Survival, Dark Times 3

[RobbyL9]

Blades

"That's a 'roger that', big daddy. Get ready to open your mouth, big taste is comin' in, over." Blades said in a serious tone, flipping his mask down and cocking his assault carbine. Those around him had to be wondering right now if he was joking around or actually speaking in code. Buncha amateurs, this was gonna be a nuna feast.

[hk47fan]

R7-43

Captain Ailim gave the man what organics may consider a 'curious' glance, according to my calculations. I had many years to examine organic behavior, and was able to recognize some facial expressions. He then regained his composure, and nodded. "Contact me when the mission is complete. Ailim out."

His hologram disappeared, and my head swiveled around to look at all of the people present. I stood still, without any motion, simply waiting for us to arrive. All I could do was overhear the organics' chattering.

"So, Blades," one of the officers said. His general figure seemed to suggest that he was young; an exact estimate could not be made, but going by human standards, perhaps around the age of 25.4 human years old. "Where're you from, anyway? We don't usually get too many guys like you...I mean, we encounter NR rejects all the time, but not really guys who are apparently mercs."

"Yeah, and what's with the name?" another man, with similar statistics to the man that posed the first question, chimed in. "I mean, no offense, but...Blades? Not really a common name you hear. A merc thing?"

[Rain]

Jaden

I had no clue what was going on. There were people in my house, none of whom I knew, but I guessed they were friends of my parents. Or at least most of them. They were hiding out or something, from Sora Trok, Who just so happened to my my best friends' dad. I never spoke much to either Emma or Dem about their dad, mainly because I didn't like him. I thought if they knew that, then they wouldn't want to be my friends any more. Now this guy, Takk, or something like that, was pretending to me my acting coach. On top of this whole mess I would also have to deal with what Demlan had revealed, about how I really busted my lip.

I didn't have time to try and figure out what exactly was going on. As my dad left the room it was up to me... and Mr Whiteraven, to stall my friends.

"Uh, yeah... acting." I confirmed. I was blushing because I was stuck in the moment and incredibly confused, but I would use it to aid my story. "I didn't want to tell anyone. I guess because they might think it was stupid or something."

"STUPID?!" Takk exclaimed, once again almost making me jump. He had to stop doing that! "Let me tell you children, acting is the path to greater things. Through acting you can become a war hero, a strarstruck lover, a king... you can have riches, mystical powers, witty charm-"

"I get it, Mr Whiteraven." I interupted him, as I had a feeling he would go on and on. He was speaking like a man in his sixties, but he was clearly only in his twenties. His act would become more unbelievable the longer he went on. I looked at Emma and Demlan. "So, hows things?"

Xandyr

Once I had shut the door behind me, I explained myself to the group. "Look, there were CoruSec patrols out there. If they saw those kids then our cover would have been blown."

"Never mind that, whats our next move?" Nines asked. "We have Schutta Trok's two kids out there, not to mention Tenann, or whatever he's calling himself, acting like a loon!"

"Loon is an understatement." Mayko commented, "But hey you gotta give it to golden boy, he pulled that whole drama teacher thing out of nowere, and saved you and your kid from tripping over each others stories.

Nines gave her a strange look.

"What?" She questionned.

"Notthing..." The clone muttered, "Just if I didn't know any better I'd say you had a thing for the guy."

Mayko blushed, but did a reasonable job at trying to cover it up. "Shut up Nines...."

"So back on topic, the Trok siblings." I interjected, eager to get back to the issue at hand. "What do we do?"

"I still say we take 'em as leverage." Sem suggested. The looks around the room gave a firm reply to her suggestion. "Fine..." She grumbled, "I'm just being pragmatic!"

There was a short silence, before Li spoke. "Okay, so first off let me apologize." He turned to Kurt. "No hard feelings, big guy. I was just making sure we don't all get killed. I'm sure you understand. Oh and uh, I kinda like the whole Mercenary Mike nickname. Sorry in advance if I use it more often. Anyways... down to buisness!"

