[In the Void of the Crowd]

As the dots marking the stars stretched out into lines, Jin-ho relaxed a bit. The Hydian Way was one of the five main trade lanes in the Galaxy, and even the most basic of computers would be able to navigate it. Sure, the one currently installed into their small ship definitely wasn't a basic model, but it just went to show how much use the trade lane had seen over time.

- "Right... We've had someone spying on us, and he made off with important documents that could very well endanger the Royal Family. It's my job to go there and catch him, but since he's likely to be heavily armed i called Captain Antilles to ask for backup."

The red headed girl walked over to another console, and brought up the schematics of the ship they were currently on.

- "This ship doesn't have much in the way of weapons -- apart from the standard gear -- but i've had the sensors upgraded. Apart from me not really trusting the natives well enough to park my ship on their turf, i'll be counting on you to tell me which way to go, as well as warn me for sandstorms, approaching Tusken Raiders, the usual."

Much as she tried to sound casual about it all, she was still feeling somewhat nervous about the entire mission. She had little to no experience at fighting in a desert save for a few training simulations, and she knew she'd be needing all the help she could get.

"Hmm" said Taves deep in thought. "This is interesting. It does seem a good idea that we have the ship for shelter considering that we don't know how long it's going to take. I've been to Tatooine on a few occasions. I've um... also had an experience with the Tuskens in the past." He remembered, looking back to his days as a bounty hunter. This brought another question into his mind. "I'm assuming that we'll be operating with the least amount of lethality possible." It was Taves wish not to be expected to kill anyone straightaway though he knew that it might be neccesary. He had been turned off to killing people for awhile. At least for no reason.

Jin-ho quickly nodded before running a small diagnostic routine on the ship. While it ran, she turned to look at Taves, a bit surprised at him already having experience at dealing with Tuskens.

- "Yeah, no kidding... Even though i was ordered to get the guy back dead or alive, i doubt either the Jawas or the Sandpeople will enjoy having us tear up the place. Also, you mentioned an encounter with the Tusken before? I'd love to hear about it, just in case i run into some." <.<;

Taves sat there he recounting that morbid event. "Firstly" he began "if you were to run into a pack of Raiders my suggestion is don't stay in sight for too long. I don't know as much about them as the average native would, but what I do know is if you see them you aren't going to have a pleasant experience. Get away, blast them if you need to, although I wouldn't suggest you do that until absolutely necessary because they seem like a people who can hold a grudge."

After his initial disclaimer of the Tuskens he decided that it was time to tell Jin-Ho what he knew she would probably find out eventually with his luck. He pulled out the case which held his Mandalorian armor. Opening up the case he took out the helmet and held it up. "As for my experience with the Tuskens, this is why I ran into them. I was once a bounty hunter. I was hired to kill a chief so that the tribe would move off the land they were on. There isn't a day that I don't recall what I did, and the family who is now bereaved of a father. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's my past."

The next part came out only because he struggled with the utmost of his strength. "Before I tell you this next part I would ask that you would trust me, and not pull a blaster on me after I have told you this. As a bounty hunter I was assigned to investigate a case on Kamino involving a saboteur. I found the identity of this saboteur and went to track her down. On several occasions I was right next to her and almost caught her. Now that I am no longer a bounty hunter I am glad I did not. It is now my understanding that this former saboteur is going by an alias. It is also my understanding that she is sitting right in front of me. I would ask that saboteur to forgive me for turning her into a fugitive, unable to live under her real name, Jin-Ho. I would say to that saboteur that I am sorely sorry and wish to help her in any way possible."

After this was over Taves let his head drop. He looked down at his shoes. He knew that if he hadn't told Jin-Ho the truth eventually then she would have found out some other way, and he didn't want that. All he could do now was wait for Jin-Ho to respond. He knew that it would be better for Jin-Ho not to trust him now than in the heat of battle when she could not change who she was with.

Jin-ho scratched the back of her head, trying to process what Taves had just told her. The bounty hunter sent to chase her ending up under her command? Any other day she'd have laughed as if it were a joke, commenting on the irony of it, but she found that when you're standing face to face with it, things just seem less funny...

- "Well, i wouldn't know about that, but last i heard the saboteur had been killed and handed over to the Empire. It was her though, since the Bounty's been collected, and the Empire's not one to be fooled easily."

Even if Captain Antilles hadn't told her, she knew enough to keep quiet about her missions as a Rebel. Especially ones that had taken a great deal of time and effort to get her face off of 'Galaxy's Most Wanted'. Much as she wasnted to be honest to him in return, she couldn't just up and admit everything to him, so she hoped he'd be satisfied with the answer she had given him in return. She could almost have bought several starfighters from that Bounty... Either way, she decided to move the topic to a somewhat safer one.

