It all started with an incoming transmission from an un-named informant, Marve was assigning the teams for dispatch and assigned me to Damaria Marsand's team, I don't know if this was to help me gain trust in her, or to keep an eye on her… the mission comes first. I noted that I was singled out for violence, I guess this is how the group sees me now, but why shouldn't they… I'm getting ahead of myself. Our end of the mission was a rescue and recruit if possible, Chulo & Grexi Takka, and get out of Dodge before the IMP's arrive.

The taxi was waiting for us outside, the way he talked I mistook him for someone on the inside, I let it slip of my distaste for the empire, i'll blame that on Vinny Valoso's quick talking and being in the company of a pretty young lady. The ride was short and it was raining heavily outside, and just got worse, casing the joint wasn't going to be an option, and Damaria wasn't dressed for the weather, the youth never are.

Damaria stayed at the front to keep watch as I head up the stairs, I took my time going up, that may have been a mistake, frankly splitting up may have been as well. I thought if the Takka's saw a former imperial officer they may be unwilling to move, it turns out I was a fair bit rough around the edges and the door was slammed in my face, I didn't say the right thing I guess, so I radioed Damaria to regroup, and went for my rifle. I had fully intended to force my way in and get them out at all costs. Damaria moved faster than I thought a human could, she was at the door before I had my rifle out. Damaria tried the door again, only this time Chulo greeted us, Damaria laid it all out, I don't think she said anything diffrent, but he believed us this time. We were in.

They were Rodians and they had a now crying child, the Takka's went about grabbing information I went to quiet the child, Damaria was in the hall with her eyes closed, something about the way she stood reminded me of the long lost Jedi…

It wasn't long and we were moving down the fire escape into the alley below, the rain wasn't letting up at all, Damaria moved to what we hoped would be our ride, it was, but we had company. Blaster fire screamed past my head, (I was relieved to find my hat unscathed from the combat once the mission was over, I love that hat, it reminds me of my former life) I lay down fire on the troopers that stood in our escape route. I had my rifle set to stun, it went against every the marrow of my bones, but orders were orders. They make sense so I'll adhere to them as far as I can. I stunned one cold and another barely held to his feet before succumbing to the fire. There was three of them and the third broke rank and ran. Lucky us. I took a hit and dove into the open door. During the commotion Chulo was hit as well. It looked bad, but I didn't have time to take a good look, we still wern't out of the fire, Vinny stepped on the accelerator, but this wasn't a fast moving speeder of any sort. Two swoops moved in fast, I took the time to use a stim, Damaria returned fire. The taxi shook from fire the engine pooped and groaned to a halt as Vinny lost control and crashed, I sprang out on the left side of the wreckage as Damaria took the others and head down the alley to the right

I took aim and fired at the speeder to my right, aiming at the driver, I scored a direct hit knocking him unconscious, his partner saw his coming doom and bailed, he landed hard on his right arm, glad to say that's one trooper that won't be holding a blaster any time soon. The other speeder came to a stop, I had to jump from cover as the first speeder crashed into the wreckage of our cab. The explosion didn't phase me, and I was ready to fire again, only I missed that shot and took another hit, this one was worse than the first, I could feel pain coursing through my entire body, but I'm use to pain. Bringing my barrel up I leveled it at the two soldiers putting the closer directly in my crosshairs, as I exhaled I squeezed the trigger, the blast of photonic energy hit them shutting down both of their nervous systems. When I looked up from all the chaos I saw had left taking Grexi and Bobo, I told the others to take the Troopers speeder, so Damaria had Tor disable the tracker from it and she took Chulo and head off to base. Tor later told me of how he patched up the Rodian male. Glad he can patch up more than a leaky hose.

Frankly I'm glad to be back in my bunk, I'll be sleeping this one off for a fort night.

XP spent:

• Grit - gained from doing battle in a heavy downpour, re-awakening his hunting skills and adapting them to his current experiences
• Brace - gained from being shot in combat several times, and all the brawls that led to this day.

Sprend showed up on Baron's doorstep, dressed in camo greeting the young performer with nothing more than a nod. When the Baron finally broke the silence it was to pose a question.“How is the Safehouse working out, with the Takkas there? Any trouble with the kid?”

