Coruscant

[Taaru Masako]

The Thruvarans make their way back to the IFV, snaking through ruined buildings and keeping a weary eye on sentries as they pass them by. Through her tears and sobs, Shara is briefly aware that Dornier is once again having a conversation without saying anything out loud. By the time they pass the last group of sentries (i.e. the first ones they noticed on their way towards the manor), they have broken into a light trot, Heike slinging her rifle and scooping Shara up in her arms.

Turning a corner, they see the IFV sitting there, attended by the copilot, just in time to see a white projectile rain down from the sky and impact back towards the manor house.

The resulting explosion throws them all to their feet, Heike pressing Shara to her breastplate and curling around her protectively as the heat of a pressure wave blasts by.

[Jet Almeara]

Jet...highly resented being carried, it was...humiliating really. But like always in this odd little set-up her protests were unheard and pointless. Of course once she caught sight of the explosive streaking through the sky and lacking her own abilities to avoid the coming shockwave..she wasn't nearly so resentful.

Shara on the other hand - seemed to be caught between thankfulness and shock, thankful that she apparently wasn't going to be turned over and killed...because surely her uncle had not survived such an explosion and shock that he was dead, shock at being thrown to the ground along with the others in the shockwave, and thankful again for Heikes protection as the blazing heat rolled past. She didn't really know what to think anymore - one moment the soldiers with their weapons had been the enemy, been threatening her...and now they were protecting her? It was hard to wrap her mind around

Jet on the other hand was indifferent to this change in the Thruvaran's status, Enemies became friends and friends became enemies rather often in such conflicts and you couldn't be thrown off every time it happened. You just remained guarded and watchful and rolled with whatever came your way as best you could.

[Taaru Masako]

Billowing clouds of sand and dust envelope them, just as planned. Heike doubts these scavengers have any imaging technology, but the particle screen would do enough to confuse just about anything they'd gotten their hands on. It gave her enough time to bundle Shara into the IFV.

"Stay here, don't leave. We'll be back."

Heike turns and clambers out of the troop bay, readying her rifle and joining the others as the troop bays close behind her, any trace of the feminine form hidden by her armor and her ferocity.

They are gone for a long time, and Shara can only here the dull thuds of blaster fire through the thick armor of the IFV.

[Jet Almeara]

Jet hated being told to sit and stay put while there was fighting going on even more then she despised being carried about. It was somewhat sad she reflected that even hearing the blaster fire outside elicited in her a deep almost aching need to be there..and she wasn't even a part of this conflict. You'd think by now she'd have found something more in life then a need for war and violence, what type of person actually revealed in such things? People she suspected whom had been conditioned to do so...and she didn't really want to think any further on that subject.

To distract herself from the thudding calling beat of violence outside Jet returned her attention to Shara whom had taken them to the back the Vehicle while Jet hadn't been paying attention and now sat huddled in a corner trying not to hear the sounds outside. Jet could sympathize..though their desire not to hear stemmed from two completely different reasons.

Jet wasn't sure if time truly dragged on and on or if she was just getting the bleed over of Shara's thoughts on the matter - to the girl the wait seemed endless and stressful as she didn't understand what was happening nor what would become of it and she spent the time anxiously staring at the door.

[Taaru Masako]

After what seems like ages, the pitter patter of blaster fire and explosions dies down. Soon after, the doors open, and the first people to enter are Masako and Karohl, carrying Heike between them, a smear of blood across her right side, her armor peppered by hundreds of shrapnel marks.

They set her down on the floor, and a third person appears behind them, carrying a medkit.

What happens next is hazy and dreamlike. Masako takes his helmet off and tosses it aside, sweat pouring from his face. It's the first time he has shown himself, and Shara sees a young man, not much older than 17 or 18 to her eyes. In his eyes he can see the horror of this situation unfold as terrible memories blossom beside it....this is not the first time he will see a friend die, helpless to stop it, and it will not be the last.

Jet is interrupted by a roar....organic and industrial at the same time, like the screeching of some terrible engine or metal beast. A palpable wave of dread hits her in the chest just as the scene dissolves.

It passes, and she finds herself in a quiet hallway, spartan in its decoration, the walls bespeaking the architecture of the adobe huts from the village. She is a chair away from Taaru, who has fallen asleep in a plain uniform. The chrono on the wall reads 0427 hrs.

[Jet Almeara]

Shara's eyes widen as the soldier's come back and only a tightly fisted hand brought to her mouth keep her from gasping outloud and drawing attention to herself as she recognizes the wounded one as Heike.

Jet is not surprised to see them return with wounded - though she is sorry to see it is the women and a practiced eye leads her to believe she has little to no chance of survival..a though echoed in Taaru's eyes as he finally reveals himself. He looked so very young then, certainly different..and yet similar to how she knew him now. The look in his eyes makes her wish she could comfort him in some way - though the thought is pointless a she realizes this event has long since come to pass.