He paced a little in thought. "So we've ruled out of option of taking the kids hostage. We can't let them leave, because of those patrols, but forcing them to stay is pretty much the same as keeping them hostage. It's a tough one..."

He stopped and glanced up at my wife. "Mara... you're uh... resourceful. That's a compliment by the way. You've been in trickier situations than any of us could imagine. Any ideas?"

Nilia

I was at the dock. Tina and her companion were due to arrive ten minutes ago. I had a sickening feeling that something had happened to them. I was still unsure as to the purpose of our meeting, but it did seem like Tina was in trouble. Big trouble.

The feeling was vanquished in an instant, as I saw Tina turn the corner, the 16 year old girl beside her. The girl looked young for her age, but the blaster she held in her hand suggested she was a lot more grown up than she appeared. I couldn't help but wonder if she was holding the weapon in case I turned out to be an enemy.

"Tina!" I chimed as I walked towards her and gave her a hug, the girl scanning me as I did so. I was right, she was checking to see if I was a threat. "I haven't seen you since before I was a teenager! How are you?"

[RobbyL9]

Blades

Blades remained silent for a second, his zabrak mask leaving only a solid emotionless expression between them and him. "Are we pals now, boys?" he finally answered "I'm from far away, no place you'd ever have heard of. Suffice it to say that every thing I do or am these days is a 'merc thing'. And yes, that includes my alias."

He held up his arm, showing the leather bracer with the unusually shaped blades bolted to it. "If it's a reason you're looking for, look no further. I shit you not, it really is THAT simple." He lowered his arm "Satisfied?"

[hk47fan]

Emma

"We wouldn't think it was stupid," I told Demlan with a laugh. Okay, his teacher was kinda weird, but it was kinda cool. "I think it's cool. We've been to a few plays and stuff for government functions or whatever, and they were nice. A little boring, but nice."

"Didn't Dad's friend, Solon, say that acting was a blight upon the Galaxy and anyone who did it was wasting their-" Demlan started, but I quickly elbowed him in the stomach, stopping him. Gah, he could be so frustrating! He blurted out whatever popped into his head!

"We think it's cool," I told Jaden and Mr. Whiteraven, smiling. "And yeah...we were just sorta hanging around after you left, and we thought we'd come see how you were doing. I guess we sort of feel bad for that whole incident at the arcade."

Mara

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, as everyone's attention turned to me. Sure, let's just ask the Emperor's Hand. Surely she'd know how to get creative and dispose of the children. Since I was just that crafty. We also had a fully skilled and trained mercenary in the room, but noo, let's see what Palpatine's former slave had to say.

"Well, from what Jaden has said, they aren't supposed to be out in the first place. Sora keeps them on pretty tight lock down, or so he thinks. Their aunt, Vania, babysits them a lot and lets them run around freely, for the most part. I work with her and she's mentioned it a few times. My point in explaining all of that is that they need to head home soon, or Sora's going to find out and raise an even bigger stir. And I am not sure how much Vania is aware of the kids' friendship, but if she comes to me for any help, this may turn into a bigger problem."

I paused, briefly walking over to the other side of the room and, once making sure Winter, Kurt, and their friends were out of view, I peeked through a curtain glanced out the window. Patrols were still all over the place. I sighed, then continued. "...but it is not like we can send them home in the middle of all of this, either. That is just asking for trouble. And if I had to guess, I don't think CoruSec is going to let up much. They're probably hoping to catch all of you at night, when you'd be more likely to make an escape."

I closed the curtain and turned back to everyone. "So, yeah, in a nutshell: I am not sure how to handle this, but I do know that we need to get them out of here. Fast."

Tina

I hugged Nillia. I hadn't seen her since she was a child, like she said. "Oh, Nillia, it's so good to see you again. It is so nice to have friendly faces around me," I told her honestly. I looked at Kitty. "Kitty, this is Nillia Karr. Her mother, Nora, was my nurse a long time ago, so I got to know her and her children fairly well. Nillia, this is Kitty Pryde. She's very young, but she's been a great friend to me. She helped me get off Dantooine."

