Clash of Realities (SW/40K crossover)

[Dessel_Ordo]

long time lurker, first-time poster here.

I do not own Star Wars, Warhammer 40k, or any related properties. Ect ect ect, the standard fanfic disclaimer goes here; fill the rest in yourself. C&C Welcome

Centarax Secundus

Kel looked over at his captain, trying to hold off the pain in the back of his mind for just a little longer. It was uncommon for a Rogue Trader to let an asset as valuable as his senior astropath to accompany him planetside, but with all the money Captain Korus owed him from the last game of 21 they had played, it was an old game of chance, some gamblers even claimed it came from ancient Terra; either way it was easy enough for a psyker to cheat at it. The pain in Kel’s mind spiked again; so all these years of fighting it really were in vain, like the thing always said; all those years of protecting the veil between realities, of timing his failures, of scaling them, a dying old man pulled to the void here, a swarm of bugs dumped into the warp there. Through the taunts of the daemon and its original choices of beings to take across the veil between realms, Kel had learned its secret, its purpose. To pull a null through from the other side, to free itself in a galaxy with no defense against it, that was the beasts goal. Kel was no hero, but he had a sinking feeling he wouldn’t survive being the daemons conduit on this end. Kel knew that for a fact when the beast went two years without making an attempt to jump to the other dimension; Kel knew it had to be that, the shape of it felt the same, it always felt so similar when his mind was dragged there, when his soul wrestled the daemon in that other realities quiescent version of the warp. Kel knew he was going to die this time when there were nearly three years between this attempt and the beasts last one; and two weeks ago when it started, Kel realized that he would fail as well. But after all these years of defeating the beast, Kel was determined to thwart it one last time; it wanted a null, Kel would give it a psyker, and if he could only hold out for a few more moments, it would all happen just past a security checkpoint; and the wytch would die before it could ever wreak havoc on humanity. Three more steps, just past the checkpoint…

Korus looked back at the Astropath, seeing as the man had threatened to bankrupt him to be part of the payment leg of this job he had been surprisingly distracted for the duration of the trip. It didn’t matter that much though, and Korus would rather have the aging astropath happy than angry; angry psykers were bad for business, happy ones however… he’d take as many as he could afford. When Kel collapsed Korus’ heart leapt, one of his first crewmen and oldest friends; they’d been working together for over 40 years, and Kel was his closest friend and greatest advisor. When the old astropath began emitting a purple aura, the sickly light of maelific warp activity, and the guards at the docking bays security checkpoint moved to action Korus’ fear went from concern for a friend to fear of corruption for a brief moment, then his muscles tighten; ready for action.

Agaroth screamed with joy, he was in complete control this time, the mortal weakling barely clinging on by the bond that had been forced on both of them. When first it happened Agaroth thought the Changer of Ways was punishing him, and Agaroth had tried to break through to the other reality as quickly as he could. It had always been his part in the Great Scheme; to link this reality, where Chaos was so vibrant, with others; to spread the Lord of Deceits realms, expand his power-base outside well outside that of its siblings, so that Tzentch could once again rule over all of Chaos, over all of reality. After Agaroths last failure, his lord had told him that the plan was changing; the terms were still the same, exchange a psyker from this realm with a null from the other, the lack of chaos with the peak of it, anchoring him in the other reality; from where he could open a gateway home. Agaroth didn’t know what the gates would do for Tzentch, or why his Master didn’t open the gates the same way he did when he was corrupting planets in his home dimension; but Agaroth had long since been cowed by the great Bird, and merely existed to serve now. Moving at ridiculous speeds, Agaroth hurled himself at a ship full of nulls. The mortal exerted almost all of his power trying to steer the pair at a minute ship filled with psykers. It was no matter, there was an even bigger ship full of nulls behind it, and it was orbiting a planet of them.

Kel pushed again, he held the pressure this time… fading, one last hope…

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----
Low Orbit, Myrkyr

The blue dot of the Tachyon Flyer pulses, and disappears.
“I hope the Scarheads-“ Alema Rar starts to spit something toxic, but is cut off; a purple pulse enveloping the spot where Anakin lay, Tekli was thrown back from Anakins chest. Whatever was happening, he had a sinking feeling that he would not survive it unchanged. Anakin felt a familiar hand clamp on to his arm, then a pulling sensation; realizing that whatever the Vong had used on him, he wouldn’t be around to finish the mission. The sound was deafening and there was no way Anakin would be able to shout over the sudden clamor, so he did the only thing he could do a veritable force shout to his siblings: THE QUEEN!!!

The light was gone almost as quickly as it came, bouncing off into the depths of the grashal, devastating a large portion of it in a brilliant purple flash. Jaina turned to where Anakin was lying, a quip about the Vongs latest fireworks; then it hit her… Anakin was gone. The crater, the blast marks; the disembodied foot… the gaping hole in the force where Anakin should be. She fell to her knees, years of emotional shielding stripped away in the blink of an eye. The vong… those sith-spawned vong bastards! All memory of the plan the team had been working on gone, only vengeance on her mind, she charged down the hill.

Agaroth blasted through the psykers, the mortal smashed and rent by the impact. He careened off into a formation of nulls advancing through the shacks the elation of victory coursing through him, not realizing how diffuse he had become, how weakened he was from the last impact. Not until he smashed into the formation, not with the force of a Greater Daemon of Tzentch, but with the force of a Screamer… maybe a Prince. The formation was torn to shreds, decimated. Agaroth was anchored, but not in his complete form; he would not be free to travel as he wished, he would still be bound to another, and as the cloud of gore settled Agaroth saw his carrier, too blinded by rage and grief to notice a parasite, a rider, using her. And when he found a better host, or a planet that would work for a portal, he would find a null, and blast one open; it would be a long process, but his lord was a patient one.

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----
Centarax Secundus

In the blink of an eye Korus saw his friend disappear, replaced first by a pair of humans, who were then covered in a shower of gore and body-parts, clearly not human by the look of them. Korus didn’t know what happened to his friend; the only other senior crewmember that he had taken with him on this leg of the mission, but he intended to find out. The guards were stunned by the sudden gore, clearly not used to the sort of things that happened around psykers, but they wouldn’t stay stunned for long and chances were good that they would be killing the only lead to the fate of his friend… well, they weren’t called Rogue Traders for nothing. With a nod of his head and a hand gesture his guards opened fire on the port guards; help that loyal is hard to come by, shame that they would have to stay behind to act as a rearguard. Korus dove for the gore pile, his arms finding a large masculine form, he groaned in pain when Korus lifted him, a few seconds later Korus was at the ramp to the lighter they had taken to the surface; that’s when the firefight started in earnest. Korus laid the wounded man down and sprinted back to the pile of gore, it took him almost half a minute to find the other person, smaller, more feminine this one; when he lifted this one he immediately noticed that she was missing her left foot, and half of the accompanying shin; and that she was in the same armored bodyglove the man was in. An autogun round zipped through Korus’ left forearm as he boarded the lighter. He nodded to his guards as he slapped the control that would close the boarding ramp, before setting the girl down.

“Pilot, lift-off NOW!” he ordered “And have the chirugeons on the Emperors Bounty prepare to receive two casualties, I want our guests to be at full health as soon as possible. And make sure their kept apart; I want the truth from them, and if they can corroborate their stories I’ll never know if one’s lying” Korus smirked, how quickly his roots as an acolyte came back to him.


I plan to put this up on FFN eventually, but you guys seem better about C&C so I'll update here first, hopefully at least once a week.

[Edward Yee]

Korus didn't have a reaction to getting wounded just now??

[bilateralrope]

Korus didn't have a reaction to getting wounded just now??

The comment about his roots as an acolyte suggests he was working for the Inquisition before he became a Rogue Trader. I'd be surprised if he hasn't been wounded by things a lot worse than an autogun.

[Snaake]

It really is one of the oldest mistakes in the book, but it's rogue trader, not rouge trader... unless he retired from the Inquisition for the quiet life of a cosmetics merchant.

Also, IIRC the term is chirurgeon?

[ziasyn]

This will be no contest the first time SW Empire comes in contact with a warp deamon or a space marine chapter nothing is going to hold them back even the Imperial Guard will kick Storm Trooper ass

[Srelex]

This will be no contest the first time SW Empire comes in contact with a warp deamon or a space marine chapter nothing is going to hold them back even the Imperial Guard will kick Storm Trooper ass

It's...a tad more complicated than that, as viewing some relevant threads will show.

[ziasyn]

This will be no contest the first time SW Empire comes in contact with a warp deamon or a space marine chapter nothing is going to hold them back even the Imperial Guard will kick Storm Trooper ass

It's...a tad more complicated than that, as viewing some relevant threads will show.

can you direct me to some appropriate threads so I can gain a proper insight than

[Krisnack]

This will be no contest the first time SW Empire comes in contact with a warp deamon or a space marine chapter nothing is going to hold them back even the Imperial Guard will kick Storm Trooper ass

It's...a tad more complicated than that, as viewing some relevant threads will show.

can you direct me to some appropriate threads so I can gain a proper insight than

Sure.
Empire vs 40K
Vong vs 40K
Empire vs Imperium
Son of Empire vs Imperium
Empire vs 40K questions
Clonetroppers vs Eldar
Empire vs Imperium the third
Empire vs orks
New Republic vs Imperium
Tau vs Old Republic
One more
Okay, I lied. Force vs Warp

[Dessel_Ordo]

Deep orbit, Centrax Secundus

Korus stepped off the lighter as soon as the ramp descended.
“Break orbit and prepare to make a warp jump, somewhere outside this subsector, preferably somewhere we’ll be able to find a job. Jarvis, for your own sake I hope you re-supplied the ship according to the timeframe I gave you this time.” As Korus continued through the forward docking bay of the Sword Class Frigate he operated from a thin man in the working garb of a chirugeon approached him, immediately moving to take Korus’ hand from the wound in his shoulder, Korus brushed him aside. “Not me you fool, you’ll find two wounded people on the lighter, see to them Hanz.” He grabbed a roll of gauze off the cart of supplies Hanz had brought with him, hopefully he wouldn’t make too much of a mess when he bandaged the wound.
“Wheres my brother” she asked the captain before he could leave the deck. He turned to his left, where her voice had originated from, she moved from his right to block the exit, it was a fairly simple use of her powers, but the Captain would be furious with her for doing it the same as if she’d attacked him. But Second Navigator Kyria Esfalls had to know. Captain Korus turned to look to his left, smirked, then turned to the exit again.
“Clever, but don’t you have somewhere to be?” Korus calmly brushed the psyker aside and continued towards the bridge. “But before you get us on our way, I’ll need you to get me into your brothers room.” The psyker hurried to fall in step with Korus, so that was her punishment then; the most dangerous part of a warp voyage for the navigator was her assignment this time. “I just want to know what happened to Kel” she replied Korus handed her a piece of paper “That’s what I’m trying to figure out Kyria”

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----

Riina was ecstatic, first the Red Thing helped her defeat the usurper to her body, and now she realized that she had lost her foot, and most of the shin that went with it! She would get an implant to replace it for sure! And with the usurper gone she could finally start scarring this pathetically plain body. She opened her eyes, and was instantly filled with rage. She was not in the warm depths of a living vessel, but the cold innards of an infidel vessel, strapped to a metal pyre. And to make matters worse the infidel bastards were preparing to affix an abomination to her leg!! Riina tried to get up, but found herself bound to the pallet they were planning to operate on her on. She put all of her might into her struggling, but it was to no avail, she was bound tight, furious beyond words, Riina began to scream.

“Throne she’s a loud one” the xenolinguist assigned to Hanz said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Well” Hanz replied “are you going to translate it for me, or just stand there uselessly?” The linguist shrugged “I’ve never heard anything even vaguely resembling that before, sorry.” he replied. Hanz sighed, tightening the straps on his suddenly unwilling patient again, and prepared a dose of sedative. “If you cant help tell me what she’s saying” Hanz replied “then have the other one put under and kept that way, and have one of our spare navigators or astropaths come down here.” Hanz wasn’t a coward, but he was however, strongly averse to having his soul being eaten by some witch. “Servitor, the prosthetic”

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----

This is not a journal. I want to make that abundantly clear, this is a logbook. Ever since my “sanctioning” which I am beginning to believe was flawed, the daemon has been attempting to use me as either a conduit or a gateway. In the eventuality that I should be killed either through the success of my foe, in combat with it, or through some other eventuality; hopefully this log will prove to be useful in negating the effects of my failure.

Korus re read the opening paragraph of his friends logbook, the only trace of emotion his friend showed in the whole thing. He had a decent idea of what had happened now at least though. That running joke the two of them had had was a hell of a lot less funny, considering the truth he now knew was behind it. Considering that a pair of humans had been materialized where he was it was obvious that Kel had failed, but the Captain wasn’t sure if the failure was complete yet. According to Kels logbook the daemon wanted a null for some reason, and last week several of his psykers had come to the conclusion that the first one at least was a psyker, crazy bitch that she was. Korus was keeping the other one sedated, since it seemed to be impossible to put the other one back under. He would be able to verify that Kel had at least managed a pyrrhic victory against the daemon, that the damn thing wasn’t on the other side opening gates to this reality… something about that chain of thought bugged Korus Eshan, but he couldn’t quite figure out why yet. Either way, the second one was due to leave the infirmary in a week. He depressed the button on his desk, activating the ships vox-system “Put me through to Garus.” He said to the operator. Korus already knew it was a lost cause, but he had to hope that his best xenolinguist had made at least some progress on discerning the little bitches language. “Rex here” the caster quipped a few moments later.

