laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

In the darkened security room, the quiet guard stared at the bank of monitors as each flashed to various rooms and hallways within the Sith academy here on Mycale. A variety of radio traffic emanated from consoles behind him, manned by three others on this boring duty. As brown eyes glanced from one monitor to another, a red light blinked and caught his attention. Somehow the door to the pens was unlocked.

"Sergeant, I've got a breach in the stables," he called out and grabbed the attention of the darkly clothed man behind him who spun in his chair and scooted closer.

"The handlers going in there to feed?"

The guard glanced to the camera view to the open door and watched as a large host of animals began running out, "No, sir. They're loose!"

Tapping the headset hanging from his right ear, the sergeant eyed the scene. "Security, we have a breach in the cellar level, doors Four-A and B are unlocked and open. Get a team to the garage immediately." He glanced to the operator who found the problem, "Replay that back and find out who opened it."

"Yes, sir." Practised fingers immediately tapped on the keyboard and replayed the past ten minutes of feed and found that no one had entered the handler's rooms at all. Odd. "Sir, no one did."

Steel-blue eyes widened as the sergeant spun around in his chair and glided closer to his own console. "Madam, we have an escape attempt going on right now...."

* * *

Roars echoed through the halls and muffled the cacophony of screams and gunfire as the large wave of purple and black muscle ripped through everything in their path. Spatters of blood painted various rooms as the group of predators led another troop of various other species, some remaining behind to feast on the delicacies left them. In the forefront of the pack, a trio of ceti sprinted towards the open garage door as flanking members charged gunmen, rending flesh and armor alike as if made of thin norak wood.
Shouts and commands barked from a small group behind and to their left and soon, their avenue of escape quickly began to narrow as the garage door slid inward. Pushing on, the trio jumped through the gap to freedom and kept running as their cohorts continued their ghastly chore inside the larger arena.
Open grass was soon enveloped in jungle as the trio felt more at home finally. Darker, the shade and open air was a welcome change from their previous accomodations as the predators continued their flight through the forest and headed east, over small brooks to soon find a meadow and slow to a prance. Their leader turned his thick neck to glance back and soon stopped, prompting the others to follow suit.
From one of the middle stripes, fingers peeled back the flaps to her hiding place and soon Gratia emerged as if being reborn from the side of the large beast. As she slipped out through the manhole-sized opening, she landed on her back as the three onlookers stared in amazement. Once her legs were free, she immediately folded the interdimensional hole and returned it to it's place beneath her beltline.

"Thanks guys," she smiled and could hear the whine of repulsor engines in the distance. "But, you're going to have to run now." Without waiting for a goodbye, she sprinted into the forest and headed south. She knew she wouldn't be able to use that trick very often but, was glad that this instance could be used to her advantage. Pulses in the Force alerted her to someone ahead and she slowed her pace while closing herself off and used her natural senses instead. Heel-toeing through the dense underbrush, she moved at an angle from where the disturbance was felt, hoping to avoid it if possible.
Chirps and buzzing from life around her gave life to the jungle as she moved quietly until soon noticing a speeder sitting idle at the turn of a nearby road. No distinguishing marks on it gave her any idea who it belonged to, but her blue eyes soon turned to the right and noted a silhouette amidst the vines and trees. About twenty feet from her, the individual was crouched but, she could make out some distinguishing features....such as a topknot of long hair.

A grin cut across her tanned face and she scanned for more help. Or would Ione be out here alone, hoping for the sole glory of capturing their escaped prisoner? Pride was a powerful ally sometimes. She crept forward towards the sleek, light blue vehicle and once reaching the treeline, noted odd shapes in the grass between she and it. Quickly hidden, the traps had been tried once before, she wasn't going to fall for that again and quickly scanned beyond and around the speeder for other things to be wary of.

"You know," the sultry female voice behind and to the right interrupted her train of thought and her attention immediately shot to the tattooed face of Birkita. "I was amazed at how much you've learned since being gone for only a year-and-a-half. I'm impressed."

Gratia stood and noticed Ione approach to stand to her master's left. "Thanks," she replied dryly. "Amazing what you can learn when you read," blue eyes glanced to the eager apprentice, then back to her previous master.

Birkita nodded, amused as she grinned. "How did you get out of there? My curiousity is piqued and I want to know before I kill you."

Gratia finally smiled. "Trade secret." With a thought, she force-pushed Ione into Birkita, who dodged the body flying at her to watch the helpless understudy be hurled into the air and land on one of their own traps which exploded into a flash of green, gelatinous goo. Dodging to the right, she narrowly missed being cut in two by the red, pulsing blade of light as Birkita then sidestepped the flurry of punches and sweeping leg as Gratia fought for her life, knowing one hit from the lightsaber and this whole escape was for nought. Angry thrums swept through the foliage as Gratia ducked and dodged while throwing a few of her own strikes when possible. Soon, she saw an opening and kicked, knocking Birkita backwards and into a tree. With that, Gratia turned and leaped through the high boughs and continued her escape by bouncing through the thick limbs, hurling herself deeper into the morass of green and grey-brown.

She soon found a river and dropped down to it, then noticed a searing pain in her right side. Glancing down, she winced as fingers pulled back a long dark cut in her woolen tunic to note burned flesh. She had been hit after all. Blue eyes quickly glanced back in the direction she had come to notice no one pursuing. Birkita was more patient than that and probably would spend time getting Ione out of the glop before she suffocated, although probably not too gently.
Turning east, she had to find shelter and food. The wound was cauterized but, still hurt and nearly everyone on this planet was either allied with the Academy or the crimelord that lived here, so she was going to have to be careful either way.

"We having fun yet," she whispered to herself smiling and continued on.