Aidan Darkfire

Everything was fuzzy. That was the first sensation Aidan felt as he woke from the abyss of nothingness. There was no cloning cylinder, he was laid out in a medical bed with a droid looking over him. The doctor came in and started talking, but it all blurred together. Something about...his telomeres? A cloning sickness or something. He tried to sit up but a sharp pain in his side paralyzed him back to the table. The droid administered some drugs, and he drifted back to sleep. It would be hours before he woke again. This time, a Jedi healer was by his side. He was lucky, she said, that the cancer hadn't spread before she had a chance to excise it. Cancer. Cancer. Several more hours later, when he got his strength up, he dressed in the robes provided by the Jedi, collected his belongings that had been collected from the battlefield, and set out to find Anne and Pandora.

The dance was on. The Sith was very deft on his feet, but Aidan had thus far managed to avoid the conflict almost completely, miraculously. A few nicks on his armor, but mostly from blasted dirt. If anything, Aidan was starting to enjoy the tempo of the battle. Except the Force chose just then to give him a choice in a split second vision: either watch things fail miserably or do what needed doing. So Aidan stepped into the swing, catching the blade through his arm and buried into part of his torso, but his left arm came up and gripped with all the strength he could muster amidst agonizing pain. He could feel himself slowly losing his strength as his right arm stump began gushing blood, but this was his only shot to fix the situation they'd found themselves in. Just another death for the Jedi, right? ((Aidan stepped into Vorin's swing, aiming to capture the weapon and the person long enough for his allies to do something. Honestly, I'll accept a death here, I realized this cheekiness isn't funny because Vorin can't reply in kind without risking everything, meanwhile I can safely hide behind allies. Not cool. So time to pony up and take one for the team, win or lose. GG boiz. 3))

Far from having to commit to death or battle, Aidan chose option C — backing the hell up away from the Sith's dangerous greatsword. To those ends, he summoned the Force to himself briefly, telekinetically blasting at his feet to assist with his quick leap backward to get away from the slash. Consequently, more dirt was lightly sprayed up toward the eyes of his foe. He was certainly a cunning one, Aidan hadn't found an opening at all to do nearly anything. ((2))

Aidan sidestepped the thrust directly at him, already positioned to do just that with the fencing stance he'd taken. Makashi wasn't nearly a strong enough style to be able to take on a greatsword like this head on, but it was lithe and nimble like Ataru while also being cunning and calculating. As it was, Aidan wasn't in much of a position to counterattack given the range, so instead he simply used the Force to kick up some dirt into the Sith's face. ((1))

As their assailant made themselves known, Aidan took up a defensive position in front of Anne. Either he or her were the likely targets here given the dark sider's opening gambit, and Aidan wasn't about to let his padawan-to-be get turned into mincemeat. Igniting one blade to use the full hilt for leverage, Aidan adopted a defensive Makashi stance, the blade pointed straight at his foe's head. This wasn't a fight he was going to back down from, not after he got to relive moments from one of his mother's most painful experiences. "'Scuse me, sir, you seem to have lost your way. I recommend you go about your business, preferably back to whatever snake-hole you crawled out of. Otherwise you're going to invoke Sugma." Aidan wore the most serious of looks as his strong gaze nearly pierced his foe. The tension in the air was palpable.

The hair on Aidan's neck bristled. He'd felt the darkness before, but this was just a slap across the face. Naboo was supposed to be a peaceful world, what about it kept attracting the scum of the galaxy to it like hotchflies to bantha skut? Aidan had hoped they would be able to train in peace, but the whims of the galaxy were always crashing down around him wherever he went. Now, he had to deal with the emotions and mental pain of his mother dying, and somehow his only thoughts as the mental assault began were not this again. His hand found his staff saber hilt instinctively, though for the moment its silver blades remained extinguished. Aidan wasn't sure exactly where the mental attack was coming from, but it did no good to induce a public panic before it was absolutely necessary. Instead, he looked around and located a security officer before responding to Anne. "Yeah, well, you're going to learn that in this galaxy there are big fish and there are small fish, and sometimes you can't help but be the small fish. You need to have spines to survive, you have that right. And right now, I need you to have spines, okay?" Through the Force, he barely managed to eke out one strong thought to her, but it was simple enough to break through the emotional static the dark sider was flooding the Force with: Sith nearby. She may have been able to feel it as well, though Aidan knew that Anne's connection to the Force was not as strong as he and his fellow Jedi. It might have instead manifested in her as a sense of extreme unease. The whole ordeal certainly had him queasy, and he kept a hand on his stomach as he tried to ignore the intrusive thoughts. Quickly, he walked to the security guard, flashing his lightsaber hilt as if it were a badge of authority. "Jedi business. I need this area cleared of all civilians, but I want you to claim it's because of a gas leak. No need to start a panic." The security officer simply gave him a "really, buddy?" look before walking away and going about his job. Welp. So much for that. Aidan turned back around to the other two and made his way back.