“I’d better here something new and exciting from you this time Garus” the captain replied. The first thing that came over the line was a sigh, followed by “I think I have at least three words, maybe four. All nouns to!” he added cheerily. Korus sunk in his seat a little, Garus only had that much pip in his voice when he was taking stims. Having a crewman with an addiction could be useful; it kept them loyal, made payments easier in some cases, had the potential to force loyalty… but not when it came to men who needed to think clearly to do their job properly. “I don’t know how long you’ve been at it Garus, but get off the stims. Tell me what you’ve got, tell Kyria she can clear out Kel’s room now… then take a Throne-damned break.” Korus heard the clatter of a needle hitting the mans desk faintly over the vox “ Well, I believe that ‘Yuzzhan Vong’ is the group she belonged to, the larger one if I’m correct. Her name might be Riina Kwaad, but every now and then there is a hesitation before she answers with it. I’m also beginning to believe that she both understands and speaks Gothic, but I have no way to be sure that is the case.” Well, at least its progress Korus thought. “I want a full sentence before we wake the other one up, now lay off the stims and get some rest, that’s an order.” Korus looked over at the clock, almost the end of third watch, and he was normally on the bridge for an update by the middle of first watch. Less than 5 hours of sleep again; Korus downed the last quarter of the glass of whiskey he’d been nursing for the last hour and headed for his bed.

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----

So this is what it feels like to be dead. Again with the lights, at least it wasn’t as draining to push them away now as it was at first, purple, then blue red, and finally the green lights left Anakins mind. It was quiet, peaceful for the most part. All in all, not bad for the rest of eternity, if his thoughts weren’t so fuzzy he may even be able to figure out how to appear as a Force Ghost eventually. Considering how much sense of his body he had retained that seemed to be a good possibility still. The fact that his side STILL hurt some was a shame though, from what Uncle Luke said none of the ghosts he’d talked to still had pain from their old wounds, not that he had asked though. Just my luck, Anakin thought; the only one that still has to put up with pain. More light, bright and white this time; it really hurt his eyes to. Wait… eyes? Anakin could feel sensation slowly returning to the rest of his body, I guess I’m still not dead, Anakin thought. He tried to say something, but his mouth didn’t seem to be willing to cooperate with his mind yet. Again with the light!

“Is he up yet?” a voice asked, not familiar; but at least it wasn’t Vong. “the captain was pretty steamed when he heard that the second one didn’t wake up after the sedatives wore off.” the voice finished. “Considering the beating his body has taken before we got him I’m surprised he woke up as quickly as he did. I still cant believe how quickly the other one was active” A second voice responded, more professional this one but still not familiar, probably the doctor. “So much anger in such a cute little package to” the first voice replied. Anakin finally felt his last sense return to him, and he immediately began to reach out for something, anything familiar in the force. “Defianately a psyker” a third voice cut in, female this one; wait psyker? “And by the way Garus, she cant be much more than 15 years old, isn’t that a bit young even for a pervert like you?” The force felt strange, wilder and stronger than he had ever felt it. Whatever planet he was on though, he could only feel one familiar presence, she wasn’t to far away, and she wasn’t touching him back when he reached out to her. “I used to have a nice blond my age” the second voice, Garus apparently, replied “a pretty blond, she was something special” Anakins eyes finally stayed open, and he immediately tried to move his hand to cover them; only to find both restrained. Squinting he saw a graying, middle aged man leaning over him, feeling the presence of another force-user in the room, he looked to his left to see a robed, female form leaving the room, her dirty-blonde hair tied back into a tail, covering the loose knot holding her headband together “And then she used what made her so damned ‘special’ looked into his twisted, stimed up head and decided she didn’t need any more insanity in her life, and ended it before he did something that would make her have to kick his ass. I’ve got to report to the captain then make sure we’re not coming out of the warp early again. Have fun with Crazy Number Two you guys, and tell me if you actually got a basic greeting right finally.” Anakin looked to the other side of the room to see a wiry, twitchy man turn to respond “Kyria, I…” but he was cut off by the door closing. His face fell, giving his angular features an almost avian appearance.

“Don’t even start with me Garus” the doctor said, rubbing his full beard, the most brown bit of hair he had left… probably dye “We have work to do and I get tired of your take on women before you even start with it, and look alive the last one got violent pretty quickly after she came to”. Garus cleared his throat, looking down at the patient, Throne he couldn’t be much older than 16, maybe 17 or 18. “Sorry Hanz, I’d just as soon keep to our language for as long as possible though, their language is murder on the throat.” The patients eyes fluttered a few times then finally stayed fully opened, Garus opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the patient. “W-Where am I?” he asked, in a horse voice; in completely normal, excluding the preposterous accent, Gothic. “Well call me a grox and rape me with a power-sword.” Garus replied.




So, whadaya think so far? the pace should pick up quite a bit in the next chapter, with the fighting and such I have planned.

[Night_stalker]

Nice job so far.

If Riina thinks a prosthetic is bad, I can't wait to see how she reacts to a cogboy!

[ziasyn]

I have read the related threads that where so kindly given to me by krisnack and I would like to apologize for the totally noob statement I had made earlier and to thank Srelex and anyone reading it for not ripping my dick off. After doing a little research I did have a post I wanted to make that has some good points of debate but posting it here would be innapporiate causing this thread to devolve into once again another sw/40k debate thread not wanting to ruin the chance of a good story I'll shut up now and just read.

[Dessel_Ordo]

gah, this chapter and life have been kicking my ass. here it is, alot later than I wanted it to be, and hopefully the last of the setup chapters. C&C welcome, as usual.

“I have no idea what a grox is, and even if I did, I’d rather not. Now do you mind telling me where I am?” Anakin replied, trying hard to keep his voice as even as possible in the face of such a, strange, greeting.

Garus tilted his head “Garus Rex, head xenolinguist on the Emperors Bounty, the captain should be along shortly.”

Now it was Anakins turn to be confused, who in their right mind would name a ship after the Emperor, “And your captain sent a Xenolinguist to meet with another human… why is that?”

The doctor scratched his head, a bit of hair came away with his hand; the aging man muttered something under his breath before responding “The girl who came through with you wasn’t exactly talking in the Emperors Gothic when she woke up.”

Anakin tilted his head in confusion, “Your speaking perfectly good basic, why did you start with Gothic then with her then?” he replied, deciding it best not to mention their ridiculous accent.

Hanz scratched his head again, at least the captain would be along shortly “The captain should be able to explain as much as he can, provided you are able to fill in some of the gaps. And I assure you this is the language we attempted to greet your… friend? In.” he replied to his patient “What’s your name anyhow?”. The patient tried to sit up, but found himself restrained, Hanz almost felt bad about it now that the man was awake, however Hanz liked the idea of another un-restrainable crazy on the ship even less.

“Anakin Solo” the patient responded, pausing for a moment before continuing “and why do you have me restrained?”



“We have you restrained” Captain Korus answered for the doctor “Because your companion attacked us when we tried affixing a rather nice cybernetic replacement foot over the stump we found her with, hasn’t stopped trying to since we restrained her two weeks ago.” Now to see how much he knows

Anakin moved to cross his arms over his chest but was stopped by the restraints again before he replied “If she isn’t speaking Basic – “

Garus clears his throat and interrupts “Gothic”

Anakin replied to Rex's interuption with a sidelong glance before continuing “And attacked you outright, while I am speaking the same language as you, and remain peacefully restrained, what makes you think she is a friend of mine?” he finishes

“I would hardly call that accent ‘perfectly understandable’…” Garus replies before being cut off by the Captain

“SHUT UP OR GET OUT UNTIL I CALL YOU BACK IN!!!” the trader bellows at Rex, pointing rather animatedly at the door.

Rex scowls and mutters “Its your fault captain, you’re the one that made me stop taking my Daily…” a stern glare from the doctor forces the xenolinguist into the far corner of the white room.

“Well, the matching uniforms were a tip and the fact that I had to pry your body from hers before I got you to my ‘lighter was the other ” Garus replied to Anakin, trying his best to not look flustered by his crewmans constant interruptions.

Solo paused for a moment, thinking most likely, before responding “I can think of a few women under my command who might have that response to our… situation. Care to describe her to me?”

Korus looked the young man over… “Aren’t you a little young to be in command of… anything? And no whiteshield captain I ever met would be dumb enough to put a sergeants crushes under his command, especially in a unit full of hormonal juves.” Anakins face remained impassive, but his eyes shot daggers at the captain.

Anakin glanced over to Rex before replying “A commander of your caliber must clearly have learned such an obvious lesson from experience.” before Korus could respond to the barb Garus cut in.

Perking up at what he imagined was a way to get himself out of the hole he had recently dug for himself the linguist replied “She’s a petite little thing, up to your chin, maybe a little shorter. Long blonde hair, no clue how it lies since it’s so dirty yet. Face is fairly angular; the scars on the forehead make it more severe than cute though…” Korus glared the smaller man back into the corner, but once again his response was cut off, this time by Solo, his face still impassive his eyes betrayed his relief now boys got self control…

“So where are we then? The fact that we’re not under attack right now rules out quite a few of the places I’d expect you to answer so either be truthful or get it over with and turn us over” Anakin rplied, only giving a nod of thanks in way of response to Garus. Korus paused to think for a moment, doesn’t seem to care that she’s worked with xenos enough to be fluent in their tongue… he opened his mouth to speak again, expecting to be cut off again before responding

Rex continued to answer Solos questions, oblivious to his captains glares “We should be reverting from the Warp near Foroz Station fairly soon, it’s a Rogue Trader station between Sub-sectors Thranius and Cornex,” Solo’s face twisted into a mask of confusion Rex continued, oblivious the indicator of confusion “Segmentum Pacificus, to the galactic north of the Sabat Worlds.”

Anakin still looking confused replied “Outer rim or Unknown regions? I know the galaxy from the colonies in pretty well and none of what you just said lines up with anything in the galactic interior I’m familiar with.”

Korus smiled wistfully, running his fully biological hand through his short dark hair mumbling “You beat me again Kel, you bastard…” The big man looked over at the xenolinguist “Rex, go with Hanz and get Ovidiah out of his chambers and come back here with him… you’ll have a few hours” Hanz shot daggers at Korus, to be stuck with Rex while he was coming down off a stimm binge was a cruel fate indeed. Korus released the restrains holding Anakin to the hospital bed “This is going to take some explaining...”

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----

Three hours later the two men sat in the hospital room staring at each other, the vast differences and distance between this galaxy and the one that Anakin was from sinking in. And for Anakin, just how stuck here he was, while his family and friends were still fighting for their lives he was once again powerless to help them, unable to even know if they were still all right. The force shifted, hard; it felt like a massive tide had just went out in the space of a few seconds, and while the Force was calmer now, though it still felt utterly alien, and was nowhere near peaceful. And to top it all off, the one thing that should be familiar and supporting him still felt obscured, still did not respond. The door began to open “We’ll figure out how to deal with your… situation, later Solo. I would prefer that you NOT tell the crew about it until I inform them in a way that will ensure they won’t receive you violently because of it, as you seem to be stuck with us for at least the near future.” The captain stated as Garus, Hanz and a spindly man in a deep red robe with an inordinately large amount of seemingly crude cybernetic augmentations entered. “For now however,” Korus continued ,“we have the matter of your companion to deal with. I’m sure you’re familiar with several languages, so if you would be so kind as to tell me which one this is. Garus if you would be so kind?”

The linguist cleared his throat “And I’d been hoping that I could get out of this…” Korus shot the lightly twitching linguist a glare, Garus re-cleared his throat before continuing to say “Qe’U Rinna Kwaad…”

Anakin didn’t catch the rest of what the lightly detoxing linguist was saying, he could feel the blood draining from his face, ice gripping his chest. Fear for his friend, someone as close to him as any member of his family, maybe closer “You need to take me to her NOW” he announced, the robed man tilted his head in confusion, Garus blinked then motioned for Anakin to follow, but Korus stopped him.

Korus replied to Anakins statement rather sternly, while motioning for Rex to stay in the room “Boy, I’ll give you this one free since you don’t know how things work on my ship. I’m fine with psykers, sanctioned or not, I don’t care, they’re damn useful. I do NOT, however, tolerate them messing with my mind, or that of my crew. You’re in luck though, I was going to send you with Ovidiah to see Riina-“
Anakin cut the captain off “Her name is Tahiri”

The captain tilted his head and continued “the crazy that came through with you then. Ovidiah is going to make sure she hasn’t damaged the cybernetic we gave her again, YOU are going to calm her down, and take her to my office.” Anakin sighed, at least he was getting what he wanted.

The ship was huge, as far as Anakin could tell it dwarfed most merchebt vessels he was farmiliar with, probably on par with an Imperator class. It had been almost an hour of walking, not a single viewport, computer terminal or turbolift. Just 60 minutes of walking, and thinking. A different galaxy, no apparent way home… at least he wasn’t alone. “Just how big is this ship?” he asked the techpriest.

