The Helvault -- Nespis VIII

[Solus]

As Solus followed his master, he was surprised to witness Lord Mavenger was to join them. It wasn’t that he was incapable of the job. Far from it. After all, the last time the shard had seen Mavenger, he was given the rank of Lord. If he was being brought in for this ‘jail-break’, then the fortress they were breaking in and out of must have been difficult to say the least.  And given that this Sith had received a special mission from the Empress herself…

 

Then there was Innmortos. The Impossible Geometries were being very odd around him. More so than usual. 

 

“Lord Mavenger!” Solus spoke up, giving a bow to the Sith after Akheron had spoken. “It is wonderful to be in your presence of power again. Tell me, how did your ‘special’ mission for our current Empress go?”  

 

Solus couldn't help but emphasize the word current while giving Innmortos a glance, indicating something was afoot with the empress that involved the necromancer.

 

“And masters…” Solus turned slightly to Akheron but addressed everyone. “Perhaps if I knew more about this… Apophos, i would understand why we are risking such powerful people in order to get him loose? I did take a look at the limited designs we have of the place we are breaking in on the flight here. It looks quite…impressive, especially if we are only breaking our one individual” 
 

[Solus]

"Understood, understood" Solus repeated himself while holding his hands up when the siths hands went for his blades. The shard couldn't help but think he had touched a very particular nerve at the mention of the mission. But why? Surely not just because of a silly concept of having one person being erased from memory? Solus would have to investigate this later.

 

"Still, this Apothos must be someone most interesting if he is our primary objective. What is he? Why is he so valuable?"

 

"Also…" Solus changed subjects slightly. "What is our plan of attack? Surely we are not going in blades drawn and roaring with fury. "

[Solus]

Solus nodded at Mavevger’s words. 

 

So nothing more than sentimental value? Oh god I hope there is more to this nok then  the shard couldn’t help but think to himself. Thankfully, this time he knew the wisdom of keeping this opinion to himself. 

 

At the gesture of the shuttle, Solus clapped his hands together, their metal parts clinging loudly. 

 

“Excellent. And while I am no master strategist, I am sure that it hasn’t escaped everyone’s notice that I am the most inconspicuous one of our merry band. Perhaps once we are on board, I can separate and handle some of the system’s inner workings while you, more savage beings…” 

 

Solus gave a glance towards his own master and Mavenger before continueing. “...can be quite distracting for the systems. I have no idea what plans, lord Mavenger, you have for Innmortos, but I'm sure he will have some kind of use.”

 

Wasting no time, Solus made his way to the shuttle and boarded it. No sooner than he stepped onboard, he stopped and swayed back and forward slightly. The head swiveled around a bit, flipping its analyzing monitor down and back up again, as if doing a double take. Following this, Solus reached forward and grabbed at the air, as if he could restrain the air around him. 

 

“Oh force…oh Fanged God above!” Solus exclaimed, his voice box betraying a sense of panic and terror. “Is this…? Oh gods and deities, what is this? No, this is not right this…oh gods, is this how mortals feel in this world of worlds? Where is…oh its so empty and so…oh gods…”

 

Solus clung to one of the walls of the shuttle as tightly as his little body would allow him. After a few moments, Solus released himself and looked at the others. 

 

“My apologies, its just…I’ve only been in this world of worlds for two or three years, but i’ve never felt this before. This…emptiness. This… oh gods, it feels so much clearer but so much emptier. Like a gas released from a bottle. Or a veil pulled from a blank canvas. Its…I’m sorry, don’t worry about me, i will get through this. But let me assure you, if these…Ysalimari are what causes me to feel this way, i will do everything in my power to be rid of these filthy creatures.” 

[Solus]

During the flight, Solus started to experience several conditions. He showed his anxiety with randomly activating and deactivating most of his joints, looking like a twitching madman. Several moments of confusion seemed to surface when he would randomly begin to ask someone where they were journeying, only to correct himself and pretend it was nothing more than a joke. Any medically inclined people on board would’ve recognized this as symptoms of withdrawal, and had he been organic, would’ve been sweating and feeling nauseated. 

 

However, Solus found one thing to focus on that seemed to help his symptoms, and ironically, it was the Yslamari. 

 

“Fascinating creatures, aren’t they?” Solus commented to no one in particular as he tapped on the glass that held the small lizards. “Of these four, their average length is little more than 1 foot. And it seems they are attached to feeding tubes via their claws. What is it that they are feeding them?”