"Well, I'm only assigned to train you, the where was never stipulated. So if being on your home world helps, then I'm not going to stop us." Aidan joined the two, making small talk with the other Jedi as they boarded the transport, introducing himself and getting the lay of the land, as it were. In moments they were skyward bound, and shortly thereafter in the hyperlanes. ((If there's anything important to tell me, just OOC catch me up by the time we get there and we can say that's what they discussed))

Bureaucracy was such a pain. Aidan had been waylaid from his duties for several days due to processing out of the Imperial Knight ranks and into the Jedi. Now he found himself once again looking for his ward, finally finding her with another Jedi on one of the landing pads. "Hey! Your Highness! Anne!" Aidan waved them down as he jogged on over. The Jedi robes he now wore felt different, lighter. "Good lord, I'm very sorry about that, I trust you had an okay time while I was gone? What are we up to now?"

A sharp pain woke Aidan from his rest as he stirred, but muscle memory had by now been drilled into his weary mind that it wasn't some attack, but rather just the wound. It was about the sixth or so time he'd woken himself this way, and he knew he would run out of rest hours soon. He loosed a soft groan as he cracked an eyelid to check his chrono, confirming it was indeed time to get up and face the next standard galactic day. Part of him wanted to stay sleeping on the cot, to forget his responsibilities for a bit. Hadn't he earned it by now? But those kinds of thoughts were foolish and led to darkness. He had more than earned it, but he was needed. It felt like such a long time ago now that he'd hated his birthright, felt like the Force was a curse. But Aidan had been given a chance to do some pretty incredible things and save a lot of lives, and he knew if he had to look back on the choices he'd made, he would repeat them all without an ounce of hesitation. Such noble justification for rising out of bed in the morning and greeting one's responsibilities. Sitting up was not fun, but he managed. Thankfully the Jedi provisions included robes, which were much easier for him to don than his armor's bodyglove. Now properly dressed, Aidan checked his lightsaber before moving out, ensuring to stay quiet so as to not disturb the sleep of other refugees. He needed to find Anne. It was time for the most important part of Aidan's career as a teacher of the ways of the Light Side: His first lecture.

Aidan placed a hand on Sandy's shoulder and let his body mostly relax, reaching out to her in ways only he knew how. Their bond was scarred from past horrors, but for now it was enough. He delved deeply into the Force, freely giving her his energy as he poured most of what he had left into her. She would need it, and as soon as he was rested up he too would likely be back out with this crowd to assist Sandy and Anne as the casualties came in. Wearily he opened his eyes back up, looking back at her with a smile. Already the exhaustion was setting in around his eyes as he replied to her. "Thanks. A good shower sounds nice. Anne? We should settle in for now, find some beds. Tomorrow we might start your training, or we may get tasked to the casualties, we'll see what it looks like after a wakeup. And I suppose if all else fails, you can just meet me here in twelve galactic standard hours." He gave his comm's chronometer a quick check to verify the time and showed the young queen, then gave Sandy a short kiss goodbye before leaving in the direction she had indicated. He was mildly curious over what Anne would do, but he was also very tired at this point.

"Oooooooh, gods, that feels so damned weird every time." He reached a hand down to touch it, managing to finagle it a bit before Sandy slapped his hand away. It felt like a solid scab, and the skin underneath was still tender but nothing like the stinging burn it had been. It really was a sensation that he found difficult to describe, like being plugged into a wall outlet of life energy. Rapid regrowth was something the human nervous system was never designed for, and the nerves always tingled as if someone had dunked the skin in a carbonated liquid. Somewhere between non-painful electricity and static tingles. "I'm...well, I'm alive, I suppose...I almost wasn't. So there's that. But otherwise, exhausted. Apparently the Imperial Knights have taken heavy casualties, I have orders to assimilate into the Jedi. And, well, I also think it's time I took an apprentice. I even already found a candidate." Aidan tossed a thumb towards Anne. "It's been a day. How have you been?"

