The agent was still uneasy at having to put her faith into another alien after having been betrayed such a short time ago. When Natasha recalled the blob-like alien that exploited her she still felt her skin crawl.

“When I get back to the fleet” the underwear clad agent thought to herself “there aren't many places that Goro can hide that the A.D.D. can't get to.”

When the two entered the shop, Natasha's strength waned for a moment. She could see the purple humanoid alien turn to face them and grin while his yellow eyes cascaded over her nearly naked body. The woman's eyes turned away as she looked down to the ground and clenched her fists at her sides while fidgeting. Strangely she hadn't covered her body, even-though she knew she was being leered at by the clearly approving shopkeeper.

Her attention was quickly taken by the tentacled alien as he relayed her end of the bargain. She had to take a moment and remember the transmission she overheard. The agent was intending to relay that to the A.D.D. As her experiences with the Zen Knights demonstrated that the Directorate was woefully under equipped. She'd thought of denying it or lying about it's location, but then she remembered that he could reach into her mind. She also reminded herself that she was better than that. Goro had exploited and betrayed her in exchange for his...release and here she was about to do the same. Natasha reminded herself that she had to be better than that. Aliens were treacherous liars, not humans and definitely not the Directorate.

“Okay.” Natasha started. “So, the sooner we get to Onderon 2, the sooner I get back to the fleet.”

With a little self-assurance now overpowering her embarrassment, the agent turned to the shopkeeper to get her equipment. She was surprised when the lecherous shopkeeper just looked at her stoically, not even glancing at her barely clothed body. While she was confused for a moment, the agent just shook her head dismissively and moved towards the equipment rack.

Some time later, after reviewing a number of weapons, armours, and environmental suits, Natasha had gathered her equipment. She stood at the desk adjusting the yellow skin-tight latex environmental bodysuit that cupped and embraced her athletic body. While Natasha would generally be flushed in that outfit, she instead looked strong and confident again. Natasha had covered her breasts and bottom under a pair of black cargo shorts and vest to carry the various equipment she'd need (though she'd selected those the moment she'd seen the suit). She'd also selected a matching pair of gloves and boots which, when combined with the vest and shorts, only exposed the yellow latex on her mid legs and arms. The neck of her suit had an intricate metallic collar that would connect to the glass bowl-like helmet she'd sat on the counter. On her back was a slender but intricate metallic backpack that was clearly an air filtration system for her environmental suit. The suited agent had also selected some climbing gear and cutting tools that filled several of the pouches in her new outfit. Attached to a holster on her leg was a pulse pistol that was very similar to the gun she was given by the Directorate along with an ordinary laser rifle.

“I feel so much better now.” Natasha whispered to herself happily. She felt stronger and looked confident again, far from the naked and humiliated slave that had been crawling behind the lizard alien she'd been sold to. Natasha was even smiling; the same smile the tentacle alien had seen when she'd knocked the same lizard alien to the floor with one swift kick.

Aegir had already learned the location of the planet as he thoroughly investigated anything concerning the possibility of where the stone was, the dangers surrounding it and so on. Had she lied he would have known though he was giving her this opportunity to earn her freedom. Had she lied or tried to deceive her he just may have kept her imprisoned until he grew bored of her though chances were he would have kept her because she hated such a fate.

She was adorable he found, attractive even though as far as aliens went Aegir wasn't so bad when it came to his bargains. Only one had he ignored in the last 4,000 years ago and he was fairly good at keeping to the spirit and not the letter of an arrangement.

Why the spirit? He was patient after all and knew that in time he would get what he wanted and right now he had wanted that stone. Though he could feel a wave of relief wash over Natasha as she finally got equipped though the shop keeper seemed dispondant as they went about matters things. Aegir numbing that mind partially for the benefit of his slave though when she had acquired all the equipment and clothing she needed they left, the shop keeper kept in a stupor and thus they did not need to pay for a thing.

