Ary the Grey

A few seconds later, the pain in his gut stopped, and Aryian stood up again, a solemn yet sad look on his face. "We may be too late already to do anything. In that case, we will still have to report in to the council on this, but it's doubtful they do not know of this. The force is pulling me towards Coruscant. Come, if you wish. I will wait for you at the rendezvous point. My comm is open." And with that, Aryian entered his ship, prepped it, and rocketed out of the hangar, setting course for Coruscant.

Aryian smiled, happy to once again see some of his old Jedi comrades. "Indeed, it is good to see you all, as I have returned from my journey of peace to find friends. But we are in troubling times. I do not know whether or not you know about this or not, but there are atrocities being committed on Coruscant right as we speak. I requested the council that a group be sent to help out, and it seems they chose me to lead it." He handed each person a datapad, with current news updates on it about what was going on in the Coruscant system. Big suprise the first thing they saw was the battle going on. "I know this is a small group, and we might not be able to assist all that much, but we have to do everything in our power that every last life that can be spared is spared. Our orders are to make contact with whatever security forces the Alliance or Coruscant militia have, and help them in calming and controlling the people, which are suffering from some sort of disease. I don't have a lot of information presently, as you can see the news coming in is mostly propaganda lies. So...we may be caught in a sticky situation without knowing it." He walked over to the wall of the hangar, not five feet away, and keyed the terminal that was there. A hologram of Coruscant sprang to life, and Aryian pointed. "We will rendezvous here, outside of the battle perimeter, and attempt to use the laser function on your comm units (Yes, this is an actual feature based on line-of-sight, short range ONLY) to contact the nearest friendly unit and report in, trying to get as much information on the battle as possible before going in and fighting. When we do engage, keep tight formation when in space and stay near me when we are on the ground, don't break away unless you absolutely have to. We are a small group, and we are strong when we are together, but one of us alone is weak." He paused there, allowing all the information to sink in before stating his final sentence. "Any questions or objections? We will leave presently if there are none..." -----------------------EDIT---------------------- Aryian reeled, feeling very sick to his stomach as a massive shockwave of deaths in the force rendered him helpless. "NOOOOOO!!! They...were not...to end...like...this...aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGG!!!!" He slammed his fist on the floor, in a frustrated effort to do something that he could not. The people that had died today burned through his mind, every one, their twisted faces all wearing the same expression: why? He didn't know, he didn't care. He could only do so much, and when something like this happened, it usually broke the spirit of Jedi. For nobody could save the dead.

Aryian bowed to Zero, then to Ara, and then left the room. Three Jedi. Not a whole lot he could do. That, however, was a huge step for Dhan-Jaroe, at least the last he had heard of him was as a reformist inside the Jedi, and one who generally disliked Aryian. He smirked again, confident that the Jedi were once again forming the basis of the concrete bonds that once held them together so mightily in their glory days. This was a good thing indeed. He snapped his comlink on as he walked the halls back to the hangar, tapping into the Jedi broadband frequency. Will Jedi Knights Scorp and Nom Anorus please meet with Master Darkfire in the hangar regarding a mission that has come up. Time is of the essence, and if you have padawans, they may come with you. Aryian reached the hangar, thoughts forming in his head on what he would say to the small group.

Aryian read the information on the datapad, a look of sheer horror coming across his face. "Oh my god...not again...The people of Coruscant suffered devastating losses after the last bout with SEED plagues, this must not be allowed to continue any further. Has any plan of action been organized?" Had he been younger, rasher, he would have demanded a party be organized immediately, whether one already was or not. He knew the Jedi should not be sitting in this room while the carnage was going on, and yet he also knew that rushing in headlong lost too many lives, even if it was a win. A memory from the battle of Ryloth flashed in his head, the end results of what that little skirmish had cost them. "I apologize if I seem rude, I care for those people, not for a personal vendetta. If we have forces there already, then I ask the council's permission to join them. If not, then I submit a request that a group of Jedi assist the Alliance, and the people of Coruscant." He smiled for the briefest of moments, but only slightly. He had been working on his diplomacy.