 

Solus adjusted his sensors again and again. “Ah, liquid! Nutritional liquid. Fascinating. Let’s see, the temperature of the container…70 degrees. Very warm. Boiling them would be a difficult task I'd imagine, but freezing them… hmmm…”

 

Solus reached up and continued to adjust his sensors over and over. Various schemes and plans were beginning for form in his head, each one begging to be put into action. Entirely focused on the task ahead of him, he had found something to distract his feelings of withdrawal from the dark side of the force and the impossible geometries. 
 

[Solus]

With all the troubles the Helvault began to suffer, the shields were among the ones no one realized went down for a few moments. No one except the pilot of the shuttle that is. 

 

Solus nearly fell as the ship jetted into the landing bay, nesting itself into a landing position.

 

“Well everyone…” Solus announced one the ship had landed. “This is where I’ll be making my own way. I will attempt to locate you all once I’ve succeeded in my glorious mission. Just make noise as you see fit. After all, us Sith are good at that…”

 

Without waiting, Solus exited the ship. 

 

The landing area was surprisingly not busy. Whether it was because a majority of droids were needed in other areas of the station or trying to handle the glitches that the system was suffering from, Solus had no idea. He had no clue that the station was having so much trouble. 

 

“Well, this looks easier than i expecte…” Solus started to say as he broke off a direction separate from the others. As if on clockwork, a turret nearby suddenly opened fire on the small droid. 

 

“Yipe!” Solus screeched as he jumped back, narrowly avoiding a flurry of blasterfire. 

 

“Not going that way..” Solus muttered as he peaked around the corner. 

 

“HALT!” A robotic voice boomed . 

 

Solus turned and found himself face-to-face with one of the station’s security droids. Or rather, face-to gun with the droid's left arm blaster rifle. The thing towered over the small droid like a rancor over a reek.

 

“Identify!” The LV8 ordered, pointing an activated blaster rifle into the Shard’s sensors. 

 

“Eek! Erm, I mean…” Solus momentarily began to panic, but quickly recomposed himself. “Unit S-0L115, analysis droid.”

 

The security droid said nothing for a moment as it beeped and hummed in thought. “I was not aware an analysis droid was needed in this area. Identify your mission and parameters”

 

Solus adjusted his sensors, as if he was studying the droid. “Are you an out of date security droid?  I am here to check on the wellness of the creatures onboard the station. Both sentient and non-sentient. When was your last system update?”

 

“2 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds ago. Next scheduled update is within 24 hours.” 

 

“Well no wonder then!” Solus waved a finger at the droid, easily two times his size. “Your latest system update would’ve included my specifications and codes. But here I am unable to get through any doors thanks to your blasted security system!”

 

“Error” The LV8 noted. “Security system of this unit is completely fine.”

 

Solus gave a grumbling sigh. “Not you, you piece of junk. Those turrets are shooting at me, making it impossible to perform my mission within parameters”

 

 The LV8 paused again to think and then stepped around the corner. Due to the security chip it had in its hardware, the turrets never opened fire on the security droid. Even when it itself opened fire and destroyed the turrets with one shot from each arm.  Solus jumped slightly from each shot. Whatever he was expecting, he wasn't expecting the security droid to be so...direct. 

 

“Threat to analysis droid deactivated” LV8 stated. “You are now able to continue with your mission of analyzing further subjects.”

 

Just as LV8 began to turn away, Solus spoke up again. “Ah ah! Hold on! What if there are more faulty turrets? I need you to guide me to my next location. Uh….” Solus had to stop and think. “Section…45, area b?”

 

The LV8 looked down at the miniscule Solus as if in thought again. Then…

 

“Roger roger. Follow this way”

 

With that, the hulking machine turned and made its way forward.

 

“What do you know…” Solus mused to himself, following the droid closely. “Even without the Force, I’m still better than everyone else...”  

[Solus]

“Unit S-I23” Oogoo’s vocalizer’s monotone emitted. “Please scan P3, he seems to be suffering from some sort of malady in his right back leg.”

 

The analysis droid nodded and went over to the massive aquarium tube that held several tens of the lizards together. Each lizard inside was attached to the central feeding unit inside, so no doubt it wasn’t going hungry, but Oogoo cared for the Yslamari all the same. If one was feeling discomfort, he wanted to know why. 

