Survival, Dark Times 3

[Rain]

Jaden

"I don't really mind." I scanned the large arcade, which was absolutely packed. "Not that we have much choice." Then something caught my eye. "Awesome! The X-Wing simulators are free!"

Most kids thought that these were too old. Because they were old, they weren't cool. I disagreed. When I was about eight, mom took me to this arcade and let me use the X-Wing simulators. I loved it! I guess because it was the first thing I played that it just had a magic too it that I would never get tired of. About three years ago when I first met Emma and Demlan, I brought them here and they tried it out first also. So they shared similar feelings to me.

"That'll do!" I exclaimed as we made our way over. The simulators were in the far corner, which was pretty much deserted. "Whoever blasts the most TIEs wins!"

"Wins what?" I heard a gruff voice say behind us. I recognised that voice. Dane Holt. He was the meanest kid at school, but he definately wasn't the smartest. He was 14 years old, and he got held back a year due to poor grades. He was a few inches taller than me, and easily outmatched me in every way.

My mouth went dry for an instant, but I kept my composure. "Uh... nothing really. Just... bragging rights."

Dane smirked. "Or how about you three wamp rats give me all you're credits, and I'll let you win your freedom."

"Our freedom?"

Dane smirked again and steeped closer to me so that he was no looking down at me. "Yeah. That's right Jaden. I'll let you walk out of here without any broken bones!"

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just let him take the credits, and I especially couldn't let anything happen to Emma and Demlan. But if Dane Holt wanted something, he usually got it, one way or another.

I cleared my throat. "No."

"No?" He grabbed me by my t-shirt and pushed me up against a wall. "I'll let you answer again."

I was scared. And sort of embarassed. But I had took enough hassle from Dane over the last year, and I wasn't taking any more of it. "I said no!" I punched Dane hard in the stomach, winding him, and he released me from his grip. I dodged past him and nudged my stunned friends towards the exit. "We should leave-"

"You can't go until I say so!" Dane barked as he grabbed me and threw me back towards the wall. I slammed into it, just managing to keep my footing. He then proceeded grab Emma and push her to the ground.

"Dane, leave her alone!" I protested, putting myself between the two. "She didn't do anything! Come on, can't we call it even?"

He responded by kneeing me in the stomach, and punching me in the face, busting my lip in the process. I felt the room spin for a moment before I caught my bearings. I was lying on the floor, blood coming from my mouth. Dane now had Demlan shoved up against the wall, shouting at him to hand over his credits.

"Dane! Here, take my credits. Take all of them. Just leave him alone!"

Dane didn't bother looking at me when he replied. "Don't worry twerp, I'll get your credits. After I get his!"

I went to stand up again, but the bully noticed and he kicked the hand I was using to push myself up, causing me to fall again. "Just stop! Let him go!" I shouted again.

"What are you gonna do. Call your daddy?"

"No... I'll call theirs!" Dane glanced at me with slight confusion. So I elaborated. "Sora Trok."

His eyes widened, and he immediately let go of Demlan. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like "I'm sorry." and he made a quick exit. Although I had managed to get him to go away, and we had kept our credits, I knew I had made a mistake. Dane would tell everyone I was friends with Sora Trok's children, and I knew he wasn't aware that they were out. He didn't allow them. If he found out, there was a chance I would lose all contact with Emma and Demlan. I shook off the thought however. Focussing on the moment.

"Are you guys alright?"

Uli

I helped one of the the surgical assistants to his feet before answering. "Well let's just say if we had arrived ten minutes later you would probably be dead. Oh and also, you flatlined for about ten seconds on the table."

I moved beside the man, who now seemed a bit more relaxed. "And as my colleague here has already stated, you are still in danger of bleeding out. So if you don't mind, I think its best that you let us continue."

[hk47fan]

Emma

I stood there for a moment, in shock. That was like a very, very fast whirlwind; one minute, Dane was assaulting Jaden, then me, and then Demlan! I hadn't really fought with people before, but I wouldn't have minded giving the guy a punch or two. I looked at Jaden.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said with a breath. "You stopped him from hurting us. Thanks."

"What a nerf-herder," Demlan muttered frustratedly. "Wish I could've gotten a shot in at him..."

