After escaping to hyper space, Cyrus stumbles out of cockpit, heading for the medical bay. From inside, a ringing metallic clang can be heard periodically, as smoking armor is discarded from the stumbling and injured miraluka, left to stay where it falls. He manages to strip everything off of his torso before stumbling into the medical bay. His skin is charred and burnt, and in places there are deep gouges that are bleeding profusely where the force lightning almost seemed to cut across his body. His only respite from the pain was the knowledge that "Jopal" would likely be in the same state, judging from the deep cuts left by Cyrus's lightsaber. How those blows didnt sever Jopal in twain, Cyrus will never know.
Cyrus manages to stumble onto the table before succumbing completely to his wounds. With a gasp, the medical droid begins to diagnose and treat his injuries. Most of them, it seems, will leave unpleasant scars, reminders of past failures.
Cyrus dreams of the fight as he drifts into and out of consciousnesses. Every move he did wrong, every thing he could have done differently. The force almost seems to reprimand him for his failure, showing him everything he could have done that would have changed the outcome of the fight. Notes for later, he subconsciously decides.
Ti sits in the corner, quitly sobbing and holding onto Cyrus's signature lightsaber, worried about his condition. To a 9 yearold(or someone not trained in treat injury) Cyrus easily looks like he could pass on at any moment, but luckly most of the wounds will easily be treated in the next few hours.
Huddled in her cabin, Sera gazes blankly at the wall, tears running down her cheeks. Laughter and mocking echoes around her.
ReplyDelete"You call yourself Sith? If that were true Jopal would be dead. He lives and laughs at you."
"Failure is intolerable for a Sith. You ARE failure. You had your ascension in hand and let it go."
"How dare you call yourself an Apprentice of the Sith! A true apprentice would have done what it took to kill Jopal."
"You failed your master even more this time. You were nothing, but a waste of his time and energy."
Standing slowly, the girl walks to the mirror and looks deeply into it.
"You stood there and did nothing. You can at least do the right thing here."
"Zannah would spit on your weakness. You don't deserve that lightsaber. Do the legacy of the Sith an eternal favor... stop pretending to be one."
"A truth Sith knows the price of failure. If you are really Sith, put the saber to your heart and activate it."
Sera nods slowly, unclipping the blade from her belt. She presses the emitter to her robes and closes her eyes. "I'm sorry, Master. I hope you find a suitable apprentice to replace my failure."
A deep resonant laughter echoes through the room. "Do it..."
As Sera's thumb finds the button, another voice in the room causes her to pause. "It's not him, you know? When he talks to you I can hear it too. This isn't HIM. Oh this one wants you to believe it is, but I recognize that ghost's stink from the last time it wanted to 'chat'."
The girl opens her eyes, seeing a blurry figure sitting on the bed. Wiping her eyes, Sera sees Lara reclining on the bed. "Wha...?"
"What am I doing here or what is he trying to do? Cause I can answer both of those."
Sera nods slowly and silently.
ReplyDelete"Well, 'you know who' is taking a pot shot at you. You showed weakness and he is driving it home. Kinda sloppy there, Cousin. He knows you gave him the brush off and he's picking at you. If you can show some strength, he'll shut up already and he'll try again later and in a different method."
Lara taps the side of her head. "Remember what IMP-6 told you, most of his victims went crazy. Or did things to themselves... yeah, pretty sure some of them even ate a blaster barrel or a lightsaber emitter. His battle field is the mind, if he can't win there... then he'll show back up and start pestering you."
Sera nods again, sniffling. "I'm actually starting to like that asshole droid." She manages a weak smile.
Lara returns with a sympathetic smile. Standing she walks over to Sera. Taking the lightsaber from her hand, the cousins look eye to eye. "I'm here because I care for you. You looked out for me, not ever knowing who I was. I couldn't let some dead guy do this to you.
"You are strong and courageous. While I don't like or agree with the tenants of your philosophy, I'm not going to let you off yourself because some dead guy puts it in your head.
"After you showed me all that stuff, I began to sort through a few things. A lot of stuff is still a jumble, but I can remember a few new things about the Jedi Temple. However, there's all sorts of other things in their... including your memories. There's this one teaching that is really odd. Horrible woman, not even Sith. But I think she had something right for anyone... 'Where some see failure, others see opportunity.'
"Twice now you have not faced Jopal, but something has happened because you acted or did not. He ran scared the first time from the events you set up. Sure you failed to kill him and Mankrus then... but it presented a better opportunity.
