Phu

[Arlan Vass]

The Ghost Breath exited hyperspace, coming to what would look like a stand-still outside of Phu. Arlan had never heard of the planet before, though he didn't try to cancel the coordinates that had shown up on the control panel's interface. Whether or not it really was Armiena who had brought them here remained yet to be seen. He prayed that she was on this planet, waiting for them to dock near her location.

 

But how could she be here? She was dead... wasn't she? He knew that Cade wasn't lying when he said that Slicer was carrying her body to his ship. Perhaps this was a trap? Would there be an army of Sith waiting for them on this planet? Would they be shot out of the sky before they even had the chance to land?

 

The Ghost Breath broke the last atmospheric layer of the planet, its altitude slowly decreasing. He could not only hear, but feel the entire bulk of the ship slowing down as it descended from the heavens, and, after a couple of moments, land on a concrete platform outside of what he thought was a fairly small structure. He couldn't see anybody else, nor did he get the feeling that there was anybody else there. It was safe.

 

He got up from the pilot's chair and motioned for Elnia to follow him. He walked to the back of the ship, surprised to see that the docking ramp was already lowered, and stopped. He pulled his lightsaber off of his belt and ignited it. The 'snap-hiss' of the cyan blade gave him a sense of power; he was full of rage, sadness, and loss, and felt as if he could take on a Sith Lord right then and there. For all he knew, Slicer could have been waiting for him inside.

 

He stepped off of the ship, expecting the worst. Why had the Ghost Breath brought them here?

[ObliviousKnight]

Wearing earplugs to protect my hearing from the pulverizing din of the Jedi Temple's forges, it took an alert over the implants in my skull to alert me to the arrival of the Ghost Breath. I stopped by the small project that one of the sectors of the forge was working on for me, forewarning the laser welders etching at a slab of spacecraft-armor grade durasteel to halt through a nudge in the Force. This piece of metal, I believed, would become the left spaulder in my new set of armor. I traced its surface with penetrating eyes, marveling at the intricate detail that would have been invisible to the unaided eye.

 

I idly ran my right hand over its surface, noting that the curved plate felt like”¦ sandpaper, almost. My hand came away with an angry rash of crimson on its fingers, abraded and raw””even without the ultrasonic generator installed, the steel's cutting power was quite impressive. I stared at my fingers for a second, surprised at the rasp of the denticles against them.

 

It had been more than a year since my arms were capable of pain.

 

”œFantastic. That's marvelous work.”

[Arlan Vass]

Arlan allowed himself to be pushed out of the way, before shutting his lightsaber off and clipping the hilt onto his belt. Right then and there, he probably wouldn't have noticed a full grown Horned Kath Hound disposing its fecal matter all over his head. He was in such a state of absolute shock, that he was unable to say anything as he watched his master advance down the corridor and into Aidan's room. He stood near the base of the ramp for a couple of moments, trying to pull himself together. He wasn't dreaming, nor was he hallucinating Armiena's actual being there. Somehow”¦ someway, she was alive.

 

After a couple of moments, he came to, and made his way back into the ship. He heard Aidan cry out, though for the first time in days, it was a cry of happiness. The infant was exultant, having been reunited with his mother. Arlan could sense Armiena's joy of being reunited with her son, as well. He thought back to his life on Dantooine; he remembered that he was always very happy and excited to see his father after he came back home from his job every day ”“ when he was alive. His mother was a stay-at-home parent, and was able to spend more time with him, and teach him things like how to read and write, as well having him help with the housework.

 

It wasn't until Armiena and Aidan were back together when Arlan realized just how upset he was about the inexistence of his parents. They had done so much for him”¦ and he'd never been able to thank them. They had nurtured him, provided him with food, as well as a roof over his head, but above all else, they had given him the one thing he would never be able to live without.

 

Love.

