Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Betsy/Star Wars) Fanged Butterfly 2: Knightcross 5/? (PG-15) From: Phil Hartman Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 03:36:13 +0000 will1@earthling.net Fanged Butterfly Vol. 2: Knightcross Chapter 5 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Marvel's are Marvel's. LFL's are LFL's - including Tarfang. Any original characters are mine. The rest belong to their owners/creators. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. WARNING: More violence, female-dominated societies, and ... Deadliest. Ewok. Ever. Be forewarned >) --------------------------------------------- "You may have the death mark on nine planets, but that doesn't matter to -" - Jedi Knight Leia Organa-Solo, to Tarfang the Ewok, Legacy of the Force: Inferno --------------------------------------------- 40 ABY: Hydian Way Hyperlane, less than .5 astronomical units from Dathomir: --------------------------------------------- "AHH!!" "Ben - !?" Betsy started - the boy was terrified, radiating through the Force as he jumped awake - He looked at her in fresh terror, some new fear in his eyes - or old - "Jacen. He's coming - I c-can't shut him out -" the young teen stammered, letting Betsy reach over and feel his forehead. She'd been trying to hide Ben in her Force aura, but his raw power levels outstripped hers easily. And his Force bond with his ... former ... master was old and deep - The proximity alarm WOULD have to go off at that moment, she realized, taking the Angel's Wing out of hyperspace to make a course correction. An unnamed black hole extremely close to the Hydian Way was enough of a mass shadow to interfere with the flight, so she'd diverted to Dathomir system for the leg of the flight off the Hydian. Then the Wing shook, and Ben hit the shields without being asked - he and Betsy had both been aboard enough craft to recognize a nearby turbolaser bolt. "Bloody HELL - some kind of Y-Wing. Enhanced shields - bloody KARK, they've got their ion cannon working!" Betsy snapped as Ben activated the defense grid while blue and red blasts flew past. If they weren't being shot at by unknown assailants, she'd be proud of the boy for his quick reactions. #Praise later,# Betsy reminded herself, checking the sensors - definitely a stealthed Y-Wing, the karking thing was swinging around for another pass. N4-EL squealed as another near-miss staggered the shields - and then the lights flickered, blue lightning dancing over the controls. Ben managed to keep from being burned, and Betsy shielded herself easily, but - "Neal? Take us in - bloody hell, manual systems are at half-power. Some rodder hotwired an ion cannon to capital ship strength on that Y-Wing," Betsy growled, fighting the controls as she turned the ship toward a green disk in the distance. The astromech toodled, assuming what duties "he" could for the crippled flight processors while Betsy kept an eye on the rear scanners. The Y-Wing seemed to be keeping its distance - but a cold, vicious mind, calculating in its focus on the kill, flooded her Force senses, making her gasp as she tried to increase the distance between the ships. "Someone back there's karked off," Ben tried to joke, teenaged bravado failing to convince Betsy. She managed a smile at him anyhow, then nodded as their impromptu destination loomed. "Well, you've been working very hard, Lieutenant Skywalker. I guess you get to have a vacation on lovely Dathomir," Betsy tried to joke back. Ben went pale, and she didn't blame him. Dathomir had, for more than 600 years, been a matriarchy, founded by an exiled Jedi of the Old Republic known as Allya. She'd unified the clans of the wild, untamed world, found a way to communicate with the monstrous rancors walking its surface, and subjugated males of all ages. Allya's Book of Law had, at least, created a mostly beneficial - for females, at least - society, with different clans treating their males with varying degrees of respect. Many of the clans were led by "Force witches" - Force adepts who used spells as formulae to access the Force. The worst of the clans were the dark-side using Nightsisters, who painted their bodies in a manner most reminiscent of KISS fans, Betsy thought with contempt. Savage and abusive toward their males, the Nightsisters waged constant war with the light-side clans, most often slave-raiding for males to continue their depraved bloodlines. One of them, Teneniel Djo, had married the Hapan Prince Isolder back in 8 ABY - saving Leia from marrying Isolder in what had been an effort by the New Republic to bring the Hapans into the fight against the remaining Imperial warlords. That marriage had produced Tenel Ka, the current Hapan queen