Vickie sat on top of the Red Home trying to meditate. "Trying" was a term she used loosely. There was too much activity keeping her mind from clearing. She could hear Sci getting frustrated at the sisters. Raymond and Cheriss were talking and both giving off a lot of strong emotional vibrations.
"Speaking of emotional vibrations..." She looked up and saw Thayer and Becki approaching. Their emotion was easily recognizable. Anyone with eyes could see it. She sighed, glad that part was finally over, but there was much more at stake.
She caught different emotions this time. Slight pain and a bit of defiance. Looking down, she saw Crispy being dragged from the ship by Sylvana. As they stopped to speak with Becki and Thayer, she studied them. The young woman confused her senses. She would have to talk to Sci about her. Crispy looked bored. "I know what you're doing," she whispered towards the young Australian. "I'm going to make you change your tune soon enough."
She was interrupted by another happy emotion. Nick and Kristy were talking. He was tickling her. Vickie sighed. All this happiness was about to make her sick. She thought of home, her husband, her friends in Mendellia. It was depressing her that she was so far away.
What was even worse was that there was a Dark Lord here. She had to go face him. It was foolish, yes, but it was the only way. Pulling her datapad from her pocket, she began composing a letter.
"Vickie!" She turned to see Kristy running up to her. "Sci asked me to debrief you about the fight. Do you have time?"
Her eyes cut towards the cockpit then back to the shorter woman. "Sure, PK." She moved to sit down in the lounge. "Well, what do you want to know?"
"Um," she started, blushing slightly. "I have no clue."
Vickie grinned. "Okay, in a nutshell, I sensed the sisters and went to find them in the Old City. They had the piece of the shield on them and I was able to take it from Eti. As we were leaving, we ran into some men looking for the sisters. I tried to get them out safely, but being who they are, they couldn't keep their mouths shut. I called you for backup. We moved on, but were eventually discovered. I gave Eti my blaster..." She stopped at the look on PK's face. "Yes, I know, bad move. Actually, she did rather well. I protected them as much as I could until the calvary arrived. The rest is history."
"What about the Dark Jedi you sensed? That's been the talk of the entire ship." She slid forward expectantly on her seat.
Vickie shrugged. "I didn't even see Lenka. I felt something... dark nearby and scanned the area. That's when I saw him. He was watching something intently and using the Force. That much I could feel. When I followed his line of sight, I saw Lenka being riddled with blaster bolts. I immediately went after him. He sensed my presence, I guess, because he dropped her and took off. I chased him until he got to the edge of the city. He got into a speeder and took off into the desert."
"Did you see enough of him for a description?"
"Nope. That's the end of my story." She glanced towards the cockpit again. "You need anything else?"
"No, I guess that's it. Thanks!"
"Hey, Mike," she called out as she passed through the beaded curtain into the cockpit of the Red Home.
Upon hearing his name, the young man sat up quickly, banging his head against a control panel. He rubbed the now sore spot and looked up to see Vickie standing above him.
"Did I interrupt something?" She was looking at Noreh with a smirk.
He scrambled out and stood. "No, not at all. We were just checking out some of the systems." He paused a moment, checking her face to see if she would believe him. When she didn't change her look, he continued, "Is there something you needed?"
She turned to look him in the eye. "Yeah. Did you bring the speeder bikes?"
"Yeah, they're back in the hold. Why do you..." His words were lost in the breeze as she turned and ran from the room.
Noreh laid a hand on his shoulder. "Why would she want one of the speeder bikes?"
The blonde pilot shrugged. "I have no clue."
Vickie threw some things into a bag, dropping her datapad onto the bed before leaving. Next stop was the galley where she grabbed several bottles of water, stuffing them into the satchel. As she turned from the refrigeration unit, she nearly ran over someone.
"Thirsty?" Arrek stood inches from her.
"Yeah, thought I'd go for a walkabout," she replied hurriedly as she sidestepped the young man.
"Hope you left some for the rest of us." He opened the door of the fridge and looked in, lost in finding something to snack on.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she made her way to the back of the ship. Four speeder bikes were stowed away in one of the cargo holds. Turning on the repulsors, she pushed one out. She scanned the ship with the Force to make sure nobody was around.
Once down the ramp, she sighed. "It's best I take care of this myself. I can't risk anyone else getting hurt." Climbing onto the bike, she punched the throttle and took off into the desert.