The Rebel Faction

The em-dee droids had stripped her to prepare her for the bacta tank, noting the recent wounds from what must have been a firefight of some kind. There was one across her right deltoid muscle that was already cauterized, and an oozing hole in her thigh from a low grade blaster bolt. The droids noted it all, but drew no conclusions of their own. Their job was to get the human female back into working condition.

A breathing tube was placed down her throat and the breath mask attatched to her face. Her skin began to pink up again, the greyish tinge receding as her heart began to pump oxygen through her system. Within moments of arriving in the medbay, she was placed into a bacta tank, the greenish goo enveloping her in it's healing embrace.

One of the droids turned over the clothing they'd expertly clipped away from their patient, and noted the patch on the breast of the jacket. Huttese symbols on a green field, depicting the Desilijic clan. It appeared to be livery of some kind. The boots resting on the floor were standard Imperial issue, combat class.

"Capital vessel has pulled in snubfight, sensors detect rising energy levels."

Either the ship was preparing to jump to hyperspace, or readying it's offensive and defensive capabilities. Koril would rather have seen the former than the latter. The BDE was known to be a technologically advanced people, and had the strength of a mighty Empire backing their action. Koril was no the type of person wuld would readily back a losing cause... and engaging the BDE vessel was very likely to result in a loss.

"Raise shields... begin calculation escape vectors."

He hoped the slight tremor in his voice wasn't apparent, but he doubted it.

"Communication relay's receiving transmission. Capital ship is hailing us. Transpoder identity confirmed."

Koril might have had a talk with the deveronian relaying that last message, if he didn't have more imporant things to worry about. Even if the vessel had a fake transponder id (which was highly unlikely), they were'nt about to start announcing that to the world.

"Open a channel. Identify us as an envoy from his opulence Plurga the hu..."

He had started to say Hutt, but that would have been incorrect. The elder Plurga certainly held more sway, and commanded more respect..... but if Koril used his authority without the fat slug's permission, he was likely to lose a bodily organ he was not ready to part with.

"Plurga the Lesser."

As an afterthought he added.

"And mention that we're not seeking hostilites, just looking for something."

Like they're going to believe that. BDE was not likely to be too welcoming to a ship at the edge of their territory, and even less so at a warship (if you could call the aging Kaloth that). Still, if push came to shove they could always hightail it out of their, and hopefully avoid a big incident.

Frotz!!! Why did I have to run across a BDE vessel??! Of all the stupid place to find...

And then a thought that hadn't occured to Koril floating into his mind.

What was the BDE vessel doin here anyway?

When SubCommander Sirtek arrived at the isolation chamber in the medical wing of the <I>Deimos</i>, he saw the doctor and medical droids already inside the airflow "walls" and sterile field that kept pathogens from entering or escaping. Next to the bed, just outside the field, stood a figure in black uniform, his Commander, Sim Aragon. His superior was observing the patient's recuperation. He approached and nodded. Aragon nodded back.

"Status of our guest from Hutt Space?" he inquired.

"The <I>Kaloth</I> has raised its shields and has transmitted its identity as an envoy from an entity named Plurga the Lesser," Sirtek informed. "They claim they are looking for something."

"Looking? Seems like we found it, if this is what they are inquiring," Sim replied, nodding at the young woman upon the bed.

"I have not given them a response, yet," Sirtek added. "What should I tell them? Or should I take evasive action to cripple and board her? I don't trust the Hutts."

"Negative," he shook his head. "Stall them. Let us see what they have to say. We need to buy time while we find out who she is." The Commander picked up a scrap of her clothing, primarily her jacket. "From what I can see, she was either part of the Desilijic clan or was property of them."

"Yes, sir," Sirtek nodded. "I'll keep them on the defensive."

The doctor stepped out of the field, which crackled slightly. He looked around, saw the commanding officers, and reported. "Well, that's the best I can do for now."

"Will she live?" Aragon questioned, as he eyed the medical droid with an empty hypo.

"Yes. She is stabalizing rapidly."

"Hard to imagine a quick recovery from that sort of ordeal." Sim looked down at the prone form in the bed. "Anything else to report?" The woman looked somewhat better than the last time he received an update. Her skin had been pale and anhidrotic, but now it was taking on a normal, healthy glow. The flatscreen chart hung on the bed's foot, and the medic picked it up and scanned the stats. Blood pressure normal, heart rate normal, white cell blood count...

Odd. All of her body functions were within normal limits. And she had barely survived out there.

The patient had turned around. The medic motioned to the officers and stepped away out of earshot from the bed.

"She seems to be recovering at a faster rate than I thought," he said. "My theory would be she could have the healing talents of a Force user. Or possibly genetically enhanced."