To prove that he had been listening in on her thoughts he spoke up. Goro and I have some history, In fact he was in your prison because I assisted in placing him there. For the full story you can discuss things with Lark. He is on this station too, I have sensed his mind a few times.

I even had Ven, your former Master imprisoned. In that case I assisted agent Nail. I have also assisted several other agents, most prominent of which was Lieutenant Minerva Rocha and you will be another added to that list.

Why the assistance? Why the help? Boredom sometimes. At others it had been part of a bargain or one sort or another similar to the one that we have entered into. Retrieve the stone and we are all happy but you still nee a ship … I have been looking into it though since the moment we had met.

Natasha followed along side the taller alien as they left the shop. As they emerged back onto the promenade, the brunette's faceted green eyes roaming over the various aliens scattered about the station. She had no timidity or shame left in her expression as she followed the tentacled creature. She would occasionally keep her stare fixed on a particular alien or two, the ones who cat-called her from before, grinning sharply at them as if daring them to say those same things again. Her attention was quickly pulled away, however, when the creature mentioned her former “master” Ven.

“Ven would NEVER be my Master!” The suited agent barked back. “I taught him that when my heel drove his face into the deck platting!” She stated with pride before quietly muttering to herself. “I could've even taken over his ship...”

“...if I knew the first thing about programing or robots.” She thought to herself in obvious disappointment.

The young agent still felt uneasy about this arrangement but, given what he's described and the names he's mentioned, it seemed true. She was still a newly promoted agent and was usually relegated to simple assault, rescue, or other combat missions so she had only heard of those high-ranking agents. Then again, she remembered that this alien was a telepath, something she had no idea how to fight, and it could have pulled those names and ideas from her mind to fabricate those stories. Natasha just had to sigh and shake her head dismissively to herself again; this was the best chance she had to get off the station and he's been the most...respectful alien she's met in a long time. She just had to trust him.

“Well,” The fair-skinned agent started again. “after I was...<sigh> captured, I was traded between ships and I have no idea where I am. I would've suggested that we could use my ship, but first I need subspace receiver to find The Whistler's locator signal.”

Oh, yes, forgive me for that statement, you had things well in hand when I encountered you, there was no need to argue that point, that she was a mere animal or treated as such. She could not deny that and in the beginning slaves had the most fight. Soon they realized just how pointless it was.

Could she have taken the ship?? Maybe but without those skills h e severely doubted it. Of course there was no need to bring this up. She could deny it all she wanted and it did not matter. He knew the truth of it as he brought her about, sensing how much anger had been within her as she studied this particular alien or that.

He could tell that she didn't entirely trust what he said though he did not argue that point with her for he could not convince her of it though he had tilted his head at the mention of her ship.

Most unfortunate there … well we'll just have to make due ...

He got to the room he was staying at on the station, a huge luxury suite.

Tonight I must delay Ven's departure. I may need a few days, at least the night as when I saw you I controlled another to get a hold of a ship so as not to waste time.

He skimmed the interior of the place with a casual glance. He had considered, based on her prior experiences and her secret enjoyment of matters. He had hr follow him to a lush bedroom and pointed to one of two doors, one being the water closet, the other which he pointed two had been a closet, a large walk in one that hat nothing in it so far.

That, is your room. I will feed you when I get back He left her there after warning her. She was not to answer the door or any communications. He could not be responsible and while he did not doubt that she could handle herself there were those that did not have to worry about blaster.

He would depart, leaving her here for a few hours as he dealt with sabotaging Ven's craft.

And as the door closed, Natasha was alone again. This time she wasn't naked, helpless, and chained to a cage in the bowel of some ship, but fully clothed, armoured, and carrying enough weapons to take a ship on her own. Then again, as equipped as she was, she still wasn't free. Her mind then wandered once again to escaping.