“It's gotten a bit cramped, the Takkas…, I'm glad you ask. They're fine, the kids all right but it's not a place for a family like theirs, we need to get them out of the city soon, even off world would would be better for them.” Sprend pulled the delivery truck over and the two got out and started walking into the bush.

“Do you think we have any weaknesses in our group,” Baron asked, “or suggestions to improve our efficacy?

Sprend looked up at the fading stars as twilight neared, “Inexperience makes us weak, but the diversity makes us strong, we could afford to run more drills. We need more missions where we're confined together, you see much in each of us, but…” Sprend paused for what seemed like several minutes, “We need to believe in each other, doubt in each other, in ourselves is dangerous, deadly.” Motioning for silence Sprend started setting up a quick and dirty duck blind near the water's edge as the two made themselves comfortable and settled in for the hunt.

It was an hour before dawn was in full force, and another before the calls of ducks drew near, Sprend motioned for Baron to wait and the two remained motionless until the sound of ducks got close, then Sprend took out a small call from within his coat and started calling to the ducks, they started to circle and settle down at the waters before them. Then Sprend nodded to Baron and the two opened fire.

Two hours later Sprend shared a rare smile to the Baron, “the hunt has been a resounding success overall, don't feel too bad at not getting too many birds, that was good for a first time.”

“I appreciate your willingness to be a team player,” Baron started, “it is not easy to bide our time and strike only from the shadows. We have a finely balanced job to do - if we push too far, too quickly, the Imperials will spare no expense to hunt us down.”

Sprend nodded quietly, listening as the two started back.

“But if we are viewed only as a minor annoyance, hiding the extent of our victories, the bureaucracy may not realize how powerful we are becoming until it is too late. One slip up, and we may have to abandon everything we have here and run.

In fact, we may have already made one mistake in our last mission - the man we rescued is guaranteed to draw undue attention to Bin Prime.

Sprend; I need you to watch our backs. Be vigilant on our missions; the Empire is far more powerful here than our team realizes, and I have a feeling you understand that better than the others. They will show no mercy - they showed no mercy to my family, and will not show mercy to us.”

“Your right Baron, I know all too well how the Empire trates it's…” Sprend paused, “threats. They won't stop at nothing, killing defenceless women and children, evicting families because they don't share a vision or bow in respect to the name of the Emperor. You all think that I started fights just for the sake of revenge, it was meant to be seen as that, I've lost, much…” Sprend suppressed a shudder as he choked back his words and stopped talking for a mile further, before he talked again.

“You should know, he spoke with me last night,” Sprend didn't wait for Baron to ask, “our new guest, he's a Jedi, you've surely heard the stories of the old order, his name is Lo-den Xenrad. Just don't let anyone know, not just yet. I think I've seen him before, as a kid, oh some thirty odd years ago. He was a master in the Jedi order, how he escaped the purge I do not know. He passed out after telling me to talk with you. I think he knew we would have this talk.” Sprend stopped and looked the Baron directly in the eyes, “If a Jedi trusts you, then you have mine as well!” With that the two got in the truck and returned home.

Exploring the vast network of caverns below the city, I lost my footing in the dark, sliding into an adjoining cave. Almost lost my hat there, that would have been most undesirable. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I found myself in what could be called an old grave, several clone troopers in an old destroyed ship, probably a Republic Assault Gunship. Looking through the wreckage I fond the on board computers, maybe the data chips may have some use to the rebellion. I remember that they often had lots of intel on hand that could include stuff like ammo depots or maybe appropriate staging areas, could be useful in future operations. I'm sure that they will send any information back to us that may help with efforts on Balmorra. Climbing out was tricky, crying out like a little girl wasn't doing me a lick of good. Frankly I'm a little glad that no one heard me. I had to crawl on my stomach like some primitive creature digging my fingers into the cracks wherever I could find, after a few hours I was out. thinking back to it maybe I should have grabbed some of that old clone armour, it may help out in combat situations. Though it would have meant disturbing the dead bodies of soldiers that died for freedom.

