I'm very, very sorry about not having updated in so long, but other things take precedence over this story, I'm afraid.

Seventh chapter.

Kinda lost my plot (literally), so good luck to me.

Shortish chapter.

Declaimer: I only own the lack of plot and a couple characters, I am not making any money from this story, and I freely admit it, thus you cannot sue me legally.

Who am I kidding?

SEVEN

Emlyn groaned as she lowered herself onto the floor of her holding cell, trying to bang any of her new bruises. She couldn't believe what had happened in the past two hours. How could they run into so much trouble in less than a day on a planet? She decided that it was just a special talent they all possessed, possibly with the exception on Freya, who looked so young and scared in her cage that it made even Emlyn want to comfort her.

She had to admit to herself that she felt slightly guilty for her reaction earlier. Some might say it was justified, but Emlyn thought differently. She was a Jedi, older than Freya by three years, and should have known better and behaved better. Perhaps if she had an opportunity she could talk things over with the younger girl. But there were bigger things to be concerned with at the moment, like how to escape their death sentence, for one thing.

After she had recovered from the embarrassment of her confession to Dustil – on the good side it made them better friends – she, Freya, Dustil, and Cole had gone straight to the cantina for information on Jobba or someone who could put them in contact. She remembered entering the cantina and being shocked by its cleanliness. It was clean! She just couldn't get her mind around the concept. Of course, there wasn't any entertainment to speak of, but there weren't any blood stains, carbon scoring, or a nasty odor in the air.

"Looking for something, strangers?" asked a soft feminine voice. Emlyn turned and caught sight of a purple skinned, scantily dressed twi'lek woman. She was standing behind a half wall, and had apparently been watching since the four had entered the room.

"What's it to you?" Cole asked suspiciously.

"I may have what it is you seek," the twi'lek said, "And you may be able to do me a service." She smiled at them, but the grin was not friendly. "I know you seek Jobba, though I do not know why. I can take you to him, but in return you must do me a favor."

"How do we know that you are telling the truth?" Freya questioned, frowning at the twi'lek.

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Kala Divnar, a bounty hunter from the Outer Rim, and I'm here on business that doesn't concern you," said the twi'lek, "And as for how you know I'm telling the truth, that is your decision. I can only tell you that I am not lying to you."

Freya, Dustil, and Emlyn looked at each other. Of course they didn't trust her, but her information might just be what they needed.

:It's probably a trap: Emlyn thought to Dustil.

:But it could be our only lead:

:Then lets check it out:

"Shibaka tu nuka," Cole said unexpectedly.

Kala looked surprised for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Anaka bija," she responded, chuckling.

:Do you have any idea what that meant: Emlyn asked Dustil.

:I think it was a signal of some kind, but I wouldn't bet my life on that. It was in the twi'lek language called… I don't remember. I did used to have a twi'lek as a teacher in the Sith Academy, but I didn't learn much of her language; she preferred to let her saber do the talking:

:Ah:

Cole grinned. "This is my contact," he said, "But that doesn't mean we can trust her." He turned to face Kala. "You didn't say anything about a trade, Kala."

Shrugging, the twi'lek responded, "I did not have to meet you here, either. Even talking to Jedi could get me killed, but I do it, asking only a small favor in return. I do not think it is so much."

"What do you want us to do?" Dustil asked. His face was unreadable.

Kala looked each of them up and down before saying, "Jobba is hosting a party tomorrow, and you are to join the hired help. That will get you close to the hutt, and to one of his guests. There will be a man named Ranod Kolin attending. I need you to steal the key to his apartment room: he has something of mine that I want back."

"That's it? You want us to swipe a passkey?" Emlyn asked suspiciously.

"It is important to me, human," Kala spat angrily. "I do not have time to indulge your idiotic curiosity. Here is the address. Be there at five tomorrow night, galactic standard time," Kala said impatiently, thrusting a data pad at Emlyn before turning her back on them and walking out of the cantina.

"So what you think?" Emlyn asked the others as they looked at the address. It was no more than fifteen minutes away, but the whole thing was rather shady.

"I will follow your lead," Freya said to Emlyn, surprising the older girl.

"Thanks, Freya," Emlyn said quietly. Freya had forgiven her, and Emlyn had forgiven Freya.

"She's my contact, but she doesn't have a history of honesty," Cole said, "But I'll go; I just want to get to the bottom of this."

"Dustil?" asked Emlyn.

Dustil shrugged. "I say that it's a lead, and that we follow it. Besides," he said with a grin, "If we have to beat our way out, well… its practice."

