A Hacker's Nightmare (Open)

[Pryde]

OOC: This thread is pretty much open, but I have only one request. If you wish to join you have to be able to write decently. Other then that Please don't roleplay any character other then your own. The timeline is set sometime between ANH and ESB, so like one year after the destruction of the first Death Star. I don't really have a direction or a plot in mind for the story yet, but I'm open to suggestions (keeping in mind that the emphasis of the thread is on slicing). If you're interested in joining post a request here as well as any OOC, comments and plot ideas you have.
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Coruscant
One Year After the Destruction of the First Death Star

Mai Evenstar hid in the shadows of an alleyway as three hovercars passed by shining spotlights at the street beneath them. One of them slowed to a stop and shone their light down the alley she was hiding in. She ducked down further behind the dumpster and held her breath. After what seemed like an eternity the Imperials gave up and continued on their way. Mai let out an explosive sigh of relief after they had gone. She wore a black jumpsuit that clung to her slender form. A utility belt adorned her waist and she wore black high-heeled boots on her feet. Her raven hair was pulled back into a long pony-tail that reached halfway down her back and her icy indigo eyes searched the mouth of the alleyway intently.

"That was close," Jaxx commented from behind her.

"Too close," Raptor concurred, "C'mon, we'd better hurry or we'll miss the rendezvous."

"Right," Jaxx replied after grabbing Mai's arm and forcing her to her feet. "C'mon, this way!" He led the way out onto the empty street and to the base of the outer wall of the Imperial base. They crept along the wall until they found an access hatch leading into the base. An electronic lock sat on the wall next to the door.

"Alright, Mai," Jaxx said, "work your magic, honey."

Mai nervously approached the door and pulled a small datapad out of her pocket. She attached two cords to the electronic lock and ran a decoding program. Six zeros popped up on the datapad's screen and began cycling through numbers very rapidly. After a few seconds the first digit stopped on a three followed by a seven for the third digit. The second digit was an eight, the fourth and fifth another eight and a zero. The sixth kept cycling.

Jaxx checked his chrono and tapped his foot impatiently. "Hurry, Mai, we don't have much time."

"Patience," Mai replied absent-mindedly as she watched the last digit intently. Finally it flashed a six and the door popped open. "There," Mai exclaimed triumphantly.

"Sh, c'mon," Jaxx said and, after grabbing her arm, gently urged her into the door. A small courtyard spread before them and spotlights swept back and forth along every inch of it. "This way," Jaxx said quietly while pointing to the shadows on their left. They crept along the inside of the wall and stopped as one of the spotlights neared them. Mai found herself holding her breath again as the circle of light inched closer and closer.

The spotlight stopped a foot away from them then began slowly falling back. Mai allowed herself to breath slowly for a moment before Raptor urged her forward. She followed Jaxx along the wall until they reached their destination, an Imperial warehouse. Inside was their target, a hover truck carrying a recent shipment of Imperial weapons. They crept up to a small doorway next to the warehouse's large main door. Mai pulled out her datapad again and ran the decoder. A moment later and the door was open and the three thieves crept into the warehouse.

There was no one inside which prompted Jaxx to smile broadly. "This is too easy," he said as he led them through the warehouse. Crates stacked upon crates sat in huge rows throughout the warehouse, filled with supplies ranging from food to weapons. The truck they were searching for sat in the middle of the warehouse, a single spotlight encircled it.

"There it is," Jaxx said, indicating the truck, "Mai, get the door. Raptor, help me with the truck."

Mai rushed over to a ladder leading up into the control room and climbed up it. Inside she scrambled over to the computer console and took a seat at the controls. She began typing rapidly on the keyboard as she attempted to disable the warehouse's security systems and open the main door. Meanwhile Raptor walked around behind the truck to check the shipment. He opened up the back and smiled. Two rows of crates sat along either wall of the trailer.

Raptor heaved himself up into the back of the truck and approached the nearest crate. He reached down and pressed his hand on the crates surface and began to open it. "Raptor," he stopped suddenly at the sound of Jaxx's voice, "get over here and give me a hand."

"Roger," Raptor replied after making sure the crate was shut securely. He hopped down from the back of the truck and went to help Jaxx. A large grinding noise filled the warehouse as the massive door began to slowly open. Outside the spotlights were turned off and all the power throughout the warehouse was out. Jaxx keyed a single button on a small communicator he held in his left breast pocket.

A large explosion sounded outside and the three could just make out the fires erupting from the opposite side of the base. Phase two of the plan was under way. Jaxx gave a low whistle and waved to Mai in the control room. She rushed to the ladder and slid down it. After Mai was aboard the hovertruck Jaxx powered it up and blasted through the warehouse door and out into the courtyard. Shouts could be heard from behind them as Imperials rushed out onto the courtyard behind them. The door of the main gate was still opening ponderously slow and they had just enough room to get the truck through.

Blaster shots erupted from the soldiers behind them and darts of red energy rained in around the truck as it blasted through the main gate. Sparks flew as the side of the truck scraped along the opening door. Then they were out onto the street and home free. "Yeeeeehaaaaa," Jaxx let out a triumphant shout as they sped down the street and towards the location of their secret rendezvous.
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"I trust the shipment is intact," the cloaked figure spoke in a low voice.

"I gaurantee it," Jaxx told him with a broad smile. Raptor and Mai sat a few feet away smiling and conversing quietly with eachother.

"Very well," the man replied, "Here you are, 15,000 credits as promised."

"Thank you very much, sir, and I trust you won't be disappointed," he reached forward to take the money, but the man pulled it away from him. "Not yet," he said, "we still have to check the cargo."

The man nodded once and three more cloaked figures approached the back of the truck. One of them reached forward and was knocked back in surprise as the double doors burst open. Storm Troopers piled out of the back of the truck, blaster rifles raised and firing. "Its a trap," the cloaked man shouted as he pulled a blaster from beneath his robe and started firing at the Imperials. One Storm Trooper went down with a shot to the head, followed by a second, a hole burned into his chest.

Mai screamed and Raptor grabbed her roughly by the arm and pushed her towards the back door of the abandoned building. "Jaxx," she screamed and he whirled around to follow them, but fell roughly to the ground as a blaster shot nailed him in the back. "No," Mai's shout was a wail of pain and sorrow. She tried to rush over to him, but Raptor forced her back. "No," she shouted, "We can't leave him!"

"He's gone, Mai," Raptor yelled back, "He's gone!"

"Nooo!" Raptor forced her through the door and just before he could step through he took a blaster shot in the leg. "Raptor," Mai shouted as she reached down to help him. He pushed her roughly away and shouted, "Go! Leave me!"

"No," Mai said undecisively, "I...I can't!" She bent down to help him again and again he pushed her away. "I said go," he shouted, another blaster shot from the Imperials caught him square in the back and he slumped forward, dead. "Raptor," Mai screamed at the top of her lungs. She knelt beside him and gently brushed one hand along his face. The sound of armor-clad footfalls caught her attention and she quickly got to her feet and darted into the alleyway.

A squad of Storm Troopers burst through the door and out into the alleyway. A single Trooper stayed behind and waited impatiently by the doorway as the others fanned out to search for the girl. After an hour one of the Troopers returned and handed the commander a small datapad. "She's gone, sir," he said simply.

"It matters little," the commander replied, "the thieves have been caught and eliminated. They won't be bothering us again and I don't think we'll have to worry about her, Corporal, after all she's only a girl."

"And her crimes against the Empire, sir? We let her get away scott free?"

"Good point, Corporal," the man took off his helmet and thoughtfully rubbed his chin, "Very well then, put a report out on her and offer a reward. Some two-bit bounty hunter will pick her up..."

[VagueDurin]

ooc: In need of a two bit bounty hunter?

[Pryde]

OOC: Sure, but the OOC thread is here.

[VagueDurin]

The Eradicator Slipped gracefully out of hyperspace over the out of the way planet of Tatooine. Seth cassually adjusted his course and cruised in towards the atmoshpere of the dustball of a Planet. Its always Tatooine. Can't any of these low beats puck some other slum to hide out in? The Bounty Hunter thought to himself as he approached the planet.

It was true, unfortunatley, almost all the bounties he was sent on these days ended in the outer rim territories, and the majority of them lead to this dead end world. Seth, could not possibly see the appeal of hiding out on the planet... It was unberably hot and dry. And the sandstorms were so random. The Empire kept a steady presence around, and everyone in town had just as many connections and needed credits just as much as you. It truley was a dog eat dog world in these parts. Smirking slightly, Seth went about the laid back procedures of gaining clearence to land and a decent birth to park his conqueror assault ship.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Mos Eisley Spaceport Control, please state your cargo and intentions." came a bored controllers voice, slightly distorted by the comm equiptment.
"This is captain Mear Lee, of the transport Vigil." responded Seth, using one of his ships fake transponder codes. "Cargo is just me and my droid, and I'm here to look up an old freind."

There was a pause on the other side of the conversation before the controller came back. "Affirimative, Vigil, you are clear to approach on vector 10-9-60, birth C-5. Charges will be handled upon arrival."

"Thank you control, and have a nice day." Seth responded in a slightly smart tone, then cut the com and floured his engines, sending his ship into a diving spin he rocketed off and through the atmoshpere of the Planet.

Seth safely landed in the correct birth and headed off towards the ramp. On his way he slung a blaster Rifle over his shoulder, and put on his helmet. He wore the armor of a Imperial Scout Trooper, only his was black where the white normally was, and blue where the black normally was, and it was highly moddified to his specifications. After haggling with the Toydareian in charge of payments and "security deposits" The business end of his blaster rifle managed to convince the rotund alien that he didn't need any additional security to watch over his vessel, and Seth headed off into the mainstream traffic of downtown Mos Eisley.

As he strode steadily through the crowds, people moved out of his way, showing him respect that was demanded by his intimidated appearance. He walked with an aire of confidence most on the planet didn't, and that struck fear in those who knew why he was here.

This job was going to be a breeze, and he knew it. For all he knew, all hed have to do was drag the poor drunken sap out of whichever bar he happened to be in, and bring him back to the ship. After stopping into a few cantina's and dropping a few questions and tips, he knew which bar his mark was going to be found in. Walking along he noticed a patrol of storm troopers taking unneeded notice in him. Silently cursing, he continued on. Hopefully he'd be well out of here before they decided to take a strong interest in who he really was.