For once, I agreed with my little brother. I looked at Jaden again. "Do you have to put up with that guy a lot?" I asked. I was more concerned for him ever seeing him again than I was for us.

[Rain]

Jaden

I sighed. "Yeah. But it's not just me. Its pretty much everyone. The guy is a complete jerk."

I looked around and saw that he had left the arcade completely. "But somehow, I don't think he'll be bothering me any more... But enough about him. You guys can only stay out a little while longer, so let's not waste it. Ready to take on the Death Star?"

[hk47fan]

Emma

"Okay, sounds good," I said, and Demlan eagerly agreed with a nod. We all rushed over excitedly to the X-Wing simulators, and began our game. I loved it. Playing games like this was always fun. It made me wish I could do it a lot more.

We all took control of our X-Wings, and immediately began blasting the TIE fighters. We were over the Death Star, a planet-sized superweapon built by the Empire. This was based on a real battle; I thought my dad fought in it, but I wasn't sure. Everything in the history books always talked about Luke Skywalker, the pilot who destroyed it, but was killed shortly afterwards.

I tried my best to control my X-Wing, avoiding all the TIES that came my way, before targeting them and firing a proton torpedo. We heard comm chatter, in-game, while we played, and that helped us know where the TIEs were. I'd gotten better at this game, over time, and so had Demlan. He was determined to beat at least one of the high scores one day.

Jaden was probably the best at it, though. He'd played it longer than we had, and probably got to play it a little more than we did. We were still good, though.

Thorin Redgrave

"Dad, I don't understand why we have to be up this early," I said, rubbing my eyes slightly. We were on a rooftop that overlooked Cloud City, and it was really, really early in the morning. The entire city was asleep, except for my dad. The only father who would want to submit his son to training at seven in the morning.

"You should be used to it by now, Thorin. Calm yourself; you've had your rest," Naos, my dad, told me. He sat on the roof, criss-crossed and looking very peaceful. The Jedi way, or whatever. "This is an important lesson. You won't be able to do it unless you're at peace."

"Yes, Master Redgrave," I said obediently, rolling my eyes slightly.

"Besides, if you splat on the ground like a pancake, that won't look good on my record as a Jedi Master," Dad said with a chuckle. "So you have to do this and succeed."

I took a deep breath, and walked towards the edge of the building; being the son of the Grandmaster sorta sucked. Not that I didn't love my dad and everything, because I did, but I really wasn't that interested in becoming a Jedi. I'd been training to be one, under my Dad, since I was three or four. I'd been doing it my entire life, but I'd never gotten that into it.

It just felt like it wasn't for me.

But, being the son of the Grandmaster, I had to do it. Apparently I had too much 'Force sensitivity' to waste. Dad said I'd enjoy it later, and that it was the right path, but I didn't know. I never told him how much it didn't sit well with me, but I assumed that he could tell.

Today, I was going to make a Force jump, and not just a small Force jump. I was going to jump from building to building, using the Force to propell me through the air. So, yeah, Dad did have a point; if I didn't succeed, then I would become a pancake.

Calming myself, and making sure I was totally at one with the Force, as they put it, I finally made the jump. After my initial jump, I tapped into the Force and used it to soar across the gap. Next thing I knew, I was on another rooftop.

I heard Dad land behind me. "Good job, son!" he congratulated. "Let the Force flow through you; when you do, and you let everything else go to the wayside, you can succeed. Now, let's try again."

"Thanks," I muttered, with a hint of sarcasm, as I walked over to the next ledge. The next rooftop was a little bit farther than the previous one had been.

Yeah, Dad had totally mapped this whole thing out.

I closed my eyes for a moment, and stood there, before making the jump, and I repeated the same process as before, only putting a little more effort into it this time. Then, I felt my feet landing on the rooftop, and I looked around.

"Excellent!" Dad said, once again right behind me. "You learn well, Padawan. Don't think you got that trait from me."

"You're gonna wear me out, Master," I said. I hadn't really done much like this before; I'd used the Force in a lot of ways, but hadn't really jumped across rooftops before.

"That's the point," he agreed with a grin.

I walked over to look at the next rooftop, and my jaw nearly dropped as I saw the distance between this one and that one; it was a lot farther away than any of the others had been. I was talented, sure, but I didn't know if I could make that.