Pulling his speeder over next to one of the medics; a blue Twi'lek who's back was turned to Sprend at the time. Sprend struggled to throw his leg over the swoop to dismount, the pain was shooting up and down his body now and he felt consciousness turning from him. Loosing his footing Sprend nearly fell on top of the unaware medic, who had been gathering up her supplies to tend to the next wounded individual, turning around just in time to drop everything and catch Sprend firmly, assisting him gently to the ground.

“Been a long day I take it? Let me look at you.” her smile was reminiscent of past day, days that Sprend had almost forgotten. “My name is Dr.Tann Shala, please hold still you look like your on the verge of going into shock.” Sprend replied through a winced pain filled smile. She quickly removed his mask and started to examine his injuries resetting a dislocated shoulder, the pop could be heard echoing against the canon walls, several people turned to look at Sprend but where unaware how much pain he was in, hiding behind his smile as he enjoyed the company of the Twi'lek doctor.

“This is a Monday for me, or at least it was before I met this family of mine.”

“You sure look like you could use some more help, doesn't your team have a field medic?” her eyes showed genuine concern, something Sprend was wondering if a certain family member had towards him, his memory resting on the shock he felt before being decked in the face, by the agent hiding amongst the slaves earlier that day.

It wasn't long before Sprend was all bandaged up, the two had actually been laughing a sight that some would say had never been seen before, to think Sprend laughing, the notion is laughable in itself.

Spread moved to a perch on top of a nearby rocky spire, looking out across the desert canyon. It was times like this that tormented his soul; was the carnage worth it, was the chaos ever going to end? But the he saw three former twilek prisoners approach Fox, who had just emerged from the tent and gave him a fierce hug. It brought a tear to his eyes; yup, definitely worth it. To think all those slaves, probably all domed to die working in the mines, dieing for a worthless empire. A fit of rage almost confronted him, instead he channeled it into some much needed target practice. Using a setting known to few, he turned his rifle into targeting mode and used the weapons scope to record telemetry on rebounding light emissions from the barrel, a silent and efficient way to practice, no need to alarm anyone that was the last thing on his mind. “Sprend?” A quite voice called him from bellow. Sprend felt a chill come over him, a call to action was upon him, the time to act wasn't over.

Sprend was taking point wearing tooper laminate armour on the first swoop with, the others in tow. The group rode on two bikes with three others manned with Twi’lek’ bringing up the rear; the other three were ordered to drop back and provide backup at a moments notice. Out of sight, and out of trouble.

Getting in was simple, we stopped at the entrance to the mine and I gave out my designation, “T4-887, here with supplies,” the troopers helped us cary them right on in. About time something went off without a hitch. Fox this time took on a disguise, wearing the second set of armour that we had grabbed from the battlefield aftermath. Once inside I asked about some food and Fox went to the fresher, Tor I think managed to sneak after one of the tech officers that was there receiving the gear. It was clear that there wasn't a lot of options out here but Fox's absence from the room gave me an idea, one that I would quickly share with him.

Off to the fresher to join him, though I almost regretted that. Once inside it was evident that no one cared about anyone in this backwater hell hole; the fresher was nothing but a cave reeking of squatting spots. I feared slipping in something unmentionable. But there wasn't time for that; “Fox, I'm going back out and your going to have to play injured, I'll say you slipped in something, shouldn't be hard to believe,” I motioned to all the 'slime' on the ground, “and when I come back in take out our adversary.” Fox was in agreement and I was back out.

“Hey can I get a hand,” I asked, “My friend slipped and is injured in there. My story was believable and Fox's moaning helped aid the tale, the lower ranking trooper was ordered to assist, I let the sorry fool lead the way. As the door closed behind us Fox leapt at him with his fusion cutter lit, going strait for the jugular. The blow missed it's mark but my rifle hit the trooper in the back of the head and I think it helped the torch burn through the comm circuit. Fox was quick to make his second strike this time striking true, slicing straight through. I felt empowered during this, Damaria was encouraging us through her use of the force and I acted quickly giving a turn of his helm all you could hear was a gurgled whimper as his life came to a torturous end. Not an end fitting a hero but for the scum of a tooper, I'll get over it. Over our private channel I commed Damaria, “I can take the shot from in here just give the word.” Fox stood ready to open the door, knife in hand. “Do it,” Damaria responded.