He ducked into Dizzy's Bar and Grill, which was definately a lot less than its name boasted it was, and spotted his mark sitting at the bar. But as he began to walk towards him, hand reaching for the blaster Rifile, a pair of Rodians in a booth towards the back stood pulling their blaster pistols and shouting in their own language. His mark, a slightly more rotudn Rodian than his apparent partners, immediatly leapt from the stool, glancing once at Seth, then ran out the back.

Seth cursed audibly, and quickly dove as he drew his blaster Rifle, the little sithspawn was expecting him. He ducked his head down and rolled over his shoulder, coming up tight against the wall as laser bolts traced their way towards him with crimson energy. Bracing the barrel of his rifle on the table in front of him, he drew a pistol and opened fire. THe patrons of the bar knew better than to sit and watch as they ducked for cover. He sprayed the area with blaster fire as the rodians shots grew closter to home.

One ricocheted off his shoulder plate before he cut them bothe down. Standing immedieatly, he rushed straight for the back of the bar, just as the stormtroopers burst through the front door, blasters blazing with no regard of the innocents still in the Cantina....

ooc: will finish later, its getting late and i need some z's.

[RileyKenobi]

Lynx pressed her earpiece closer as she monitered the comms of her three friends from the Hive. That's what they called it, anyway. An abandoned building with enough space for them to live and work out of. If you could call what they did 'work'.

The normal radio silence was broken by screams from the other end of the line.

"Jaxx? Raptor?!" Lynx tried to get a calm response. Muffled blaster fire was audible, and Mai's scream raised the hair on the back of Lynx's neck before the comm cut into static. "Sithspit! What the frell was that?"

Lynx tried to bring the comms back up, but got only radio darkness. Thoughts ran unbridled through her mind.

Blaster shots...Mai screaming? And where were Raptor and Jaxx?

Lynx held her head tightly before sitting up again. All she could do was wait...it was too dangerous to go looking for them, especially in these parts of town. Lynx bit her lip, making a small line of crimson blood drip down her chin. "Raptor..."

[Alex Kerensky]

IC:
Nudging the dead body with his foot, Captain Kai Allard sighed. The soldiers under his command were always quick to the trigger. They need to be taught a lesson. The stormtrooper officer straightened up and faced the sergeant who had led the attack on the hacker cell.

“Sergeant Winters,” Kai said, “tell me again why you told your people to just shoot without thinking?”

“Sir,” the man answered, “my men were shooting in self defense.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Like hell they were. The hackers did not fire until fired upon. You are aware that even though the hackers are criminals, they are still citizens of the Empire? You cannot just go and kill them. Did it ever occur to you that we could have gotten information from them regarding to the whereabouts of their base?”

“But sir, they were breaking the law. My men died in an attempt to capture them.” Kai could easily see that the sergeant was one of the breeds who thought shooting solved everything.

“Bah, leave. Gather your men and return to base. I will handle this.” The sergeant saluted, and then rounded up his platoon and left.

Kai massaged his temples as he surveyed the devastated warehouse. The recent firefight had left the stench of ozone and burnt plastics floating in the air. Even though he was a career soldier, Kai never liked the smell of burnt housing materials.

“Sergeant Winters is far too quick to shoot. Damn him. If he had even taken one of these criminals alive, we would know where the other one ran off to.” Kai nodded at the trio of bodies. “Sergeant Malthus.”

“Sir!” another stormtrooper promptly snapped to attention.

“Go and gather our team together. We will hunt this criminal. However, make it known that we want her alive.” Kai began walking towards the building’s exit.

“Yes sir,” the stormtrooper replied. “What of the bounty hunter Sergeant Winters mentioned?”

“Go ahead and hire one. However, make it very clear that the target is to be taken alive and in good health. Dismissed.” As the trooper left, Kai put back on his helmet and made his way back to the APC. He knew that his company of specially trained troopers could handle the job much better than Sergeant Winters. We will bring in this hacker and discover where the rest of her friends are. Then this threat to the Empire’s computers will be over.

[Aranador]

The man known as Sever groaned. He was hungry, and as usual, every joint in his body seemed to ache. A casual observer might have felt some sympathy for him, his distress being plain and evident from his posture. That is, if the casual observer somehow managed to miss spotting the wicked blades that adorned the man’s forearms, the pools of blood and dismembered bits of rhodian that surrounded him, or if the observer failed to connect the two. In fact, any casual observer with an ounce of sanity would have left at best speed, silently hoping to forget everything.

The black espionage suit that Sever wore was high quality stuff. Light and flexible, yet incorporating armour plates over major areas and tough fabrics elsewhere – its best quality was undoubtedly that it didn’t show stains – its surface was repellent to water and other – fluids. Dirt literally didn’t stick to it. His fighting blades too – being energized weapons – didn’t show even a trace of the gore that they had so recently created. There was not a trace of blood anywhere on the young man – except in his memory.

In a sudden blur of motion, Sever leaped away from the scene, vanishing back into the gloom of the Coruscant undercity.

--

Blaster fire – Screams. Was he fighting again? Was he killing again? Sever’s head ached, his muscles screamed at him, his stomach growled like a beast. No – the pain of living left him when he was fighting – it was like he was someone else – a merciless god of war. But now he was just a man, living with the pain of his sins.

But he could hear blaster fire, and a woman’s scream. As he concentrated on listening, on sensing, his awareness kicked into overdrive. Suddenly, he could hear more clearly, see more surely, practically taste the ozone of blaster fire not too far away. A flash – surely imperceptible yet somehow he knew it to be point oh three lumens at a 573mm wavelength – just right for an E-11 being discharged down that alley and round a corner. Someone was in trouble.

A woman’s scream again – a wail which denied further loss compounded on loss already made. Sever should have stayed away, should not have gotten involved, but the scream pulled him, like the moon pulls the tides. His aches, the constant pain began to fade, and with a spectacular leap, Sever flew off the balcony he was on, twisting in mid air and gracefully coming against the opposite wall. His momentum held him there for a moment – defying gravity – and he sprinted a half dozen meters in an instant, before springing again.

Sever covered 100 meters this way, dropping the 30 needed to take him to the street floor. As he touched down, he rolled in a tight tumble before returning to his feet. The need for haste pounded through his mind, and yet, it seemed – to him – that he was wading through treacle. Every step he took seemed a mighty effort, a battle to push his flesh through unseen resistance.

Finally – he managed to drag his body through the alley, and into the narrow cross alley. His body seemed to want to keep going straight, and he strained his muscles against that, forcing himself to turn the corner. His path intersected with the cross alley wall, and continued up it, the vertical surface suddenly as flat as the open road to his fevered senses.

His vision picked out the scene in clear detail, even in the dim light. Four non-descript thugs, old imperial surplus blasters in hand, menaced a young woman who was standing at a portal. All five of them seemed frozen in time. Sever could smell the fear from the woman, the grime from the thugs, the dirt of the alley, the stench of the city. There was a flash, one of the thugs had fired. The blaster bolt lit the scene with a hellish red glow, the bolt of energy seeming to crawl across the distance. Sever could tell it would miss the girl – but only just. The next shot might not be so favorable.

Sever pushed against the invisible resistance that slowed him down all the harder, driving his leaden body along the wall. The bolt passed the girl, inches away, then slapped at a shallow angle into the wall beyond her, a cascade of sparks floating away at a snails pace. In another circumstance, he might have admired that for its simple elemental beauty.

Finally – he was amongst the thugs. He could see the bright red lines that represented the major blood carrying arteries in their necks. With a flicking motion he brought his combat blades to the ready position, the weapons energized hum sounding like nothing more than a bass rumbling to his hearing, the ultra sonic vibrations of the blades visible to his fevered vision. He pushed the blade towards an enemy, the strange invisible resistance struggling against his own efforts. Straining with all his might, he drove the blade on, the tip meeting the body of his foe, entering flesh. Strangely, the resistance of the man’s clothing, flesh, and bone seemed minimal compared to the simple effort of moving at all.

The tip of Sever’s blade exited through the man’s chest, then withdrew back along the path it came from. He brought his other blade up in a cleaving sweep that caught the man in the arm pit, cutting smothly through the shoulder and away, the man’s arm floating away from the body leaving a trail of blood droplets floating in the air.

The thugs seemed to be reacting, but they were moving so slow, inarticulate gasps of surprise drawn out into low frequency groans. Sever spun as fast as he could force his own lead like body to move, jumping into a horizontal spin. Blades anchored to the back of his legs folded down into a striking position, and passed through the body of s second thug, tearing life blood away in red arcs that drifted through the dank air. His arm blades took similar toll against a third thug.

There was another flash and the air was lit with crimson once more. Sever could see the blaster bolt, the only thing that seemed to move with any true speed here. It would hit him. He twisted desperately, straining to the limit just to get his body to move, raging against the unseen resistance that wanted to hold him still. The bolt scraped by, missing him by a scant margin as Sever arched his torso over the lethal beam.

With leg blades floding away even as he landed from his spin, Sever brought a wrist blade down through the E-11, smashing it. The sparks and bits of broken weapon blossomed away. His second wrist blade followed up the first – taking the man’s hand off. With a 360 degree turn, Sever spun and brought both weapons back upwards, passing through the man’s body. Reversing the swing, the twin blades passed back down, their line of motion crossing the previous path. With insane slowness, the remains of the thug fell into bloody hunks.

And it was over. Almost immediately, Sever’s vision turned entirely red, his arms and legs lost all sense of control, and the pain came back. Always the pain came back. Sever collapsed in a heap with a groan of pain.

[Pryde]

Everything had happened so fast. First she had narrowly escaped the trap laid by the Imperials, at the expense of Jaxx and Raptor. And now, after blindly running through alley after alley, she was under attack by four thugs that she just happened to bump into. Just as soon as the thugs had cornered her they were mercilessly cut down by some inhuman... thing. Whatever it was it moved so fast that it appeared as a blur to the naked eye.

Then it was over, the four thugs lay dead on the ground and her 'rescuer' had collapsed into a crumpled heap. Mai watched him fearfully, for a moment she fretted that the thing would jump up and kill her too. She took a step back, followed by another, then another. Finally she turned and started to run down the alleyway.

She only got a few feet before her concience caught up with her and she turned back to the man who had so grotesquely saved her life. Whatever it was it laid in the middle of the alleyway groaning in pain, but why? How? It moved so fast the thugs hadn't even touched it, but why was it hurt?