Ovidiah noticeably perked up at that question, before responding “An Argos Freighter is 1.9 kilometers in length”
Anakin whistled before responding “with a ship that big you guys must be doing pretty well for yourselves”

Ovidiah shifted his weight uncomfortably “Actually an Argos is one of the smallest warp-capable craft in the Imperium, and this one… well there’s a reason the Mechanicus sent me to this vessel.” Ovidiah paused, then ducked a jet of steam that sprung from one of the pipes, Anakin was not so lucky, as another jet erupted further down the pipe, blasting him in the face.

After a bout of sputtering Anakin replied “you mean that a ship the size of an Imperator is the SMALLEST craft that can achieve faster than light travel? And merchants can own them? What kind of armaments does it have?”

Ovidiah glanced sidelong at Anakin, before replying “I have never heard of an Imperator class vessel, and as this is merely a small freighter it is only armed enough to fight off human brigands.”

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----

Rinna sat in the corner, her body defiled, restrained by the heretics pathetic device. Denied pain, denied battle, but she would not be broken Yun Yuzzhan had yet to abandon her in all her wretchedness, she could still hear his voice in her mind. Telling her to escape, to shed the infidels blood, to cleave their heads from their pathetic bodies and claim their skulls for him… that her chance would come soon, and that she should be ready. The door opened, and the infidels that walked in were by far the most offensive humans she had seen... the robed one was particularly offensive. This would be the 7th time he undid her attempts to remove the abomination affixed to her leg. She would NOT allow him to continue, with a warcry on her lips, Riina Kwaad leapt into action.

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----

Ovidiah realized that he was no-where near ready the moment he opened the door, the little blonde shrieked a war-cry, the translator in his mechanical right ear still couldn’t piece together, his ocular implant told him that he wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. Even with her upper body restrained she moved with impressive speed, as she launched herself skyward, Ovidiah realized that his last implant before he was forced into the service of this vessel was going to save his life. The bionic leg he had affixed to the little abnormality came around midair, and connected with the right side of Ovidiahs skull. Steel rang out against steel, and the techpriest was thrown to the ground. Before he could react she had rolled herself on top of him, and was bashing her forehead against his, the line where his natural skull and metallic replacement met was digging a deep gash into her forehead. It sounded like the well mannered visitor said something, but the continuous rain of blows on Ovidiahs head was making it hard to discern what he said. The second time Ovidiah heard it though “TAHIRI!!!” was it a command, a safe-word, perhaps? “Green, always kriffing green…” Anakin continued, right arm outstretched, left hand rubbing his temple as if he had a splitting headache, the blonde was now slumped against the wall… she looked worse off than Ovidiah suspected he did, all told.

“Rouse your companion” Ovidiah ordered “the captain will want to speak with both of you”
Anakin cast a sidelong glance at the techpriest “I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea right now.”
“And why is that?” Ovidiah pressed

“Because I’m not sure if I’ll be waking up a Vong Warrior or my friend.” He responded.
“If there are two minds in her head and you were her commanding officer than you must be used to dealing with both of them; either way the captain wishes to see both of you. This is not open for debate.” Ovidiah replied, Anakin began to reply but was cut off by a rustling in the back of the room.

-----{*(*[^]*)*}-----

Anakin jogged over to Tahiri’s prone form, as her eyes opened, he watched her face go from scared to worried, to confused… to something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, then to curious… it was Tahiri allright. “Anakin where are w-“

“Good, she’s up, we’re leaving for the captains office now” Ovidiah cut her off.

“And your taking her in the restraints? Without even so much as a wash after a months long mission? Generous.” Anakin interjcted.

A mechanical tendril snaked out from the priests back, and interfaced with a terminal jack on the wall. Several of the padded walls shifted, revealing an extremely spartan fresher unit and a cot, changing the room from an asylum ward to a particularly nice prison cell. The priest dropped a satchel at the floor “You have 5 minutes girl, Anakin.” Ovidiah inclined his head at the door.

Anakin looked at Tahiri, then at the priest, before asking “How is she supposed to get out of the jacket?” the priest froze for a moment before Tahiri replied “I’ll manage, now out boys.” Five minuites later Tahiri walked out, in simple cloths, and at least half of the Myrkyr mission cleaned off. “So Anakin, where are we? And are you sure you should be walking around with your spleen?” she asked, poking at his side.

“Believe it or not they patched me up pretty well, I’ll have to show you the scar later it’s a big one, I think it outdoes yours.” Anakin teased, earning a stare that could only be read as ‘very funny’ before continuing “You’ve been out for quite a while Tahiri”

“Out?” she asked, tugging the green tunic she was wearing into a more comfortable position before putting her hands back into the pockets of the plain black slacks she had taken from the bag.

Anakin scratched the back of his head before replying “There’s a reason they had you restrained Tahiri.”

Her face twisted in fear for a brief moment before replying “Oh. Any idea what happened to my foot? And you still haven’t told me where we are.”

Anakin sighed before replying “It’s a short, complicated, confusing story.” This time he ducked the pipe segment like Ovidiah, and it was Tahiri’s turn to get a facefull of steam

“The captains office is near the bridge, on the other side of the ship” Ovidiah interjected.

Anakin shot a sidelong glance at the techpriest before replying “Thank you Ovidiah. We’re in either a different galaxy or a different dimension, on a ship the size of an imperator. The crew lies somewhere between legal merchants and smugglers, it’s one of the smallest ships that can make hyperspace apparently.”

Tahiri was quiet for a few minutes, thinking no doubt. “Any idea how we got here?” she finally replied.
“No clue,” Anakin replied “I’m kind of hoping the captain knows to be honest. And it might be a good idea to be careful with how much we use the force here it seems-”

Tahiri cut Anakin off “Different, wilder. So how are we gonna get home then?”

Anakin looked around before replying “I’ll think of something.”

Tahiri sighed before replying “Why was I afraid you were going to say that?”

[LionElJonson]

Start a new paragraph whenever you change speakers. It's one of the more basic rules to writing a story, and it makes it much more readable. If it doesn't look good when you do, you need to add in more description.

[Dessel_Ordo]

wow, that one took me a while. serious action in the next part, I promise. c&c encouraged


Riina fumed, pushed back into a back corner of her own mind by HIM. She fumed at her own weakness, raged at her inability to wrest control from the usurper, and raged at the red thing both for its inability to keep her in control, but moreso because it had falsely claimed that it was Yun-Yuzzhan. She would find it and kill it for that heresy. She felt the other presence approach her, the blue one, the one she had snubbed. //So, my brother failed your then?// she felt it ask her. //The fool is all violence, no plan. that’s why he failed you.// Riina continued ignoring the thing it wouldn’t be able to help her any more than the last one. //Oh but I could// It replied to her thought. That was very unsettling. //If you serve me well, I may even be able to give you your own body.// What lies was this devil speaking? This WAS her body the infidels had placed their own. She felt something immensely powerful shoot into her memory, and begin to dredge something up. Its a pity she wasn't interested in the lies it was planting in her head. //The truth will be there when you are tired of being ignored.// Riina could feel the imposter leaving her mind. Good, now she could go back to watching for another opportunity to take her body back. The infidel and the usurper were getting handsy, if she let him defile her body...

Anakin felt Tahiris fist hit his left shoulder, a bit more forcefully than a play punch, but not a serious hit either. “Owwch, what was that for?” Anakin asked, rubbing his arm.

“You know exactly what that was for you big idiot!” Tahiri replied petulantly, finally starting to swing back to her usual self after several hours of walking the quiet corridors in silence.

“I honestly have no idea what your talking about Tahiri.” Anakin replied with mock ignorance, she had been too quiet since they left the holding cell and Anakin had had enough strangeness since he woke up today for that to be piled on top of it. The corridor they were walking down began to loose the messy industrial aesthetic that had defined the ship thus far was beginning to be replaced by a baroque, almost ornate aesthetic, pretty ugly to be honest.

“That was for the scar crack you jerk, now apologize!” Tahiri shot back still angry about the cheap-shot.

Anakin twisted his face into his best imitation of his fathers 'I'm innocent' face, before responding “But its the truth!” lifting the side of his shirt he added “Look! Its bigger than yours, isn't it?”

Tahiri eyed the scar sceptically before responding “I thought you said they took care of that.”

Anakin tucked his shirt back in before responding “They did, the doctor just has bigger hands than Tekli.”

Tahiri tilted an eyebrow up before shaking her head and responding “Mines prettier than yours anyways.” effectively ending the conversation. As they continued down the corridor the ornate nature of the ships decor intensified, and foot traffic increased, and became decidedly unhappy about the slow pace of the group. Eventually she was able to get out in between bumps and jostles “So when you said that I was 'out' earlier...”

Ovidiah led them into a quiet side corridor before Anakin replied “Remember when we escaped Yavin IV, right at the end...”

Tahiri paled before stuttering out “I-I thought we had, I... I didnt hurt anyone did I?” what neither Anakin or Tahiri noticed that they had just stepped into an office, and that the captain was starting right at them.

Anakin turned to face Tahiri and put a hand on her shoulder before replying “ Like I said before the Force is different here, it felt like it was trying to tear my head off when I used it earlier. We'll meditate, try to sort this out after we figure out what the captain wants. Dont worry, we'll get through this.”

Captain Korus cleared his throat and straightened some of the papers on his desk. Both Tahiri and Anakins heads snapped to their sides, their bodies following shortly leaving them facing the Captain. “As much as I would like to get to business I do believe I need to know what this whole 'yavin 4' business was. I am willing to work with the two of you, but if we are to enter into any sort of agreement I need to know your history, the same as I would require of any crewmen. Now, Mr. Solo, Mrs Kwaad which of you two will be starting; and I want the full version of the story this time, not the watered down prep-school history you gave me before.”

Tahiris face drained and Anakin took a step forward, before responding “Why do you think we would want to serve on your crew? On your ship, which I've been led to believe is a hunk of junk?” Anakin gestured around the room, noticing that it was rather well appointed in the process, the walls were a deep red, with gold trim, the desk was a dark rich wood, the carpet was deep and plush. An inordinate number of skulls decorated the walls as well as a more than generous number of candles set about the room as well.

Korus heaved a sigh before responding “ Well, there's the medical bill for both of you, several guards I lost recovering you in addition to the senior officer, also lost in my acquiring of you two; plus room and board for the last two months, my fare for transit... its been a long trip, and I do believe you two owe me something for my getting you away from a group of over-zealous port guards who most likely would have shot you on the spot. Now I could turn you over to Imperial authorities on Montwar Station, you'd go to a penal world and work off the debt; or you sign on with me until you work off this debt, and long enough to have the money you need to survive I would assume.” The nonchalant manner to his voice was quite unsettling, and it didn't change as he continued on “So, about this Yavin 4 business...”

Anakin stood there shocked and more than a little angry at the threat, and the unfairness of it. Tahiri however stepped forward, bringing herself next to Anakin “Tahiri Veila, Captain. Just how long do you plan on keeping us on your crew as indentured servants?”

Korus let out a heavy sigh before responding “Ovidiah, this could take a while get back to your duties; I'll show them their rooms once this pointless dance is over.” Ovidiah made a brief nod of his head before leaving the room, once the door shut Korus continued “Well, that depends on which of the three of you are present when your needed, and how useful you prove to be. Now, about this Yavin 4 business, and Mrs Veilas multiple personalities disorder. Please don’t make me resort to interrogation.”

Anakin crossed his arms before responding “Well Captain, information isn't cheap. We have our own war to get back to, and finding our way back is probably going to be pretty tricky. All I want to know is how many runs you intend to keep us, what pay we'll receive at the end of it, and how long it will take. And don't threaten us again.”

Korus tilted his head his face somewhere between curiosity and anger before he responded “I thought you told me you were some sort of warrior-mystic” when neither Anakin nor Tahiri responded for the better part of a minute he simply continued “6 to 9 missions, a year if the jobs are steady, possibly worse depending on how many old grudges pop up.”

Tahiris face screwed into a mask of displeasure before she responded “We may not have a year, the war could be over by then!” she exclaimed.

Anakin shot a displeased look in Tahiris direction before responding “He's telling the truth Tahiri, listen.” Tahiri opened her mouth to respond, but Anakin cut her off “No, listen Tahiri. OK captain, one and a half to two years of work to pay off what we owe you. Whats our take after that?” Anakin replied to the captain, doing his best to think like his father.

Korus shook his head before replying “That depends on how useful you are, its 6 good runs at a crewmans pay, if you prove more useful I may give you extra, after room and board, and equipment rentals of course.” Korus poured himself a drink before nodding his head at Anakin.

Tahiri shrugged “When do we start then?”

Korus took a drink from his glass before responding “I'm meeting a contact to replenish the ships supplies on Montwar Station, you two will act as my guards and assistants, I will use your performance to set your paygrade. Now...”

Anakin cut the captain off before he could finish the question again. “Like I mentioned before the Republic is at war with an extragalactic race of aliens, not your Tyranids. They captured Tahiri, and implanted another personality in her mind. I rescued her from their... lab, on Yavin 4. When we were making our escape, the alter ego took over, this has happened several other times all when she was under extreme pressure and felt alone. We've been working on keeping the other consciousness buried, but it hasn't been easy.” Tahiri shifted uncomfortably at the blunt description of her condition.

Korus motioned to the chairs Anakin and Tahiri were standing in front of as he took another drink before responding “While I will be assessing you on this next mission, its going to be somewhat of a milk run. I want a rundown of your skills... and a more in depth history of this order you claim to be members of. After that I'll show you to your quarters.”