"Yeah, just...just Aidan is fine..." He trailed off as he craned his head around, catching sight of Sandy in a crowd just before wincing and hissing in pain as he carelessly also twisted his wound open with his torso movement. It only took a moment to recenter himself, take a breath, and start forward, waving a hand at Sandy as he made his approach. Weakly, he reached out to her, but he wasn't trying to distract her from her work, either, he was simply glad to see that she made it out okay. While the fonder memories of the last time he cloned her popped back up into his head, they were also tempered by the pain he'd felt at the time. The only thought in his head as he looked at her now was relief. Hi. It was time to start a new chapter in their lives.

Aidan's commlink chimed, and he nodded an affirmative at her as he grabbed for it to check the priority message. "Absolutely. I imagine you're not going to be a difficult face for me to track down." The shuttle shuddered as it touched down and initiated docking procedures, and he let her attend to her duties as he checked the message. Seconds later relief flooded his thoughts. This was an unfortunate thing, he'd lost many brothers and sisters in arms today, but on the other hand it solved quite a few issues he foresaw having with the upper leadership of the Imperial Knights. If this meant he was supposed to report back to the Jedi, that would mean a much more lax and receptive training environment. As personnel began milling about the shuttle, evacuating the critically injured first, he flagged Anne down, showing her the message. "War has a way of accelerating timetables. I can say with certainty that the Jedi will be far more receptive to your situation than the Knights would have been. As such, you're welcome to remain in my company effective immediately if you like, I just need to explain the personnel requisition to whoever has been giving you orders." He still needed medical attention, but it wasn't anything a long term bacta patch or two couldn't fix. There would be Jedi healers among the main body of medics, at least a couple if he knew his mother. They could point him toward the nearest Jedi outpost or enclave, likely a temporary setup among the rallying forces. They would have resources he could use, but more importantly, resources she could begin to use. Basic gear for training and the like. He would also need to file the official petition for her registration as his padawan with the Jedi archives, but these days it was digital and streamlined. He hoped. It was also probably high time he requisitioned his own ship...but it might take a journey beyond Ylesia to find one worth owning.

"Swear your oath to the Force, if you must." Aidan plugged the vial into the analysis unit, drawing up a resonance scan of her cells. A nearby screen showed a magnified view of one of her isolated blood cells, with a plethora of small specks swimming about. "There. You see? Hundreds, if not over a thousand or so. That's in every single cell of your body. Those things are called midi-chlorians, and they tend to be present in much higher numbers in those who sensitive to the Force. Your average galactic denizen might only have around ten or so per cell. Count itself isn't a completely accurate indication of ability or potential, but it tends to be a strong indication of ability to benefit from training." Aidan retrieved the vial and tucked it in a pouch just inside his armor. "I'll need that to make my case. I need to contact my chain of command and get authorization, but as far as a time frame, you'll probably be contacted inside of a week or so. After that, we'll begin." He flashed her a warm smile, but in his current state he couldn't help but still look a bit haggard. He knew she didn't understand what she was signing up for. Nobody ever did. But he had faith in her.

Her words hung on him, and he knew it was time to stop leading her on and fueling any fantasies about the glamor of a life like his. "Look, I wish I could just reach into your mind like that, but I never learned how. I don't know what specifically to look for. The blood test should easily confirm what I suspect, though admittedly sometimes false positives can just be coincidental." He wasn't worried about that in the slightest. It was more how she'd take this next part. "The only reason I'm making the offer is because there are so few of us left. Truth be told, you may have already been passed over by a Jedi seeker. You're already too old for their preferences, for one, and it doesn't take a psychologist trained at Coruscant's Ministry of Mental Health to see that you have a lot of pain related to what the Sith did to you. To use the Force in anger or frustration is to draw upon the dark side, and to become the very thing you want to protect your people from. I can help you help them, but maybe not in the ways you expected or even thought were possible." He took a breath, glancing down at his armor. He could pass her off to someone else. He didn't trust anyone else. Not in the Imperial Knights, and few among the Jedi. "And I'm not going to make you swear fealty to the Knights. Not if you don't want to. The Force does not bind us to its will, it is a choice, an acknowledgement, a symbiosis. I won't force military service onto you, but I will gladly show you what I do know. This life... it's a stark departure from everything you knew. Royalty, titles, you would leave it all behind. The rest of the galaxy doesn't tend to value us until they see our worth firsthand, and it's never about showing worth for its own sake." He grabbed a blood sampler and a blank vial from the nearby hovercart, and held it out to her symbolically. "Are you still interested?"

