Crash Course (Re-Post)

This is by far one of the best stories I've read on the boards so far-- keep this going!

 

Thank you all for your nice comments Authors live for them. Wish me luck for my final tomorrow.


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My messenger service finished and the men in question sent on their way, I passed by the table where Sloan and a few others were playing cards. ?You gonna try and sit in on the meeting?? I asked him, jerking my head at the closed door to Death?s office.

?Nah,? he shrugged. ?Shael got all the bossy genes, I got all the lazy ones,? he replied with an impudent grin.

? ?Nuf said,? I agreed. I wasn?t big on that being in charge stuff myself and couldn?t blame him in the least for not wanting to follow in his big brother?s shoes.

Shaking my head, I ruffled his hair and began to amble slowly back toward my computers, but a hint of motion caught my eye. Mason was still sitting in front of the main monitor and was now tapping out short commands every so often. My first reaction was outrage. //How dare he use my computer without asking me first!// I don?t mean to say that I?m jealous of my computers and don?t want anyone but me to use them ... but I?m jealous of my computers. And I don?t want anyone other than me to use them. There?s no telling what some silly, wannabe slicer might do to my babies when I?m not around to protect them. It just hadn?t occurred to me that a polite, well-trained Jedi like Mason might do more than look over my shoulder. If it had occurred to me, I still may not have turned the keylock on, but I would have been prepared for the trill of fear and worry that rippled down my spine at seeing someone else, anyone else, tapping commands into my computer.

Outrage and worry trickled away and I just stood there for a moment. Now my curiosity was piqued. I just had to know what he was doing. Much as I trusted him, I didn?t want to let him know that I was watching. He might just stop whatever it was he was doing. So instead of going right back, I turned from my original course and angled across the main floor, heading toward the maintenance bay. Conveniently enough, Shael?s ride was parked closest to the computer bank, so I plopped down on the permacrete and began slowly extracting the micro-computer that controlled the air/fuel mix. From that spot I had a near perfect vantage point from which to watch the Jedi at work. I was even at enough of an angle that I could make some pretty good guesses at what commands he was typing in.

The map was still up on the screen, still blocked off into the various colored territories, and still speckled with the red dots of the crime report locations. Mason had added several blue dots. He worked deliberately and with confidence, but slowly, like he was familiar enough with computers, but not with this particular configuration. His thick brown hair fell forward, obscuring his face as he worked, so I read the muscles of his back, the set of his shoulders, the tension in his arms, and the slight hesitations in the movements of his fingers.

I glanced away for a moment to hook up an adapter from my datapad to the mix controller. Shael really did want me to check the program for bugs, since he?d been having a few problems with it recently, so it made a very convenient excuse. When I glanced back up Mason had shifted back in his seat, as if to get a better overall view of the map. I could see the scattering of blue dots better now, but I still couldn?t figure out what they meant, or why he cared. Since he did care, I figured it was something I might want to look into a little closer.

My attention was so fully on Mason and his actions that I missed the approach of Killek. Only when he stepped up to Mason and glanced around to check for me, did I finally notice him. I swore savagely when he laid a warning hand on the Jedi?s shoulder.

?Hey man,? his voice carried to me easily, despite the other noises, ?you?d better not let Crash catch you fiddling with her toys. I know she?s your sponsor, but she?s like to take your head of

 

great!!! I love this story, Lil.

Hope your exam goes/went well!

 

I'm still here Lilith! And still loving it! Crash sure knows her stuff, and I love the way she can hold her own up against the guys! Plus the way she refers to Sloan as my man!

Hope your exams went well!

 

Thank you all for you patience. Classes are officially over until Fall semester rolls around again.

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He let me sleep, but it wasn?t long enough. I?d been up for nearly twenty hours and he woke me after a measly four. My eyes felt gritty and dry, my arms and shoulders still ached and my blood sugar level wasn?t nearly high enough. Grumpy is not a strong enough word to describe what I was feeling. I wanted to tie him to the back of Shael?s swoop and drag him through afternoon traffic.

?Do you need me to time you??

?No,? I snapped. ?You?re looking for a specific file. I?ve written a program that will sort through the reports for me and download anything that matches your very particular specifications while I hold off the security measures. Not that I expect it to take very long at all, though.?

?So time is no longer important??

?Well, yes, but only sleep time, or the lack thereof.? Unfortunately, strangling the Jedi wasn?t a viable option.

Mason was trying not to laugh, his blue eyes glinted merrily, and I desperately wanted to hit him. ?Not a morning person, are you??

?No,? I grumbled at him. ?Sane people don?t wake up before the sun rises, especially after being up the whole night before.?