I figured it was time to tell Nillia what was going on. I didn't really want to, but I needed help badly. I had no choice. "Thank you for meeting us here. I had no one else to turn to; you and Kitty are the only people I am even in touch with in this entire Galaxy right now! I need your help."

I paused for a moment, lowering my voice. "I'm being hunted, Nillia. Someone is out to kill me, and he has been for thirteen years."

R7-43

I watched, with slight curiosity, if a mechanical being could have such a feeling, at the organics' conversation. "That's a little...cryptic. Got some secrets, huh?" one of the soldiers said, smirking at the newest organic soldier slightly. "Yeah, I'd figure being a merc would get you into some trouble."

"I'm more curious as to how you got Dr. Caitlin to let some random mercenary out of lock-up. She's nice, real nice. Probably the nicest people around that base, and she keeps Dr. Divini in line, the crazy surgeon," another soldier said, with a hint of what organics would consider "sarcasm" or "mockery" attached to it. "But it's not every day that you hear her pulling prisoners out of their cells so they can fight for the Resistance. You must've pitched a pretty nice bargain."

My head looked back to the newest organic, the one they called 'Blades', to see how he would respond to these ponderings. The subject of this conversation seemed to be the other soldiers quizzing him on what he was doing here, possibly with an underlying nature of suspiciousness, common to organics.

[RobbyL9]

Blades

Blades sighed and activated his Heads Up Display, testing it to see if it still functioned. Naturally, it booted up fine. The display engine was guaranteed for life, after all. Though that could have been the surplus engineer's idea of playing off humor on Blades and Sticks' professions.

Checking his ammo block for about the millionth time, Blades sighed again. "Yeah. Guess I did. But the bargain I pitched isn't the real idea here is it?" he said, his eyes eerily looking up through his mask, creating the look of a painting staring back at its admirers.

"You guys are wondering to whether I can be trusted. I know what you're thinking, everybody does these days. 'He's nothing. Just some gun for hire.' You're figuring on the odds of me turning on you if things go south." he continued, straightening out and cracking his neck "But let me say this. Those NR nerfshitters who call themselves soldiers don't know the meaning of it. There used to be the concept, when I first took up the job, of a soldier's honor. The idea that no matter if I'm Government Issue or free market, when I say I'm gonna do something, I do it."

Flipping his mask up, Blades looked in a circle at the eyes of all the fighters surrounding him. His gaze was unwavering and intense. "You can count on me to get the job done and not to stab you in the back if things go south. Just at least SAY the same thing for me and we're golden for now. Do I make myself clear... soldier?"

[Rain]

Nilia

"Wh..." I was stunned. I figured Tina was in trouble, but I never guessed she would be in this much trouble! "Kill you? Why?!"

I listened as she explained her whole predicament. It was a lot to take in. I wondered if my mother knew about this Derm Keish?

"I... I'll do my best to help you in any way I can, I swear." I told her, "But... well, if you're life is in danger, I don't think a warzone like Taris is the safest place to be."

"Actually it is." Said the girl, Kitty, who had been silent up to this point. "Where are you more likely to search for someone you want dead? Some sparsely populated place with lots of hiding spots? Or somewhere more dangerous like Taris in it's current state?"

The girl had a point. Places such as Nar Shaddaa were ideal for people with a price on their head. She was a smart one, and incredibly focussed too. "I guess you're right. Anyways, we should get back to my appartment, you two can stay there for as long as you want. First things first though, we need to figure out a plan."

Winter

The whole room, including Kurt and I,stared as we waited for her to reveal her idea.

Finally Mayko spoke. "Well? Clearly we don't know what you're referring to, so come on Scarlett, spit it out!"

Jaden

I shrugged, "Like I said, that guys a jerk to everyone. We just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Woah, woah, woah. Someone's picking on you?" It took me a moment to realise that Takk was talking in his normal accent again. Emma and Demlan looked more confused than ever. I didn't know how to explain away this one.

"Mr Whiteravens voice, it uh..." I began.