and a former Jedi Knight - and Jacen's suspected lover, although nobody had been able to confirm that. Not even Ben, who as Jacen's apprentice *should* be close enough to Jacen to know who Jacen was seeing ... Teneniel Djo's matriarchal ways had tied in well with the Hapans, who themselves were a matriarchy - albeit one with more civilized trappings. Hapan politics, on the other hand, were as savage as Dathomiri clan warfare, with noblewomen using their male servants as pawns in court intrigues. The Hapans were also obsessed with good looks - disturbingly so. #The difference between, say, Madelyne Pryor getting in your face with telekinesis and Emma Frost telepathically manipulating you as she poisons your drink,# Betsy reflected - good, the ion charge was wearing off, the control surfaces were repowering. But the hyperdrive was still shut down from the circuit breaker tripping to prevent a lethal power surge. And that Y-Wing was closing ... "I'm no Jaina or Han, but I'll be borked before I give up to a Y-Wing," Betsy growled, checking the rear repeating blaster - the Angel's Wing wasn't helpless. She let the auto-targeting computer take over as she squeezed the trigger, and Ben whooped when a series of turbolaser bolts stitched the Y-Wing's starboard nacelle. The damaged fighter peeled off while the Angel's Wing entered the atmosphere, and Betsy managed to get them through the re-entry ... That was when the CLUNKing started, and N4-EL squealed in terror. "Neal!? What the bloody -" Betsy yelled, checking the short-range sensors - "Buzz droids!? Who'd have Clone Wars-era ship-scrappers?!" Ben yelled, as the security holoprojector lit up with the image of the small, saw-equipped buzz droids crawling over the port wing. The CLUNK became a SCREECH, and the Angel's Wing started to vibrate. Ben grabbed his seat, and Betsy concentrated ... They broke through the atmosphere, allowing Betsy to focus on getting the ship down as low as possible before shutting down the main drive and punching the repulsors amidst a grove of trees. She ignited her lightsaber and told Ben, "Stay here until I get those buzz droids off the wing." "But - Aunt Betsy!" Ben warned, pointing out the main viewport. Betsy glanced out at the gathering figures in the distance ... At least two rancors, surrounded by indistinct figures Betsy recognized as Force-users by the disturbance coming off of them, were coming. "If we stay here, we're borked. Come on, Ben - looks like we're going to have to fight," Betsy sighed. The boy unbuckled himself and stayed close behind her, his blue blade igniting as Betsy opened the hatch. "Neal, once we're gone, lock the Wing and get to work restoring the power governors. We'll be back as soon as we can," Betsy ordered the droid. Neal tootled, whistling in alarm as the clanking of the buzz droids on the hull got louder. Ben steeled himself, and Betsy nodded at him encouragingly before they raced down the ramp - Clouds were gathering overhead, and they were being focused by a powerfully built woman in rancor-hide leathers atop a drooling, savage rancor. She, like the gathered warrior-women about the beast, wore black and white war paint ... "Nightsisters," Ben gulped, glancing over at where the buzz droids were clambering off the wing and clacking menacingly. A lightning bolt, or six, slammed into the droids, incinerating them, as the Nightsisters charged with an eerie warcry and the rain started to fall. "COME WITH IT THEN!" Betsy shouted back - she had to give Ben a chance to escape - and then it was all chaos. -------------------------------------------- Nearby - shielded by a ysalamir, one of the Force-dispersing reptiles of Myrkr on which vornskrs fed - a shadowed figure watched the Angel's Wing cool down while his astromech repaired his Y-Wing. The stalker was more adept with technology than most sentients might suspect; he relied on that prejudice against his species to add to his element of surprise. He was a mighty hunter. He had slain foes across the Outer Rim, and he was a master spy. Who would take HIM seriously as an assassin, anyhow? And now ... Braddock was within his grasp, after years of waiting. The hunter adjusted his bandolier, pulling a vibroshiv from a pouch. Other than that, the Ewok wore nothing over his black-furred body, a white streak running down his short frame from his right shoulder to his left side. Tarfang the Dreaded prepared to attack. -------------------------------------------- Betsy opened herself fully to the Force, letting it guide her swings and counterswings, deflecting Force thrusts and Force-pushing where she could. Her telepathy was of little use when the attackers were strong-willed, and had Force-boosted mental defenses. The