She remembers Marka Ragnos' warnings. Her master, Darth Sidious, would inadvertently destroy the Sith if left to his machinations. Sera reflects that this must actually be true to some extent, as the long dead Sith Lord seemed to request that of all his pawns.
Thoughts drifting to her master, she knows that while he has been a father to her, she must overcome that love and be willing to strike him down to complete her ascendance. However, what she must currently learn to overcome is her complete trust in him. His tests of her are getting more dangerous and will continue to do so until she proves that she is strong enough to fully step into the mantle of his apprentice. The only question is what must she sacrifice to make that climb.
Of sacrifices, her mind turns to the holocron of Darth Rivan sitting nearby. The inert black pyramid taunts her with the possibility of what must be done to stop Jopal. Rivan spoke of an ancient ritual, one attempted and failed thirteen years before by Count Dooku. The same ritual that was the bane of her cousin Lara. It left Lara shattered, without memory, or able to feel the Force. To make things more difficult, the ritual would require herself, Lara, and her newly discovered cousin Bria. Light, Neutral, and Dark... all in similar visage and within the same bloodline. Can the dire warning Rivan gave outweigh the threat to her cousins?
Thinking of Lara, Sera has to smile. For her fights of control and initial distaste for her cousin, the girl has proven to be just as powerful and as skillful as Sera, herself. She has endured so much pain, more than Sera has ever known, yet she has tempered anger, hate, and fear. For the first time in her life, Sera has begun to question if her master was right. Is the darkside stronger than the light?
Reflecting on the Force around her, Sera can feel Xol in his cabin trying to meditate on the future. Koro remains in his bacta tank, still recovering from his electrocution at Jopal's hands. Ti steadfastly goes through the motions of lightsaber drills, practicing what Koro had taught him. Scanning around the area, Sera finds hints of Force Sensitives among the locals of Keldabe. She smirks at the thought of Jedi Mandalorians, dismissing the notion and continuing her movement. For a second, she cannot feel Set. But then she realizes that the focus had been too long range. The Kel Dor youngling is very close to her. Opening her eyes, she sees his little head and breath mask inches from her face.
With a sad smile she greets the child. "Hello to you too, Set."
"Aww whats wrong," he asks referring to her smile. "Will my drawing make you feel better? Xol gave this to me and I drew "The Sarlacc" flying in space," he laughs and holds up a data pad.
ReplyDelete"Maybe." Sera says stretching her back.
ReplyDeleteLooking at Set,she sees the innocence of a new life beginning. If Rivan is to be believed, that will come to an end if she does not potentially sacrifice her cousins.
Watching Set draw, Sera is struck by an idea. "Set, if you could have one wish to change one thing in the galaxy... what would it be?"
Set stops playing with the data pad and thinks. Kind of reminds Sera of a tiny Xol. "I wish everyone could just be happy all of the time. No more bad things," he looks down at the data pad.
ReplyDeleteSera smiles sadly again. Remembering making a similar wish at his age.
ReplyDelete"What if someone told you that to have that wish come true... that Xol had to go away, never come back, and you could never be with him or talk to him ever again. Would you still want that wish to come true?"
Set does not hesitate with his answer. "NO! I love Xol." He quietly thinks for a moment. "I guess...I guess I could have some bad days as long as Xol was there to make them better. And...maybe everyone can find someone like that too...?"
ReplyDelete"We shall see, Set."
ReplyDeleteStanding, she pats the youngling on the head. "I'm going for a walk, tell Xol to call me if his Mandalorian calls. Later, kiddo."
Sera grabs her jacket and lightsaber, before descending the ramp. She begins walking around Keldabe, struggling with her thoughts.
Set waves to Sera. He then stuffs the data pad into his robes and heads down the ramp to follow her at a distance. "Come on Widdimur," he whispers as he drags the strill along. "Let's go on a sneaky adventure."
ReplyDelete~whines~
"Stop being a baby!"
In a corner of the cargo area onboard the Spectre SL-01 ceases punching "data" into a deactivated datapad. The droid shudders for a moment as sparks course about it's head. After a few seconds of sparking it's vocabulator announces, "Reconnaissance mode activated, engaging perimiter sweep for hostile forces." The droid reaches out towards a conduit and snaps it free from the wall in a shower of sparks. Without a second glance it brandishes the metal pole like a staff and slithers down the ramp and into the streets of Keldabe.
ReplyDelete"Come on Widdimur!" Set pulls on the strill's tail. "You can see your friend LATER...we are going to lose Sera if you keep sniffing each other any longer!"
ReplyDeleteWiddimur sighs as he turns away from the other strill and follows Set.
Sera wanders through the streets. She fights to hide her discomfort at the sight of so many armored Mandalorians.
ReplyDeleteDespite their presence, she sees children Set's age and younger running around, acting like kids. Its an incongruity to her.