The door slid open and I took the shot, the bolt rang true hitting the soldier square on. A second shot ricochet behind him as if guided by the force and hit the controls to the exterior door, trapping the two troopers that stood guarding the entrance. He stood firm smoke wifting from his singed armour, quick to take aim on Damaria and opened fire. Coward.

Fox leapt through the air trying to strike out at the commander, Damaria fired both to no avail, I let another volley tear through the commander, he dropped and was out. “Take them out,” I shouted on the comms, signalling the Twi'lek' into action. Me and Fox moved into cover as the door blew open and the troopers marched in, I let another volley tear through them, some of the bolts caused an explosion from the wall behind them and it was over.

Tor was raised on comms and it sounded like he had faired well. Moving towards the room that Tor was in it was evident that we could use some explosives from across the way all we needed to do was wade through some questionable liquid. Damaria was quick to take the lead, I have to say something didn't sit right with me, I couldn't bring myself to jump in. As Damaria jumped back in and waded to the other side she glared at me. Yes I know this looks bad, sorry Dar, I took a look at the gap, If I was confident that I could make the jump I would have tried. I dropped down and joined Damaria moving the goods, though when I was in the room with the explosives I took off my trooper helm, being careful to stay in the shadows. “Sabik sends his regards, stay if you want to go down with the mine” They took off and were gone.

It wasn't long and we were out of there. Ore samples obtained and some info Tor was proud to have. During the wait I had liberated a better set of armour from the commander, it was a surprisingly nice fix. Now we were off to get the mining equipment back and square things off with Sibik.

Short ride and we arrived at the base of the Human League. Damaria sent in her drone and all looked well, several slaves coward in a corner another was sweeping in the back of the room and an old human sat at a table with a pregnant woman sitting beside her. We all sensed the trouble coming, Fox was quick to shed his disguise, proud to go forth and claim fear and respect. I brought up the rear and as we rounded the corner the old crony aimed at Fox and shouted a death scream, Damaria pushed him out of the path taking the hit. Quickly I fired back in retaliation, the hag dropped as the pregnant woman got up, “don't do it!” I yelled, and then I noticed what I only had wished I'd seen sooner, that Bitch was mad and that belly was no belly, it was a bomb. Quick think was all I had. This was the end. But not for my family, “BOMB!” I yelled jumping on top of her, over the next few somethings all I could see was everyone yelling, though I couldn't here what, Tor was standing, or kneeling over me. I was bleeding all over the place, looking around It was clear to my foggy mind, I was the only victim of the bomber. Damaria was on the mend, looked all right, sitting against the wall.

After the dust settled and I was on my feet again pain coursing through my entire body. As I understood it Swift was being held captive by the Human League, this group is fitting in well with the Empire, I bet there's a strong connection. It was quickly ascertained that I was the best pilot we had, times like this I miss that kid, Dash could drive circles around me; time to move. I hate to say this but the drive was a blur, I think Tor was in the back helping Damaria overcome her recent wounds, Fox was beside me in the van, navigating, helping us shave off as much time as possible.

Hours later, we were lucky to arrive in one piece considering how fast we were moving. It looked like only two guards to the facility that housed a captive comrade. I quickly climbed up a nearby building and took out the two guards, they dropped like a couple of used rags. Taking out the trash has become child's play. Quickly we entered the building, moving down the long corridor. It was dark in here and the others moved in the direction that Damaria felt Swifts presence. I was staying where I was to try and provide as much cover as possible.

Then, droids. First it was the one, coming right at me, I had it by surprise, took aim and unleashed hells fury. The droid kept moving forward, charging it's blaster. Feedback flowed back down the barrel and the bot exploded. Something else was going down not to far from me. All I remember was the ATST that was coming at us, I moved towards the entrance, taking aim at some explosive barrels. They exploded, only serving to delay the coming doom. “Time to go!” I shouted.

Damarian and Tor were carrying Swift, moving out of the building. Fox was right behind me as I covered our escape; then coughing, Fox was clutching his throat. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hauled his ass out of there. Into the van we collapsed, I think I heard Dash's voice; and I was out.