"It was a fake voice. A fake accent." Takk clarified, "But you believed it, right?" He asked Emma and Demlan. He didn't wait for a reply. "See, that's what acting is. Deception. That was lesson one, don't be yourself. Acting is about doing the opposite. Oh and here's another great tip kids: point. Pointing shows you're passion, and you're INTENSITY!"

Once again I almost jumped. "That's another thing to note." Takk continued, "SPEAK REALLY LOUDLY TO SHOW YOU ARE INTENSE!"

I was literally lost for words, but I managed to squeeze some out regardless. "Uh... he's a really good teacher." I didn't know what else to say.

"I knew that already of course. But the sentiment is appreciated. You should have pointed." He answered. "But yeah, acting lessons aside for a minute. Who is this kid who hit you?"

"He's no-one." I replied defensively. Why did he care anyways? It was non of his business!

"Well no-one[/i[ looks like he packs a mean swing."

"I got in a fight, so what? It's not like it's happened before or anything." I was fibbing of course. But only I knew that. "Besides this guy would take a mean swing at anyone." That part was true. Yeah, the guy was bullying me and I didn't want to admit that, but I was getting off lightly compared to some of the other kids. "I'm fine. The whole thing is fine, so just drop it."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." I confirmed, "My dad pays you to teach me how to act, not to be my psychologist."

[hk47fan]

Tina

"Thank you so, so much, Nillia! You won't regret it, I promise!" I vowed to her. I was so thankful for her help. I really, really didn't have anyone aside from Kitty and her. "Let's go right now! Again, thank you. I just came to you because there was literally no one else! You two girls...you two are all that I have. I have been in hiding for years, Keish thought I was dead! And now, he's after me again. I wasn't prepared for this. I mean, all of a sudden, I'm Tina Von Amberg again, and now I'm on the run."

I looked around. I really hoped no one could hear me aside from these two. "Let's get to your apartment," I said again nervously.

R7-43

I continued to watch the organics converse. After the newest soldier's statement, the others seemed...speechless, as the organics called it. Droids were not like organics; they weren't rendered shocked or speechless in situations like this. We simply lacked suitable information to answer. However, such precision was not the case with organics.

"Alright, you got us," one of the leading men finally said, crossing his arms. "Maybe we are a little suspicious of you, but if what you say is true...then we're willing to work with you. The Resistance is all about giving everyone a chance, and as long as you don't betray us, we won't betray you."

"Are we buddies? No," another soldier interjected. "But you watch our back, and we watch yours. We're here to work together, at least this once, and we'll get the job done. If things go south, as you said, we won't betray you. We do have soldiers' honor. We still remember that, and it's nice to at least know that you have an idea of what that is, even if you're just saying that."

"We're clear, soldier," another man said.

In the midst of the conversation, which seemed to be coming to a close by organic standards of discussion, there was an alert from the cockpit. "We are coming upon the New Republic's weapon storage," I announced, in my usual beeps and boops, to all of the soldiers standing before me.

Mara

"That was my whole point: I don't have an idea," I said, almost aggravated that they missed the point, but at the same time, I could understand it. I sighed, rubbing my temples, trying to think of something. "Okay. I'm going to contact Vania and see what she's up to; maybe, if she could agree to keep it all between us, and I think she would, I could get her to come pick up Trok's kids and get out before he even notices."

No one objected, so I took out my comm, and keyed in Vania's frequency. After a few minutes, she answered. "Hello?" she asked. She sounded...upset and unnerved.

"Vania? It's Mara," I told her. We didn't talk too often, so hopefully this didn't seem too random, but she was a friend. "What's wrong?"

"It's...my niece and nephew," she replied, almost hesitantly and nervously. "I don't know where they are, and Sora just found out. He blew a gasket on me; he's furious."

I sighed, looking at the others. Kriff.

Emma

"It's okay, Mr. Whiteraven, Jaden whooped his butt! What he did to Jaden was nothing compared to how Jaden took him out!" Demlan assured Mr. Whiteraven with a grin. I just smiled sheepishly as my little brother bragged.