She rushed over to the man and checked him over. He had no injuries that she could tell, yet he it was obvious that he was in pain. Mai stood there undecisively, she fought with her concience and wanted to make the smart move and just walk away. Yet something compelled her to help. Finally making a decision she reached down and tried as best she could to lift the man to his feet. Throwing his arm around her shoulder she half dragged, half carried him down the alleyway.

It had taken some time for her to reach the hive, her gang's usual hangout, and she ended up mostly dragging the man the last few blocks. She knocked on the door and a small slit in the door opened up. "Password," a man's voice asked.

"Let me in James," Mai told him, "Its me."

"Sweet Jesus, Mai," James exclaimed as he opened the door, "You guys had us worried, we thought you were dead. Where's Jaxx and Raptor?"

"They won't be coming," Mai told him matter-of-factly, she felt a sharp pang in her heart. "Now give me a hand with this."

James looked down at the crumpled form on the ground. "Whoa, Mai, you can't take that guy in here. Its against the rules."

"Forget the rules, James," Mai shouted at him, "He saved my life and he needs help."

"Tch," James grudgingly reached down and threw the other man's arm around his shoulder and helped Mai carry the man into the Hive. The building was an abandoned warehouse that Mai and her friends had populated some time ago. Occassionally other gangs, their alliances, so to speak, would come and hang with them. The warehouse had everything they could ever want, a bar, an arcade, an obstacle course for hover boards. Even now the obstacle course, and its ramps, rails, and jumps, was filled with countless hover boarders.

James helped Mai carry the man into a small room in the back. The room had served as their 'emergency room'. Here anyone that was hurt could receive what little medical attention that they could provide. They set the man down onto the single bed occupying the room as their doctor rushed over to examine him.

A moment later Lynx rushed into the room, having noticed that Mai had returned home. She glanced at the stranger suspiciously then searched frantically around the room. Not having found what she was looking for she turned to Mai and asked, "Where's Raptor?"

Mai lowered her had sadly and approached Lynx. "He's... He's," she started timidly, then tears began to form in her eyes and she threw her arms around Lynx, "I'm sorry, Lynx..."

[Aranador]

Sever was tired. His limbs were full of fatigue poisons, his joints burning from exertion beyond human tolerance. Spots danced in his vision and his brain ached from a lack of oxygen. Everything seemed to be happening too fast, with no control. Someone was helping him walk? No – he wasn’t walking really – someone was practically dragging him? Did that make sense? Was that right? Pain and fatigue numbed the real world.

He was resting on a soft surface it seemed. Voices could be heard, other noises. None of it made sense. Already the worst of the pain was faiding – it never seemed to take too long before his body recovered from the ravages it was put through. Soon, he would once again be just a man, surrounded by blood.

Dimly, he became aware of a light shining in his eye. Then dark. Then light. A voice spoke then from close to hand “Pupil dilation relatively normal. No sign of physical injury.”

That was good wasn’t it? Sever wondered who they were talking about. The light came back, and he blinked away from its harsh glare. His eyes ached, as if their sockets were lined with sand. “Water” he croaked out loud – giving voice to an inner desire. As if to punctuate his word, a monstrous growl rumbled from his stomach.

Sever suddenly sat bolt upright, the motion flaring new pain as his hip and lower back protested the motion. But the discomfort was ignored as the young man stared down at his hands, which trembled slightly. “No blood?” He asked of no one in particular.

Gradually, he became aware of other people near by.

[Alex Kerensky]

IC:
Rolling to his feet, Kai brought his Gauss rifle up and triggered a burst. The salvo of 50-caliber slugs punched straight through the smuggler's knee cap, severing the leg. Around him, members of his Special Forces team were similarily disaabling their targets with stun blasts and precisely aimed shots.

Gunfire echoed in the warehouse complex as the 16th Urban Assault Company stormed into the drug house. His specially trained troopers were in the process of clearing out one of the many illegal smuggling and spice trading cartels in Corusant.

"Clear!" Kai called into his helmet's commlink. "Alpha-niner-fower zone clear. Flash sitrep!" He scanned the rest of the room for any remaining threats but found none.

"Bravo and charlie zones clear, sir," came the voice of another stormtrooper. "The building is secure."

"Good." Kai checked the ammo remaining in his Gauss rifle before popping the current magazine out from the pull-pup designed rifle. "Lieutenant Lee, casualty report."

The 16th's chief medic reported after a slight pause. "Sir, Fifth Squad took some heavy fire. Three have minor injuries, while two died when a gernade went off near them. Other than that, we came out pretty well intact."

"Damn," Kai muttered. An entire squad disabled. Kai knew he had replacements, but he regretted the loss of life and experience personnel. "And prisoners?"

This time Lee's voice was more positive. "We took about fifteen people prisoner. Six are knocked out from stun bolts. Another seven are wounded, three seriously. Four surrendered."

"And the rest?"

"Unfortunately, they died in the firefight."

"I see." Changing radio frequencies, Kai addressed the entire 16th. "Good job, people. Let's get this place cleaned up. A debriefing will follow, then some well deserved rest." The Captain removed his helmet and slung his weapon over his shoulder.

For the umpteenth time, Kai silently thanked his quartermaster for obtaining the advanced suits his company was wearing. Instead of standard stormtrooper plate armor, the 16th was equipped with lighter armor but stronger armor. Plating covered only the upper chest, while ballistic cloth and kevlar pads protected the rest of the body. This gave the wearer much more freedom of movement, as well as a higher degree of comfort. As a result, Kai's muscles were not screaming from abuse he knew he would have normally taken had he worn the older armor.

As he made his way into the courtyard, another trooper ran up to Kai. "Sir," he said, giving his commander a datapad. "A report. Captain Merrison wanted you to handle it, sir."

Kai accepted the pad and quickly scanned it. Captain Merrison is a fool. Too lazy and cowardly to do anything. Four people murdered mysteriously? Damnit. "This happened only four hours ago?"

"Yes, sir," the trooper responded. "There is more, sir. The droid found blood stains leading away from the murder scene. Apparantly someone was dragged away."

"Really." Kai stopped in front of the Cavalier UAV. "So we know where the person escaped to?"

The trooper shook his head. "Sorry, sir. The blood drips disappeared after several hundred meters. We do not know where he escaped to."

"Bah." Kai reached into a cooler and pulled out a water bottle. He handed it to the trooper and got one for himself. "We are about ten hours from that location. There is nothing we can do until later tomorrow. Tell Merrison that my unit will handle it. Tell him to do nothing. Dismissed."

Kai let out a tired sigh. At least this business with the drug czar is over. But what about that hacker? And now this? Bah. He glanced at his chronometer. Two more days and I can see the wife and kids again. I am looking foward to then.

[Tyria]

The reason why she was wandering the streets was completely oblivious to Kiana. Though the sniper rifle's case slung across her shoulder was intimidating enough, the woman walked with her head down. It had become a habit since she lost confidence in life when Kiana realized that she was just an experiment ready to be exposed of at any minute. Furthermore, Kiana fought the grief of the death of her mentor, Splice. They had spent almost five years together before Splice died. Kiana didn't even know where, and no one would even justidy the existance of the slicer.

She was lost and alone. Again. Bringing the collar of the shale gray jacket to ward away the cold of the night, Kiana knew that she was up past curfew. But why should she care anymore? It wasn't like anyone knew that she existed even. Besides, there were enough abandoned buildings that lined this stretch of town that patrolling stormtroopers might just take her for another homeless bum. At least, Kiana hoped so.

The black jumper pants were loose and they rubbed together to cause a ruffling noise. Otherwise, the night was silent. Kiana's hands were stuffed inside her jacket pockets, twilight purple eyes fixxed on the ground. A slight breeze blew back her deep chestnut hair. It flailed in the wind before falling motionlessly past her shoulder blades. The muffled noise of her worn in ebony boots were joined by stiff footfalls. Instinctively, Kiana froze as she had been trained at the labratory. Surveying her surroundings slowly, Kiana found several ghostly white silhouettes several hundred feet ahead of her. They'll ask for my card, then beat me for breaking the law or what not Kiana thought, unconcerned as she glanced at several buildings that flanked her position.

Kiana easily slid into a shadowed crevice between two office buildings that had been stripped of their glory. Colorful musings were scrawled across most of the buildings in this district, and Kiana busied herself with staring at the same word over and over again, 'Fate.'

The monotone voices of the stormtroopers neared as they discussed their current relationships and how horrible their bosses were. Their white shells glinted in the dim light that the moon and stars provided as they passed the concealed woman. As soon as their conversation grew distant and Kiana could no longer hear their footsteps, she cautiously glanced up and down the street. Clear she noted to herself, sliding from the crevice.

The word hung in Kiana's mind. Fate... It ricocheted in all her thoughts as Kiana glanced about. Maybe one of these buildings really housed the organization that Splice had been apart of. But then again, there was a possiblity that Kiana was being idiotic in risking her life wandering past curfew. But something in her mind drove her to continue searching for answers.

Hesitating, Kiana held her breath to listen to the silence of the night. No footsteps, no rummaging through garbage... there was absolutely no one that inhabited these streets. Everything had been building up within Kiana. It had been something that the labratory had overlooked when they altered everything they saw fit in Kiana. The side effect of enhanced senses was the torrents of emotion that caused Kiana to break down when she allowed it. Over the years, she had learned how to fight it. There was a void that grew in her soul, a gap that brimmed with everything that she had been put through.

Knowing that no one was around to hear her, Kiana fell to her knees. Tilting her head up to the sky, she could feel the gathering tears burning her eyes. But why should she care anymore? There was no childhood for her, no first time experience of laughter. They had trained her to be passive in emotions, apathetic, never to care for others. But that backfired, and all human feelings returned to Kiana ten fold. It was unfair, but Kiana's training told her to quit complaining. You were never a child, so stop acting like one.

"Why!" she screamed to the sky, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Why me!"

Crumpling to the street, Kiana's body was racked with sharp breaths and tears that she vainly attempted to dry. Then that voice came again... Why not?

