Creed stared with a look of disbelief as the Twi'lek introduced himself seemingly without a care in the world. Only moments ago he and the redhead had nearly got them killed, and now they wanted to know where Ree'tak was? 'This has got to be more than a coincidence'..

"Now hold on a minute tailhead, I think you and miss cherry red here need to start talking and fast...."
He already had his blaster in his hand and at the ready in case one of the two stowaways decided that mutiny was the next step in their grand master plan.
"Oh and another thing, we'll be asking the questions from now....you got that?"
He nodded toward Nex to withdraw his lightsaber, and for Raif to release his blaster from it's holster. He didn't like unexpected changes in the plan and considering what had just occured on Coruscant, he had every right.

(('Fuze' Remaining SCS until Black Heart returns))
((Raiflaine Remaining SCS until Raiflaine returns))


As blasters and lightsabers were drawn, the sound of energy cells powering up and plasma super-heating against containment fields was replaced by an equally disturbing noise:

As a siren burst into life on the cockpit controls of The Zenith complete with a steady red pulse of light, Raiflaine spun his chair part round again to check the read-outs but kept his – now drawn – blaster pistol trained on Lilin.

“By The Four Moons!” Raiflaine exclaimed, double-checking the readings. “Proximity alert! There's another vessel virtually on top of us!”

“It seems improbable that the a ship would be that close in Hyperspace without us detecting them sooner. Did we appear in their flight path, working on the assumption they were already travelling in Hyperspace? Is there a likelihood the readings could be incorrect?” F0-R3-GE piped up, seemingly unconcerned by the threat the armed crew-members posed.

“No,” was Raiflaine's simple and concerned reply. “One moment it wasn't there... now it is. Its like its using.....maybe some sort of stealth?”

Forge walked up toward the cockpit but stopped when he reached Creed complete with blaster in-hand.

“According to my databanks, no known stealth technology possesses the capacity to successfully shield a starship at such close range. However, working on the assumption that if a ship were capable of such a feat then it is likely the stealth technology would be based on light-refraction. Due to the nature of the physics of light within Hyperspace it is also plausable that it would cause said stealth to become inert and inactive, thereby causing the ship to 'appear' as you stated.”

Turning its head toward Creed, the Droid continued:

“If I might be permitted to examine the ship's silhouette and compare it to my records Sir, I may be of more assistance?”

“There's no way of telling if they know we can see them or not, Creed.” Raiflaine replied. “I can't make out any weapons or any kind so I can't tell you if they're primed....”

With a sigh of disappointment Nex dropped from his stance and stood up.

“If no one is willing to begin shooting then can we get on to the more problematic issues?”

Nex put away his lightsaber and with motions from his hands, nudged others out of his way using the force as he tried to get a better look out of the cockpit window. After a brief moment he turned back to forge as he finished talking.

“ Examine it. I am curious. However if this ship is carrying weapons I’m afraid I don’t have the ability to deflect laser fire in space.”

Sat frozen in the chair staring wide-eyed at the gun pointed at her, Lilin almost jumped out of her seat when the proximity alarm blared it’s warning. Showing no signs of having heard the droid or the Talortai, Lilin cringed away from the bird-man now standing over her shoulder. Seemingly overcome by events she let out a long low groan, hid her face beneath her hands and began to weep. Curled up on herself and recalling strong painful memories of another time, her shoulders shook with each sob as the emotions washed over her.

(('Fuze' Remaining SCS until Black Heart returns))
((Raiflaine Remaining SCS until Raiflaine returns))


As F0-R3-GE waddled past Creed and Nex Deus to the readout display of The Zenith, placing himself - to Raiflaine's annoyance - between the bounty hunter's pistol and Lilin, seemingly oblivious to being in an obvious line of fire the Droid leaned over and began going over the readings.

Seeing as his initial comments were met with hostility and the fact that the current emergency had given the Twi'lek the opportunity to change tact and make other possible allies, Fuze moved quietly up to Lilin and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright, miss?

Before anyone else could converse further, Forge began nodding and making a slight humming noise.

