*****the astericks marks represent thoughts*****
Chapter 2
In the dimmed light of the bar Aris sat in, she called over the server droid and ordered a drink.
"I'll have a Lomin Ale please," she ordered kindly.
"Just one minute please. Your drink will be out shortly." The droid replied.
The sounds from the bar flooded toward her as she closed her eyes to listen, truely listen. After a few minutes of listening and watching the locals in the bar, she recieved her Ale, pulled out a toxins checking device, and once the drink was rendered 'drinkable,' she sipped at the green beverage. She let the spicy drink flow down her throat and slowly warm her body from the inside out.
Suddenly, a mysterious man in a black cloak approached her. She picked a table in the back corner, so she could see everything that was happening in the bar at all times.
There was something strange about this man, like Aris had met him before. "Hello," he said softly," you must be the ever popular Aris Dinell. I have heard a lot about you, and I have a proposition for you."
Humorously, she said, "Well, I hope you only heard good things." Then after a few second's hesitation, she spoke. Intriguied, Aris replied, "Well, I am always up for propositions. What can I do for you?"
"First," said the man softly, never taking his voice above a whisper, "you can start by buying me a drink."
*Great, here we go again. Another head strong jerk.* "What'll you have?"
He looked at her, as if trying to give her a clue. "I'll have a Corellian Whiskey, please."
Aris thought to herself, *Ooooo, a mysterious man in a cloak with manners, how exciting!*
Aris signaled the waiter and ordered the whiskey for the stranger. She thought it was funny, the way he looked left and right, and all around, as if he was some helpless prey, searching for a hiding spot.
"So you were saying something about a proposition?" She said inquisitively.
"Sure," the stranger settled back, like he was recalling a story that happened in another lifetime. "It all starts with this man named Nisroc Enab. You see, a long time ago, this man killed my wife. And an even longer time ago, he tried to kill me."
He looked as though tears were building up in his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. Noticing that right off the bat, Aris thought, *Just like a male to hide his true feelings.* "Now, here is where you come in," he continued, "your job is to find this man named Nisroc Enab, and capture this scum at all costs, but I want him alive. I need to know why he did such a thing!"
"Yes, I see," remarked Aris with much interest, "but why, if you don't mind my asking, didn't you go to a bounty hunter right after this happened?"
The man looked at her as if he expected her to know this. He opened his deep, brown eyes, once again, trying to tell her something. "Well, I thought that if I came out of hiding, he might to kill me and my daughter. So, naturally," he said 'matter-of-factly,' "I staged my own death."
"Wow, that is a very deep story, Mr........" She remembered that she had never caught his name before.
The stranger smiled slyly. "My name is not important right now. What is important though, is that you go to the Chorkin system, and go to the 7th moon of 9, and get information on this man, Nisroc Enab. This was the last place he had been supposedly. Do you understand the assignment?" He asked as if she hadn't been listening.
But on the contrary, Aris was listening. Aris was listening very intently. *Is there some kind of connection here? This is very uncanny. My birth planet was Chorkin VII.*
"Yes, I understand the assignment fully, and completely. And I am glad to take on this job. I might even have fun with it!"
"Wonderful," the man shouted. "But, don't have too much fun. You do have a job to do. And, you don't want to mess up. Just be carefull."
*Oooo, just like a man to tell a woman what to do. Granted he is my new employer, and he should tell me what to do, to a certain extent, but I don't need his lecture.*
The stranger went on, "I thank you gratefully for your time, and I shall wait for your arrival on the world of Dathomir. Good bye Aris Dinell."
Aris was now straining to hear this man's voice, and when she was inches from his face, the man slipped out of a back door in the bar. And as fast as he came, he was gone. Like many times before this Aris Dinell was left alone, but this time it was in the dingeyness and darkness of a bar. She let the swirling sounds swallow her, and tears formed in her deep, frosty blue eyes.
There was definitely something strange about her new employer, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. But right now, that didn't really matter. All that mattered now was getting back to her home planet, which she thought was odd, and finding this mystery man named Nisroc Enab.
She got up from her corner table, and left about 10 credits worth of tips. She thought this was more than generous of her, but Aris felt she had enough to spare.
She breathed in deeply, for she wanted to remember what this bar she had visited smelled like. The thick aromas of smoke and alcohol, made Aris feel comforted for one reason or another. Dinell left the dimmed bar and interesting looking locals behind, and headed for the docking bay. Once she had spotted her Modified B-97 Turbospiked A-Wing, she said her voice identification phrase, and climbed into the cockpit. This was just about the only real familiar thing she had had. Aside from the on-board computer which served as her 'friend,' Aris had no one.