CHARACTER SHEET Real Name: Grey Steel Nickname: Steel Age: 37 Species: Human Height: 5' 10" Weight: 138 lb. Hair: Black Eyes: brown and sunken in Sex: Male Homeworld: Corellia Alignment: Lawful Neutral Clothing: Military Fatigues Weapon: Blaster rifles, grenades...everything a Rebellion commando unit is trained to use... Non Force User Inventory: Blaster, comlink, a brain...(lol) Posessions: None

Aryian, walking into what looked like the current council room/lounge (cough, cough), just happened to hear the last sentence just spoken. "We need to do something about it, fast." Aryian's ears perked. It seemed the Jedi had still been in trouble. True, they were alone against incredible odds, and the Jedi were understaffed the last time he could recall. "We need to do something about what? Maybe I could help...?" It was good to see master Ara again, and he smiled as he stepped past the doorway into the room, clipping his final set of sabers inside his Jedi robes. "It has been a long time, and I have been away. Perhaps the Jedi could use my assistance?" He sat down in one of the council chairs, quickly looking around the room to see who was in it. Zero, as well as Hou-Jo. Well. It seemed his timing was perfect for once. Great.

((Assume I had arrived several hours before)) More ripples of the force let Aryian know this was indeed the new Jedi base, and that he had nothing to fear here. He had been working nonstop, and when he finally stopped, six hours later, he realised that he had a thick layer of sweat on his forehead just from concentrating that hard. But he had built them. Twelve hours after he had started they were completed, the six lightsabers augmented with force-sensitive crystals. The four he had chosen to remain were his four largest, the best crystals he had found while on Ilum. Another hour later, after a quick snack of course, he was in a crawlspace under the small cargo hold, above the shield generator. The calculations had already been run, and Aryian gently laid the crystal matrix around the generator and made the necessary welds to keep it in place. For now, the matrix was all but useless, but in the future it could prove useful against darksiders. Finished, he returned to the cockpit, and after a microjump and five minutes of daring maneuvers, Aryian landed his ship on the current Jedi homeworld. Current. Wow, do we need to stop running...that's all we are, unless something new has arisen... Curious, Aryian made his way into the base, storing a set of his lightsabers in a secret spot. ((Sssshh...secret... ))

The force (And numerous homing beacons the Jedi carried around in their base supplies that Aryian just happened to know the keys for ) led him to this spot, this planet that now hovered before his eyes out in the depths of space. He was far out, further than most long range scanners would allow, but he could still make out the tiny blue dot in front of his ship, and he used the force to magnify his vision and verify it. Needless to say, it didn't help much. He wasn't god, and couldn't see that far away on just his plain eyes. Fat chance a pair of macrobinoculars would do him any better. But he had time. Time was his ally. He was in no rush to rejoin the Jedi just yet, especially since when he dozed off there was a revolution sparked within the order. And if he was far enough away to see with the force, he was most certainly too far away to do a mental probe, or even attempt telepathy. Instead, he turned to several glowing blue crystals that lay behind him in the cockpit, and a lot of materials for making lightsabers. His own lightsabers were good as it was, but all the same he wanted a few sets of back-up sabers in case he lost his current set. Unlike the ones taken from him on Ryloth, smashed beyond repair, these sabers meant nothing to him, they were only a tool, a blade. He set to work, setting things in place, connecting and soldering wires, applying welds where needed, and all the rest. Aincent masters were supposed to be able to create a saber within a day, using precision and the force. They, however, most likely didn't have mechanical backgrounds, for within an hour he was halfway finished with his first saber. He had ten crysals, and would make three twin-interlocking sabers by the time he was up, the other four he had a special need for, especially with his shield matrix and weapons systems.

Aryian awakes from his long slumber to find the base empty. He packs up his stuff and leaves in his ship. (Mwah. The Monkey might be making a return.)

Aryian turned to see the dark figure, but wasn't really thinking. He had a bunch of those crystals aboard his ship right now, though they seemed relatively uncharged. Big ones, too. He leaned back thoughtfully into his chair, to try and think of what to do with them.