"Yes..." It began. "I think I see now. This starship that is following us does not correspond to anything in my rather extensive databanks on known space-fairing vessels included within The Republic." The Droid then turned around to face Creed and Nex.
"I does however have an exact silhoutte match on the vessel of unknown origin that attacked Mistress Ree'tak in the Holographic Video Recording that was sent to you via White Mercy Medical Faciliy."

Waving his blaster about as one might gesture with his hands, Raiflaine butted into the conversation.

"Hang on there, lugnuts... you knew about that recording?"

F0-R3-GE nodded in response. "Affirmative. The Mistress showed me the recording as it was part of one of my duties to reprogram the 2-1b Medical Droid and implant the HoloVid."

"Well if thats the case," Raiflaine continued, "Its a pretty safe bet that ship knows our destination and is riding our tails to the Rafa System. Means we got two choices, boys and girls. One: We ride this out and pretend we don't know our guest is with us then either evade or fire as soon as we leave hyperspace, or two..."

Raiflaine shook his head and sighed, mumbling quietly to himself something incoherant before continuing.

"We can try to evade in Hyperspace so we're out of that ships' line of sight then drop out of Hyperspace now and they'll arrive at Rafa without us. That's risky though, it means a possible collision and if we do succeed they'll know we're coming... just not sure when or from what angle. Even that kinda beats dropping out of Hyperspace just to be offed without a decent scrap though."

Placing his blaster down on the console but still far enough away from Lilin's reach Raiflaine scrugged as he looked at Creed.

"Its your call, Chief."

Elsewhere...

Ree'tak sat in a small room, dark except for the glow of several vid screens and holo-emitters. Surrounding her like a barricade of shifting lights, they showed many different places, a secret eye inspecting the movements of several interesting individuals.

She twiddled one of her lekku thoughtfully as she say back in the chair, putting both feet up on large desk in front of her. As she watched Imperial Sith Officers ordering strikes on the homes of Jedi sympathisers she tried to remain impartial, keeping to the task at hand. Another screen showed the movement of one of the mysterious "Men" who had followed her from the Rafa system and when he stopped and turned on the screen she fancied for just a moment that he looked right at the hidden camera...right at her. She shuddered.

Pulling herself away from the image she instead transported one of the side monitor feeds to the middle, largest vid-screen. She watched with interest as she saw Creed, Nex Deus and Raiflaine loading up an S-250 Chela-class starfighter and waited for her contact to appear on the scene.

Instead an attractive red-headed human female appeared, approaching Creed as if she knew him.

"Hmmmm" The Twi'lek said as she sat foward and opened a second, magnified image of the red-head inside the main picture. "Who do we have here?"

As she watched the Human woman flung her arms around Creed who, despite being somewhat startled by her forwardness, seemed otherwise unconcerned. As part of her display she motioned to persuers following her.

"Oh, she's good..."

It was only a matter of seconds before one of the other cameras picked up her contact, the Draethos Nyalii, entering the area via and alley with the Twi'lek male Fuza Macoy in tow. "Good lad..." she said to the recording.
As she watched him vanish again into the dark alleys, she observed as the male Twi'lek Fuza approached the group, not realising that her droid, F0-R3-GE was approaching from across the way.

Her eyes lingered on Macoy for a moment longer and she felt a smile spread across her face.
"He's a cute one...as much the con-man as the intel suggests, no doubt."

Just as the two newcomers entered the scene and blaster-bolts could suddenly be seen flying, the door of the room Ree'tak was using slowly opened, letting in a bright light from outside. Instinctively she stopped the recording and replaced it with something unexciting, shipping manifests in this case.

She smiled and let out a slight sigh when she saw who it was, she needn't have paniced. The spritely and energetic form of Nyalii virtually bounced into the room, closing the door behing him. Grabbing the only other available chair in the room we spun on it and wheeled himself toward Ree'tak.

"'Ello Boss! 'yer lookin'....sassy." To the untrained eye it was difficult to know when a Draethos was smiling, but Ree had seen this paticular Draethos smile many a-time, especially when one of his hair-brained schemes worked out in his favour.

"I see you found Macoy, then? Did he give you any trouble?" She replied, deciding not to rise to his comments.