A sudden flash hits her. She turns around and sees to Strills sniffing each other amongst the crowd. She shakes her head. "Definitely get the feeling I am being followed."
SL-01 slithers sround the corner of a building and blunders into the small Kel-Dor who is peering around the other side. "Small biological unit Set, have you located hostile forces?" Without waiting for a reply the droid begins to whirl the broken piece of conduit in a circle above it's head. "Stay back small biological unit Set, SL-01 will engage hostile forces." The droid slithers around the corner and begins advancing on the two strill.
ReplyDeleteSet spins around to look at the droid in shock and gasps. The two strill back up away from the droid growling.
ReplyDelete"Hey now droid!" Set stands in between the strill and SL-01 with his hands up. "These aren't hostile...no one is hostile. Widdimur is my pet!"
~hrumph!~
"And this is his friend! All friends! Nothing bad ok? Please put that down?"
SL-01 pauses it's advance, "Aknowledged. Tiny biological units have been reclassified as friendly. Continuing perimiter sweep for hosti..." Sparks suddenly course around the droid's head, and it drops the broken conduit to the ground with a clatter. It's eyes blink on and off a few times before they focus on Set with a whirring sound. "Small biological unit Set, how may I assist you?"
ReplyDeleteSet covers his face when the droid sparks up and peeks out when it asks it's question.
ReplyDelete"Um...are you ok? You seem sick...maybe YOU need the assistance?" Set turns around quickly. "SERA! We gotta move!" Set runs up ahead some to keep up. The other strill runs off and Widdimur follows Set, keeping an eye on SL-01.
As Set runs around the corner. Sera has disappeared and is nowhere to be seen along the street vendors.
ReplyDeleteThe droid slithers beside the small Kel-Dor. "My programming is incomplete. I require further programming to achieve nominal performance capability. Is biological unit Sera under attack? SL-01 is ready to terminate hostile forces upon command."
ReplyDelete"Darn! No Sera is ok Number 1...Widdimur!" Set points to the ground. "Find her!"
ReplyDeleteWiddimur looks at Set with his head tilted and his wrinkled brow even more furrowed.
Set points to the ground again.
Widdimur sits down defiantly. He was bossed out of a chance meeting with another strill...he'll protect Set but this...no way!
Set stomps his foot and whines. "Wiiiiiiiiiddimuuuuur!"
The strill turns it's head side ways.
"FINE!" Set pouts and crosses his arms. "I'll just have to find her like how I tried to find Navik."
Set taps into the force to try and find Sera. He flops down onto the ground. "WOW! This is impossible! So many!"
The droid gazes down the street. "SL-01 will terminate potential hostiles. Perhaps a reduction in targets will assist small biological unit Set in locating the position of biological unit Sera." Sl-01 begins to slither towards the nearest passerby.
ReplyDelete"NO NO!" Set jumps up and onto the droids tail.
ReplyDelete"Uh...uh...opps" Set holds on tight, not knowing what to expect. ~I need to pay more attention to what Xol teaches me....~
From the edge of an alley, Sera watches for who ever is following her. Having cloaked herself from prying eyes with the Force, she waits.
ReplyDeleteAfter a minute, she sees Set and Whiddimur walk past looking all around. Then SL-01 slithers past.
She grinds her teeth in annoyance. The droid being loos is one thing, the droid following set through this crowd could be even worse.
Ducking from the alley, Sera stays cloaked but follows Set at a distance just to make certain nothing happens to the child.
"Acknowledged, this biological unit," the droid points at the startled passerby "no longer scheduled for termination." The droid stops and swivels it's torso around, to face the small Kel-Dor. "SL-01 is unable to engage further termination protocols with small biological unit Set in that postion." In one fluid motion it grabs the small Kel-Dor and places him atop the droid's head while swiveling to face front again. It begins to slither towards the next closest person. "Termination protocal recommencing, hold on tightly small biological unit Set."
ReplyDeleteAfter a Lengthy chat with his cheif flight officer on why deploying TIE/fighters for sub-atmospheric drills is bad, Jace steps out of the conference room and heads of the Specter to see what trouble everyone had gotten into.
ReplyDelete--------------------------------------------------------------
As acting CAG, LT. Adeen had taken some liberties with his new airgroup. The 96 TIE/n 's were to be organized in 8 squads. Doctrine wise, they were told to train in an interceptor role, and he asked him mechanics to tweek the TIEs to pump out as much speed as possible.
For the purposes of Training the pilots, Jace had each wing of 12 pilots further broken down into wings of 4. At all times(save hyperspace travel) a minimum of 2 squadrons would be in the air running picket around the Legacy's Revenge. In an effort to promote unity and a friendly rivalry between squadrons, he asked that each squadron leader submit a name and logo for their squadron. The logo was to be put on the cockpit of the craft. Sword Squadron, Jace's own, would have a Single red sword on each side of the "ball" of the cockpit.
