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Oceans deuce
The silence was shattered by a loud explosion, and alarms went off in the cockpit. LeberMac jerked the Orion Centurion around in a tight 8 G turn as he clenched every muscle in his lower body, turning around to face his attacker.
It was that Strat, again. Must he CONSTANTLY use flares?!? LeberMac waited for the obligatory "Die scumrat!" hail over his comm.
"Die scumrat!" his comm spat at him. LeberMac kicked it with his boot, damaging his boot severely. The comm crackled a bit, but had apparently won the round against the boot.
Another flare peppered with neutron fire grazed his cockpit as he fired off a few retaliatory rounds, landing some at close range. His Rev C was smoking badly now, systems were dropping off-line, and Strat was making another pass.
"Hell with THIS..." LeberMac said, aiming the nose of his ship directly as Strat. Both ships charged directly at each other; LeberMac let off a stream of neutron fire that depleted his battery completely, Strat fired off two flares before he had to maneuver, some of the green neutron plasma caught him directly in the face, leaving him badly damaged.
His flares, of course, exploded to either side of LeberMac, sandwiching the pirate in the blast, obliterating him in a puff of orange. Strat allowed himself a small chuckle before headed off to Daltas Hold to repair.
***
LeberMac awoke in the Latos Mining respawning chamber.
Dylan, his personal respawning tech, offered him a towel and his obligatory tequila shot. LeberMac was the only pilot in the known universe to require a personal respawning tech. He had been reconstituted so many times that he was a study subject of several medical journals, as well as some BioCom research executives. Dylan looked a bit more off than usual, scared, even. "I'm sorry, sir, but I have to go now..." He glanced nervously to someone sitting behind LeberMac, and hurriedly left the chamber.
"Hey Mac," A voice in the corner of the chamber said. "Getting a bit expensive to keep flying that way, eh? What with tha' price ' ships. There none cheap anymore, ya know."
LeberMac froze. "... Yoda?"
YodaofBorg stepped slowly from the shadows and cast his laser glare upon LeberMac.
"I have a proposition. You are in a position to help me, and I am in a position to increase your wealth. You will do this for me... yes?"
"Look, I'm not supposed to be talking to you, if Mystic knew she'd kick me out of the guild again..."
"That's precisely what I want," the green abomination spat, "you will do this for me and I will reward you with 10 million credits, enough to keep you in ships for several years... I just need one thing from you."
LeberMac thought about the money - it would certainly keep him in ships for years to come, AND it might even allow him to establish his tequila distillery in Pelatus that he'd been dreaming about...
"Mystic trusts you for some reason," Yoda continued, "And I will use that, and you, for my own purposes... which you need have none knowledge of. Are we agreed?"
LeberMac was still lost in thought. Yoda poked him with his walking stick.
"What? Yes, yes, we're agreed..." LeberMac shakily spoke. "But, what do you need?"
"A key, my good lad... just a key. An old-fashioned, traditional key that Mystic keeps around her neck. You needen't trouble yourself with what it's for. Just obtain this key for me."
"But, I've only JUST been invited BACK into [CLM]!" Lebermac proclaimed, "I don't think they will trust me enough for ... well, for anything!"
Yoda stared icily at LeberMac. "Get the key, or with the way you go through ships, you'll end up flying an EC-89 permanently. Now. Go."
LeberMac resented being thrown out of his own respawning chamber by the diminuitive verdant pirate, but he complied, and made his way back to [CLM] headquarters, wondering about how he would pull this off...
It was that Strat, again. Must he CONSTANTLY use flares?!? LeberMac waited for the obligatory "Die scumrat!" hail over his comm.
"Die scumrat!" his comm spat at him. LeberMac kicked it with his boot, damaging his boot severely. The comm crackled a bit, but had apparently won the round against the boot.
Another flare peppered with neutron fire grazed his cockpit as he fired off a few retaliatory rounds, landing some at close range. His Rev C was smoking badly now, systems were dropping off-line, and Strat was making another pass.
"Hell with THIS..." LeberMac said, aiming the nose of his ship directly as Strat. Both ships charged directly at each other; LeberMac let off a stream of neutron fire that depleted his battery completely, Strat fired off two flares before he had to maneuver, some of the green neutron plasma caught him directly in the face, leaving him badly damaged.
His flares, of course, exploded to either side of LeberMac, sandwiching the pirate in the blast, obliterating him in a puff of orange. Strat allowed himself a small chuckle before headed off to Daltas Hold to repair.
***
LeberMac awoke in the Latos Mining respawning chamber.
Dylan, his personal respawning tech, offered him a towel and his obligatory tequila shot. LeberMac was the only pilot in the known universe to require a personal respawning tech. He had been reconstituted so many times that he was a study subject of several medical journals, as well as some BioCom research executives. Dylan looked a bit more off than usual, scared, even. "I'm sorry, sir, but I have to go now..." He glanced nervously to someone sitting behind LeberMac, and hurriedly left the chamber.
"Hey Mac," A voice in the corner of the chamber said. "Getting a bit expensive to keep flying that way, eh? What with tha' price ' ships. There none cheap anymore, ya know."
LeberMac froze. "... Yoda?"
YodaofBorg stepped slowly from the shadows and cast his laser glare upon LeberMac.
"I have a proposition. You are in a position to help me, and I am in a position to increase your wealth. You will do this for me... yes?"
"Look, I'm not supposed to be talking to you, if Mystic knew she'd kick me out of the guild again..."
"That's precisely what I want," the green abomination spat, "you will do this for me and I will reward you with 10 million credits, enough to keep you in ships for several years... I just need one thing from you."
LeberMac thought about the money - it would certainly keep him in ships for years to come, AND it might even allow him to establish his tequila distillery in Pelatus that he'd been dreaming about...
"Mystic trusts you for some reason," Yoda continued, "And I will use that, and you, for my own purposes... which you need have none knowledge of. Are we agreed?"
LeberMac was still lost in thought. Yoda poked him with his walking stick.
"What? Yes, yes, we're agreed..." LeberMac shakily spoke. "But, what do you need?"
"A key, my good lad... just a key. An old-fashioned, traditional key that Mystic keeps around her neck. You needen't trouble yourself with what it's for. Just obtain this key for me."
"But, I've only JUST been invited BACK into [CLM]!" Lebermac proclaimed, "I don't think they will trust me enough for ... well, for anything!"