- "A Clan Chief, eh? Well, all the more reason to keep you up here. When it comes to their leaders dying, Tuskens are rumored to have long memories. Either way, the mission stays what it is. Drop me off on the surface, go up outside of weapon range and scan the ground for life signs of the target. We should be able to get his bio signature from the craft he crashed on Tatooine in."

Taves sighed a bit. He knew that the world he entered would have to be one of secrecy. He almost considered it penance for his past actions. Even though he knew it was necessary it still tore him up inside. "It is necessary" said the voice. "Please" he said to the voice. "I know that. Don't remind me." If he hadn't needed to mask his feelings from Jin-Ho then he might have broken down right there.

"Maybe one day I'll have the trust of those I've hurt, but until then only time will tell" he thought. This tore a deeper hole in him.

"Ya um... sounds like a good plan" he said in reply. He thought about what it would be like once they got to Tatooine. "Well if you need to get some sleep then I'll watch the computer. You'll probably need it if you're going to look in those deserts for him." With these words Taves gave a little salute and turned back around in his chair. He looked into the bright tunnel of hyperspace. He needed to settle over his feelings. However he gave a little smile. At least Jin-Ho didn't take out any anger for her current situation on him. Maybe he did have a little bit of her trust.

Jin-ho nodded at Taves' suggestion. It still felt somewhat odd to trust someone whom had just told her that he had tried to hunt her down only a few weeks ago, but she figured the same would be true for any bounty hunter given the rather high bounty of ten thousand credits that had been on her head at the time. And if Captain Antilles trusted him enough to send him to her, she figured he couldn't be so bad after all.

- "Right... I'm off to get some sleep. There should be some traffic in the Coruscant area, but as long as we keep following the Hydian Way it shouldn't be that bad. Please wake me up when we're approaching Nubia, we'll switch hyperspace lanes there and you can take a turn at getting some sleep. I've got the coordinates of the wreckage memorised anyway."

She'd wait a few seconds to see if Taves would have another question. If not, she'd give hima small wave before heading out to the crew's quarters to get some sleep.

((OOC: Feel free to timeskip until we get near Nubia, or do whatever. Just be sure to post waking me up ^^; ))

As Jin-Ho dozed off Taves looked once again into the tunnel of hyperspace. Once she was asleep Taves turned around in his chair again, and brought up a map of Tatooine. "Amazing" he thought "I never seem to get too far away from the old dust ball." He hoped Jin-Ho would be able to trust him if it came to fighting along side each other.

He kept watch over their course for awhile, watching as they got closer and closer to Nubia. It didn't take long to reach their destination. When they were close Taves walked over to wake Jin-Ho. She looked like she needed sleep. If it wasn't for the fact that she had asked him he would have let her rest. "Hey, were almost to Nubia" he said as he shook her awake. Once she started to stir he repeated his comment, and returned to the controls.

He looked out and could see an amber orb floating in front of them. Nubia looked beautiful, and a little bit similar to Tatooine in color. It seemed a bit of a shame they couldn't stay for awhile, but they had a job to do first.

Jin-ho walked to the cockpit, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She had already changed into the longsleeved sand colored robes she would be wearing on the planet itself, intended for both camouflage as well as protection from the sun. She stifled a yawn, and sat down in the co-pilot seat next to Taves.

- "Right, i'm ready. Leaving hyperspace... now."

Pressing a few buttons on her console, the stars surrounding their ship 'regained' their usual form, and a small buoy lit up on the radar, the ID code marking it as an entry point for the Corellian Run. Taves would be steering the ship over there while Jin-ho took care of setting up the hyperspace computer module to recieve the signal the buoy was transmitting by default.

- "After this, it's your turn to sleep, okay? I hope we track this guy down fast, but in case we don't, it's going to be a long day for the both of us."

"Probably" replied Taves. He started to drive over to the buoy. He then set the ship into position for entering the Corellian Run. "Alright we're set up for entry into the run. Activating sub-light engine." After flipping a few switches, and pressing a button or two the stars began to slow down. The ship was once again inside the tunnel of hyperspace.

"If you need anything else then I guess I'll be trying to catch some shut eye." Taves walked over to a bed that came out of the wall. He lied down and looked up at the ceiling. He didn't know whether he would actually be able to sleep, considering all of the thoughts that now buzzed around in his head. It took him awhile to slip into the state of dreams. He didn't even notice the transfer. For all he knew he might have had a conversation with Jin-Ho before leaving consciousness. He then dwelt in a state of nothing, neither dreaming nor waking until Jin-Ho shook him out of his slumber.

Jin-ho piloted the ship to Tatooine, though 'piloting' in this case was more or less keeping watch in case a small malfunction would trigger the safety countermeasures and make the ship drop out of hyperspace. That didn't happen though, so the trip was no different from what she'd been used to on her father's merchant vessel.

