, and then Zip said, "Negative. I do not detect any of our crew within a 50 meter radius of our current position."

 

"Ok, how about more than 50 meters away? Latch? Alec?" Jyot swallowed hard. "Anyone?"

 

"Undesignated bounty Jyot Tyrell, I am sorry but I do not seem to have been calibrated for scans in excess of 50 meters," said Zip.

 

Jyot blinked, then frowned. "Oh? Since when?" He sounded a bit miffed.

 

Again, the droid didn't answer right away. "Unknown parameter error," it finally replied. "Please be more specific with your query."

 

Jyot rolled his eyes. "Great. A malfunctioning droid, no support in sight,..."

 

"Coo-ee!" A female voice called from up ahead. Jyot looked up to see a young woman, wearing a fashionable fur-lined parka, waving to him from a touristy looking three sided shelter on the trail ahead.

 

"...and Dina." He forced himself to smile and he waved back. "Oh no," he said between clenched teeth. "She's wearing purple gloves. She only wears purple when she's angry. Says it 'calms' her aura or some crap like that. Oh boy...."

 

"Correction," Zip piped up without prompting. "Undesignated bounty Dina Carina Carravettes' gloves are mauve."

 

“A lot of help you are,” Jyot complained as he gave the droid a deadpan look, then shook his head and started up the hill again. "I am so dead," he muttered. A few moments later, they had reached the small shelter.

 

"Hi, Jyot." Smiling broadly, Dina lifted off her parka hood, revealing a head of lustrous dark hair that cascaded in loose locks around her shoulders. "It's been a long time."

 

Not long enough, Jyot was thinking, but he said, "Yes, too long. I missed you, Dina."

 

"Really?"

 

No, not really, Jyot thought, but what he said was, “Really. Here.” He lifted up the small non-descript sack, his 'purchase' at the store he had stopped at before coming here and handed it to her. "I know how much you like them."

 

As Dina peered into the bag, her eyes brightened. "You... you remembered?!" She gleefully pulled out a small, soft, cocoa-coloured ball, which she admired for a brief moment before greedily popping it into her mouth. "Mmmm!" She smacked her lips. "So, so, good. Haven't had these for ages!"

 

Jyot shrugged modestly. "It was the least I could do."

 

Dina gave him a sly, coy sort of look. "Yes, after what you put me through, I would say buying me a bag of Sofellian truffles is the very least you could do."

 

Jyot shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, well...." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Dina. Leaving you, erm, stranded like that... it was a horrible thing to do."

 

Dina continued to stare at him, like a cat ready to pounce on its prey, but in no hurry to do so. "And?"

 

"And...erm, and...." Jyot looked around nervously, then inhaled deeply. "Listen, Dina," he said in a business-like tone, "I'm really sorry for leaving you at the altar. Truly, I am. Spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking what a slime-sucking mudcrutch I was to you." He looked over his shoulder to Zip. With Zip acting a bit flaky, he didn't think it wise to invite any testimony from it into the conversation at this point. He cleared his throat and continued. "And you have every right to be angry, furious even. But I'm not here to rekindle our relationship. I've moved on in my life, and I'm sure that you've moved on in your life, and, erm,...."

 

Dina's eyes were narrowing and she looked increasingly irritated with every word that he spoke. Jyot swallowed hard. Things were not looking good from his point of view. He only hoped that things looked better from someone else's point-of-view. Like the view from Aerlyn or Latch's gun sights.

 

"You have moved on in your life, right?" Jyot asked. "I mean, it's been three years since...."

 

"Four years, eighteen days, seven hours and twenty seven minutes."

 

Jyot swallowed hard. Ok, apparently, Dina had not moved on. "Right. Four."

 

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, then Jyot broke it by saying, "Ok, so just how were you planning on killing me today?"

 

Dina glanced towards the edge of the cliff.

 

"Ah. So, a convenient suicide? Distraught ex-lover can’t possibly live with what he’s done and all that jazz?"

 

"That was the idea, yes."

 

"Ah."

 

"After hearing your apology, of course."

 

"Of course." He glanced towards the edge of the cliff. "It's a long way down."

 

"287.835 meters to the tip of the first shard."

 

Jyot rolled his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "Point eight three five, huh?"

 

"Daddy measured it for me this morning."

 

"Ah." Jyot nodded. "So, what you're going to just shove me over the edge now?"

 

"No," she said rather lightly.

 

"No?"

 

"You said you wanted information on the Sisters, didn't you? For your crew?"

 

Jyot brightened a bit. Apparently, Dina had reconsidered about killing him. "Erm, yeah. I did. We got a...."

 

"I really don't care about your bounty job," she interrupted. "The Sisters stole something from Daddy, a rare Simaril-cut diamond that was destined for... well, never mind who it was destined for. The point is, Daddy wants them caught and out of commission." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a data disk which she inserted into a slot in Zip. "That's the information you need. One of the Sisters is rumoured to frequent a tavern on Terephon, in the Hapes Cluster. Hard to get to, difficult to navigate through, and a communications nightmare, but no better place for a beautiful woman to hide. I would suggest that your crew start there first."