 

He walked into his dormitory and sat down on his bed, pulling the other lightsaber off of his belt. He set both of the weapons down onto the mattress and sat down, bringing his knees up to his chest. He wrapped his arms around his legs, and, facing the wall, decided to do what Armeina had taught him long ago.

 

He sat so that he was cross legged on the bed, and propped his arms on his thighs. His hands were open and relaxed. He lowered his head slightly and closed his eyes, opening his mind, and relinquished every negative or unnecessary thought that was clouding it. He let his senses wander, and soon, his entire being went into a deep, relaxed, meditative state.

 

He reached out to the two hilts that were laying in front of him on the mattress. He kept his eyes shut, though, as if disabling his sight for this particular ”˜exercise', to better his affinity with the Force. He concentrated on what he knew the hilts looked like ”“ ignited and not ”“, and reached out a tad bit more.

 

Arlan could not only hear, but feel not one, but both of the weapons ascend from the mattress and into the air. He stayed perfectly still, controlling every movement they made via the Force. He didn't reach out to try and grab one of them. He remained calm. He knew that any sudden movement he made could cause one, if not both of them, to drop back onto the floor.

 

Soon, he was able to separate them apart, so that while he was still controlling both hilts, they were traveling in different directions. He could tell that this was what was happening now, though he couldn't explain how he knew that. It was as if he was dreaming, really; he was in a meditative trance, but he was still able to use the Force while in it.

 

He continued to practice with this newfound power, as well as relax via meditating.

[ObliviousKnight]

((Considering switching back to third person. I'm just thoroughly dissatisfied with my writing at the moment.))

 

For the next hour or so, boundless laughter came from Armiena's quarters, the first time in ages that the Jedi Grandmaster had had a chance to just be a parent. Eventually, however, the business of the war had to be attended to and she left him to his toys for a few minutes.

 

A hand ruffled through Arlan's hair affectionately, and if the Jedi Padawan were to look up, he would see his Master standing above him, pale in the artificial light of the Ghost Breath, something of a sad smile on her lips. The unrestrained glee of spending time with her son had passed, and the burden of the possibility of her family shredding itself to pieces had returned. When Armiena and her husband died together in a terrorist attack on Coruscant, he had reacted badly enough, but”¦ after leaving her to face that upstart Sith illusionist, he was bound to be livid.

 

Who knew what he might do in his rage?

 

”œArlan, welcome to one of the more shameful secrets of the Jedi Order. Most of us are clones. I'm not sure when the Order began cloning its members, but”¦ some time in the past, the war became unsustainable. As far as myself, I've been cloned”¦ three, maybe four times?”

[Arlan Vass]

Arlan's eyes flickered open as he heard Armieina walk into the room, hearing the hits clattering against the floor almost simultaneously. He felt his master's hand run through his hair, and couldn't help but smile. With everything that had been going on in the past couple of weeks, he was glad that she was still able to make the time to spend time with him. He sat on his bed so that his feet were touching the floor, and his hands were in his lap. He used the Force to call one of the hilts back to him, and then used it on the other one. He clipped both of the weapons to his belt, but pushed the curved hilt back, so that his robe concealed it. With all of the training that Armiena had given him, as well as the amount of practice that he'd had with the Force, he skills were definitely improving.

 

He looked up at her and smiled, glad that she was here to talk to him. Everything had happened so fast, that it was hard for him to understand exactly what it was that had happened. Now, he thought he understood; Armiena and Ariyan died on Borleais, but Armiena was cloned. He wasn't sure if Ariyan was or not. After she was re-cloned, Armiena summoned the Ghost Breath to this planet, and now, here they were. What she had in mind now, he had no way of knowing. He wondered if she was going to continue his training here, or if she had something else planned out.

 

”œWhat's going to happen now, Armiena?”

[Cade]

Cade's ill-begotten Tandem X-wing exited hyperspace above the atmosphere of Phu.

 

It was a gem of a planet, shining blue as it did. It was calm and peaceful, and according to the coordinates the location of an immensely fortified Jedi temple.