Aryian looked up curiously at her. "What are you doing?"

Aryian lands his craft, and made his way to the council chambers. He easily caught her thoughts, paused a moment to ponder them, and spoke. "So. There is unrest in the order. We are at a weak moment. Your thoughts are in turmoil...There is only one thing to do. We should have attacked the Sith when we had the chance, but we did not. Now I feel their power growing, like a layer of fog over a serene lake. We must act, Ara, or fall to the world evolving around us. And it is up to you to determine how we act." He sat down, toying with his lightsaber hilt, trying to think of what to say. "Perhaps I did not deserve my mastery. Perhaps I was thrust into power too soon, like a toddler with a blaster. But in time, my mastery of the blaster would grow, and I would be better than most people at my age. Perhaps it is the same with you. You must be a strong leader Ara. The Jedi have been slaughtered in the past, led into many battles they knew they never would have made it out of alive, and are now tired of losing their bretheren to battles they have no hope of winning. This is what I feel from you, correct?" He didn't even wait for a nod, for even if what he said had no effect on her whatsoever, the meaning was important. "I propose a new position be created within the ranks of the Jedi, since there are so many masters around these days. This person would lay out battle strategies, and occasionally lead the Jedi into battle. They would be like a second-in-command to you, a general, if you would. And due to the events that occurred on Ryloth, I think Dhan-Jaroe Kenobi is a perfect man for the job. If not for the confusion Geki created and Ar-Pharazon showing up, we would have had the day. Instead, it was a bloodbath. Had we sticked together, I'm sure we would have won. But then again, these are only misguided words coming from a formerly dark-tainted recently-mastered fool. I don't know..." He trailed off, not entirely expecting a reply.

Aryian's ship smokes through hyperspace. At speeds like, lightspeed to the lightspeedth power. ((This is what happens when you get extremely bored))

A comm comes in to Ara.

Aryian cruises through space towards Coruscant, making sure to mask his emissions.

(( Chill, I know. I didn't know he was going to be mastered yet, that was an unexpected bonus, but he has been around for a year, RPing actively for at least nine months. Although I feel he needs more work...and that will be reflected in his character. He won't feel deserving of the rank, especially after attempting to take out Ara, and then himself, even if he was under Geki's influence. Long time plot threads, everyone sit back and relax for a good read. Eventually.)) Aryian found that he could not meditate, even as hard as he tried. To many conflicting thoughts in the room magnified into his head. Not everyone had a too high of him opinion of him right now, and he didn't blame them. No, he would not leave the Jedi order, but it was time for him to get away temporarily. Jasyn was still here, and he needed to address him before any plans were made. He clicked on his comm, leaving him a delayed message. Jasyn, it's me, Aryian. Listen, recently things around me have been constantly turning for the worse, and I feel that if I try to take an apprentice on that I may somehow screw up your training, and that is never desirable. There is one other I trust to train you, his name is Kirlocca. I remember overhearing something about him looking for an apprentice, but I'm not sure if he has one yet. If he does, ask Ara, she'll know what to do. I think that my other apprentice, Jurha Kahn might be ready for one also, but I'm not sure if she was looking for one... All I know right now is that I am a danger. I give my luck to you, and may the force be with you, wherever you go. Aryian left the meditation room, and made his way to his ship. So far he felt that he had done nothing to earn the title of master, in fact, he felt that this little fiasco had put him all the further from it. And yet he had it, it was stuck to him like permaglue. He prepped the engines, and turned on his internal computer, revving the ship for takeoff. For far too long, he had been away from the one place that he had called home. He had been there recently, but the memories were those of the confused time when he was under Geki's control. They were not his own memories. Finally finished, Aryian shot his ship off through the atmosphere, and after he escaped the gravity well went to hyperspeed. Home, to Coruscant.