 

"Hapes Cluster...." Jyot's thoughts were immediately of women. Beautiful, amazonian women. He shook his head to stave off any fantasies and bring him back to reality. "Erm, thanks, Dina." He grinned. "That'll help us a lot!"

 

"No, it will help your crew a lot." She gave him a wry smile. "It's time for you to pay up, Jyot Tyrell." She looked over at the cliff edge. "It's been real nice seeing you again, and I'm sorry it has to end this way, but... you dishonoured me and, well, like you said, you're a slime-sucking mudcrutch and, you deserve to die." She started to slowly move backwards.

 

Jyot snorted and shook his head. "Look, Dina, you don't have the strength to push me off this cliff, and I certainly am not jumping."

 

"Oh, I know. That's why I brought along this." She reached into her pocket and showed him a grenade. She was obviously planning on blowing him off the cliff. "Goodbye, Jyot."

 

“Oh, crap….” Jyot started to back away, edging closer to the edge of the cliff in his clumsy cold weather gear. He only hoped that someone, anyone, from his crew would do something to either stop Dina from throwing the grenade, or at the very least, prevent him from falling to his death.

[Black Knight of Keno]

After Jyot had left the ship, the Cathar hunter had removed his bulky armor in order to have his natural camouflage adjust to the white landscape. Even with his fur and natural defenses against cold, the cold found on this particular planet was still getting through to him and especially when there was a wind. While the rest went around plotting how to save Jyot if it came to it, Jhamrok followed the crew member and the droid from a good distance of a hundred meters or so, keeping off of any clear paths and instead keeping to where he could blend in better in all the snow.

 

He crouched down silently near the hill, where Jyot had agreed to meet Dana and observed the event take place. Frankly he thought everything was going quite well until a grenade came out in the open. The Cathar began then to sneak closer to the scene and, being unarmed, readied his claws for an honorable melee fight like those he had as a juvenile on his home planet.

 

Jyot could watch Dana and the background behind her without seeing the hunter, detectable only if one had extremely sharp eyes and could see the feline man's blue irises. When the helpless man's heel hit the edge of the cliff, Jhamrok was behind Dana and returned to his normal appearance with clear black striped going along his body. He growled loudly right behind the woman, hoping to startle her enough to scare her off. In case for the worst case scenario, Jhamrok had his claws out and was more than ready to rip the hand holding the grenade off the rest of the torso in order to get rid of the only bargaining chip the woman had anymore.

 

((Take over and finish it, Jasra. I don't want to powerplay or anything. You have full control of how far Jhamrok goes to neutralize the threat))

[ForceFightWMe12]

The speeder's dash sparked only slightly as the vehicle hummed across the quiet grounds of Point Razor, discreetly making it's way through the scattered couples without much more than a disgruntled glance or two in its direction. She did get a raised eyebrow from one of the men as she passed by - he'd obviously spotted the mess of wires and gizmos that was currently spewing out of the middle compartment of the speeder's dash - the source of the sparking. Ellie had to remind herself not to make a face at him - though in her mind, she couldn't help but think to ask him to try hotwiring one of these things in a grand total of five minutes, and see how it came out. Then he would have the license to give her cock-eyed looks.

 

"Ah dammit - he beat us here." she muttered under her breath as they pulled onto the far side of the second point, directly across from the spot that Jyot and that Dina girl had been set to meet. Powering down the speeder for the moment, she looked to her right where Latch was seated in the passenger side. For the sake of the mission, he'd been recruited as her 'companion' to the point - because couples were far more common here than a single woman. "D'you have the goggles?" she asked him. With the dozens of yards separating the two points, it was possible to see the figures of Jyot and his ex-lover, but just barely. If she made a move to hurt their fellow crew member, she and Latch would need a little help to catch it in time - and so, they brought an extra pair of binoculars in addition to his rifle sight.

 

"Yeah, here," Latch replied, handing over the second pair of binoculars before bringing his own up and peering into them. He focused in on Jyot and Dina, then swore as he saw the woman reveal the grenade. "Sithspit, we've got a problem."

 

She lifted the goggles to her eyes, taking a second to focus in before adding her own muttered curse. "Stupid boy..." she muttered to herself, barely even bothering to take a second look before starting the speeder up again and jamming it into drive. She continued speaking, even as the speeder dove off the edge of the point, spinning in midair as she jammed the steering wheel hard to the side, bringing them around towards the opposite point. "He can't be left for five minutes without fear of getting himself castrated or killed."

 

Latch waited for the speeder to straighten out before taking another look through the binoculars. "Jhamrok's right behind Dina, but I count at least two other bodies closing in, probably her goons. They've got to be neutralized." He pressed the transmit button on his headset comlink. "Rifle Two, we've got at least two bogeys closing in behind the catman, do you have a bead on them?"

 

The comlink clicked twice, indicating Arelyn did indeed have a shot on the both of them.