She thought about using her weapons and equipment to try and escape the station...or ship...or base. Natasha really didn't know where she was or the details on how she got there. She didn't know where the Whistler was, she didn't know if the fleet had received her message, she didn't even know in which direction the fleet was. She took a moment to survey the room, uncomfortable with the eerily familiar posh bedroom, and found a small terminal on a desk against a wall. She approached the terminal to try and find some way to contact the outside, but she found that it was a simple public access terminal and nothing more.

“Why does it always comes down to computers?” Natasha groaned into her gloved hand. She could access the terminal but it only provided basic information like: Opium Den-like areas, bars, shops, slave auctions, restaurants, and brothels. She assumed that there was some way to “hack in” to find out what she needed or to find a way out, but she'd always been too frustrated by computers to even attempt that. She then turned towards the closet or what was “her room” now.

When opening the doors, she found the room to be completely featureless. It was a simple six foot by four foot closet that was just big enough for Natasha to sleep in a curled position. It had a shelf that circuited the room and two metal hangers running parallel on either side of the closet. She sighed and sat her environmental suit's helmet and gloves down in a corner.

“At least it has a carpet.” She resigned. “Well...at least I'm not locked away in a dark closet, naked, and chained to metal cage...or worse.”

She reflected on the day's events, especially regarding Ven and her new would-be “owner”. She wondered what would have happened had the tentacled alien not bought her. She realized that she'd probably be back in that cage, or worse, sitting naked in it's lap while Ven “used her”. She then wondered what else Ven would have done with “animals”. She thought about how this new alien intended to feed her, gave her clothes, gave her equipment, and has treated her more like a person than almost all other aliens she'd met.

“Maybe he was telling the truth.” Natasha wondered aloud as she sat down on the edge of a bed, sitting her new laser rifle on her lap. “Well, I'll find out when I get his...stone or whatever it is back.” She then set to work on calibrating her weapons and equipment.

Aegir was busy … true there were other ships he could have used for this but he had to prove a point, if only a small one. It had been tough dealing with the battleship. Initially he was going to sabotage it in some way but with a crew of machines it would have been tougher to maintain. Instead he found himself fucking with the minds of the dock workers to mess things up, loading the wrong supplies for instance or having trouble reallocating fuel and such.

He only needed a bit of a head start seeing that the battleship was not the swiftest creation out there. With a freighter Natasha should be a lot quicker than it. Though he had been gone for quiet awhile, that unconcerned with Natasha escaping.

Even if she did manage to escape he had the information though it would have been annoying given the time constraints on him to get that stone before Ven send down a team of droids to get it, droids unaffected by the aphrodisiac.

When he returned he had been delighted to see that she had made it easier on him but not fleeing. In fact she was in the process of seeing to her equipment like a good warrior.

He would have branded you, not because he was planning on keeping you but to leave his mark upon you forever. Even if you somehow removed it you would never forget. He chose to answer her question about Ven, well apart of it anyway from his own insights on the alien since he could not delve into his mind but he saw the question in hers.

While she did not “earn” her keep yet Aegir ensured that she was fed, basic rations for the time being. He ate a bit better of course, some sort of meat that had a good deal of bones in it. He even gave her a sheet before seeing her off to the closet though he had not tried anything further with her as if he were uninterested in a sexual pet.

Tomorrow I may have something for you ...

He would not tell he what it was though. The following day he had been gone for a good portion of it leaving her with rations. But when he returned it had been with various other clothing she could wear and a bracelet he had secured upon her wrist that seemed more like a cuff.

There is a tracking device in it not that I could not find you by other means this makes if easier but now walk with me. He lead her through the station, some aliens looking upon her as they seen her the day before but Aegir, as slow as he was, moved with purpose.

He brought her to a dock that had an alien that he gave a handful of diamonds too before gesturing to the airlock. It was later in the afternoon and much of the second day had past though that had not stopped Aegir who had been working on things around the clock so to speak.

I trust you can use a ship for this. Get acquainted with it. You can leave in the morning. You can find your way back or should I send someone? He gave her a comlink so that they could stay in touch though he doubted that they would need it tonight at least.