Aryian, blushing, quickly stammmered his thanks, and also bowed to the new arrival of Hale. "If you will excuse me, master, I must get some rest. This whole thing has me rather...tired." ((The lightsabers weren't in the door anymore, they were on the floor. The door is fine again, and unlocked. It only needs to be keyed open.)) Aryian slowly backed up, a little nervous. He really needed to calm down. Meditate. That was the first thing that came to his mind, and it sounded relaxing. After something like this, he needed it. He reached the blast doors, and hit the open switch. Slowly yet surely, they did open, to reveal several Jedi outside the door. The ones that were going to defend Ara... He looked at them for a few seconds, which to him at the time seemed like eons, and quickly walked down the hall towards the meditation rooms. Perhaps in time his little infraction would blow over and the rest of the Jedi might forget about it alltogether, but for now, he needed his solace. Halfway there, he had to use the refresher. If it was possible, he walked even quicker to the nearest, happily taking a leak from a long day. Billions of nanites flooded out of his body, turning his urine a liquid silver color. Strange. Glad to be rid of the pesky little buggers, he went back to the meditation rooms, and sat down for a long relaxing meditation session. EDIT: ((I'll be gone over the weekend... ))

Aryian bowed his head. "Understood. But...does that mean...? Are you mastering me? Not after this, surely not..." He looked away, out of shame.

Aryian screamed as the sword penetrated his flesh, an unholy scream, much like the one heard on Dathomir. It was deafening, enhanced by the force to cause shockwaves through it. It embodied all the pain and anguish he had ever experienced, inside the Jedi order and out. And then, it was gone. He gasped a few times as the sword withdrew, and the dark energy that was inside him with it. Blood pooled around the floor as it bubbled from the wound, as she had nicked his heart. His heart...how ironic that this was the focal points for many beliefs, many on love and hate. Hate. He had hated Geki, and the things he had stood for, so much that he dared take a stand against him. Love. More loyalty than love, Aryian had defended the order with his life on two occasions. His focus turned from the ceiling to Ara's face, a look of suprise and sadness was there. Great pain haunted him, and it would probably haunt him his whole life. He had drawn on this pain often, remembering it in battles, using it to his advantages. That was not the Jedi way. Aryian, the real one, now was in full command of his body, and he lifted his hand to see his own blood. A part of him still wanted to die, but he would only live again, reincarnated by the Jedi cloning cylinders to serve and protect. It was his job. Preserve peace. Even though he was afraid, he reached out anyways, touching the force. The light side. It felt cold, and yet oddly comforting, vastly different to the heated battle rage the dark side instilled when used. The force reached out, healing his heart, his wound, and slowly pulling all the nanites out into his bloodstream, where they would be filtered out of his body by the kidneys. The lightsabers at the other's throats outside the blast doors turned off and dropped to the floor, and the blast door itself seemed to heal itself, glowing hot again and re-forming itself back into its original shape. Aryian stood, the flow of blood now beginning to clot, restricted now to the layer of skin where the wound was, the heart having already sewn itself back up. He looked to the floor, retrieving his sabers, when he noticed a slight afraid look on Ara's face. He turned to face her, slowly, trying for words. "I-...I am a danger to the Jedi order. With your permission, master...I would like to leave. Something like this must never happen again, and indeed I am my own worst enemy when it comes to emotion. It would also seem that...I am the Jedi's enemy...yet again."

