Taves got off the shuttle looking around. Seeing as he was the only Clawdite in the port, and the fact that Christine probably heard he was one he reverted to his natural form.

If this woman had heard a thing or two from Antilles, she would find him. Taves looked around into the crowd. He stared into it with the caution that you would expect from someone who was expecting a Wampa to suddenly jump out and paw off his face. 'Could she be here?' he thought. 'Could she be here?'

- "Umm... are you Taves Sarfell, by any chance?" :unsure:

Should Taves turn around, he'd find himself face to face with a girl of about 16 years, only a few inches shorter than he was. A headful of red hair with a few accessories in it completed the picture, along with golden eyes which were looking Taves in his face right now.

- "Yeah, you look like him. I'm Christine Aren, good to see you made it." ^_^

Of course, Taves would have no trouble at all recognising the girl as Jin-ho...

Taves stood there stunned for a moment. He had never seen the woman who had acted as his mark for so long face to face. Now that he was he stood there, drinking in her appearance. It was exactly like the picture from Kamino without the blurs from the camera. He suddenly realized what he was doing. He jolted a bit from going back into reality. Seeing no one else was around he switched back into his usual brown hair, brown eyed form.

"Uh, yes I'm um..." it was hard to get the words out. "Yes I'm Taves Sarfell" he said awkwardly extending his hand and looking at her once again.

He expected that Antilles hadn't told him Jin-Ho's real name for security reasons. Now that he looked at her he realized that due to him being a Clawdite and staying in the shadows Jin-Ho must not have realized who he was. This was a detail not even Antilles knew now that Taves thought about it.

Jin-ho grinned at the nervousness Taves was showing, and shook the hand he had offered her. No reason to act like she was his superior officer in public -- she still needed to get used to the idea as well -- which had been the main reason for her to wear 'civilian clothes'. The actual things she had brought were stashed in a shuttle parked in one of the commercial hangars.

- "Come on, we'll go to a place where we can talk more easily." ^_^

Her mood was friendly, and she'd lead him to the actual shuttle bay where their ship was waiting on them. Much as could be expected, it was a small shuttle built for one pilot and a passenger, along with some other basic necessities, though the interior was mostly of a spartan design.

Taves looked at the shuttle he assumed was theirs. He hoped that Jin-Ho would be able to do any dogfighting if they ran into it because he hadn't had any experience in his bounty hunter career. This however wasn't the first thing going through his head.

Ever since he had seen Jin-Ho he thought about what he should do. It was like his dreams with the entities again. He was being torn apart by whether he should tell her who he was, and what part he had played in her life in the few months prior. To add to this he was caught up in a whirlwind of emotion. He felt confident yet unsure. Unsure about what? What was tearing at his insides and refused to let go. It felt like the exhileration he felt when he had told the Jedi about his life as a bounty hunter. It felt like the relief of telling Antilles of it. It was painful yet he felt almost glad that he felt it.

"Push it aside" came the voice. "What are you talking about?" he replied. "Your feelings cloud your mind. They make it hard for you to concentrate." "All I want to concentrate on is this feeling" Taves said. "That is a thing that no man has yet done, although many have tried. You must do what is possible, and that is to concentrate on what is around you. Do not trouble yourself with trying to know what is meant not to be known."

Taves listened to the voice. He realized that his feelings were distracting him from the task at hand. With this he looked at what he assumed was their shuttle, and wondered how good Jin-Ho was at piloting it. Suddenly it struck him that he didn't know the particulars of this mission he had been sent on.

"Sorry, but Captain Antilles only told me to report to you. Other than that I don't know what exactly I'm doing here." Taves was amazed how quickly his gift of speech had come back to him.

OOC: Umm... actually, Antilles didn't tell you anything except 'report to Christine Aren'. Edit please ;)

IC:

Jin-ho looked around in the small shuttle, waiting until the boarding ramp was fully closed again before turning around to speak up. She cleared her throat softly first though, trying to hide her nervousness about giving someone orders for the first time since she had become a Corporal.

