Survival, Dark Times 3

[Rain]

Darovit

"Good one Tomcat... no you're lost." I said aloud to myself. The holomap Karrde told me about was from before all this metropolis development happened. It showed the old layout of Cloud City. I figured it couldn't be that hard to find a cantina on a former mining platform. I was wrong.

The platform itself had been extended, and it was now huge, like a mini-Coruscant. I was a kid who grew up in the forests of Ruusan. Even after thirteen years on Nar Shaddaa, cities still confused me.

As much as I hated to have to ask for help, I figured the only way I would find my way around this place was to knock at someones house and ask for directions. I walked up to the first house in a neat little residental area, and moved to press the buzzer. Before I could, the door flew open and someone clashed right into me.

I was about to express my annoyance, but when I saw who had barged into me, something stopped me. It was a girl, around the same age as me. Her being a girl wasn't what stopped me getting angry, it was something else. I wasn't sure what.

"I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, going bright red. "That's the second time I've run into someone today!"

"Uh... Okay..." I didn't know how to reply, I wasn't the best at socialising. The crew of the Wild Karrde were the only people I ever really talked to.

"Oh no.. the holorecorder!" She said as she knelt over the device, which had fragmented. "Great... It's my brother's. He won't be happy!"

"I can fix that." I told her.

She looked up at me for the first time, and paused for a moment. "You can? But... I don't even know you."

"I'm Darovit." I introduced myself as I stood up, and helped the girl to her feet, "Or Tomcat if you like. Some people call me that. I'm new in town."

"Yeah, I haven't seen you around before..." She mused, "I'm Jaina."

I smiled. Briefly. "I'm looking for the Jade Sky Cantina. Do you know the way?"

"Uh... yeah I do actually. Why are you going there?"

"I'm going to a party." I answered, "Theres a workstation on my guardians ship, which isn't far from here. If I help you fix your holorecorder can you take me to the cantina?"

She thought about it for a moment, staring down at the broken recorder, and back up at me. "Deal." She finally said, smiling broadly, "Lead the way."

"Let's hope I can find my way back..."

Nilia

"Well, you two can always stay here. It's a bit crowded, but it's safe at least." I suggested, "All of the medical staff stationed here on Taris stay in this apparentment complex, and there is security provided by the Resistance to keep us safe."

"I thought you were independant?" Kitty asked.

"I am." I confirmed, "I am not a part of the Resistance or the New Republic. That doesn't mean I don't agree with the Resistance however. Sora Trok is a delusional tyrant who abuses his power, he needs to be stopped."

"Well if you agree with them, why not just join them?" She asked again. "Are you a pacifist?"

"I want peace." I replied, "But I am not a pacifist. I am willing to fight for what I believe in. But most of the New Republics army is there under conscription. They have no choice. I know that this war could not have been avoided, Sora Trok made sure of that, But my goal is to ensure that as many people as possible make it through alive. That includes people from the Resistance and the NR, as well as those who are caught up in the crossfire."

She nodded, Perhaps she was finally beginning to trust me? "You have conviction."

It sounded like a compliment. "Thank you." I replied, "Now, about my offer. It only stands for a few weeks. After that I will be going back to Bespin. You're more than welcome to join me then also if you want?"

Han

I laughed. "Actually Alsia that only makes me feel even older!" I turned to Wey, "And I heard that! Just for the record, Lando is older!"

"Not that you'd think it!" Lando interupted, hearing my comment.

I shook my head wit ha smirk and ignored him. "And thanks Marlena. I guess I'll try and believe you!"

Olee

"Talk about a celebration." I said to Wey as Hudson and I joined him, "It's great to see everyoone so happy." I glanced over Wey's shoulder at Han and laughed, "Well... almost everyone!"

[Mandalorian]

Wey

Wey chuckled "yeah it is, everyone needs top forget about the stressful galaxy every once in awhile" he took a sip of his beer and looked around at the crowd "and most of the people here don't do it anywhere near enough"

[Rain]

Olee

"Can't really blame them." I muttered, "Still, I try to take the good with the bad, and I'm happier for it. After everything that went down when I was Padawan, my mentors and friends being murdered, I spent way too much time feeling sorry for myself. These days I just look around me and see everything I have to be thankful for. You, the boys, our friends, life in general... it makes me see I have no reason to be sad, no matter how grim things seem."