Cole grinned at Dustil. "I like the way you think," said, twirling his blaster on his finger.

"Practice?" Emlyn asked, raising an eyebrow, "You have mental problems that outstrip my abilities. We'll deal with those later, 'cause right now we've got to get to work."

"So let me get this straight," Mackenzie began, "You all agreed to work for a shady Outer Rim bounty hunter for free, with no proof that she was telling the truth, and now you want me to come?"

Cole and Dustil looked at each other. With a grin, Cole said, "Yeah, that's about it."

Emlyn rolled her eyes. Guys. There was nothing else to be said about it.

:I heard that:

:Go space yourself:

:That hurt:

:Good:

Emlyn grinned and turned her attention back to the argument that Cole and Mackenzie were having. She couldn't figure out exactly what it was about, and wasn't entirely sure that they even knew anymore.

"There is no point in debating," Freya broke in, "I am staying with the ship. I do not wish to go, and since there is someone to take my place I do not have to go. She is not trustworthy, and…" Freya hesitated for a moment. "I do not like hutts."

"Scared of slugs, are you…Oof!" Cole was cut off when Mackenzie jabbed his ribcage with her elbow, perhaps harder than necessary.

"You would not like them either if a young one mistook you for food," Freya sniffed.

"Eew," Mackenzie said, wrinkling her nose, images of hutt slime flitting through her head.

"My thoughts exactly," Emlyn agreed.

"So this situation can't get much worse for you, huh?" Cole asked helpfully.

Just then the lights went out.

"What the frack just happened?" Emlyn yelped, trying to adjust to the sudden darkness.

"Do you hear that grinding sound?" Dustil asked.

Emlyn listened. All she heard was silence.

"All I hear is silence," she said.

"Well, what you don't hear is the hyperdrive malfunctioning. We've got to get that fixed if we have any hope of getting off this planet," Dustil said.

"And the part that's damaged just happens to be connected to the lights?" Emlyn asked.

"No, that's connected somewhere completely different," Dustil said, "And they're flickering slightly over in the med lab, meaning that we have several problems on our hands."

Emlyn groaned quietly and let her head drop back onto her shoulders. "I'm beginning to wonder if we were all born with this luck, or if it was a gift," she muttered.

"Maybe both," Dustil said cheerfully. If he could have seen her, Emlyn would have glared at him. "Okay, Freya, will you make sure there aren't any sparking wires in the cockpit? The last thing we need is an electrical fire in there. Mackenzie, check on the ship's security, will you? And Cole, I need you to get your hands on some parts that may be difficult to find. We have a few things, but others… well, I'll leave the how to you," Dustil trailed off.

"No problem," Cole said, a grin in his voice.

"What about light, Pilot Boy?" Emlyn asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"I'll have that fixed in a second," Dustil's voice said from across the room, purposefully ignoring her last words. Emlyn hadn't realized that he had moved. Suddenly a few lights flickered before coming on. "They won't all work, but at least we've got this much," Dustil said as he came back over.

Freya, Cole, and Mackenzie all moved off to get to their respective jobs, leaving Emlyn and Dustil.

"So what's my assignment?" Emlyn asked after a moment.

"We get the fun job," Dustil said, folding his arms over his stomach and smiling at her, "That hyperdrive has to be fixed, and we're the only ones with enough skill in repairs to do it."

"Lucky us," Emlyn muttered. With a sigh she pulled a band out of her pocket and looped it around her red-blonde hair, pulling it out of her face. "Let's get to it, Pilot. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish."

"We're never going to finish!" Emlyn cried in frustration as another wire blew. This one was yellow. The others had been blue or green. At least there was some variety.

Dustil tried not to smile; she was funny when she was frustrated. That must have been the fifth bad wire connected to that part she was working on. But… he glanced over at the panel she was trying to repair and studied it.

"There's your problem," he said, wiping the oil off of his hands with a rag as he walked over to her.

"Where? What?" Emlyn asked, glaring at the panel, her eyes darting back and forth as they tried to see what he had seen.

"Right here," Dustil said. He stood behind her and reached an arm around her to point to a jammed link. "It won't let the power flow through smoothly. It's kinked, so it comes sporadically when it should be even."

Emlyn groaned and pressed her palm against her forehead. "Great. I just spent forever trying to fix this fracking thing when it was a kinked link. Now I have to replace those wires I killed. Thanks, though," she said, turning around.

Dustil looked down at her and noticed the large, palm shaped smudge on her forehead. He grinned at her.

"What?" Emlyn asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, Em: you're great," Dustil said softly. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he was mentally smacking himself for not thinking before he spoke.