"Now you have seen Jopal one on one... and you lived to learn from it. He has still seen you do little more than Force slam someone, you are an unknown quantity, he's not. Though I feel something is missing... something else."
Sera looks puzzled and sits down on her bed. "You're... You're right. But what? I cannot think straight right now."
Lara pats Sera on the shoulder. "I know. You're exhausted mentally and emotionally from this. Add in the attack on your mind... nothing good for you right now, Cousin. Just lay down and sleep it off. Things will make more sense in the morning."
Sera nods slowly as she lays down on the bed. Lara stands there watching as she drifts to sleep then fades. Looking down at the lightsaber in her hand, Lara shudders from a cold prickling across her skin.
Changing into street clothes, Lara places the lightsaber and the mask on Sera's desk. The robes and cloak are tossed into the hamper. As she activates the door, a voice echoes around her.
"So the scared little girl grew a backbone. I almost had her. Mind your place child, I know you Lara Forto. You are a beaten dog that should have died in the street."
Lara clenches her jaw tightly, anger flashing briefly. A Jedi teaching floats to the surface of her mind, she takes a deep breath and pushes the anger away.
"Then you must be confused. I'm Lara Shan and I'm a Jedi. I proudly bear the bloodline of those who fought and defeated Sith Lords. I have survived a dark ritual of a Dark Jedi and am reclaiming my heritage. You obviously do not know me."
With a look of determination, Lara seals the barriers of her mind and the whispers disappear. With a sigh, she shakes her head. "For a dead guy, he talks way too much."
Moving out to the bridge, she raps twice on Tweaker's dome. "We'll catch up in a bit, bucket of bolts. I want to check on someone first."
ReplyDeleteWalking down the stairs, Lara walks into the medical bay and looks at Cyrus' prone form on one of the beds. Turning to the 2-1B droid, "Why is he not in a bacta tank?"
The droid turns to her and looks at a datapad. "Master Starfel did not request it despite my warnings."
Lara shakes her head. "Still hard-headed old Koro... Droid, I'm countermanding his orders. Bacta tank, now. He's in no position to be stubborn. I'm not going let him be stupid about his recovery. He has more than himself to think about.
Hearing a stifled sob from the corner, Lara quietly edges around one of the beds. She sees Ti-ket there clutching the lightsaber. Projecting as much calm towards the youngling as she can, Lara makes sure that her Force aura bears no trace of Sera's.
"Hey, its okay. He's going to be just fine. Bacta is really amazing stuff and his wounds aren't as bad as they look."
Lara shoots the droid a 'Don't say a damn thing in front of the kid' look. And the 2-1B stifles its reply while loading Cyrus' body into a bacta tank.
"I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Lara Shan, what's your's. That kinda scary girl, Sera, she's my cousin. I know we look a lot alike, but don't worry. We're not very similar at all, though. If you can keep a secret, she kinda scare me at times too.
"Your master is going to be fine. He just needs a little rest right now. What do you say we get something from the galley and then we'll see if you and Set can play? You can even bring the lightsaber, Cyrus would want it to be kept safe and you are doing a great job so far. So what do you say?"
From the corner of the med bay a pile of what appears to be droid parts shakes and rattles, spare legs and unattatched components clatter to the ground revealing an old battered magna droid. It's lower half seems to have been replaced with a serpentine tread locomotion. It slithers from the corner and regards the med bay occupants, "Where is mistress Siella? She has not returned and I am awaiting further programming. The droid regards the battered miralukan, "That unit appears to have reached the end of it's biological life cycle."
ReplyDeleteA man in an incredibly bulky suit of armor sits in a dimly lit passenger bay. The only light comes from a 3d holographic image being projected from his gauntlet. His armor has been well used, but seems to have fresh paint in some places, covering up the 908th Shadow trooper corp markings. The only thing the man seems to have left of his past life is a simple command pauldron.
ReplyDelete"....you have your orders, Lieutenant." Finishes the red eyed man in the hologram, and it winks out, returning the darkness to the bay.
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A Lambda class shuttle launches from the ventral bay of an Impstar. The Impstar quickly jumps to hyperspace, whille the lambda accelerates towards to projected point where the Spectre will leave hyperspace
Xol walks in and catches the end of what the droid says.
ReplyDelete----
"That unit appears to have reached the end of it's biological life cycle."
----
"What?!" Xol exclaims, walking over to Cyrus. He doesn't know a whole lot about medical situations, but the flow tells him, Cyrus will just need time.
He puts his hand on Cyrus's head and says softy, "Koochoo..."