?I?m sorry, but I can?t help feeling that we?ve got something important here.?

?Fine, fine, just sit there and don?t make any noise while I work my magic.?

Since we were only looking for one single file with fairly specific qualities, I could indeed write a program that would seek it out for me. My normal runs in and out of cop central were fast and furious because I hadn?t yet perfected a program that could pull down all of what we wanted as efficiently as I could myself. This one would be a breeze in comparison.

Mason did sit quietly while I worked, for which I blessed him. If I was going to have to be awake at that early an hour after that little sleep, I deserved a little peace and quiet in which to work. The Jedi even rose silently at one point and returned with a steaming mug of hot caf.

Once the program was done, I loaded it up and linked into the sector net. I sliced my way into cop central and set my program loose. In no time at all, the program was cleaning up all traces of its invasion, and I pulled out and took us off-line.

?Well??

?Cool your jets a second,? I told him. ?There, see??

?See what??

?Oh,? I tried not to sound as chagrined as I felt, ?well, you were right, there?s no file for a break-in at the CoruCorp office.?

?So they didn?t report it.? Mason steepled his fingers and thought, his face losing almost all expression.

I waited as long as I had patience for, which that morning wasn?t long at all, before breaking into his thoughts to ask a question. ?So what??

?There was a break in, or at least a suspicious disturbance at the CoruCorp office. It was significant enough that the office next door reported it. But CoruCorp themselves didn?t lodge a complaint or call the cops?? he asked.

I just shook my head. This wasn?t my area of expertise. I was much better with security systems and their weaknesses than bureaucratic thinking and its various idiocies. I couldn?t see what bearing this had on anything at all.

?Why wouldn?t a big company like that call in the cops if there?d been a break-in?? Mason asked me slowly.

A light blinked on in my skull. ?Because they didn?t want the cops in their building?? I hazarded.

?And why not??

I drew the obvious conclusion, but still couldn?t find the link back to our particular problem. ?Because there?s something there they don?t want the cops to see. But I don?t see how that helps us.?

?It may not, right now, but I?ll see what other information I can get about that break-in.?

I blinked at him and smiled hopefully. ?Does that mean I can go back to sleep now??

Mason laughed. It was an eye-twinkling, full-face, belly-holding laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him, less than amu

 

heh! Poor Mason!


guess a question... is apprized really spelled like that? I always thought it was "appraised"...

learn something every day...

 

Apprized is an alternative spelling, or at least my spell checker didn't have a fit with it. *shrug*

 

Cool! A Re-Post! Crash's character is as enjoyable as ever (especially since I now know the ending! I'm the type of person who automatically flips to the back of the mystery to find out who did it.)

Finals are over for you? *grrr* Don't gloat yet. I've a week left to go.

 

Gloating, no, I'm just massively relieved!

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Heaven was rather nicely named. I?ve never seen so much luxury crammed into that much space. Everything was plush and cushioned and covered in white bantha leather or raw Alderaani silk. There was carpeting! The floor and walls were all a soft, bluish-grey. The tables were all actual glass with silver-chased durasteel supporting them. There were filmy sheets of white, gauzy fabric hanging from the ceiling that served to muffle noises and conversations and give a close, cloudy feel to the atmosphere. It was the weirdest place I?d ever been.

It took me a minute to figure out that all I could see was seating arrangements. There were no beds, no maintenance bay, no ?freshers, no kitchen. Finally my eyes picked out well camouflaged doors to other areas. They had enough space and money to spare to put up walls to separate the various parts of their home pad.

The rewards of successful drug traffic stared me in the face, but instead of jealousy, all I felt was disgust. The Horsemen didn?t have much, but what we did have hadn?t been earned off the misery of others and I was proud of that. I liked the closeness that we had because there were no walls to keep us apart. There were no secrets, well almost none, within our ranks.

Right then, every inch of Heaven was packed with sentient beings. The Hell Hounds had their three, a couple of Humans and a Rodian. The Wild Cards were gathered around a table with two gullible Angels who were getting taken for all they had. The Sithspawn in black and red, the Knights in deep blue, the Speed Demons in green and orange, the Imperium in purple, the Cloud Reapers in light blue and white, even a few of the gangs too small to have real territory of their own had their representatives there.

In all that crowd, only the Angels were not leashed tightly to their fellows by strings of distrust and paranoia. Death, Reeabok and I entered the room in a tight trio. The Wookiee?s eyes scanned everyone in the room. No one was supposed to have weapons, and we?d submitted to a scan when we arrived to ensure it, but weapons came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Reeabok?s size and strength would go a long way toward keeping us safe. My unique skills and the knowledge I could gather with them could certainly qualify as another weapon. And keeping that in mind, there really wasn?t anyone in that room who was unarmed, but some of us were definitely closer to the top of the firepower pile than others.