For a moment, in his eyes, it looked like he actually believed her, that he wanted to be a Jedi again. It was his own chioce back on Ilum to release his hatred if only to kill the one thing that was massacreing his own kind. That was used against him, and could have been one of the gravest mistakes he ever made. And then, the nanites gripped all that harder, and Aryian's face went as hard as stone. Lightsabers ignited behind him, his force tingles told him, people were alerted to his presence. But he was not done yet. All the lightsabers shut off simultaneously as his giant wave of dark energy attacked them, and as they pulled them out to examine them, each snapped from their master's grip to ignite in midair, each blade at a Jedi's throat. "I'm sorry, Ara, but I was never part of the light to begin with. You really don't know who I was, what I did, those 200 years ago...I was in the Jedi order, much like this, a padawan of a master Jedi. Corun Harel. I was one of the best they had at the time of peace, and was assigned to an exhibition duel with another fellow padawan to entertain visiting ambassadors. You see, I was not only the best force user of my ranking they had, but I also devoted all my time to the art of the lightsaber, a trait of which I am still very proud of. "Tehrin Moss was the padawan I was to duel, one of my oldest and best friends in the order. Purely by accident, he was the first person I ever have slain in battle, and I remember his shocked face as his torso tumbled to the floor, and the weeks of agony afterwards, as he haunted my nightmares. Of course, I was expelled from the Jedi order, but my former master and I kept in very close secret contact, allowing me to further my education in the force. At the age of thirty, I had ascended to the rank of Jedi master unofficially, and was finally accepted to become an ambassador for the Jedi. "Two years later, the Sith made themselves known to our part of the galaxy, attacking and killing the Jedi guards at the base I was assigned to. I again took up the lightsaber, and killed both of them, but not before sustaining major wounds. They could not save me. I died, Ara, I died for your order on more than one occasion, and how I came back the first time is beyond me, a gift from the force I have always assumed. I have never recieved anything in return, only the satisfaction of defending an order who cared little to nothing about me. "You want truth? There is no truth in this galaxy. That is only a general assumption made by the mind when presented with evidence. Logic is the greatest fallacy of all. What is true? What is real? What you see? What you touch? The force? Electrical impulses interpreted by the brain, that's all. I know that one well. All I know now is that I have a mission Ara, a mission I have yet to carry out." Impossibly fast, Aryian's blkade shot out, catching her sword and deflecting it to the side, while his other came up, again knocking it out of her hands with enough force to send it slicing into the ceiling, where it stayed. Two massive bolts of pain from where the blade had 'touched' him shot up his arms, sending both his sabers to the floor. He fell to his knees, momentarily dazed. Momentarily. He was up again, the same stone cold look on his face, sabers called back to his hands and ignited. A tear gracefully adorned his face now, even though his expression was exactly the opposite of one that would cry. "Forgive me..." Again his voice sounded like that of the old Aryian's. He walked forwards, both sabers pointed at her throat. She didn't move, for some strange reason, fear, perhaps, or faith, but the fact was she didn't move. The sabers stopped an inch from her throat. The dark presence in the room shrank a little, as the Aryian inside began to fight for more control. The sabers again shook in his hands, and almost simultaneously, they turned back off. It looked as if he struggled with himself for a moment, all the muscles on his body tensing up, sweat beginning to crown his forehead. Slowly, and yet surely, his right hand began to drop, and then his left, both still equally tensed up. His right didn't stop though, it kept going, aiming the blade for his stomach. "For...the...Jedi..." He was almost there, and it was clear that he would ignite the blade and kill himself before being forced to take out another Jedi. Another tear rolled out of his left eye as he looked at Ara, an innocent look of a child in his expression. Her move. ((My masterpiece is finished! Took me a whole friggin hour!!! ))

Aryian smiled briefly, breaking his look at Ara. His ploy had worked, and there was nobody coming to her rescue, should she need one. (suprisingly) He turned his attention back to Ara, still awaiting her reply.