 

“Sir, P3 seems to have damaged one of his claws. Must have gotten stuck when it was trying to move.” P3 reported back, still looking the lizard over.  

 

Oogoo floated, or rather, swam, over to the tube, wanting a better look while being 35 feet up in the air. The Celegian raised a loving tentacle up to the glass and pressed against it, much like a human youngling would do with their fish tank. 

 

“Awww, did little P3 cut his little toe-bean?” Ooogoo’s vocoder emitted. Despite its monotone, the vocader plugged directly into the floating jellyfish’s brain still somehow projected the emotion  that Ooogoo had for his wards. 

 

The lizard inside made a couple of wounded chirps, its pain obvious. Ooogoo focused, projecting her own natural telepathy to the lizard, trying to convey that everything would be ok. The Yslamari quieted down and didn’t even flinch when S-I23 injected a pain medicine into the afflicted area via the feeding tube.  

 

“There, there, you see? All better…” Oogoo cooed a bit more before turning to the analysis droid. “Make sure little P3 gets a daily regimen of extra nutrients and pain medicines until his claw is healed. 

 

The droid nodded in acknowledgement but Oogoo had already turned away to look at the other 29 tubes in the massive chamber. While some beings would have considered this job mind-numbing at the very least, doing nothing but fill out paperwork, keep an eye on a lot of lizards, and oversee the droids who actually did keep an eye on the lizards, Oogoo loved it. The ritual, the consistency, the non-excitement, despite being in one massive prison. Being a natural telepathic that his species was known for, he always had company with the lizards in a way not many beings had.

 

A klaxon alarm blared out. Oogoo felt a rush of annoyance and confusion as the Yslamari became frightened at the noise. She tried to calm the lizards, but that was a pointless task. There were too many to calm down. Instead, she swam to where the alarm was coming from: The door. 

 

“Odd” Oogoo stated to no one in particular. “I am not expecting any visitors. S-123, my replacement isn’t for another two years, correct?” 

 

S-I23 confirmed it. Oogoo became more confused. Visitors were extremely rare. Unannounced ones more so. With the entire chamber filled with poisonous cyanogen, the only beings that could enter without a protective suit were droids and himself. The ‘perfect security protection’ the authorities called it. Oogoo preferred to call it the ‘perfect isolation chamber’. 

 

The inner sealed door opened. Standing before him was a LV8 security droid and another analysis droid.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” Oogoo demanded. 

 

The security droid didn’t reply. Instead, it looked at the analysis droid, diminuative compared to the large security droid. “Here is section 45, unit S-0L115.”

 

“Excuse me, what is the meaning of this?” Oogoo demanded again. 

 

The LV8 turned to Oogoo. “I must now get to the section 18 to attend security alarm. Please remain here until the situation has been handled.”

 

Oogoo’s vocoder groaned in annoyance as the droid left. “Stupid security droids. Too rigid.” 

 

The Celegian turned to the new analysis droid. Something was odd about the droid. It wasn’t built like the others, its wiring was in odd locations, and its parts looked a bit rusty. But that wasn’t what was bothering Oogoo. Even as it stood, looking at Oogoo, adjusting its sensors, something about it felt off. 

 

“Unit…what was it? S-0L115? Stupid number…”

 

The droid didn’t react. It only adjusted its sensors further. Oogoo shuddered as the thing looked him over and over. He felt like his yslamari felt occassionally. Being studied by something he didn't fully understand. 

 

“Hello? Droid! What’s your malfunction droid? And what is that at your side?” 

 

Oogoo reached forward with a tentacle to grab the cylindrical device at the droid’s side. 

 

The droid reacted quickly. Much too quickly for an analysis droid. Its hand went to the device and activated it. Swinging it, the red blade emitting from it cleaved the tentacle apart. Oogoo would’ve screamed in pain, had the blade not slashed the vocoder next. It sparked and exploded with energy, sending Oogoo flying backwards and crashing into one of the tubes, shattering it.  All the Yslamari, both in the broken tube and the other tubes, felt their protector’s mental screaming and began to screech and click in their own language of pain. 

 

Solus didn’t stop with the floating brain. The other droids were reacting, moving for the alarms or blasters. If he still had access to the force, he could race across the room in a flash of an eye, but without it, he was forced to resrot to running after them. 