More observations are lost however as a roar fills the area and she is nearly thrown back by the force of emotion which hit her, something terrible is happening..but before she can recover from the emotional outburst and figure out what it is..she's somewhere else.

Somewhere far less dangerous looking though looks can be deceiving. Taaru is sleeping however and surely he wouldn't be letting himself relax enough to sleep if they were in immediate danger. Thusly assured she twists about in the chair to further investigate the hallway. There doesn't seem to be much to notice..other then the clock.

[Taaru Masako]

The clacking of footsteps echoes from down the hall, waking Taaru with a start. He looks to identify the source and evidently sees who he was looking for; a woman dressed in the simple habit of a Caritas Revered Mother.

He stands, places a hand across his chest to the opposite shoulder and bows; Revered Mothers, as well as any other ordained members of the Caritas, were not allowed to make physical contact with the opposite sex.

<<Revered Mother,>> Taaru greets in Thruvaran. <<How is she?>>

<<Shy, but considering what she's been through that's not too surprising. She has opened up a bit since you brought her here. Now tell me, child, what is it you wanted to speak to me about?>> she asked, her wizened but warm face stretched into the faintest agitation of someone being pulled away from their obligations. To most humans, she could be in her mid-60s....but Taaru recognized she was pushing closer to a century and some change. She was very fortunate to be as composed as she was at this age...

<<I don't mean to waste your time, your Reverence. I simply wanted to negotiate a transfer of fiscal adoption.>>

The Mother doesn't betray much in terms of surprise, though she would have reason to. Someone as young as this mercenary would be hard-pressed to fund a child's education through the Caritas, unless he was born wealthy. But that rarely ever mattered now, 10 years after the Day of Embers.

<<You wish to take over her contract from Hauptmann Dornier?>>

<<Yes. I've his signature on a transfer agreement here.>>

Taaru fishes his datapad out of a side pocket and brings up the relevant document, showing her his CO's encrypted digital signature.

The Mother eyes the signature, then studies Taaru again.

<<This is.....somewhat unusual, Gefreiter Masako. Hauptmann Dornier is in a much better position than you are to fund Shara's education. Why, exactly, have you two agreed to trade?>>

He knew this question would come up, and had prepared a response, but despite his rehearsal, the pain in his voice betrayed him: <<Personal reasons.>>

It was about at this point that he realized this Revered Mother had probably been a mercenary herself before retiring and joining the Caritas, because her demeanor almost immediately softened. Evidently, she understood all too well what the real reason was...

<<Very well. I'll see to it immediately.>>

[Jet Almeara]

The clicking footsteps got Jet's attention as well and she eyed the approaching women even as Taaru starts awake. She doesn't think much of it however until they start talking. The conversation interests her almost instantly...and it answered some questions which Jet had found burning through her mind ever since she'd been thrust out of the last memory sequence.

Shara had indeed survived then and been dropped off with the Caritas like they'd mentioned. She supposed that was a good thing, certainly better then being shot or traded off to die. though why would Taaru wish to take on the girls case..he had..and she recalled this with great clarity..wanted to shoot her at the time, she could hazard a guess of course but perhaps she would learn more as things progressed through this memory..at least she wasn't being taken hostage and threatened this go around and lingering recollections of that made her shift in the chair causing it to creak.

[Taaru Masako]

The Revered Mother looks up from her conversation with Taaru, directly at Jet.

Taaru follows her gaze and locks eyes with her. A single heartbeat of confusion passes over his face, before he finally says: "Jet?"

The same wave of dread that had coursed through her when the scened changed returns, punching her in the gut. Simultaneously, the bestial roar that had accompanied last time echoes through every fiber of this memory.

Taaru screams and falls to his knees at the very moment one of the walls erupts into fragments of masonry and dust, showering all three of them.

What emerges is a creature of midnight, dripping with oily residue, its eyes glowing a fierce white. It sees Jet and roars, its bat-like wings spreading in fury, and its roar shatters the very seams of reality around it.

Before the world fragments, it seizes Taaru, and disappears from her vision.

[Jet Almeara]

Jet froze as the women looked at her..and then Taaru gazed at her as well. Who on earth was she now? Was she stuck in another bod..playing another role as before? but a quick glance at her hands proves them to be hers and then Taaru speaks her name...

That couldn't be a good thing, of course before she could process anything more or say something to Taaru she was once more overcome with the emotional dread that had nearly knocked her off her feet the first time. Afraid that she would be slung to another memory..and miss something important in the process due to this clear mishap she moved forward in a desperate attempt to cling to the scenario "No, wait...Taaru.."