"So, uh, I'm kinda wondering," I said, looking from Mr. Whiteraven to Jaden. "Why is your teacher here so...late? I mean, I know some people take late night classes, but it's getting dark out there. It's probably none of my business, though."

[Rain]

Jaden

For what seemed like the trillionth time tonight I was clueless. I didn't know what to say.

"Ah... he-"

"I'm a method actor kids." Takk explained, "That means I get into the character of the role I've been cast tin. For my next project, and it's a b ig project might I add, you're gonna be seeing it all across the Galaxy, I'll be playing an owl who gets magically transformed into a human, and has to adapt to human life. Its a very serious drama, and heres a warning, you might just cry a little. Anyways, owls are nocturnal right? So I, just like an owl, am sleeping during the day!"

Wow. That was all I could think. As odd as this guy was he could really pull a story out of nowhere...

Mayko

Kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff, KRIFF!

"Great... there goes that plan..." I muttered.

"We can't tell her they're here. Sora will probably come marching down here himself to feth them." Said Li.

"You don't say, kid." Sem grumbled snarkily, rolling her eyes. "Well, why don't we-"

"We're not kidnapping the aunt, Sem!" Li answered before he had finished her sentence.

"Guys, be quiet!" Winter exclaimed, but in a hushed tone. "Let her finish her conversation."

I sighed, and slumped myself down on the floorm leaning against the wall. Something told me we would bein this room for quite some time. May aswell get comfy.

[n]Nilia[/b]

We got into the appartment and I ushered them though to the lving area.

"You guys look hungry, I'll get you some food." I told them. "I work pretty hectic hours so all I have is ready meals. So healthy I know!"

I made the food and poured a few beverages and gave them to the pair. I then got my self a plate and sat down across from them. "What a day... Hey Tina, I've been wondering. Where is Cyan?" I knew about Cyan. About who he really was. Surely if anyone could be of help in a situation like this, it was him. Then I thought some more. "And where is your son?"

[Mandalorian]

Way sat on the balcony of his apartment on Bespin, he looked out over the city and the orange expanse of clouds that lay beyond it. He had just given up on trying to sleep because his body felt way to active. He could tell, sense on some level, that events where transpiring across the galaxy. Yet here he was sitting peacefully on the balcony. Wey sighed then stood up and stretched his arms out It used to be that i could go off and find some adventure at any point i wanted. fifteen years ago i would never have stayed still for this long in a single city... but things changed and i honestly can say I'm not that sad to see the old days go...I just really wish either the Resistance would start planning a military mission or some one some where needed the help of a jedi knight at this moment he sighed again and walked into the house knowing he would probably be regretting that thought shortly.

[RobbyL9]

Blades

Tightening the restraints on his seat, Blades held tightly onto his weapon and gritted his teeth. He knew what the plan was and it was time to execute.

The tension and excitement grew in his gut as the underside of the transport began to vibrate and shake rapidly. Damn, they were dropping pretty fast. What kind of gate were they trying to plow, eight-inch permacrete with a gating of adamantine? The vibrating grew louder and more intense for a few seconds after that until finally.

WHAM! An enormous crash resounded throughout the compartment, jolting Blades forward and back against his tightened restraints. Immediately following that, the sound of metal grating against permacrete for what he assumed was a few yards or so. Absolutely a split second after that, the loading dock door slammed down on the pavement. Blades pressed the button to his restraints and yanked them off in a single tug.

Bolting out the door to seek cover, Blades noticed that the two guardsmen at the front gate, despite being shaken by their gate getting crashed, were on their way out. They both carried scatterguns and pistols. The one inside the gatehouse looked like he was pressing his hand to his comm bead to alert reinforcements. As if that would matter, the whole compound likely knew that something had happened after that.

The other guard however had his finger on the trigger and was about to fire. Blades slid into cover behind a loading dock just as the scattergun discharged. He heard the split blaster bolts ricochet off the shuttle's plating before two more shots discharged and struck the loading dock, chipping some of the permacrete off.