Yoda stared icily at LeberMac. "Get the key, or with the way you go through ships, you'll end up flying an EC-89 permanently. Now. Go."
LeberMac resented being thrown out of his own respawning chamber by the diminuitive verdant pirate, but he complied, and made his way back to [CLM] headquarters, wondering about how he would pull this off...
“Thank you” said Yoda as he was passed the small key from LeberMac, “Just think, this only took two of us, listen to me, I know what I am talking about.”
Yoda landed at Latos H-2 and stuck the key into the nearest terminal “I wonder if they de-activated my access codes?” It seems that they did not, as Yoda was able to withdraw over 1.2 billion credits from the CLM guild bank. He left a single message “Mystic, we need to talk…”
[Edit]
I think LeberMac got stuck in the past, this already happened.
Yoda landed at Latos H-2 and stuck the key into the nearest terminal “I wonder if they de-activated my access codes?” It seems that they did not, as Yoda was able to withdraw over 1.2 billion credits from the CLM guild bank. He left a single message “Mystic, we need to talk…”
[Edit]
I think LeberMac got stuck in the past, this already happened.
We'll just call that foreshadowing... or a "flash-ahead." Now back to the "stream of conciousness" story...
The party was in full swing by the time Mystic arrived, parties were fairly common around here, CLM liked to celebrate, but this one was to welcome back Lebermac. He had had been back for close to a month and things seemed to be going well. He wasn't the best pirate around by a long shot, most of the time he could barely dock his ship, but he was a good guy and Mystic liked him.
This was also the first party since her return after almost dying a few months back, after what happened with Everson, then yoda leaving the way he had, which still puzzled her to some extent. She had thought he was going underground and he did but when he resurfaced, he had left, without a reason and started another organization. For a while she had felt like she was all alone, but CLM had rallied to her side and stayed there. Forming a sort of circle around her while she dealt with what she had to. She took her normal place at the bar and watched the antics of some of the already well inebriated pirates.
“Here ya go Boss,” Shar handed her a glass of amber liquid, “chilled whiskey straight up just the way you like it”
“Coffee would be fine Shar, I ....”
“Boss, relax, enjoy yourself for a change, its been way too long”
“Point taken,” Mystic said with a smile as she took the offering and took a sip “I'm sorry I have been such a downer lately, but things are looking good here.” She gestured toward the new members, recruitment had been up lately, they were taking in several fine pilots, some green still, but with lots of potential.
“Every one has their bad days Myst, just seems yours came all at once,” the pirate said with a smile before wandering off to find a victim near the pool tables.
Look had set up his hibachi and was grilling burgers, while he and Flag were in deep conversation, probably up to no good again Mystic thought with a smile. As soon as she found her glass empty someone was refilling it. “I think my pilots are trying to get me drunk,”she mused. No sooner had she thought this than Leber came up with a drink in his hand. “Hey pretty boss lady, you look in need of a fresh drink.”
Smiling she asked, “Is there some conspiracy to see me sprawled out on the floor here?”
“Huh, no no...I just saw your glass was almost empty,” he stammered.
“Its ok Leebs, I was just joking, everyone is keeping me fresh on drinks, thank you very much.”
She thought he seemed a bit nervous, but then he acted that way a lot around her, maybe her perfume had a bad reaction on him because of his tequila habits. Graciously she took drink and a few sips to try to ease his mind.
He seemed to be overly concerned with it, so Mystic took a few more and smiled at him. “Its very good Leebs, thank you.” By the time she finished it he was offering her another which she drained fairly quickly, it had a really good taste. “Ok I think its time for me to head to my quarters, care to escort a lady to her apartments?,” She almost giggled at him, “I think I have had too much since its been so long” Standing she weaved a bit and Leber caught her with an arm around her waist. A couple of the others came over to make sure she was alright, but Mystic shooed them away. “I'm fine, just a bit too much after so long, Leeby here is going to walk me to my quarters, aren't you Leeby?” She smiled up at him, but was a bit unfocused.
“Of course, I will take good care of her.” He felt a bit guilty as he said it but suddenly shook it off, this might be his chance to really score. Yoda had told him to get the key, but if he got a lil extra bonus it couldn't hurt, if he was lucky she wouldn't remember a thing anyway. But he had to get her away, the vial yoda had given him was working quicker than he had thought.
As they made their way down the hall Mystic was leaning more and more on him and giggling almost uncontrollably. The few pirates they met in the hallway didn't do more than glance their way, thinking their leader had just had a few too many. Once at her door, it took a few minutes for the voice recognition to accept her voice as her speech was very slurred. Leber just knew that any minute Look or one of the others that knew Mystic well was going to wander up. Then he would be a dead man because they would never believe she was just drunk. Finally after what seemed an eternity the door slid open and they were safely inside. He led her to the sofa, which was occupied by the cat that she adored so much. It eyed Leber in an accusatory fashion before settling next to her mistress.
“I cant believe that just a couple drinks of whiskey is affecting me so strongly,” Mystic said in a fit of giggles, “I know its been a while but I'm not a lightweight when it comes to drinking. Maybe some coffee is in order” She attempted to get up but suddenly realized she couldn't, her body wasn't reacting to her mental commands. “Leebs, I think something is wrong, maybe you should call someone....” Before she had finished the sentence she had fallen over on the sofa, out cold. Leber was checking her pulse when he noticed the charm around her neck faintly glowing, and the chain with the key right under it. He had managed to slip the key off her neck just as the communicator that yoda gave him went off, nearly giving him a heart attack. He answered it whispering, “Ye-Ye-Yes?”
“Whats going on?,” yoda asked, “the monitor I have on Mystic says her pulse is very rapid, you gave her the vial yes?”
“Yes I did, she just passed out in her quarters. We barely made it here, it hit her faster than you said it would.”
“You mixed it with her coffee as I said right?”
Leber swallowed hard before answering, “She was drinking whiskey....”
“You mixed a sleeping potion with whiskey?, you could have killed her, how much did she drink?”
“Not that much, she had 4, the last two laced with the vial”
“Ok then she should be fine, just going to have a killer headache when she wakes up, so get the key...”
“I have the key, now I just have to get out of here without being seen, might take a while....”
“Don't even think about it Leber, you leave her quarters, NOW and get to the commerce side of the station and meet me.”
“Ye-Yes Sir, on my way” Lebermac didn't like that tone and had hoped to gather some of his stuff together before leaving, now there was no time, not even to try to get to his stockpile of tequila, oh well with the money yoda promised him he could get more.
