Ultimatum (Return Post (Closed))

Home, Corellia
3 Weeks after leaving Master Ranus

Janella walked into the dark hanger, her dads old ship stood in the centre with rusted, dark red paint. The word 'Seclusion' was stamped in chipped white letters across the stern. It had been some time since she had been home, it was a place she had forgotten, being over-rested due to the long hyperspace run she spent the next several hours upgrading HK-51B. She began with his weaponry by adding a modified inbuilt Ionic blaster onto his left forearm that could pop out and a similar modified heavy blaster onto his right forearm. She finished him off with a self-destruct mechanism which was linked to several small thorium charges attached onto the inside of the outer shell of his chest and back, which would incinerate anything within 20 foot.
After that she relaxed with some meditation and a session with her lightsaber, first practising the Shii-Cho movements and then moving onto an hour of deflection training with a blindfold and her training remote, then she slept.


Days Later...

Janella awoke as the sun rose, she ate and made a cup of stim-tea she had found in the kitchen. She stood looking at her fathers ship while sipping her tea, after a while she opened the ramp and boarded it. It was a heavily modified YT-1210 with extra heavy turbo-lasers, a modified sub-light engine and extensive sensor modules, even the chairs in the cockpit had been replaced with special form-fitting pilots seats. She walked through the corridors to the main hold which was a small circular room lined with seats surrounding the large dusty holo-projector in the centre of the room, she continued down another corridor which led to the cockpit.
She stopped and stared around the dark space, a layer of dust covered all the monitors and the view screens, she sat down in the pilots chair and exhaled slowly. She reached above her head and slid all the faders up before pressing the large blue button sending the ship into standby mode, the monitors around her hummed an ambient blue colour displaying the information from the sensor modules.

“Power is good... Shields depleted, hyperdrive inactive, weapon systems fine, Sub-light engine fine, medical systems fine.”

She quickly got to work fixing one of the broken flow resistors and then the peak capacitor gage, she went back to the cockpit and checked the shields again, she began recharging the shields with the ships main store of energy. She spent another six hours fixing the hyperdrive by which time she was ready to fall asleep, she turned all the systems on and stared at the monitor through squinted eyes. Shields were at full capacity, and the hyperdrives safety choke had deactivated since she fixed the cooling system, she shut the ship down and went straight to her bed.


Endara Mining Corp. Docks, Corellia
Two Weeks Later..

Endaras spaceport on Corellia was bustling with activity, she headed to the office of the dock master she used to drop her cargo with and entered.

DM: “You droppin' off?”

“No I was wondering if you needed anything taking to the Endara Space Station?”

He looked at her slightly confused for a moment before he remembered her.

DM: “Wait.. you used to drop here didn't ya', hold on, what's you're name?”

She told him and he got her employment details up to confirm she was who she said she was.

DM: “So what happened, you dropped off that load and then you just dissapeared. You know Mel Jerarn was asking around, seemed quite keen to find out where you'd gone.”

“Yea he's one of my dads old friends, that's who I want to see.”

DM: “Well I'm sure I could find you something... You're old ships still here, I'll find you some cargo and get you loaded up straight away. Here we go, we've got some equipment and medical supplies. Give me ten minutes and you'll be ready to go.”

Janella thanked him and waited while he got the cargo secured in her ship, then she thanked him again and left for her ship. She settled down in the pilots chair and checked the small fridge by her feet, it was still filled with cryo-pops. She cracked one open as the ship came on to standby, she swept the ships systems once over as she sipped from the can, everything looked good so she turned all the systems on and bought the ship to full power. The ship lifted off and she took it up through the atmosphere and into space, she went to the navi-computer and selected one of two co-ordinates in the databank. She went back to her chair and activated the hyperdrive, the front view screen filled with streaks of blue light as the ship accelerated towards her destination.


Endara Mining Corp. Space Station, Orbiting Endara
Roughly 36 Hours Later..