When I finished, I noticed the people ar the table beside us were also listening. Trika, Caleb, Daron, Serra and Sky all stared back at me.

"Nice speech." Daron finally said.

I blushed. "Sorry... I didn't intend on rambling on into a motivational lecture."

They laughed. "Hey, don't sweat it, it's actually nice to have someone be a bit more positive for a change." Said Sky.

Daron scoffed. "Yeah. You have no idea how much negativity we absorb through living with Trika!"

"...haven't seen you in years!" Han could be heard over everyone else. We glanced over to see who he was talking about. It was Talon Karrde, with Aves Brevin in tow.

"Well theres a blast from the past." I commented, "Nice to see some old faces cropping up again. Guess it's becoming just like the good old days!"

[Mandalorian]

Wey

Wey smiled at Olee as she spoke, she just was a natural speaker and even when she didn't mean to ended up inspiring people. she was just a natural born leader in that sense. then when Karrde came in his smile grew wider "yeah it certainly is like the old days i haven't seen him in forever" he raised his voice slightly so Talon could hear him over the crowd "how the hell are you doing you old spacer?"

[Rain]

Aves

The party was well underway, and it was packed out with people of all ages. A lot of the faces I recognised - Memah, Lando, Alsia, Selas and the birthday boy himself were the faces I picked out straight away,. There were a lot of new faces too, people I would know doubt come to know soon enough.

I greeted Han, as did Karrde, and he was happy to see us. Then someone else called to Karrde. The voice was familiar. We glanced over to see a grinning Wey Sol looking in our direction.

"Wey Sol, good to see ya!" Karrde exclaimed with a hearty laugh as we walked over to the man, Han right behind us. "Things are goin' good! Not much out of the ordinary, apart from being back here of course. No ones trying to kill me at the minute, so I guess that's good! Aves here can't say the same, however!" Karrde laughed again.

To a normal individual, having a bounty on your head would be no laughing matter. But we were smugglers. There was rarely an occasion when we didn't have someone out there trying to kill us!

"Yeah, Krogga the Hutt wants my head." I shrugged, "Not that he would be bothered sending his goons half way across the galaxy to get me! So I'm fairly safe, as long as I don't go back to Nar Shaddaa..."

"Krogga the Hutt, huh?" Han mused with a grin, "What did you do to get him so fired up? Not that it takes much to make a Hutt angry mind you."

I was about to start from scratch. Then I thought about Li and Sem. Everyone here still thought they were dead, and the pair wanted it to stay that way. The way things looked at the minute, we would be staying on Cloud City for the forseeable future. But as for the pair of them, they had no such obligation to do so. Karrde and I sure as hell weren't gonna blow their secret and then have them not even show up.

"Well, long story short I kind of threw a spear at him." I answered.

Han laughed. "Well it sounds like you two have been up to all sorts in the past thirteen years!"

"You don't even know the half of it!" Karrde said wit ha grin. "So Wey, what about you? How's life treatin' ya?"

[hk47fan]

R7-43

The team that had performed the assault on the New Republic's weapon arsenal was now on board another transport, on their next objective, and I continued to remain on the team. The previous mission had taken place approximately four hours and eleven minutes ago; from my data, teams were not usually given new objectives so quickly. However, there were what would be considered different circumstances.

The path that the transport that the newest organic that had sacrificed himself would most likely be aboard had been estimated through Resistance intel. We were only one point five miles away from the point that we would intercept and attack the transport, freeing the prisoners inside of it.

I sat silently, listening once again to the conversation amongst the organics.

"You know, when that mission started, I didn't think the new guy would really work out, letalone that we'd be rescuing him," one soldier remarked.

"Neither did I," one of the higher-ranked organics said. "but he deserves it. No matter what anyone's opinion of how he got here is, I give credit where credit is due: He made that mission a success. I'm not going to worship the man, but he sacrificed himself for a team that he barely knew. This is the Resistance, not the NR; we have honor. We don't leave men behind to suffer, no matter who they are."