Sim frowned. "I see. If that is the case, we may have to take precautions." He eyed his SubCommander. "Place two Drhazi Dameuns outside the wing, and report back to the bridge. Keep our guests stalled. We need to get some answers."

The SubCommander left, leaving the doctor, medical droids, and the Commander of the <I>Deimos</I> in the room.

Commander Aragon got a good look at the young woman and she abruptly opened her eyes. She was now awake, and began to mumble. The medic made polite doctor noises, automatically checked the patient's vitals, then raised an eyebrow at his superior.

"Relax, you are safe now," he whispered. "I am Commander Sim Aragon of the <I>Deimos</I>, a ship of the Black Dragon Empire. We found your ship and towed it in. You have been rescued and you are recovering fine." He clasped his hands behind his back.

"Can you speak? We would like to know who you are?"

Koril waited anxiously as his communication officer received a flurry of transmissions. Though he couldn't here them, the tone signaled to him that something was out of whack. The communcations officer, a scrawny Rodian, turned and to relay the message to Koril verbatim. Koril didn;t usully have trouble understanding rodian, but the communication officer seemed to be excited, and was blazing along at about 500 words a minute in his singsong like voice. Why that paticular Rodian was communications officer was beyond Koril, like many of the things his employers did. Still, he was able to get the gist of the message.

This is BDE space. We realize you border us, but that doesn't really matter. If you know whats good for you, you'll turn you little tin can around while you can still do so under your own power. Oh, and by the way, we are a lot more advanced then you- and a hell of a lot smarter, so don't try anything.

That was it in essence. In relaity it was said a lot more diplomtically, and much more subtly, but the message was there. Koril was no man's fool (though he could't say the same thing about Hutts). BDE didn't like people snooping around their territory. The Hutts usually respected that, leaving the border area even more porus than the other areas the Hutt's "controlled". Koril knew why too.... the energy readings on thta BDE craft were downright scary.

The Nat Gruda was a good ship. Only a little over 300 meters, she packed an inordinate amount of whallop for a ship of that size, boosting over 40 turbolasers and an assortment of other weapons. Of course, all that firepower meant little room or energy for much else. The Kaloth's shielding system was infamously weak. The vessel could threw a few good punches, but like a pretender in a heavyweight shockboxing arena, would collapse when the champion landed a few solid blows.

Koril realized he had a problem. Deep down, he knew that the damaged snubfighter the BDE vessel had pulled in was the one they were looking for. (Trust his luck to have it make it all the way out here AND get found by a BDE vessel.) If BDE decided that they wanted to keep the fighter and its pilot, then there was going to be a serious problem. Barring a miracle, Koril wasn't going to be able to forcibly take the girl from BDE. Even if he could knock out the BDE ship, the dragons would quickly dispatch reinforcements, and that quickly became a game that the Hutts, as powerful as they were, couldn't play.

But if he didn't get the girl back- it sufficed to say Koril couldn't go back to Nal Hutta and expect to remain breathing.

Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

Chewing unconsiously at the end of his lekku, Koril decided one last gasp effort had to be made, before he started really desperate measures.

"Signal the BDE ship. Tell them we are tracking a fugative, and would like to send a envoy over to inspect whomever they have just captured. "

Then Koril added, his eyes twinkling.

"And tell them that the Hutts will reward them handsomely for their assitance in capturing the fugative."

A man ina black tunic suddenly was beamed into the Kaolth's old holo-projection unit.

"This is Commander Sim Aragon of the Deimos, a strike cruiser of the Black Dragon Empire," he announced. "We have sent you one warning already for intruding into our space. This fugitive you are looking for better be worth the price of your lives if you don't satisfy me with the answers I want"

Koril's worried demanor melted away, to be replaced by a sly smile. Despite his rough manner, the BDE captain meant business. And he was at least going to give Koril a chance.

" Gracious, Commander, I am pleased you have deemed me worthy for an audience."

Koril had no problem laying heavy on the honorifics and compliments. Working fo a Hutt had turned it into second nature.

"I bid you greetings from his humble majesty Plurga the Lesser."

Hopefully Plurga would never find out he had been decribed as humble, as that itself was tantamount to a slap in the face of an hutt.

"Plurga has tasked me with finding a certain human female, who is guilt of murder of Shadra the Hutt. Her actions were despicible, and unprovoked. She is a menace and must be dealt with for the good of the galaxy."

Koril knew full well that the Hutts had much different reasons for wanting Lilaena, and the BDE commander probably knew it, but they were best left unstated.

"If you would be so kind as to allow me to visit your ship, so that I can positvly identify her, I would be most thankful."