-----{*(*[Several hours later]*)*}-----

Anakin and Tahiri were following the captain to their quarters, deep in the ornate upper decks. As he opened the door to the room several things became obvious fairly quickly. First, that the room had been hastily stripped of its last inhabitants belongings, then left untouched for several weeks. Second, it was not originally intended for multiple people to live in it, though it was large enough to accommodate multiple people quite easily. The walls were a plain shade of gray, and there was a dark red curtain that could be extended to portion off a comfortable portion of the room in the back right corner, however it was currently open. In both of the back corners there was a simple one person bunk, a dresser and night-stand, each with a simple lamp on it. The front left corner was walled off, with one door to the area. Opposite the walled off area there was a small sitting area, three simplistic chairs, all upholstered in the same color as the sheets on the bunks and the curtain, and a small round table. “This is a spare officers rating I had, the only reason I'm giving you two this room is that I don’t trust either of you in with the general ship populace, nor do I trust them with either of you yet. The restroom is behind that door” Korus added, nodding his head towards the walled off area “the rest should be self explanatory. I'll have someone along at 0800 ship time tomorrow to show you the mess you’ve been assigned to, then take you to the arms locker to prepare for your first run. Its 2030 right now, so I'd suggest sleeping.” At that Korus turned around, with the half stumble of a slightly inebriated man before closing the door behind him.
“Do you think they thought to leave us a change of cloths?” Anakin asked, looking down at the gray surgical pants and matching shirt he was still wearing.
“Why, dont you like what I chose?” Tahiri responded, feigning ignorance. Anakin opted to take the high ground and walked over to one of the dressers and started opening drawers.
After opening a few drawers he announced “Well, this ones yours.”
“How can you tell?” Tahiri responded from the chair she had slumped into.
“Well, blouses aren’t exactly my style” he responded nonchalantly, while closing the drawer and heading over to the sitting area and dropping into a chair himself. “Any idea what time it is?” he asked
Tahiri nodded her head at the wall “Theres the chrono, I think.” she responded, the electronic readout on the device clearly denoted a time, but the characters weren’t in anything even vaguely resembling aurubesh. “Why, are you tired already?”
Anakin sighed before he responded “I just slept for the better part of a month. What about you?” he asked, rubbing his temples.
“A little, and since we have to be up early, I think I'll turn in. What are you going to do?” Tahiri asked, rising from her seat and heading for the curtains that would separate off her portion of the room from the rest.
“I think I'll meditate then, see what I can do about this headache I've had since I woke up... I dont think its from the meds they were giving me...” he responded, rising from his chair and heading for the center of the room “Goodnight, Tahiri.”
“Goodnight Anakin” she responded, pulling the curtain shut. Anakin lowered himself to the floor, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and let himself fall into the Force...
You have accepted... now embrace. Let the rapturous joy of the inevitable encompass you, child...
submit...
embrace...
succ-
“ANAKIN!!! WAKE UP!!” Anakin snapped back to consciousness, dripping sweat and shaking with a very worried looking Tahiri crouched over him, clasping his shoulders. As he stirred more he felt her arms slide around him into an embrace.
“wha-what happened?” Anakin asked. He had never felt this drained after meditating before.
“I was having nightmares, and I woke up and something felt horribly wrong.” Tahiri responded, fear in her eyes “I looked out into the room and you were shaking, violently... your eyes were open but rolled back into your head; it felt like something was coming to take you Anakin.” Anakin returned the embrace, finally noticing just how sweat-drenched he was, and how quickly Tahiri's sleepwear was getting equally wet from him.
“Don t worry Tahiri, nothings going to take me... but I think we need to be a LOT more careful about how much we use the force here.” Anakin replied, breaking off the hug and lifting himself up “I think I'm going to need a shower now though.”

-----{*(*[Borealis]*)*}-----

Agaroth laughed to himself, this was almost too easy, after only a few months of fighting he had already seeded four passages to his home galaxy. But now he was beginning to be noticed... he needed a new host. Searching through his carriers thoughts he quickly found what he was looking for, a strong bond, obscured and thought to be broken by the chasm of death, but it remained. And something told Agaroth that this new host would not be noticing his presence anytime soon. Like a phantom the daemon slipped away from its old host and began his journey to its new host.

-----{*(*[Aboard the Emperors Bounty]*)*}-----

Anakin left the simple 'fresher unit feeling cleaner, but in no way rejuvenated. He tossed the sweaty cloths he had been in near his dresser and made for the center of the room, the loose fitting slacks he had grabbed before going to clean himself off making a distinct swishing noise as he moved. Tahiri poked her head out from behind the curtain to ask “What are you doing Anakin?”
Anakin motioned for her to join him before responding “I can feel the ship waking up, which probably means we don’t have much time before we need to go to work. So I'm going to go through some rejuvenating techniques to make up for all the sleep I didn’t get.”
Tahiri stepped out from behind the curtain, a more feminine version of the pants Anakin was wearing and a simple top now covering the undergarments she had pulled Anakin from his trance in and a rather unhappy look on her face as she planted her hands on her hips before responding “I thought you said we need to be more careful, and now your going to go right back to meditating?!”
“That’s why your going to meditate with me. If either of us feel the other being pulled deeper into the force than we want to go we pull them back.” Anakin replied matter-of-factly, patting the floor next to him.
Tahiri huffed petulantly before responding “What makes you think I want you to help cover your screw up anyways?”
“Because you need this just as badly as I do. You already told me you were having the nightmare again, which means your weren’t sleeping well.” Anakin once again patted the ground next to him.
Tahiri opened her mouth to protest again, but the stern, slightly worried look on Anakins face quelled her argument. “Could you at least put a shirt on?” she finally asked, walking towards Anakin.
“Why should I do that?” he asked in response stretching his arms out behind his back while Tahiri settled to the ground across from him.
“Well... because its, distracting” She finally. Anakin smirked and lowered his arms into a meditative posture in way of response, Tahiri sighed and followed suit.

[LionElJonson]

So, how long until they figure out they're being attacked by "Force" entities? IIRC, the some of the Sith could create something similar to daemons, so it's entirely possible that they'll be capable of making the connection.

[al103]

So, how long until they figure out they're being attacked by "Force" entities? IIRC, the some of the Sith could create something similar to daemons, so it's entirely possible that they'll be capable of making the connection.

Not to mention force ghost of strong Sith essentially is entity very much alike to WH40k daemon. Agaroth is very wrong in his assumption that he came to untouched fields of hunting... scratch Sith, if anything will make Jedi force ghost to act - it's something like that.

[Dessel_Ordo]

I've been away for a while, and seem to have neglected updating here... sorry guys. So here, have the chapters I've finished over the last few months while I get to work on the next one.

-{*(*[Bridge of the Emperors Bounty]*)*}-

Garus sat at his regular post in front of the external voxcaster controlls, bored. It had been nearly two weeks since his last dose, and months since he got a propper thrill... he felt like he was dying of boredom. "Garus, bring up the docking line for Montwar Station please." the captain asked, the pip in his voice suggested there was more than just tomato juice in his drink.

Garus could feel his hands begin to shake, and he lied to himself that it was DT's and not fear causing the involuntary movement. "I thought you said we were going to Foroz Station, captain." Garus replied, dismayed when he found the docking line for the space station he had mentioned was coming up dead, and the Bounty was already recieving a hail from what was almost certainly Montwar Stations docking control.

The captain downed his glass before replying "Montwars Admin crew finally got their acts together and got Foroz attached, it is now officially the F wing of Montwar Station. Now put me through to docking controll, then show our two newest crewmen the officers mess, take them to the armory, and meet me at the port stern loading umbilical in 3 hours. You'll be able to use a groundcar for the trek to the armory and down to the loading bays."

Garus checked the line to confirm its source before moving the communique to the command throne. As he rose and opened his mouth to reply, but Korus shot him a withering glare, effectively ending one conversation as he began another. It was all white noise to Garus, there were men on Montwar who would skin him alive if they thought it would expedieate him paying the debts he owed them. Not that Garus could pay them, or would, considering the likelyhood that they had already ransacked the storage unit he rented on what was now the F wing of Montwar Station, which had several items worth a good portion of the original debt stored there too. With a little luck should he get stationside he just might get rid of them for a little while... After fifteen minutes of walking and mentally sweating the details of getting on the station without immediately running into debt collectors he reached his apparent charges quarters. Their room was obvious by the lack of names next to its door, the simple task of creating and placing the tags always took an inordinately long amount of time for the simplicity of the task for some reason. Garus knocked on the door, but received no answer for nearly five minutes. He knocked again, and heard the lock on the door clicking, but it still didn't open. After waiting a few more minutes he finally announced "I'm coming in" what he saw unnerved him, to put it lightly, the pair of extragalactic psykers were sitting cross-legged, arms slack with palms upturned on their knees eyes closed. Their chests rising and falling in unison, to slow for normal human breathing. Garus moved to snap them out of it, but they both returned to consciousness before he could snap his fingers to wake them.

"Good morning." Anakin greeted him nonchalantly "Give us ten minutes to get ready, we'll meet you outside our quarters" he ordered, before nodding to Tahiri and heading towards what Garus assumed was his dresser, as the blond disappeared behind the curtained off portion of the room.

"Make sure you dress inconspicuously, its not necessarily a good thing to be remembered, or to stand out where we're going." Garus replied before leaving the duo in privacy while they changed, thoroughly creeped out by the encounter. Twenty minuites later Garus was leaning up against the wall opposite the door to Anakin and Tahiris room trying to puzzle out what the pair had been doing when they finally emerged. Anakin was wearing a black pair of loose-fitting slacks, a plain red shirt, a brown leather jacket and boots of the same was wearing formfitting blue pants, a simple green shirt and a waist-length black vest... and no shoes. Strangely enough both of them looked rather uncomfortable in the everyday clothes.

"What took you so long?" Garus asked, motioning to the pair to follow him.

"Blame Tahiri" Anakin replied, the clanking of Tahiris metal foot on the deck already beginning to annoy Garus.

"No shoes that fit her feet?" he replied, honestly believing that was the reason for their lateness.

"No," Anakin replied "she took forever in the shower and-OW!" he was cut off physically and verbally by Tahiri, and the pair immediately began to bicker. Garus tuned it out, already knowing what had happened.

After fifteen minutes of listening to the pair go back and fourth Garus announced "The way to the officers mess is pretty clearly labeled, we should be there shortly, but since the two of you have been arguing the whole way I doubt you've noticed that. Now could you please SHUT UP!" Garus could feel both of the pair he was leadings eyes bore into his back, the silence only broken by Tahiris metal foot conecting with the deck.

"That probably wont help, and that's not likely" Anakin replied sheepishly, Garus could hear the sound of a fist hitting a shoulder. He was starting to wince each time the metallic foot struck the deck..

"Are you telling me your illiterate?" Garus replied as he climbed the steps into the mess-hall, which was mostly abandoned now that the 1st watch was officially on duty, and most 3rd watchers had went to sleep. The scraping noise made by Tahiri nearly tripping on the last step caused him to wheel around and demanded "Why aren't you wearing any shoes?" his eye twitching as Tahiris steps truncated to stop before she ran into him.

"Sh- Shoes are evil, they w-were invented by sith to t-torture our feet." Tahiri stammered out, surprised by the sudden outburst

"I dont know what a sith is, and I really dont care. I can however assure you thats not the case." Garus replied, regaining his calm now that the clanking had stopped.

"Its not that we're illiterate" Anakin replied "just that we cant read your version of written basic."

"Gothic" Garus corrected before finishing "If steeltoes there puts something on her left to stop the clanking I could help you with that... if you mean what I think you do that is." moving towards the service counter.

The sound of Tahiris footfalls dampened almost immediately, and Garus saw an exchange of looks between Anakin and Tahiri that clearly bore far more meaning than was evidently obvious before she finally said "I'll find something safer before we leave the ship"

Garus stood confused for a few more seconds before finally opening his mouth again "Do you like eggs?" he asked, nodding at the scrawny man behind the counter, raising 3 fingers then nodding sideways at his companions.

"From what animal?" Tahiri replied sceptically.

""Whales." Garus replied sarcastically, taking a tray laden with eggs, sausages, hash-browns and coffee; motioning for his companions to take the other two and heading for an open table. "They look the part, but taste awful, something about what we have to feed the birds that we keep on the ship totally fucks the flavor, right down to the meat. It supposedly tasted like it was supposed to years ago when the captains great-grandpa got the first generation of birds as a payment. The sausage is spiced nutrient paste, dont trust it, hash-browns are the same but come from starch substitute. The coffee could drop an Astares, or thats what Kyria said at least." Garus chuckled as he said the last sentence, even though he knew he was the only one at the table who got the joke.

"Sounds tasty" Anakin replied dryly, tentatively cutting into his meal.

"It'll stick to your bones for all the wrong reasons" Garus countered "Perfect for a day of getting shot at if you ask me."
"How can you be sure that's how your going to spend your day?" Tahiri asked back, seemingly unshaped by the taste of her food.

"I have more than a few... friends and business partners on the station that I doubt I'm going to be able to avoid." Garus understated for a response, in no mood to delve into his life story this early in the morning. Anakin seemed to understand his meaning, Tahiri however seemed more or less ignorant to his meaning.
Tahiri was beginning to open her mouth to ask another question, but Anakin rolled his eyes and cut her off "About that bargain we had..."