"Nah, not at all," Nyalii continued. "He know's what he's doin', seems pretty sharp. Can't say he wounldn't shaft ya for sure, but I think he knows an opportunity when he sees it. Seems to worship the twin' gods o' luck'n'creds."

"Good. And the medical droid?"

"Done. Forge reprogrammed it and planted your vid on it, nice and secure. Gotta say, sweets, that's one of the most convincing hack-jobs I've seen. Who'd ya get to do it? Ni'trik down on sixth? the ger'si'ki brothers?"

She glared at him then, a look which took him aback and down several pegs in attitude. It was a look the young Draethos had never seen before: as if the friendly, flirty carefree Ree he knew had just vanished.

"It wasn't a fake." she virtually growled. "which is why it looks so authentic..."

Unusually it was all Nyalii could do to nod.

"And Forge is safely aboard?" She said, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hands.
"Any sign of them?"

Nyalii gulped down a lump in his throat before answering.

"Yes, Ma'am. Forge got on board without any problems and....we think we picked up one of the stealth-resonance signatures from a Darkship as your friends entered orbit. They may have company."

"Very well," She said, matter-of-factly. "Lets see how they handle things..."

Nex moved back to an open seat against the back wall and sat down. He crossed his hands and closed his eyes as he fell into a meditative state. Reaching out with the force, Nex could still see everything clearly as if his eyes hadn’t closed. He knew the position of every person even as they all moved about the ship; he could track exactly where they were and where they were going.

He then directed the force inward, his force sight dissipated as he was overcome with a vision of a past battle. He watched as if looking down on himself in a 3rd person point of view cutting down his enemies, sith and jedi alike.

“Peace is a lie, there is only passion.” Nex began to recite to himself, unaware if others were close enough to hear or if they were even paying attention.

After a few more moments of meditation and he continued to speak the code of the sith.

“Through passion, I gain strength.”

Although Nex was raised and trained to be a Jedi, he found a better understanding of the force through the sith teachings. He often believed that one cannot truly become a master unless you have been on both sides, ultimately sending him down the road of neutrality.

“Through strength, I gain power.”

The air around Nex began to drop in temperature as he recited the code and continued his meditation. His concentration seemed to travel outward towards Lilin as she appeared to be loosing herself in her emotions. With a shrug of his head his vision disappeared and returned everything into darkness. He again began to make out figures as his force sight returned to him while he stayed in his meditative trance. Focusing on Creed and Raiflaine, Nex sat and focused his energy patiently as they tried figure out a plan.

Although still enraged by the presence of the stowaways Creed now had bigger things to consider - the hitchikers or his employers precious ship? Weighing up each possibilty there really didn't seem to be much of a contest in his mind. The new passengers looked relatively harmless and he knew for a fact that the head honcho was anything but.

"Okay, okay, okay, give me a chance to think here will you people?."

He could feel his adrenaline pumping as if it were trying to resist the temptation of trying something that could end up getting them all killed. If this were a solo operation he wouldn't hesitate to try the more foolhardy maneauvre, but there were other lives at stake and more importantly his bosses vessel.

He took a brief moment to glance at Nex who had started to chant some strange arcane Jedi ritual. Puzzled as to what his Talortai friend was actually doing he continued....

"F0-R3-GE, whats the probabilty of collision once we jump to lightspeed?"

In situations like this he normally never even considered the odds but with all these other factors digging at his mind he had to consider every possibility and in detail.

"Raif, I need to know more about that vessel. I don't care if you have to get out there and look manually, I need more information about what we're dealing with here. If they have a tractor beam then everything could end up worst case scenario and we'll be on that vessel with who knows what and heading who knows where."

His eyes raised under his red tinted goggles.....

"There is one other option....."

He paused as a dash of cunning spread it's glee across his face.

"We cut off all remaining power to the thrusters and drift without life support until that.....whatever it is dissapears out of sight believing we have suffered fatal engine failure. Just before we're slightly out of reach fire a tracking device from the Zenith and we'll see where this thing is heading, and what it wants. If it pulls us in then at least we can take them by surprise. This little beauty has all kinds of hidden compartments for us to hide until the timing is right."

He had used this tactic before many times whilst dealing with space pirates but could it work with a ship of unknown origin? He waiting with baited breath for his companions response....