He left Mystic laying where she had fallen, part of him regretting that he couldn't take more time to explore the options. Leaving her apartment he looked around for the easiest way to get out and decided the vent system would be the best way to go, although he still had nightmares about the time he lived in one for the longest when CLM was chasing him so long ago. Luckily this time, he would have yoda's protection and wouldn't have to hide. Plus Mystic couldn't be that upset over a small key. He still didn't understand why this key was so important, it would earn him 10 million credits, so that was enough.
Once he was safely off the station he would resign from CLM and that would be that. He had been working his way through the ventilation system and could hear the buzz from the commercial side of the station, so knew he had to be close, when suddenly he hit a roadblock. He had dropped down a few yards back and figured this would be the exit but the grid at the end of the shaft was not a grid at all, but a solid sheet of metal. Seemed it had been blocked off for some reason, and he couldn't get back up, he was trapped. Leber groaned, only he could find himself in this type of situation.
He buzzed the communicator to reach yoda. “Yeah? Whats taking you so long? I cant hang around here all night waiting ye know.”
“Umm I seem to have run into a small problem”
“What kind of problem? Obviously ye ain't been caught or you wouldn't have the communicator”
“Umm I was coming through the ventilation shaft and dropped down where I thought would be the exit on the commercial side and ummm, there is a solid synthsteel plate covering what I assume used to be an opening.” Yoda grumbled something about incompetent fools and then spoke to him, “Good thing I figured you would screw up, the communicator has a locater beacon on it, hang tight til I find ye”
It took yoda nearly an hour to find out what had happened, if he hadn't been worried about being seen, he would have found it hilarious, Leber had gotten himself stuck in an older part of the station, it was the commercial side alright, the BACK of the commercial side. This part of the station had been shut off for some time, probably about the same time CLM had moved their HQ upstairs. Lebermac really could be an idiot sometimes, but he did come in handy and was worthy of a bit of amusement at times.
After finding Leber, he had filched a small torch from a construction area and came back to cut open the metal, he could have just removed the rivets, but the noise would have attracted more attention than he cared to. As soon as the metal was pulled away a pale Leber crawled out, “You could have warned me what you were going to do, I thought I had been caught.”
Yoda snorted in derision, “Yer on the shut off part of the station ye numskull, no one would have found you for ages, if I didn't need what you have for me I might have just left you there to rot.”
Lebermac flinched a bit, but he knew that deep down yoda liked him, or he wouldn't have chosen him for this job....... would he?
Leber made a big flourish of brandishing the key to yoda, and eager for his reward.
“Thank you” said Yoda as he was passed the small key from LeberMac, “Just think, this only took two of us, listen to me, I know what I am talking about.”
“Now lets get out of here, I have something to do, so there is a EC-89 waiting in the dock that way, get in it and get lost, I will contact you if I need you for anything.”
Early the next morning, after he knew all the pirates would be out of the CLM HQ, or passed out in their quarters. Yoda landed at Latos C-2 and stuck the key into the nearest terminal “I wonder if they de-activated my access codes?” It seems that they did not, as Yoda was able to withdraw over 1.2 billion credits from the CLM guild bank. He left a single message “Mystic, we need to talk…”
This was also the first party since her return after almost dying a few months back, after what happened with Everson, then yoda leaving the way he had, which still puzzled her to some extent. She had thought he was going underground and he did but when he resurfaced, he had left, without a reason and started another organization. For a while she had felt like she was all alone, but CLM had rallied to her side and stayed there. Forming a sort of circle around her while she dealt with what she had to. She took her normal place at the bar and watched the antics of some of the already well inebriated pirates.
“Here ya go Boss,” Shar handed her a glass of amber liquid, “chilled whiskey straight up just the way you like it”
“Coffee would be fine Shar, I ....”
“Boss, relax, enjoy yourself for a change, its been way too long”
“Point taken,” Mystic said with a smile as she took the offering and took a sip “I'm sorry I have been such a downer lately, but things are looking good here.” She gestured toward the new members, recruitment had been up lately, they were taking in several fine pilots, some green still, but with lots of potential.
“Every one has their bad days Myst, just seems yours came all at once,” the pirate said with a smile before wandering off to find a victim near the pool tables.
Look had set up his hibachi and was grilling burgers, while he and Flag were in deep conversation, probably up to no good again Mystic thought with a smile. As soon as she found her glass empty someone was refilling it. “I think my pilots are trying to get me drunk,”she mused. No sooner had she thought this than Leber came up with a drink in his hand. “Hey pretty boss lady, you look in need of a fresh drink.”
Smiling she asked, “Is there some conspiracy to see me sprawled out on the floor here?”
“Huh, no no...I just saw your glass was almost empty,” he stammered.
“Its ok Leebs, I was just joking, everyone is keeping me fresh on drinks, thank you very much.”
She thought he seemed a bit nervous, but then he acted that way a lot around her, maybe her perfume had a bad reaction on him because of his tequila habits. Graciously she took drink and a few sips to try to ease his mind.
He seemed to be overly concerned with it, so Mystic took a few more and smiled at him. “Its very good Leebs, thank you.” By the time she finished it he was offering her another which she drained fairly quickly, it had a really good taste. “Ok I think its time for me to head to my quarters, care to escort a lady to her apartments?,” She almost giggled at him, “I think I have had too much since its been so long” Standing she weaved a bit and Leber caught her with an arm around her waist. A couple of the others came over to make sure she was alright, but Mystic shooed them away. “I'm fine, just a bit too much after so long, Leeby here is going to walk me to my quarters, aren't you Leeby?” She smiled up at him, but was a bit unfocused.
“Of course, I will take good care of her.” He felt a bit guilty as he said it but suddenly shook it off, this might be his chance to really score. Yoda had told him to get the key, but if he got a lil extra bonus it couldn't hurt, if he was lucky she wouldn't remember a thing anyway. But he had to get her away, the vial yoda had given him was working quicker than he had thought.
As they made their way down the hall Mystic was leaning more and more on him and giggling almost uncontrollably. The few pirates they met in the hallway didn't do more than glance their way, thinking their leader had just had a few too many. Once at her door, it took a few minutes for the voice recognition to accept her voice as her speech was very slurred. Leber just knew that any minute Look or one of the others that knew Mystic well was going to wander up. Then he would be a dead man because they would never believe she was just drunk. Finally after what seemed an eternity the door slid open and they were safely inside. He led her to the sofa, which was occupied by the cat that she adored so much. It eyed Leber in an accusatory fashion before settling next to her mistress.