When she got to looking over the ship she would find that many of the systems were damage but the ship would still fly. The damage seemed to have been repaired at least in part though she knew the vessel quite well for it was the Whistler ...

The agent's eyes almost lit up for just a moment as they fell upon refurbished cargo ship. “How did you find her?!” She exclaimed while moving over to her wounded ship. She could see that her ship was just as bruised and humiliated as she was, but she couldn't help but run her fingers along the hull of the old cargo ship.

“We're almost home girl.” She whispered to the ship as she let another genuine smile float to her rose lips. This didn't last long as her eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the “branding” of the tracking cuff on the wrist of her hand stroking her ship. She sighed to herself and turned back to the tentacled alien.

“She looks to be in bad shape, but she still can fly. I'll have a lot of work to do with her, but she can get me to Onderon 2.” After giving her overall assessment of her ship's state, she looked back to her ship and considered a thought she'd been holding back the moment she saw her ship. “Hopefully they haven't broken the stealth system. That'll make it way easier to get there. ...Hopefully they haven't figured it out.”

“Yeah,” Natasha began as she turned back to the alien. “I can get back when I'm finished with my ship, but I hope you know more about this rock you need me to find? That communication I heard doesn't give me much to go on. It'll take me forever to find one rock across an entire planet."

Finding the ship was no big deal. I could see it in your mind, the stealth system being of use of course. Incidental and deliberate readings of minds directed me too it. As chance had it I got the name of scavenged vessels off of those of a dealer and approached him. He had just gotten a ship he purchased from a pirate and while the pirate didn't realize that their was a cloaking device he did.

I purchased the ship from him, it was far tougher to get it expedited to arrive her within the day but money is a great motivator I have found and I don't have any trouble acquiring wealth.

Or getting things for free with some mental influence as the case maybe thus in this case he wished to refrain from generating a scene here while he was on the station, at least not until this matter was resolved.

It still flies and no doubt it will acquire a great deal of work when you finish your task. The cloak still works, I had to pay quite a bit for that particular feature but if it gets the stone then it is well worth it. Even if I don't a ship with an effective cloak could be valuable, more so to you than me. I have certain means … of course I rarely have need of a ship but don't know what I should do with it. Do I sell it? Give it away? I'm not so sure yet but I suppose it depends on the success of the job you do.

As he said he had no real use for the ship afterward though he did not just give it to her, not yet at least. Aegir would let her think that one over a bit as far as getting it back. In truth he hardly cared about it, it was useful in the event that Ven's ship showed up she had a means to get off planet with the stone.

Ah, yes, the stone. It is about yeah big and on each surface it has something etched in it similar to a Norse rune, or what you might think is one. It emits a green light that grows brighter when in use and emits radiation, at safe levels I assure you but your ship sensors should have little problem picking it up.

But I think I shall leave things up to you to deal with, Natasha. That device I fitted you with just now locks into place but functions both as a homing device should you attempt to flee back to the ADD and a radio so we can keep appraised of each others situations.

The agent palmed her face in one hand and groaned inwardly. "Nice work Tasha! He's a telepath, remember?" She could feel the frustration bubbling back into her veins as she realized that she couldn't even have an inner monologue to sort out her thoughts or even build a basic plan on what to do. She was starting to hate telepaths. She was accustomed to fighting aliens with guns, knives, and her feet; physically not mentally. She hated feeling powerless.

"Maybe it's different." The young agent thought. "It's given me clothes, weapons, my ship, and it's going to let me get back to the Directorate. ...I think I should trust him." She took a deep sigh as she came to the heavy decision. "...He can also hear you think this-AGH! Damnit!"

Immediately the agent turned sharply back around to face the alien, visibly annoyed from her recollection of it's abilities. "Fine!" She shouted sharply out of frustration. The strong confidence in her young face was mired by aggravated pouting, but she then took another long breath to calm herself. "Do you want me to stay here then? To work overnight?"