"Yes, sir!" several soldiers agreed in unison.

More talk amongst the soldiers took place, until I could detect that we were coming upon the transport. "We are arriving at our attack point," I announced to everyone in a series of beeps.

"Alright, men, here we go," another one of the leaders said. "Let's do this."

The attack on the New Republic transport, using the unique tactics the team had divised, commenced.

Trika

Scowling at Daron, I quickly pushed my foot under his chair, and sent him flying to the floor. Then I looked back at Olee, and sighed thoughtfully, sipping my drink. "Ah, the good ole days," I said aloud. "You know, I wonder what the good old days even are? Me blasting Takk through the floor? Hunting down Erin and getting captured by Prince Xizor, then being thrown in a mental ward? Wandering around a ghost ship?"

I laughed. "You know, those didn't seem like good old days at the time. You all weren't any less annoying, except for maybe Daron," I remarked. "Now, though, looking back, they did seem like better days. Are things really that bad?"

Then I remembered Olee's speech. "You're right, though, Olee. A lot's happened to all of us," I said, getting rarely optimistic and inspirational. "I've seen a lot of family and friends die, leave, change, but life is still pretty good. I have my husband, someone I love very much..."

I paused for a moment, smiling at Caleb. "And the rest of you idiots. What more could I ask for?"

Tina

I couldn't help but smile, and I rushed into Nillia's arms, pulling her into a hug. It wasn't something I did too often, but she was being so kind to us right now! I had never had better friends. Having friends for once, people who would help me...it was a different feeling, but a nice one. "Oh, Nillia, thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me! No one else would've taken me in, and once the few weeks are up, I would be glad to go back to Bespin with you. Believe me, I have nowhere else to go. As long as it is far away from that evil Derm Keish!"

I briefly looked back at Kitty. "Kitty, when we leave for Bespin, will you come with us?" I asked hopefully. Kitty had her own life that she needed to live, but admittedly, I wasn't ready to part ways with her just yet. I was becoming attached to the young girl in my own way.

[Rain]

Kitty

Bespin? Living on Cloud City, a place full of heroes. Was that what I really wanted? Years ago I promised myself that I would dedicate my life to making the Galaxy a better place, but how could I do that there? Then again, perhaps I needed to get back to a normal life. Thats what my father would want, and Ewan.

"I... I'm not sure that's what I want." I replied, "But, I guess the only way I'll find out for sure is if I try it out. Yes. I'll go to Bespin with you."

Daron[/b[

"Oh, well, some manners would be nice I guess." I muttered as I pulled myself up. "And don't worry Trika, we all know you love us really."

"Of course she does!" Memah exclaimed, "What's not to love?"

"Woah... guys. Are you seeing this?" Sky asked, seemingly in shock. Whether that shock was real or not was debatable. "Trika is blushing!"

I stared at her. "Heh, you're right. I didn't think that was possible!"

[Mandalorian]

Wey

Wey smiled "pretty damn good in fact, never thought the family life was going to be for me but... well life surprises you sometimes you know" he inconspicuously moved a little closer to Karrade and said low enough others couldn't hear "but if you know of something going where the assistance of a Jedi Knight would be helpful i haven't been on a mission in far to long"

[RobbyL9]

Blades

Blades tugged on his restraints and looked around. This shuttle was definitely an efficient means of travel for society's rejects, he thought to himself. No sooner had he finished his thought that, seemingly from nowhere, a gigantic jolt of motion his the left side of the shuttle. It went careening to the side, sending a further sensation of someone stepping on his chest through Blades' gut.

Thoughts raced through Blades' mind, his head pressing against the side of his restraint. Engine knocked out? Hell no, this couldn't be faulty machinery, even sabotage seemed unlikely. Blast artillery? No, a hit like that would have penned the shields for sure. It was not until the lights in the aisle all shut out at once and turned red that it really hit Blades.

Ion weapons...

Clamped firmly into his seat, Blades observed the kind of restraints they had him under. Several inch thick harnesses with reinforced, double pinned, magnetic buckles. It wasn't the first time he had seen this kind of set-up. Blades had put plenty of lowlifes into these chairs during his time as a private trafficking detective. The buckles themselves held the harness together and the electro-magnets kept it even firmer in place still. The man who invented this design was rumored to have tested it on wookiees and was most proud of his results, if the merc recalled.