“I cant believe that just a couple drinks of whiskey is affecting me so strongly,” Mystic said in a fit of giggles, “I know its been a while but I'm not a lightweight when it comes to drinking. Maybe some coffee is in order” She attempted to get up but suddenly realized she couldn't, her body wasn't reacting to her mental commands. “Leebs, I think something is wrong, maybe you should call someone....” Before she had finished the sentence she had fallen over on the sofa, out cold. Leber was checking her pulse when he noticed the charm around her neck faintly glowing, and the chain with the key right under it. He had managed to slip the key off her neck just as the communicator that yoda gave him went off, nearly giving him a heart attack. He answered it whispering, “Ye-Ye-Yes?”
“Whats going on?,” yoda asked, “the monitor I have on Mystic says her pulse is very rapid, you gave her the vial yes?”
“Yes I did, she just passed out in her quarters. We barely made it here, it hit her faster than you said it would.”
“You mixed it with her coffee as I said right?”
Leber swallowed hard before answering, “She was drinking whiskey....”
“You mixed a sleeping potion with whiskey?, you could have killed her, how much did she drink?”
“Not that much, she had 4, the last two laced with the vial”
“Ok then she should be fine, just going to have a killer headache when she wakes up, so get the key...”
“I have the key, now I just have to get out of here without being seen, might take a while....”
“Don't even think about it Leber, you leave her quarters, NOW and get to the commerce side of the station and meet me.”
“Ye-Yes Sir, on my way” Lebermac didn't like that tone and had hoped to gather some of his stuff together before leaving, now there was no time, not even to try to get to his stockpile of tequila, oh well with the money yoda promised him he could get more.
He left Mystic laying where she had fallen, part of him regretting that he couldn't take more time to explore the options. Leaving her apartment he looked around for the easiest way to get out and decided the vent system would be the best way to go, although he still had nightmares about the time he lived in one for the longest when CLM was chasing him so long ago. Luckily this time, he would have yoda's protection and wouldn't have to hide. Plus Mystic couldn't be that upset over a small key. He still didn't understand why this key was so important, it would earn him 10 million credits, so that was enough.
Once he was safely off the station he would resign from CLM and that would be that. He had been working his way through the ventilation system and could hear the buzz from the commercial side of the station, so knew he had to be close, when suddenly he hit a roadblock. He had dropped down a few yards back and figured this would be the exit but the grid at the end of the shaft was not a grid at all, but a solid sheet of metal. Seemed it had been blocked off for some reason, and he couldn't get back up, he was trapped. Leber groaned, only he could find himself in this type of situation.
He buzzed the communicator to reach yoda. “Yeah? Whats taking you so long? I cant hang around here all night waiting ye know.”
“Umm I seem to have run into a small problem”
“What kind of problem? Obviously ye ain't been caught or you wouldn't have the communicator”
“Umm I was coming through the ventilation shaft and dropped down where I thought would be the exit on the commercial side and ummm, there is a solid synthsteel plate covering what I assume used to be an opening.” Yoda grumbled something about incompetent fools and then spoke to him, “Good thing I figured you would screw up, the communicator has a locater beacon on it, hang tight til I find ye”
It took yoda nearly an hour to find out what had happened, if he hadn't been worried about being seen, he would have found it hilarious, Leber had gotten himself stuck in an older part of the station, it was the commercial side alright, the BACK of the commercial side. This part of the station had been shut off for some time, probably about the same time CLM had moved their HQ upstairs. Lebermac really could be an idiot sometimes, but he did come in handy and was worthy of a bit of amusement at times.
After finding Leber, he had filched a small torch from a construction area and came back to cut open the metal, he could have just removed the rivets, but the noise would have attracted more attention than he cared to. As soon as the metal was pulled away a pale Leber crawled out, “You could have warned me what you were going to do, I thought I had been caught.”
Yoda snorted in derision, “Yer on the shut off part of the station ye numskull, no one would have found you for ages, if I didn't need what you have for me I might have just left you there to rot.”
Lebermac flinched a bit, but he knew that deep down yoda liked him, or he wouldn't have chosen him for this job....... would he?
Leber made a big flourish of brandishing the key to yoda, and eager for his reward.
“Thank you” said Yoda as he was passed the small key from LeberMac, “Just think, this only took two of us, listen to me, I know what I am talking about.”
“Now lets get out of here, I have something to do, so there is a EC-89 waiting in the dock that way, get in it and get lost, I will contact you if I need you for anything.”
Early the next morning, after he knew all the pirates would be out of the CLM HQ, or passed out in their quarters. Yoda landed at Latos C-2 and stuck the key into the nearest terminal “I wonder if they de-activated my access codes?” It seems that they did not, as Yoda was able to withdraw over 1.2 billion credits from the CLM guild bank. He left a single message “Mystic, we need to talk…”
Retractile was whistling as he left his quarters, a short stop at his office, then it was off to find some nice morsels in the trade lanes, he wondered how many would pay today? Didn't really matter, he enjoyed the occasional skirmish with those that didn't as much as the credits of the ones that did sometimes. A soft mewing sound caught his attention just as he was about to enter the lift, turning he saw Pagan in the hallway. “Hey now you know you aren't supposed to be wandering around alone, Mystic would flip” At one point Ret would have felt funny talking to a cat, but the way Mystic acted around this one and the cat's personality, it just kinda fit. “Let's get you home shall we?” He scooped the cat up and headed up the hallway towards Mystic's quarters, all officers were on this floor but Mystic's was on the opposite end from all the others, affording her a bit more privacy even before she was commander.
As he approached the door, Ret saw the door wasn't closed completely, which was strange, maintenance usually kept up with any problems. “Hey boss, found Pagan wandering around the hallway,” Retractile yelled out as he sat Pagan down and began examining the door, “Seems your door isn't wanting to shut properly” He managed to pull the door open a bit more and found the problem, a smallish polycarbonate vial. A cold feeling ran over him as he examined it. Normally he would never enter Mystic's quarters without an invitation, but something was definitely wrong. Pulling his blaster out as he entered he called out, “Mystic?” Then he saw her, slumped, half on and half off the sofa, as he ran to her he called Look “Something is wrong, get to Mystic's quarters now and bring security!”