I immediately determined the reason for the extra white and gold sprinkling the room. It was their home base, of course they were going to have more muscle around than anyone else. Not only that, but I picked out more than one concealed blaster hidden under riding leathers. Velocity was taking no chances.

Mindful of my task here, I scanned each small grouping. The Cards were casual, calm, unconcerned, their focus on the game they were playing. The Demons and the Imperium, the two gangs caught squarely in the middle of the sector, were tense and edgy. They stayed even closer together than the rest of the groups, even the tiny gangs. Everyone was curious, everyone except the Cards was impatient for things to begin now that the last of us had arrived.

Roble whispered something to Reeabok, as my eyes raked across the room again. There was something here I was missing, and I refused to keep missing it. There. It was an Angel, sitting quite casually on the corner of one couch. He was giving the whole room the same once over that I was. He was handsome in a hard, dangerous sort of way, his longish dark blond hair and green eyes shown off nicely by the white and gold of his leathers. Something about him, maybe it was the set of his shoulders, or the slightest of creases between his brows, or the calculating look in his eyes, had my nerves singing out a warning. When his gaze passed over me, I kept every muscle relaxed and smiled flirtatiously at him. His stare l

 

That whole post might just be my favorite part of the story....

 

Wow . . . . I'm loving this, Lil! You're such a good author--Crash is a very realistic character. I think the slicing parts were my fav's--you did 'em so well I felt like I was the one sitting at her 'babies.'

Bravo, bravo!

 

Oh, so there are still people reading.


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I guess I fell asleep in Shael?s arms because the next thing I knew most of the lights were down and Shael was snoring softly. He was leaning against the headboard of his bunk and I was leaning up against him. A blanket had been pulled up over us, probably by our collective mother, Nash. The dark lumps on the floor were difficult to identify at first, but when one of them rolled over and scratched at his chest I recognized that the triplets had fallen asleep on the floor around us, in a lazy sort of guard duty.

Very, very gently, I eased out of Shael?s embrace and glided across the floor. I?d have been happily content to stay right where I had been, except that my stomach was quite certain it was being ignored and was pulling out all the stops to get my attention. Since the rumblings were becoming disturbingly loud, I crept into the kitchen and pilfered a small gundark and cheese sandwich and a glass of nerf milk.

Taking my grub, I headed for the tables, looking forward to basking in the quiet sounds of my whole family sleeping, safe and alive. Well, almost my whole family. Nash was up and around doing Force only knew what, and I nearly tripped over Mason on my way to the nearest table. He probably thought that he would be out of the way, since most everyone was asleep and he wasn?t in the path from the bunks to the ?freshers. He just happened to be right in the line of travel from the kitchen to the tables, though.

Meditating, no less.

?Sorry,? I whispered hurriedly while trying to balance my plate and cup.

Mason unfolded his long length and rose with smooth and thoughtless grace. He reached out a hand and took my plate from me, his other hand coming gently against my back to guide me to the nearest table. ?Are you feeling any better?? he asked softly.

?Yeah. What were you doing?? I questioned as he pulled out a chair for me. ?If anybody sees you meditating you?re going to start people wondering.?

?The only one awake was the Trianii, Nashraak.? He managed to even include the rumbling growl in the proper pronunciation of the feline?s name. ?And she is unlikely to mention it, as meditation is a fundamental component of her religion.?

?Is it?? I wondered, surprised. I hadn?t even known that Nash had a religion.

Mason smiled, his blue eyes dancing in the dim lighting, as he set my plate down in front of me. Even if I?d managed to keep my surprise out of my voice or off my face, he?d noticed. ?It is. Now eat, and don?t worry about me. This isn?t the first time I?ve been in a tricky situation.?

I frowned at him, but did as I was told to silence the rumblings in my stomach. As I ate I stared vaguely into space, aware that beside me the Jedi had also zoned out, probably finishing what I had interrupted. My mind began a slow replay of the events of the day as I sat and chewed. The ride into Heaven, the garage, the meeting room, my impressions of those I?d seen and of the general emotional state of all involved. That conversation between Velocity and Jayek.

?I?m certain now that Velocity?s involved, but Jayek?s the one fingering the cops. I wonder how he does it?? I murmured to myself.

?What was that?? Mason asked.

I waved what was left of my sandwich and spoke around a mouthful. ?Jayek, Velocity?s lieutenant, is the one fingering the cops. I just wish I knew how he was doing it. I mean, he was glaring at me suspiciously through the whole thing, no matter how perfect my body language was.? I frowned sternly at the memory. ?He gives me the creeps.?