He then walks over to check on Ti. Set had went over to Ti as soon as they walked in. "Is he going to be ok Sera? Did yu already talk to him" Xol asks the girl, a little curious as to why she was hanging around here anyway. Maybe to make sure Cyrus dies so she has the shot at Jopal? He doesn't even want to think about it...
The medical droid turns to Xol and says
ReplyDelete"This ones injury's are extensive. I detect 85.509% nerve damage as well as extensive burns to 68.49% of his body. He will require Intensive care and rehabilitation. His Mediclorian count seems to have risen slightly since I last examined him. How odd."
As the droid rises and slithers forward, Lara pushes Ti-ket behind her protectively.
ReplyDeleteLara is about answer, backing the youngling toward the door when Xol enters.
Upon Xol's comments, she shakes her head the turns to lock her sapphire blue eyes with Xol's goggles. "Sera is in her room, resting. Easy to get confused though. No insult taken, Xol."
Xol hears:{Get Ti-ket out of here. That droid just went active out of nowhere. We need to keep Ti-ket from thinking that Cyrus is dead.}
Lara turns back to the snake droid. "Appearances can be deceiving. Cyrus may be battered and beaten, but he is far from dead. I can feel that. And who might you be, droid? I don't recall Siella, mentioning any such project before..."
Navik watches Cyrus stumble his way to the Med-Bay, once he makes it in there he moves to the galley, walks to the auto-chef gets something, and sits. Any one who see him can tell, he seems more relaxed but is still has something pressing on his mind.
ReplyDeleteXol rubs his chin/mask at the medical droids comment about mediclorian then turns back around to catch Lara's blue eyes looking at him.
ReplyDelete"OH...I see..." he pauses. "Well...why don't I take these two to get something good from the autochef while she is away..."
"Come on Ti-ket. Your master just needs rest. He wouldn't want you to worry so much," Xol says softly as he and Set try and comfort him and lead the young nautolan out of the room.
Ti-ket stands slowly and leaves. He takes one look back at cyrus floating in bacta, trying to figure out if there is anything he can do to help before he leaves, but finally gives in to Xol's lead.
ReplyDelete[Xol hears] "Thank........you......". Despite being almost comatose in the bacta, Cyrus is still able to reach out with the force.
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LT. Adeen reviews his mission briefing for what feels like the 100th time on his wrist computer. Distracted, he begins to flip though his personal files. A holopict of a young girl, hair the same as his, but the eyes of her mother. Another holopict of 8 young men, just them and the galexy, hearts full of fire. 7 of them long gone now. A 3rd pict, showing his new weapons laid out in "Explosion form", detailing each part and how it fits together with the others during re-assembly after a field strip. More random holos. Unnecessary distractions, given the situation he decides .
As Xol and the young ones walk in Navik looks up with ((in basic)) "Ah, hello 'officer'," in a joking manner,"How is he?". Then as if for the first time, he looks at the kids, "And who might these two be?"
ReplyDeleteXol looks quickly over to Navik. He didn't notice him. "Ahh rhodian... getting some down time finally?" he gets the few sweets the two children DO actually feel like eating from the auto-chef and they sit down on either of Xol as he sits down across from Navik.
ReplyDelete"Cyrus? He needs lots of rest and he will be fine," Xol says nudging his head to his left where Ti-ket is sitting.
"Ahh that's right...you weren't here for a while...the children we saved from that planet, all but two were taken to a place they could be safe. These two stayed to be trained by Cyrus and myself."
"This is Ti-ket," he softly pats Ti's head, "And this is Set," he does the same to Set's head.
Navik gives a nod to both of them, "Training...with Cyrus?" He just shakes his head a little. "You know Ti-ket, I tried that once, but then I learned how to do this," He looks at the table, picks up the salt shaker, shows it to Ti-ket, and makes it vanish. As i am sure they look around, they find it right where it was as if He never touched it. He give what you guess to be a grin, "Now after you eat that how would you two like to play a game?"
ReplyDeleteSet leans over the table and grabs the salt shaker with his free hand. "Everyone is magic?" he looks up at Xol. "I wanna be magic!"
ReplyDeleteXol chuckles. "You are...remember?"
"Oh yeah!"
Set finishes up his food and says, "I wanna play...Can I play Xol?"
This seems like it could be a good distraction for the kids. "Sure, go ahead."
Navik looks at Set, "No, I'm not magic, just skilled. Meet me in the cargo bay." He gets up and moves for the door, "I will be waiting on you both."