Blades unloaded some blind suppressive fire in the direction of guard before fully emerging and popping off two shots center mass and dropping the guard. The guard recoiled and contorted, hitting the ground hard on his right side and causing his scattergun to discharge harmlessly against the ground.

Turning his attention to the other gate guard, Blades looked directly at him with his HUD and intoned "Lock." as he was spraying the house with bolts to suppress. The guard's body was instantly outlined in a red laser pattern triggered by his vital signatures. Ducking behind the loading dock again, Blades ceased fire and hid.

The guard's body, still outlined and showing through the obstructions, stayed crouched and hidden in the cover. For the longest time the man wouldn't move and Blades knew why. He was pinned. Likely waiting for reinforcements to respond and save his ass. Thumbing the overcharge button on the fire selector, Blades held down the trigger for a couple of seconds and got out of cover.

He aimed and fired at the gatehouse's permacrete wall, right where he saw the outline of the guard. A large recoil rocked into the mercenary's shooting pocket in his shoulder as the bolt hit its target, creating a medium sized gap in the wall and blowing permacrete dust all over the inside, knocking the guard on the floor.

The guard coughed and choked as he fired frantically to buy himself time to move somewhere else in the small gatehouse. Two more well-placed shots later, the guard's outline disappeared.

Sticking two fingers in the air and folding them to signify 'neutral', Blades spoke into his comm bead "All clear. Headcount. I'm up."

[hk47fan]

R7-43

I rolled along with a few of the soldiers, as the storage's outer wall was weakened, and the outer guards were eliminated. "My sensors do not pick up any other organics, other than the number of Resistance soldiers, outside of the storage, but my long-range sensors detect more coming," I beeped to the soldiers beside me.

"All units are reporting in," one of the soldiers said into his communication link to the rest of the team. "We don't have much time. Everyone go, go, go! Right through the entrance in the wall that Blades made."

I followed the soldiers, and soon, the entire team was united again, jumping through the hole that the newest soldier had made. I followed them as we penetrated the storage base. "The structure containing the majority of the weapons is point 3 miles ahead," I booped to the soldiers.

Soon enough, we were at the building, and that was where my skills entered the mission: I used my skills as an astromech droid to hack the door into the area where the New Republic's weapons were stored. Within seconds, the doors were open.

"My sensors detect New Republic soldiers on the approach," I warned.

"We'll split the team half-in-half," one soldier said, pointing towards a group of half of the soldiers. It included the newest one that had killed the first soldiers and damaged the wall. "You all will stay here and fight off the soldiers, while the rest of us get the weapons. We'll hurry as fast as possible."

My head swirled around. "They have arrived," I announced.

"Alright," the soldier said, beginning to head into the structure with the other organics that were not remaining here. "Let's go, we're almost done here!"

Mara

"I...I just can't even believe this is happening. I mean, I let them run around, but I never expected all of this to happen in the midst of this planet-wide search for that officer," Vania said, referring to Winter, obviously. She sounded extremely upset, and I couldn't help but have a little bit of sympathy for her. "Sora is so angry, and he already was angry because of all that's going on. How can this be happening?"

"I'm sorry," I said softly, yet firmly. I didn't want her to hear that I had any sort of attachment to this.

"It's fine. I shouldn't be pouring this out on you," Vania said. I could tell she was trying to calm down. "What did you need?"

"Umm..." I replied, almost stumped for words. Everyone here had a point: If we brought Vania into this, it could be a whole world of trouble. Sora could come marching up to my door step, our door step, and take Winter and everyone else away. He could even kill them for all of this with all of the trouble that this was causing him.

It could throw my life into an upheavel; our lives. My son's life.

I looked at Xandyrr, and then to everyone else. This was a hard decision; I felt bad for lying to Vania when she was so upset, yet the risks were very, very great.

I sighed. This was a harder decision than I originally thought. "Vania, you have been my friend and co-worker for a long, long time," I told her. "If I tell you this, you have to keep it in confidence. Are you somewhere private right now?"