Mason?s attention sharpened considerably. ?Gives you the creeps? How??

I shrugged. ?It?s not anything specific. It?s just a feeling. Before you showed up, Ishtari was the only one who could tell if I wasn?t really feeling the way I looked like I was. It was kind of a shock. Anyway, this guy gave me kinda the same feeling, like he could see through me.? I shuddered.

 

That fight scene was /perfect/! And of course we're still reading!

 

I just have to reiterate how much I absolutely love this story. It's by far the most original thing I've found on the boards so far, and Lilith, your style is just perfect. May this thread never leave the top page. *g* Keep up the awesome work!

 

We finally came to my favorite line of the story....

"In the thick of it, I guess I discovered who I was really rooting for, all my loud statements of neutrality aside."

 

hooty hoot, Lil!

 

Hey Lilith!

We're still here reading! I hope RL hasn't gobbled you up and everything is okay!

 

Everything is fine. Better than fine, in fact. I just got back from vacation. I'll have another post for you later today. I just have a lot of catch up reading and writing to do ...

 

Whoo-Hoo!

Glad to hear everything is fine! Glad that you're back! Looking forward to the next post!

 

As promised.


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?Who did it??

?Where??

?Was anyone hurt??

?Shut your yaps! I?ll tell what I just got told.? The crowd quieted somewhat, though there were still several muttered conversations going on here and there. Roble rubbed a hand across his face and sighed wearily. ?The patrol was just north of Kensing, east of the Loring Tower, when they were hit by another group of swoopriders. Bait says that there were no markings on either the rides or the riders. The patrol scattered, as per orders. Now we?re waiting for them to start reporting in. That?s all I know, so don?t bother asking for more.?

I scanned the crowd quickly. //Who?s not here?// I ticked faces off on a mental list. Bait, Cougar, Chaser, Marlo, Dez ... My heart seized and I gasped as I came up with one more. Sloan. I slid off Phyl?s shoulder, not helped much by his attempts to keep me from ?falling?, and ran to Shael?s side, my arms going around him automatically. His kid brother was out on that patrol.

I could see it in his face, in the line of his body, the tension in his muscles. Shael was scared, deep down, pit of your stomach scared. His dark eyes refused to focus on anything and he turned this way and that, as if to scan the assembled crowd for his brother, to discover that his fear was silly. But Sloan wasn?t there, and Shael, who had helped make the patrol schedules, knew it as well as I did.

Roble settled a hand on Shael?s nearest shoulder, offering what comfort he could. Mason did the same on his other side. The four of us didn?t move, but just stood there, waiting, hoping for that call to come in.

After a moment, I noticed the difference in temperature between my skin and Shael?s. He was coming down off his fight high and crashing hard with this news about the patrol to help. I flagged Ishtari down and gestured to her. The red head nodded and dashed off to get shirts for the two men with me. We pushed Shael down into a chair next to the comm board, got his shirt on him, and I sat in his lap, snuggling up against him. He clutched at me as if his life depended on it, but he had eyes only for the comm board and that dark incoming indicator.

And there was nothing more that we could do. We didn?t even know where Sloan was, so it wasn?t as if Shael or anyone else could go out looking for him or the others. Sloan and his fellow patrollers would call as soon as they had time. Until then, all we could do was wait and hope.

Bait, true to orders, had remote triggered the alarm system for Armageddon when he commed in. Roble had known that it would likely be the only thing that would get immediate attention, what with the Fights taking place. Each of the other patrollers would do the same as they commed in.

I pressed myself as close to Shael as I could, alternately hugging him and stroking his face, hair and chest in what I hoped was a reassuring manner. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mason hovering nearby. I knew he wanted to ask me about something, but I just didn?t have time for him then.

*Talk to Ishtari,* I signed to him. *She knows what you are, and she won?t tell.*

After a momentary hesitation he nodded ever so slightly and strode away, much to my relief. Ishtari could answer his questions about the other gangs or alarms or whatever it was he was stirred up about. I couldn?t leave Shael.

The alarm warbled the first couple of its high pitched notes, and we all jumped in reaction before Roble hit the override. He punched the receive button and spoke toward the mic as several others drifted silently closer to listen in.

?Report.?

?Patrol was hit and we scattered.? Marlo?s voice crackled out of the speaker. ?I?ve taken cover at location seven and will wait for nightfall to come in.?

?You clear??

?Right now, yeah. I?m worried though, Boss.?

Death?s hand gripped the edge of the board and his knuckles whitened, but that was the only outward sign he gave of any apprehens

 

wow! still good!

C'mon, y'all! Save Sloan!