Garus choked down a gulp of his coffee and sighed. Grabbing a napkin from the dispenser in the middle of the table and a scribe from his pocket he replied "Go through your alphabet and write down each corresponding character on this, I'll write the proper equivalent underneath. If your half as smart as you claim to be you should be able to figure out the rest."

Ten minutes later Garus slid the flimsy, slightly torn piece of paper to Anakin when Tahiri finally spoke up again. Her face had been screwed in confusion the whole time, but something had kept her quiet. "What is an Astares?" She asked.
Gaurs shot the slight blond a genuine look of disbelief before replying "their the defenders of mankind, well most of them are, the pincle of human form... the best soldiers in the universe. I though the Captain told you about this galaxy."
"Only in the most rudimentary of merchants terms, the major powers and their holdings, the situation of the wars as he understood them. Nothing specific, other that we dont want to meet any Inquisitors for a long time, and even then only if a friend is introducing us." It was clear to Gaurs that the man had more questions, but his eyes darted to Tahiri and he leaned back in his chair, most of his food gone.

"What makes them the best?" Tahiri asked, Garus could tell by her body language that a flood of questions was about to wash over him if he didn't do something soon... sometimes it was good to be a specialist in communications.

"I, well... they just are. They're the Emperors Finest... um." Garus managed to stutter out, he had never been given cause to question their superiority or need to quantify it to anyone. If this is the direction all of her questions will be going, Garus wanted no part in them. So he rose with his tray and motioned for the duo to follow him, a grin creeping across his face.

-{*(*[Officers Armory of the Emperors Bounty, 10 minutes later]*)*}-

Tahiris hand was still firmly attached to Anakins are as they stepped out of the ground-car, her eyes wide with terror. Anakin knew his eyes were just as wide, and none of the Jedi calming techniques seemed to be working. Garus had bragged that he could half the drive-time from the Officers Mess to their Armory, and his proof was all the more Anakin needed to decide he would never ride in anything the junkie was driving again for the rest of his life. "This is the Officers Armory." Garus announced from the drivers seat of the vehicle "Jace will help get you squared away, I need to be back on the bridge soon, the Captain will meet you at the port stern loading umbilical, talk to Jace about a ride down that way."

Anakin and Tahiri walked through the bulkhead to see what you could generously call a weapons enthusiasts wet dream. The whole room was bout twenty by thirty feet, the walls coated in weapons, mostly ranged. There were several large tables and weapons racks in the central area, all holding various melee weapons. A tall portly man with two cybernetic arms, a replacement eye, and a total lack of hair sat at a desk off to the side. He glanced at a sheet of flimsy, at Anakin and Tahiri, then at the flimsy again before announcing "You must be the pair the captain mentioned... dont look as tough as I'd expect for a pair of warrior monks but I suppose I dont look like a Stormtrooper either so I'll let it slide. Your to have almost complete run of the armory. Nothing powered, no plasmas or meltas; not like you could have them on Montwar anyways. I'd suggest against rifles but that's your choice. Check the gear out with me when you leave." at that the fat man picked up a book and ignored them.

Anakin walked over to a wall covered in pistols, with no idea what he was looking at. Picking up a pistol that looked to be on the big side of average he asked "Any chance of you giving us a run-down on what we're looking at?" he asked aloud. Tahiri glanced up from the compact weapons on the opposite wall she was looking at.

"Your looking at las-based weapons, the girls on the solid projectiles wall." looking up, he elaborated "Youve got a Lucius Hellpistol, we've only got a handful of'em, but they pack one hell of a punch. The girls got a Calathrax Manripper in her left hand, and an Ellysian Pattern Compact Repeater in the other. Manripper can do a number in a closed space, but the shrapnel spray likes to come back at ya as a ricochet... the Elysians damned reliable if thats what your looking for. Don't bug me again, I'm tryin to read a book over here." Anakin heard a clatter, looking over his shoulder he saw Tahiri had dropped the Manripper and was gathering ammunition for the Repeater. Anakin gathered a few extra powerpacks for the Hellpistol as well as a holster for it. He picked up a pair of fairly plain looking hideaway... laspistols, he thinks he translated properly, from the rack they were stacked on. He turned and tossed the second Tahiri's way, even running with his force presence damped down she hardly looked surprised, catching it in the air.

"I wish we had our lightsabers" Tahiri complained, looking at a shortsword. "We wouldn't even need to stop in here. Mono?"

Anakin sighed before responding "Probably sharper or something. What do you think about this?" he asked, hefting a decent sized hammer.

Tahiri didn't look overly amused by the suggestion "A sledgehammer?" she asked confused.

"It'd be a historical choice." Anakin continued, his face perfectly straight.

Tahiri arched an eyebrow "How would a hammer be a historical choice?"

"Master Skywalker never told you? Before lightsabers were invented, Jedi wielded hammers." Anakin replied, his face almost... too stoic.

Tahiri took the blade she had picked up, sheathed it and set the sheath into her belt. "Dubious" she replied, handing Anakin a similar blade as she passed. Anakin sighed at the fate of his failed joke and followed his companion. Checking out the weapons didnt take long, and the rate they were being rented to them wasn't as bad as Anakin had feared it would be. "Would it be possible for you to send for a groundcar to take us to the port stern loading umbilical? We have a meeting with your captain." Jace sighed, slapped a button and pointed to the door, before returning to his book.

-{*(*[Aboard the Emperors Bounty, outside the port-stern loading umbilical]*)*}-

Captain Korus waited patiently as the ground-car rolled up to the airlock, as it stopped he shoved off from the wall he was leaning against, the last vestiges of his early morning buzz left on the wall. The big trader watched his two newest recruits approach, adequately discreet in their dress, though their armaments were a bit too obvious, in his opinion. "Hope your ready to do some work." he announces, slapping the airlock control and motioning for the pair to follow.

"We are." Tahiri replies, catching Anakins arm as she passes the airlock behind Korus. To Korus this was a familiar view, the massive central hub of the station, nearly 4000 kilometers from end to end, and 100 from the bottom of its main built to the top. Above and below the great main disk two smaller ones sit at a third the diameter and half the height of the main disk. All of the open surface space along the relative top and bottom was covered in a maze of spires, adding kilometers to the stations profile. Jutting from the main disk 6 smaller, more recently constructed stations were connected by great, 3 kilometer long adamantium pillars, labeled "a" through "f". These arms given over solely to the task of servicing passing ships, and not asking questions.
Korus hears a pair of mouths gasp for air "Thats Montwar" he announces nonchalantly "We'll be spending most of our time on C arm, talking with an old friend of mine about re-supplying the Bounty, and maybe some work." silence, idiot kids are probably nodding.

"Like Nar Shadaa" Anakin finally vocalizes, awestruck.

"Wasnt that a bad place for your dad?" Tahiri eventually asks as the group continues down the long umbilical.

"Not all." Anakin replies "If you beleive all of his stories, that is. Captain, Is this station, archaeotech?" he asks, stumbling over the word.

"The main segment was, though the Admins added the spires, and none of the arms are, though those are damned old too. Each one can service a full sector defense fleet, if need be."
"How did the Admins keep this from the government?" Tahiri asks "Wouldnt the... administratum go wild to get their hands on this?"

Korus chuckles "You overestimate the administratums efficiency, girl. And if your one to believe rumors, three of the four Administrators are ex-inquisitors, hard to tell that kind of power what to do." he explains.

There is a brief pause before Tahiri opens up again "I thought that inquisitors weren't allowed to retire."
Korus sighs "They dont, and the only other out is as a corpse. These men, if you believe the rumors, killed off their escorts when they found this place, then started setting up shop. They let their connections know about their new shop, and started building from there."

"And no one that would cease the station got any tips? No one unwanted stumbled across it?" the blond asks, her curiosity seemingly implacable.

A massive system monitor flies over the umbilical "There are those, for one, plus the guns on the station itself, including the Nova Cannons mounted to the main structure. And on top of that, no trader that uses the place is dumb enough to risk it by being loose with who they show it too. On top of that, the two sectors it straddles rent on the best of terms." Korus replies, thankfully, the questions stopped at that. As the trio steps onto C wing proper, they are assaulted by a storm of sound and stench. C wing is an old wing, well into the depths of moral decay, prostitutes and xeno halfbreeds lean against the grimy walls. The vaulted ceiling of the Upper Plaza, C wings pretty face to important customers, is full of skimmers. The air alive with the shriek of las shot and autogun punctuate the usual din of the massed crowd. From the sides of the plaza shops are set up, some of the shacks tenders shout their wares, others, shabbier in appearance, that they accept ship credit. The whores promising pleasures unspeakable with the swivel of their hips and batted eyelashes, the thugs a shiv in the gut for straying to close. Outcasts in filthy reddish robes sneak about, following the drunk and drugged as they stumble to the back alleys or side corridors, unable to afford a hotel, or remember the way home, the drunks dont hear the mechanical whir of the body-scrappers extra limbs beneath their robes. The scent of burnt powder and scorched ozone mingles with those of vomit and blood, layered over sex and brews and tonics of all varieties. All of this pauses for a heartbeat, to Korus, at least, as the Enforcer checks, and clears, the captain for prohibited weapons. Home at last

-{*(*[^]*)*}-

Anakin had been below the top levels of Corascant on a few occasions, heard his fathers stories of the smuggler moon, been to what he thought was his fare share of seamy underbellies of the galaxy. That was nothing compared to this. He barely noticed the guard clear him for admittance. As soon as he passed the gate he was hard pressed to keep track of the captain; and his cause was not helped by the pair of scantily clad twins approached him, their short black hair and flat faces offset by barely contained breasts protruding from their chests, one was even so bold as to run her three fingered hand along his arm, muttering base promises for a pittance. They weren't as exotic as Alema, though clearly not human either, a few seconds later Tahiri sent them running off with a glare and a hand on her repeater. Seconds later a tall, dark eyed man with lightly pointed ears was set on the two of them. Pressing to keep pace with the captain Anakin suggested he go to rethink his life, the man obliged, looking more amused than anything else. "Its a good thing the captains cloak is so easy to follow" Anakin remarked to Tahiri "It would be hard to find him in the force through this crowd if we lost him."

Tahiri nods in agreement, slapping a hand away from her backside before observing "Looks like he's headed into that side corridor... Boranth Bulk Supplies, I think the sign reads."

Anakin nods, steering Tahiri to the side, seconds before a fight breaks out, the report of a laspistol ends the scuffle as they enter the corridor "Took ya long enough" the captain observes "And remember, your job here is to stand by, silently, and try to look intimidating. Bonnies an old friend of mine, but I wouldn't put it past her to come after me for a debt I paid off to her a while back." Anakin nods, as does Tahiri beside him, before straightening her belt. The carpet was a clean blue, save the two sets of bootprints and set of footprints the group was leaving behind them. As they entered the head office of the small complex Korus opened his arms up "Bonnie!" he greeted "Hows my favorite supplier doing?"

"Well enough" the slender woman behind the desk replied, spinning a dagger on her palm "When you sent the message that you'd be stopping through my heart nearly leapt out of my chest. I might actually get my thrones out of you this time." the black haired woman kicks her feet off the desk and lets her chair fall forward, her lightly aged features taking on a more serious tone as she lands.

"I paid you, plus interest." Korus replies stubbornly, taking the seat in from of the desk, and helping himself to the waiting tumbler on the side nearest him "And I'm sure you know why I came."

Bonnie sighs, shaking her head "I hate haggling with you, but since your the most business I'll get all week I suppose I'll suffer through it. So a full cargo bay and a job reference is it?" she asks, hope in her voice.

"No Bonnie" the captain replies, finishing his drink in his second swallow, the ice in the cup clattering as he slams it down "A decent job and enough supplies to get me through it."

"There and back, or one way?" she asks, sighing.

"Depends on the job, and your price." Korus shoots back, leaning against the high back of the leather chair he's sitting in.

"New help?" Bonnie asks, Anakin shifts his weight to the opposite foot, uneasily

"Why do you ask?" the captain replies, motioning to the servitor for a refill.

"I have a job that you could pull off, but the contact wants to talk over the details in person. I dont want you to run off to fill up your holds with someone else, so I figure you can test your recruits on that while we catch up." the merchant replies, batting her eyelashes.

"He normally pay good?" the captain asks, wary and eager at the same time.

"Well enough" Bonnie shoots back. Korus nods, Bonnie tosses a dataslate at Anakin "Directions are on the slate, I'm sure your captain will want you to vox with the job and payment specifics, just make sure to signal first."

"Can do." Tahiri replies, tugging at Anakins jacket as she turns to leave. Once the pair is clear of the office Tahiri speaks up again "I really hope all of our work isnt like that. How far off is this guys office anyhow?"

"A few levels down, and a kilometer or two further in." Anakin replies calmly.

"Why does that make me nervous?" Tahiri asks, visibly bracing herself as she follows Anakin back out into the main plaza.

"Because it will probably be worse as we move further in." Anakin replies, glancing to the dataslate before heading for the nearest main corridor, hoping that it wont be as bad along the main paths.

-{*(*[^]*)*}-

A few hours, and several circumnavigated fires, brawls, and dealers later the pair is finally standing outside the door to the contacts office. "Looks to be the right place Anakin observes, doing his best to ignore the bright red-robed, torch bearing men standing outside the door.