Janella sent her delivery code to the dock-master as she approached the space station, they dropped the shields and her ship floated inside, it made a 180-degree turn as the landing gear deployed. The ship gently touched down on the hanger floor, she powered down the ships systems and removed the straps that crossed over her chest.

DM: “Here's your payment of thirteen-hundred credits, do you want to take another one back to Corellia?”

Janella stood hands on hips, it took her only a moment to agree.

“I might as well get paid for the return trip too..”

He gave her the delivery information and he signed her datapad to confirm, she nodded her head and thanked him as she left. Instead of heading back to her ship she quickly made her way down the corridor to her right towards Mels office, she entered to find him with his feet up on his desk, puffing on a large cigar which fell into his lap the moment his eyes fell on her.

Mel: “Well well well, look who's here.”

He jumped up without retrieving the cigar.

“Hi there Jerarn, long time no see.”

Mel: “I had quite a time finding out where you'd gone.”

Hands on hips again, Janella smiled.

“Don't pretend like you know where I went Mel.”

She paced to the large padded chair opposite his, she sat down before putting her feet up on his desk. He retrieved his cigar which had been smoking away on the floor, he sank into his chair and mouthed the cigar.

Mel: “I know you went to the shores of Jux'ill III.”

She almost told him she had been doing no such thing but decided to play along.

“Yea can't you tell? Who told you?”

Mel: “Neela told me, and no. Anyway what are you doin' here, you 'aint here just to see me are you. You want you're job back right, well you can have it. Clad to have you back..”

“Well, no actually I just wanted to ask you if you know where my dad went?”

His exuberant demeanour fell and he placed his cigar down in the ashtray.

Mel: “Look, I can't tell you where he went. But I can tell you what he wanted.”

Janella took her feet of his desk and stared into his eyes attentively.

Mel: “Look, before he dissapeared he wanted you to take this job because it offered an opportunity for you, it was my plan to use you to sneak whole deliveries of goods from here to Corellia without anyone finding out. Well you know your dad, if there's a way of making something on the side he was all for it.”

Janella closed her eyes and took in what he had said.

“So my dad wanted this?”

Mel: “Look it's a good deal for everyone, I get my cut, you get yours. And Kline gets a big load of crystals to sell to whoever he likes.”

“Yea Kline, so you want in?”

Janella pretended to think about it for a moment before nodding, his exuberant demeanour returned instantly as he began puffing on his cigar.

Mel: “That's great. I'll just contact the guys at Kline Transportation to let them know.”

He worked his terminal for a few moments before a man appeared from his holo-projector.

Mel: “Jeff, good to see you again. We've got good news, Janella is back and she is ready to do some work.”

Kline: “Okay you know where I'll be.”

His image dissapeared and they were left looking at each other again.

Mel: “Well we're all set, I'll have the your ship loaded in no time. You'll meet him at his hanger, here are the co-ordinates.”

The moment he transferred the co-ordinates onto her datapad she looked him in the eyes.

“Actually.. I change my mind.”

He jumped up letting his cigar fly half way across the room.

Mel: “What! You can't! Last chance Janella, stop messing around!”

“I think I'm gonna' go back to the shores of Jux'ill III.”

She heard the sound of droids enter behind her, she stood slowly and watched as he pulled his blaster pistol from under the table. Her hand reached down the side of her boot and grabbed the lightsaber her Master had given her some months before.

Mel: “Look don't make this hard ok. We only need to do a delivery a week to Kline, he takes it off our hands on Corellia and pays us. That's it, and we get 50'000 credits split right down the middle. That's almost what you earn each quarter!”

“No deal.”