Nightsisters' spears were of a deep, hard wood, not easily slashed with one stroke of a lightsaber. Worse, they were willing to play dirty - pulling hair, groin-kicking and spitting - when Betsy was trying to set a good example for Ben, Not that the boy was helpless. He was fighting as hard as Betsy was, and a little less cleanly than she ... Green-tinged Force sparks, similar to that which Jacen had mastered late in the Vong War, lanced from Ben into a crowd of the Nightsisters, stunning them. The "emerald spark" technique was SUPPOSED to be more light-side - or less starkly dark-side - than the Sith lightning Palpatine had used. But it was still troubling. And for all his tricks, Ben still didn't have much endurance in the Force - the limited number of years he'd actually studied the esoteric energy field showed in his struggle to keep channeling Force energy. A spear butt caught the boy in his stomach, and Betsy struggled to get to him, as the Nightsister leader shrieked some kind of command - he was young and adolescent, the kind of male the witches would want for unspeakable purposes - The wind shifted, and the Nightsister leader was struck by a different bolt of lightning, toppling her from her rancor. The beast reared up, tearing into the now-screaming Nightsisters, and its claws swept the ground, rending others. Betsy leapt away from one of the giant hands, but tumbled down a hillside - she'd lost track of Ben - - and the rocks zoomed up at her, as she felt something hit her head - Darkness. -------------------------------------------- Ben had barely been able to keep conscious when that spear hit his solar plexus - he HAD to remember to keep his guard up - "AUNT BETSY!?" the boy cried as the purple-haired Jedi was knocked into a ravine by the now-insane rancor. The Nightsisters fled, but one of the claws forced Ben to dodge as the rancor whipped around, maddened. #Kriffkriffkriff# Another lightning bolt slammed into the rancor, dropping it, and Ben was hurled upward by the shockwave. He was able to concentrate on absorbing the kinetic impact of his landing, and used a technique of Jacen's to wrap himself in a Force-shield ... THWUD. "Oww ... gotta find ..." Ben groaned - at least he'd kept his lightsaber. But his coverall was in shreds, he was tired like he'd never been before, and the night was coming. The storm had let up, though. #Shavit. Time to stop karking around and feeling sorry for myself, and go help Aunt Betsy,# Ben growled. He peeled off his boots, then his coverall, and threw the ruined garment aside after salvaging his belt. Dathomir was warm enough that he could handle running around in his undershorts and boots, but Ben wasn't exactly an exhibitionist. Worse, he was gangly, and even working out with the Guard hadn't added that much muscle ... #Ben Skywalker, jungle lord. Great. The holocrons are gonna treat me like the lamest Skywalker ever,# the boy thought, heading back toward the ship - there were MORE Force impressions homing in on him, and if he was going to get off this Force-forsaken rock, he needed help. More importantly, he wasn't going to abandon his Aunt Betsy. That was when four muscular women in green and brown rancor leather, with very big spears, appeared from the bushes and surrounded him. "Uh ... hi?" Ben said, trying to smile - kriff, he was blushing AGAIN - "Well, he speaks Basic, at least," the tallest of the women chuckled, turning to two figures hiding in a thicket - Ben KNEW that accent - "Ben?" one of the figures asked, and the boy's jaw dropped - the accent was *Hapan, and the voice - "Yedi Ben!" Ben was knocked down by the impact of a small red-headed blur, and he fell backwards to see a giggling little girl in overalls and a camoflague shirt sitting on his chest, clutching a stuffed tauntaun in her free hand. "Allana, be nice. Ben, it's pleasant to see you here ... if a little surprising," Tenel Ka said, motioning her 4-year-old daughter off of Ben as her bodyguards helped him up. "Thanks, Your Majesty - hello, Chume'Da Allana - nice to see you too," Ben said, bowing to the Hapan royals despite his embarrassment - was EVERY female Jedi in the known galaxy gonna see him in his shorts? Tenel Ka nodded magnanimously before beaming at the boy, and Allana's giggle warmed Ben's heart - they weren't snooty at all - *Jacen's fingers at the back of his head, a tiny baby in Tenel Ka's arms* "Ben?" Tenel Ka asked, as the boy wobbled - He looked her in shock, then knelt before Allana - he'd met the girl long ago, long before he and Jacen occasionally visited Hapes to visit the queen ... Allana offered the tauntaun to Ben, saying, "You wanna hug him? He makes me feel better." "Thank you ... what's his name?" Ben asked, oddly