 

Suddenly the computer took full control over the ship, locking Cade out of manual operations. It zoomed to a landing pad, the engines dying down and the hatch forcefully opening. The computer screen then fired up, deleting all of the logs of his flight. Apparently the coordinates were designed so no one could use them unless they were given specifically to them.

 

Seeing nothing that interested him except for a Tram system Cade took a seat on the machine and hoped it would take him where he had to go.

 

Aryian hadn't explained much. Of his intentions, or what Cade would have to expect here.

 

Still, he was a Jedi, what did he have to fear here?

 

The ride finished, bringing Cade to what looked like the living quarters of the complex.

 

But from there he was utterly lost.

 

Still Arlan was with Elnia, and if Aryian had sent him here....

 

Using the comm channel that he had kept from Borleais Cade sent a message to Arlan.

"Arlan? This is Cade, respond if you can hear me."

Cade sat, nothing else to do but wait patiently for a response. Or if one was lacking start scouring the area for anything or one that could help him find Elnia.

[ObliviousKnight]

”œWe train whenever we get a chance. I need to get better and explore some new skills. You need to learn more about the Force and build your”¦”

[Arlan Vass]

Arlan listened to Cade's comm, but before he could respond, Armiena spoke up instead. He listened to her own response, before he spoke.

 

”œCome down to the hangar, Cade,”

[Mephisto Dracul]

OOC- editing as the mod requested. Arlan, I don't know who you think you are, but if you call me a fool and flame me on the open board like that again, I'll talk to a mod myself.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Guest

[Arlan Vass]

((OOC: You have GOT to be kidding me.

 

A) You have no possible way of knowing where we are.

 

B) Do you honestly think that Armiena would send an un-ecrypted holonet video, endangering not only her life, but her son's and padawan's, as well?

 

C) We're in a hangar, at the moment, with Armiena's Wolf Spiders nearby, ready to shoot down any idiot who thinks that he/she can invade the Jedi Temple, when they're outmatched 3-1.

 

I'd like for a mod to take this all into consideration, before letting this fool intrude upon the Jedi Temple.))

[Dagon]

After speaking with OK, its been made apparent that the holonet transmission was not galaxy wide, and as such would have been impossible to isolate without the correct equipment/setup posts. Better luck next time, Mephisto.

[ObliviousKnight]

”œIt's going to take him a few minutes to get back to the hangar. I have some time”¦ well, maybe not a practical lesson, but at least a short lecture.”

[Arlan Vass]

Arlan smiled.

 

”œI think I can do that,”

[ObliviousKnight]

Armiena bit her lip, recalling another bit of philosophy””well, not quite philosophy, for it was so explicit in its dictations””that was issued by the Jedi Order, but only recently.

 

”œAs far as changing the Code, I don't think it's possible. Odan-Urr's words are immortal, and there will probably always be Jedi that subscribe to at least some interpretation of his beliefs. However, there was a completely original Code that was issued by a more recent Grandmaster””Luke Starkiller, or something like that””that I think is actually superior. It certainly is less enigmatic, easier for people who joined the Order as adults and teenagers to understand and follow.”

[Arlan Vass]

Arlan nodded.

 

”œVery,”

[ObliviousKnight]

”œI'll need one of your lightsabers, then.”

[Arlan Vass]

On her command, Arlan called his other lightsaber to his outstretched hand. It left its usual place on his belt and settled into his palm. He turned back towards Armiena, grinning, and held it out for her to take.

 

”œWhere can we fight?”

[Cade]

It took a moment to find the correct hangar, but Cade eventually did so and found the trio.

 

The Grandmaster and her Padawan seemed to be ready to spar, and not wishing to interrupt anything Cade merely leaned against a wall intending to watch.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Elnia was too confused by the abrupt turn of events at the dojo to be very aware that the Ghost Breath, so aptly named as it carried the words of a now dead Grandmaster of the Jedi to her student, had taken control of the ship and brought them to this place.