But her explanation, though she hadn't been entirely sure yet what she was going to try and explain..or how...was swept away as Taaru screamed suddenly and fell, a wall erupting beside them as a..monster..was the only word which came to Jet's mind roared at her and everything shattered, The beast disappears with Taaru even as Jet is reaching to save him.

"No!" She yells as the creature disappears with him, pounding the floor of the hallway in frustration as something she feels is important gets away from her mere moments before everything completely breaks apart and she falls into blackness.

She didn't stay in blackness all that long..or at least it did not feel like a long time, for all she knew she could have been lost for years. Something she decided it was best not to dwell on for the moment and cracking her eyes open she looked around. An urban scene greeted her and picking herself up off the ground she notices the armor and thank the force..a weapon! that she seems to be in possession of. Furthermore it feels as though she has control of things this time around and relief floods through her even as she takes in the terrible scene before her.

The street is pockmarked with the scars of war, machines..bodies, smoke and flame and rubble...all familiar in essence, though unfamiliar at the same time. It is the collapsing of a nearby building that causes her to glance upwards and notice the battle in the skies above, silhouetted against the sky three capitol ships are engaged in a battle with another much larger ship.

Another crash resounds as a weakened building gives way and Jet decides that standing about gazing at the sky is not the wisest thing to be doing. She begins to pick her way down the street.

[Taaru Masako]

As Jet makes her way down the rubble strewn street, she begins to register clues as to where this scene is taking place. She passes a set of stairs leading down to what appears to be some sort of underground transportation grid, labeled "Carannia Transit". The gates are drawn across it and padlocked. She passes several storefronts selling goods from everywhere in the galaxy, and those streets signs that haven't been wrecked or melted by blaster fire have names on them recognizable to most anyone with a smattering of history, or involvement in galactic charity organizations.

This point is driven home when she happens upon a large, ornate open air market, some of the marble stalls slagged or still burning, others pristine. The gateway is headed by wrought-iron bent into script; it reads "Count Dooku Memorial Plaza".

Distant blaster fire punctuates the moment, then lies silent again.

A flash in Jet's TacHUD.

<<WARNING! UNKNOWN ENTITY ATTEMPTING WIRELESS ACCESS. ECM/ECCM/DIAG RUNNING.>>

<<ACTION DESIGNATED, TRACE ATTEMPT. SHUTTING DOWN SATLINK TO CENTCOM MILNET. MANUAL SHUTDOWN OF WIRELESS INTERFACE Y/N?>>

[Jet Almeara]

What she wouldn't give to have Sagara with her at the moment Jet thought to herself as she picked her way cautiously down the ruined street. The other womens keen lifesense always made her an excellent companion in places such as this, places where it was nice to know just where everyone around happened to be hiding out. Of course her own abilities on that front would have been welcomed as well.

At least she had a weapon..and armor. Thank the force for small favors. She had even gotten an inkling of where she might be..possibly even a timeframe in history to go with it. Of course Jet was not nearly as interested in the where and when of her location so much as the why.

Distant blaster fire made her pause momentarily as she calculated the direction and approximate distance away before continuing onwards..only to be drawn up short by the message popping up on the helmets HUD. She selected the yes option after only a moments hesitation before continuing.

[Taaru Masako]

<<___YES>>

<<COMMAND ACCEPTED, TERMINATING UPLINK WITH CENTCOM MILNET. EVENT LOGGED.>>

The warning message flashes off, along with several other displays on her HUD....her tactical map goes dark, limited only to her suit's built-in motion detector and a fixed map loaded into the suit's memory. Satcoms are also down, leaving her with a radio range that can only broadcast as far as her suit allows. Any updates and feeds she'd been monitoring go with the shutdown.

A staccato of blaster fire again, but closer this time.

[Jet Almeara]

Jet sighs as so many helpful little screens go down - but it's better she decides then being hacked and possibly singled out and targeted by whatever was trying to gain acsess right? Sure..in any case the decision had already been made and done. no point in rethinking it now.

The blaster fire was moving closer and Jet angled her path in that direction...though she crept along carefully keeping to the various cover the war torn shops and other wreckage offered her.

[Taaru Masako]

A new sound enters the low din of a city under siege. A whine that echoes off the shattered architecture of nearby buildings, to the point where it sounds like it's coming from every direction at once.

It gets louder within minutes. Jet is making her way across a boulevard crowded with parked and abandoned vehicles when she's sees a glimpse of the source reflected off the polished transparicrete of a nearby building.

The drone fighter slides across the mirrored surface with ease, before finally coming into full view, the noise resolving as the wine of its VTOL rotors holding it aloft.

It turns in the air and focuses its sensor package directly on Jet, the hub of red eyes completely emotionless.

It takes only a few seconds for the drone to assess her as a target and open fire with a chin mounted assault blaster.