Stranger in a Strange Land - Part 7 - Our Time Has Come - UPDATE 5/2 - Chapter 16

Sunday evening UP!

 

I think it worked! (not that I would know the difference anywa )

Before Tahiri could answer, the door separating the cockpit from the rest of the ship opened and Han walked through it. Everyone who took one look at his dishevelled hair all stifled a grin or a chuckle, realizing full well that for the majority of those seven hours, Han and Leia were doing something a bit more than discussing the weather.

So where's the involuntary shudder by the Solo kids?

Awesome post, man. Very intriguing. Wonder what the Imps have up their sleeve... (and I bet it's not the Ace of Spades )

 

I'm going to use a well known quote here... I have a bad feeling about this. So far it's been too easy, I can't help thinking that there's something lurking right around the corner.

The destruction that was done, I guess the Empire had more then one way of taking out a planet.

I bet the Solo kids didn't shudder because they had been struck blind!

 

HOLY SMECK! IT'S A ROK SIGHTING! SOMEONE CALL THE ENQUIRER

Just for that, I'm going to haunt your stories for the rest of my life.

Hee hee, lol on the whole Han and Leia bit that everyone was talking about. Though i dunno, somehow I imagine that Jacen and Anakin would trade knowing looks and chuckles, while Jaina would probably be the only one showing any true indignation (Mommee! Daddee! You're embarrassing me!) Meanwhile the Padawans remain deathly silent while pretending not to notice.

Hmmm a seemingly abandoned mine, eh? Rule number one in adventure stories: If you come to an abandoned mine, stay the smeck away! There's always more inside than what you bargained for.

For evidence, I submit the Mines of Moria. I rest my case.

Wow, can't wait to see what you've got in store next! Oh the suspense!

 

Ah man; they should get that bummer sticker "If the stock light freighter is rocking, forget about knocking."

It's like going on a family vacation in a camper and the parents telling the kids once they get to the lake side retreat to "go play in the water we'll be there....whenever."

And look: they have mines.

But Fel is still acting weird.
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And who in Canada woke up the Vancouver Canucks?

 

Thanks so much for the feedback, all

Jaxx: I imagine there'll be some heavy meditation when this is all over to get certain images out of people's heads

Mouse: Hey, I was mild with my little inuendo. DarthBreezy is about as wild as the boards allow (Casper nonwithstanding, of course )

Rok: Haunt away, man...I could use the ups...oh...wait...those are frowned on now, aren't they?

Ah, Moria...roaring fires, malt beer, red meat off the bone...and a lovely balrog to roast it for you

Casper: I was thinking of a tally chart left by Dizzy to mark off how many attempts at conception he and Muriel tried in the ship.

Author's note: Dizzy is the sole copyright of Casper Knightshade and was used here solely as an obvious an shameless plug for said owner's own completely awesome Gessa Saga

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The so-called settlement was much more than that. As the Millennium Falcon crested a ridge of shattered mountains, it came upon a large stretch of flat rock, dotted by several buildings ranging in size from single person shelters up to what looked like paddocks of some kind.

It was fairly easy for Han to spot the command centre of this makeshift slave town. It was the largest, tallest building of them all, and was the only one to have the remains of a communications array atop it. The array seemed to be in a state of disassembly; perhaps those left behind tried to use its materials for other things to possibly delay their inevitable doom.

Leia felt her husband?s mood darken slightly as he made one more pass over the settlement, searching for a place to land. She knew all too well Han?s opinion of slavery and how it never ceased to strike a chord with him. Over the years, it had been her conclusion that it was the Alliance?s stand against slavery that had convinced Han to remain amongst them. That, and Chewbacca?s willingness to hurl himself into any combat situation if it meant that slaves could be freed. Dalan?s passion for emancipation seemed almost as intense as the late Wookiee?s was.

After all, the tiger had liberated Naboo, hadn?t he?

?The atmosphere is breathable,? reported Jacen, snapping Leia back to reality. ?Though I don?t understand how.?

?Look off your port side,? said Han, pointing to a large cylindrical structure that seemed to taper as it went up. ?Standard atmospheric generator,? he said. ?This world?s probably dead for the most part, but in the areas where they wanted people to work, they had these things brought in.?

?Strange that they would leave them on, then,? said Leia. ?Wouldn?t they normally shut them down when they were done??

?One would think,? said Han, rubbing his chin. ?I don?t like it. Smells too much like a trap.?

?No life signs,? said Ryn, checking the ship?s sensors. ?Maybe they were kept activated in case one of the Grand Admirals came looking for the Prometheus.?

?Good point, Padawan,? said Jacen. ?Any way to tell how long they?ve been running??

?Judging from the air quality, I?d say about 60 years,? replied Han. ?Maybe they planned to return, though I can?t see what for.? Just then, his eyes spied a rather large tarmac just away from the command centre. ?There we go,? he said. He then turned on the ship?s intercom. ?We?re gonna be landing in a couple of minutes, folks. Strap in.?

The ship slowed and banked sharply as it came around on its final approach. The landing skids deployed quickly as Han gently lowered his ship onto the tarmac. With a small thud, the Falcon touched the ground and Han began powering down the ship. Within minutes, all was secured and it was safe to get this scouting mission underway.