When we got back, all attention was on the Baron, he was in bad shape, maybe as bad as I was, maybe worse, it was hard for me to tell. I rubbed my chest, just thinking about it. As soon as I knew that Swift was going to be ok, I was moved into the bacta tank. It was finally over.

Grexi Takka and Jumper managed to decrypt the next level of the data-chip, and hand Sprend the coordinates to what may be an extant hangar from the Great Galactic War. “It is referred to as Launch 7; there were several hangar bays hidden in the regions around Bin Prime during the Sith occupation, and these hangars were connected to the catacombs and were used in covert operations by the ancient Balmorran Resistance fighters. Ki-adi-mundi, the guide on this chip, apparently found the coordinates during the Clone Wars but was unable to track its location precisely.”

Swift adds, “Balmorra has a long history of fighting our battles on our own, but the Alliance is trying to help - if we can secure a hangar bay, Compatriot will send supplies to get it running. This would have extreme strategic value - we're only a few motions away from a complete lockdown in Bin Prime.”

The terrain is extremely rugged, with dense forests, sheer cliff walls, small canyons and small but rushing mountain streams. Sprend spends the first day setting up some basic surveying markers to be more precise. As night quickly approaches Sprend makes himself comfortable sitting against a tree with his gun at his side, coat pulled tight, making sure to put some distance between any animal tracks of large predators. Tilting his hat over his eyes as the darkness closes in .Sprend hears all the night noises of the forest. He drifts into the serenity of nature, and the violence and terror of the past few days disappear in the natural rhythms of the forest. Familiar stars shine above the canopy, casting a silver glow on through the limbs. In the peace and quiet Sprends calls up memories of the years before the Empire, when; as a child, he would sneak into the forests of his home wold, late at night, and explore the vast new world that was nothing like when it was awake.

The first night goes well, only a few animals even come near, and nothing dangerous. The next day he continues deeper into the mountainous region, climbing on fallen trees that had fallen eons past, traversing across jagged chasms and rushing water.

On the third day, as Sprend is checking on his coordinates high up in a large tree attempting to get a proper signal, a sound emanates from behind him. Sprend recognizes the short, hooting call of the Varactyl, and remembers that they spook at quick movements. He turns slowly from his perch in the tree above, and sees a gorgeous female, with blue-green plumage. With his foreknowledge of the Varactyl Sprend breaks out into an old Duro lullaby, one that catches the attention of the gorgeous female creature, spying some berries on a nearby branch he grabbed hold of a hand full, carefully dropping them down to the creature below, slowly feeding the enchanting beast. Lucky for Sprends companions, the Duro's voice is anything but a singing voice like the Baron's, but the Varactyl was responding favorably. Noticing that she is malnourished, Sprend shows her affection and starts to bush her hair, continuing to feed and care for her as he continued his search, slowed only a bit by his new companion.

As the pair gains elevation, the trees grow taller and more dense. On the 15th, the skies suddenly start to darken, and the telltale signs of a storm are seen - thunderheads gather in the distance, a sudden drop in temperature, and the wind changes. Sprend started searching for a cave, hoping to find solace in its shelter. Making sure to harvest plenty of rations for himself and his beast the Varactyl noticeing the coming storm, started to sniff out some food she evidently prefers. A cave was found before the weather got to bad and as evning comes with the storm the two are safely snug a few meters inside the cave, with a cheery fire crackling. The Varactyl stretcheing out, enjoying the warmth, and curls herself up against Sprend. Her skin leathery with some rough patches here and there, her beak is very hard as she noses into his side.

Through the mouth of the cave Sprend sees the pounding rain and flying debris from trees whipping in the gale. As he studies the entrance, it dawns on him that the rock almost looks hewn - it is far more regular than a natural cave would be. After resting through the night Sprend fashions a rudimentary torch from the remaining fire supplies and starts to explore into the not so natural cave.

Sprend heads to the back cave wall; pulling away the vines and thick moss, he discovers a rotting door, large enough to drive a speeder through. He kicks it down easily, and the torch flame sputters as a draft flows through the now-open tunnel.

