Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Sun sinks low over the horizon of a world far removed from the core. Red gold, and lavender hues shade the sky over hilly fields, green with tall grass. Stars begin to poke themselves through the brilliant sky as the twin moons float silent and full over head.
A cool wind blows gently across the field, sending the grass rippling with waves. the wind carried a song upon it, a slow wishful tune sung by a beautiful voice.

The Stars shine bright
twinkling in the night
those distant points of light
call out to me...

oh how I wish
I could set my soul free
and sail that endless sea
that spacer's call home...

the singer stood upon the tallest hill, one overlooking the rest of the field. from the top one could see the bustling lights of a port city and the running becons of starships coming to and fro like a swarm of fireflies.
the Singer was a young girl no more than eleven or ten years old. her hair was white and her eyes a brilliant violet color. she stood barefoot upon the hill, her summer dress tugged by the breeze.
the girl turned around and smiled. "How long were you gonna keep me waiting Cale? You're thirty minutes late. a knight shouldn't keep his lady waiting!"
Cale's voice, in a younger tone, replied"sorry...I needed to finish my work first."
She sighed."Cale, you shouldn't even be working at all! they have child labor laws y'know." she turned around and looked up at the sky. "So whats it like up there Cale?"
"huh?"
"Up there in space! you're from space so you should know!"
"well...theres alot of it. I dunno...I just never thought about it..."
she looks back and frowns. "You go and travel all over the galaxy and you never think about it?!"
"well, yeah. Ive done it so much I guess I just stopped caring..."
"well you should care! theres all sorts of neat stuff in the galaxy! theres even a war going on! and you've never noticed?"
"WAKE UP!"

... Mordanna chuckled inperceptively as Neb's palm closed into a fist. "Tricky!" she laughed as the master opened his hand again. After that light laugh, it let out a breath, and she tried again.
What is it that the Master Yoda said? Do or do not - there is no "try".
With the speed of thought, Mordranna freed herself of emotion. There is no emotion, only peace. With a flash, the pair of icy blue eyes closed, and her hand darted quickly before either of her companions could react, and the goal was sought. Her eyes opened to find the pebble in her hand.
Allowing herself but the most inperceptible smirk, she asked "What's next?"

Selkisto woke up in a dank cell that smelled of garbage. There was a small opening high on the wall, so he jumped up and pulled himself up to look through it.

A few speeders passed by, but that was all he could see, besides the buildings across from the one he was in. He dropped down and sat on the small bench he was afforded. They'd taken his three remaining guns, his grenade bandolier, his mask, his armor, his vest, his gloves, his boots, and his utility belt and ammo pouches.

Things weren't particularly looking up. He looked up to test that thought, and his luck. The ceiling was made of duacrete, with no cracks or seams. The floor was the same. The bench was built out of the wall, and so could not be removed. There was no toilet. A force field kept the cell contained.

"Stang." This wouldn't be easy. Before he could think over his situation and plot an escape, a trio of guards came and deactivated the forcefield, but blocked the resulting opening with stokhli spray sticks.

"Sharba will see you now." They bound him with stun cuffs and a set of arm binders, then carted him off to the Hutt's audience chamber.

"You think too hard Ganil, just let it come naturally. But at least you can lift a pebble. Now try the box." Neb stated.

Ganil turned to the crate. This time he tried to let it come... naturally.

The chamber was relatively modern, and also clean. But then, one had to keep in mind that the word 'relative' was only used in reference to other hutts.

Selkisto stumbled to Sharba's immense mechno-chair, and was forced down to his knees by the three guards that escorted him there. They had slung the stohkli spray sticks over their backs and were now armed instead with blaster pistols, and each guard had their pistol planted firmly on their captive.

Sharba finally made a sound. It was a deep, rumbling laugh. It was an almost evil sound that shook Selkisto to his core. Finally, the massive mound of a disgusting creature spoke. "Selkisto Jendon Hothun. What a pleasant surprise."

He spoke in a throaty basic; it was a language he'd learned out of necessity when he began dealing all over the galaxy. Those days were long gone now, and that was a fact that was prominently on the Hutt's mind. "I gave you all the funds in the world, the best opportunities, the best jobs, the best rewards. And that was because you were the best."

Selkisto found his voice. "Thank you greatly, your excellence. I'm flattered that-"

"Oh, shut up, human. Even if you are the best on this bit of rock, or even in this insignificant system, you still stole from me."

"I didn't, I only made a transaction that was required for-"

"One million, two hundred and forty thousand, eight-hundred and twenty-four credits? Why would you possibly need that much for the job?"

"Alright, look, Sharba, first of all, the Senator is a Sith lord..."

The Hutt laughed, unnerving Selkisto once again. "Come now, do you honestly expect me to believe something like that?"

"There are witnesses at least to him being a force user... at Bespin, I found him! I spent the one million credits on an ysalamari so I could fight him after finding out he could use the force... but then I had to use it to fight another Dark Jedi that appeared out of nowhere... the two were related, apparently...but that's another story."

Sharba had been considering this. "One million for a slimy worm creature?" Selkisto restrained the urge to let back a retort, "You only prove that you are a horrible businessman-"

"Sharba, it was from Falthorn Hallok!" Selkisto hoped that this fact would allow for some mercy.