 

She could sense the tension coming from Arlan as he rolled over different scenarios in his head, the hope that the programming had really come from Armiena, the uncertainty as to whether or not this was a Sith trap all convalescing into one another as the ship descended to the planet's surface.

 

Once the ship had landed, he motioned for her to follow him, and with the same caution she rose and followed, her chest still heavy with the sadness of the loss of both her master and Aiden's parents. She stopped short as Arlan activated his sabre, her counterpart was definitely on high-alert. She nearly asked what it was, but realized that, like most things, the reasoning would reveal itself in time. She waited for him to step off the ship first.

 

Suddenly, as she peeked her head around the corner, she saw a very familiar and very surprising figure walking swiftly towards the ship. It was Armiena! A quick look at the energy patterns surrounding her told the young Miraluka all she needed to know. This was the true Grandmaster. Elnia also heard the command that the Grandmaster gave her Padawan, so she was already out of the way as Aiden's mother entered the ship, very much unwilling to get between a mother and her child.

 

She also remained, much as she had been for her life as a shadow as Arlan came back into the ship, heading straight for his rooms, an uncertain emotion clouding his aura.

 

Deciding that it was better to be as unobtrusive as possible, she sat down and finally caught a bit of sleep, the first real sleep that she'd had in more than a few days since she'd left the station.

 

*~*~*

 

After a while of good rest, the Miraluka girl woke to the sounds of battle outside the ship. She bolted awake, quite unsure as to what she should do, seeing as how she had very little combat experience. Still something in her stirred and she cautiously crept to Aiden's room ready to protect him as best as she could.

 

She found the tiny tot playing happily amongst his toys, nothing seemed to be amiss at all. Surely a boy that could feel his own parent's deaths from miles away wouldn't be quietly and happily playing if something were wrong, she thought as she left him and returned to the main part of the ship.

 

She cautiously peeped her head around the corner, only to see that it was Armiena and Arlan sparring.

 

And then she noticed a familiar figure leaning against a wall.

 

"Cade!" she cried out happily, running to him and embracing him, releasing after a few moments. She wasn't certain what was going to happen to them now, but seeing her training partner somehow made her feel that things were going to be alright.

[Brina Thalin]

A message comes in for the Grandmaster on her personal frequency, heavily encrypted.

 

Grandmaster Darkfire,

 

This is Brina Thalin of the Link Organization. Given the recent threats against my partner Zara Nargal and the Golden Link Casino, I am personally requesting Jedi protection for Zara's three children. We believe they might be in danger, as these hunters seem to have no problem killing innocent children. Feel free to contact me on my personal channel and we can work something out. I hope you can help us, Master Jedi.

 

Sincerely,

Brina Thalin

Co-owner of the Link Organisation

 

End transmission.

[ObliviousKnight]

”œOutside. There's plenty of room in the hangar.”

[Arlan Vass]

The speed at which Armiena came at him did indeed catch Arlan off guard. He clumsily brought his lightsaber up to try to deflect her swing, but instead, he had his saber knocked away. It was clearly an attack meant to catch one's opponent off guard, to finish them off with a final, strong strike. However, he managed to bring his lightsaber up again and knock her own saber back, but instead of trying to drive in with his own, he took two steps back, keeping both hands on the hilt of his weapon. He wouldn't let her do anything like that again - if he could help it.

 

He could tell that his senses were acute, and that his actions were being aided by the Force. He only hoped that he would be able to defend himself from his Master's following attacks, or even - by pure luck, of course - come out on top after they had dueled.

 

Without really thinking it over, he preformed a new maneuver that he had practiced against the training remote. He brought his lightsaber down with one hand, and, stepping up to Armiena, brought it up, so that if the blade were to connect with her, he would cut through her abdomen, and the lower part of her chest. A move that he was sure would end the life of any unfortunate soul to ever encounter it.