“On my way” Look answered.
Ret moved Mystic as gently as possible fully onto the sofa and had just called for a medic when Look arrived with security. “What the hell is going on here? Whats wrong with Mystic?” Armed with his shotgun Look was going through the apartment as he talked.
“I'm not exactly sure yet, I found the cat wandering the hall and brought her back here and found this jamming the doorway, it looks like it was dropped by whoever is responsible for this” he gestured to Mystic. Look took the vial and opened it, sniffing it he wrinkled his nose, “Knockout drops of some kind I'm betting, as she is still breathing at least” Both men backed off as the med team came in and started examining Mystic.
“Well?” Look asked impatiently a couple minutes later.
“She is coming around slowly, we gave her a minor stimulant to help her wake up, she appears to have been sleeping very deeply, so should be fine, but we would like to check her out more thoroughly at the med center soon.” The tech moved aside so that Look and Ret could see for themselves that their commander was fine.
“How ya feelin' boss?” Retractile spoke first.
“Like someone took a hammer to my head, I did not think 4 drinks would put me in this condition....”
“Looks like the drinks had a bit of help,” Look showed her the vial, “I'm not 100% sure, but I would be willing to bet this was involved.”
Mystic looked at the vial, something about it seemed familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. “I need a cup of coffee, hell a pot is more like it.”
Ten minutes later, Mystic was enjoying the coffee and beginning to shake the weird tiredness when Shar came in, “Myst, you might want to take a look at this,” he punched up the information for her as she sat down at the computer. She looked up with fire in her eyes, “Now I know where I recognized that vial from, I have seen it before, it was definitely knock out drops and now I know where it came from, I just don't know how he got it to me.” She showed Ret and Look the screen....
Withdrawal amount: 1,200,000,000
Withdrawal made by: Yoda
Notation: “Mystic, we need to talk…”
Second transaction
Look and Ret were both wearing expressions of shock, Ret was the first to speak, “Ok this means...”
Mystic finished for him, “That yoda just wiped out the entire guild bank, but this says second transaction..” A very bad feeling was forming in Mystic's stomach as she punched in her own bank information. Zero credits... “He also wiped out my personal account.”
“How could he get access to it all, only the commander has that authority.” Ret asked.
Mystic's hand went automatically to her throat, the chain was gone, and with it the key that would grant access to any terminal on the CLM network. “Look get security, change all access immediately, yoda has my key!”
“Already on it”
The sick feeling in Mystic's stomach was getting worse, but she had to push it aside for now. Somehow, she had to figure this out. Suddenly it dawned on her, “Guys have you seen Leber this morning? He escorted me here last night. We need to talk to him pronto.”
Retractile put the call into Leber's quarters, no answer, so he pulled up the log out screen where the pirates logged the area they were covering that particular day, it helped keep things organized, it was one of Mystic's ideas and he thought it a good one, that way they covered a bigger area and it was easier to know where everyone was if something came up. Lebermac wasn't on it and it showed his ship was still in the docking bay. Ret typed in Leber's Id and got another shock. “Mystic? Lebermac has resigned from the guild, as of 2 am this morning.”
“Which would have been not very long after he walked me up here.... thats how yoda did it,” Mystic started typing information in again, another transaction during the party showed Leber removing half a million credits from the guild bank. “That bastard, he helped yoda rip off the bank, by drugging me and stealing the key. After he took out a nice cut himself” Mystic stood and threw a vase against the wall.
The three pirates watched their commander silently, til she turned to them. “I hope he thinks it was worth it. I want Lebermac's heart on a platter. If I have to cut it out myself, I will have it”
Look asked the question they were all wondering, “And yoda?”
Mystic looked them in the eye, “I will deal with yoda myself, it may have been the guild's money, but he has made it personal. I will get our money back.”
As he approached the door, Ret saw the door wasn't closed completely, which was strange, maintenance usually kept up with any problems. “Hey boss, found Pagan wandering around the hallway,” Retractile yelled out as he sat Pagan down and began examining the door, “Seems your door isn't wanting to shut properly” He managed to pull the door open a bit more and found the problem, a smallish polycarbonate vial. A cold feeling ran over him as he examined it. Normally he would never enter Mystic's quarters without an invitation, but something was definitely wrong. Pulling his blaster out as he entered he called out, “Mystic?” Then he saw her, slumped, half on and half off the sofa, as he ran to her he called Look “Something is wrong, get to Mystic's quarters now and bring security!”
“On my way” Look answered.
Ret moved Mystic as gently as possible fully onto the sofa and had just called for a medic when Look arrived with security. “What the hell is going on here? Whats wrong with Mystic?” Armed with his shotgun Look was going through the apartment as he talked.
“I'm not exactly sure yet, I found the cat wandering the hall and brought her back here and found this jamming the doorway, it looks like it was dropped by whoever is responsible for this” he gestured to Mystic. Look took the vial and opened it, sniffing it he wrinkled his nose, “Knockout drops of some kind I'm betting, as she is still breathing at least” Both men backed off as the med team came in and started examining Mystic.
“Well?” Look asked impatiently a couple minutes later.
“She is coming around slowly, we gave her a minor stimulant to help her wake up, she appears to have been sleeping very deeply, so should be fine, but we would like to check her out more thoroughly at the med center soon.” The tech moved aside so that Look and Ret could see for themselves that their commander was fine.
“How ya feelin' boss?” Retractile spoke first.
“Like someone took a hammer to my head, I did not think 4 drinks would put me in this condition....”
“Looks like the drinks had a bit of help,” Look showed her the vial, “I'm not 100% sure, but I would be willing to bet this was involved.”
Mystic looked at the vial, something about it seemed familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. “I need a cup of coffee, hell a pot is more like it.”
Ten minutes later, Mystic was enjoying the coffee and beginning to shake the weird tiredness when Shar came in, “Myst, you might want to take a look at this,” he punched up the information for her as she sat down at the computer. She looked up with fire in her eyes, “Now I know where I recognized that vial from, I have seen it before, it was definitely knock out drops and now I know where it came from, I just don't know how he got it to me.” She showed Ret and Look the screen....
Withdrawal amount: 1,200,000,000
Withdrawal made by: Yoda
Notation: “Mystic, we need to talk…”
Second transaction
Look and Ret were both wearing expressions of shock, Ret was the first to speak, “Ok this means...”