 

"Good, Ellie and I are coming around to pick up our cargo. Keep us unscathed please. Rifle One out." Turning to Ellie, he reached into the sidecar and hefted a shotgun. "Let's go save that idiot friend of mine."

 

He didn't need to tell her twice. Having chosen this particularly expensive speeder to steal had its benefits - it handled like a dream and had as much speed in its engine as a swoop bike. Within seconds, she'd jammed the vehicle to a stop just behind Jyot. She didn't waste a second, her green catlike eyes flashing at the mechanic. "Get in."

[Corinthian]

Kadis gnawed on his ration bar, idly watching the proceedings through a set of macrobinoculars. Dina seemed like a nice girl, but he knew the nice ones were the ones you really had to worry about. Nothing is worse than a woman scorned.

 

When Dina jerked a grenade out, the simple truth of that statement became clearer to Kadis than it had ever been before.

 

"Scimitar, this is Pilot. Lover's got the Engineer in a bind. She has a grenade. Does anyone have a clean shot?"

 

Ellie's voice broke across the channel. Two goonies. Wonderful.

 

He lurched to his feet, scrabbling for his oversized blaster. It was a long run towards Razor point, he'd set up pretty far out. At a dead run, he'd need a few minutes. Best get started. He bolted, scrambling, hoping no one noticed the spray of churned snow behind him.

[Writer]

((JP with SM))

 

 

Just like Ellie and Latch did, Alec had decided to take Raelyn with him in the guise of a couple while they watched Jyot from their position. They took a taxi to the Point Razor, carrying the appropriate weapons with then hidden in duffle bags and in their coats. They soon arrived and went to the cliff's edge, he took out his rifle and looked down the scope at Jyot who was alone and then he turned his scope to where Latch and Ellie were suppose to be. “Jyot’s in position, Rifle One isn’t.” Alec informed his companion.

 

Raelyn shrugged, sighting a rifle on Jyot, then moving the sight to find Zip. "Bang," she whispered. Then, she glanced over at Alec. "Well, for reasons not understood by me, your boy Latch considers Tyrell a 'friend', so I can only imagine circumstances didn't favor him in getting into position quite when you'd hoped... but he'll be here, I expect."

 

“I’m sure they will.” Alec replied as he spent a few moments looking down at the site the woman they were waiting for. “Looks like we’ve got the mechanic's former paramour.”

 

Carefully, Raelyn set down her rifle and peered down to where Jyot was now joined by his ex, Dina. She frowned thoughtfully and seemed to be concentrating very hard. At length, she sighed and leaned back. "It's no use trying to get inside her head from this distance..."

 

Alec watched the conversation between Jyot and his ex-fiancé, he saw that the woman obviously wasn’t happy even when she put something inside Zip. Then she pulled out a grenade and Jhamrok began to approach her from behind, Latch communicated the situation to the group. “We need to take the girl out so Ellie and Latch can pick them up.” Alec told the psychic girl.

 

Lifting her rifle, Raelyn said, "Injured or dead?"

 

"Well, we won't get anything but trouble if we kill her," Alec pointed out.

 

"Suppose not," Rae agreed. She was about to sight in on Dina's arm, but a spike of mental energy caught her attention. She pulled back for a moment, observing the situation. Jhamrok was near enough that he could get to Dina before she could do her dirty work... but it would all make little difference if Dina's third friend were left alive.

 

"She's got a sniper posted," Rae told Alec quickly. "Jhamrok will have to take care of Dina." Then, she launched herself from their position and hurdled toward the sniper. He saw her coming and was quick to determine that she was coming for him. In a hurry, he shifted his rifle, aiming at his more immediate attacker. With a wave of her hand, Rae tore the rifle out of his hands, sending it flying over the edge of the cliff. Startled, but undaunted, the man drew a blaster pistol, but by that point, Rae was on him.

 

They struggled for control of the blaster and two shots were fired. Then, Rae took a step back and brought her hand around, connecting solidly with his face. The force of the blow sent him tumbling toward the steep cliff, but an unseen force stopped him just short of it.

 

"Can't have you dead," Raelyn said. "But you need some sleep, man."

 

The sniper sagged, seeming to fall asleep. Satisfied, Raelyn returned to Alec. "Let's get out of here. Latch and Ellie have Jyot, Jhamrok has Dina, Arelyn's got the other guards, and Kadis has..." Rae shrugged. "... not got himself frozen half to death?" she suggested. Looking back to where she'd left the sniper, she asked, "Should we take him too?"

 

"No." He ordered. "Just call an ambulance and let them deal with it. We better get back to the ship."

 

Nodding, Raelyn retrieved a comlink from her belt. "Emergency services? Yes, I'm up on Point Razor. Some guy up here just collapsed and started rolling toward the cliff. I think he's sick or something..."

 

With a grin, Rae turned to Alec and tossed the comlink over her shoulder. "That'll hold a signal long enough for them to track it down and find the sniper. Won't lead back to us, don't worry."

 

And with that, they headed back to the ship.