[Cade]

He was pleasantly surprised with the emotions he felt when he heard Elnia cry out his name. Even more so when she ran up to him and embraced him.

 

Cade had been disturbed by events lately, but for some reason he felt as he knew she did. That for some reason things would now be alright.

 

But, Cade was always a klutz in social situations that had nothing to do with orders, and as such he would not be able to express any of that in words. Still, he hoped that he gave the feeling off enough for Elnia to notice it.

 

"How have things been...?"

 

The question was absentmindedly made (and his own way of asking someone how they were) as his gaze turned to the fight ensuing, he had not had much of a chance to see the Grandmaster in action during Borleais, but now he took in as much as he could of the fight.

 

"... and how are they?"

[ObliviousKnight]

There was a desperate flurry of hands and lightsaber blades, but Armiena succeeded in parrying what had the potential to be a lethal blow towards her abdomen, turning Arlan's blade aside and pulling him with her free hand so his closed fist was pinned against her midsection. Taking a single step towards the lightsaber novice””which also twisted his helpless arm painfully towards his back””she leaned in and whispered into his ear, audible even above the din of the cheering Wolf Spiders and hum of their venerable blades.

 

”œSomething to remember about fighting. Someone hits you, whether it's with their first, or a knife”¦ even a lightsaber, they give you your hand. You're free to do what you want with it.”

[Arlan Vass]

Being thrown against the Wolf Spider wasn't nearly as painful as having Armeina strike his shoulder with the bottom of his mother's lightsaber hilt. He cried out once, then again as he was thrown against the large, mechanical beast. He slumped to the floor, though while he was in an excruciating amount of pain, he bit his tongue and slowly rose to his feet. However, he stood up just in time to see his master advancing on him again, this time, swinging the lightsaber around her so that the emerald blade formed a shield, of sorts. It was probably enough to either knock away another melee attack brought on by the Padawan, or even kill him.

 

He frantically scanned the room for anything that could aid him in the duel. While Armiena did say that their duel was to give him more practice with his lightsaber, he didn't see anything wrong in using another method to try to defeat her. In the middle of the hangar were several crates, all of which were made of a very durable metal. A couple of them were stacked upon one another, and in all, there were about eight of them there. He didn't take the time to count them, of course; with his master getting closer to him, he knew that he didn't have much time to make his next move.

 

He raised his arm, wincing at the dull ache in his shoulder. He positioned his palm so that it was facing the group of crates, and, concentrating as best he could, caused two of the crates to lift into the air and be thrown at Armiena. Pulling his focus from the two airborne objects, he focused on two more of them on the floor, and, once again, used the Force to throw them at his master. He wasn't sure how heavy they were, but he decided that it could prove to be of use to him to distract her ”“ or, if she was caught off guard by his sudden attack, knock her down or render her weapon-less.

 

He didn't bother with the other crates. Instead, he called upon the Force to launch himself into the air, and, performing a single back flip in midair, landed behind the Wolf Spider that Armiena had thrown him against. He still held onto his ignited lightsaber, and peered around the edge of the mechanical monster, waiting to see what would happen next”¦

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Elnia's face darkend slightly in response to his questions. The whole affair came flashing back to her mind's eye, causing her to sudder as the scene replayed itself in an overlay of the duel between Armiena and Arlan. She wasn't aware of it at the time but she was also drawing the Force memory of the exchange between the Sith bounty hunter and the Grandmaster, creating a more vivid false memory for her as well.

 

Before forming her answer, she looked down and sat, leaning against the same wall that Cade was leaning against. Quietly dismissing the memory, instead trying to focus on the emotions when Aiden and his mother were reunited.

 

"Aryian's son was devistated, it was as though he could feel the deaths of both parents...It was something that I could feel through him, on top of my own emotions. It was so powerful, when they died I actually lost my sight. Who are these Sith? And why do they seek to destroy good people and hurt innocent life? I know that I've seen and experienced some rather cruel things in my lifetime, but nothing compared to the malice and hate that That the Dark One exuded. It almost made me sick."