However, this was no ordinary A-Wing she piloted. It had a rear extention to accomadate for a small sleeping quarters, and a storage space. Aris, at the touch of a button, could lay back her pilot's chair and push back into the extended quarters to serve as a bed. She herself, also modified the shields by 75%, making her ship as well protected from any disgruntled foe as a small Capital Starship. She recieved the shield modifier from a bounty she collected on.
Also, she upped the speed of the already incredibly fast A-Wing by 10%, making it faster and more manuverable than the Milleniumm Falcon! This had helped her out of numerous sticky situations that could have led to her demise. Finally, she added 1 set of quad laser cannons, twin ion cannons, and a concussion missile launcher to the dual linked laser cannons the ship had already possesed.
"This is Aris Dinell in the Heaven's Devil, requesting deactivation of the first shield, and permission to depart from Vetrouge."
Vetrouge's Flight Control responded, "Permission granted Miss Dinell. Safe travels, and thank you for vacationing on the lovely planet Vetrouge."
"Sure, if you call work a vacation," she sighed to herself.
Somewhere in a far corner of the galaxy, a man very near balding sat thinking in a grand arm chair, looking somewhat perplexed. The sound of leather hide boots on the cold metal floor told him that his trusted assistant was drawing near. The temperature controlling unit was set up higher than usual, thus a slight breeze was whipping about. The black robe that clung to his bony shoulders moved very little as he breathed.
The silence of space accompainied the perfectly quiet ship as it floated effortlessly through the star scape. The silence was interrupted by footsteps getting louder and louder. A man dressed in a general's uniform approached the star gazer. "S..sii...sir," the man stuttered, as if afraid of him, "we have located her. At your command, I will send someone to aprehend her."
An evil grin played demonically upon his slightly wrinkled face. "Good!" He was beginning to raise his voice. "I will have at that whole family!" His shout was enough to disturb the evil serenity that space had to offer.
The general nodded slowly as he saluted, abruptly turned, and rolled his eyes. *It has been far too long since I have gone along with this.*
The sound of his boots once again notified the man of his presance, but only this time, the sound was getting fainter and fainter. The resonation billowed away as the man became a tiny speck in some grand hallway, that presented itself to lead to no where on the massive vessel.
Even though the general departed, leaving the cloaked man alone, the ship still floated faithfully away, blending in with the space around it, until it could be seen no longer.
Chapter 2
In the dimmed light of the bar Aris sat in, she called over the server droid and ordered a drink.
"I'll have a Lomin Ale please," she ordered kindly.
"Just one minute please. Your drink will be out shortly." The droid replied.
The sounds from the bar flooded toward her as she closed her eyes to listen, truely listen. After a few minutes of listening and watching the locals in the bar, she recieved her Ale, pulled out a toxins checking device, and once the drink was rendered 'drinkable,' she sipped at the green beverage. She let the spicy drink flow down her throat and slowly warm her body from the inside out.
Suddenly, a mysterious man in a black cloak approached her. She picked a table in the back corner, so she could see everything that was happening in the bar at all times.
There was something strange about this man, like Aris had met him before. "Hello," he said softly," you must be the ever popular Aris Dinell. I have heard a lot about you, and I have a proposition for you."
Humorously, she said, "Well, I hope you only heard good things." Then after a few second's hesitation, she spoke. Intriguied, Aris replied, "Well, I am always up for propositions. What can I do for you?"
"First," said the man softly, never taking his voice above a whisper, "you can start by buying me a drink."
*Great, here we go again. Another head strong jerk.* "What'll you have?"
He looked at her, as if trying to give her a clue. "I'll have a Corellian Whiskey, please."
Aris thought to herself, *Ooooo, a mysterious man in a cloak with manners, how exciting!*
Aris signaled the waiter and ordered the whiskey for the stranger. She thought it was funny, the way he looked left and right, and all around, as if he was some helpless prey, searching for a hiding spot.
"So you were saying something about a proposition?" She said inquisitively.
"Sure," the stranger settled back, like he was recalling a story that happened in another lifetime. "It all starts with this man named Nisroc Enab. You see, a long time ago, this man killed my wife. And an even longer time ago, he tried to kill me."
He looked as though tears were building up in his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. Noticing that right off the bat, Aris thought, *Just like a male to hide his true feelings.* "Now, here is where you come in," he continued, "your job is to find this man named Nisroc Enab, and capture this scum at all costs, but I want him alive. I need to know why he did such a thing!"
"Yes, I see," remarked Aris with much interest, "but why, if you don't mind my asking, didn't you go to a bounty hunter right after this happened?"