[VagueDurin]

It was too late now to worry about civilian injuries. Not that Seth really cared about the strangers in the first place. But it was always easier if you didn't leave a mess in your wake. But now, as the stormtrooper squad burst through and shot first, planning on asking questions later, he leapt, turning in mid air so he flew backwards, breaking through the wooden door, he unclipped a gernade, and tossed it into the formation of troopers. He hit the ground sooner than expected, and realized that behind the bar was a sand dune sloping upwards. Shaking his head quickly, he leapt back up to his feet and drew the blaster rifle, glancing at the ground. He saw that his marks footprints went the opposite direction than the Rodian should have went... up the hill and into the desert, away from civilization.

Sighing, Seth started up the hill, punching a few buttons on his wrist communicator he activated the slavescircuit, atomatically calling his ship to his position. SPrinting off into the destert, he watched for any sign of the Rodian named Bubbia Focil. It wasn't until he came over a large drift and felt a well placed boot in his gut before he found the man. The Rodian kicked out, and sent Seth head over heals down the doon. Scrambling to his feet Seth reached for his blaster just as the Rodian Jammed the pistol against the faceplate of his helmet.

"Freeze you scumbag." he said in heavily accented basic.

Time slowed down as Seths training kicked in. His hand shot out, lightning fast as it jabbed the blaster hand away. It discharged, sending a crimson bolt into the sand. Jumping up, Seth spun, kicking the rodians wrist with one foot, and hooking his other around, connecting with the side of Bubbia's head. The blaster fell from his grip on impact and the rodian collapsed to the ground. Lokke's blaster Rifle was in his hand immediatly, and he placed it against the Rodians midsection. Moments later, the eradicator lowered down on its landing struts, and Seth lead the now stuncuffed prisoner into the ship, and down into a holding cell on the lower deck. Half an hour after that, the ship was slipping into hyperspace on its way to Coruscant to pick up his payment.

[RileyKenobi]

Lynx gritted her teeth to prevent the cry of despair that wanted desperately to escape from her mouth. Mai hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed into her shoulder.

"He's gone?" Lynx asked softly. Her voice was tinged in disbelief.

"Jaxx too...they killed them," Mai replied in a muffled tone. Lynx swallowed as shock began to kick in, overcoming her other emotions. She sat down, Mai still holding onto her as she cried. Lynx shook slightly as she tried to comfort Mai through her own pain. A single tear ran down her cheek and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks, James. How's our guest?" Lynx asked. Mai sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"Awake, actually," he replied. "Come on."

The three walked into the modified med room. Lynx studied the young man on the table. He was definitely one of a kind.

[Pryde]

Mai wiped the tears from her eyes, she never liked putting on a scene, but she hadn't realized how painful the loss was. She followed the other two into the medlab to check on their patient. Her 'rescuer' was indeed awake and his first request was water. Mai tapped Lynx gently on the shoulder, "I hope you two can handle this, I need to speak with Thomas."

Without waiting for a response Mai left the room and stepped out onto the main floor. She ignored the whistles and cat calls being thrown her direction and walked up the stairs to Thomas' office. Without knocking she entered the room with a bang, startling a man sitting in a plush leather chair behind a littered desk.

"M...Mai," Thomas started timidly, "you're alive! I feared the worst when I heard the reports, we all thought were you..."

Mai cut him off, "Dead, I know. Well, I'm not, but two of my friends are and I want to find out why. Show me the files on that run, Thomas."

"Now wait a minute, hon, that op was top secret," Thomas replied, "Not just anyone can see the files."

"Someone set us up, Thomas," Mai was almost shouting at him, "The Imps, they knew too much! They were waiting for us!"

"Set us up? Mai, thats just preposterous! Who would set us up?"

"I... I don't know. Please, Thomas, just show me the mainframe!"

"Alright alright," Thomas conceded finally, "but I really don't think you're going to find anything, hon."

"You know I don't like it when you call me that," Mai's voice was firm.

"Would you prefer sweet cheeks, honey buns or princess?"

"Thomas," Mai sighed heavily, "the Mainframe, please..."

"Right," the fat burly man scrambled out of his chair and scurried over to the console against the far wall of his office. There they kept the files on every op they have ever pulled and a database of all their contracts.

"Check the entry logs," Mai suggested.

"Sure thing, sweetie."

"Thomas!"

"Right, sorry," he tapped a few keys on the keyboard and brought up the entry logs for the mainframe. "Everything seems normal, Mai, I don't see any... Now wait a minute."

"What," Mai asked curiously.

"Normally the only ones allowed to access this mainframe are Jaxx and me. Sorry, hon, but I'm afraid you might just clean us out should I leave you alone with this thing for just five minutes."

Mai smiled inspite of herself as Thomas continued, "However, I can't find the file on the op you guys just pulled... Its, missing."

"Things just dont go missing on a computer, Thomas," Mai said matter-of-factly. "Someone either deleted the file... Or stole it."

"But who? And why," Thomas asked, a bit flustered at the thought of his security being breached.

"I don't know," Mai thought long and hard, "A rival gang member, maybe?"

"No," Thomas replied, rubbing his chin, "A rival gang member couldn't possibly make it into this room without my knowing it. It has to be an inside job."

"A traitor," Mai was shocked, she hadn't even considered the possibility.

"Yes, a traitor. Some one infiltrated us with a spy and I only know of one gang who is capable of pulling something like this."

Tomas rushed to his desk and pulled out a datapad. He accessed a few files until finally he noticed Mai was still in the room. "Its alright, Mai, I've got it from here. I'll put some of my best people on it, you just get some rest."

"But, Thomas, I'm the best slicer you have. I have to be part of the op."

"Not this time, hon, this op is going to be very dangerous and you're too valuable to me. Don't worry, Mai, I'll take care of it."

Mai only nodded absent-mindedly before waving farewell and exiting the office. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts and she wandered back to the medlab in a daze. She almost didn't notice the man that was about to bump into her. They collided with eachother and Mai was sent sprawling on the floor. "Oh, Mai," James' voice sounded surprised, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

He reached down and helped her up to her feet. "So," he asked, "What did you and Thomas talk about?"

"Nothing," Mai replied solemnly.

"Oh, I see," Jame's voice was reserved, "Look, Mai, I wouldn't worry about that op last night. Things like that just happen."

Mai looked up at him in surprise, "How did you--"

"Well, I gotta get back to work. See ya around, kid," James said, cutting her off and disappearing into the crowd before she could finish. Mai looked after him thoughtfully, was it him? She shook the thought out of her head and proceeded into the medlab. James means well, but he couldn't possibly be a spy, she thought to herself, for all I know, it could have been Thomas. Or Lynx, or anyone else in the Hive. The thought of being surrounded by unfriendly eyes was disconcerting to her and she shuddered visibly. In the medlab she found Lynx and the doctor still checking on their patient so she decided to wait quietly by the door...

[VagueDurin]

one week later

Seth awoke to a sweat. He was breathing heavily. A quick glance around the room brought reality back to him... It was the same nightmare. The same rememberence... You couldn't even call it a nightmare... Nightmares were things you imagined... This was fact. He'd screwed up... And he'd screwed up big this time. He had had a bounty... for the same client that had hired him to get the Rodian... It was a big payoff too. With the credits from this mark, he could have layed low for years and live a luxurious life. Everything went wrong, and he ended up losing the mark, and the data-disk that was the secondary task. Now he had 3 months to come up with the cash he lost for the client, or become a hunted man himself.

Sighing, the young hunter got up out of bed and splashed cold water into his face. He grabbed a shirt, and put it on while walking towards the cockpit of his ship. Immediatly checking his comm... Still no hits. His reputation was down... at the worst time too. He ran a hand back through his white hair, and took a deep breath.

Thats when the comm rang through. "Lokke here." he answered.

Seth Lokke... you come recomended. Came the response. I have a job for you.

"What kind of Job." demanded Seth suspiciously. "Who are you?"

All will ofcourse be revealed in time... For now, you can refer to me as doplar. And you will meet me in the Den. You know where I'm talking about.

Seths blood went cold and a chill found its way down his spine. "Who the hell is this? I want to know."

No, my freind... You truely don't. Tonight, 1800 hours, be there.

And the connection was terminated. Seth sat and stared blankly at the speaker. The voice had been purposely distorted to ensure secrecy... And he was sure that it would be untraceable as well... The Den... How long had it been since he'd been there? How long had it been since he'd seen someone who even knew it existed... He gulped... THis was going to be interesting... maybe more interesting than dangerous even...

He set about preparing... First he had to get some weapons ready... then plot an escape route.... Then he'd go... Back to the place that had nearly killed him 3 years before... the place that'd killed the others.... The scar on his chest started to tingle then itch as he fought the memories of that night away.... He had to save his skin now... And if this job was worth the secrecy put into it... then he'd definately be saving himself soon...

Later that night, in a detteriorated portion of Coruscant, where it was obvious the docks here had not been used in ceturies...

The Eradicator sat, shut down on an age old landing platform, as Seth scaled the sheer rock cliff behind the vessel. It was hard work, but the space atop the cliff would not accomidate any space faring vessels... This was the hiding place of the Den... As he reached the top, he rechecked his weapons, and then started forward...

"Thats far enough." came a voice from the distance... "You can leave your weapons there..."

Seth grimaced, "What if i don't?" He asked.

"Then I'll shoot you and find another hunter." came the voice... but it was from a different direction than the first time... The man was moving...

Seth went about a slow show of setting his rifle, twin pistols, and weapons belt on the ground.

"Don't forget the holdout in your boot and the blade on your thigh." came the voice...

Another chill went down Seths spine... How did this person know so much about him... "Ok. I'm getting tired of this. Show yourself." he demanded. Then started as he heard the footsteps on the loose rock approaching him from behind. He spun to face the unknown figure approaching him... Whoever he was, he was cloaked and hooded...

The figure stopped a few feet infront of him, and raised his head to look at Seth... "Please... remove the helmet at least..." He said.

Seth reluctantly did so, dropping it to the ground as well... THe mans shoulders in front of him slumped slightly, and the figure exhaled a single word. "Peirce". The voice was no longer a distorted mans... It was of a relieved womans...

Seth took a startled step back... Peirce He hadn't gone by that name in a long time... a very long time... "Its Seth now, Streak." he half wispered...

[VagueDurin]

The hooded figure let her cloak fall to the ground... Exposing a very slim and fit female body. She wore a carbon suit that was form fitting, and high black boots. Her complextion was a pale white contrasting witht he black of the suit, and her hair was a multicolored display of copper, silver, gold, and dark red. She was a member of a very rare species... Ferrieorians. Her bright blue eyes were welled up with unfallen tears. She was absolutle perfect... Except for cold, chrome plate that started just above her chin on the left side of her face and fell down her neck and integrated into her shoulder...