She force pushed him into the wall behind and span to see two fully armed assassin droids with their guns levelled at her, she jumped forwards dodging the blaster fire, stabbing her silver blade, hilt deep into his chest. Sparks erupted into the air as the blade sliced up through the droids neck and head, she braced her feet as the second droid took a step back and open fired. She ducked and caught the droid with a low spinning kick which took its legs out from under it, it flailed as she performed a technique she would later learn was called Mou Kei whereby the lightsaber span in a circular motion, removing all the limbs and head in a quite brutal fashion.
Turning again, Mel Jerarn was back on his feet with his blaster aiming in her direction, she de-activated her lightsaber and deposited it in back in her boot.

Mel: “Since when have you been a Jedi?”

“Since I went sun-bathing.”

He pulled the trigger but she was too quick for him, she side stepped the shot and lunged forwards, kicking him in the chest. He fell into the wall again as she grabbed the barrel of his gun, she twisted it, bending his arm in the wrong direction. He gasped as pain shot up his arm.

“Where is my dad?”

Mel: “I.. DON'T..... KNOW!”

He let go of the blaster, leaving it in Janellas hand.

“Thanks, well I gotta' go.”

He looked at her while holding his arm like he was nursing it back to health. She lifted the blaster and brought it down on top of his head, knocking him clean out, she accessed his terminal and used the name Jeff Kline to find out about his company and all his employees.

She quickly left the space station with her cargo, cargo she believed to be waste and rock deposits until she checked the containers to find Mel had had her ship filled entirely by what looked like Phond crystals. She found seven small ones that looked suitable for use in a lightsaber and sealed the containers again, the following hours were filled with much meditation upon the unfolding situation.

Kline Transportations Ship-Yard, Corellia
Roughly 36 Hours Later..

Ship B15 of the Endara Mining Corporation fell upon the hanger of Kline Transportation, a large square landing area surrounded by buildings and hangers. The landing gear deployed and the ship landed in the designated position, the ramp lowered as a group of men approached. She walked out onto the landing area and eyed the mens mercenary armour and various rifles, they came to a stop ten feet away.

Jeff Kline: “So, you're Janella. Lets make this quick, lets see the shipment.”

“I wanna' see the money first.”

Kline turned his head and nodded, one of his men at the back came forwards holding a metal case. He unlocked it, showing it was filled with credits. She strode to an external control panel next to the B15s cargo hold and input a code, the doors opened to reveal several large containers.

“Ok, I just want to know one thing. You know anyone by the name of Lo-Gan Renshir?”

Kline fixed her with a stare.

Kline: “I never heard of him, now. We gonna' make a deal or what.”

They walked forwards to check the contents of the containers, she opened one and stepped out the way. Kline looked inside to see his crystals before he felt something slap over his wrist, he looked down to see a set of electro-cuffs attaching him to the container. He managed to say, “What the..”, before she elbowed him in the chin, she rolled across Kline, taking the rifle from his cuffed hand. His men, who had been so stunned that a girl of her age would pull something like this gritted their teeth and open fired. Janella pulled the trigger and dived into a roll, bolts danced across the floor around her, it was over in seconds.
Janella dropped the rifle, his men lay on the floor, smouldering marks adorning their chests. She turned to find Kline lying up against the container with blood trickling from his mouth, she grabbed him by the neck of his uniform.

“Where's my dad?”

Jeff Kline: “I don't know!”

He struggled with her but she held him firmly.

“Last chance Kline.”

He looked at her but didn't say a word, she struck him over the head with the rifle to knock him out, then threw the rifle away.

HK: “I guess you didn't need my help then.”

Her assassin droid stood by the exit ramp holding a net gun he had taken from one of Klines downed men.

HK: “Can I keep this?”