Mystic finished for him, “That yoda just wiped out the entire guild bank, but this says second transaction..” A very bad feeling was forming in Mystic's stomach as she punched in her own bank information. Zero credits... “He also wiped out my personal account.”
“How could he get access to it all, only the commander has that authority.” Ret asked.
Mystic's hand went automatically to her throat, the chain was gone, and with it the key that would grant access to any terminal on the CLM network. “Look get security, change all access immediately, yoda has my key!”
“Already on it”
The sick feeling in Mystic's stomach was getting worse, but she had to push it aside for now. Somehow, she had to figure this out. Suddenly it dawned on her, “Guys have you seen Leber this morning? He escorted me here last night. We need to talk to him pronto.”
Retractile put the call into Leber's quarters, no answer, so he pulled up the log out screen where the pirates logged the area they were covering that particular day, it helped keep things organized, it was one of Mystic's ideas and he thought it a good one, that way they covered a bigger area and it was easier to know where everyone was if something came up. Lebermac wasn't on it and it showed his ship was still in the docking bay. Ret typed in Leber's Id and got another shock. “Mystic? Lebermac has resigned from the guild, as of 2 am this morning.”
“Which would have been not very long after he walked me up here.... thats how yoda did it,” Mystic started typing information in again, another transaction during the party showed Leber removing half a million credits from the guild bank. “That bastard, he helped yoda rip off the bank, by drugging me and stealing the key. After he took out a nice cut himself” Mystic stood and threw a vase against the wall.
The three pirates watched their commander silently, til she turned to them. “I hope he thinks it was worth it. I want Lebermac's heart on a platter. If I have to cut it out myself, I will have it”
Look asked the question they were all wondering, “And yoda?”
Mystic looked them in the eye, “I will deal with yoda myself, it may have been the guild's money, but he has made it personal. I will get our money back.”
Yoda pointed to him with his trademark scowl, and uttered another command.
“There is a EC-89 waiting in the dock that way, get in it and get lost, I will contact you if I need you for anything.”
Then, with a flare of his cloak and a deft turn, he was gone, back into the darkness from whence he came.
LeberMac wasn't paying attention, so he missed the way Yoda pointed when he said "that way." But, the C-2 station wasn't that large, certainly he could find his way to the docking bay... right?
Hours passed as he half-remembered, half-guessed his way through the twists and turns of the ventilation ducts. The ductwork got narrower and dustier as he crawled, and his hand-held electronic torch was fading. Suddenly, he spied something familiar up ahead. He crawled faster, cutting his hands on some of the sharp duct edges, eager to use the landmark to reorient himself and escape from this station. He came closer and realized...
... it was the same metal bulkhead plating that Yoda had cut through. He'd been going in circles.
Exhausted, with his light fading and lost within the bowels of an abandoned section of a pirate space station, filled with vicious people who wanted to kill him, LeberMac slumped against the side of the duct. Despondent, he reached inside his filthy flight suit and produced his emergency flask of tequila. "What have I done?" he asked himself after a long pull from the flask.
True, he had betrayed Mystic with that whole drug-in-the-drink thing, all to get that small key that she had always worn around her neck. It was probably the key to some long-lost BLAK treasure, or maybe it unlocked one of the ancient robotic Furies that were rumored to exist as pilotable craft, left over from the first age of exploration. Whatever it was, Lebermac was curious, and told himself between swigs that once he found his way out of here, he'd ask his new guild commander what was so special about that key. He replaced the cap on the flask, and spun the cap to close it; but as sometimes happens when inebriated, he spun the cap the wrong way and it spun off the flask, clinking through the opening Yoda had cut previously.
LeberMac poked his head through the cut opening, and discovered a better-lit ventilation duct. "Ah!... It's this way!" He crawled about 10 meters the same way Yoda had come in, collected the cap to his flask, and promptly fell out through a loose grate into an old access hallway near the secondary docking bay. He'd been circling this spot for half a day, scant meters away from freedom.
"Heh. when in doubt, break the tequila out." he muttered to himself. The EC-89 Yoda had mentioned was still there in the deserted, little-used docking bay, and LeberMac made his way inside without being spotted.
"All-right, now to begin my life as a valuable new member of my new guild, [THC]." LeberMac didn't even know what THC stood for, but Yoda himself had provided the invite, and any guild that Yoda was a part of was usually a pretty fun guild to be in, so he'd jumped at the chance. This small initiation ceremony had certainly sealed the deal on his admission, and furthermore, Yoda had said he'd be rewarded with 10 million credits once he joined and completed the task set before him.
Undocking with as little fanfare as possible, LeberMac jumped to an open empty sector and fired up his comms to check his bank account.
The money was there. All 10 million, bringing his balance to over 30 million.
Not that he had doubted that Yoda was a man of his word, but no one had ever given him that much money at once for such a small thing. Hell, when he'd joined [ITAN] all he got was a pile of paperwork and a small paper certificate.
He closed out his financial thread and switched over to the CNN (Corvus News Network) newsfeeds as he took out his flask again for another swig.
"... Again we repeat: The central fund for [CLM] has been looted, and as of now financial experts estimate that losses will be in the billions. Xang Xi and Corvus officials are meeting in Odia to discuss bailout terms, and the investigation continues throughout grayspace. Sources close to the incident have preliminary indications that LeberMac, the disgraced former [ITAN] lieutenant, former [CLM] pirate, and former member of many other guilds, was the mastermind of the plot. We'll break in with more updates as this fast-moving story unfolds. Now, back to Geraldo Jr."
The tequila soured in his mouth. He swallowed it anyway of course, but shut off the newsfeed and punched in a guild direct commlink to Yoda, against all orders and regulations.
"Speak." Yoda's voice on the other end of the scrambled audio comm said.
"Yoda! That key was to the [CLM] guild bank! You used it to loot Mystic's personal accounts AND the CLM guild account. You've stolen billions of credits! And... for some reason the media thinks *I* did it!" Leber spat.
"Funny how the right word at the appropriate time can lead people in the wrong direction..." Yoda uttered, "...so, are you being actively chased and pursued yet?"
"You... you set me up!" LeberMac cried, "I'll have [CLM] pilots chasing me everywhere I go from now on! Nevermind the normal [VPR] and [ITAN] patrols, and the glory-seekers looking to kill pirates. Now [CLM] is after me. Me!"