The walls are straight and dry, and his footsteps echo along the even ground as he travels along, the Varactyl feet pattering beside him, occasionally hooting. The tunnel looks undisturbed over the past millennia, with ancient spiderwebs billowing slightly in the draft.

The tunnel descends steadily for about 15 minutes until he arrives at the threshold of the entrance to a massive cavern. The torchlight disappears into the darkness beyond them. Stepping past the threshold, feeling a cool breeze coming from the his left. This is clearly the hangar he has been looking for. The tunnel must have been a side exit, big enough to accommodate a quick escape via speeder. Walk towards the left, the light from the torch sputtering wildly with shifting air movements, reflecting off old coils of fuel lines, shards from an ancient cockpit scattered the floor, but unfortunately no actual ships or vehicles remained in the vast expanse.

After a few minutes of careful walking Sprend arrived near what must be the massive hangar door - it is closed, but he could see the complex mechanisms to lift a slab door wide and tall enough to allow the passage of a corellian corvette, 50-60 meters across.

Managing to find the source of the draft Sprend cought a dim glow of light, high up and to the right of the hangar door high up some broken rock stairs to a third level walkway and what seemed to be an outline of a doorway. Judging from the rising sun It must be facing east. Sprend carefully looked over the broken staircase and figured it was worth the risk, better to survey now than wait for someone to catch up. Reaching out to steady himself, he started the sketchy climb up.

The climb is more difficult than it first appeared; halfway up it becomes apparent that there has been a minor rockfall in the upper level, and there are loose rocks that should be cleared. In the flickering light Sprend slipped on a loose rock, pebbles showering down below, badly bruises his knee, feeling a bit dizzy from the overexertion, but pressing on he reached the top.

Coming to the doorway at the top, Sprend feelt the wind gusting through the cracks around the thick door; shifted over the centuries, light bounceing its way through the gaps, at least during this time of day.

The varactyl, curious about something beyond the door, pushed and scrambled against the door, knocking it down as the rusty hinges shriek. Sunlight poured in half-blinding Sprend as he's left staring into the rising sun.

Stepping out onto a wide stone ledge, not far away the varactyl is greedily eating eggs from a nest of some avian, fifty feet up a nearly vertical cliff wall, evidently she was an excellent climber. The view was marvelous - the hangar situated at the end of a canyon, very deep, long, and just wide enough for a CR-90 to pass through. Well-chosen, and well-hidden. The level Sprend currently stood on is a second level to the hangar bay it seemed suitable for fighters or small freighters.

Sheer cliff walls stretched out on either side of the canyon, and on both sides massive trees spread limbs out over the edge, completely blocking out visibility from far above. The trees would shelter from infrared scanning from prying eyes. It looked like the hangar is buried beneath 80-100 meters of solid granite. The exterior of the hangar door looked similar to the cliffside, though there are clearly man-made supports along each side, the massive stone block courses around 3m high each. They house the mechanisms to lift the hangar door.

Wrapping some leaves he used as a bandage around his knee, Sprend spent called back to base, Marv was on the other end.

“Hey Sprend it's been a few days, find anything yet or were yu' distracted by the game out there?”

Sprend smiled looking at his new creature that had just rejoined him after her morning feast, “Ya, you could say that I've been a little pre-occupied, but let the boys know that I've found it. There's enough room in here to house a complete base of operations for a small contingent, I think it may near survive low orbital bombardment, if it's detectible at all. Great minds went into setting this up, it's seen hole era's of time take it's toll, there's much work to be done here, but it's going to be grand. Let them know that I'll be a while, but I'm sure we'll find a way back.” The connection went out as Sprend abruptly hung up and went eagerly to the Varactyl, stroking the plumage that adorned her neck.

Marv left alone on the other end was a bit puzzled at the abrupt cut off, but Sprend did say he was fine, Marv would send word to the rest of the crew promptly.

Sprend spent the rest of the day training his new beast, trying out different names here and there, focusing on response more then anything at the moment, not wanting to put to much onto his knee.

He spends 2 days working on a name but when he gets one it sticks and it's like the bond between them is complete, the training goes great after several long drawn out days.