As the droid takes off, Set feels an invisible tug as he is lifted off the droid and placed gently on the ground behind the droid.
ReplyDeleteSet was terrified to be on the droid, then excited to ride the droid, and now disappointed that he floated off the droid.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute...floated?!
"Number 1 stop!" Set calls after the droid remembering he has to keep issuing commands or it will probably do something horrible. "Do not terminate anything unless I say so."
Set looks around to see if he can find who ever made him float.
Clapping as he walks forward, set sees Jace walking forward. He seems to lift off the ground slightly, and then lands in front of the small Kel-dor.
ReplyDelete"Looks like we can both fly" Jace says with a smile. He taps the Vents on his shoulders, and says "XT-02 Repulsor pack. That how I did it. Im curious as how you managed to do it?"
SL-01 halts in front of the nearby stranger, it's red eyes whir as it examines him. "Acknowledged. This biological unit will not be terminated. Termination protocols have been placed on stand by." The droid swivels it's torso to face the small Kel-Dor it's red eyes whir as it examines him. At Jace's comment the droid remarks, "It is evident that small biological unit Set has improved it's combat functionality through rigorous training."
ReplyDeleteSera watches the scene play out. "Jace will make sure Set gets back okay."
ReplyDeleteShe turns down the alley and walks off, still cloaked in the Force and still brooding on the future.
Set looks back and forth between Jace and the droid. "Yes," Set finally says looking at the droid. "I am just that good...and now...I am going to be on my way...with Widdimur..." he puts his arm around the strill's neck and begins to walk away.
ReplyDeleteHe then stops. "Ugh...you better come Number 1...you uh...you need to be watched..."
"Acknowledged." The droid slithers after the small Kel-Dor while in the distance the random passerby's who had previoulsy been menaced seem to be speaking to some well armored security personnel and pointing in the direction of SL-01 and Set.
ReplyDelete"Hey Set, why dont you let me tag along? Looks like you know your way around this place just as good as I do, If not better" Jace says with a shurg
ReplyDeleteSet sighs. And then says as happily as he can, which is pretty happy, "Sure why not. Everybody can come!"
ReplyDelete(Kel-dor)"You understand me right Wid?" Set asks. Widdimur nods. "Good...I figured you would learn from Xol...how did we end up with this parade? This isn't sneaky at all! She's either long gone or knows I'm here..."(/kel-dor)
"You..uh...looking for some body, buddy?" Jace asks, making small talk. "wheres Xol?"
ReplyDelete"Exploring," he says looking around, trying to use the force to find Sera when he feels like his eyes just aren't cutting it. "Xol is...probably with his cube or something. "Don't look at those people funny Number 1!" Set addresses the droid when he feels it's looked in one direction other than forward for too long or when it's gaze might seem to follow an individual.
ReplyDeleteSL-01 looks down at the little Kel-Dor, it's red eyes whir as it observes the conversation between the Kel-Dor and the strill. After a few minutes of slithering along the droid stops, there is a small pop and a hiss as a compartment opens on the droid's chest revealing it's cobbled together tool kit. "Small biological unit Set's vocabulator appears to be malfunctioning." The droid grabs a plasma cutter, dropping a broken hydrospanner and some bolts onto the street in the process. "Commencing repair protocal beta." The droid attempts to ignite the plasma torch several times but nothing happens. Set happens to notice a strange conatiner inside the chest cavity of SL-01 that seems to be full of some type of glittering liquid.
ReplyDeleteSet feels several presences around in the Force. One feels very familiar and is walking away.
ReplyDelete"What are you talking about!?" Set blurts as he trips while trying to back away from the droid. He continues to scoot backwards while sitting on the ground. "I don't need to be fixed! YOU do!"
ReplyDeleteSet stops moving and sits quietly all of the sudden. "Yes!....I think. But it's moving away."
ReplyDeleteSet hops up off the ground and runs off, stopping to hide behind corners and other objects as he moves forward.
As Set proceeds to the area he felt the presence, he sees nothing there. But a splash in small puddle ahead of him gives him pause. At the edge o the puddle is a wet boot print.
ReplyDeleteSL-01 replaces the inert plasma cutter back in it's chest cavity, dislodging some more bolts as it seals back "Repair protocol beta cancelled, tools unresponsive. Vocabualtor repair for small biological unit Set put on stand-by." A series of shrill sounds emit from SL-01 remeniscent of an alarm. "Self diagnostic complete, SL-01's vocabulator functiong at nominal levels, small biological unit Set is incorrect." Realizng the small Kel-Dor has run ahead, the droid slither quickly to catch up.
ReplyDelete