The flashbacks hit hard... Streak had been here, at the Den with him 3 years ago... for three years he thought her dead... The gernade had gone of while she was still below... And the entrance had caved in. Someone must have found her... Saved her... He opened his mouth... but no words came out...

"You'll always be Peirce to me... But for the record, its Sable now." She wispered back... She noticed his mouth open, and smiled sadly... the tears starting to fill her eyes too much, and a pair fell down her cheeks slowly... "Don't even try... You had no way of knowing. If you would have tried to come back for me, they would have killed you like they did the others." She took a nervous step towards him, but not any further.

"H-How?" he asked, stunned.

"I'm not sure. I was unconcious... I woke up in a med-lab. They said some workers were buldozing some of the platforms out here and saw the life reading, and rescued me." She explained... I was in a coma for 2 years. They had all but forgotten about me. The nurse said if i'd stayed out another week, with no immediate family they would have had to pull the plugs."

She said this with no real emotion... Almost as if it didn't bother her at all. That she'd been that close to dying. "I... space dust streaks! Wha-" Seths knees were feeling week... This was completely un-expected...

She smiled sadly again. "You've found someone else... Haven't you?" She asked, twisting the diamond ring around her finger idley. She wiped away her tears, but more just fell as she looked up at the starry sky above them. "I should have known... Its been three years now. I hope she knows how lucky she i-"

"No." Seth interrupted... "No. I. I've changed Streaks. But I... I couldn't ever..."

There was a barked command in a language Seth didn't know from somewhere behind her... her face immediatly tightend in worry. Producing a datapad, she rushed towards him, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him to her until their lips locked. Streaks held him there for a long moment. Pulling away, breathing heavily, she held him close... Another barking command came. She kissed him again... full of a passion that had lain dormat for three years... Pulling away she caught hold of his bottom lip with her teeth nibbling gently. "I missed you so much..." She wispered, then shoved the datapad into his hand before a large burly man appeared behind them.

"I missed you too." he wispered towards her before the man dragged her
back.

Then a tall, thin man walked forward in ornate dress. He had greying hair and a fancy goatee. "Now i've given you your incentive to complete my task, I'll give you the details." he said matter of factly.


incentive? Seths face twisted into a scowl. "If you harm on hair on her head i swear to-"

"Please. Spare me the dramatics." spoke the man. "On that Data-pad is a frequency on which you can contact me. Also on the data-pad is the file of one Mai Evenstar. Everything known about her you will find there. I want her, Alive."

Seth hung his head slightly. "Very well." he said through gritted teeth.

The man smiled broadly. "Good. I hope to hear from you soon... Mr. Lokke." With that, he, the burly muscle, and Streak dissapeared into the dark. A few moments later an Imperial shuttle lifted off of the ground and blasted off into the night...

Seth watched blankly for a few moments, then sighed.... THis would be interesting.

[Aranador]

“Now follow my finger” said the man that was examining him. Sever did what he was told. You have to do what the doctor tells you. Sever knew that to be an absolute truth. If you didn’t do what the doctor told you, bad things would happen. It was important to do what the doctor tells you, life depends on it.

He was in a room, and he was sitting on a bed, and there were two other people here. There was a door, which was closed, and there was sound, like a rumbling grinding sound, that would stop and start with a thud. There was the noise of a crowd out there too. Where was he?

At least someone had given him some water. The cool liquid seemed to soak away into his parched throat. The aches in his joints, arthritis caused by beyond design spec use, was raging fire. The introduction of the fluid to his digestive system seemed to trigger another monster stomach rumble.

The doctor – was he a doctor? Where was his lab coat? – said “Woah there, guess you are kind of hungry then. Whats your name?”

“Ahh” Sever replied. His head ached, a dull ache of fatigue and lack of blood sugar. “I am, my name is, people call me Sever” he managed.

The man seemed a little taken aback. “What, that assassin fellow? You?” Perhaps it was an incredulous picture, to connect that mysterious assassin to this young man whos stiff movements seemed to bring him suffering.

“That would explain these” Lynx said, nudging the evil looking blades that had been stacked on a bench in the corner.

The doctor looked dubiously at the weaponry, and back to Sever. “Sever is supposed to be nimble to the point where he doesn’t get wet when it rains. This man is practically a case study in carpal tunnel syndrome.” The doctor handed Sever a couple of high strength anti-inflammatory pain relievers.

“Well, apparently he did rescue Mai” Lynx countered.

The two continued their discussion about his identity while Sever tried to remember what had happened that brought him here. But his memory was blurred, full of images that were two fast to understand, and too bloody to linger on. He shook his head, and took the proffered pain drugs.

He did remember having taken a contract. Yes it was true he was an assassin. Someone out there knew his talents, and found it convenient to employ him. Not often mind you – but always –conveniently – just as he was running out of money. Had he finished the job? It was always like this, a blur and the taste of blood. Yes, he had finished, he was certain. Perhaps it was just as well that he couldn’t remember the details.

“Excuse me” he said, capturing the attention of the other two. “Is there a public terminal? I need to check my messages. Also - ahh - a place to buy a sandwich?"

[RileyKenobi]

Lynx took a cup of water from the counter next to her and handed it to the young man, who took it gratefully and swallowed the contents quickly. She blinked rapidly against the bright white lights that hung above the table. The lights reflected off the back of her mismatched eyes, creating an eerie greenish glow in her pupils. She heard soft footsteps behind her.

"You don't have to wait there, Mai," she said.

Mai came up next to her. "How did you know?"

"I'm named Lynx for a reason," she replied. Mai caught a glimpse of her glowing eyes and held back a gasp. For as long as she'd worked with Lynx, she'd never seen her eyes like that.

Lynx's tattoos were outlined in the harsh light of the room. Her dark green, serrated-edge tattos that adorned the left side of her face were bold against her tan skin. She refilled the cup for the young man, and stared at him.

"Who are you?"

[Alex Kerensky]

OOC:
I am bored, and when I am bored, I post.

IC:
The low rumblings of the Sentinal-class transport's engines echoed up into the passenger compartment. Kai studied the small hologram projector in front of him with a fierce intensity. He was reviewing the battle ROMs collected after the 16th's raid into the drug house. So far, his troops' actions have not disappointed him.

The hologram projected the images of a squad of stormtroopers as the burst into a building. One stormtrooper battered the door down while another tossed in several flash-bangs. The camera twisted to the side as its wearer dodged behind the doorframe when the gernades exploded. A bright flash erupted into the room before the stormtroopers burst in.

Good, that went well. Guns set to stun and we took them out. All in under a minute. Nice. Kai flicked the projector off and leaned back in his seat. Sergeant Merrinek got the recruits up to speed pretty nicely. A debriefing, then hopefully a few hours of rest. Then I have to deal with that stravag murder thing.

Allard pulled out the datapad containing the murder information and turned it on. "Stab wounds and major lacerations," he muttered. What kind of murderer would use bladed weapons against four thugs? A blaster would have been safer. And the cuts were pretty clean. Must have been a vibro-weapon of some sort.

"Bah, enough." Kai stood up from his seat and stretched. There were still several hours before touch down, and he did not feel like sitting anymore. He headed to the view port and watched the night skies.

[RileyKenobi]

OOC: Whoops. Looks like Aranador and I posted within seconds of each other. just read mine before Aranador's...seems right, right?

[Tyria]

Hesitantly, Kiana dried her tears. Droplets welled in her eyes, but she thought grudgingly that they would be of no use. If she were to just lie there in her own self pity, patrolling stormtroopers were bound to find her. Then no one would know of Splice's existance at all. No one would even care.

Struggling to sit up, Kiana turned her attention to the bag she carried with her. Carefully unzipping it, the woman gingerly sifted through the contents that she had decided to bring along. Her slender fingers faltered upon a datapad that had belonged to Splice. Kiana had never gotten the courage to explore the files that the datapad contained. She reguarded it as sacred since it was Splice's prized possession. The slicer often warded away petty thieves from the datapad, and it became obvious to Kiana that there were confidential items within its memory.

Splice wouldn't mind if I took a peek Kiana thought, then chided, She's not even around, why am I still afraid of looking at the files?

Zipping the bag shut, Kiana rose from the street before finding an alleyway. Dumpsters and garbage littered the alleyway as if a brawl had taken place and no one bothered to clean up the mess. Trash cans were knocked over and several animals picked through the decomposing foodstuffs. Kiana paid no attention to the rustling of the hungry creatures as she activated the datapad.

Its screen lit up as odd symbols scrolled across the screen before legible text appeared, Hello Splice...

Vanishing to reveal a blank screen, Kiana realized that she would need to execute programs. It was how Splice would have done things anyway, to make sure that no one would be able to run her programs and discover files. Kiana could still hear the woman's voice reminding her, "Remember Eclipse, always go by your nickname when you're on the streets... Especially if you ever reach my part of town."

However, several icons appeared in the touch display screen. Each seemed to signify a different file type, and Kiana could only guess the meaning behind each. She would need to think like Splice, and that would be quite a task. As she slowly studied each symbol, she was shocked to find a moon going into an eclipse. Under it, For Eclipse was written underneath it.

Kiana's eyes widened in shock, Did she know that she was going to die?

Touching the icon with her index finger, Kiana patiently waited as the datapad's screen shifted to load a text document. However, before it could load a dialogue box popped up. State your name: Kiana quickly keyed in her name as the box vanished as the document proceeded to load.

Hi Eclipse...

If you happen to read this, well, you know what's happened to me. You're a smart girl, always able to figure things out for yourself. I'm sorry I wasn't able to be around you all the time, and take care of you like a caring mother would have. But you know why: I had a job to attend to. Don't take this as a farewell message because I don't want it to be. You probably don't either, and I guess with my probable death.. this might be closure for you. I don't know if it will be enough for you, but don't worry.

You might think that I'm your only family, but there's some things that I could never bring myself to tell you. Kiana... I'm not exactly who you thought I was, and you've probably gone through my room. But that's fine, that doesn't matter anymore. I know I've kept a lot of things private from you, but it was to keep you from getting hurt in the process of my downfall.

My name's not really Splice, which you probably know anyway since no sane parent would name their child Splice right? I'm rambling, like always... From now on, I want you to think of me as who I really am: Melissa Ryse.