"And safe too." Tahiri quips as they enter the small office's waiting room.

"IF YOU HAVE AN APPOINTMENT, PLEASE PROCEED INTO THE OFFICE, LOTHIS IS NOT BUSY WITH ANOTHER CUSTOMER AT THE MOMENT" a greeting servitor instructs, shrugging, Anakin walks through the foor not marked as a restroom.
The room is dark, but not overpoweringly so, the brown walls and dark tiles not helping the low lighting. "Ah, you must be Korus' men, I had not expected such youth... or beauty." the fat man greets them, his bright purple robes contrasting the rest of the room greatly.

Tahiri bristles "We were told you had a job for our captain..." Anakin replies, resting his hand on Tahiri's shoulder as he takes a seat.

The fat man, Lothis, apparently frowns before replying "Right to business then. And I dont suppose I could interest either of you in a drink..." he trails off, as two sets of slightly annoyed eyes bore into him. "I have a rather large mercenary band living in a housing block I bought up in the main station. I'm not averse to their being there, but they are running out of money and I dont trust any IOUs from them. What I need is for your captain to give them passage to Tionus IV, where they have been hired." he informs them.

"And they cant fly themselves there?" Anakin asks, off-put by the stupidity of a mercenary band unable to transport itself to and from jobs.

"Their ship was, ah... destroyed, recently." Lothis replies.

"Whats the pay?" Anakin asks,thinking back to how his father said he handled this sort of work.

"I will fill your captains supply holds, and the mercenaries claim that they will give a good portion of their monetary pay once they arrive on the site of their job." Lothis replies

"Whats the catch?" Anakin asks, knowing this payment is too good for a simple transport job.

"There are some parties on the station that would rather this band... dead, or at the very least gone. I am merely eager to get out of those parties respective paths." the fat, balding man replies.

"The admins?" Tahiri asks, warily.

Lothis chuckles "My beautiful friend, if the admins had not wanted them on the station, they would never have gotten on the station. No, it is a different third party that wants them gone."

Sneering Tahiri replies "Will this third party be following us off the station for taking them?"

"No, they are as stationbound as my clients." Lothis replies amiably.

"The robed men outside your office?" Anakin asks, Lothis nods, grimacing "Tahiri, see what the captain thinks of this deal." Anakin instructs, a few minutes later, Tahiri nods to Anakin, putting her vox-caster back on her belt. "how will we meet up with these mercenaries, and when do they wish to leave by?" Anakin asks.

A tall, robed figure steps forth "We will leave for the hunt as soon as you are prepared." he informs Anakin in a reedy voice "And this one will show you to his kindreds housing bays when you are."

Tahiri jumps at the new figures sudden arrival, before finishing writing on the sheet of flimsy she pulled from the desk "This is the captains vox-caster line. He wants you to call him as soon as we leave to discuss your half of the payment."

Lothis nods "If your work with the good captain goes sour, you could always come to work for me, young lady." he replies as the trio leaves the office. Anakin imagines his face is plastered with disappointment at their ignoring his offer.

"And your name would be?" Anakin asks the robed figure as the servitor bids them a good day, in spite of the time on the clock.

"Amra Thou" the figure replies, bluntly pausing as the door opens.

Anakins danger sense flares as he steps from the office "BURN THE XENO AND ALL WHO WOULD AID IT!" a robed figure screams, as a stream of flame bursts from the weapon in his hand, splashing against the quickly sealing door. Instinct takes over, and Anakin draws his sword, as does Tahiri. Nine of them, total, the leader obvious with the blazing headdress he is wearing, and being the only one in possession of a weapon that can actually create fire. Dipping deeper into the force, Anakin rushes forwards, leaping forward and rolling to avoid a burst of las-fire from one of the men suddenly intent on killing him. To his right, Tahiri has her blade buried in the gut of one of the robed men, her repeater spraying bullets into a man just to Anakins right. The young jedi comes out of his roll in time to catch a whirring, roaring blade on his sword, the teeth of the chainblade whining as Anakins blade contacts it. The man sneers, pushing into the blade, his attempt to renew his offensive cut short by Anakins boot impacting his stomach, sending him sprawling into the wall. As he lands Anakin draws his hellpistol and puts a shot into each of his limbs, looking to his right, the robed figure has sprung out of his robe, bearing an archaic looking rifle, with a wicked blade under the barrel and stock, the forward of the two blades buried in one of the cultists torsos, the aliens beak snapping shut around half the mans neck. Anakin brings his blade around in time to catch another cultists blade, his boot connecting with the cultists head as he completes his turn, putting a las-bolt into the mans chest as he scrambles to draw his own handgun. Anakin looks up to see the alien hurtling through the air, scraping the roof of the corridor with his head-quills. Amra lands on the cult leader, his bladed rifle scything through the cultists chest, before the guns loud report makes a bloody mess of it.

"DOWN!" Tahiri shouts, Anakin drops as a storm of steel whistles past his head, and Tahiri reaches out to him in the force. Anakin accepts the bond, rising as Tahiri's spray of fire ends with the cultist life. The jedi spots one of the cultists fleeing, and decides to let him go, deciding instead to deal with the man about to shoot Amra, with a trio of shots from his hellgun, the fight is over. Reloading her weapon Tahiri announces "Thats all of them... whoever they are."
"Redemptionists" Amra offers, taking the handheld weapon off the leader and sliding it into his bandolier before donning his cloak again.

"And they wanted you dead?" Anakin asks, just to be sure.

"Like most humans, yes... though they are not of a mind with the others on this station." The alien replies.

"Would you mind if I ask what species you are?" Anakin asks, sheathing his weapon.

"I am a Kroot, and would suggest we leave this place before any enforcers arrive." Anakin nods and signals for Tahiri to follow before their bond drops, as they can both feel intruders approaching it already.

The blonde Jedi pulls her voxcaster out again, after signalling and receiving the go-ahead to speak announces "We found the catch, a cult calling themselves teh Redemptionists, if that means anything to you." a frustrated groan can be heard through the vox-caster.

[Dessel_Ordo]

Anakin looks to his right, where Tahiri is sliding the last clip into her repeater “Why did you allow the Redemptionist tracker to escape alive again?” Amra asks, his knife in one hand, the lascarbine he took from one of the redemptionists in the other.

“He was running” Anakin replies, sighing and shoving the dataslate back into his pocket. “I wasn’t about to kill a fleeing man.”

Amra shoots a quizzical look at Anakin, but before he can respond, Tahiri asks “Are we actually getting closer to the main plaza now?”

A salvo of las-shots spatters the wall to the groups right. “Its that way.” Anakin replies, motioning in the direction of the incoming fire.

Tahiri sighs “I'm starting to agree with Amra.” Anakin laments the intellectuality of the enforcers when it came to stopping these nutters as he reaches out to Tahiri in the force again. Wordlessly he leads the group, leaping out from behind the corner they had been waiting at, firing blindly into the cultists. Tahiri flashes past him, her repeater roaring through its last clip as she draws her blade.

As Anakin rolls back to his feet Amra steps around the corner, his carbine already firing. The Solo Jedi takes that as his cue to move up to help the now grossly outnumbered Tahiri. Anakin arrives just in time to catch a blade that she would not have been able to dodge, block or parry, getting a sense of agitated impatience from Tahiri through their besieged bond. I advanced as quickly as I could he thinks, planting a boot, then a las-bolt into the chest of the man he intercepted, and gets the impression that he should have gotten here sooner through their bond. A quick twist of his wrist sends the cultists blade flying, he opens the mans chest with the follow-through. Behind him he hears the distinct snap-crunch of a mans windpipe being crushed, Anakin ducks as Tahiri turns and empties the last of her ammunition into a third cultists chest. Solo reciprocates by plunging his blade into the stomach of the leader of this group of cultists just before the cultists blade connect with Tahiris back. The female Jedi turns, and throws her blade, it wheels end over end for the blink of an eye, before it buries itself in the last cultists chest. Amra lets out a low whistle “That is the last of them?” he asks.

Anakin reaches out in the force, searching “For now, they have at least two more groups trying to find us.” as quickly as he can Anakin retreats back to the relative safety of the battle meld he and Tahiri had been maintaining since the trio encountered the second group of cultists.

“And at least one probably will.” Tahiri finishes for him, holstering her repeater and stripping one of the fallen cultists of his laspistol. To say it was in the best shape of the selection would not be much of a compliment, however. The group sets off at a light jog, Anakin in the lead, followed by Amra, and Tahiri backpedaling in the rear. If it weren’t the only good place for his hideaway pistol Anakin would have discarded his jacket long ago, if only to cool off a tiny amount. The distance from Lothis' office to the main plaza may only be a few kilometers in a straight line, but between the twisting nature of the old stations corridors, and all the detours and times doubling back to avoid a fight they could not win the running fight felt more like a marathon than anything else. If only the... things, watching us would back off for even a moment the young Solo muses, longing to dip into the restorative pool that is the force. In the back of his mind he can feel Tahiri snap at him for thinking something so foolish, she's flagging too, Anakin remembers as he wipes the sweat from his brow.

“One more corner after this one and we should be home free” Anakin announces as the group reaches a large juncture, 8 different corridors feeding the small, poorly lit plaza.

“Are we still being pursued?” the kroot warrior asks, his long tongue flicking at the air as Tahiri bends over to rest beside him, her hair falling in a tangled sweaty mess about her head.

“Yes” the female Jedi replies, unfastening the last button of her normally modest top, giving it a deep plunging v. “and-”

“oh sithspit, they have us trapped.” Anakin finishes, groaning.

“How, how many, and how long?” the kroot asks, looking around.

“a few seconds and they'll be on us.” Anakin replies, shrugging off his jacket.

“At least ten.” Tahiri adds dropping into a ready stance, as Amra shrugs off his cloak, eschewing the carbine he looted for his rifle. No sooner that the cloak hits the deck, the last two groups of cultists rush in to view, a group of seven directly ahead of the trio, and another of 5 behind them and to the right.

Anakin and Tahiri bound forward, firing their pistols, while Amra leaps towards the smaller group. Wordlessly the Jedi pair lays into the group of cultists, the duo unstoppable at first, their initial onslaught felling four cultists. As Anakin pulls his blade from one cultists neck, he falters, a cultists blade kisses his right arm, leaving a long gash from bicep to elbow. Tahiri puts a las-blast through the cultists skull before he can get another blow in. Anakin ducks beneath a swinging blade, sweeping the cultists legs out from under him as he does so, rising and pumping a trio of shots from his hellpistol into the mans chest. He rises to see the last cultist in this group about to land a blow between Tahiris shoulders and head, as she fires into the pair of cultists fleeing from Amra and towards the two Jedi.

Anakin pushes out with the force, hurling the cultist into the wall opposite him with such force that he dents the bulkhead. Tahiri wheels around, and drives her blade into the mans chest before he can recover. Anakin can feel her accusations of excessive use of force through their bond, he defends that it wasn’t his intent, gaining him a quizzical look from the blond Jedi, and not much else. Amra looks to Anakin, but the Jedi preempts the kroots question with the answer “Yes that was all of them.”

“But there are probably more on the station still.” Tahiri finishes, holstering her weapons and heading for the central plaza, Anakin follows suit.

-{*(*[Emperors Bounty, Captains office]*)*}-

They didn’t look as tired as Captain Korus had expected, considering that they had just fought through the better part of a redemptionist cult. Not to say that the new recruits didn’t look like hell, but not as bad as he expected either. The pair had been standing there for nearly five minutes, the looks on their faces telling the captain that they had been reprimanded for going off and doing something incredibly stupid often before entering his employ, which made the man very nervous. Combined with what he assumed was their youthful belief in their own invincibility, Korus did not doubt that he would be calling the pair to his office for some form of reprimand on a regular basis. “I did tell you how most humans view xenos in this galaxy, did I not, Mr. Solo?” Korus begins, taking a sip from his glass, easing his nerves and dulling the daily pains, the youth before him nods an affirmative for his response. “And you did inform Miss Veila, did you not?”

“He did, but...” Tahiri starts, Korus, still not ready for their defense silences her with a glance.

He takes another sip from his glass, before continuing “And I'm sure you have at least some idea of how much I will have to pay off the station enforcers to keep from getting kicked out of the station, with half my crew still on board, my supply holds less than half full, and my job not even started?”

Anakin forms a lopsided grin before quipping “With how good they are, not much, I'm guessing.”

Korus represses a chuckle, laughing at a subordinates jokes when dressing them down is generally a bad idea “Yes, its not as much as it would be on a different arm of the station, but the fact that I have to pay for your firefight is bad enough. On top of that, the job you got me into, without getting ALL of the specifics, will make it very difficult to run another job at the same time, a habit I like to keep when I pass through here.” he keeps his voice calm and even, another sip of his whiskey helps quite a bit with that.

“Isn’t a full supply hold, plus money a good payment for such a simple job?” Tahiri asks, confused.

Korus sighs... and that was the gist of it, despite all the trouble this job has already caused, and the good chance that it will continue to be trouble, the Bounty hadn’t had her sundries hold full for years, and coin on top of that? If Korus played his cards right he wouldn’t need to top that hold off until halfway through this pairs employment with him. “Which is why, despite your complete and utter stupidity in the lack of thoroughness when you took this job for me, I am forced to reward you. The cloths in your bunk and the weapons you checked out this morning are yours... and I don’t want ANY more trouble from the two of you until we leave this station in three days.” Korus replies begrudgingly.