"Hallok? The swindling- why did you go to him?!"

"He was the only one in the area I could get an ysalamari from!"

By this time, the guests in the audience chamber started to take notice of this discussion, especially the fact that Selkisto had not yet been executed. Sharba became aware of this and pointed a shriveled, stubby finger at Selkisto. "That's enough! There's no excuse for spending so much of my money! The worst part is that you failed to carry out the assignment before he ceased to be in power!"

Selkisto started to take courage in his still being alive and decided to press a little further. "I did my best, but the first time I attacked him, I was held off by someone else from another direction and had no choice but to flee. The second time I was able to confront him, it was unexpected; he was in a prison cell, so I 'naded him with a bothan stun grenade and carried him away, but, I guess using some Jedi trick, he was able to retain consciousness and he escaped. He had two lightsabers and we were in cramped tunnels. My life was on the line, I'm sure you understand."

Sharba was getting quite angry by now. "Human, your excuses are intolerable. When I want someone handed to me, they'd better be with you when you come back! You think I give you all those credits for free?!"

"Of course not, but I had no choice!"

Sharba's eyes were burning now. He still had his finger pointed at Selkisto, and he finally dropped it back to his side with effort. "Out! Take this scum out of here! I will deal with him in the torture chamber!" With that, he activated his mechno-chair, which rose on all eight legs but visibly sagged under Sharba's weight. The guards followed him towards the torture chamber as onlookers watched with interest. In the hallway to the new chamber, Sharba's back was turned to Selkisto and the guards. Sensing his chance, he suddenly stopped short and crouched. Surprised, the guards toppled over him, being incompetent and not entirely sure-footed. Not believing his luck, Selkisto grabbed one of their spray sticks behind his back and clumsily aimed at the knot of guards in front of him. Due to its wide spread, the net covered them, anchoring them to the floor. Sharba was having difficulty turning arround in the narrow corridor to see what the cause of the noises were, but soon he too was covered in nets.

Selkisto hopped over the hutt, dashed down the hallway to the torture chamber, and found a small contingent of confused gamorrean guards. Soon, they were covered in a sticky net. He found a nasty looking hook, dropped the spray stick to aim and bash his arm binders against the metal device. It smashed apart after a few tries. Then, he started to bash the binders on his wrists. In one try, they were scattered across the floor. Selkisto grabbed a vibro-axe, one of many bloody weapons hanging on the wall, and ran out to the guards. "Where's the armory?" he demanded in Huttese, raising the axe threateningly above one of the guards' necks, a humming sounds emanating from it ominously.

"Hah! I'd never tell you! You won't kill me!" the guard spat back.

With a bloody splat, his head was removed from his body. "Anyone else know where it is?"

Quivering, the two remaining guards nodded and told him in harried Huttese. "Thanks," Selksito nodded, before beheading the both of them and running off to the armory with two of their blasters in his belt and the axe hanging loosely at his side. He stole through the group of frightened beings in the audience chamber, slashing at guards that moved toward him, sending blood flying in all directions and covering himself with it, before entering a new passageway and making a couple of lefts. Two rodians gaped at him in surprise, their already weird-looking mouths made more comical. Selkisto drew a blaster and aimed it at them, shooting one and then the other in the neck before clearing them both aside with the axe and hacking through the lock on the door. He pushed on the panel beside the door to no effect, then hacked at it until it wrenched open. He stalked into the armory, dropping the axe unceremoniously and greedily eyeing the cache of weapons and lockers in the room. He wrenched the lockers open, looking for his weapons. He found his gear and pulled it on, happy to no longer be running around in socks. He ransacked other lockers, yanking out more bandoliers, grenades, and ammo pouches, attatching all of it to himself. He turned to the racks of weapons, his flashing eyes resembling those of a child in a candy store. He found his SO-19 and tucked it neatly into a large holster on his right hip, then plucked his PP-23 and DL-44 from their racks and stuffed them into further holsters. He grabbed another interesting looking rifle and pushed it into a holster on his left, then pulled four more pistols from the racks and stuffed them into newly aquired holsters that were secured against his chest. It was a tight fit, but he managed them creatively to make it work. He then moved to a rack with longarms and his eyes lit up further.

A group of guards came by this time to interrupt his fun. Without thinking, Selkisto spun around, grabbed both of his rifles, and mowed them down in seconds as they attempted to cram through the doorway. He tossed a high-explosive grenade into the hallway, followed by a gas grenade. His mask was already on his head, and he was breathing through it normally. He went back to the treasure trove of weapons before him. He pulled out an MB-2 and a modified T-21 and strapped them to his back. Now loaded down with as many guns as he could carry, he moved on to the blaster packs, filling the various pouches across his body with as many as he could find that were compatible. Satisfied, he moved down the racks before stopping short. There was a rack that carried Jedi lightsabers.

The furious frenzy that overtook Selkisto evaporated. He approached the three lightsabers and placed his hands on them gingerly. His face became sullen behind his mask as he gazed at the powerful metal bars. He sighed, his mind running through the event he'd been trying to forget for a long time.

(( Is FP back YET!!!...............))