ReplyDeleteXol follows Set to the cargo bay, keeping Ti close and away from the medical bay. Till Cyrus gets better, Xol will do his best for Ti-ket.
ReplyDeleteWhen Xol and the kids enter the cargo-bay, they find it empty. Then from out of nowhere they hear,"The game is 'Hied and Seek', you both need to work together to find me, the ill find you." Xol happens to look over and sees him standing in a shadowy corner. As the kids run to find him, Navik sneaks over to Xol, "I can see what you are doing, Ti-ket and Cyrus. If you need help, I am here, I'm not great with kids but i can keep them occupied if you need a brake." He then slips back to the shadows to continue the game.
ReplyDeleteXol thinks to himself...is there some contagion going around? Or do kids just bring out all the kindness in people when things feel at their worst in the darkness of space...
ReplyDeleteXol doesn't say anything to Navik, but he nods and calls out to the two. "I'll be in my room."
A little more time for the holocron.
"Ok Xol!"
"Hey Ti...let's try to do what Xol and Cyrus taught us ok? Maybe we can use it to find this guy..." Set whispers.
The serpentine droid turns its glowing red eyes to regard Lara, "I am SL-01. Mistress Siella is reprogramming me, but my program is incomplete. Where is Mistress Siella? Did those small biological units go to meet her?" The droid turns and slithers from the med bay to follow after the children.
ReplyDeleteFor the first time in a long whille, Ti speaks
ReplyDelete"Alright Set.... I'll try" He sits on his heels and begins to concentrate
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The LT moves into the cock pit to check how things are going. He nods to the anonymous Pilot in approval, as if to suggest he was doing a good job. In reality, he wanted to throttle the poor man. This flight seemed to be taking forever. He wasnt sure if they were flying in circles untill this "specter" came out of hyperspace, or if they were even at the rendezvous point point yet. It better happen soon either way, he decided.
Set stands next to Ti and concentrates hard and then relaxes. Trying too too hard doesn't seem to be the best way to go.
ReplyDeleteHe sees a flash and points. "Imma try over there." He sneaks over to a box and pops around the side to see what if its the rhodian..."AH HA!"
Ti stands his ground in quite contemplation for a moment. Ina sudden burst of movement, he opens his eyes and points to an area near where set went. "There", he simply says, and runs off. Turning the corner, Navik isnt there, but Ti is SURE he was there a few seconds ago.
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Right as Adeen was to leave the cockpit, a novaburst happens off in the distance.
"Thats what weve been waiting for" says Adeen. Hail them, I'll go prepare my gear.
Lara bites her lip. She doesn't know what to say about Siella. Closing her eyes, she tries to think.
ReplyDelete"2-1B, keep close watch on the patient. I'll have Tweaker monitor the station, but make sure that no one disturbs Cyrus."
Lara heads to the door, stops, then turns around. She picks up Cyrus' armor, then moves to the door. Keying in a code, the clear glass of the medbay, shifts to an opaque frosted look.
Stepping outside, the girl heads to the workshop and dumps the armor in there. She'll fix it later. Tapping her comm, she speaks softly. "Tweaker, keep a close eye on the medbay. I have bad feeling and don't know why. I want you to record everything that goes on in there."
The exhaustive electronic reply comes back and Lara's eyes grow wide at the answer.
Concerned, she replies, "No, no. Nothing special. Just want to make sure that everything there is secure. You are the only one with access to it, right? No one else can get into the files?"
Tweaker warbles back. "The Secondary User has the authorization codes for it, so by proxy you should have them too if you share any of her software. I was given access on her orders, but the coding suggests that it can be accessed those with sufficient authorization.
"It should be noted that there have been attempts to access it from various points on the ship at random times."
Lara narrows her eyes. "Is there anything else, Sera has also forgotten to mention?"
The whistles are very matter of fact. "Nothing much more. The only things in my system are to remind her we need to go over Cyrus' R4 unit after IMP-6 implicated it as a spy. I have maintained its security lock out from all primary and secondary systems. It has expressed issue with my orders and has called into question the intelligence of the Secondary User and my Maker.
"Siella checked out the unit, reporting that there was nothing unusual. The Secondary User wanted to go over it herself, but had not yet done so. I have Cyrus' wishes checked if you wish to perform the procedure.
"The only other thing listed is to reclaim the book from Siella."
Lara furrows her brow. "What book? She didn't... no! Not that book?!"
Sprinting from the workshop, Lara tears into the medbay. Scanning everywhere, she points at the 2-1B. "Shut-up about the disturbance! Siella had a large book, where is it?"