Tahiris face screws up into a mask of confusion “Why will it take three days to leave? The mercenary unit cant be THAT big.” she asks.

“My request to fly in closer to Montwar proper to pick them up has been denied, so I have to use landers and runners to ferry them over to the Bounty, which is dragging the process out by quite a bit, you are dismissed.” Korus informs the girl, hoping that she isn’t always so talkative. The pair leaves his office quickly, the captain slumps back into his seat, lifts his decanter and fills his glass again, at least I'm getting paid this time he thinks to himself.

-{*(*[Supply locker, C arm, Montwar station]*)*}-

Cant call the captain, he already told me I was on my own if they got me again, not Kyria either, she said she was done with me long ago...Garus mind races, ticking off all the people on the Emperors Bounty he considered friends, or who might come to his aid, the list was long, and every name on it had a good reason to hang him out to dry. It was a long shot, but maybe the new guy...

“Hello?” a groggy voice asks when the call is finally answered, after nearly five minutes of trying.

“Anakin!!” Garus greets the young man, glad it was him who had answered, tin-foot still creeped him out more than a little “I need to ask you a BIG favor.” he starts, hoping his fear didn’t carry over the vox-line.

There was a brief pause before the voice answered “What?” still tired, but slowly waking, good.

“Do you remember how I mentioned that plan I had for getting on-station without running into the guys I shouldn’t owe thrones to any more?” he leads the Jedi, hoping he's a morning person.

There is a deep sigh from the other end of the line “It backfired, right?” Garus mumbles an affirmative “Why are you calling me about this?” he asks, sounding both curious and slightly angry, shit.

“The Captain said he wasn’t helping me with these guys any more, and most of the other people who would come for me cant risk getting on the captains bad side again.” Garus honestly informs Anakin.

“In case you haven’t heard, neither can I.” Anakin replies plainly.

“Actually, your the Captains newest psyker, you have a bit more leeway with that, and a better chance of not causing a commotion.” Garus counters, still clinging to a scrap of hope.

Anakin sighs “You owe me, and how do I find you?”

“I have a vox-based locator, I'll feed you the code, then your vox unit will lead you too me... and please hurry.” Garus replies, before rattling off the code, no sooner than the last digit leaves his lips, the locker next to his tears open.

Seconds later, his is torn open “Boss wants too see you.” a mountain of a man informs him, a particularly large autogun leveled at Garus head, a slightly smaller thug reaches out and crushes Garus' vox-caster.

-{*(*[Montwar Station, C wing, main plaza]*)*}-

Anakin had let Tahiri sleep, he figured that by the time she was ready to move Garus would already be beyond rescue. The plaza wasn’t nearly as much of a shock anymore, though he still had to make a concerted effort not to stick out. His mind was far from the task at hand at the moment though, as the beeping emitted by his own vox-caster was still a slow, low pitched beep, indicating that he had a long way to go. “Come back for us, have you?” a blueish-skinned prostitute asks, strutting towards him, twin on her arm.

“We knew you’d be back.” the other one adds, grinning seductively.

“As tight as a tau” the first brags, as Anakin continues past, ignoring them.

“Without the weird shape our mother had... and human feet, if that's your thing.” the second advertises, sliding the few inches of skirt up enough to surreptitiously display her barely there, almost see-through mesh undergarments.

Anakin turns to face the pair, backpedaling “You want to re-think your career.” he informs them, frustratedly waving his hand. The pair stand there dumbfounded for a moment, looking more confused than anything else. Anakin was too busy pushing to take his mind back to notice the pair move on to some other pedestrian. After a few hours of following the signal, Anakin figures he must be getting close, judging by the increasing pitch and pace of his vox-casters signaling. A few moments after the pitch shifts to a continuous, almost painfully high pitched keening, he feels a distinct, simple message pushed to him from Tahiri in the force, despite the lack of words Where are you? Is the obvious question. Busy and safe he pushes back, though he only gets frustration and displeasure for his response... great the Jedi thinks to himself, opening the bulkhead door.

Two big thugs are dragging Garus down the corridor, making a beeline for a private door. Silently Anakin walks up behind the smaller of the two, reaching out with the force to push the larger thug to unconsciousness, at the same moment striking down at the base of the shorter thugs head, sending him, and Garus reeling, the armed man out cold before he hits the ground. “Thank the Throne your here!” Garus exclaims, pulling himself up off the ground.

As Garus moves to head back out the door Anakin followed him through, the one the thugs had almost brought him to slides open “Hey!!” the door guard exclaims, drawing his weapon, Anakin reacts lighting fast, drawing and firing his hellpistol before the guard levels his own firearm.

“We want to run, and you want to follow me.” Garus instructs, taking off through the bulkhead, forcing Anakin to follow.

-{*(*[Loading Umbilical, Emperors Bounty]*)*}-

Garus leads Anakin through the umbilical “I told you we would be able to loose them without going through a running firefight.” the junkie brags, still not down from the best rush he'd had all week, which was sad, if he were to be honest with himself.

“You still owe me a big one.” Anakin replies as they cross the halfway point of the umbilical, the pair finishes the walk in silence, though it seems to deepen when they cross over into the ship, to see a rather angry looking Tahiri leaning against a wall, her metal foot silently tapping on the deck, arms crossed, glaring at Anakin “Oh yea, a REAAAL big one.” Anakin finishes as Tahiri makes her way over to the younger of the pair.

[Dessel_Ordo]

Formatting is a bitch, especially when trying to copy/paste from openoffice to bbc code. I apologize it its not uniform, or if thoughts are hard to pick out from descriptions, I'll try to fix that up later... probably

-{*(*[Emperors Bounty, Captains quarters]*)*}-

Three days later, and finally we are just now getting under-way. Korus muses to himself, reclined in his chair, rubbing his forehead. Station officials had made the entire process of transferring the mercenaries over to the Bounty hell, they had denied his request to re-dock the vessel closer to the main station On top of that they had limited him to two landers to move the hundreds strong group, checking the vessels each time they landed, and before they left for the Bounty again. Solo had asked several times to be allowed to fly one of the landers, but Korus had opted to keep the young man shipbound, it was unlikely that the Administrators wanted to see or hear anything of him, Veila, or Garus for that matter again for quite some time. If the man can fly however, well that is a skill I am more than happy to utilize, just not yet. The two new arrivals were, strange, to say the very least. Their dialect, the views they shared, and their uncanny tolerance towards xenos were just the tip of the iceberg, so to say. More than a few crewmen had tried to start fights with them for the last reason, though no one had ended up in the infirmary from that yet, thankfully. And by now they probably know the insides of most of the ship as well as Ovidiah... at least they stay together for the most part. Finally, the cogitator on the his desk beeps, "Loading finished" the message reads. The captain has a message to the bridge sent as quickly as he can compose it.

-{*(*[CoR]*)*}-

Riina paced the corner of her mind she had been confined to, contemplating. It had been nearly two weeks, by her count, since the usurper had last engaged in actual combat. Longer still since Riina had been in control of her own body. She glances again at the small blue sphere floating in the corner of the space she was stuck in. The false gods 'gift', truth, as the heretic had called it. Again the walls lurched inwards around her, again Riinas space in her prison shrank, they were attacking her again then, for two weeks that is all the pair had done, that and fill their heads with heretical knowledge, or prod their new surroundings with their jeedai senses. Those were the times when Riina felt the false one checking, looking in on her ever-shrinking prison. Riina looked at the creatures 'gift' again. No, she had been betrayed by the Bloody one, when it claimed to be Yun Yuzhan, and she would not believe that creatures kin. Yun Yuzhan had created all through his sacrifice, so he was everywhere, Riina refused to believe that she was truly alone, truly forsaken. Again the walls lurched inwards, Riina pushed back, she would not be crushed, not be robbed of her body, of her grasp on reality, on existence. She simply could not allow herself to die such a death, shamed and beaten. After what felt like an eternity the pressure stopped, and Riina stood, defiant and triumphant smiling as she observed her domain, which quickly ruined her ecstatic, victorious state of mind. She slept with her bodies usurper, rose with her, and Riina watched through the infidels eyes as she went to speak with her new master. It was terribly boring mostly, idle conversation in the guise of ensuring that the Thief and her companion were acclimating to their new surroundings, answering their questions, dining and trading stories. Riina nearly fell asleep during the middle of it, but they finally moved on to business.

“So, you can fly Solo?” the captain asks, re-filling his glass with a deep gold-brown liquor.

Anakin smiles “Lighters” he replies, clearly searching for the right term first “and smaller.”

“Can you fly well, or do you just have your learners license?” the big man presses, taking a sip from his glass.

Anakins face becomes smug, but the Thief cuts him off “He's good, though not as good as he likes to think he is.”

“Where does he put himself and how much does he underestimate himself by?” Korus asks, leaning back into his chair, leaving his glass to rest on his desk, his arms dangling over the arms of his black leather chair, his head resting on its back, sighing deeply.
“My father is the best freighter pilot and smuggler in my home galaxy, and my sister one of the youngest to join its most elite starfighter squadron, they taught me.” Anakin beams.

“And you cant even come close to their skill level.” Tahiri adds.

Korus closes his eyes and breathes deeply, before sitting forward again “Good enough, I want you to help land the mercs we're moving. Solo you will pilot one of the landers, Veila, you will co-pilot. Ovidiah will familiarize you with the Lander I'm putting you in before we reach Tylus IV, now that we're out of the Warp that will be a few days.”

“This is part of our contract then?” Anakin asks, leaning forward as well.

The Captain nods “However, I have been offered another contract using my landers and lighters to fill in for the aerial transport assets the Guard have lost. If you volunteer to fly those runs it will be a bonus for the two of you, as it will only be a temporary arrangement while I look for my next proper venture.”

Tahiri glances over to Anakin quickly before responding “We'll volunteer.

-{*(*[CoR]*)*}-

Anakin drops down onto the plain couch in their room and sighs, tired. Tahiri wrinkles her nose, but Anakin pays it no mind, he just came from tinkering with the ship that he and Tahiri would be flying for the Captain and wanted to sit some before he cleaned up. “Finally done?” Tahiri asks, almost annoyed sounding.

“As done as I can be, we fly tomorrow morning.” he replies, peeling his sweat-soaked shirt off and throwing it over onto his pile of dirty cloths.

The blonde rises from her meditative stance shaking her head “Would it kill you to do your laundry?”

Anakin chuckles “When I need to I will. Any progress on figuring out the force here?”

Tahiri shoots a frustrated glare at Anakin “Aside form that they call it the warp, are terrified of it, and that the government is more oppressive than the Empire was, no” she replies, walking over to Anakin and sitting next to him. He knew that they still hadn't really had the 'talk' about the two of them Tahiri had said they would have to have, but between the Vong, the Voxyn, and now this, there had been no time for it.

With how tired Anakin was, he knew that now was not the right time for it, even though it would get Tahiri to settle down about the small mountain of cloths that had piled up next to his bed after Ovidiah had informed the captain that not only could Anakin fly quite well, but could care for his own ship if assigned one permanently. “If you stay there you'll start to smell like sweat and oil.” Anakin observes, draping an arm around the slight jedi next to him.

“Then go and clean yourself up before it soaks into our couch.” Tahiri smirks, pushing him away, though her shoulders already have sweat-stains on them from Anakins arm. Silently enjoying his secret success, Anakin goes to do just that.

-{*(*[Bridge of the Emperors Bounty]*)*}-

Garus sat at his station on the bridge, bored out of his mind. It had been nearly two months since the Bounty had deposited the xeno mercenaries on Tylus IV, now it simply acted as a supplies waystation for the 454th Valhallan Armored planetside. Garus knew that the Lord General tasked with putting down this rebellion wasn’t paying that well, but with how slowly the astropathic haggling was going for the Captain, the translator and vox officer wasn’t holding out any hope for a swift departure for more thrilling ventures. Solo's stories from some of his supply runs when the heretics had air superiority had kept him going for a while, but now it just felt like the punk was trying to make Garus feel even more bored. So here he sat, idly listening to the Imperial vox lines, contemplating that last hypo of adrenaline he had stashed in his quarters. Another beleaguered pilot could be heard on the line “Mayday mayday...” the bored adrenaline junkie tuned it out, maybe Solo would start telling good stories again now that the rebels were getting air superiority again “...repeat this is Merchant 7, I have rebel Thunderbolts on my tail” oh fuck, that’s one of ours Garus thinks to himself, slapping the button to get the captain to his station. “requesting assistance, repeat requesting assistance. This Aquila is modified, but a heavy stubber tailgun wont keep me alive.” the familiar voice continues oh hell, that’s Solo Garus realizes, slapping the button again.

“Negative on the escort Merchant 7, our transports are getting shot up bad enough as it is right now, make your run hot and fast, the Hydras at Firebase N7 will attempt to clear your tail, but you'll have to cry to your mother for an escort ATC out.” comes the reply in a clipped, heavy Valhallan accent of low gothic.

“Repair bills on you then.” Comes Solos angry reply, followed almost immediately by the stricken landers vox cutting out. Garus switches over to monitor the landers internal vox as Captain Korus walks up to the vox station “We're not getting any help from the locals Tahiri, get the crates ready to drop and get out of the tail, its about to get messy.”