You're a great kid, and you'll make a wonderful person as the years pass. Be sure to make most of life because some things... I regret not having done. I know it's hard for you to accept that some people are eternally gone from your life, but it's how things go. Life's rough, but just fight your way back up. Don't give up yet.

Two families have already been taken from you Kiana, I don't think it's fair that you should continue alone in life yet. There's some people that would be willing to help you. They were my coworkers... friends if you will, but I've never gotten too close to people. You lose them too quickly. But that's beside the point. If you're in dire need of help or shelter or whatever, just go to them. They're called The Hive... Remember when I took you out for a walk to talk about things? They're in that stretch of street, we paused in front of that building. You'll remember, just search for that one building. Tell them that you're Eclipse... the daughter of Splice. The sentry may be stubborn, but keep persisting.

Sweetie, I'm sorry that I had to leave you so early... I hope you can forgive me for the times that I've let you down.

With love,
Melissa

Silent tears slowly trickled down Kiana's face as she keyed off the datapad and placed it back within the bag. Had she been angry at Splice... no, Melissa... for dying? For never being able to say why she was gone? Kiana couldn't remember, she didn't care... Melissa hadn't said goodbye yet, was it possible that maybe she could still be alive? Don't be naive Kiana chided herself as she listened attentively to any noises from the street.

The stormtroopers that had passed by earlier had not yet returned, and Kiana assumed that such areas of town were of low importance to the Empire. Chasing away the tears, Kiana strode from the alleyway as she recalled the night that the two had roamed this street.

Glancing at the buildings, Kiana could distinctly remember what building that the two had rested in front of. There they had discussed humorous memories and Kiana couldn't help but smile. However, her expression returned to passive as she knocked twice upon the door.

A slit in the door snapped open as two pairs of eyes eeriely peered at Kiana. A gruff voice barked, "Password?"

"I... I don't have one," Kiana stuttered, blushing in the darkness as she fumbled with her words.

"Then leave," the man replied, glaring as he half shut the slit before Kiana intervened.

"Wait! Splice! Does that name sound familiar?" Kiana asked, clenching her hands nervously.

"Yeah, what about it?" the man retorted.

"I'm her daughter, Eclipse," Kiana replied. "I... I need a place to stay. Please, can you help me?"

[Pryde]

James looked at the woman increduously before saying, "Splice never had a daughter." Again he started to close the slit, but once more the woman had intervened. "Then you obviously didn't know her well enough."

"Trust me, lady, Splice never mentioned anything about having a daughter."

"I'm her foster daughter," Kiana replied, exasperated. "She said you'd be stubborn, but I didn't think you'd be this stubborn!"

"Now wait just a damn," he cut himself off, "Alright, wait here."

With that he closed the slit and made his way back to the medlab where he left Mai and Lynx. Mai looked a bit startled about something, but she quickly regained control of herself. “Excuse me” the man lying on the bed suddenly said, capturing the attention of everyone in the room. “Is there a public terminal? I need to check my messages. Also - ahh - a place to buy a sandwich?"

Lynx approached him curiously, her watchful eyes searching his. "Who are you," she asked quietly.

James crept up quietly behind Mai and tapped her once on the shoulder. The small woman jumped suddenly and turned around with a start. "James," she said excitedly, "Wh--What is it?"

"I'm having some problems at the front door. I think you might be interested."

"Not now, James," Mai replied, waving him off and turning back to the patient. Persistent, James whispered something in her ear and her expression darkened visibly. "E--Excuse me," she told the others before following James to the front door.

Outside a woman waited, a woman that Mai had never seen before. She opened the door and stepped out in front of her. "What do you want," she asked impatiently.

"Splice mentioned The Hive... She said that they'd be able to provide a safe haven for me..."

"Don't mention that name," Mai replied sharply. Having heard that name again it dawned on her that the pain was still too near.

"She was my mother," Kiana persisted.

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Mai was almost shouting, unshed tears were beginning to well up in her eyes. "Look, just follow me," she managed to say quietly.

Mai led the woman across the main floor and up the stairs to Thomas' office. Mai knocked once then entered, again catching the man off guard. "Mai, honey, I told you that I would take care of... Oh, who's this," he asked curiously, indicating Kiana...

[Tyria]

"My name is Eclipse..." Kiana's voice was barely audible, as she fixed her gaze on the floor. "...She said you'd be able to help me."

"She said?" Thomas asked curiously, "Who--"

"A friend," Mai said cutting him off, "She needs a place to stay, Thomas. I think she can be trusted."

"If you say so, hon, but I'm afraid we don't have any more room to spare," he glanced over towards Kiana and looked her up and down. "However, you're more then welcome to stay with me."

Kiana glared up at the stout, heavy set man, "If that's what you're providing then I might as well have been caught by the patrolling stormtroopers."

"Well, if you're going to turn my offer down, then I guess it can't be helped," Thomas replied regretfully. Then he locked his gaze on Mai, "She'll stay with you, hon. I'm sure her company will do ya some good."

"With me," Mai started, "but, Thomas--"

"Sorry, hon, but thats my final answer. Eclipse here will stay with you. I trust you can provide her with a tour... and make sure that she stays out of trouble."

"Thomas," Mai pleaded with him one more time, but he once again cut her off. "Dems da breaks, hon, now why don't you two go get yourselves acquainted. I've got a lot of work to do."

"Fine," Mai replied in a defeated tone before leaving the office with Kiana following close behind. Thomas paused long enough to watch Kiana leave before going back to the reports that littered his desk. At the bottom of the stairs Mai turned back to Kiana. "I've got some things to check up on in the medlab," she told her firmly, "Since Thomas ordered me to babysit you, you might as well follow me. But stay out of trouble!"

With that Mai led her back into the med lab where Lynx and Sever were conversing quietly. She waited patiently for an oppurtunity to interrupt then she approached Sever. The man seemed so fragile lying there in bed and for a moment Mai wondered how it was possible that this man could have saved her life. "Thank you," she blurted out suddenly, "Thank you for saving me, but why? Why did you do it?"

OOC: Was a collaborated post.

[Aranador]

"Thank you," blurted out one of the people in the room. An attractive young lady with ebon hair and icy indigo eyes was the sudden speaker. "Thank you for saving me, but why? Why did you do it?" She questioned.

Sever blinked. Saved her? Had he done that? Did he actually save someone? He struggled to recollect, to piece together some solid image from the haze that filled his mind. He did recall something, a lucid memory framed in pain and bordered in the crimson of bloodshed. "I heard a scream" he said. "It wasnt right, it made me sad, and angry, and, I dont know. I think I wanted to make the scream stop, to make things better."

He looked again at the girl, her not quite blue eyes were full of questions, and betrayed the puffiness of too much emotion that had come too quickly. But there was another memory, there in the middle of the red blur. Those same eyes. Where did that memory belong? In his mind, the eyes were full of fear, but both then and now, there was also a hint of determination, of will to persevere. "You were there" Sever gasped, emphasising the second word. "Did I really save you? Was I supposed to?"

Sever realised he was freaking the girl, and the others, out just a little. "I, sorry, my head. It feels like its made of wool. I can't remember properly."

The doctor, nearly reflexively, lent in to examine him again. "Hmm, I think a case of extreme fatigue, and lack of proper diet here. Ever feel faint? Like the room is going dark from the edges of your vision?"

"Dark?" questioned Sever. "Red maybe." The doctor looked quizzicly at the man after that statement.

Mai spoke again "These are yours, right?" she said, waving one of the nasty looking blades in the air for emphasis.

An embarrased look swept across the man's face, and he nodded silently. Just who in space was this guy?

"Perhaps" said the doctor, "our friend here needs a good meal and some rest. That should certainly help things along. Maybe then we can get some better answers, hmm?"

[Pryde]

Mai set the intricately crafted blade back down where she got it from and then turned to look at Sever one last time. She had so many questions to ask, the man was a living, breathing enigma. How had he been able to move so fast? It was virtually impossible the reach the speeds that he travelled at. What did he mean by making the scream stop? Was he supposed to save me, Mai asked herself quietly, she wasn't sure. Had someone put him up to it? And if so, why? She wanted to stay and discuss this with him some more, but the doctor's words were final.

She nodded solemnly and then turned to the doctor. "Perhaps you're right, doctor," she managed to say, "Thank you for all your help."

"You're quite welcome, my dear," the doctor replied then finally took notice of the woman behind her. "I see we have another guest, is she hurt," he asked, indicating Kiana.

"Oh no," Mai replied surprised, she had forgotten all about her. "This is, uh," she struggled momentarily to remember the name she had given Thomas, 'Eclipse. She's a friend of a friend... She'll be staying with me, Thomas' orders."

"I see," the doctor replied thoughtfully, "Well its a pleasure to meet you, miss Eclipse..."

[Jay Night]

Falcon felt the electric buzz feeling of excitement behind is ears flooding into the rest of his body. He flexed his becips in anticipation, and ran a check over his ride once more.

Engines were green.

Body chasis had no noticiple flaws.

Repulsor lifts were operating at 105% efficency.

The only dark spot was where the weapons should have been on the Combat-Class Cloud Car. The tri-barrel laser cannon had been way to expensive to maitain or even buy. So Falcon had simply bought the car without it's fire power package. Though it made the Cloud Car significantly less valubable it gave it speed a boost since the thrusters didnt have to push the extra kilo or two kilo worth. The average Combat class flew at 1198 tops kph in the atomshere, Falcon's could push 1300kph if he needed to really push hard.

The Fire Raven the name he had given to the ship was painted jet black except of flame decals on the wings and the nose of the craft. He reved the engines and prepared to switch from the repulsors to the thrusters.

A nice looking twi'lek girl who couldn't be more than 17 or 18 stood on a small repulsor platform with a golden railing. Falcon looked over on his left was a slim looking Twi'Lek male with pale green skin and facial tatoos. A black visor covered his eyes. He drove a supped up soro sub "Long Sword" class craft. Named for the long flattened engine that streacthed 15m in front of the double cockpit.

The girl now held out a reflective neck tie that glittered in the city's glow. She dropped it.

Falcon cut out the repulsors, and threw the thrusters into max. The motion nailed his head back against the cushioned seat. As the Fire Raven screamed past the Twi'Lek girl and racer.