"Um, thanks," Emlyn replied, her cheeks turning pink.

"What I meant was…uh… I mean, it's not that I… I mean I didn't…" Dustil stammered, and then gave up. He cursed under his breath looked away.

"What did you mean?" Emlyn asked quietly, looking at him curiously.

He glanced back at Emlyn and saw that, while she was blushing a bit, she didn't look embarrassed or uncomfortable at his words. Dustil suddenly felt braver. "I meant…" he tried again, but didn't get much further than before. He didn't know how to say what he wanted to; no one had ever taught him to voice that kind of thing. And he was a Jedi.

A Jedi. Jedi didn't give into this kind of thing. Jedi stuck it out and let go. Jedi resisted deep feelings and attachments. Dustil looked at Emlyn looking at him and felt his heart bang hard enough to burst out of his chest. He decided he agreed with Revan on this subject. Jedi couldn't be right about everything, after all.

"Emlyn," Dustil began again. He looked at the metal paneling above her head for a moment, noticing the grooves and scores in it put there by use. He lowered his gaze to the girl in front of him. She stood still, her hair falling out of its loose knot, her eyes full of confusion, dirt on her face… she was biting the inside of her bottom lip again.

Dustil leaned down and kissed her on the mouth.

Emlyn inhaled sharply through her nose as his lips touched hers, but she didn't pull away. After a second's hesitation, she leaned into it, tilting her head so that the kiss could be deepened. Dustil slowly moved his arms around her waist, and felt her hands find his hair. He pulled her closer, pressing his mouth more firmly against hers.

When they finally pulled back, Dustil saw that Emlyn was smiling with her eyes still shut. "What?" he asked her, lifting one hand from her waist to brush a strand of hair off of her face.

She opened her eyes slowly, smile still there. "Do you know how long I've waited for you to kiss me?" she asked.

"What?" Dustil questioned, confused.

Emlyn laughed tried to kiss him on the cheek, but Dustil turned his head at the last moment and took it on his mouth. From her reaction, Dustil didn't think she minded where her kiss landed.

The door opened. The two sprang apart and watched as Mackenzie entered the room. "Hey, Dustil, I ran a diagnostic on the security and didn't find a thing. We're all good in that depar…" Mackenzie trailed off as she looked up from a datapad she was holding. She looked from one blushing face to the next and grinned. "Working hard or hardly working?" she asked slyly.

Emlyn grinned sheepishly at her, telling Mackenzie what she already knew. "Well, I think I'll just find something else to keep myself busy with, then," Mackenzie said with a wink, making the other two blush harder. "Try not to have too much fun."

When she was gone, Dustil smiled at Emlyn and took her hand in his. "Feel like taking a break? I could use something to drink."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Emlyn said, lacing her fingers with his as they made their way to the kitchen.

"That is where we have to work?" Emlyn asked in horror, gaping at the neon lit building. Music throbbed through the walls, and several different races of beings walked in and out, most laughing with a twi'lek or two they had on their arms.

Emlyn made a face at a man that had three twi'lek females he was currently… talking to. She wrinkled her nose as they walked back inside the silvery walled building. The bouncers at the door didn't even glance up at them.

"Yuck," Mackenzie said as the man disappeared inside, "That nearly burned my retinas out."

"I don't know, I kind of like his idea. Up for a try?" Cole asked Mackenzie with a smirk.

"How about we go somewhere quiet and I stick my blaster down your throat?" Mackenzie asked.

"Love you too, Mack," Cole replied with a wink."

To Emlyn's surprise, Mackenzie actually blushed at Cole's response.

"Shut up," she snapped as she stood and began walking toward the door of the building. The rest followed her, Cole going first, a smile on his face. Emlyn wondered briefly if it was a good idea to just walk through the front door, but decided that they might as well get things rolling. Like Dustil had said: practice.

As soon as they walked through the door Kala was there giving orders in a foreign language to several other twi'lek females, who hurried Mackenzie and Emlyn away from the guys. Dustil and Cole moved as if to stop them, but Kala gave them a look that halted their advances. They followed obediently as they too were taken away.

"You are to serve drinks," Kala told Emlyn and Mackenzie hurriedly, shoving trays full of glasses at them. "Remember that you are servants and must deal with anything they pull," she warned.

Emlyn didn't like the sound of that. She had been in enough cantinas and shady places to know that there were some pretty sick people in the galaxy -- especially in the Outer Rim that would do awful things to people. Some were worse than others, like the Sith… Suddenly she made a decision: she would warn the Republic. But there would be a terrible price for revealing the information she had.