“Can you hear me Solo?” the Captain asks, taking the input from Garus, a quick double-click on the vox is the only reply. Garus doesn’t know where the kid learned that from, but its effective. “Try to save the lander, but don’t do anything stupid, a pair of psykers is worth more than a crap lander.”

“Anakins a bit busy right now,” Tahiris voice replies, the thunder of autocannon shells bursting all around the lander distorting her voice “but he appreciates-” the distinct sound of hull tearing cuts the slight jedi's reply short.

“-kriff we took a hit from the support fire. Strap in Tahiri we're-” Anakins voice drifts over the vox line before more thunder and static cover it up.

“Get back to that firebase Solo, we're likely to be stuck here for a while and theres no way in hell you two have finished paying off your debts to me. We'll send a Lander to pick you up when you get there. Bounty out.” the Captain orders in an even voice. “Throne-damnit we need our own fucking fighters if we're gonna do more runs like this. That's the fourth one we've lost so far, and those two are probably the only crew that are going to make it back.”

Garus scratches at his head “I thought we werent making shit in orbit here, sir?”

Korus laughs “Compared to the job that brought us here?” he pulls a flask from his jacket and takes a swig “Compared to what we should be making for running air-lift for a Guard regiment that isnt even on crusade? If only these bastards were desperate Vostroyans or Mordians, Emperors Unpolished tip even Cadians, and I'd be able to milk this crap until our books were balanced.”

Garus suppresses a chuckle “I'm not positive, but the Divine Will might have some old Lightning interceptors we could get from them. Its a carrier, and in pretty rough shape at that, if your so happy with our pay maybe I could get us some.”

Korus takes another swig from his flask, whiskey by the smell of it “Not so happy that I want to stick around, but take Ovidiah and Jace with you for the deal to make sure we dont get fucked. Wont need pilots save for moving the things, a squadron, maybe two, should be plenty if they really are selling.” Garus salutes and stands to get the ships chief of security and mechanicus missionary, glad that he finally has something to do.

-{*(*[Tylus IV, 15 miles outside the Imperial line, crater]*)*}-

Amra instinctively ducked as the flyers streaked overhead. An Aquila missing most of its rear section, a Thunderbolt short a wing, and another... fuck. The kroot throws himself from the crater, just barely managing to hold onto his rifle as the dying human ship smashes into the ground. He slides into the next crater and ducks as the dead crafts fuel and ammunition go off. Silently wondering if he got the names right, he peeks his head above the craters lip to see how much of his kindred still lived. Not much, by the look of it. After they had been dropped off, Amras entire band had been sent to this front where they were told their mission was to hold their employers foes at this location for as long as possible. They had assumed it was a stalling tactic, so the shamans leading the band agreed and they set off. It was a stalling tactic, but not for the sake of troop relocation or preparation for a push, but to give the men at the main line a break from the fighting. Amra hears the foes of his employer preparing for another charge, sighing he makes sure his rifle has a full clip as rain begins to fall. “Prepare to feast.” Phelor, one of the shapers, voice announces through the vox-bead in Amras ear. The warrior sighs, stretching his legs, there was no gear worth keeping from these cultists past the vox beads and the occasional heavy weapon, nor was there anything worth returning to Pech with... but at least he wasn’t going hungry.

The distinct shriek of artillery shells reminds Amra of the other reason he and his fellows were holding this specific location: its easier on the basislisks if they dont have to change their aim from one spot. The shells begin to land, shredding cultist and kroot alike. A chunk of flesh, kroot flesh by its scent, lands on Amras arm at least I will have a snack today he muses to himself, sliding the morsel down his throat. The barrage continues for the better part of an hour, the wails of incoming fire and the dying offset by the thunder and lightning of the ordinance striking the ground, and digging new craters for both sides to hide in. as the barrage halts, a shaper with a massive blade, eviscerators, the humans call them, leading 13 other warriors reaches the rear lip of the hole “We hunt” is the elder kroots only greeting.

Amra rises, and follows the group, a few sporting fragments of flak armor, or wielding lasrifles, grenade launchers, one even has a plasma rifle, though judging by the kroots myriad scars, both burn and otherwise, it is not a new acquisition. As the band of hunters approaches the area of the decimated field held by the cultists, the shaper motions for the group to split up to search multiple holes. Amra and three others, one of them wielding a grenade-launcher with a looted chansword affixed to the rotary launchers barrel are sent off to the east-most position on the line the shaper has formed. The first crater is empty, as is the second, the third is cleared with a grenade from the kroots launcher. Unfortunately, the explosion rouses the survivors of this bombardment from their hiding places. The three craters nearest to Amra and his companions all spring to life, no less than four rebels in each. A handful of the cultists scream vengeful battle-cries and hurl themselves at the small hunting party, armed with blades and pistols. Amra launches himself towards the nearest onrushing cultist with relish, his shoulder slamming into the cultist and launching the smaller, weaker human back several feet. Before the fool can stand back up, Amra puts a trio of rounds from his rifle into the human. To his left the sound of a chainsword smashing through steel, flesh, then bone can be heard, punctuated by the k-KRACK of his kins rifles firing, and the screams of dying prey. Amra leaps again, a smattering of las and autogun fire ripping into the ground where he stood. He lands in the middle of the pit his first foe came from, amidst five more rebels, the sigils fo their gods etched into their skin and gear. One cultist dies as the kroot warrior lands, embedding his rifle into the humans skull. White-hot pain sears through Amras gray-green shoulder, the las-wound burnt shut by the second shot as the kroot wheels on his foot, not even bothering to pull his rifle free, simply tearing the head from the corpses body. The makeshift club hits, something, though its position behind Amra prevents him from seeing what. Even if he could see what he hit, he would not have cared, to preoccupied was Amra by the sensation of his free talon digging into the human who had shot the kroots shoulders shoulder.

Continuing his spin Amra wheels his rifle, and feels it lighten as the head flies free of its forward blade seconds before the same blade is embedded in the now screaming cultists chest. Again pain flashes in Amras mind, his leg set ablaze by a grazeing from another las-round. The kroot warrior quickly pulls his rifle free of the dying cultist, spins and puts the rear blade through the cultists neck. Amra distinctly hears the sound of a weapon dropping into the dirt, and the man behind him swearing and scrambling to flee the hole. Wasting no time the kroot drops his rifle, wheels and leaps onto the prone cultists chest, halting the humans futile attempts to push himself up and out of the crater. As Amra sinks his beak into the mans neck his belief that not only were the greenskins from the last warzone the mercenary kindred he is part of more genetically productive, but better tasting as well. Not taking his attention from his meal Amra picks up the dropped auto-pistol and fires into the back of the last cultists that was in this crater, halting his headlong flight from the kroot. After a few more bites, Amra rises and retrieves his rifle, to see the battle in full swing again. Near the center of the kroot force, all five shaman' stand, slowly advancing, bellowing orders, and lending their spiritual aid to those kindred most in need of it. The kindreds remaining kroothawk take to the sky, landing ahead of Amra and the scattered hunting party he had joined, slowing the enemy counter-charge. Amra throws back his head to loose a bestial, wordless battle cry, and many of his kin join in, before leaping and sprinting ahead to meet their foes.

For hours the fighting continues unabated. Another three artillery barrages come and go, the steel rain and the natural rain mingling and sullying everything. Mud, blood, tears, sweat, water, gore and shrapnel intermingle as the mad melody of war rages all about. To the imperial generals, lieutenants and dignitaries watching safely from orbit it is beautiful, pure poetry in motion. Heretics and xenos slaughtering each other with brutal efficiency, at first they happily call fire-missions down on the scene, jokingly trying to track whether they slay more of their “allies” or foes with the strikes. However, as the size of the rebel push the kroot are holding becomes apparent, they decide to conserve the shells. When they see the traitor armor division amongst the push, they have the firebase prepare for direct-fire, and the guardsmen and stormtroopers in the trenches prepare for the counter-push. As the battle begins to clearly favor the cultists they order the Oberon Class Destroyer Vulkans Fury bombard the area with its macrocannons, hoping to buy their forces another half an hour, perhaps even an hour to prepare for the coming storm.

-{*(*[Emperors Bounty Aquila Lander 7 “Ulaha” 1 month prior]*)*}-

“Turrets finally working right.” Tahiri announces from the tail-gunner seat Anakin had finished installing the night before.

“Great now-”

“-take care of that fighter. Right” Tahiri finishes for Anakin, he smiles jinking just enough to keep the comparatively sluggish craft from taking any hits while Tahiri clears their tail. Marauder’s were nasty against transports and ground targets, but with some of the modifications Anakin had made to the Ulaha this one wasnt as much of a threat as it normally would be.

“Is that Stubber enough for you back there?” Anakin asks, bringing the lander around for its final approach vector for the supply drop. He gets the distinct impression that he shouldnt have asked in the force from Tahiri. “I tried to get those bolters from FB21.C, but Garus' stims could only go so far.” he apologizes, though the look on the vox officers face when he won the bet still brings a smile to his face. In Anakins mind it almost rivals what Landos' face must have been when his father won the Falcon. Another quick mental poke through the force from Tahiri outs his mind back into focus. They had been making runs like this for the better part of the last month trying to speed up their working off their staggering debt to Captain Korus, even though they still werent sure what they would do once they did.

An explosion can be heard from behind them and the disappearance of the blip on the auspex is promising but Tahiris cry of “Got'im!” confirms Anakins suspicion that their tail was gone “Hit the missile on his wing, some of the shrapnel must have hit his fuselage.” Tahiri pauses “Auspex still not working right?”

Anakin sighs as the blip disappears, re-appears in front of them, then disappears again “No, and you hit a missile? I thought we had agreed that we still didnt know enough-”

“Stop worrying about me so much, I'm not a kid. And we wont know what is and isnt safe here without testing the waters more anyways.” the younger jedi defends herself. Anakin chuckles quietly, not more than a month and a half ago she had been chiding him for “Dont even think about saying it.” Tahiri warns, clearly feeling his train of thought. Between how close they already were, and all the time spent in the battle meld on the Myrkyr mission it was uncanny how much of each others feelings, and sometimes snippets of thought they could pick up from each other. Anakin almost felt sorry for Uncle Luke now that he had a taste of what he and Aunt Mara shared. “And why do we feel sorry for Master Skywalker?” Tahiri asks

Anakin freezes “Umm, no reason. Coming up on the drop-site Tahiri, you might want to get to the cargo hold” Anakin diverts, desperately trying to change what he was thinking of before Tahiri figured it out. Anakin hears his companions metal foot clanging against the transport back in the hold “Cargo-bay door still not working?” a frustrated cry, followed by the shriek of the bay door opening to allow the crates to drop barely in time for them to be pushed from the open door is his response.

“I think the Captain gave us the worst Lander he had Anakin.” Tahiri laments, dropping into the copilots seat for the flight back up to the Bounty

Anakin shakes his head, acknowledging the firebases thanks for the supply drop before answering Tahiri “You should have seen this thing before we started flying these missions.”

Tahiris face sours “You should have done a better job fixing it then.” The bickering lasts the rest of the trip up to the docking bay.

-{*(*[Port Landing Bay 4, Emperors Bounty]*)*}-

Garus watched the Ulaha land fast, but controlled. By the look of it they had been shot at again, but he didnt care. Solo and Veila, who he was still surprised he had become such close friends with, considering just how throne-damned weird they are, were arguing again, but he didn't have time for their quibbling. He was in pain “Double or nothing Solo, come on, imagine what you could add to your bird with-”

“I cleared out your stims, and I REALLY dont want to try to explain away shots of pure adrenaline to some commisar.” Anakin refuses him, not breaking stride, arm in arm with Tahiri headed for the officers mess.

“PLEASE!!” he begs “I cant use the 'drenaline, the Captain'll know for sure and its sooooo Throne-damned boring up here. I need SOMETHING to pass the time.”

“We got shot at on all three runs today.” Tahiri offers “Wanna here how that went?”

Garus sighs, he's whining like a spoiled juve again, but he is beyond caring right now “Those stories are only good for your nerves.”

“But Anakin finally got all the systems almost working now, we have plenty of explosions for you.” Tahiri offers. She's toying with me! Am I really that pathetic right now??

“I still did better than you did, and I had to fly while I did it too.” Anakin teases the blond girl on his arm.

“Only because I'm barely throwing stones out of my gun. If you had been able to get something better for the tailgun...”

“Yea, need a better gun for your lander. Some Adrenaline, even a few hypos would be enough to get you something with real power. All you have to do is-” Garus starts to reply.

“And what would happen if its a commissar, not some sergeant checking the manifests and crates when we land?” Anakin cuts him off.

“And why is it we have to make the firebase runs instead of taking the command post and city runs like we were at first?” Tahiri adds, unhappy, though it isn’t clear whom she is mad at. Her and Anakin set into it again, its friendly, but most certainly not something he wants to get dragged into. Especially when he considers the fact that it is his fault that his friends are flying the more dangerous missions now. Fuck it all with a Genestealer cock. I have the next two shifts off, no plans and need my damned fix. As long as I stay in my room and keep the door locked no one will know. The adrenaline junkie thinks to himself, turning away from the pair as they head off to eat. Maybe listen to some good music, watch that pict about the commisar who fought alongside astares again... it should be a good night.