"Uh, well, it's not quite that simple..." Aidan looked around, realizing they did have plenty of medical equipment about them. "If you can run a resonance scan on a sample of blood, we can get an idea from your midi-chlorian count. Other than that, we'd have to wait for one of the seekers from the Jedi or for the Imperial Knight HQ to reestablish itself. I think there's like some trick to telling, but I don't know it myself. I can say you have a rather strong and influential presence about you, a trait commonly found in those who learn the ways of the Force." He sat back scratching his head. "But...if this is something you're serious about doing, then we'll have plenty of time. This is more than some cool mind magic and flashy swords, this is a way of life. One that conflicts with a life of politics."

Aidan turned shock and surprise into a forced laugh. Train an entire army, that was an absolutely great idea, let's have the mentally scarred lucky survivor be the training template for a whole new generation of political sacrifices. In fact, he'd never heard a better idea from a combat instructor except for every idea ever...oh. The realization was rather sudden, but it only caught him off guard because he wasn't expecting it. Of course, she was a politician, this might have easily been second nature to her and not an intentional slight. "I always forget about the last name. It's kind of easy to get lost in the rank and file of the Imperial Knight uniforms, and frankly I'd gotten rather used to it. Look your highness, I can respect what you're trying to ask of me, but in good conscience I can't do what you're asking of me." Aidan wanted to let it go, to let it be that, but here she was playing nurse in a warzone instead of still pretending she was royalty. She actually gave a damn enough to try and use his family name against him in desperation to help her people. If she were trained, this would be her weakness. There was the potential to do a lot more harm than good if she were trained and then fell, but the aggressions of the Sith demanded all hands on deck in the war effort to stop them, proven by her simple service with the medical crew. She had the willpower, and the drive. Aidan may have found his peace, but he still felt broken, scarred. At the least, he might be able to help sculpt something beautiful from the mistakes he'd made. "But...you might be able to." It felt like another of his classic moves, the Jedi would likely have rejected her long ago for her potential to fall, but they should have rejected him for the same warning signs. He proved those old stigmatized molds could be broken...and she also deserved a chance to prove it herself. "Have you ever been tested for potential training in the ways of the Force?" Desperate times. Desperate measures.

Aidan was rather dumbstruck as the Queen revealed her identity, though honestly it was more his muscle memory telling him this person demanded respect, and that he needed to be formal... now was clearly no time for formalities, even though it was clear she "That would explain the tiara, I suppose." He paused briefly as he measured the next few words more carefully. "I'm... I'm sorry about what happened to your people. I'd heard it was bad, but I had no idea." More stunted silence as Aidan had clearly gone straight for the tender spot. "It's, um...it's a pleasure to meet you as well, um... your Highness?"

He flashed a very forced smile at her question. There wasn't a lot of anesthetic to go around, so he'd had to endure a fair bit of pain before the bactane finally began calming things back down. The disinfectant's notable sting made it feel briefly like his side was on fire, but it was only temporary. "Yeah, something like that." He didn't, and he knew it. He was lucky to survive. He was always lucky to survive. But there was no honor in shoving wartime horrors off onto the nurse trying to care for him. That wasn't her job. But she still sat with him...which admittedly, Aidan found comforting. And then there was mildly awkward silence, which he chose to fill first. "You said this was a lightsaber wound. You see a lot of those, then? Not many nurses outside the high and mighty order seem to recognize them, always try treating them like blaster wounds at first."

The trip had been long. While not entirely quiet (as the medical staff had been required to perform their duties), for Aidan it felt decidedly...muted. It was never fun processing the horrors he witnessed, but it was an important part of the healing process. At some point, one of the medics approached him, asking about his side. He hissed as he touched at the edge of the burnt stripe on his side, noting how weird it was to see himself through his armor. "Put it like this, the Force helps those who help themselves. I don't really think I have the energy and focus to do it properly before it scars badly. So...I'm all yours. Of course, if it's just stabilizing care, I think I'll probably be okay until planetfall if someone else needs attention first." He looked around, but nobody seemed to be in intensely critical condition that wasn't already receiving care. Still, Aidan wasn't the kind to take needed resources away from someone else when he could easily do without.