However, the design was not foolproof. If for some reason the ship became short of power, the electro-magnets would begin to shut down for lack of charge. All it would take then was a fella with a nice broad set of shoulders (which, it had to be admitted, prison ships were NOT lacking in) to push with all his might and break the physical restraint. Sure the guards might taze or shoot the first guy to try it, but if freedom is at stake then "wookiee see, wookiee do."

And that is exactly what happened, as wild, unhinged screams began ringing out from everywhere. It sounded like a falumpaset with derangement mixed with a group of men in a bar cheering for their team, with Blades all in the middle of it. Doing his best to crane his neck to what he believed was the source, Blades looked up just in time to see the source of the commotion...

His gaze was jolted away several seconds later by the unmistakable sensation of the shuttle making an emergency landing. But immediately prior, Blades was just in time to catch a front row view of one of the prisoners nearby him busting free and pulling a small makeshift boot knife. The commotion was too loud after that to decide if anyone had gotten hurt in the crash or who.

The mercenary didn't even really concern himself with that. Several jerks of the wrists and abdomen later and he was free just as the guards came to. Just as he got free and removed his broken harness, Blades noticed the guard from earlier trying to load and level a rifle.

Blades jumped onto the seat in front of him and did a stage dive over it and the heads of the prisoners ahead of him. Just as he did, he noticed that the other guard in the area had been shanked in the throat and was on the ground in a bloody mess. Blades landed atop the guard and grabbed the barrel of the blaster with both hands before falling to the ground.

Surprisingly, however, the short nothing of a guard was putting up quite a fight. Knowing this was his one shot at freedom, Blades wrestled back intensely to disarm him.

[hk47fan]

R7-43

"The ship's going down," came an organic announcement from the cockpit. I looked around, swerving my head, as all the soldiers prepared for offensive manuevers. I also assessed myself, assuring that my systems were at optimial capacity.

The weapon that had been used to disable the New Republic vessel was a "man-portable" ion cannon. It was specifically designed to disable a ship, yet not arm any beings inside. The Resistance did not wish to kill anyone inside the ship unless forced to, and if the prisoner we were searching for was killed, we would have automatically failed to achieve our mission objective.

The Resistance transport landed, and I rolled out alongside many armed soldiers. The leader motioned for me to roll over to the entrance ramp to the ship, in order to hack it open so that the team could enter. Working quickly, I overrode the transport's systems, which had already been sufficiently damaged.

It was approximately three-point-four seconds before the Resistance organics ran at a high speed into the New Republic prisoner transport, and my sensors detected a large spike in energy readings. They had entered a fight that had already begun.

Trika

I scowled at Daron and Memah. I could feel my cheeks heating up at the embarrassment of what Memah saying, about me loving them, was true, but I couldn't let them know that. Especially not Daron. "It's just...exceptionally hot in here, Memah. Gah, why can't you turn the air on? Who wouldn't turn red with all of these people crowding around?" I asked with a grunt.

Looking at everyone, I saw that excuse wasn't flying. I sighed, and just decided to give it up as I took a drink. "Okay, fine, so maybe I do love you nimrods," I said with a small growl. "Just don't get used to hearing about it."

Tina

This time, I ran into Kitty's arms. I was overjoyed at how they were both being so kind to me, and how willing they were to stick with me. "Thank you, Kitty! You have been just as big of a help in all of this. I mean, I know you have your own life you probably want to get on to, but this means a lot to me!" I exclaimed.

I looked at both of them. "I really appreciate both of you. You two are really good friends to me. Thank you."

[RobbyL9]

Blades

The fight between the guard and the mercenary raged on even as the doors were being hacked open. The guard managed to squeeze off two shots, while they struggled. One barely rushed past Blades' chest on the left and hit an inmate in the head, killing him almost instantly. The second was unlucky enough to graze Blades under the armpit, which sent him into a rage.