"You're crazy if you think I can make it across that...." I trailed off, looking back at my father.

"Trust in the Force. I've told you that a million times over your life," Dad told me. "I've been through a lot worse, trust me. You can make it. It will be no problem, especially not for someone like you."

"Better start figuring out ways to keep your Grandmaster record strong," I remarked, looking back towards my next goal.

"Have confidence."

"I'll try," I said.

Again, I inhaled a deep breath, and crouched down slightly, preparing to make my jump. I tried to call upon all of the physical strength I could muster, as well as all of the Force power I could muster. It was really all I had at this point.

Here goes nothing.

Finally, I made the jump, and I felt myself fly through the air; I used the Force to give me a boost, but after a moment, I felt myself start to falter, and I was only about half-way to the next rooftop. Calling upon the Force again, I soared higher into the air, and I found myself getting closer to the building. A few seconds later, I repeated the process one more time.

And I felt myself land on the building.

"Wow," I said, breathless. That took a lot of energy out of me.

"See? I knew you could do it," Naos said, landing right behind me. He walked towards me. "Excellent job today; even if you don't see it, you made quite a bit of progress, just in those few jumps."

"Thanks," I said. I looked up at my dad. "Hope you don't want me to make another one."

He laughed, and shook his head. "No, don't worry; that's enough for the morning," he said, before giving me a pat on the back. "Come on, let's go grab some breakfast at the Jade Sky."

I let out a sigh of relief. Food sounded really, really awesome right now.

[Rain]

Memah

The normal morning banter had died down and preparations for the day had started. I was rinsing a few glasses when I heard the beeping that signalled a customer had entered.

"Hey Ani!" Daron said with a wave.

"Daron I keep telling you, don't call me that!" Anakin Solo, the third child of Han and Leia and my God son, exclaimed.

"Oh... yeah. Sorry little guy. Bad habit."

I sighed. "Trust me kid, you're lucky you don't live with him."

"Hey! I heard that!" Daron butted in, but I shot him a look and he decided to go back to work.

I turned back to Anakin, who perched himself up on one of the stools. "So, what brings you here so early?" Anakin visited a lot in his free time. He had a lot more of that than his older twin siblings, Jacen and Jaina, who were always busy at the Jedi Temple here on Cloud City. Anakin was also a part of the Jedi Order, but he wasn't as dedicated as his older siblings. Han and Leia maintained the position that their children should have a choice of what they wanted to do. Becoming a Jedi was hard work, and they didn't want to force their children into anything. Their youngest son, Ben, wasn't a part of the Jedi Order at all.

"Well, you remember what day it is, don't you?" He said, sounding a bit worried almost.

I smiled. "Yes Anakin, I remember. How could I forget? You've been reminding me every day for the last fortnight!"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure."

Anakin was talking about Han's birthday. He wanted me to give him a luxury meal on the house. I agreed of course. Han and Leia were good friends, not to mention Anakin had me wrapped around his little finger!

"It's all sorted." I poked him in the chest, "Now it's up to you to make sure you ain't late."

He smirked. "We won't be!"

Again I heard a beep. I looked towards the door. "Master Redgrave, Thorin. Nice to see you. Have a seat, I'll be right with you!" I turned back to Anakin again, "And as for you, how about I whistle up one of those fizzy Haruun Kal orange juices you love?"

The boy smiled again. "That'd be awesome! Thanks Memah."

[hk47fan]

Naos Redgrave

I smiled. "Good morning, everyone," I greeted happily. The Jade Sky was a nice place; people usually wouldn't think of Jedi frequenting a cantina, but we knew everyone here. Daron, Memah, Trika. It was a place where we were around friends, and in times like these, that was comforting.

The last thirteen years had been very eventful, both for me and the Jedi Order; I was Grandmaster again. After my showdown with Rhynna Volt during Sora's blockade of the Order, I knew that it was time to retake my old position, much to Master Offee's approval.

The Order was based on Tython. Most of the Jedi were there, and we were going strong there; however, we also had based a small Jedi Temple here on Bespin. Certain masters like Olee and myself were here, along with some Padawans. We were not technically involved in this war against the New Republic, but the Jedi were enemies of the state and we considered ourselves allies of the Resistance; therefore, we kept strong tabs here.