"Uh, yes, I'm just getting to my apartment. What's going on, Mara?" Vania asked with concern.

I looked at the others, particularily my husband. Hopefully they understood what I was doing and why. I was going to take a chance and trust Vania. A big chance, and although she and I may not be best friends or anything, I knew her. This could be a solution to our problems.

"You do not tell your brother-in-law, or even your sister this, you understand?" I told her sternly. I hated acting so controlling over another person's children, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"...um, sure, just tell me what's going on," Vania said.

"Your niece and nephew are here, with Jaden. At our home. If you come and get them and bring them back to Sora, without telling him that they were here...that'd be great. He cannot know that they were here, we do not want him breathing down our necks," I told her, finally deciding to tell her the truth. Not the whole truth, but the truth about Emma and Demlan.

"What?! They're with you?! I couldn't get ahold of them...and I could bring them back to Sora and Deena..." Vania said, suddenly sounding anxious again, or possibly relieved and excited. "I'll be right there!"

She didn't say another word, simply cutting the communication. I looked at the others. "I had to do it," I told them, straight-forward. "She's a friend of mine, and if she can get them back to Sora without seeing you all or saying a word, then it may fix one problem."

Emma

"Okay, that makes sense," I told him. I mean, it kind of did...sort of. Okay, maybe it mostly didn't, but I could almost see what he's saying. "You seem really talented, Mr. Whiteraven."

Demlan was busy looking out the window. "Wow, the police are everywhere out there...all those people that work for Dad," he said, looking towards the rest of us. "I don't think it's a good idea to go home right now, Emma."

I sighed. "I know. I mean, if Dad were to catch us...Aunt Vania's probably already upset with us," I admitted. I looked towards Jaden. "Sorry if we interrupted...and sorry that we're stuck here right now. Our Dad just can't know that we're out here, or we'd never get to see you again."

Tina

I began to eat the food. It wasn't the best, but it was better than what I'd been having the past few days or so! There wasn't much time to eat when you're on the run from a man that enslaves children. However, I stopped when she mentioned Cyan...and my son. I hadn't seen Cyan since...since he, Kurt, and I faked my death. When we said goodbye on Coruscant, I never saw him again. Of course, he was keeping an eye on me, and he had sent Nora to me, but I hadn't spoken to him in so long.

"I haven't spoken to Cyan since I went into hiding," I finally admitted softly. "I mean, he helped me do it, and he sent your mother to me, but...I haven't seen him since then. We broke things off because of what happened, and that was it."

I paused again. My beloved Cyan; the best man I knew. I may not have seen him for thirteen years, but I still loved him. I didn't know if we'd ever be together again, but I always hoped that we had. Our relationship was short and had been filled with turmoil, but there was no one like him. I missed him, and I thought about him so much. I wondered where he was now, what he was doing...obviously, overseeing the Galaxy, but I hadn't heard from him.

I love you, Cyan.

And then there was my son; my baby boy. I had carried him for nine months and that was when I got to know Nora and her children. Then, he was born, and as Cyan and I agreed, he was given away. I wanted to raise him, I wanted to raise him with Cyan, but circumstances just prevented it. I gave birth to him, and I held him once, but then Nora took him to his new mother.

"I haven't seen my son since the day he was born," I replied, snapping out of thought again. A bit more sadness creeped into my voice this time. "It was agreed when I faked my death that he would be given to someone else to raise. I am still not sure who, but I think Cyan, and your mother, do. After I gave birth, your mother took him to his new parents. I...miss him too. I want to see them both one day. I'm determined to!"

Yes, it was true: One day, I would find Cyan and my son, and get them back!

[Mandalorian]

Wey

The hum of a lightsaber filled the training/meditation room of the apartment, and the shadows in the room danced as the Crimson-orange saber danced along with Wey stopping the bursts of stunning blaster energy the four training drones where firing rapidly.