They had to past throught five loops on a straight away course that took right smack past downtown and the local Stormy Station. Falcon wildy dove threw traffic blasting by ships and air craft up to ten or fifthteen times bigger than his own.

A huge freighter lauched off a dock not more than fifty meters below, it's huge mass wouldnt be able to stop in time to avoid the two racer punks. Falcon pulled back on his stick hard unitl it wouldnt budge.

He cleared the freighter with not more than a foot to spare, "DAMN RACERS" he could hear over the public comm as the freighter captain tried to avoid a collusion.

The Twi'Lek racer must of dove under into one of the traffic tunnels, because he was no where in sight. Falcon kicked up his speed to 1000 kph and passed through the fist loop. The second loop was already insight but was surrouned by a mass of taxi drivers waiting for a rider.

Falcon merely spiraled through the formation of hover cars and through the second gate. This time his comm lit up with several voices uttering several curses a lot more worse than the freighter captain.

TZZZ TZZ TZZ TZZZ A fillisade of lasers flew past him. Startling Falcon for a moment. Dogfighting was frowned upon in racing but not illegal, nothing was illegal. The twi'lek Long Sword had appeared again on Falcon six, four cleverly concealed anti veichle guns were mounted on either side of the cockpit.

Falcon spun his craft down into a incoming traffic lane as more lasers zizzled by over head. And collided with a small patrol craft that instantly started flooding the comm with calls to the police. Falcon passed through the thrid loop.

Not more than a minute later fully armed Combat-Class Cloud Cars were chasing the Twi'Lek. He adventualy surrendered when the cops shot so much ion energy into him that he crashed into a parked car on the street level.

The Cloud Cars tried to follow falcon and came close to closing to weapons range but lost the black ship after it passed through two weird loops and went into a transit tunnel

*About two hours later*


Falcon back to his garage without much trouble. His comm beeped, "Good job, Mr. Knight, you can pick up your reward at the Hive. I believe you've been there once or twice before."

"Wait, how do you know my name?"

"Don't worry about it Falcon, you can pick up your money from a man named Thomas, he recieved the money from me earlier."

"Wait how do you know I would win?"

"I have fiath in you Falcon, prove me right again, and you might be able to get yourself out of debt for good." With that the mysterious man clicked off the comm.

John Knight, felt scared for a second he was sure no one he knew now had his real name, so how had this man known? He shrugged, at least he was getting paid.

John grabbed a quick shower..cold water again.. they must have cut the hot water damn..John grabbed some clothes. Nothing nice, torn jeans a old T-Shirt and a compact blaster pistol were all he wore.

He walked out side onto the street and grabbed a bus that headed to a much seadier part of town and adventualy to the Hive...

[RileyKenobi]

Lynx turned around, fixing her glowing gaze on the young girl in front of her. She raised her eyebrows at Mai, and Mai gave her a look of annoyance with an emphatic nod at the girl.

"Eclipse, huh?" she said. "Sounds like another hacker to me..."

Lynx passed her with a suspicious look, and squeezed Mai's hand before leaving the room in silence. As Lynx walked into the familiar and welcomed darkness of the communications room, she pulled off her heavy black coat, throwing it on a chair before sitting down in it and turning to green and blue glows of the screens in front of her. She'd hadn't gotten much action lately, and was bitter about it. Her mind was still numb from the news of Raptor's death. Lynx rubbed her temples.

"He's gone...nobody can bring him back, Lynx...get over it," she muttered to herself. "But you just wish you were there, don't you?"

Lynx wasn't very happy with computer and comms duties...she was an assasin. Trained in three forms of martial arts, she and her brother Raptor were the deadliest pair in their part of town, and feared and respected by other mercs around the area. Raptor was her partner, her brother...her everything. And now he was gone. The only other thing Lynx felt like doing was driving. She loved driving, or she used to.

When she was younger, she and Raptor would watch the street races outside their beat-up apartment, and Lynx had run a few of her own races, losing only once. Lynx touched the tattoos on her face. She could feel the texture change from her skin to the pigment. There was a certain roughness about the green areas that she could recognize. They also got her a lot of strange looks, but it didn't bother her. Her eyes glowed in the darkness, and Lynx shut off the computer moniters. She lay back in the chair and closed her eyes, dropping quickly into sleep.

[Tyria]

It must have been awkward to many, but Kiana stayed silent throughout the time that they stayed in the medlab. She never had much to say, and her logic was that her actions spoke for her. Maybe Splice was wrong in suggesting that I come to this place... Kiana thought glumly, again staring at the floor as she patiently waited. No one here will trust me... or accept me even.

Her arm was placed protectively over the large bag slung over her shoulder. It contained everything that Melissa and Kiana had ever owned. All their keepsakes and memories. It seemed as though the bag still had the faintest scent of Melissa, but Kiana tried to ignore that.

"...is she hurt?" the doctor's inquiry about Kiana's status caused the woman to lurch from her thoughts.

"Oh no. This is, uh," the woman named Mai had already forgotten about Kiana's presence as she struggled with her name, "Eclipse. She's a friend of friend... She'll be staying with me, Thomas' orders."

"I see," the doctor kindly greeted. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you, miss Eclipse..."

Kiana opened her mouth to object, wanting to correct all of them that her name was Kiana. But she held back, could she even trust them? The letter might have been forged... How can I even think that! If Splice said I could find friends in these people, then I can... Kiana chided as she simply nodded her head, keeping her eyes down.

The sensation of someone looking at her caused shivers down Kiana's spine. Risking a glance up, she found herself gazing into glowing, mismatched eyes.

"Eclipse, huh?" the woman stated. "Sounds like another hacker to me..."

I'm not a hacker... Kiana thought, adverting her gaze towards the ground. Why am I even here if they don't want me...

The woman thought it best not to speak back, afraid that she might say something wrong. Sometimes Kiana wished that she had never been born. Things would be much better that way, she wouldn't have been sold to the labratory for money. Naively, Kiana thought, Wouldn't have had to run from them, wouldn't have had to come here... Wouldn't always be misjudged.

[Alex Kerensky]

IC:
Kai sat in his office idlely reviewing the various reports that littered his desk. Most involved the past night's raid, while another pile of datapads contained information regarding the quadruple murder. He had already read through the material and had most of it memorized.

The first thing Kai had done was order forensic tests to see if the attacker had left any blood at the scene. In less than an hour, he had received the results of the test. All the blood came from the four victims.

Additional tests showed that there was another, besides the attacker, at the scene. Minute traces of blood had been tracked away from the murder scene, indicating that someone had walked away from it. This added another variable to Kai's problem. Could there have been two attackers?

Kai thought this unlikely. Lab reports indicated that the wounds on the victims' bodies were made by a slashing or stabbing weapon, but the wounds indicated that the direction of the attack came from the center of the group. Also, the size of the slash and stab wounds were the same, indicating that they likely resulted from the same weapon.

Kai hated this part of the job. He cursed Captain Merrison for throwing this investigation at his team. My people are trained to capture criminals and enemy fortifications, not uncover mysteries.

Allard stood and stretched. He looked at the calendar and counted down to the number of days until he could see his family. Thirty-three more hours. Too long. As commander of the local special forces unit, he rotated back home every two weeks for several days leave. His rotation was almost up.

One more assignment to check up on. Kai exitted his office and headed to the the locker room. There, he strapped on the light body armor that his people wore and put on the light combat helmet that resembled the type biker scouts wore. He snapped on his utility belt and several ceramic plates to add to his suit's protection. Around Kai, others in his command squad were doing the same. They were getting ready for their weekly patrol.

Kai waved the other six troopers forward. "Let's go. We will be heading for the Tonago District. We will be stopping by at the local skate rink. Time for their monthly license renewal."

¤¤¤

The automatic door hissed open as Kai's squad entered the skate rink. Patrons immediately moved away from the Imperials, as he made his way to the front desk.

"Excuse me," Kai said to the receptionist, "I would like to see the owner of this establishment. Please."

OOC:
Will this work? Is it too fast? Ahhh! There needs to be some way for a universal clock to be installed so we know when we should post! lol

[Jay Night]

John walked up to the door and knocked once then twice. A small slit opned, "Whose there?" came a gruff voice.

"It's me Falcon, James" John said.

James opned the door and let him in, "It's been a long time, what have you been doing?"

"Mostly street racing, it's hard to get any work other than that, that would pay well." he replied.

"Cya, hopefully I'm getting payed today." with that John walked off down the hall, he passed a new room since last time. A doctor and a few other people were in there, he didn't reconize anyone but Lynx. He only remembered her because of the face tatoos last time, though she had mentioned something about being an assasin last time they talked.

He walked into Thomas's office, "Hey Thomas, I got a call that said some money was here for me?"

"Hello Falcon, yeah its in the next room."

"Thx."

John walkedover to the room, a single table was placed in there with a letter on it, several other things like chairs littered the room too.

He picked up the letter, and read.

Dear John,

You have prooven yourself as a stable racer with good skills. But I don't know what sort of person you could be, to work for me a man needs to prove he has worthy attributes. For instance patientce. This is my payment to you a oppertunity-

John crumbled up the letter in frustration and threw it in the trash.

"SITHSPIT" He shouted, he grabbed a chair and flung it against the wall and it broke in two. He needed the money now, not some offer of a better job.

"Hey, what the hell is going on in here!" Thomas shouted angrily.

John pulled the small pistol and screamed, "What did you do with the cash!?"

"I didnt touch I swear, now put the gun down!" Thomes commanded.

John nodded Thomas was too smart to screw with him.

Thomas pulled his own gun now, "Give me your gun Falcon, you know the rules, your out."

"IT's like i did anything anyways." He walked passed Thomas almost hoping he would fire. But Thomas refrained and merely watched him walk down the hall and out the door.

After he got back home he got into the Fire Raven and went driving it was the only thing that calmed him down, he flew into the main traffic lane when a police cruiser snagged him in a tractor beam.

"What the frell!" John shouted as his systems went dark.

"You are under arrest for street racing, son, power down."

John flipped off his power, there was nothing he could, even if he had some weapons...

[Pryde]

"Y--yes, sir," the receptionist replied nervously. She hit a key on a nearby pager and spoke into it, "Someone here to see you, sir."