The gangplank lowered and Feslira stepped outside, one hand on her amphistaff/belt. She shuddered at the overall stale quality of the air and immediately wished she?d brought some rose oil extract. The air was breathable, but like Jedi ration packs, they filled only the biological needs for survival?n

 

Tuesday morning UP!

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what's going on! Who is left to fight! Who turned off the lights! Oh! OH!

And I am humbled by the plug.

 

AAAAHHHHHH!! Ambush!!!

Who is it?? And why?? And turn on some lights!!

More soon please!

 

?Grand Admiral?s universal access code?not very original when you think about it.?

"THRAWNSY0DADDY"? Yeah, you'd think everybody would've been able to guess that password.

Oh smeck!! I was right! It was too good to be true!

Good thing Feslira was paying attention. Let's just hope she can keep her wits about her long enough to show this would-be assassion how close-combat is done!

 

I'm going to have to change the password on my luggage. Who else has the comination that I used? Guess 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 is out of the question now...

Sweet!

Way to set up a potentially hairy situation! Suspense is killing me

 

Nice little welcome mat the Imps left behind. Maybe once Feslira shakes it out, we'll get more clues as to where this super star destroyer is hiding.

I hope Jaina is okay.

 

Hey! Just wanted to push this to the top. I'm sure you're busy as usual, but hang in there. We'll be reading

 

Hey all.

Sorry for being away for so long, but last week was one of the more hellish on record, not counting my BIRTHDAY on the 27th.

I think I'm offcially single malt aged Whiskey now

Ah well, it was a good time had by all but at the expense of a timely post. Can y'all every fuhgive me?

<shakes head to oust the growing redneck>

Oye. Anyway, here's da next lil' bit.

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Oblivious to the combat between Feslira and the unknown assailant, Jaina, Lando, and Shon proceeded up several staircases towards the senior administrator?s quarters, located near the top of the structure. It was mildly disheartening for the trio that the lifts weren?t working, but a little exercise wasn?t too big a deal for the three of them.

?This guy took the chain of command a bit too seriously,? noted Shon. ?When they had to take something to the top man, they literally went to the top.?

?First class all the way,? muttered Lando, clutching a stitch in his side. ?He would get first dibs on an escape shuttle if things went south. Typical class structure for accommodations.?

?Ah, there?? Jaina suddenly silenced herself as she noticed something about the door to the Moff?s quarters: It was open, and the sounds of someone rifling through it filled her ears. A quick look at the others indicated that they also noticed it and were preparing for the worst. Lando?s hand found his blaster and slowly drew it out of its holster, while Shon?s movements became less human and more?well?cat-like. However, he made no move for any of his weapons, not even his lightsabre.

Jaina, on the other hand, unclipped hers and moved towards the door. The rustling seemed to continue?a good sign that the trio?s presence had yet to be detected by this looter. As she approached the door, Jaina reached out with the Force to try and get a read on just who or what was behind the door, at which point the rustling stopped. ?Damn,? she cursed silently, readying her weapon for the imminent attack that was coming.

When it came, even Jaina was caught off-guard as a roar of defiance pierced the air. Whatever burst out the door knocked Jaina down to the floor, forcing her to lose her grip on her lightsabre. When the creature landed, it did so with a near feline grace. Were it not for its lack of a tail, everyone?s first thoughts were a Horansi scavenger of some sort. However, it?s somewhat lean physique and apparent lack of a familiar fur pattern revealed the creature?s true racial origin:

A Togorian.

Lando moved with his blaster, but soon found it knocked out of his hand by something the Togorian threw at him. With two opponents disarmed, the felinoid turned its attention to Shon, its eyes glinting in the dim light.

With a growl, it leapt at the rogue talent who had assumed a fighting stance. Claws bared, it was ready to rend this puny human limb from limb for disturbing its mission. However, just when the claws were about to touch flesh, Shon let himself drop into a backwards roll, extending his legs and pushing hard into the Togorian?s stomach. This added vertical momentum caused the felinoid to lose control of the leap and caused it to crash in a heap several metres away.

Shon easily flipped back up to his feet and whirled around to face his opponent. He silently thanked his Togorian friend, Oxrin, for sparring with him as much as he did.

?Not bad, Jedi,? spoke a surprisingly feminine voice. ?But not good enough.? The Togorian stood up and began advancing towards Shon, a look of utter malice in her eyes. ?Now you pay.?

She moved in quickly and swung a claw-bearing paw at Shon, intent on bathing her claws in his blood. However, the attack was deflected and quickly followed up by a weak, but abrupt, smack to the muzzle. She tried with her other paw, but found her muzzle stinging yet again from another lightning fast blow. ?Fast?for a Jedi,? she growled.

?Slow?for a Togorian,? chided Shon with an even tone and ducking once more as the felinoid took

 

What in the holy hell does Talon Karrde have to do with all of this??????????????

Whiskey, you weave a crackling good yarn

 

Mesa wantin to push dis to da top!

 

...it had been a while since she?d seen a good slobberknocker,

OMG, I love that phrase! I may have to borrow it!