"Looks like you've got a problem, friend." Yoda calmly spoke into the comm as he rubbed the worn head of his walking stick. "Good thing that you have [THC] to back you up, you've made a good move by coming into the guild."
LeberMac frowned, and quietly said. "I... I guess I don't have much of a choice."
"Hmm. True. Funny how things worked out that way. Almost as if it was planned." Yoda said. LeberMac could almost feel the smirk in Yoda's voice. "Yoda out."
Silence filled the cabin of LeberMac's tiny EC-89. It was a small speck, floating alone in the vast universe, surrounded by dark political intrigue. LeberMac had the familiar feeling that he was caught in the center of a maelstrom of events that he would have no control over.
Again.
“There is a EC-89 waiting in the dock that way, get in it and get lost, I will contact you if I need you for anything.”
Then, with a flare of his cloak and a deft turn, he was gone, back into the darkness from whence he came.
LeberMac wasn't paying attention, so he missed the way Yoda pointed when he said "that way." But, the C-2 station wasn't that large, certainly he could find his way to the docking bay... right?
Hours passed as he half-remembered, half-guessed his way through the twists and turns of the ventilation ducts. The ductwork got narrower and dustier as he crawled, and his hand-held electronic torch was fading. Suddenly, he spied something familiar up ahead. He crawled faster, cutting his hands on some of the sharp duct edges, eager to use the landmark to reorient himself and escape from this station. He came closer and realized...
... it was the same metal bulkhead plating that Yoda had cut through. He'd been going in circles.
Exhausted, with his light fading and lost within the bowels of an abandoned section of a pirate space station, filled with vicious people who wanted to kill him, LeberMac slumped against the side of the duct. Despondent, he reached inside his filthy flight suit and produced his emergency flask of tequila. "What have I done?" he asked himself after a long pull from the flask.
True, he had betrayed Mystic with that whole drug-in-the-drink thing, all to get that small key that she had always worn around her neck. It was probably the key to some long-lost BLAK treasure, or maybe it unlocked one of the ancient robotic Furies that were rumored to exist as pilotable craft, left over from the first age of exploration. Whatever it was, Lebermac was curious, and told himself between swigs that once he found his way out of here, he'd ask his new guild commander what was so special about that key. He replaced the cap on the flask, and spun the cap to close it; but as sometimes happens when inebriated, he spun the cap the wrong way and it spun off the flask, clinking through the opening Yoda had cut previously.
LeberMac poked his head through the cut opening, and discovered a better-lit ventilation duct. "Ah!... It's this way!" He crawled about 10 meters the same way Yoda had come in, collected the cap to his flask, and promptly fell out through a loose grate into an old access hallway near the secondary docking bay. He'd been circling this spot for half a day, scant meters away from freedom.
"Heh. when in doubt, break the tequila out." he muttered to himself. The EC-89 Yoda had mentioned was still there in the deserted, little-used docking bay, and LeberMac made his way inside without being spotted.
"All-right, now to begin my life as a valuable new member of my new guild, [THC]." LeberMac didn't even know what THC stood for, but Yoda himself had provided the invite, and any guild that Yoda was a part of was usually a pretty fun guild to be in, so he'd jumped at the chance. This small initiation ceremony had certainly sealed the deal on his admission, and furthermore, Yoda had said he'd be rewarded with 10 million credits once he joined and completed the task set before him.
Undocking with as little fanfare as possible, LeberMac jumped to an open empty sector and fired up his comms to check his bank account.
The money was there. All 10 million, bringing his balance to over 30 million.
Not that he had doubted that Yoda was a man of his word, but no one had ever given him that much money at once for such a small thing. Hell, when he'd joined [ITAN] all he got was a pile of paperwork and a small paper certificate.
He closed out his financial thread and switched over to the CNN (Corvus News Network) newsfeeds as he took out his flask again for another swig.
"... Again we repeat: The central fund for [CLM] has been looted, and as of now financial experts estimate that losses will be in the billions. Xang Xi and Corvus officials are meeting in Odia to discuss bailout terms, and the investigation continues throughout grayspace. Sources close to the incident have preliminary indications that LeberMac, the disgraced former [ITAN] lieutenant, former [CLM] pirate, and former member of many other guilds, was the mastermind of the plot. We'll break in with more updates as this fast-moving story unfolds. Now, back to Geraldo Jr."
The tequila soured in his mouth. He swallowed it anyway of course, but shut off the newsfeed and punched in a guild direct commlink to Yoda, against all orders and regulations.
"Speak." Yoda's voice on the other end of the scrambled audio comm said.
"Yoda! That key was to the [CLM] guild bank! You used it to loot Mystic's personal accounts AND the CLM guild account. You've stolen billions of credits! And... for some reason the media thinks *I* did it!" Leber spat.
"Funny how the right word at the appropriate time can lead people in the wrong direction..." Yoda uttered, "...so, are you being actively chased and pursued yet?"
"You... you set me up!" LeberMac cried, "I'll have [CLM] pilots chasing me everywhere I go from now on! Nevermind the normal [VPR] and [ITAN] patrols, and the glory-seekers looking to kill pirates. Now [CLM] is after me. Me!"
"Looks like you've got a problem, friend." Yoda calmly spoke into the comm as he rubbed the worn head of his walking stick. "Good thing that you have [THC] to back you up, you've made a good move by coming into the guild."
LeberMac frowned, and quietly said. "I... I guess I don't have much of a choice."
"Hmm. True. Funny how things worked out that way. Almost as if it was planned." Yoda said. LeberMac could almost feel the smirk in Yoda's voice. "Yoda out."
Silence filled the cabin of LeberMac's tiny EC-89. It was a small speck, floating alone in the vast universe, surrounded by dark political intrigue. LeberMac had the familiar feeling that he was caught in the center of a maelstrom of events that he would have no control over.
Again.
Very nasty... In fact I'll probably have to take you off my buddy list.
<OOC> Dont worry Leebs, you had the thought but didnt get a chance to follow through :)
After the pirates reluctantly took their leave, Mystic had headed to her ship, she needed to think and space was where she did that best. After a bit, she found herself in Odia O-7, the very sector of space she had first met yoda. She allowed her ship to drift out of the main space lanes, as she thought back to that time. On a quiet trade run she had come into this sector headed for one of the Odia stations, she forgot which now, but suddenly her comm had crackled with a hail to stop her vessel and jettison her cargo or she would be shot. It was yoda, he had scared her witless that day, but she had had sense enough to do as he said, then once she was safe she had the gall to send a message to him telling him that never again would she be pirated by anyone and that one day she would blast his ship to bits.