He hears her internal monologue though Aegir does not interrupt for she is not the first to have forgotten his abilities and that he was aware of her every though. He listened though without interruption as he was compared to other creatures, where she thought that she could trust him.

What he needed was that stone and not another slave as attractive as he found her, as good as the uses that he could put her through and certainly not just the sexual approach her though there was no mistaking that he would take her if it every came up, he thought.

She was attractive, though he had a different purpose for her in mind.

He could feel her frustration and it was all that he could do than laugh at her though he had not. Different? Perhaps. You have far more to offer than most. If you hadn't you would still be with Ven most likely unless I found you pleasing as well.

I find you very pleasing but trust in your skills. Freedom is what you desire and I need not detain you more than I have. Ven's ship does not have a chance in departing today or tomorrow so you could fiddle around here and depart in the morning if you wish or tonight if you wish to make an earlier start on things. It was hard enough getting the ship hers so quickly so I had not arranged in getting any spare parts so you would have only whatever was on your ship at the time.

Until this matter is resolved though you may use the Whistler, afterward we may discus that matter. Perhaps he would just give it to her if she did a good job and recovered the stone or perhaps she could “convince” him in giving her the ship, he had yet to decide this yet.

I will leave things in you hands to deal with as you see fit.

Rather than waiting, Natasha chose to leave as soon as possible. She's had enough of this station and wanted to get the thought of crawling around naked while being leered at by aliens out her mind now. She would take some time to make a thorough review of her ship before leaving. She knew the Whistler better than anyone (except for her computers obviously) and if anyone would know if the ship could fly, it would be her. Once she was convinced that she ship was good enough to leave, she powered up the old heavy drives and departed the station with a sigh of relief. Now at the controls of her ship again she was able to determine where she was, unnerved when she found out how far from the fleet she really was. She had to continue to place her uneasy trust in Aegir that the ship ID codes he gave her would be enough to keep other ships away while she travelled at light-speed.

After entering light-speed Natasha transferred controls to the computer so she could turn her attention to her badly abused ship. She first went back to her quarters to change out of the bio-hazard suit and combat clothing. She couldn't work on the ship in bulky clothing and couldn't afford to tear the suit. She was surprised that some of her clothing was where she'd left it, but not surprised that all of her underwear wasn't.

“Perverts.” She muttered in disgust when she imagined what they were doing with them.

She passed most of the time by getting some of the ship's systems repaired. She prioritized communications, weapons, and the stealth systems over everything else. Aegir wasn't lying when he'd said the the ship was stripped. She had to cannibalize a lot of parts from other systems to finish the repairs. As much as she hated to take apart her ship, it was lethargic for the brunette agent. While she hated computers, she loved machines because it was straight-forward. She didn't have to go through codes, or programs, or data packets or anything else to find what was wrong. She just had to follow along the process to see what part wasn't working and fix it.

After a shower, which she was overjoyed to find out that it was working, she returned to the bridge. She knew that she couldn't go back to the fleet without Aegir knowing but she could at least let them know what was happening and that she was okay. She prepared a message that told the fleet about what had happened and that she was on a mission. She kept most of the details vague relating to why she was on the mission since she didn't want to tell the Directorate that she'd been enslaved again. It was a short message so that it would be hard to intercept. Once it was sent, the young agent felt her fears deflate, if just a little.