 

Thankfully, they were only analysis droids, restricted by their programming and unable to overclock in anyway. They could not sprint like he could, nor aim like he could. They were made to study and analyze, not combat. Solus on the other hand held no such restriction and pushed his gears and parts further then they were meant to go. Within minutes, each droid was cut down. 

 

“Well that was unnecessarily annoying…”  Solus commented while sheathing his blade again. “Now, onto the important stuff…”

 

Solus moved to the control panel of one of the undamaged tubes. 

 

“Lets see, lets see…” Solus mused out loud. “Temperature controls…temperature controls, where are you, temperature controls, ah! There you are. Now let's lower the temperature, shall we? Hmm, how low can we go? Lower, lower…

 

That won’t work

 

Solus froze. “Excuse me?”

 

That won’t work. The temperature. The tanks can only go down so far. Its a… safety feature

 

Solus looked everywhere. “Wha…who is this? Who is talking to me?”

 

I am

 

Solus turned around. The floating brain was still laying next to the broken tube, the yslamari no longer screaming. It was only then when Solus realized all the lizards were not screaming. 

 

“You? But…thats…”

 

It is my way the voice spoke. The brain thing raised its slashed tentacle, to emphasize the fact that it was speaking telepathically to the Shard. 

 

“But…the lizards..” Solus pointed at the Yslamari.

 

The force has no use for me. I am simply…connected. Like them, it is simply biology, nothing mystical. Limited, but useful. It is why they hired me

 

Solus approached the blop of a brain and placed a foot on a tentacle. The yslamari screeched as the thing’s pain communicated through each other. 

 

“Fascinating…” Solus released his foot. Instantly, the lizards stopped screeching. “Telepathy without the force. You are a fascinating thing…”

 

 The same could be said for you. What are you? You are droid but not droid? You are organic but not organic?

 

“A Sith. And a Shard. A crystelline being” Solus commented, and then realized what he said without thought. This telepathy was making the Shard more loose then ever. 

 

I see. And you want to kill my babies. Well it won’t work. 

 

“Ya, the temperature like you said, you bulbous ball of brains. Thankfully i can always do this…”

 

Solus reactivated his blade and attacked another tube. The thing shattered, leaking water, and lizards everywhere. Instantly the things started to screech and scream as Solus continued slashing the bodies over and over. 

 

“Aheh? See? So I can't be as finesseful as I want, but I can still…

 

Solus stopped. Oogoo was talking to him again. The voice, as strange as it was, communicated with the Shard like a soul speaking to another. 

 

Oogoo was laughing. 

 

You think too little, lonely Sith. There are more throughout the station. You can kill these, but the Force still won't work in here. 

 

The brain thing started to levitate slowly. It was a struggle to be sure. More than once it fell back over on itself. But it tried over and over again, much to Solus’ confusion. 

 

This station has the Yslamari all over the station. This is just a breeding and shipping area. When one dies, I make sure a replacement is sent. If one needs more nutrients, I make sure my babies get what they need.  

 

The Celigian laughed harder, Solus’ shard starting to throb in pain from the intensity. 

 

Did you think it would be that simple to kill my little ones?

 

Solus clenched his fists. His own vocader screeched as he swung the blade again, aiming for the floating brain’s other tentacles, slicing them cleanly off. The lizards screamed again as it tumbled to the ground. 

 

No! Stop, there is no point in hurting me!

 

This time Solus didn’t stop. He stepped onto the brain’s last functioning tentacle and began to poke the blade into Oogoo’s  soft exposed body. 

 

“If it's not a simple matter of killing your babies, then maybe you and I can come up with something more complex, you stupid sack of sheltering scum!”

 

The room was filled with the sound of screaming lizards as Solus began his first experience in torture.

[Solus]

For an undefined amount of time, Solus got lost in pleasure. Despite being only adept at best in the infliction of pain, or perhaps because of his inexperience, he became lost in the moment. Each slicing cut, each prodding stab, each brutal blow and stern question made Solus rise in elation. The cries and shrills of the Yslamar around him only added to the bliss. 

 

Only the loss of gravity made Solus realize how much time had passed. 

 

“Kriffing son of a kriffing…!” Solus cursed as he grabbed onto the broken tube before floating too far from the ground. The loss of gravity was another new experience, but unlike the torture, it was not a welcomed one. 