Mystic couldn't help but smile as she remembered, his response had been that maybe someday she would join CLM and then he offered to teach her the ways of combat. That encounter had started her journey to where she was now, commander of the very guild that had first pirated her so long ago. She didn't regret anything, not really, there had been times she had thought of leaving the life, most recently it had been Everson that had made her think on it, but he was gone now too. Which only strengthened her resolve that only in grey did she belong. A sedate life somewhere, being alone and scorned by those that knew her past? No thanks, if she had to be alone, at least in grey she was respected and well liked.
“Taking a trip down memory lane?” The comm crackling startled Mystic from her reverie, it was yoda and she had not even noticed he had entered the sector.
“How long have you been here?”
“Long enough to have killed ye several times over if I had chosen to.”
“I'm smart enough to stay out of the main trade lanes, YOU taught me that hard lesson long ago, but never mind what I am doing here, you left a message that we needed to talk. I see nothing for us to talk about but you giving me my guild's money as well as my personal funds back.” Mystic tried to keep her voice calm, but her emotions were running rampant, she couldn't let him know just how upset she was about all of this.
“Ye know its not that simple Red, you knew that the moment you saw my note.”
“Why yoda?,” this time she did let her emotions come through in her voice, “why did you feel the need to have me drugged and possibly killed? Just for credits? I ...”
Yoda cut her off, “You were in no danger of dying, that idiot Lebermac was supposed to put that stuff in yer coffee, you would have taken a bit of a nap is all. Twas only a sedative, so that he could slip the key for me, slob never even knew what he had in his possession. You should have revoked my access as soon as I left.”
“Don't think I haven't realized that it was my stupidity that allowed this to happen.”
“Yer not stupid Red, look, the opportunity was there, I took it.”
“Which I'm still not sure of the why of that, never would I have thought you would betray the guild you helped build, not to mention ME. Hell a few months ago you were ready to rip UIT apart to make sure I was ok, now you do this?”
“I have my reasons, but ye want yer monies back? We can work out something”
Mystic wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, she knew that tone too well. “Just what are you proposing I do to get funds from you that aren't yours in the first place?”
“Like CLM funds are all from bankers and honest work, don't try that with me Mystic, you know the pirate code as well as I do. But you might actually enjoy what I am about to offer you.”
“I'm listening”
Mystic couldn't help but smile as she remembered, his response had been that maybe someday she would join CLM and then he offered to teach her the ways of combat. That encounter had started her journey to where she was now, commander of the very guild that had first pirated her so long ago. She didn't regret anything, not really, there had been times she had thought of leaving the life, most recently it had been Everson that had made her think on it, but he was gone now too. Which only strengthened her resolve that only in grey did she belong. A sedate life somewhere, being alone and scorned by those that knew her past? No thanks, if she had to be alone, at least in grey she was respected and well liked.
“Taking a trip down memory lane?” The comm crackling startled Mystic from her reverie, it was yoda and she had not even noticed he had entered the sector.
“How long have you been here?”
“Long enough to have killed ye several times over if I had chosen to.”
“I'm smart enough to stay out of the main trade lanes, YOU taught me that hard lesson long ago, but never mind what I am doing here, you left a message that we needed to talk. I see nothing for us to talk about but you giving me my guild's money as well as my personal funds back.” Mystic tried to keep her voice calm, but her emotions were running rampant, she couldn't let him know just how upset she was about all of this.
“Ye know its not that simple Red, you knew that the moment you saw my note.”
“Why yoda?,” this time she did let her emotions come through in her voice, “why did you feel the need to have me drugged and possibly killed? Just for credits? I ...”
Yoda cut her off, “You were in no danger of dying, that idiot Lebermac was supposed to put that stuff in yer coffee, you would have taken a bit of a nap is all. Twas only a sedative, so that he could slip the key for me, slob never even knew what he had in his possession. You should have revoked my access as soon as I left.”
“Don't think I haven't realized that it was my stupidity that allowed this to happen.”
“Yer not stupid Red, look, the opportunity was there, I took it.”
“Which I'm still not sure of the why of that, never would I have thought you would betray the guild you helped build, not to mention ME. Hell a few months ago you were ready to rip UIT apart to make sure I was ok, now you do this?”
“I have my reasons, but ye want yer monies back? We can work out something”
Mystic wasn't sure she liked the sound of that, she knew that tone too well. “Just what are you proposing I do to get funds from you that aren't yours in the first place?”
“Like CLM funds are all from bankers and honest work, don't try that with me Mystic, you know the pirate code as well as I do. But you might actually enjoy what I am about to offer you.”
“I'm listening”
Mystic didn't know if she was more stunned or furious at yoda's “terms”. Sparring with him to get the guild's money back was on thing, but what he was suggesting would take forever. Half a million credits per win, that was over 2000 battles she had to win.
“Also, you keep CLM off my guys, they had nothing to do with this” he stated finally. When she protested, he simply said, “You want your monies back Red, you do it my way.”
“Ok, seems I have no choice, but you can NOT protect Lebermac, he is a dead man anyway you look at it.”
“Fair enough, they can attack me or Leber anytime they want, but the rest of them are innocent in all of this.”
Mystic could believe this, yoda often did things without letting anyone know, and she knew some of the THC pilots, hell they had been CLM at one point. Some of the others seemed like decent enough guys. Convincing CLM to let her handle this alone however, would be a bit harder, they were wanting to punish anyone with the THC tag. But at this point, yoda held all the cards, until she could find a way to swing things back to her favor she would have to play along. Or at least pretend to....
“Also, you keep CLM off my guys, they had nothing to do with this” he stated finally. When she protested, he simply said, “You want your monies back Red, you do it my way.”
“Ok, seems I have no choice, but you can NOT protect Lebermac, he is a dead man anyway you look at it.”
“Fair enough, they can attack me or Leber anytime they want, but the rest of them are innocent in all of this.”
Mystic could believe this, yoda often did things without letting anyone know, and she knew some of the THC pilots, hell they had been CLM at one point. Some of the others seemed like decent enough guys. Convincing CLM to let her handle this alone however, would be a bit harder, they were wanting to punish anyone with the THC tag. But at this point, yoda held all the cards, until she could find a way to swing things back to her favor she would have to play along. Or at least pretend to....