Raising Thorin had been a task, that was for sure. Being a single father wasn't easy, either, but he was a great kid. He was my son, and I wouldn't have done anything differently. I wanted Thorin to be the best he could be. I knew that he had a lot of reservations about being a Jedi, but he had so much potential. Once he embraced that, he would be amazing.

His life would be very productive, that much I knew. I was very, very proud of him.

I'd decided to be his master myself, despite the job I already had; I only felt it was right. I owed it to Thorin, and I knew him the best. Training him could be problematic sometimes, but it was definitely a joy to get to do so. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Marlena had also helped quite a bit throughout the past thirteen years. When I was busy or bogged down with the affairs of the Order, she was always there for Thorin. She was a fantastic grandmother.

I never really knew how much Thorin was affected by his mother not being here with us. I'd explained to him why she couldn't be here, but I was never quite sure that he understood. Scout wasn't always the topic of our conversation, as a lot of the time he acted like he didn't even know she existed. When she did come up, though, I tried to paint her in the best light possible. I wanted Thorin to be proud of his mother. He had so much of her in him.

I know she's proud of him, wherever she is.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I smiled again at Memah as she approached our table. "So, Memah," I said cheerfully. "What's new?"

[Rain]

Rain and Junk Angel Co-Post

"I don't get it." Nines muttered blankly. "There's nothing here. Literally!" The clone was correct. The place was barren, one of the abandoned area of Coruscant that was no solely used for the central power lines to merge and form the grid. "This Resistance agent better not be having us on here! Or worse yet, this had better not be a kriffing trap!"

Mayko rolled her eyes. "Holy hell Nines, relax. If it was a trap the Coruscant suits would be all over us right now."

Nines let out a somewhat grumpy sigh. "Yeah, I guess you're right, kid. But still, theres nothing here!"

Li gazed around the area. These were the co-ordinates alrighth. But there was no Winter. Then it hit him. He scanned the area again and noticed a rusty steel slab, that when lifted, would reveal an entrance to an abandoned subway station underground.

"There." He pointed. Sem moved to inspect it. She caught the man's shoulder and mumbled.

"Using your fabled force sense eh." She smiled and jumped down. The place was old and dusty, evidently from an earlier era of Coruscant when this must have been one of the upper levels. Now, it wasn't even in the center of the cityscape. So deep, who knew what everything lived down there.

"Mayko, Nines, you two cover the entrance. We'll go ferret her out. Better to have a lookout than have impies crawling her later. "You coming flyboy?"

Li didn't bother answering, he just followed Sem down anyway. The place was dimly lit by the old lights on the roof which were somehow still operational. It didn't look like anyone had been down here in years. "Not even the hobos wan't to hang out in this place." Li remarked. "Says a lot, doesn't it? Unless theres something else entirely down here."

"Probably something that eats them", remarked Sem with a snide.

Li smirked. "Well, I guess we should look-"

"No need. You found me." Li and Sem spun round to see Winter, still in her CoruSec outfit, walking towards them. "Hello Sem. Hello Li. Nice to see you again."

Li paused. He was somewhat shocked at the fact that Winter wasn't shocked. "Uh... hi. Gotta say, I was expecting more of a... reaction."

The woman flicked a smile. "I've worked for Sora Trok for the last thirteen years. After seeing how far that man has fallen, not a lot shocks me any more. Although even I have to admit when I saw you two on the surface I was a little surprised."

"On the surface?" Li asked.

"Hidden cameras." The double agent clarified. "You don't survive over a decade working undercover without learning to take precautions. And yes, I did get a shock when I saw you both, but I'm just happy you're here. Happy to get out of the place. Right now I'm not concerned about why you are both still liveand kicking. You're buisness I guess."

Li and Sem shared a glance and shrugged. The man spoke. "Let's get going then."

"GET BACK!" Mayko yelled, as she dropped down into subway, followed by Nines. "We have company. CoruSec. Too many to take out!"

"Just our bloody luck!" Nines growled. "They must have been tracking us. I knew this was all too easy."

Li sighed. "So much for you're hidden cameras, huh?"

Winter frowned. "Follow me. Theres a place I discovered a few days ago. It should keep us hidden. We have to hurry!"