He'd done it. Somehow, something Aidan had changed, he knew he was going to get through this alive...his opponent shot towards him, and the battle torn Imperial Knight knew he was reaching the limits of his physical endurance. His saber lanced out to meet his foe's, and Aidan abandoned the strategy of disengaging his blades as he no longer had the endurance for the speed required. High above them an explosion thundered across the sky as a falling Imperial shuttle seemed to impact with something in midair. Out of happenstance this was at a near perfect angle to cause debris and slag to rain down on Aidan and his Sith foe. Also in the mix was a bit of cryogenii extraterresimian, but that was a story for another time. As the Sith went for the death blow, they along with Aidan seemed to simultaneously realize that were they to stay in that spot any longer (say, to attempt to finish off a wounded Imperial Knight), they would be pulverized by the falling debris. The one sane angle of retreat was back toward the safety of the rooftop and landing pad. Aidan chose to leap for the edge of the roof. . . . For a moment the freefall disoriented him, the air ripped at his wounds, and he simply trusted in the Force. . . . . . . Far below, he managed to slow his fall and catch himself on a large outdoor laundry drying operation, clothes of all kinds having been strung across cords after having been freshly cleaned by the business owner. Thankfully the place had already been evacuated, or they might have been a bit mad at the damage Aidan caused. There was no way his opponent could have followed him if they didn't also leap, not to mention navigate through what felt like passing shuttles. Sometimes...the Force simply provided. It didn't take long to find his way out and signal for transport. He knew one thing for certain: he was no longer of any use here. Half a standard hour later, Aidan watched the stars zip to starlines outside a viewport as his Medevac shuttle made the jump to hyperspace to rendezvous with a nearby medical frigate.

((3)) Aidan knew to maintain his ruse, he'd need to look worse than he was capable of. He hadn't planned on his opponent overwhelming him with skill, however, and the initial strike down Aidan's back was cut short as he barely pulled away in time. Another scar in his armor, another potentially lethal close call, but this fight meant nothing if Aidan wasn't willing to lay everything on the line. Another rapid strike to the back of his knees, but Aidan had already maneuvered far enough forward that avoiding the crippling blow wasn't a problem. What followed, however, absolutely was. The first strike sent pain spiking up his forearm as he blocked it, the force from the blow nearly driving him from his footing. The second strike did drive him back, capitalizing on his already weak footing to drop him to one knee. Straining to use the Force, Aidan kicked backwards, avoiding the third strike, and telekinetically summoning a nearby chunk of detritus from the shuttle crash to intercept the fourth strike, but by that point, he was in full retreat. Luckily, he managed to find his footing again despite the shooting pains in his side and back, largely in part due to muscle memory, which together with the Force had been more or less keeping him alive this whole time. But now was the time for the gambit. Even if Aidan could rattle his opponent here, it would likely mean the difference between success and failure. There was no room for doubt or error. Arrhythmically he began in on the same kata sequence of four last-second lightsaber strikes, but this time on the third strike he would wait for the follow through, igniting his lower saber at the last second, a blade he'd not used the entire battle. The Sith was skilled, but Aidan's strengths were in fighting smarter, not harder.

((2)) Surprise. It was the one advantage Aidan had going for him, and one he aimed to maintain. If he could just keep his opponent guessing, or better yet, lull him into a false sense of security... His thoughts were shattered by the Sith's quick surge forward, his senses prickling as his other dropped down to punch the ground. Instinctively Aidan had jumped, knowing that if his legs were compromised, he was dead, but the Force only wailed stronger in his head. It didn't take long to figure out why. In the air, Aidan was perfectly primed for the telekinetic attack. Luck was the only thing that allowed him to avoid the first blow; he had turned to see his enemy instead of twisting to land properly as his enemy had telekinetically grabbed him, barely giving him the positioning and time to be able to deflect the first blow which otherwise would have bisected him. As the Sith yanked on him again, keeping the Imperial Knight airborne and pulling him into a spin, Aidan twisted out of the way of the saber as it skittered off his thigh armor, cutting a decent chunk out down near his knee. His ankle was the obvious next maneuver, and Aidan attempted to use this to his advantage, pulling into it and using his inertia to bring himself around, easily blocking the disabling blow. Too easily. Once again his mind flared with pins and needles as his opponent aerially spun him by his ankles. This wasn't an inexperienced Sith, some meager Lord's apprentice. This Sith was a tactician. This was the planned endgame from when Aidan's foot first left the ground. This was the lull of overconfidence, and the price would be death. Or it would have been had the Imperial's survival instincts not kicked in at the last possible second, summoning a violent Force blast between them as the lightsaber began to dig into his side. A half second longer and the pain would have sealed his fate, but he managed to hurl himself back, impacting heavily against the wall of one of the gunnery platforms behind him. Get up. The air was gone from his lungs. He tried to inhale, but his body didn't want to cooperate. An inch wide stripe of cauterized flesh on his left side was now plainly visible past his plasteel armor. His head swam. Get up. Now. The taste of blood welled in Aidan's mouth, he'd bit the side of his tongue pretty hard when he'd impacted and from the feel of it, it probably went through part of it. He spat, some of it staining his armor and dripping down his face. Deliberately, forcefully, Aidan made himself breathe, made himself start moving his legs. If you don't get up in the next three seconds, you're dead. He kicked, pushing him to his side and catching himself on his left arm. Immediately after pain radiated from his side, but remembering Sandy's meditative lessons, he put it out of his mind. He had to. Two. A scream. Pained, but guttural. Not rage, but effort. Power. Aidan pushed himself up, catching himself on one knee. Smoke lightly obscured much of the landing pad, but Aidan saw his opponent stirring. One. As he stood, Aidan pushed off into a stride; he was more concerned with meeting his opponent's threat than he was the integrity of his side. He could feel it slowly oozing, the cauterization had helped but the movement could easily reopen fresh small tears in the char plugs. Aidan needed to end this and soon, his opponent would wear him down in a prolonged engagement. While he didn't break into a sprint, he did break into the same set of movements and strikes he'd used previously to lash out at the Sith, but this time on the second strike, Aidan intentionally reached out to summon a barrier meant to trip his opponent. If Aidan could fool his opponent into seeming weaker than he was, he could easily take advantage of his opponent's overconfidence, just as his foe aimed to take advantage of his...