The man looked at her as if he expected her to know this. He opened his deep, brown eyes, once again, trying to tell her something. "Well, I thought that if I came out of hiding, he might to kill me and my daughter. So, naturally," he said 'matter-of-factly,' "I staged my own death."
"Wow, that is a very deep story, Mr........" She remembered that she had never caught his name before.
The stranger smiled slyly. "My name is not important right now. What is important though, is that you go to the Chorkin system, and go to the 7th moon of 9, and get information on this man, Nisroc Enab. This was the last place he had been supposedly. Do you understand the assignment?" He asked as if she hadn't been listening.
But on the contrary, Aris was listening. Aris was listening very intently. *Is there some kind of connection here? This is very uncanny. My birth planet was Chorkin VII.*
"Yes, I understand the assignment fully, and completely. And I am glad to take on this job. I might even have fun with it!"
"Wonderful," the man shouted. "But, don't have too much fun. You do have a job to do. And, you don't want to mess up. Just be carefull."
*Oooo, just like a man to tell a woman what to do. Granted he is my new employer, and he should tell me what to do, to a certain extent, but I don't need his lecture.*
The stranger went on, "I thank you gratefully for your time, and I shall wait for your arrival on the world of Dathomir. Good bye Aris Dinell."
Aris was now straining to hear this man's voice, and when she was inches from his face, the man slipped out of a back door in the bar. And as fast as he came, he was gone. Like many times before this Aris Dinell was left alone, but this time it was in the dingeyness and darkness of a bar. She let the swirling sounds swallow her, and tears formed in her deep, frosty blue eyes.
There was definitely something strange about her new employer, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. But right now, that didn't really matter. All that mattered now was getting back to her home planet, which she thought was odd, and finding this mystery man named Nisroc Enab.
She got up from her corner table, and left about 10 credits worth of tips. She thought this was more than generous of her, but Aris felt she had enough to spare.
She breathed in deeply, for she wanted to remember what this bar she had visited smelled like. The thick aromas of smoke and alcohol, made Aris feel comforted for one reason or another. Dinell left the dimmed bar and interesting looking locals behind, and headed for the docking bay. Once she had spotted her Modified B-97 Turbospiked A-Wing, she said her voice identification phrase, and climbed into the cockpit. This was just about the only real familiar thing she had had. Aside from the on-board computer which served as her 'friend,' Aris had no one.
However, this was no ordinary A-Wing she piloted. It had a rear extention to accomadate for a small sleeping quarters, and a storage space. Aris, at the touch of a button, could lay back her pilot's chair and push back into the extended quarters to serve as a bed. She herself, also modified the shields by 75%, making her ship as well protected from any disgruntled foe as a small Capital Starship. She recieved the shield modifier from a bounty she collected on.
Also, she upped the speed of the already incredibly fast A-Wing by 10%, making it faster and more manuverable than the Milleniumm Falcon! This had helped her out of numerous sticky situations that could have led to her demise. Finally, she added 1 set of quad laser cannons, twin ion cannons, and a concussion missile launcher to the dual linked laser cannons the ship had already possesed.
"This is Aris Dinell in the Heaven's Devil, requesting deactivation of the first shield, and permission to depart from Vetrouge."
Vetrouge's Flight Control responded, "Permission granted Miss Dinell. Safe travels, and thank you for vacationing on the lovely planet Vetrouge."
"Sure, if you call work a vacation," she sighed to herself.
Somewhere in a far corner of the galaxy, a man very near balding sat thinking in a grand arm chair, looking somewhat perplexed. The sound of leather hide boots on the cold metal floor told him that his trusted assistant was drawing near. The temperature controlling unit was set up higher than usual, thus a slight breeze was whipping about. The black robe that clung to his bony shoulders moved very little as he breathed.
The silence of space accompainied the perfectly quiet ship as it floated effortlessly through the star scape. The silence was interrupted by footsteps getting louder and louder. A man dressed in a general's uniform approached the star gazer. "S..sii...sir," the man stuttered, as if afraid of him, "we have located her. At your command, I will send someone to aprehend her."
An evil grin played demonically upon his slightly wrinkled face. "Good!" He was beginning to raise his voice. "I will have at that whole family!" His shout was enough to disturb the evil serenity that space had to offer.
The general nodded slowly as he saluted, abruptly turned, and rolled his eyes. *It has been far too long since I have gone along with this.*
The sound of his boots once again notified the man of his presance, but only this time, the sound was getting fainter and fainter. The resonation billowed away as the man became a tiny speck in some grand hallway, that presented itself to lead to no where on the massive vessel.
Even though the general departed, leaving the cloaked man alone, the ship still floated faithfully away, blending in with the space around it, until it could be seen no longer.