Pushing forward unexpectedly, Blades headbutted the guard and pulled back on the rifle far enough to loosen his grip on it. Blades smashed the loose rifle into his enemy's face once, twice, thrice, breaking his nose. Finally, he uppercut the guard under the chin with the rifle butt, sending him flying backwards into the gate wall.

Not wasting a moment, Blades flew after him and stuck the barrel of his new weapon into the guard's throat. Fire was burning in the mercenary's eyes by now, so much so that he didn't realize that a score of other inmates had broken free and were in the process of taking the fight to the other guards.

He regarded his prey with the utmost rage. "What's wrong, Percy? No smart comments about my daughter, you smug son of a BITCH?!" Slapping him across his already broken nose and grabbing him by the collar.

Holding him against the gate with his rifle arm, Blades reached down and grabbed the cuffs from Percy's holster. Instead of putting them on his wrists, Blades secured one cuff to the gate. Forcing the guard to the side slightly, he secured the other cuff to the gate as well, pinning the now-hapless guard to the wall by his throat.

"That oughta keep your face-hole shut for a while." Blades remarked, suddenly joyful and flippant, as he admired his handiwork "Oh and by the way..." he reached into the shirt pocket, removing the 'confiscated' pictures of Navit and Nirmala, winking and kissing them "Told you I'd get these back. Mwah!"

The guard attempted to spit, but only managed a cough through his shattered nose "Fuck... you..." he wheezed, trying to stand up straight "Tenement trash."

"HEY!" Blades yelled and pointed "My mother lives in a tenement! Now shaddup or I'll 'confiscate' myself a box of shock batons, paint a bull's eye on your manhood and tell the boys to play a game of darts. Speaking of which..."Turning toward the gate controls, Blades grabbed the keycard off of Percy's belt and swiped it, opening the gate.

Luckily, in all this, the guards had quickly found themselves surrounded and overrun. If there was any transport to have gone haywire, today this was probably the worst. Turning around to get a full lay of the action, Blades also noticed that the first guard to be poked with the escapee's pig-sticker was the one who was sympathetic with him.

Damn pity. Hopefully he didn't have a lot to live for outside of work.

Blades kept his piece handy for whatever was about to happen next. Their shuttle hadn't been shot out the sky for no reason. And simple reason told him that that reason was going to be coming through the door reasonably soon.

[Rain]

Darovit

"So... how did you get the name Tomcat?" Jaina asked, trying to make conversation.

"Well..." I began as I soldered together a component of the holorecorder. "When I was a kid thats what my cousins used to call me, and I guess I just kind of kept it. Still it's only Zannah who really calls me it. And-" I stopped myself before saying Sem's name. Jaina probably didn't know her anyway, but I wasn't taking the risk. "And we called her Rain. We being me and my other cousin, Bug." The mention of his name brought back more of those painful memories, but I focussed on fixing the recorder to push the memories to the back of my mind.

Jaina giggled. "Sounds to me like you're just a big kid! But you seem so grown up! How old are you?"

"Uh... 14 I guess."

"You guess?" She said, giving me an odd look.

Maybe it would ease her confusion if I told her I was about twenty thousand years old? Well... at least technically. Biologically I was indeed 14. Or there-abouts. "Yeah. When you're travelling with smugglers and spacers you kind of lose track of the days. If I'm not 14 already then I will be very soon."

She smiled. "Not celebrating your birthday? That sounds a bit dull..."

I couldn't hide a smile. "Believe me, theres a lot of words I could use to describe my life, but dull isn't one of them."

There was silence as I continued to fix the holorecorder. As I glanced up I noticed she was just staring at me, still smiling. I blushed. "What?"

"You're a strange boy." She laughed,

I blushed some more. "Strange?"

"It's not an insult, silly!" She replied, "You're different somehow. It's like you're from a different world... it's interesting."

"I... uh... thanks." I said awkwardly. "Here... it's not exactly good as new, but it'll work." I handed her the device.

"Thanks Tomcat! You're a lifesaver!" She exclaimed.

Lifesaver... I wish...

"And now, as promised, let's go to your party!"

"You mean your dads part."

"Well yeah, but now it's yours too." She grabbed me by the hand and dragged me out of the ship, eager to get back to the Jade Sky Cantina. "You said yourself, you aren't sure of when your birthday is. So why not make it today?"