Wey's eyes where closed as he spun and sidestepped fluidly around the room the force laid itself out around him as a tapestry and reacting to the changes in it's currents he moved his saber to block all potential threats. He was not particularly fast or agile for a jedi but no shots ever found their mark because he knew where he and his saber had to be long before they had to be there. He was purposefully avoiding knocking the blaster shots back at the drones for one simple reason, he was getting old now and he had to keep up his endurance and stamina. So on a daily basis he trained against the drones for as long as he was physically able or until something came up. Which he could feel in teh force that Olee would be back shortly so he quickly knocked the next for shots fired at him back into the drones deactivating all of them and went to the Fresher to change out of his training garments, it was his turn to cook tonight and he was supposed to have started cooking dinner a bit ago whoops he said to himself as he shrugged and started getting changed.

[RobbyL9]

Blades

The squad filed along quickly toward the armory's sealed door. One of the fighters used the key card he had jacked from the front entry guard to open the door and held up three fingers. Counting quickly down to zero, he stormed into the relatively cramped armory and began firing when he noticed the armory guards had been expecting him.

The rest of the squad followed amid the crossfire. A couple were hit, stumbling to the floor, including the guy in front of Blades. This set his adrenaline on high, speeding him to action. Pushing him aside, Blades charged in and held down his trigger in the direction of the enemy fire. The walls weren't really suitable for cover and the two remaining guards went down quickly.

"Agh. Clear!" He heard the point man, who had caught two in the vest and in the leg, say.

Some of the merchandise on the wall behind the guards was destroyed as a result, but at least the fight was over. The point man was messed up and having trouble walking but a localized bacta booster stopped the bleeding. No way a bolt in the knee was going to stop him from being a soldier.

"Okay, you. See to the wounded and get looting. Blades, you open those boxes and get looting too. We have got exactly no time to do this." The point man said commandingly. Talk about leading from the front.

Blades slung his rifle around his shoulder and kicked the tops off of two crates before him with black squares marking them in the top right corner. More assault rifles. Nice. Put the lot of these things in the hands of the Resistance, maybe a little extra pay would be in order...

After a little more searching Blades began to be amazed by what he found. It wasn't just assault weapons. "Hot damn, guys. This is a frickin' arsenal. They got frag grenades, automatic weapons..." he said, looking in some more crates "And look at this. Enough thermal detonators to orbit Salvatori Justice!" Blades echoed the name of his favorite action vid star.

Blades was in heaven. It only now really dawned on him that he could probably get away with jacking some of the stock for himself. Normally you had to pay a fortune for a TD, now he could get them on the house, so to speak. At this moment, kids in candy stores had nothing on this professional soldier.

[hk47fan]

R7-43

Staying back, in order to prevent damage to my frame, I watched as the soldiers that had remained outside eliminated the organics with the New Republic. It was, by organic standards, a chaotic battle without much organization; both sides were fighting very hurriedly and rapidly, although it seemed that the Resistance forces were somewhat more organized. However, many organics fighting for the Resistance fell, and from what my sensors detected, had no life signs left.

"Come on, keep it up, men!" one of the soldiers shouted as they threw a grenade towards the New Republic soldiers, who had decided to take cover behind a large group of boxes nearby. It seemed that our objective was being completed: We were blocking them from intercepting our mission inside the armory.

Many New Republic soldiers were being killed, as well, while blaster bolts flew everywhere, and organics constantly rolled back and forth from cover to cover. Soldiers on both sides of this battle barked out orders constantly and consistently, while I stood back; there was not much an astromech droid such as myself could do in a time like this. We were not programmed or built for long-range battle.

As two more New Republic soldiers fell, one of the Resistance soldiers looked at me, after firing his blaster again. "Are there more on the way? We've almost cleaned up this round, but they're not letting up," he explained to me.

I beeped hurriedly, as if alert. "My sensors detect more soldiers, ranging from approximately twenty to twenty five organics, approaching this area."

While the fighting with the current group of New Republic soldiers continued, the soldier speaking to me cursed, before firing his blaster again. "Let's hope they're working fast in there," he yelled, mainly to the other organics. "We've done a lot of preparing for this!"