Janella laughed and ran into the hanger, there was at least 50 long containers. She checked only one of each container, some had weapons, some had droids, others had the same crystals she was hauling. These crystals weren't widely available in this part of the system so it was a good bet they had gotten them from Endara, she sealed the containers and returned to the ship. She took the metal case filled with money, and the cuffs on the still unconscious Klines wrist.
As soon as she had left she sent a holo-message to the local PD telling them about Mel Jerarn and Kline Transportation, that she had taken the ship, cargo and money as evidence. The official story would be that she had screwed them both over and got away with the said evidence, Janella knew Mel would be too greedy not to continue his little operation with Kline. So she recommended they watch Kline Transportations and also send someone undercover at the Endara Mining space station as a pilot in an attempt to prove Mels guilt. That was when she found out they had already been watching Kline but had no idea who it was on the space station who was pulling the strings.
She left the evidence on the other side of the city by the local PD, then she grabbed a cryo-pop and left with HK.


Home, Corellia
Three Weeks Later...

As soon as her eyes opened she got to work the word 'Ultimatum' onto the ship over the spot where 'Seclusion' had been the previous day. She used a small spray-gun and stencils to apply each letter with white paint, she got as far as the second U when HK informed her of a holo-call.

Officer Lapez: “Miss Renshir, I'm calling to update you on our situation. The plan worked, we caught Kline and a whole bunch of Jerarns crooked pilots this morning. We've also taken Jerarn into custody. With this mountain of evidence I can't see any of these men leaving prison for a while.”

“Well that's good to know officer. But there's something I was wondering, who was they selling all that stuff too?”

Officer Lapez: “Well...We checked their computer system and found they regularly use two standard hyperspace trade-routes and a single one heading to the Expansion Cluster. Either way we cleared the mess up on our end so I think we can say it's case-closed on this one.

Janella hummed in agreement and bid him farewell, the mans image flickered and dissapeared, leaving the room darkened. Her head dropped, she held the lightsaber her Master had given and grasped it tightly, she wondered where he was now, if he had found Master Lancer, or maybe even a new Padawan. Every thought swimming through her head ceased at once when HKs voice came from the doorway behind her.

HK: “What's wrong?”

Janella placed her palms down on the holo-projector and turned her head to the droid.

“There's nothing like closure, right... I think I might actually go to the shores of Jux'ill III.”

They were silent for a few seconds before the droid spoke again.

HK: “You know... I might just have Klines hyper-routes.”

“What?”

HK: “While you was taking care of Kline I went and checked out some of the files in their system...”

“...and?”

Hyperspace, En Route to Jux'ill III
Roughly A Week Later...

“Play it again.”

HK's vocabulator clicked and a slight hiss followed.

Voice 1: “Look.. I'm done with the bad blood ok? Anyway I've found a few guys I think will accept the job so you need to get your ass over to Jux'ill so you can start receiving this stuff.”

Voice 2: “Ok ok, how long before you can get the first shipment there?”

Voice 1: “About two weeks, you can expect backup droids as well as the crystals and a few other things to make your stay a bit more.. comfortable. Enjoy.”

The static from HK ceased and Janella sighed.

“That's definitely them, but what are they using that stuff for? Phond crystals can be used for dozens of things... wait, the droids in the container at Klines. They are the same model my dad used on his production lines, but....”

At that moment the ship exited hyperspace to a view of Jux'ill III, the planet was covered with deep blue oceans, long yellow beaches and several forest regions. It was indeed a beautiful planet but the numbers visiting it had definitely dwindled in recent years due to the uprising of pirates, and the nearby planets troubles with crime. Janella guided the renewed ship down through the atmosphere until she was only a couple hundred feet above the waves, she travelled towards a beach and over a large forest area, constantly scanning for signs of a factory. She took the ship up for a broader range and continued across the expanse of trees, after only ten minutes a signal appeared several miles to starboard. Once close enough she saw there was a facility hidden by a monstrous waterfall, the ship declined and landed on an abandoned beach several hundred metres away.
Janella stood in the cargo bay, her eyes locked on the spot where her Bespin Motors JR-4 swoop bike sat, the very bike she had won tournaments on years ago. She wore baggy, khaki coloured trousers with a white tank-top, brown boots and a brown belt. On her left hip was her datapad and a holstered DL-44 blaster pistol, on her right hip was her Masters Lightsaber and a small canister of water. She sat down on the bike and turned the repulsors on, the bike rose as she placed her feet on the pegs.