 

Its…too late… The voice of oogoo taunted in Solus’ shard. The brain floated gently upwards as well, unable to move at all. The loss of all his limbs and the amount of pain he was suffering from made any form of locomotion impossible. 

 

The Station…is falling…

 

Solus tried to ignore the voice. The torture had been enlightening, but not in what he had hoped for. He needed a way to kill the lizards, and quickly. Who knew how his compatriots were doing? Without the force, he had no means of sensing his master’s progress. He needed to focus. He needed to find a way…

 

Solus looked down at the ground. Floating several feet off of it made it look different. Solus wondered. 

 

“Lets see, you said that this is the breeding and shipping area, right bulbous brain?” Solus started, not caring for an answer. An adjustment of his sensors revealed several places in the floor that needed maintenance. Some spots were slick with Oogoo’s fluids, Others were dented from heavy footsteps, like passing guards. 

 

One such dent caught the Shard’s eye. 

 

Solus pulled himself and floated gently to the floor. Using the small hook on the hilt, Solus caught himself on one of the dents, and placed a metal hand on the floor. 

 

“You aren’t the only unique one on this station…” Solus bragged. “I can sense things too. Not brains unfortunately, but i have a knack for not getting lost. And you know why? Electromagnetism. I can feel magnetism, like that from poles on planets and batteries. I can’t sense people per say, but large amounts of energy is doable.  And there…”

 

Solus tapped the floor with his hilt once before wedging the hook into the lightsaber resistant material. “Is a lot of energy down here. Energy used to…”

 

Solus grunted and groaned, both vocally and with his own metal joints as he pried the floor piece up, revealing a large, crowded section of tubes, vats, generators and processors. 

 

“...help maintain your baby's nutritious milk.”

 

Solus didn’t need the Force guess how much panic came from Oogoo’s realization. But to add to the worry, Solus, continued. 

 

“You see, your lizards prefer their food at specific, warm, temperatures. Helps keep them plump and healthy. Makes their repellent abilities more potent. And to keep the food at that temperature, as well as to power the pumps that move the nutrients, the station has these generators to regulate it. And generators and batterries always require the same stuff all droids have in them…”

 

Solus had crawled into the crowded, claustrophobic area and activated his blade, opening up one of the generators. Inside, the liquids of battery acid began to leak out, almost hissing. Solus laughed as he moved his blade to a tube and touched it, making a small hole. The almost watery but almost sludge-like nutrient mixture continued to shoot through, mixing in the deadly acid that dribbled inside.

 

“And like you told me during our torture, its feeding time. And because this is the central breeding area of the entire station, it stands to reason that all the feeding tubes connect to these ones…”

 

Solus began to giggle as he squirmed through the area, damaging more generators and causing more acid to leak into the nutrient-dense material, until each one did their newly appointed task. He became almost giddy with his work. By the time he pulled himself back out where Oogoo helplessly floated, he was cackling.

 

“Oh it is so amazing! Its so great! The Fanged god’s work is being done!” Solus cried out as he floated upwards into the air, spinning slightly, blade still in hand. Already the effects of the tainted nutrient material were taking hold. The Yslamar that were connected to their feeding tubes absorbed the acid directly through their claws and into their systems, guaranteeing a quick, but painful death. The ones in the room he was in already were giving their last croak. 

 

“This is my goal! My achievement! To kill and to kill without care! How masterful my art is now, how beautiful my craft is! With these deaths, more will die by my Master’s hands, and by his hands, my god’s hands, hahaha! I am brilliant! I am perfect! I am…”

 

Solus never finished his sentence. The Impossible Geometries rushed back into him full force, overwhelming every single sense he had. For a moment, Solus became lost in the geometries, a blibbering shape amongst the congruent and pulsating stars and spheres.  It was a complete and utter bliss that filled the Shard up, a complete awe at the unspeakable sublime that flooded him.

 

Then, that which dwelled beyond the outer spheres, rushed with it too. To another Force user, it was just another facet of the Dark side, but to Solus, who had long become a beacon for that which dwelled between and beyond stars, recognized it as something else entirely. 