not feeling at all bizarre about being offered a stuffed toy to make him feel better - he even looked the tauntaun over, then handed it back to Allana. Coming from Allana, it was ...familial. Allana smiled as she said, "Jacen." Ben felt like he was in a speeder that had hit its brakes in an instant, and he was 9 again, peeking around a Tendrando nanny droid in Tenel Ka's palace, as she and Jacen cooed over a baby - Tenel Ka's gasp - echoing with remorse and pain and longing in the Force - made Ben look at her in shock - "I should never have let him mind-rub you ... you would never harm Allana ... oh, Ben, I am so sorry," Tenel Ka breathed, using her good right hand to cradle the stump of her left arm. Jacen had accidentally cut off that arm during a dueling accident years ago on Yavin IV, Ben recalled, scooping up Allana and looking in her eyes. They were Tenel Ka's grey eyes, her red hair... but *Jacen's* echoes in Allana's facial structure. The bodyguards looked worried until Ben set Allana down and smiled. "I - thanks, Allana. I ... remembered something I needed to know," he said, giving Tenel Ka a reassuring look. #I won't betray my cousin's safety,# he promised the queen through the Force. After all that Jacen had already done, learning he'd mind-rubbed Ben to hide Allana's identity wasn't that shocking. It'd been done to protect a little girl - Jacen's daughter, Ben's cousin - from the madness of Hapan court politics. Maybe, Ben rationalized, he could forgive Jacen this once. And he wouldn't be angry with Tenel Ka - she probably couldn't have stopped Jacen anyway. She nodded, gratefully, before walking over and hugged him - shocking her bodyguards. "Thank you. Can you ever forgive - ?" Tenel Ka asked. "I'm not mad. I promise, I'll keep quiet," Ben assured her - she kind of reminded him of his Mom. It wasn't just the red hair - Tenel Ka cared about Allana like his Mom cared about him. And she cared for Ben, too - like a big sister, sort of, he could sense. Tenel Ka's face lit up, but Ben felt terrible - he had to tell her what Jacen had done, and it would hurt her ... "Your Majesty -" Ben started, but he looked at Allana and went silent. How could he tell his cousin's lover that Jacen had become a monster? And in front of his cousin's daughter - his younger, innocent, cousin? "We can talk later. I ... have heard things concerning Colonel Solo ... that I was hoping you could confirm," the queen said, and Ben breathed a sigh of relief - she understood. "Can we keep Ben? But I don' wan' him for a slave, he's too nice - an' he should get t'wear pants," Allana said, utterly serious, to her mother. Ben would've laughed if the bodyguards weren't looking at him like he should be on a leash ... "Ben can't come home with us, Allana. But he's always welcome to visit - and, Major Espara, I emphasize that Ben is to be accorded EVERY respect due a friend of the Royal Court?" Tenel Ka ordered the tallest of the bodyguards. The tall, dark-haired woman looked momentarily aghast, but merely nodded. "As you command, Majesty," Espara said, and the party set out toward the waiting Angel's Wing. "Ben, what are you doing here? We were visiting my ancestors' clan sites to teach Allana about her heritage, when we saw your ship come down - was that the Angel's Wing?" Tenel Ka asked, letting Ben walk beside her while Allana held his hand. "Aunt - Master Braddock and I were going to Bimmiel, to investigate ... something about Colonel Solo ... when we were attacked by a Y-Wing with an ion cannon. Then a bunch of Nightsisters ambushed us, and their rancor knocked Master Braddock away from me," Ben explained, reaching out in the Force - Aunt Betsy was still alive, but she wasn't alone. Tenel Ka caught the same Force trace, and asked, "Allana, would you let Ben carry you? We must move quickly - Master Braddock needs help." "OK, Mama," Allana said, and Ben scooped the girl up as he, Tenel Ka and the bodyguards picked up their pace. #Only a bunch of Hapan women wouldn't scold me for running around in my shorts ...