(('Fuze' Remaining SCS until Black Heart returns))
((Raiflaine Remaining SCS until Raiflaine returns))


Looking over the instruments for a moment, Forge stood still as the crew could almost hear him calculating. Eventually he turned to Creed.

"Taking into consideration the chaotic nature of hyperspace and the piloting skills of Mr Raiflaine here and our unknown pilot on the other ship, factoring in all other variable such as modified trajectories and astronavigation anomolies, I would put collision probability at 37.669.3%. Or there abouts." It said, as positively as it could muster.

Raiflaine leaned back in his chair and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Look, chances are this ship knows we are going to Refa, right? we're well off the beaten track already." he began. "It's also pretty convienient that this ship is even here if you ask me. I reckon we've been watched since Coruscant.."

Although remaining quiet for some time, the male Twi'lek Fuza piped up.

""The 'play dead' maneauver is a good one. It would give us a chance to ascertain their intension and, in another situation I'd recommend it." rubbing his chin in thought he continued.

"However, we know nothing of this ship that is behind us or its capabilities. The fact is hasn't attacked us already means it is most likely trying to discern our motives. We've been outside of the Core Worlds hyperspace ways for some time now, if they wanted to attack us, they could. Nobody would be none the wiser for hours. If this is a trap, we know it's one which means we have a good chance of avoiding it. I say we carry on and be prepared for the worst."

"Statistically, Mr Fuza is correct, sir. I have run the odds through several analytical subroutines and the highest probability of success goes with continuing on course and be ready to take evasive maneuvers."

"Well my money is on not doing that, for what that's worth." Raiflaine replied somewhat defiantly.
"Either we get them off our tail or we lure them in and take 'em down. Either way you work it, it ain't safe us and them arriving at Refa together."

Lilin had calmed down enough to quiet her sobs and was dabbing at her eyes with the ends of the long sleeves stretched over her hands.
Taking the hand of the Twi’lek who had shown her some concern she ventured gently, “Please, you seem to understand what’s going on here? I don’t know these people…” Her sentence trailing off, she nervously shifted to the edge of her seat and squinted up at him with puffy red-rimed eyes.
Lilin’s gaze slid to the flight console and to the blaster which had so recently been trained on her. Although the proximity alarm had been quietened the alert light still blinked on the console warning them all of the presence of the elusive ship stalking them. She didn’t want to look at the angry dark-haired Raiflaine in case by meeting his eye she reminded him of her presence, and a quick look at the supposed leader of the group, this Creed, the look on his face told her he was now even more serious about not answering any questions. Not in light of this new threat. The unhappy mix of events and personalities was culminating in an anthropoid train-wreck inside the small ship’s cabin, and to top it all off the droid was cheerily spouting the various odds of their survival and the Jedi had begun a creepy chant.
Lilin pulled her wandering gaze back to the red-skinned Twi’lek and gave him a brief trembling smile. “I only needed a ride out of that port” the woman attempted a weak little laugh but it threatened to turn back into weeping. She drew in a sharp breath and with her words gaining speed, said “I think I got on the wrong ship!” The last syllable was barely past her lips as she broke down into helpless sobbing again.
She felt the Twi’lek man (Fuza someone had called him?) pat her comfortingly on the shoulder. Not wanting to show too much weakness, Lilin mentally and emotionally reigned herself in and sat up a little straighter. She gave her head a shake and squared her shoulders. Crying wasn’t going to get her anywhere.
“So we’re on our way to the Rafa System?” she asked no one in particular. “Well since there’s sod all I can do about that I’ll just have to make the best of it.” She gave a mighty sniff and drawing a tissue out of her pocket gave her nose a sharp blow.
They were all looking at her now.
“I’ve always wanted to see the pyramids.”

(('Fuze' Remaining SCS until Black Heart returns))
((Raiflaine Remaining SCS until Raiflaine returns))


Fuze smiled at the Human woman reassuringly.

"Saying 'I seem to know what's going on' might be stretching the truth a little miss," he began, his voice calm but full of confidence and more than a little charm. "But I can tell you I am in search of a Twi'lek woman whom it would seem this crew are also looking for. The nature of my reasoning is, with all due repsect a private matter but it would seem this Creed gentleman has at least a passing connection with miss Ree'tak and is currently my best chance in finding her."