 

Solus began to scream and panic. Returned to his senses and floating helplessly in the zero gravity, he witnessed the walls take a new shape, twisting and bending over themselves. The flesh that grew from the cracks made the metal groan. Bulbous and bleeding eyes sprouted and grew, all completely focused on the helpless thing that hung in the air. The fingers, pincers and tendrils that stretch out from the ichorous scabs to grab the Shard moved through the air unimpeded by the lack of gravity. 

 

“No! No! Not again! Someone, help!” Solus panicked and freaked. He reached towards the floating body of Oogoo, hoping that perhaps the brain would help. But all he found was a corpse, being devoured by a gibbering mouth and a pair of fangs, green saliva splattering everywhere and blood draining upwards onto the ceiling.

 

Solus swung his blade wildly, trying to turn back the flesh. The sizzling muscles and skin cut by the weapon only stopped momentarily, as more and more flesh flooded in to wrap themselves around the Chassis. The mouths spoke Solus' name, with dialect un-transcribable. 

 

For the time Solus had been under the protection of the Yslamari bubble, he had been sane. He had been disconnected from whatever madness this was. Without them, he was a target for their maddening hallucinations. 

 

Restrained and immobile, Solus could only scream as the flesh touched his very Shard and seeped themselves through the cracks given by that Tree on Nar Shaddaa. A vision flooded his thinking as he lost all control. A floating station in a sea of black, with a fleshy spider-like thing sitting on top, the mark of the Fanged God on its face.

 

Solus screamed as he blacked out, the force briefly rippling with dark echoes of the Shard’s flooding madness. 

 

Later, the doors to the room exploded outwards. Solus came flying out, swinging his blade and screaming like a madman. Lost of his faculties, Nothing more than his base instincts drove him forward. Find his master. Find someone. Find anyone. Get away from the thing that was chasing him. The flesh would follow, but he would fly faster. The flesh would ignore everything but him, but he would fight faster. He would find someone. Anyone. His master, a lowly linnorm, Mavenger, even that stupid useless good-for-nothing excuse-of-a-corpse necromancer. Anyone might help him hold off that which followed him. That illusionary, non-existent all powerful thing that chased him, eager to swallow his very essence whole. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Solus

[Solus]

More than once, Solus felt the flesh swipe at his metal feet. Each time Solus flinched, barely avoiding the meat that sought to claim the Shard’s essence. The Sharde moved frantically, pushing off each piece of wall and floor that he could in order to gain speed. When security droids fired upon the flying Analysis lightsaber-wielding droid, Solus almost ignored them, only cutting them down as an afterthought. Those he missed he hoped the flesh would be momentarily distracted by.

 

It wasn’t. It was born beyond and it existed beyond. Life gave it form and form gave it life. Droids did not exist to it, and it did not exist to the mindless circuits of droids. It existed in the Force, and the Force was perverted in it. It sought to devour those that gave it life, and in its own twisted way, give life to those it devoured. It existed only to those that would allow it to exist. The Shard gave this thing life, and it would infest it. 

 

Solus peeled around a corner and saw the others. 

 

“Thank the Force, save me! Get this thing away from-”

 

Solus didn’t finish. A flesh covered pincer grabbed the Shard and began to pull it back into one of the thing’s many blubbering, bleeding orifices. The Shard had given the thing its form, and now it would complete the process required of the Shard. 

 

The sudden chill from the necromancer’s spell caused the thing to suddenly slow.  The spirits that swarmed the mass of flesh caused it to turn from blubbering to gnashing. The tendrils lashed out wildly at the ghost-like things, with new eyeballs and limbs sprouting in response at these things, but with the sudden cold of the thing and the immateriality of the spirits, it was a difficult battle to say the least. 

 

Then, when the warrior Mavenger began to attack, the thing turned from gnashing to moaning. These enemies were pains and annoyances, but simultaneously, life giving. They believed in its essence, and thus, gave it life. It would wound them, destroy them, and show them the madness it was born from. The Madness. The Madness and the Death that awaited everything that existed. 

 

This distraction was what gave Solus the opportunity to escape it’s clutches. Between the spirit’s attacks and Mavenger’s onslaught, Solus broke free and flew towards the others. Crashing into a wall, Solus turned and looked back at the fight that battled between the monstrosity and the others. They were fighting the thing back. But for how long?

 

“Stop!” Solus yelled. “Leave me alone!” 