 

She paused for a moment, watching the bout between Master and Padawan, and wondered about Aryian.

 

"If she came back, then possibly...he did too? I can't understand it, how did she come back? And if he did come back, then where is he?"

 

As the fight's rythym broke and reconviened as the two began utilizing the telekeniesis through the Force, Elnia went slient again, once more lost in thought and amazed by the pulls and ebbs that she'd never seen before through her Force sight. As she watched, she tried her best to keep up with the combat moves of the pair, wondering if she would ever be able to match them or at the very least come close.

[Cade]

Seeing his fellow Padawan so troubled by the affair brought back an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time, he wanted vengeance on these Sith for the pain they caused.

 

Cade decided quickly that it would not be in anyone's best interest to fuel the flames of these thoughts, but he did not succeed in eliminating them completely. They lingered in some part of him, perhaps festering like a bad infection.

 

He listened to Elnia's speech, and found he had no answers to the majority of her questions. He didn't know why the Sith were the way they were, any reasonable person would have nothing to do with a collection of murderers and monsters. As such he concluded that they were not people at all, but objects of evil and in doing so created a generalized view of them as things to be destroyed.

 

The second question, however, he could answer.

 

"Yea, he came back. When I was still a mercenary (he hated remembering those days now) I heard of a sort of technology only the extremely wealthy, or the most powerful organizations had. Cloning tanks, fully capable of bringing back a person exactly the way they were when they left their genetic sample (he thought that was the word the scientist explaining it to him had used) with the machine. I'm guessing that's how both of them came back, but Aryian...."

 

Cade wanted to tell the truth, that their Master had the beginnings of a vendetta written on his face the last time he had seen him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Perhaps it was to keep from hurting anyone more than they were already, or perhaps it was out of loyalty to Aryian. After all, loyalty can be misguided and right now at least Cade didn't know whether or not he truly believed that Aryian was heading down a wrong path... after all, a great part of him wholly agreed.

 

Silencing these thoughts, and burying them deep within his mind, Cade reasoned with himself to forget about all of that and focus only on the objective.

 

"....well, Aryian didn't come back as easily as Armiena. He was injured badly, even after the cloning, and I think he's not that far off from true death. He said he had matters to attend to, and told me to come here to find you. He never really did say what to do after though. I guess we'll just have to wait."

 

His sight turned to the battle again, watching the movements of the two made him realize how much more he had to learn. Damn that Sith, not only had he hurt innocent people, but he had gotten in the way of Cade's training.

 

Which of course was a selfish thought, but was still a concern of Cade's.

[Ary the Grey]

"No, you won't. Not for the time being anyways."

 

The voice, startlingly similar to Aryian's own, echoed across the hangar space they occupied. It came from a humanoid that looked very roughly like a younger Aryian, but if one were to look hard, they could easily see traces of Armiena in his face.

 

"Please don't be surprised...I am not he whom you designate 'Master', rather...I am more of his son. Kind of. It's complicated. Aryian sent summons to have me...come here and help him while he's dealing with matters elsewhere. Hopefully, it won't take too much longer, but in the meantime I've been given a plethora of information to disseminate to each of you. Your training will continue, and Aryian also wishes to express an embarrassed apology that he cannot be here in person for the beginning of this phase of training."

 

The young man paused for a moment, thinking about something, his movements and mannerisms strangely suggestive that he wasn't entirely human.

 

"Oh, yes. I am Arec. Let us dispense with the questions in rapid fashion so that the tutelage may commence thereafter. There is a great deal to cover in not much time. You will each be required to give your...how did he put it...'entire being' into these exercises, and be willing to practice them, in application or in your mind, constantly as you travel. Now, you may ask what you will, and I will answer, but be brief."