Memah

"Oh, not too much." I replied as I handed Anakin his drink. "Just the usual. Apart from preparing a birthday meal for Han and his family."

"Memah, I have to head out to meet Sky." Daron interupted.

"I thought he was bringing in the new stock?" Serra asked.

"He was." Daron confirmed. "But his speeder broke down."

I sighed. "Again? Honestly when is he gonna give up on that thing. It's a piece of junk!"

Anakin laughed. "That's what everyone said about my dad's ship!"

I smirked. "But not everyone has the good fortune of being as lucky as your father, Anakin. Anyway, you should hurry Daron. I need you back here before buisness starts to kick off."

"Gotcha." Daron said as he left the cantina.

I turned back to Naos. "Sorry about that. So what will you two be having?"

"Thorin, were you training?" Anakin asked, seemingly now unaware of Naos and I. He was a few years younger than Thorin, so the latter was much more experienced. Anakin seemed to look up to him in a way. "Did you learn anything cool?"

[hk47fan]

Rhynna

I jumped out of my speeder, as the legion of officers that I had brought opened fire on the escaping smugglers. Once we discovered where they were, I had ordered as many officers out here as we could spare; we couldn't estimate any of these people. Supreme Admiral Trok had ordered that Winter was found, and I would make sure that she was.

Her hiding place had been clever, I'd give her that; this area of Coruscant had been active a few centuries ago, but now, it was a desolate place, only used for electrical lines. And, it looked like she was hiding underground; that explained how she disappeared so easily.

We'd found the smugglers through an anonymous tip; as much as I didn't trust anonymous tips, this one had been good. The tip told us that smugglers had arrived on Coruscant working for the Resistance, which made sense, considering that the planet was too secure for the Resistance itself to infiltrate.

It also gave us the exact sector that the smugglers had been spotted in, so CoruSec was able to use our plethora of security cameras around the planet to track them down until an operative could pinpoint their location and follow them. That led us here.

And, somehow, this all had gotten back to Solon before Admiral Trok; he ordered that we not lose track of the smugglers, and that we go here and find out what they were up to. The Admiral had already given me strict orders to find Winter.

They were both bastards, but I wasn't going to betray them like she had.

Officers were already pouring into the underground tunnels, and I looked at the ones still remaining up here. "Scan for any other entrances, or exits, to these tunnels and guard them; do not let Retrac or the smugglers escape."

"Yes, ma'am," several obediently responded, before spreading out.

I made my way through the rest of the officers charging into the tunnels, and found my way down there myself; once I was down there, I quickly sprinted forward, catching up with the officers that were firing blaster bolts like mad in an effort to catch our enemies.

I grabbed an amplifier off of my belt, a small object, the size of a comlink, that would elevate my voice so that Winter, and her new pirate allies, could hear me. "This is Coruscant Head of Security Rhynna Volt," I shouted sternly, my voice booming throughout the tunnels. "I am hereby ordering all of you to surrender to the New Republic! If you don't, then we will take extreme action."

Thorin

While Dad ordered, I turned to Anakin. I liked the kid; he always asked me about my training and stuff, and he was actually pretty cool to be around. I liked being looked up to, as well; it was sorta nice. All the Solos, especially Jacen and Jaina, had always been friends of mine.

"Yeah, I did," I told him. "I worked on using my Force jump a little more; it was actually pretty cool. I was on a rooftop, and I jumped from one to another; I even made it across a pretty far gap once. It was a lot better than I thought it'd be. It wore me out."

Even though I'd learned what he was learning now a few years ago, I thought I'd shoot the question back at him, just to make him feel good. "What've you learned lately?"

[Rain]

Anakin

Listening to Thorin's stories about what he was learning always got excited for what was to come. Not just his, but Selas' and my older brother and sister. Everything sounded so cool. I knew that being a Jedi was hard, and that viewing these skills as being fun to mess around with wasn't the done thing, but I couldn't help but think about them that way.

"That sounds awesome!" I exclaimed, "Right now I'm just doing small things like levitating objects and basic lightsaber skills. Nothing as exciting as what you're doing."

"Well, perhaps if you spent more time on your training than you did pestering me, you would be a lot closer to doing that exciting stuff!" Memah joked.