 

Solus blindly reached into the Force and at the thing that had pursued him. Its incalculable mass and weight was born in the Force and in its own weird way, was tethered to him. By reaching into the force, he would seize that tether, and through sheer will, anger, fear, and even a little bit of envy at its power, throw it back to the void that it was summoned from. 

 

The thing pulsed and ungulated as it pounded at Mavenger, who’s blades caused delightful but excruciating pain. The spirits that attacked were imitations of what it was, slowing but not damning. Irritating but not Only when the symbol of the Fanged God burned on all of its unblinking eyes, as Solus and it connected for a moment in the Madness that existed between the two, did the thing actually screech. All these things were too much for it. Mavenger was destroying its flesh, Innmortos destroying its mentality, and now, Solus destroying its very essence. 

 

Then it disappeared. The flesh that crawled on the walls faded into nothing. The blood and puss that leaked everywhere simply evaporated into the air. Cast out from this place, it returned from beyond outer spheres. Back to the beyond where the Temple stood its studious watch. 

 

Solus, spent from effort throwing the beast, fell over, batteries drained and crystal black into another Force vision.  Only his limbs randomly moved of their own accord, as the Shard’s voicebox repeated the same phrase over and over. 

 

“dne eht reven si dne eht reven si dne eht reven si dne eht reven si dne eht…"

[Solus]

During the entire trip back to the ship, Solus’ body continued to twitch and spasm over and over, like a person possessed. With draining power cells, and spastic thoughts, it would be a miricle if Solus could accomplish anything else. 

 

“dne eht reven si dne eht reven si dne eht reven si dne eht reven si dne eht…” over and over solus repeated, unaware of his surroundings or even himself. Wherever he was, he certainly was not in the shuttle. 

 

When the shuttle did finally dock with the ship, the first person to greet the group was the young sith alchemist simply only known as Stitch-Mouth. An odd being to say the least, this sorcerer of the Fanged God looked unsurprised at the entire group.  Instead he bowed silently to the group, the best form of respect the silent alchemist could offer. 

 

Being the designated mechanic for the Shard, Stitch-Mouth stepped to the imposing chair that held both Nok and Solus and set down a large handheld generator. Stitch-Mouth glanced at Nok and nodded in respect, before starting his work. Waving a severely burnt hand, several wires unwrapped themselves from the generator and floated towards the shard’s chassis. 

 

Even as Solus continued to twitch randomly, Stitch-Mouth didn’t stop. Once the wires were close to the body, the alchemist produced a small remote from his cloak and pressed the button. Instantly, the Shard’s body became lifeless. Now still, the chassis was primed for a recharge, and with no connection to the outside world, Solus’ brain could fully process whatever nightmare he was suffering. 

 

Not much later, Stitch-Mouth unplugged the power cables and pressed the remote again. As the Chassis whirred to life, Stitch-Mouth re-hid the remote, not wanting his project to know about the security feature. Bowing to Nok and then to the others, he slipped away, back to his studies and other projects. 

 

Solus on the other hand, was much more talkative. 

 

“Well well well!” He exclaimed, bending upwards into a sitting position. Glancing over, he nearly jumped back in surprise from the being who was commanding the chair he was riding. 

 

“Ah! You must be one of the people we were sent to save! Very nice, very nice, and might i say, impressive work. Did you make this? Ah, now i see why everyone was so eager to rescue you amongst the others” 

 

At this, Solus patted the chair beneath him and stood up, looking at the others. 

 

“ Looks like our mission was a success! Haha, my mission must have been a success yes? Of course it was. I remember clearly poisoning all those simple skin-sacs of lizards and their caretaker. Haha, yes yes, very good.  I remember the rush of power, the return of the impossible geometries, the...”

 

Solus paused as he seemed to remember something, then shook himself.

 

"Yes, a successful mission. Very good" Solus clapped his hands together at this, then did a double-take at the group. 

 

“Ah, i see our resident necromancer is missing? Did he finally bite the blaster, so to speak? Is Innmortos no longer immortal?  Bah, who am i kidding, that crawling corpse could probably survive anything, he probably is looking for a new corpse to inhabit.” 

 

Solus turned, jumped off the chair and bowed to everyone, one hand at his chest and one hand behind him, unable to read the room clearly. 

 

“To you who we have rescued, I am Solus the Dragon. Do not let my size nor my eagerness fool you, for it was I who gave you your access to the Force again. I look forward to working with you as we step forward into a new Sith aeon. "