During day 17-18 Sprend starts to map out the catacombs beneath the hangar bay wondering the labyrinth beneath the city spend found the connection, connecting the part between the med bay and the reactor core once he was comfortable with treking the distance he asked Marv to acquire a saddle for him. Once the saddle was in his possession spend took the time and care too warm Sacha up to the idea of wearing such a device.

Swift bought the tack for Sprend, asking him to see if he can track down another mount for himself, sugesting that perhaps a male could be obtained as a breeding pair; wanting to come along and see if his abilities can help tame the more violent and vicious male.

Sprend gladly taking Swift along to attempt another wrangle of a beast, figuring that these fine creatures may even keep up with a swoop it wouldn't hurt having something different to do. Swift and Sprend head out from the hangar on the afternoon of the 18th The two made a great team, after 2 hours Sprend found tracks near to where he found his Varactyl, and is convinced he found a set that looked like they may be already familiar to each other, if they're in luck it may even be the natural mate of the female. Sprend encourages the female to start singing, she's looking a little excited as she wants to be reunited with her mate.

Without warning Sprend makes a motion to stop Swift, getting down low as a male Varactyl looms out of the bush chirping at it's mate. To the duo's pleased surprise Sasha responds back and stays at their side, after a few moments of back to back chatter the male comes closer, curious about what was going on. Sprend pulled out some food that worked earlier and handed it to Swift whispering “feed him” as Swift reached out his hand the large Varactyl moved in closer and cautiously started to eat. After some time Sprend had the harness on the male and had him leashed up to Sasha, the two were able to return successful with now two beasts instead of one. It appeared to Sprend that his Varactyl may indeed be in heat.

Swift is absolutely amazed at how expertly Sprend handles the varactyl, and follows his lead closely. He had anticipated using his Force Influence, but was quite happy to tame him “naturally”. At the end of the day, back at the hangar and after a good late meal, Swift claps Sprend on the back. “That was excellent - great work! The Force was strong with us tonight, and it looks like we may have a new source of income - I know there is a market on Balmorra and off-world for trained mounts. And it sure is nice to get out of the city - I needed the fresh air after being stuck inside for over a week.”

He chats with Sprend for a while, around a small fire since most of the power is not yet hooked up, reminiscing about days long gone, telling a few trappers' tales of varactyls stealing food from traps or about the loyalty of trained ones.

So it's been a rough twenty four hours. The hole capture and escape. My eyes burnt, most of what I see are nothing but a confusing blur. I know now that it must be the force that guides my hands, if any of the others knew just what I could see I don't think they would be able to believe anything but… I barley believe it as it is. But let me start with the nightmare that troubled me the last night on balmora, I saw countless many faces, people I've never met before, there all screaming, everything turns red with this green shadow in the background. Then there faces start to melt right off, fire, fire everywhere, and then I'm standing by my bed. I'm being led away from it, I can't turn back, I get to the room that our prisoner Lars Rail is imprisoned in. Jumper is asleep by the door. My hand pushes the door open and I'm in the room, in my hands I'm holding my rifle. None of this dream makes sense, but Lars can't help but taunt me with horrible, gross, hurtful words against my family. Being a dream let him chew on the but of my rifle, striking it against his head. The dram ends. I awake the next morning to Damaria, Tor and Baron shaking me awake. There accusing me of killing Lars last night. But it was just a dream. I stumble my way to the holding room. The dream wasn't a dream after all. I could see the indent, one that matched “Gladus' ” no mistaking that, I know my gun. In a daze I gathered up my gear. Said my goodbyes to Jumper Marv and