She had a point, but I wouldn't change. Dad once told me that Jacen and Jaina took after their mother, that Ben took after him and that I was straight down the middle. Half and half. I guess that made sense, since I wasn't as dedicated as my older brother and sister.

"I couldn't do that. You would miss me too much!" I joked back.

Memah sighed and tried to hide a smile. "Damn kids always know the right things to say."

I laughed and turned my attention back to Thorin. "Oh by the way Jacen, Jaina and I are meeting up with Jamie and going to Selas' house after my dad's meal if you want to join us. Selas got that new entertainment console. Jacen says its awesome!"

Winter

Even inside the hidden room we could hear Rhynna's voice. It didn't worry me. They didn't stand much of a chance of finding this place. We could hide out here until they left.

"Are you sure we'll be safe here?" The clone asked. He was wearing a disguise, a pretty good one at that. But his accent needed work. He still sounded exactly like Boba Fett.

I nodded. "Positive."

"Woah..." Mayko said in awe as she looked behind me, at the chamber which was giving off a bold red glow. "What in the name of Nar Shaddaa is that?"

"Some sort of stasis chamber I figure." I answered as she walked closer to it. She reached out towards it. "You probably shouldn't touch it-" My warning was too late. Mayko stumbled backwards as there was a click and the red glow turned green. The machine began to hum, and the green glow slowly faded.

"What... what did you do Mayko?" Nines asked, reaching for his blaster. I did the same. We didn't know who would come out of this thing.

"I think she just released whoever was being held in stasis." Li replied, his gaze not leaving the machine.

"Great..." Mayko muttered.

Finally, the green glow faded completely and a man fell out, landing face down on the ground. He groaned and spoke faintly. "Ouch... couldn't have at least caught me, could you Alsia?" I recognised that voice. It couldn't be... could it? This time I was truly shocked. There had been witnesses when this man fell. I immediately put my blaster away and knelt down beside the man. I rolled him over to reveal his identity. I was right.

Takk Tenann...

I glanced up at Li and Sem. "Looks like you two aren't the only ones who have come back from the dead today..."

[hk47fan]

Rhynna

We had spread out over the tunnels, searching avidly for Winter and the smugglers. None of us had ever been underground like this before, so it was a new area to explore, but we were more than capable of handling it. I walked alongside several other officers, storming through the current tunnel.

I was paused by a beep from my comlink, but I kept walking. "Volt," I said into the comm.

"Ma'am, we have not found any signs of them so far in the explored tunnels. It's like they just vanished," an officer's voice crackled through.

"Keep searching. Do not give up until you find Retrac and her companions," I ordered, before cutting communication and keying in another frequency. "Team Delta, status report."

That was the codename for one of the teams that was above ground, guarding one of the exits. "All exits to the tunnels are secure, ma'am. None of our men report any exits from the tunnels. Unless they escaped before we were able to find the exits, they are still underground."

"Good. Do not let anything, or anyone, leave these tunnels unless it is through my orders," I said.

"Yes ma'am," he obediently replied. I cut the communication.

"Head-of-Security," one of the officers beside me spoke up. "Wouldn't it be more efficient to call off the search and simply bomb this area from the air? It is fairly deserted, and a bombing would cause these tunnels to collapse."

"No," I said swiftly, tossing the idea to the side. "The Supreme Admiral has given strict orders to bring Retrac in alive. Also, even if this area is scarcely populated, he would not want us to take the chance on any civillian casualties. We will continue searching."

Thorin

I grinned. That sounded fun. I looked at Dad, hopefully. "Can I...?" I asked slowly. He let me hang out with my friends a lot, but not all the time. I didn't know what he'd say.

He paused, before smiling and nodding. "You've done a lot today, and you did a great job. You can go," he told me.

I grinned again. "Thanks, Dad!" I exclaimed appreciatively. I looked back at Anakin. "Okay, well, looks like I'm in. When's your dad's meal thing?"

Caitlin

There hadn't been any time to waste, despite the general strangeness of the situation. Uli and I, as well as our assistants, had gone back to performing the surgery, other than one who had been a little too miffed to properly continue. Rarely, if ever, had I operated on anyone live; Uli had done more surgeries than I had, but I doubted that he did, either.