# Ben thought, wondering how much more absurd the day could get. He was a Skywalker, though. He should be grateful things weren't even crazier than they were. --------------------------------------------- Alyra of the Singing Mountain Clan of Force witches had had few chances to see starships up close. She was a simple clan scout - she did what the clan mothers told her, kept her rancor Borh well-fed and cleaned, and took what pleasure she could from her manservant, Khed. Altogether, the young blond woman had a pretty acceptable life, for living on a planet widely scorned by the rest of the galaxy. Alyra respected the few Jedi who visited or trained here, but otherwise, she ignored the rest of the galaxy. It was, after all, run mostly by men. #I'd like to see Hapes once, perhaps - at least their women don't bow to male aggression,# the scout thought, shifting her rancor-hide armor a bit before sliding off of the bowing Borh to walk toward the quiet ship. There was no sense of danger; the craft had some armaments, but the overall sense Alyra got was that whoever had landed here had done so out of an emergency. Still, she adjusted her spear and kept her eyes open. Their visitors' presence required all the clan members to be more careful - There were bodies of Nightsisters all over theplace, though, and at least one - two - dead rancors. Alyra steeled herself against a sudden wave of pain, and ran to the nearby ravine. A woman with Jedi robes and purple hair climbed out of the ravine, her head bloody - Alyra moved to help her - and the Force screamed with the agony of a dying rancor as a massive blaster bolt hit her mount square in the head. "BOHR!?" Alyra cried out, turning - Something black and snarling shoved a vibroshiv into her stomach, then threw her aside. -------------------------------------------- The screams slapped Betsy out of her shock. She ignited her lightsaber, aghast as the Force was shot through with pain and death, and focused through her haze to see a Dathomiri woman dying before her, her rancor executed by a head shot. And between them stood - "Yub t'chub - BAH-DAK!" a black-furred Ewok with a white diagonal stripe across his body snarled, aiming some kind of massive weapon at Betsy. "Bloody HELL - TARFANG!?" Betsy exploded - The Alliance's whole problem was letting corrupt sentients into positions of power. Five years earlier, Han and Leia had encountered two smugglers, a Sullustan named Jae Juun and his psychotically violent co-pilot ... Tarfang. Ewoks weren't widely believed to be that sentient, or that technologically savvy. Tarfang was the lethal exception. Not only could he pilot, he was the "bad cop" to Juun's "good cop," and they'd gotten jobs as GA intelligence officers. It was actually rather effective; Sullustans looked like large, comical mice, with their massive ears, wide eyes and cheek folds. And Ewoks ... Who DIDN'T trust Ewoks? #Once the Ewok gets the death mark for violent sprees in nine systems, that's when you don't trust them,# Betsy reminded herself. She'd run afoul of Tarfang near Ison, three years earlier. He'd been tracking pirates whose navicomputer Betsy had needed. The fight had been ... well, a cantina had burned down. Betsy STILL had scars from where the little maniac had clawed her back. "Thub-tchkb - BAH-DAK!" Tarfang spat. He pulled a suspiciously dark-toned vibroblade from his bandolier and lunged, as Betsy met him halfway. #Wisdom would be laughing his arse off ...# The blades clashed - and the Ewok chuckled evilly as his didn't melt underneath Betsy's lightsaber. #Cortosis reinforcement. Bloody perfect ...# Betsy gave herself to the Force, and it was ON. -------------------------------------------- Ben handed Allana to Espara, as Tenel Ka drew her rancor-tooth-hilt lightsaber and watched the shocking duel unfold from across the field, and the Jedi shared a knowing look. "Tarfang - guards, protect Allana with your lives. Ben, watch my back," Tenel Ka ordered, and Ben obeyed, following her. The queen was a retired Jedi, but she was still a queen - and a skilled tactician. #We're gonna need all the tactics we can get,# Ben thought, shuddering as he remembered Tarfang's GAG file. The little beast was EVIL - if Ewoks were Force-sensitive, Tarfang would've been a Sith Lord. Ben expanded his senses to try and predict what Tarfang might do - Aunt Betsy was matching his moves, but - Tenel Ka levitated a few rocks toward the screeching Ewok, but the furry maniac danced away from them and drew his blaster. Ben REALLY hoped he wasn't about to be killed by Tenel Ka's bodyguards, because he tackled her out of the way of a massive blaster bolt that blew a tree apart. "A Merr-Sonn Flash 4 - the equivalent of a T-21 heavy repeating blaster packed into a single-hand weapon," Tenel Ka said, smiling at Ben as he let go of her - kark, he was rolling around with a QUEEN in his shorts and fighting an Ewok ... #Kriff - NO, ANY other curse but kriff -# Ben thought, blushing and concentrating on Tarfang. The Ewok growled as the three Jedi closed on him - Betsy had a nasty gash on her head, but looked OK otherwise - and Ben snapped, "Tarfang, as the only on-site GAG officer, I'm ORDERING you to back down." Tarfang laughed uproariously, jabbering something vaguely insulting before aiming his blaster at Ben - A rock smacked the Ewok in the stomach, winding him long enough for Betsy to disarm him and remove