We were in the van traveling to the port to rondevou with our pickup. Only one checkpoint to make it through and we are in, and the contact who meets us is hooped up on the force knows what, I mention to Dash that we need to get a move on. Not willing to risk another second I knock the unsuspecting man out cold. It was a clean shot to the back of his skull. He dropped silently info Dash's arms. I was going to suggest that we leave him behind so that his friends don't miss him, but next thing I know I'm agreeing with Baron to haul him aboard. With two star-destroyers overhead we all scramble to positions. Dash in the pilots chair, Tor next to him making the nave checks, Damaria on comms, and I naturally slip into the dorsal gun emplacement and strap myself in. Soon we're blasting away from port, a bunch of Stormtroopers accompanied by the dreaded inquisitor just enter view from whence we came. So I open fire, the barrage of fire sent many troopers into the air. Only the inquisitor is left standing. I'm sure he was sneering as he extinguished his Lightsaber and I couldn't see him anymore as they became like ants. Soon we blasted to the hyperspace node, I could here thoughts as Damaria made me aware of many missiles coming our way. I lay down suppressing fire hopping for the best l, I could heard Damaria doing the same from the ventral guns. I only imagine that we made a narrow escape. At least I did what I could, only the force could have allowed us our success, this time the force was with us. After we landed I was given my nessisary eye surgery, frankly it's like nothing I've seen before, I can see read outs of basic information I'll need to find out the limitations of these eyes. I don't know what's left of my old ones. So I submitted myself for a psychiatric evaluation, turns out I'm not crazy, the worst part is after I told the doctor about my dream, reports started flooding in on what we learnt was an attack and destruction of Alderan, the Empire has a new weapon the size of a moon with the power to destroy a planet. Is all lost? The Empire must be stopped. No mater the cost.

It was early morning when I awoke. Grabbing my gear I was the first to board the lambda shuttle, the smell of oil, and a strong disinfectant still lingered in the air, masked by the smell of fresh pain that wafted in from the exterior hull. I could see that the rebel alliance was still trying to keep up the appearance of a vessel pf the imperial fleet. I spent the time I had familiarizing myself with the systems that I recognized, waisting no time with the gunnery position.

I enjoyed a quick nap before the others boarded, Tor was the first to arrive, didn't even notice me, his head was buried in his new data pad, taking a seat he was studying something that must have been important. I miss my hat.

As the others boarded spirits seemed to be high, though I fear what they think of me after the incident back on Balmora.

The trip was uneventful; at least until we were comm'd to engage the slave circuit. Tor spouted a curse and jumped to action making a work around, but it didn't hold; frankly neither did the comms… Must be something atmospheric, a couple thoughts jumped to mind.

Desperately I looked for any dangers ahead, the dangers came at us again and again. Then it came; almost to my delight, dozens of flying reptiles swarmed around the ship, and I let out a torrent of fire.

Then, almost as quickly as it started, it was over. Thankfully too; Tor had the idea of scrapping the beasts that clung to the hull against the canyon walls, almost lost a stabilizer with that maneuver. I'll keep that to myself though, needn't trouble anyone with what may have been.

I was surprised to here the praises that came when we arrived. They don't normally see piloting like that; shame Dash wasn't with us, kid makes the lot of us look like babes in training pants.

Splitting up me and Tor went to check out the armoury; we had some pleasant conversations over there.

Then it was time for our first assignment, nothing to hard. We split in to two groups and hopped into two land speeders. It was nice to open up the throttle a bit, though flight may not be my thing… we found a little something in the first sector. I don't like the looks of this, and moving into the final sector my hunch was confirmed. Imperial probe droid (not that I was expecting a probe droid) I was glad to have moved into position ahead of time. With one shot I popped the thing like a wamprat, but it was to late. The Imperials were already here.

We scrambled to make it back to base trying to evade the pursuing TIE's that hunted us. We narrowly made our escape back to base, and were given our next assignment. And here's were something went wrong. It still baffles me as we make our way past a scuffle with some large reptiles, (brothers of the ones we shot through earlier today?) while we had been running through a tunnel we came to a collapse that had buried several of our comrades, I wanted to shout out “Lets help these men” but I found myself arguing with Barron, trying to convince him to continue moving forward. I watched helplessly as if in a dream as my body went on and on with an ill fated quest on why we needed to continue moving. Fear washed all over me as I watched the people die as Barron feverously made his attempts to save them on his own.

I struggle with how to tell him that this is not me, I wanted to be right by his side pulling those men from the rubble. But what do I say…?

Catching up with the other two I had my wits about me once again, good thing too, they were under attack by those large reptilian creatures. I took aim and let my shots flash from my rifle, Swift ignited his lightsaber and moved in for the kill. Without any further loss the battle was over and we moved once again to our target.