Aryian cursed, the other blast doors were not supposed to be triggered, only the ones outside of the council chambers. He snagged his comm, fast. "This is Jedi Knight Aryian Darkfire, sorry about that. Bug in the system. I was working on this program you see...there. It should be fixed now." Using the force hastily, he reached out and triggered the unlock on the door, moving around the base and catching several before anyone else noticed about them. It was only a moment before Ara saw what he was up to, but it was too late. He used his already strong grip on the force to crush the other two communication systems within the chambers, his own comm being now the only link inside. He tossed it into the corner, bringing back his second saber to bear on the Jedi master. "You have no Idea, Ara. Geki allowed me to see the truth, the light. There is only balance in the galaxy, and equal amount of light and dark forces at work. Some of the light most likely lingers within me, and for now it suits my purposes, for I can use it against your little weapon there. You see, the Jedi have disrupted the balance for too long, and so came Geki into power, trying only to restore the equal amount of Chaos there was left in the galaxy. "He released in me the power, the rage, the anger. It is not you I hate, yet I can focus it at you at will. He...changed me..." Aryian hesitated for a brief second again, the last statement sounding much like the old Aryian, the one who sought peace instead of hatred. But the moment was gone, and still clutching his saber, his hand lashed out, sending out a powerful force blast that knocked the sword out of her hands, sending it skittering to the other side of the room, despite the large amount of dark energy it consumed. "Come on, Ara. Why do you still fight it? Do you even know? Can you tell me? Is it an emotion perhaps, some buried feeling? Is it fear? Persistence? A sense of self-preservation, perhaps? Hatred? Love? Love of the Jedi doctrines for which you have so long held to? Illusions. Illusions created by a feeble people in an attempt to grasp on to what is not. So I ask you again, one final time. Why?" He approached her slowly, closing in on her force presence, choking her abilities. On a clearly visible battle, his hands shakily turned off his sabers, and he sat down across the table. "Why...does...it...fight...with-...within...me...?" He stammered, forcing himself to talk, even though it was clear that something else didn't want him to.

Aryian quickly made his way to the council chambers, not stopping for anything else, not even to check if his apprentice was still at the facility. There was only one thing on his mind. ((What, you think I'm going to tell you? )) There was a slight pain in his chest as he opened the door, a pressure. Something that Ara had...He released his suppression, and the full majesty of the dark side erupted from his very being, clouding the room except for Ara. The thing she had obviously was doing very well at countering the dark side, and his force was suppressed back to a minimal field around himself. But he wasn't even trying. "Well, well, well. What do we have here. Our little Jedi leader, all alone, and yet far from helpless. Planning more crusades for the Jedi? Hm? Going to throw our bodies to the wind, relying on the fact that through cloning we are invincible? I've had an epiphany lately, Ara, and I've realized that the Jedi order is horribly corrupted. I've come to correct that. The Jedi order would be far better if it weren't at all." Before she could respond to what he was saying, he used the force to seal the doors behind him, blast doors and all. Even for a lightsaber, it would be some time before the doors could be cut open. "Right now, this is between you, and me. You see, Ara, by opening myself up to my past and accepting who I am instead of trying to conform to something I'm not, I've gained powers far beyond what normal Jedi can hope to accomplish in their lifetimes. I almost rival the legendary Gantoris himself in might! And right now, I have come to end your pain." He whipped out his sabers, igniting both twin blades, the crystals from Ilum he had installed making them all the more powerful against any blade. "Come. Come Ara, to your death." As he spoke the last sentence, almost not visibly, his right hand was shaking. "And so it begins."

Aryian's ship touches down, and again he hides his presence from his fellow Jedi. Through the force a dark message echoes forth. Oh Ara...Ara-Lai Kaipi...come out, come out, wherever you are...I am waiting for you here... Aryian wears a smug grin, as he walks past a few of his fellow Jedi, who have no idea of what he's about to do.

A pirated signal invades the Holonet, replicating itself and finally broadcasting. The humble image of Aryian Darkfire, still in Jedi robes, steps into the image and takes off his hood. "Greetings, fellow gentlebeings of the Galaxy. Recently on the news you may have heard of Governor Geki being found guilty in the Galactic Senate due to a Comm he had sent me. I tell you now, in my honest and true words, that it was all made up, spliced together and modified from other holographic recordings I had on him that I hacked from his database. I used my own voice to copy his, using the force to make it pass the verbal identity tests run on it." Aryian paused here, seemingly calling the force to him. When he spoke next, it was the harsh words of Jidai Geki that resounded outwards. "You see, by a simple trick, I could copy his voice and create the tools necessary to bring down him and SEED." He paused again, and his normal voice came back. "It is my humble apologies that I send out now, that instead of he who played fraud it was I, using my skills in the force as well as those in electronics to falsify the comm and decieve the courts. I retract the comm and any evidence associated with it in the Senate. Thank you for your time, beings of the Galaxy, and good day." It ended, allowing the normal flow of the Holonet to resume.