CHAPTER VIII: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

Onboard the ISR Bo’ was speechless as he gazed into Lady Kaliah’s eyes. She smiled and with a warm hand,  reached for his. “Thank you for rescuing me” she said with a voice as soft as a harp. Embarrassed, Bo’ asked the inevitable questions, “WHO are you, and what were you doing in that casing? Why are the Sith after you as well?”

 “I am Lady Kaliah Askana of Elysia and I am a Seer. I was encapsulated for my own protection while my ship Krystallis was under attack by the Sith” she said with great sorrow. Bo’ responded with subdued emotion, “I’m afraid your ship was… “Destroyed". "I know, Lady Kaliah responded sadly. "After all, I AM a Seer… yet I do not yet know your name”.  She did indeed, but played along tactfully…

At this, Bo’ straightened up and introduced himself properly, “My name is Boman Braggs of the JunKars… but you can call me Bo'.” Actually, she already knew almost everything about Bo’- she had been reading his mind ever since he first lifted her out of the capsule, but she was being both polite and maybe flirting with him just a little bit. She knew his thoughts, all of them, and the way he was attracted to her when he first saw her.

For her part, she thought Bo’ was an honest and simple man with some striking features of his own. He was about six feet tall, unshaven and yet had that rough manly look about him that appealed to many women. He had a large frame and was rather strong judging by his tight-fitting clothing that revealed powerful arms and massive chest. His face was strong in character, as if he had been through many adventures in his life. He had wavy brown hair, thick eyebrows, green eyes, and a trademark smirk of overconfidence. But Bo’ was still a gentleman and would be considered handsome by Lady Kaliah- although Seers were often discouraged from seeking a mate back on Elysia. Resigned to her duties, she reminded herself what was at stake here.

With the small talk out of the way Lady Kaliah made an urgent request, “Bo’, you must return me safely back to Elysia as my life is still in danger”.

 Without a word, Bo’ plotted a course for Elysia but a message warning instantly came up: DESTINATION OUT OF RANGE WITH CURRENT FUEL CONSUMPTION. SUGGEST RE-FUEL AT NEAREST SPACEPORT. Scanning the star charts Bo’ grunted as he uttered their new destination, “Vas-Maya Spaceport, on Balaireon”. “What’s the matter” inquired Lady Kaliah?

“Nothing, except that Vas-Maya is a cesspool of multi-species galactic trash”, Bo’ stated with sarcasm, “It’s a very dangerous place for both of us.” Lady Kaliah knew that what he was saying was true. Already, visions of darkness flooded her mind, but she had no choice. “I must reach Elysia, it is in grave danger from the Sith”.

Not far behind were the three Gretches which recorded the ISR’s change of course and plotted a possible landing area. Hyper-linking with the MD-13 on Tirahnna,  the lead Gretch inquired where the ISR was heading. The MD-13 projected three possible locations, based solely on reaching a habitable world at current speed and heading:  Ansari, Urtefka, or Balaireon. So the three Gretches split up, one destined for each world. The ISR's Megapulsars were much too powerful compared to the mini Rekurium-S red ion plasma thrusters of the GR-25s, so the ISR would lose them shortly.  By covering each world, at least one Gretch would find them and spy on them until Sith reinforcements could arrive.

Lord Rexor, displeased that Syrenia had failed her mission, ordered her back home as soon as a new starship could be delivered to her. Deviant Alliance Systems had already been contacted and a new, modified D.A.S. Enforcer star fighter was being sent out on auto-pilot.

Meanwhile, the update from the MD-13 gave Lord Rexor an alternate plan. “Why not employ a bounty hunter instead? Ira-dan was near those three worlds and the notorious bounty hunter Ligris dwelled there. The price would be great but Ligris had never lost a hunt- not ever.”

Lord Rexor immediately summoned his personal droid K-LOK and gave this message, “Lord Rexor of the Sith requests your assistance in a most urgent matter, reward 1,000,000 Ira-dan Yaros, details to be provided by GR-25, acknowledge”. In less than twenty minutes the reply came back through K-LOK, “Message received and acknowledged , “awaiting GR-25“, Ligris. “Now maybe someone will get it right this time. Lady Kaliah’s luck has just run out, Seer or not”.

With that, the Gretch heading for Ansari was ordered diverted over to Ira-dan to deliver an encoded transmission.