The tunnel of light dissipated and the arrow shaped ex-cargo ship returned to normal space. Almost immediately Natasha activated the ship's stealth systems which captured the heat from the main engines and turned off all exterior lights to hide her ship from scanners as she returned to normal space. Once she was confident that no one had tracked her ship when it arrived, she turned her attention to the planet filling her cockpit window. The rich green and blue planet reminded the agent of home, but from what she heard over the message she intercepted she knew it wasn't anything like Earth. The run-away jungle planet was mostly humid and tropical. The life on the plant resembled Earth as it was separated between flora and fauna, but in this case the flora dominated all other life. The plants were semi-sentient and empathic according to the message. She knew that the plants had entered into their pollinating season and that the atmosphere was saturated with their pollen and telepathy. The message had said that the pollen would stimulate the nervous systems of the other plants while the plants transmitted their feelings of lust to purposefully maintain their “mating season” as long as they needed. She knew that the suit she was given would protect her from the pollen, but she still didn't know about if the “mental firewalls” that Aegir had given her would protect her from the plant's lurid feelings.

“Great.” Natasha mumbled into her palms as she rubbed her forehead. “You have to have faith in an alien telepath to protect you from a horde of sex-crazed alien plant telepaths.” She paused and held a long stare with the planet in her window. She forced out her concerns with a sigh and started the re-entry sequence.

The message came in on the console though she read her new orders. Apparently Natasha had been alright, which made Luna's investigations moot. But there was more here, coordinates to a world that she was to go to and lend whatever assistance she could.

Luna sighed as she looked at the orders. Very well, though she was hardly the most experienced of agents. Surely there were closer agents but she surmised that she was already assigned this investigation that it was easier to keep her on this task.

“EMI, set a course to 3457 point eighty-seven, priority one.”

“AFFIRMITIVE.” The artificial computer relaid and the new field agent anyway had been one her way.

It was perhaps a good thing that Natasha left when she had. Aegir simply overlooked something that he would have normally thought about though he was a bit anxious at getting a precious stone back that he had been some what distracted. That battleship … well it had cruisers on it and Ven had one depart while the battleship refueled and restocked … of course, he should have known and Aegir wondered just how many machines had been sent in advance … well hopefully the head start would help …



Finding herself busy for the most part Natasha could do little now as she arrived at her destination, her message sent off, her cloak activated and weapon systems fixed up all that had been necessary were the simple scans to determine where she was going, the greenish-blue world appeared so tranquil from this height anyway though her sensors easily picked up a transponder left on the surface from the prior team that was here before her arrival.

Sensors had picked up a weak, yet steady radiation signal. The radiation wasn't harmful at these levels and while she had an environmental suit there was also a radiation suit too that had been used for emergency repairs on the hull though it was one of the things that had not been stolen.

Either suit was good though the space suit offered up more protection against radiation, still she was not instructed against hazardous radiation so she probably did not need to take precautions against it.

The trees rustled and leaves were thrown in every direction in the chaotic wake of The Whistler's landing engines as the cargo ship descended from the sky. It hovered for a moment just a few metres from the ground, shifting slightly until it could find a comparatively clear area to make a landing. Birds, small creatures, and insects fled from the ship's deafeningly loud engines that shrieked for as long as it hovered above the ground. The surface of Onderon 2 was dense with plant life in almost all places. It was hard to find anywhere on the planet in which wasn't covered by a canopy of some tree. Thankfully there were a few open areas of the jungle to make a landing.

With a firm thud, the landing struts made contact with the ground and the searing wake from the engines began to taper off as the ship gradually powered down. Several points of the ship burst with white steam at seemingly random intervals for a moment before the ship finally fell silent.

From the side of the ship a ramp sparked to life and opened the interior of the airlock to the atmosphere of the planet. Once the ramp was fully extended Natasha stepped out from the ship and into the warm and welcoming sunlight of the planet's surface. The agent was once again dressed in the yellow spandex environmental suit along with her black combat vest and shorts. Her glass dome helmet didn't offer much protection from the bright glare of the sun, causing her to lift her arms to shield her emerald eyes as they adjusted to the light. Once the agent's eyes adjusted to the brightness, she had to take a moment as the ship's scans offered little justice to what she was seeing.