Lea, I don't want to do this, she thought, pain tearing through her chest. She knew what the consequences would be if she told the Jedi and the Republic what she knew.

'You don't have a choice, Emlyn: you cannot save one life at the cost of millions.'

I…I know. I should have done this a long time ago.

'Yes.'

I'll do it as soon as I can.

'I'm proud of you, Emlyn.'

Lea? …I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

'No one could have.'

Go in peace, Emlyn thoughts, her throat constricting.

'Goodbye, Emlyn.'

Emlyn felt a sharp stab of grief slice into her heart as their connection faded; Lea would die and Emlyn couldn't save her. As she couldn't save Garth, as she couldn't save the first man she had loved. She glanced over at Mackenzie and promised herself that she would do everything she could to ensure her friends' survival; she was sick of failing the people she cared about.

An hour later Emlyn brushed her hair away from her face as she once again swept the room for any sign of Jobba or Ranod. "Nothing," she hissed in frustration.

"Same here," a voice whispered in her ear. She jumped and turned around, coming face to face with Dustil.

"Just our luck, huh?" she asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, but Jobba has to be here somewhere. We're just not looking in the right place," Dustil thought aloud.

"Well he'd better hurry and show up! I'm getting tired of the men in this place," Emlyn grumbled to herself.

"Sorry?"

"Uh, nothing, Dustil." Emlyn hesitated, then said, "Look, when we get out of this, I have to tell you something I should have told you when I first met you. It's about the Sith."

Dustil locked his gaze on her. "We'll talk later, then."

"Yeah..." Emlyn began to walk away when a deep voice speaking in Huttese halted her steps.

"Attention!" boomed the voice. Jobba. He was sitting on a platform at the front of the room, eerie purple lights centered on him, making his folds of yellowish flesh turn a nasty brown color. "We have intruders here that must be dealt with. Please hold still while they are taken care of."

Emlyn looked at Dustil in horror. They had to get out! But if they moved everyone would know immediately that they were the guilty ones. Although that wouldn't matter if Jobba already knew; they had to make a break for it. But before they could even begin to move toward an exit, blasters were trained on them from every angle.

"Welcome, Jedi and Jedi friends," Jobba laughed deeply as they were escorted onto the stage. Mackenzie and Cole were herded up to the platform as well, both of them looking furious.

"I find it amusing that you did not think I would find you out," Jobba chuckled.

"I find it amusing that you can still move with that fat hanging off of you," Cole said lightly.

Jobba just smiled… or something similar. Emlyn wasn't sure if hutts could smile. He waved a stubby arm and the four were bound and gagged immediately before being hauled away down several flights of stairs and then thrown into individual energy cells.

Emlyn groaned and sank to the floor of her cell. It seemed she was doomed to go through this again and again. She had lost count of how many energy cells she'd been thrown into.

"It was Kala!" Mackenzie exploded, "She ratted us out! All that garbage about keycards! It makes me sick."

"Hey, it's not like I didn't warn you that Kala couldn't be trusted," Cole said crossly when Emlyn, Dustil, and Mackenzie turned their furious glares on him.

"Well I need someone to blame, and you're in an ideal position," Mackenzie snapped. "You're lucky they didn't put us all in one room."

"Like you could actually do anything," Cole retorted.

"I'll show you exactly what pain I can inflict as soon as we get out of this!" Mackenzie yelled at him.

"Don't bet on it," Cole shouted back.

"Too late!"

"You won't because, if we get out of this, I'm going to kiss you silly," Cole snapped, "Now shut up and think of a plan."

Mackenzie gaped at him. Emlyn gaped at him. Dustil smirked.

Cole scowled at them all. "Get thinking! I have things I'd rather be doing."

"I can see that," Emlyn said, watching Mackenzie's face turn red.

"I'm going as fast as I can," she muttered, sitting cross-legged on the floor of her force cage.

"That's my girl," Cole said.

"I'm not your girl."

"Yes you are."

"Not until I say so, I'm not," Mackenzie retorted.

"And are you?"

She hesitated for a moment, staring at Cole who stared right back without flinching. "Yeah," she said softly, "I guess so."

"As sweet as this is, it would be even better if we weren't currently trying to escape a death sentence," Emlyn pointed out.

"Too late for a plan now, anyway," Dustil said. They heard someone outside the prison entering a lock code. "The executioners are here."

The door opened.

I wish I had thought this story through better. I'm sure it would have flowed smoother. Darn. But I'll press on! I'm trying to decide whether or not to bring Revan and some others into the story…

This is not my best or favorite work. I like Once Upon a Wizard. I'll probably get to that after this fic is done.