The 2-1B waves it's arm towards a medical research station where the book lies open. Using its customary calm tone it speaks to Lara "The Sluissi spent many hours reading the contents of that book. Her attention was so fixated upon it that she didn't even notice she had begun to bleed from her nose. I attempted to treat her but she refused my assistance. If there is nothing else I need to attend to my patient."
ReplyDeleteTaking a deep breath, Lara steadies herself from the revelation. "No..."
ReplyDeleteLooking around, she grabs the linens off a bed and wraps up the book. Its cover feels oily to the touch, as if the evil within seeps out like sweat. Wiping her hand, on her pants leg, Lara feels as if her hand is still dirty.
Heart throbbing, she fights near panic. Taking deep breaths, she closes her eyes and centers herself. Memory of a teaching drifts through her mind. "There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force."
Her mind stills, her heart slows, and peace centers itself about her. "I need to remain calm. Something must be done about this book, though. I don't know what to do, though."
Mind racing, an idea forms. "The holocron! It has the greatest minds of the Jedi Order. They will know what to do."
Lara slinks out of the medbay with the wrapped object. She gives three hard knocks on Xol's door and scans the area.
After a few rounds of hide and seek, Navik sits the kids down and says "OK, now I think I will show you how I do that, if you want to of course."
ReplyDelete"We can do that? I wanna try," Set plops down to learn...or make an attempt to learn anyway.
ReplyDelete-----------------
Xol was sitting on his bed with the holocron and upon hearing the knocks on his door, sighs and flops onto his back. Patience...it isn't going anywhere...
He gets up and opens the door. "Oh Ser...Lara..." he leans in to get a look at her eyes. "Lara...to what do I owe this visit?" gesturing for her to enter.
Ti Plops down beside set, also eager to learn.
ReplyDelete------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sir, They arnt responding" one of the pilots says.
Adeen Sticks his head into the cock pit, and says "Well, keep trying, and bring us in either way. Thrawn is expecting me to report in as soon as I'm on bored, and its best not to keep the Admiral waiting."
He finishes getting his gear on, which includes a Garrus style eye piece targeter and a built in mic that follows his jaw line down the right side of his face. This also includes a built in ear receiver piece. He turns on an air circulator and lights up a Cigarra to calm his nerves.
Lara steps inside and slaps the door shut. She hits the lock button and sets the sheet bag on the ground.
ReplyDeleteToeing it forward with her boot toe, she points. Taking a deep breath, she begins talking at an excited pace. "That thing! Siella apparently requested to examine it. I assume it must have had something to do with Ikku, but she actively was studying from that book. The 2-1B says she starting to experience odd side-effects from it.
"This thing is evil and I don't know what to do with it. Even Sera has a healthy distrust of it, since it came from Marka Ragnos' tomb. You can feel its evil. We can't let this near Ti and Set.
"My first thought is to airlock this thing while we are in hyperspace. See if some Sith ghost can retrieve if from there. But there are no guarantees. The best thing I could figure is that there might be a Jedi in the holocron who will know what to do.
"They were openly hostile to Sera, but I don't know how they will treat me. I'm hoping you might have better rapport to learn the information."
"What do you mean? To just get rid of this vile artifact? I'd think air locking it would be perfectly fine...it'd be off this ship for certain...but I will see if the holocron can help..."
ReplyDeleteAfter a short while with the holocron, the two figure it can offer no other help than to just avoid contact and proximity to such things.
Lara pouts a little at the outcome. She had hoped for more aide. "Some great reservoir of knowledge."
ReplyDeleteShe flops back on Xol's bed, giving Whiddimer a rub on the head. "So any suggestions? This thing is everyone's problem. Encase it in concrete? Toss it in a star? The Hyperspace airlock combo? I don't think a sign saying 'Warning! Sith Alchemy book of evil things! Do not read, touch or even look at!' is going to cut it..."
"What is that damn beeping!?" Null exclaims to himself as he walks angrily onto the bridge. He walks over to the main console. Wiping the sleep from his eyes and mumbling as he checks the screen, which tells him they are being hailed by a Lambda class. *Perhaps the good Admiral has deigned us worthy of a visit.* He answers the hail. "Unidentified shuttle, this is the Spectre responding to your hails."
ReplyDeleteTweaker swivels his dome to look at Null. "Their code is an older one, but it checks out. I was preparing to clear them and order them to dock at Corellia with us.
ReplyDelete"Records show that we are somehow low on foodstuffs. The medical droid has also requisitioned more bacta as our current supply is not enough continue the Miraluka's treatment."