- "All right... Help me set things up for takeoff, and i'll explain the mission to you on the way. I heard you can pilot a ship like this as well, so i'll handle the Nav Map."

She walked to the cockpit, pressing a few buttons as she plotted the route manually. It was safer that way, and taking the big trade lanes would be both faster as well as prevent suspicion for keeping a low profile. Well, that, and the threat of being attacked by pirates was smaller too.

- "Okay, we're going to be heading towards the Hydian Way hyperspace route up until Nubia, and take the Corellian Run from there on. No use switching at Coruscant, the system's too packed and it'd only delay us. Sending the coordinates... now."

With a few quick taps on her console, Taves would be getting the information on the route to follow. The nav computer would be able to take over as soon as they'd reach the Hydian Way, after which there'd be more than enough time to discuss the mission.

-----



Currently at: Yavin (bright red planet, near the top right)
Hydian Way: Orange line (Corporate Sector <--> Anoth)
Corellian Run: Yellow line (Coruscant <--> Ryloth, Kamino)
Nubia: ...Where the yellow line crosses the orange one :P

The coordinates flashed on the screen in front of Taves. "Alright, prepping engines" there was the familiar hum of the engines that Taves loved to hear. "Taking off and preparing to leave the planet's atmosphere." As they left Taves saw the bright red planet of Yavin looming in front of them. "Heading toward the Hydian Way."

Even at the speed they were traveling it took them a while to get to their first destination. Seeing that the ship's computer was taking over Taves turned around in his chair, rubbing his eyes from the period of staring into space. He looked at Jin-Ho who was finishing up at the Nav Computer.

"So" he said, breaking the silence. "Now that we're in this giant area known as space and there is no one else around to eaves drop I'd be interested in hearing the details of this mission. Who, what, when, where, why just what I need. I know I'm here for the purpose of piloting, but is there anything else you need?" Taves heard a trace of his old sarcastic tone coming back. He thought it would be best for him to cut it down considering Jin-Ho was his commanding officer.

Edit (Jin-ho):

Continued in [Halfway Through the Galaxy]

[Halfway Through the Galaxy]

Jin-ho was the first to disembark from the ship again after their trip, carrying everything she had taken off of the spy -- including the spy himself -- in a refrigerated coffin to preserve his body. The documents themselves she kept on her own person, not wanting to trust anyone else with as much as seeing them.

During her trip, she had changed back into her own clothing, the papers and holodiscs carefully hidden behind the Blast Armor she wore. Though still a far cry from Taves' Mandalorian model, hers was kept out of plain sight by the sand colored robe she was wearing over it. For a brief moment, she wondered what would have happened had she walked into the harbor area wearing Tusken garb, and came to the surprising conclusion that the expereince would have roughly been comparable to what she had gone through back on Tatooine. She turned around to face Taves again.

- "Well, this is where we part ways again. Sorry about forcing you to pay for your own ticket, i'll be sure you get reimbursed through the more official channels this time. Relax, you did a good job out there." ;)

Taves smiled. "Thanks, maybe we can do it again some time. Once I'm ranked high enough to have a vacation, but honestly if you need help just give Antilles a call." He gave her a final wave and left for the ticket counter. "Can I help you Sir?" asked the woman at the counter. "I'd like a ticket to Alderaan" Taves replied. He took his ticket and headed back to Alderaan. As he flew through space he wondered what he had missed while he had been gone. That and whether Doren had noticed he had been gone.

Jin-ho on the other hand went off to a more private section of the Landing Pads, reserved for a company that was in reality a Rebel cover mantle. Taking one of the ships from there, she piloted the short range vessel to the Rebel base herself, now familiar enough with the lay of the land that she no longer needed a Guide. The feel of the documents against her skin made her feel a bit edgy though, and she for one couldn't wait until she had safely handed them over to Princess Leia. Or Mon Mothma. Or anyone else in charge, though she preferred someone she knew.

[The War Room]