There came no reply, but a moment later a fat burly man made his way to the front counter. Thomas was surprisingly calm and collected despite the presence of the Imperials, and his last run-in with Falcon. He regretted letting the man go, but there were certain rules that needed to be followed and the man broke them. "Can I help you gentlemen," he asked the lead Imp while flashing them a gentle smile.
_______________________________________________________________________

"Well," Mai said, turning back to Kiana, "I guess I better show you to your room."

She indicated the door and stepped out first with Kiana following close behind. It was a short walk across the main floor to the stairs that led down to the living quarters. But halfway there Mai noticed the Imperials at the front desk and quickly ducked behind a row of arcades, pulling Kiana down after her. "Sithspit," she cursed quietly as she peered cautiously around the corner, "How did they find me so fast?"

Luckily the Imperials had not noticed her, instead their commander was deep in conversation with Thomas. Mai quickly glanced around her surroundings. The crowd was pretty thick, and the Imps were far enough away... It was possible that she could make it downstairs without being seen.

She pointed to another row of machines and quietly said, "Over there... Follow me, but keep your head down."

The woman quietly nodded, though Mai could see that she was slightly confused, and maybe a bit suspicious. Mai darted over to the next row of machines and quickly hid behind them. After a moment it dawned on her that they weren't searching for Kiana so it wasn't necessary for her to keep her head down. Oh well, better not to attract attention to myself, I guess, she thought momentarily before checking to see if the coast was clear then darting over to the stairs and down them.

A moment later Kiana joined her at the bottom where she waited patiently while listening for any signs of hostility. "I don't think they saw us," Mai assured her.

"Who," Kiana asked curiously.

"Uh, someone I'm trying to avoid," Mai said quickly, brushing her off. "My rooms over here."

She led her down a corridor on their left and into a door on the far end. Mai quickly opened it and then ushered her in, locking the door behind them. The room was small and cluttered, there was only one bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room. Data cubes and disks lay strewn about everywhere on the floor, on the coffee table, and around her desk where her computer sat. "I--its not much," Mai said timidly as she set about tidying up a bit. She was a bit embarrased by the mess, "but, uh... I guess it will have to do until Thomas can find you another place to stay..."

[Aranador]

And just like that – Sever found himself left to his own devices. It was pretty obvious that these people were dealing with the aftermath of something. Emotional fatigue seemed to hang off everyone. Luckily, the doctor had pointed him in the direction of some food.

The anti-inflammatory tablets seemed to be having some affect too. The pain in his joints, the ache in his hands seemed less. With the ungainly gait of someone trying to avoid stepping on a sore toe, Sever made his way to the little food prep area.

Not exactly fancy. But a vending machine there had a full range of insta-meals, and he was hungry enough that even the packaging looked yummy. He dropped in a cred chip and dialed up some food, transferring the meal into the cooker. Moments later, he was carving into the ration.

Three meals later, and he finally lost the hunger that had been buzzing in his gut. Well, at least these meal things were scientifically designed to be nutritious. Pity about the flavour, but on the other hand, he would have eaten card board if that was all he could get.

Oooph – yes, he had eaten quite enough. Standing brought the usual back ache, but now that was compounded by the uncomfortable ‘you have eaten too much’ feeling. Still, that would go away, his other aches never really did.

‘Now what?’ he wondered. Here seemed safe enough for the moment, kind of a nice feeling really. But he needed to check his messages, and for that he would need a public access terminal. Hadn’t he seen a room with some comms gear before? As he thought about it, a spatial map of the building as he had seen it so far formed in his mind. Yes – this way, then that, then, here.

One of the people that had been in the sick bay was here, dozing in a chair. The woman with the extensive tattooing. Her breathing cadence was even, her muscle tension nominal, her pheromone levels neutral, and her pulse rate low. It didn’t really occur to Sever to wonder why he could assess all that in just a glance, it was just information he perceived and acted on. The woman was asleep.

Well, no need to wake her – there was a terminal here, set aside from the rest probably for security reasons, that was displaying a public access log on page. Sever glided over to the terminal and logged on.

One new message – and it was from Mr Shadow. Actually – other than the occasional junk mail, Sever didn’t get mail from anyone else. Well, it seems that Mr Shadow was happy, and had transferred 3200 credits to Sever’s name. Apparently his latest job had gone down without a hitch. There was no mention of rescuing a girl though. No, the target had been a Rhodian named Vimee Rendrix. Sever knew that Mr Shadow would have also organised a separate ‘cleaner’ team to mop up after Sever’s ‘job’, but that detail never appeared in the sparse communications he got. Still, 3200 credits, that would last him a couple of weeks probably, so unlikely Mr Shadow would contact him again for a little while.

But what about the girl? Where did she fit in? Not enough answers here. At least his head was clearing a little, the food had helped bring his blood sugar levels back up to healthy levels again.

[Tyria]

As Mai set about tidying up her room, Kiana stood there dumbfounded. The quarters that belonged to this woman seemed vaguley familiar. It was as if she was a mirror image of Splice. Standing there uncomfortably, Kiana shifted the bag's strap that slid slightly from her shoulder.

"If I'm troubling you this much... I can always find another place to stay," Kiana mumbled, glancing up at Mai.

The woman hesitated, reluctantly turning to face Kiana. "No, It's alright," she assured her, and then smiling weakly she added, "Just don't mess with any of my stuff."

Mai's words seemed like echoes of Splice and Kiana stared at the woman as she returned to fixing up the room. It was at times like these that Kiana often felt an overload of distant memories flood her mind. Sometimes she found herself reverting to how the Labratory had originally designed her behavior. It was one of cold, letahl precision. Kiana would kill without question, and obey any commands given to her from a superior. It was actions like that that caused Kiana to stray away from returning to sharpshooting. She had been gentically engineered to enhance her ability to see further and aim better. It had caused many people's casualities during practice runs at the Labratory where people were of no importance to them.

The Labratory had also trained her to be apathetic. It was more of force, actually, since the Lab had already developed drugs that could disrupt the hormones in the body that triggered emotions. During her many years there, Kiana developed an immunity to the agonized cries of practice targets that she had not yet killed, with the aid of the drugs. But could she really blame the Labratory or was it her fault? Posed with the decision of returning to that state of mind where all she cared about was killing terrified Kiana when she had escaped the Lab.

Splice, though, had chased away all those fears. The slicer seemed to understand the stages that Kiana was going through to put the Lab days behind her. It was difficult realizing that you were nothing but another experiment ready for disposal when you go wrong. Some spark of compassion in Splice seemed to ignite the wick of Kiana's heart... But Splice had left too soon, and the miniscule flame ceased to unlock the human emotions that Kiana possessed.

"You really remind me of her..." Kiana spoke, barely audible.

[Pryde]

Mai froze in mid motion as she was straightening up a pile of data disks. "She meant a lot to me," Mai said quietly, adverting her eyes towards the ground. "Look, about before," she turned back around to Kiana, "I, well... I guess it still hurts. You see, she taught me everything I know, she was like my closest friend and my greatest mentor. And..."

She lowered her eyes again, fixing them near a spot on the floor between her and Kiana. "She was like a mother to me when I had none... I--I'm sorry," she said suddenly, looking away, "its still too painful to talk about... Maybe some other time." With that she went back to straightening up the room then paused suddenly. "Oh, I almost forgot. You can sleep in my room," she said indicating a door on the far side of the room. "Don't worry, I never use it anyway... Which is probably why its kept so clean," she managed a smile before turning her back to Kiana. For a moment her eyes fell upon a small holopic of Splice that sat near her computer. Sighing heavily she turned it around and set about clearing the desk up...

[Alex Kerensky]

IC:
"Yes you may," Kai answered. He turned to his side and opened a pouch, noting as patrons silently ducked under cover. Instead of pulling out a weapon, Allard withdrew a datapad. He turned it so it faced the owner of the skate rink. "Sir, your license for this establishment will expire in four days. The standard fee to renew the license is 150 credits. Do you know where to send the payment?"

[Alex Kerensky]

OOC:
Jay, this is for you.

IC:
"So, this is the little rebel, right?" Captain Daniel Merrison said as he sneered at the street racer inside his cell. He unlocked the cell door and entered the cell followed by two other stormtroopers. "You are the racer that one of my patrols caught."

The Captain knelt down so that his face was level with Falcon's face. "Did you know that racing is illegal? Did you know that what you were doing was illegal? Are you aware of the disorder and danger you created by racing at such speeds?"

Merrison stood again and held out his hand for a club. The stormtrooper to his right handed him the weapon. "Normally, reckless driving is punished by fines and community service. Perhaps even jail time. But you, my little rebel, you have endangered so many lives. Perhaps something more...lasting...will convince you of your follies."

[Pryde]

"Yes you may," the lead Imperial replied as he turned to his side and opened a pouch. Several nearby patrons ducked for cover, worried that the man was going to pull out a weapon of some type. Instead he drew a datapad and turned it on, he then turned it so that it faced Thomas. "Sir, your license for this establishment will expire in four days. The standard fee to renew the license is 150 credits. Do you know where to send the payment?"

"Of course I do," Thomas merely replied, again flashing him a calm smile. "I'll have the payment sent immediately. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, kind sir. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?"

[Alex Kerensky]

IC:
Kai shook his head. "I think that is it. Good day to you." As he led his squad out of the rink, another thought struck his mind. Why not? Might as well check. Turning back to Thomas, he said, "On second thought, there is something you can do for me. Some people were killed not too far from here. Last night, I believe. Do you know anything about that?"

OOC:
Okay, I know in a normal investigation, that would not be asked, but I need something to work with.

[RileyKenobi]

Even in sleep, Lynx's keen, animal-like senses were alert. The rustling and quiet beeping of the nearby terminal keyed in her hearing, and woke her straight up. She started as she saw the young man from the med room sitting a few chairs away from her. She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

"How long have you been there?" she asked.

The young man looked at her. "Not very long..."

Lynx rubbed her eyes and her forehead. "You're quiet. Most people would've waken me up the moment they stepped in the door," she said.

"I guess I'm gifted that way," he replied. "But so are you."

"Like I said before...I'm called Lynx for a reason," she said with a wink. Her face went serious. "You never answered me before, when I asked you who you were. So I'll ask again: Who are you?"

[Pryde]

"People? Killed," Thomas asked curiously as he rubbed his chin in thought, "No, I'm sorry, sir. I don't seem to recollect hearing anything about it, but I'll keep my ears open. So, if that's all you'll be needing," he held out his right hand and the Imp reluctantly took it and they shook. "I hope you have a nice day..."