With a subtle motion Fuze put himself next to the droid by turning his body as if it were part of the action of addressing Lilin, knowing full well that when F0-R3-GE stepped back he would have placed himself between the Bounty Hunter pilot and red-headed woman.

As it turned out he need not worry as Raiflaine had seemingly decided to ignore the woman, concerned with far more pressing matters facing the crew and passengers of the Zenith.

"Boss, we'll be arriving at the Refa system in just under 5 standard minutes." the Bounty Hunter said, prompting urgency.

"Whatever you wanna do, we've got to choose fast."

"Will someone please shut that blabbing woman up, I'm trying to think here!"
Creed wasn't known for his disrespect to the fairer sex but it was truly the last thing he needed at this point.
"Right, seeing as no one agrees on what to do about this situation then I guess we're gonna have to put it down to a good old fashioned show of hands. All in favour of my plan say 'aye'".
Creed raised his hand in hope that the others would follow his lead.

((Sorry it's short but I honestly couldn't think of anything else to write! ))

With a shrug, Raiflaine raised his hand.

"It's as good a plan as any," he said with a half-smile. "And besides, 'The Man' put you in charge of this mission and his ship. I'm good with that."

Turning away from Lilin momentarily as he was aware his input was required, Fuze also raised a hand in agreement.

"I don't know if I have a vote in this, but if I do, I suggest playing dead."

F0-R3-GE looked a little taken aback when eyes fell on him, he wasn't accustomed to being asked his opinion on anything, he didn't believe that, as a Droid he had any right to democratically decide the fate of non-synthetic humanoids. Yet this was the second time in the last few moments his opinon had mattered. Between the good treatment he had recieved from the mistress and now these organics at least acknowledging his existance, he was beginning to think there was more to them that he had first summerised.

Weighing the odds in his databanks and running them against the compelling evidence of the incredible adaptiveness of most organics, F0-R3-GE raised one metallic hand, but said nothing.

Nex looked over at the others as most had already raised their hands in agreement.

With a somewhat disappointed grunt, Nex shook his head.

“Play dead? What a boring concept.” Nex said with a sigh and continued. “This is why I prefer land to space, my skills are almost useless up here, but if it means we will soon land then I shall go along with it.”
“I only hope I will get a chance to stretch my legs soon, my blade is becoming restless.” Nex said palming his lightsaber.

“I’m with you to the end, you know that.” He said turning towards creed in case his loyalty would be questioned by the others. “But this space flight and its little surprises is beginning to take its toll. Inaction is just something I am not accustomed to.”

Lilin bowed her head at the sharp reprimand from Creed. She grasped the balled up tissue in her hands and felt the embarrassment flush her face crimson as she waited for the others to finish speaking their piece.
    ”I’m sorry” she said in a quiet voice. ”I didn’t mean… Well, no, I did mean!” She looked up at the purple haired man, her embarrassment quickly turning to anger. ”I realise you’re not exactly a luxury cruiser, and you didn’t plan any of this, but you accepted me onboard as a paying passenger and as such I demand to be treated with some respect!” With an angry toss of her head she flicked the scarlet locks of her hair out of her flashing eyes and boldly frowned her scorn up at the rude ship’s captain. Her short tirade had left two blushes of colour high on her alabaster cheeks and her generous lips were timorously trembling with the emotions running high within her.
    Realising she had just given a stern lecture (in front of his entire crew and other passengers) to the man who was holding her life in his hands, Lilin noisily swallowed the rising lump in her throat and leaned back into her chair again. In a painfully obvious and futile attempt to claw herself into Creed’s good graces she said, ”But I do think your idea sounds like a very good one”
    She looked round the gathered faces. ”I think your captain’s plan is our best hope for avoiding any further trouble. You all probably know him better than I but he seems to me the type to be getting himself in and out of dangerous scrapes all the time, so I trust his judgement on this. Er, that is, he ahhh… inspires confidence…” She sounded lame even to herself.
    She tightly closed her mouth and drew her lips inward as if determined not to let them get her into any more trouble. She fixed her gaze on the deck to avoid looking at anyone.