As the ship left hyperspace, she turned down the thrusters to stationary for a minute while she went to wake up Taves. They were near an important trade lane after all, and crashing into another ship that just left hyperspace just because there was no one 'at the wheel' could prove potentially fatal on a ship as small as theirs.

After shaking Taves from his slumber, she'd return to the cockpit, turning up the engines again as the former bounty hunter would get changed into the same robes she was wearing while the ship approached the desert planet.

Jin-Ho woke Taves once they were close to Tatooine. He saw a set of robes sitting close to him that closely resembled Jin-Ho's. He changed into his armor sans the helmet and jetpack, and put the robes over them. He then walked over to the controls and entered the pilot seat.

"Setting a course for the crash site in the Dune Sea." He set them in an orbit around the planet. They slowly ran above the planet's surface, heading toward where they needed to go.

Taves hoped as Jin-Ho had stated earlier that they would be able to find, and capture their fugitive quickly. However as Jin-Ho had also stated earlier he didn't think it was going to happen. Especially because they were going to be searching a barren wasteland for a single man. "Like a needle in a hay stack" said Taves.

Jin-ho sighed, looking over the same expanse of sand, sand and more sand that Taves was watching as well. She took a deep breath and stratched her head as she wondered where to start looking, before finally looking at Taves again.

- "Take us down near the wreckage, let's see what we can make out from there."

From the co-pilot seat, she checked the sensors for wind speed and direction, outside temperature, any nearby -- and probably hostile -- life signs... In other words, the usual things that were expected from a co-pilot.

[Spy in the Sand]

As Taves and Jin-Ho went into hyperspace on their final approach toward Yavin 4 Taves thought he'd start up a conversation. "So um Christine, I heard this Jin-Ho person was a part of the Alderaan Royal Guard too. I was kind of wondering since you kind of knew a little bit about her what do you think she would have said about the job. I mean totally from the stand point of you knowing very little about her." True his question was rather cryptic, but Taves knew that Jin-Ho was who she was. If she couldn't talk about herself then Taves thought she wouldn't feel to uncomfortable merely telling him like Jin-Ho was some person she knew.

Jin-ho raised an eyebrow at Taves, wondering what would have triggered that question. Knowing all too well she couldn't exactly start giving him all the juicy details -- the last person to find out about it was dead now, after all! -- so she simply went with the same approach she had used thus far. She shrugged, giving Taves a neutral look.

- "Not much to say... All i know is someone ended up using my face for a sabotage mission, the HoloNews reports could have told you that much. I had to go into hiding to prevent a diplomatic scandal until the imposter was apprehended, given that i am a Royal Guard officer after all. She's dead now, as you may have heard, so we're waiting for this to blow over before i can return to Alderaan again."

Jin-ho got up suddenly, walking towards a terminal where she started pressing a few buttons.

- "Hard to say how she'd have felt, suppose this would have been a cakewalk compared to what she pulled off at Kamino... There. Four hundred Credits transferred to your account, which makes us even. Anyway... Mind if i ask what triggered the topic?" :)

Taves laughed to himself "Eh, no reason. I just wondered what it was going to be like once I started work. So far all I've found out is that you can sometimes go on missions that bore you out of your skull. I look forward to doing it no doubt about that. It's just I wanted to know if there was anything else to the job. I know there are situations where you have to risk your life and then get it snuffed out. But really I don't much like the idea of my job being to be bored half of the time, and then have one single mission turn my life into a living hell." Taves was a bit amused at how jumpy Jin-Ho was from the question, since it hadn't been his intent.

Jin-ho laughed for a moment, then turned to give Taves a wide grin. Even though she'd gotten into the Royal Guard through being a Handmaiden, she had heard about the first missions new members were usually sent on from the guards that had accompanied her on her first trip, escorting Leia to Naboo.

- "Heh, no wait, let me guess... Delaya, right? I never did that one because i already had Handmaiden training at the time, but according to the Guards i've talked to, it's a classic." :lol:

She shrugged at his comment however, having had firsthand experience in the field had given her a good view on what exactly the career she had chosen for herself was going to be like.

- "Actually, this is easy. Most of the time, the missions you'll end up doing will be both. At first, you're bored out of your mind, but as soon as something happens it seems as if everything's blowing up in your face all of a sudden. The worst of it is that you don't know when, or if it's going to happen."

Taves chuckled to himself. He knew new cadets were sent on boring missions, but he had never realized that the Delaya mission was so generic. The conversation continued for some time. Taves talked of what he had done in the Academy. They both went back and forth with idle comments. After about an hour of sitting in silence contemplating what was going through their heads the computer signaled they had reached their destination.

Taves spun around in the pilot's chair and brought them out of hyperspace. The jungled moon sat there in front of them. "Well it looks like we're almost done. Man, time sure flies when you're tracking a double agent halfway across the galaxy."

Continued in In the Void of the Crowd