HK: “Are you sure you don't want me to come with you? It could be dangerous.”

He stood by the open cargo bay doors holding his new acquired net gun.

“No, you stay here and guard the ship. Plus you'll just get all grabby like last time”

He began to protest to her statement when the repulsors flared and the bike shot out the doors onto the shore. She had forgotten how fast it was, She enjoyed those few moments travelling along the beach before turning right and speeding off into the jungle.


Unknown Facility
20 Minutes Later...

She left her swoop behind and made her way across the bridge into the facility. The first room had a kind of receptionists desk with several terminals and screens built in, there was no sign of any security. There was a door to her right leading to stairs, the next room was a dock with two long transport vehicles sat inside. After that she wondered onto a huge construction floor, it was all too familiar to her as she walked between the construction lines. At least 150 droids worked assembling long matt black rifles, if they were as deadly as they looked it was likely any neighbouring colonies were having some trouble with them.
After finding a turbo-lift she walked out into a large condo, she passed the swimming pool and stopped. A man stood several feet away with his back to her, he stared at the raging waterfall out a tall window that spanned the whole wall.

Lo-Gan: “Janella.”

Janella glared at the back of his head, she felt annoyance now she had finally found him.

“Is that it?”

Lo-Gan: “What did you expect, you've ruined our operation. It doesn't matter anyhow, I don't mind cutting the deadline short for my retirement.”

“Retirement?”

Lo-Gan: “Yes, that was the point of all this. What I did before was small time, plus it was never my goal to destroy my home planet.”

“Yet you still managed to.”

Lo-Gan: “Come on.. hardly. You know, you're too much like your mother, stubborn to the end.”

“It's a bit late to start telling me about my mother isn't it.”

Lo-Gan: “Maybe, she really was a bounty hunter ya know.”

“Was?”

Lo-Gan: “Yea among other things, but I lose track of her. Last I heard she was in Hutt space, that was six months ago. So she could be just about anywhere by now.”

“What's her name?”

Lo-Gan: “So now you're interested... Her name is Grace, she grew up deep core so she was tough, and capable. Always in some deep shit though...”

Lo-Gan: “Why are you here.”

“I'm here to stop you.”

Lo-Gan: “Do I really need stopping? If you say so...”

He moved his hand and placed it on the grip of his blaster pistol.

“I'm not joking dad, your weapons hurt people, can't you see that.”

Lo-Gan: “You sound like a damned Jedi...”

“Maybe I am...”

Lo-Gan: “So arrest me...”

With that he turned, his blaster pistol pointing towards her. Annoyance filled her again, she reached down to the lightsaber Terand had given her and took the neutral Shii-Cho stance.

Lo-Gan: “You gotta' be kidding, you're not really here to arrest me are you?”

“I'm no longer a Jedi, so technically I can't.”

Lo-Gan: “The way I see it you either kill me or let me go. And I don't think you know how to use that thing.”

An uncomfortable silence followed.

Lo-Gan: “Which is it gonna' be?”

“I can't let you go...”

He only had enough time to pull the trigger twice before his first shot was deflected back into his shoulder, the second hit his chest sending him backwards into the glass. Janella, who's reactions had been quick enough to deflect two blaster bolts at close range failed her as she watched her father disappear over the edge into the abyss.
Janella stood frozen with the blade held across her chest, after several seconds she deactivated the lightsaber and took an unsteady step forwards. She walked slowly to the edge and closed her eyes, the sound of the waterfall, the soft wind. Taking a deep breath, the anger she had felt towards him fall away. She turned and brushed her wind ruffled hair out of her face, it had been a bad idea coming here, what did she expect to find except arrogance and pride.

( Glad to be back Rping )