"Do I have a choice?"

She laughed again. She really was a bubbly one. I wasn't used to being around people this... happy. "You're a funny one Darovit! Now let's go before my brothers eat all the cake!"

Aves

I smirked. "Looks like the old Wey's still in there somewhere!"

"Oh Wey is still the same as he every was." Olee interjected, grinning. "He's always had a softer side to him, he just needed someone to help bring it out."

"Careful now, you'll make him blush!" Karrde quipped. "Trika blushing was shocking enough, if ol' Wey Sol here starts it might even set me off!"

Takk

I drank some of the juice that Jadens friends were drinking, and waited.

You know what would be cool? If an old school assassin droid popped up!

"Why would that be cool?" Jaden asked.

"Wait... I said that out loud?"

He sighed. "Yes, Mr Whiteraven. Yes you did."

[hk47fan]

R7-43

The Resistance team manuevered their way throughout the transport; we often encountered many organics in the service of the New Republic that we were forced to do battle with, and we had also run into three prisoners, at seperate times, of the New Republic. Two agreed to compromise and go with us in exchange for their freedom; one organic would not negotiate and became violent, forcing him to be killed.

"Using the schematics of the transport," one of the organics said as we moved along. "We are approaching the main hall where the prisoners were being held. From the sound alone, I'd say the fiercest fighting, and our objective, is inside the next room."

The leader of the organic team of soldiers nodded. "Alright, boys, make sure you're ready. We're walking into a hornet's nest," he said, before looking to me. "R7, get this door open."

"The ship's systems are working at a ten percent capacity and quickly decreasing," I beeped, judging from what I had learned earlier. "This operation should take no more than five-point-two seconds."

Rolling over to the door, I began my duty, and finished it two milliseconds earlier than I had calculated. Once it was open, the Resistance team charged in, and I could detect a large increase in the energy being let out from their weapons. I followed them inside, seeing some of the Resistance soldiers throw aside New Republic guards, while others fought through prisoners that would not be tamed. There were many screams; the battle occurring inside would be considered very fierce and chaotic by organic standards.

Rolling past any of the fighting, I was ignored, likely due to just being a droid. The Resistance team continued to try to make their way through the battle behind me, but I scanned for any readings that were similar to the man called Blades, the one we had come on this new mission to rescue. Quickly, I picked up a reading that matched the one I had previously retrieved from him during the last mission.

I sped my "legs" to their top speed, moving through the ongoing fighting, as prisoners fought guards and some prisoner organics fought each other, before finally coming upon the Blades organic. He was holding a keycard and had seemingly just opened one of the gates onboard this prisoner transport.

"Blades," I greeted him by his name in a series of beep. "The Resistance team that you sacrificed yourself for has arrived to rescue you."

Emma

I raised an eyebrow at Mr. Whiteraven. He was....kinda weird. Before anything more could be said, Demlan put his juice down and stood up. "I gotta pee. Be back in a sec!" he bluntly announced.

"Demlan," I snapped. "Aren't you going to ask if you can use the bathroom? You know, manners?"

"I know where it is, Emma," Demlan snapped back, rolling his eyes. "We've been here a million times. Jaden isn't gonna mind."

He began to walk towards the bathroom, and I decided to walk with him. I didn't want my brother messing up anything in Jaden's house on the way...I wanted to come back here, after all.

He again rolled his eyes. "I'm not a girl, Emma, I don't need people coming to the bathroom with me..."

"Just wanna make sure you don't knock anything over on the way..." I retorted.

We got to the back room, and we opened the door. However, both of us stopped when we walked in and saw a huge group of people in there! I didn't know Jaden had this many guests...and the first thing I heard was Mrs. Foxx talking.

"Vania'll get here soon, and she'll take the kids away before Trok blows a gasket," she was just finishing when I walked in. "Serves him right, though. It's all because of that bastard that any of us are even in this mess-"

She stopped when she saw Demlan and I, and her eyes went wide.

"What did you just say about my dad?" I asked, looking around the room. I knew they were talking about him, and I knew people complained about my dad, but I hadn't heard anyone say anything like that before.