((1)) There were no words, no grandiose speech. A battlefield was no place for oration. Aidan took decisive step. And then another, more quickly. In the blink of an eye he was practically at a sprint, closing the distance between them in short order. His unignited hilt remained in his hand but the Force surged through him as he moved to block the obvious opening defense with quick telekinetic barriers. Instead of engaging the Sith saber-to-saber, Aidan reserved his hilt, lashing out and igniting the leading blade at the last second, and deactivating it just as quickly. Four strikes total in rapid succession interspersed with staccato Force barriers and Aidan disengaged from the extreme close range, bringing him back into a guard as he slowly circled back around, surveying the results. Aidan didn't expect this Sith to go down that easily, few did, but he knew there was an edge here. This was a simple battle with a singular outcome for him: survive. The quickest way to achieve that objective was to eliminate his opponent, and Aidan knew if he could keep the Sith from anticipating where his attacks were coming from, he had a chance. But for now, this part of the dance was a mere introduction.

A pang of grief washed through Aidan as the Force whispered soft melody in his ear, bidding him to avoid the fate the others were sealed to. His eyes fluttered closed as he was in the middle of receiving his brief from the officer in charge. There was no time to consider the man's protest as Aidan crouched low, dipping into the Force as his legs recoiled him impossibly high into the air. Below him unfolded a cacophony of fire, smoke, blood, and death. A split second later, and Aidan would have been pulverized just like the rest of the personnel on the landing platform from the shuttle's impact. He knew what was here, and he knew he wasn't lucky enough to have the threat that now stalked him simply die in the crash. Controlling his descent was another simple application of the Force, but what he hadn't anticipated was being blown off his intended course by the winds above the surrounding structures. He landed nearly a hundred meters away from the pad, but his eyes trained intently on the wreckage as soon as they were able. The Sith squeezed from a gash in the shuttle's hull like a viscous poison dripping down the edge of a knife. Had Aidan been closer, he may have been able to make use of the element of surprise, but dwelling on it now was meaningless. As they slowly approached at distance, sizing each other up, the Sith began to speak. Monologuing, really, but Aidan let him talk. It gave the Imperial Knight precious time to think and strategize. Still, in the back of his mind he knew no strategy in the universe would be as strong as the Force against a foe such as this. As the Sith finally made his offer, Aidan let the silence hang in the air a moment before replying. He could do him the favor of humoring him, at the least. "You come to our homes as conquerors and invaders. You pillage and murder indiscriminately. You treat your own as dogs on a taut leash. What kind of a choice is that? What kind of cruel irony has fate twisted upon you to believe even in the slightest that any of us would be willingly inclined to such an offer? No... you made the choice in coming here—and you can still choose to leave, but that window of opportunity is closing quickly. Yet, I get the feeling that's not going to happen. I wonder what exactly will." Slowly, deliberately, Aidan reached down and grabbed his saber hilt in hand, and began steadily walking toward the Sith. His senses bristled, his eyes locked on his foe. The Force sang.