 

He stood there, gaze shifting from one to the other, expectantly awaiting any questions the two might have had.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

"Clones? You mean Copies?" She echoed, trying to process the information without any knowledge as to what a "genetic sample" was as it hadn't been a priority of her last master to ensure that his pet had any form of educational training. Her gaze went from her counterpart to the dueling Grandmaster and Padawan.

 

It did look like her, or at least as Arlan had recognized, and from it's actions certainly retained her memories, but was it the real Armiena? At least in the sense of the individual? Granted the "original" was long dead, or at least the shell, but was the individual spirit of Armiena dead? Judging from the dueling figure before her likely not. Was this some sort of manifestation made possible by the Living Force? All of these questions were beginning to give the young Miraluka a headache.

 

"Do Jedi ever really die, I wonder..." she quietly intoned to herself.

 

She relaxed again and stretched her awareness slightly to try and expand her ever-growing perceptions as volumes of new worlds, experiences, and even basic galactic knowledge that others took for granted opened up to her. As she opened herself to the feelings and thoughts of those around her, she could distinctly pick up on Cade's conciern for their master, as well as some more-than-slight irritation at the hiccup in their training schedule, though he didn't voice it.

 

Though they might not have realised it at the time, Elnia and Cade had fallen into almost the kind of heirarchy that Cade had been around all his life as a Mando'ade. Elnia's severe lack of experience left her looking to him as something of a mentor, though not quite a commander-role, she definately felt that in the chain of command for their little group he definately ranked above her in the order, so in a way it was natural that his complaint's didn't go down the chain to her, even if she did pick up on them.

 

She knew that whatever was going to happen to them now, that Cade would help her and watch out for her, at least until she was able to carry her own weight with things.

 

"No, you won't. Not for the time being anyways."

 

The voice sounded so much like their teacher and came so unexpectedly that Elnia visibly jumped as it echoed across the hangar.

 

She stood next to Cade as the very-Ariyan-looking man approached them, though there was something in the look that was a little off. Her confusion was assuaged as he spoke, clarifying who he was.

 

"Aiden is the only son that he ever mentioned," she whispered quietly enough for only Cade to hear, not sure whether or not to trust this being. There was still something odd about him, and he didn't look at all right to be just a regular huminoid to her. She crossed her arms and regarded him for a minute.

 

"What are you?" she finally and rather indelicately poised her question, she knew that Cade could not see the things that she saw, and even she could not make much sense of them, but she that something was different about him. She hoped that her slightly elevated voice didn't disturb the duelists across the hanger. She wasn't sure that she entirely trusted the situation since her recent brush with the Sith, she wasn't ready to trust unfamiliar faces just yet.

[Ary the Grey]

Arec sighed.

 

"I somehow knew that would be among the first few questions asked of me. As beings sensitive to the Force, I suppose that naturally you felt the lack of a...presence within the Force. I find discussing what I am to be a rather sensitive topic, but my concerns, I would assume, anyways, organics consider less than worthy of notice. Which is why I also prefer to keep to the less populated Jedi facilities rather than the more populated ones. I am, in short, an amalgamation of the consciousness of Aryian Darkfire, and to a lesser extent Armiena Draygo Darkfire, embodied in a Human Replica droid calculated to appear as their offspring of twenty years of age. Neither Aryian Darkfire nor Armiena Draygo Darkfire created me...I created myself. You could say I am the byproduct of the anomaly caused when learning limits are released on an artificial intelligence connected to brainwaves of organics...a kind of evolution, if you will. I do not hold myself to be a droid, but unfortunately for the time being that is what I am, and will presently remain as such. Aryian had allowed me to stay here in secret, but now has called upon me. I would do anything for fath-...I mean Aryian."

 

The last sentence came with a hesitated pause, as if Arec were trying to get his thinking straight on the subject matter. From this initial explanation, it was clear there were some issues between the Jedi and his supposed droid son, but nothing could be done about it...not now, anyways.

 

Arec turned to Cade, curious if he had anything to say.