The planet could rival any tropical jungle from Earth. There wasn't a single direction that she could look without seeing some flower or tree or creature emblazoned with brilliant colours or designs. There were enormous trees with neon leaves and mushrooms growing from the tree trunks that glow neon purple in the shade. Birds soared high and low with long intricate patterns in their tail feathers that stretched longer than the bird itself. There were even long vines dripping a sort of viscous fluid that also glowed a soft pale blue light as it crawled through the branches towards a huge neon coloured flower. She watched as that same vine gradually inched downward from an overhanging tree branch, like a serpent and weeping fluid that coated the flower below. It continued until it found the flower's pistol that opened and pulled the thick appendage deep inside. The flower then closed it's huge petals around the vine to drink deeply as the thick vine began to pump, she assumed, the viscous blue fluid into the flower. She could then hear it pump over and over with an audible pulsing and uncomfortably organic spurting noise. The agent was reminded of why she was in the suit; it was mating season for just about everything on this planet and it probably really didn't care what with.

“Okay little stone...” The agent spoke to herself as the turned her attention to the narrow rectangular instrument strapped to her side. “Where're you hiding?” She started to adjust the scanner to detect the signature that Aegir had given her. The device functioned similar to a SONAR device, pinging in the direction of whatever signal it was programed to lock on to while giving a distance to it's source. She stepped down the ramp and rotated slowly in a circle while watching the scanner until eventually it began to ping as it locked onto the radiation signal. “There you are. ...Over 20 kilometers, huh?” She said with a satisfied smile. She hung the device on her belt and turned back to her ship and pressed a few buttons on a small device attached to her right arm to raise the platform and secure her ship. She usually kept the controller on her left arm but the that arm was locked by the manacle that Aegir placed on her.

She then retrieved the laser rifle from her back and adjusted it to it's cutting setting. “Well, I could use a good hike.” With that, she began to jog at a leisurely pace into the dense jungle canopy.

The radiation levels on the planet where a little stronger given that the world was closer to it's star, the sky a deep red casting violet shadows everywhere though the radiation had not been harmful given that the ozone layer had been intact here, there was no pollution whatsoever and there had been an abundance of life dominated by the plants here.

There were some various avians but mammals had been scarce here indeed. At first it was tough to lock onto the artifact given all the ambient radiation here from that red star but the unique signals that the device emitted had eventually been picked up, mostly because it was so different.

There had been nothing about the radiation from the star itself leaving Natasha to assume that the machines did not need that information and what organics had come here had not thought to include a useless detail to Ven and his machines, particularly since the radiation wasn't harmful at all.

The plants were off in a way. While a good many where hermaphrodites their were other species that were distinctly male or female and it was the males she had to watch out for.

They had that sickly aphrodisiac, they possessed the latent psionic abilities that would have been effecting her already if not for the defenses that Aegir had put in place.

20 clicks … she moved through that jungle unaware that there had been life that evolved her, unaware that she even passed by so close that she could have reached put and touched it.

For the moment that life watched on, curious with the organic. It was a mere child and had ranged quite a distance from it's home though Thorn followed watching at a distance, her spear at the ready as she moved. That stance seemed to be wrong though and while she had been heading straight towards Bloom it offered no warning. It was a dog eat dog world on Onderon 2 so it did not fret thinking nothing of it really as it moved camouflaged in the brush,

Bloom had been a herm that emitted a rich honey-like scent that washed off thick vine-like appendages coated with red flowers. Sensing vibration the plant woke from a dormant state but remained still for the moment.

Tree-like it was smeared in this rich scenting liquid and yet it called to the mind or tries not knowing it had been blocked from making that initial contact. Unlike many plants Bloom was the mobile sort and while the agent might have steered clear, Bloom did posses other abilities, even if the aphrodisiac and psionic abilities did not work there was always brute force.

Slowly like a snake a vine crept against the ground and another moved through the branches before it launched an attack, the vine in the tree trying to seize her throat at the same time as the one near her legs attempted to ensnare her ankle, hoping to trip her up if she avoided the airborne attack.