Okay, now I will admit that I need to do some catch up reading in the NJO area because I can't wait to how this is all connected.

Awesome post Whiskey! And a belated Happy Birthday!

 

I think this also proves that Lando can't keep his mouth shut.

Just how in the Hallowed Halls of Hanna Barbrera did Talon Karde get the info, and why is one (or more) of his crew doing there?

The Intrigue.

 

Hey all.

Sorry for the lackluster amount of posts, but DRL and DWB've been ganging up on me something fierce.

But, things are getting better. I should have something up by Saturday at the absolute latest. (i.e. I'm shooting for earlier )

FORWARD!

 

Oh, Talon Karde is involved?! (I don't know squat about the current EU, so I'm just going with everyone else's knowledge of H'sishi's connection to him.) I do so like that guy, and I think he will definitely make this whole adventure more interesting for our heroes.

But now, has anybody bothered to let Feslira know not to beat the stuffing out of whoever she's fighting?

Good luck with own fight against our sithly friends DRL & DWB, Whiskey. I'll be off on vacation for a while, & will be looking forward to getting caught up again when I'm back!

 

Take your time, Whiskey. The Boards will still be here.

 

Jaxx & Casper: Well, if I answered this outrightly, where would the fun be?

Mouse & Di-Lee: Hopefully as the story progresses, I'll be able to answer a few questions concerning our new friends.

Man, this post took a long time to write, largely because I had absolutely no idea how I was gonna do it. Hopefully it's polished enough that it passes your inspections all right.

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Feslira could feel her frustration level beginning to spike as she continued against her seemingly relentless opponent. Steel clashed with scale with a tempo almost too fast for the others to comprehend, hence their willingness to stay out of the fray for now. That, and Tahiri?s silent warning that given her Padawan?s current mental state, no one would be safe.

It was this feeling of unease that mulled around in Tahiri?s thoughts as she watched the fervent combat before her. Feslira?s ambition at being the best she could had made for some heated sparring matches in the past, but what she was seeing now almost defied description. The fighting style of her Padawan was familiar enough, having seen it many times before. However, there was a much more savage look to it this time, almost akin to how Anakin had once described Ravage during his fight against Nom Anor.

Feslira was revelling in it a bit too much, she believed.

The Shamed One was indeed revelling in her fast-paced combat with her opponent. Up until now it had been fairly matched, neither combatant gaining any significant ground on the other. Whomever was behind that cloak, Feslira surmised, they had a formidable amount of combat knowledge, able to use such defensive weapons like sai in such an offensive role such as this.

Damn her pondering! Just as Feslira was thinking about how good her opponent was, an even more glaring example of this was demonstrated as, with a complicated interlock, the sai managed to tangle up the amphistaff to the point where it was all but useless. Feslira tried to wrench it free but to no avail. As rigid as it was, there was no way it could break free of the staff snare it was currently in.

As a staff, anyway.

Feslira manipulated a few pressure points on the living weapon, allowing it to revert itself to a normal ? albeit angry ? serpent, which glared at the assailant and hissed rudely. Fangs bared, it moved to strike the assailant with its venom, but was denied the feeling of soft flesh, and instead let go from the sai trap.

However, the breaking of the hold ended with a solid boot to Feslira?s chest, knocking her back, down, and the wind out of her. Now the anger was growing in her even more. Her heart was beginning to seethe with humiliation at having been defeated so easily by overlooking the obvious and not letting go of her weapon once she?d reverted it.

For all her simmering rage, though, she found herself unable to get up and make up for her humiliation, for her assailant was now pinning her to the floor with its mass, one sai poised to enter her skull via her eye socket. She sneered contemptuously.

?I will be waiting for you on the other side,? she snarled.

Just then, a door on the far wall opened and three men stepped through it. All eyes, including Feslira?s, turned on the trio, the center of which was stroking his goatee rather thoughtfully.

?Shavit,? muttered Han under his breath. ?Just when I thought it was safe to leave home??

?I think you can let her go now,? said the goatee wearer to the assailant, who nodded sombrely and moved off of Feslira. The Shamed One flipped back to her feet and retrieved her amphistaff, which had curled up some distance away, watching and waiting for a command from its master. Within moments it had resumed its role as a waistline accessory.

?You fight too well for a Jedi,? commented the assailant in a feminine voice. She then pulled the hood from her head, exposing the human underneath. ?In fact that?s one of the tougher workouts I?ve had in a while,? she said. ?I?m honoured.?

Feslira said n

 

Sunday morning UP!

 

AH yes, Han is so correct. Just who exactly is Karrde's employer on this misadventure? Careful gang.....

The rogue talents are showing signs of dangerous behavior in the minds of their teachers as well. Could we be looking at a possible turn for the worse so to speak.

WE'll see, and we shall wait for it.

FORWARD!

BTW - I heard an interesting rumor: NHL hockey.....outdoors.....in Calgary? Is it true?

 

First I've heard of it, but there's a car show rolling through here from March 12-16, and part of its display includes the Saddledome, so who knows?

I wonder...if they win any outdoor games will that inspire the coaches to have them all the time?


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...