Especially on someone that decided to assault us in the middle of his own surgery. Patients were getting harder and harder to deal with these days.

It took a while longer, and I tried my best to ignore everything that had happened and focus; I could tell that Uli was doing the same. He'd gone back to the way he was before the man had woken up, leading the surgery. The man was fairly cooperative, and we did manage to give him some numbing medicine, so he wouldn't feel too much while we finished up.

After an hour and a half, we were finished. He would live.

"Well, you're all patched up," I told the man as both Uli and I took off our scrubs, and the nurses around us began to clean up the room. I was trying to keep cordial with him; even though he had assisted the New Republic, and held a knife to me and assaulted all of us, it was my duty to treat him like I would any other patient. At least for now. "I'm not sure that I'd reccomend just taking off, though. You're on a lot of medicine and you literally just came out of a rough surgery."

[RobbyL9]

Blades

Blades cracked his knuckles and vaulted off of the operating table. That was certainly an interesting view to a surgery, it reminded him very much of getting the Krayt Dragon tattoo which ran down his arm. He looked around the room for a second.

"Sorry sweetheart, but I can't take advantage of your hospitality or groovy painkillers a moment longer." he said, brushing off Caitlin as she tried to stop him "Now if you could just tell me what became of my weapons and my mask."

"And PLEASE do tell me you bought them with." Blades added with a hint of sarcasm as he moved toward the door, stumbling slightly from the meds.

[hk47fan]

Caitlin

After he brushed me off, I glanced at Uli, giving a confused glance. This man was interesting; I couldn't let him leave, for a large number of reasons. The most jarring being the one that we finished his surgery all of two minutes ago. Also, we still were not sure exactly who he was or how closely he was affiliated with the NR; he could go back and tell them where exactly we were. And that could not happen.

"I'd highly advise against that, sir," I said to him as he began moving towards the door. "Your life may not be at stake now, but you need to give your body time to recover and adjust from the surgery and the medication. Your things are secure, and so are you; you'll be safe here. We're not trying to harm you, but as doctors, we have to look out for your health and well-being."

[RobbyL9]

Blades

Still pressing toward the exit, Blades responded, impatiently gesturing his hands "Look it's not that I don't understand, I would like to rest more than anything right now. But if I don't get back to the Republic base, I'm not going to get paid and if I don't get paid..."

The mercenary looked frustrated. It pissed him off to no end that he couldn't explain the plight of his mission to anybody he came in contact with. "I just need the money, okay? ANY money I can get right now. And the best legit contracts around here have time limits and taxes imposed on them, hence my hurry."

He reached the door and pressed the panel to open it up.

[hk47fan]

Caitlin

My eyes went wide when he mentioned returning to the NR base; I looked at Uli again for a moment. We couldn't let him return to their base. It was too much of a risk for u-

As if on que, interrupting my thoughts, the door opened and a small group of Resistance troops were on the other end, blaster rifles in hand. They pointed them at the man. "Going somewhere? Don't think so,"

"Hello?" I said to the men, slightly confused. They weren't unwelcome, but as far as I knew, we hadn't asked for any of them to come here.

"One of the assistants in this guy's operation told us about how he woke up and decided to rough all you guys up," the lead troop grunted. "Looked like he got that one guy pretty bad, and we don't take lightly to our own being assaulted. Especially not our two top doctors. You're coming with us."

[RobbyL9]

The troopers grabbed Blades by the arm, causing him to snap "AGH! Watch it, jackass!" when one of them brushed a bandaged spot on his arm. Instinctively, he pulled his arm away, earning a jab to the ribs and a shove forward. Even though he was livid, Blades didn't want to bring his fists to a gunfight, especially after just coming from surgery.

Well that's a nice boy, following doctor's orders. Still, girl's sweet enough. Easy on the eyes too. Blades mused little sarcastic and cynical things, sometimes muttering them to the guards. He was really pushing it by the time they reached his cell and the mercenary called the head trooper a 'big toy soldier'.

"Get in there and shut it, pal!" was the last thing Blades heard spoken before the cell shut behind him.

Blades sat down on the floor and looked around for a second at his new surroundings. Then he looked down and suddenly realized something important. "HEY!" he shouted "Don't I even get a new T-shirt!?!"