"Emma, I..." Mrs. Foxx started, looking at the others in the room.

"And who are all of you? What are you doing here?" I asked, very confused.

[Rain]

Winter

"She basically said you're dad is an asshole. Which he is of course." Sem replied bluntly.

This wasn't supposed to happen. They weren't supposed to find us. Now not only were we in big trouble, but Kurt was too.

"Mom, I couldn't stop them in time! I'm sorry." Said Jaden, running to the room. It was an exclamation but he still somehow managed to sound dejected and deflated.

"It's OK jaden-" Xandyr began.

"It's OK? How the kriff is it OK?!" Mayko interupted, "If we stay here we're screwed. We need to split."

"No, we can't run." Insisted Li, "Yeah we might, and thats only a might, make it off-planet but Xandyr and Mara would be left to face the consequences."

"He's right." I agreed.

"So what do we do?" Asked Nines.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we should go along with Sem's original plan." Li stated.

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed. "No. No way!"

"We don't have a choice." He replied, before moving towards the two children. "Sorry kids..."

"Back off!" Xandyr jumped in front of the kids and pushed Li back, "I won't let you take two innocent children hostage!"

"First off, next time you lay a hand on me you'll live to regret it." Li spat, picking himself up, "And secondly, who the hell do you think I am? I'm not going to hurt them. I would never hurt them. We just need to grab them and stick some restraints on them!"

"Look, he said back off!" Takk had now stepped in front of the two children also, "Look I know I've been out of action for a while but last time I checked the good guys didn't make a habit of kidnapping kids. Plus I've had arguments with Xandyr before and let me tell you, he is more stubborn than a bantha with a migraine!"

Li gritted his teeth and sighed. "Fine... and yeah, I guess you're right. But that still doesn't change the fact that we are in this crappy situation."

Nines groaned. "So this is why they taught us never to work with children or animals at the academy..."

[hk47fan]

Emma

"My dad isn't an asshole!" Demlan exclaimed angrily. "Take that back, you nerf-herder!"

"Who are all of you people?!" I asked again, looking around in shock. Some guy had just tried to take us hostage. "Why are you talking about my dad like this...and why are you trying to escape? Are you guys criminals or something?"

I looked at Jaden. "Jaden, what's going on?"

"Kids, what we have here is a misunderstanding..." Mrs. Foxx started calmly.

"I think I heard you just fine!" I exclaimed, starting to get worked up and angry. I really didn't understand what was going on.

"Hey," Demlan said, pointing at the white-haired woman. "Didn't you use to work for my dad?"

"Yeah...you're right, Demlan!" I suddenly exclaimed, looking at her. "We've seen you around sometimes when we visited his office."

Suddenly, we heard the buzzer ring. Mrs. Foxx groaned. "I'll get that..." she said, before rushing out of the room.

Mara

As I walked to the front door, I facepalmed myself three times in a row. I just had to be babbling on about Vania and Sora when they walked in, didn't I? Rarely do I even talk about the guy, but the one time I vent a little, his kids walk in the room. Now, his kids were flipping out, and so was everyone else in my house!

And handling Vania would be a lot harder than I first thought. My solution was just blown sky high.

Quickly putting on a smile, I opened the door. I'd gotten used to putting on acts and charades when I was an Emperor's Hand; this would be no different. As expected, I saw Vania there.

"Mara, thanks so much," Vania said, rushing right in before I could even say anything. I quickly shut the door; patrols were still everywhere. Vania still sounded upset and frazzled. "If we couldn't find them, I don't know what Sora would've done."

She stopped and looked around. "Where are Emma and Demlan?" she curiously asked. "They are still here, aren't they?"

I took in a deep breath. "Uhh, yes," I began. Okay, so maybe I was a bit rusty at putting on a show. Maybe it'd be better just to be honest and not dig a deeper hole. "They're in the back with Jaden, Xandyrr, and some other guests....but, um, Vania, we have a small problem. The kids are here, but once you get them, you have to swear not to breathe a word of what you saw here to anyone. Especially not to Sora. Understand? If any of you do, well, a lot of people's lives, including mine and my family's, are down the tubes."