his weapon-loaded bandolier. "Points for trying, Ben, but I don't think trying to order a crazed Ewok around while you're in your boxers is going to work. It was a very Jedi thing to do, though - the peaceful path," Betsy said, binding the snarling Tarfang with his own handcuffs. Espara handed Allana back to Tenel Ka, then took Tarfang into custody, while Ben let Aunt Betsy look him over. "The rancor tore my coverall," he said, hoping he didn't sound as pathetic as he felt. "What I'd like to know is why Tarfang was even here," Tenel Ka asked, glaring at the bitter Ewok while Espara pinned the furry assassin by the shoulders. "TARFANG?! Your Majesty - Lieutenant Skywalker!? Master Braddock!?" Everyone turned, to see a shocked-looking Sullustan in an X-Wing pilot's outfit come running out of a thicket of trees. Ben waved as Jae Juun, Tarfang's partner, caught up with the impromptu party, and the GA intel agent asked, "Lieutenant, why -" "Long story, Jae. Why did Tarfang try to kill us?" Ben asked - he could play soldier a little longer, if only to help out. Tarfang snarled something disturbing in Ewok, and Juun shook his head. "He should know better. His blood-vow of revenge overwhelmed his sense, and I couldn't override the ion cannon controls in our Y-Wing. We were on a mission ... we can't say what, of course, but it wasn't trying to kill you. I'm appalled - appalled!" Juun pleaded. Ben felt badly for the ex-smuggler, and awkwardly patted Juun's forearm. "It's ... OK. Really. Look - you have to stay secret, right? Well, so do we. Nobody can know we landed here," Ben suggested. Juun nodded with relief, as Allana giggled. "I understand, sir. This stays off the records - Your Majesty, I'm also sorry -" the Sullustan said. "We forgive you, Agent Juun. The Alliance and the Hapes Consortium are allies, and your mission will remain our secret. Please accept your ... partner back, and we will be on our way," Tenel Ka said, as Espara shoved Tarfang into Juun's hands with a repulsed look. "Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty! Please excuse us - Tarfang, you're going to get us KILLED if you don't cut this OUT!" Juun rambled. He and Tarfang wandered off, while Betsy gave Ben a funny look. "Yeah?" Ben asked her - he was about ready to pass out from the adrenaline withdrawl and emotional shocks. "Do you usually order around intelligence agents in your boxers?" Betsy deadpanned. Ben tried not to roll his eyes - and then, of course, another horde of Dathomiri women crashed through the trees, and he blushed again. "Welcome, Lady - by the FORCE!?" Ben heard - and sensed - aw, SHAVIT. He blushed to his roots when a grey-black-haired human woman in shockingly red and purple rancor-hide armor walked over, a lightsaber on her hip and a knowing look of concern for Ben. In any other circumstance, Ben would've been happy to see her. But running into Jedi Master Kirana Ti - a former Singing Mountain Clan leader, and now a leading member of the Jedi Council - NOW of all times ... "My apologies, Master Ti. Ben and I were traveling on investigative business, and we respectfully ask for your hospitality for the night. In exchange, I offer tales of our travels ... if we might retire to your chambers?" Betsy said, drawing Kirana's attention and radiating something in the Force that Ben didn't catch. Kirana's eyebrows rose, but she nodded, and guided the two other Jedi and the Hapans toward a large fort in the distance. "We sensed the Nightsisters roaming around here, and Her Majesty and the Chume'Da are staying with us. You and Ben are of course welcome ... and we may be able to find Ben some more clothes," she offered, a smile playing around her lips. "THANK you!" Ben exclaimed - [BEN.] He shook - Jacen was ROARING mad, in his mind - ---------------------------------------- Betsy caught Ben, as Kirana directed her fittest warriors to pick the boy up and wrap him in a cloak. Allana cried out in fear, as Tenel Ka asked, "What -?" A quick mindprobe - and a tightened shield around Ben in the Force - deflected Jacen's now-malevolent presence, but Betsy was staggered by the effort it took to drive him away from Ben. Worse, Jacen recognized her - "Jacen is ... searching for Ben through their Force-bond. We have to find a way to shield the boy until we can get the bloody bond broken," Betsy said, her voice catching when Tenel Ka gave a low sob. Allana nuzzled her mother's cheek, and said, "Jacen can be mad sometimes." Something in the girl's manner made Betsy arch an eyebrow, as the party headed for the Singing Mountain Clan's fortress and two warriors gathered Alyra's body. #I wonder how often you've seen that, Allana ...# --------------------------------------------- tbc ...