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[Guest]

::Quintus laughs.::

 

"Come on, what the hell am I gonna try whilst injured and held captive on someone else's ship?"

[Rodya]

Rodya smiled back as he dressed one of Qunitus's wounds. "I don't know, but I saw what you did to that man at the Gunshop. I'm not going let you go till I know I can trust you."

 

Rodya kept working, applying burn ointments and bandages to the injured man.

 

"The man you see behind me is my partner, Wranon. We've been working together for a little while now." Rodya's thoughts trailed off into his work. He was certainly no medic, but he was doing his best. He thought he had seen an interesting medical droid at the Gunshop that would be handy now, but it was highly unlikely he'd be welcomed back to buy it any time soon. Carrying this man out, he thought, will surely implicate me in the manager's murder.

 

"Now, let's discuss why I carried you out of there." Rodya kept working, talking all the while, "You've got some skill. That I noticed when you managed to dodge my shots."

 

Rodya paused then began again, "I've got a job that requires some skill. Wranon and I can handle the work, but an extra hand would be useful. Are you interested in some work, or should I drop you off on some random planet?" The injured man had surely noticed Rodya's purchases at the store and had to be aware of the type of business Rodya was running. The dashade was being as straightforward as possible.

 

The question was slightly rhetorical. Rodya wanted an answer, but not immediately. "Then again, the whole occurence back there raises some questions about our relationship. I did try to kill you." Rodya couldn't help but smile as he wondered what Wranon was thinking of this conversation. "For my own reason though, I also saved your life. The reason I've got you tied up is because what I really want to know is which of my actions are you going to remember?"

 

Rodya had stopped working and was looking the man square in the eyes. He wanted an honest answer. If Quintus lied, or if he refused to work with Rodya he would be dumped off on a backwater world and left to fend for himself. If he agreed though, Rodya saw the makings of a profitable partnership.

[Darex Trevelian]

Once they were in hyperspace, Darex stood and stretched. He then made his way back into the main hold and glanced at Aerec.

 

"Well, padawan? Tell me what you learned in the caves."

 

His look was serious. He knew that Aerec had probably faced Riftor again, and even the way the young man chose to answer the question would tell the Jedi Master a lot about the visions the padawan had experienced. And if the way he was looking at Darla was any clue, she, at least, had been present in those visions.

 

He waited quietly for Aerec's response, his hands tucked in his sleeves.

[BLACK1]

(Nagi, until you show you're active, I'm giving your battlegroup over to Haphaestus. Once you come back, you can regain control of your position.)

 

"Inquisitor, assist Captain Nagi with his fleet in the assault of Selvaris. You are to leave immediately. Dismissed."

 

He spoke without turning to speak with them face to face, instead enjoying his scenic view from aboard his prestigious flag ship. Like loyal soldiers, the pair behind him turned and left, no room for questions. When they were off of the ship and reunited with their own ships, Black pulled his personal fleet out of hyperspace and recalculated their destination.

[Haphaestus]

"It shall be done," Haphaestus said, turning and leaving the same way through which he had come. He was no longer a wanderer among the stars, aimless except in contemplation. No, he was once again the Imperial Inquisitor, his old position reinstated with a thought. And now, in command of a battlegroup, worlds would fall before him.

 

The Sith Lord stalked off the bridge and back to the hangar, his long, purposeful strides making officers step to the sides of the hallway so he could pass, his dark cape trailing behind him. He had to admit, he favored the dramatic flair of a cape, though at times they had been known to interfere in combat. Still, the factor of intimidation and perhaps the likeness to Darth Vader it gave him commanded respect from all those around him.

 

Now he reached the hangar and took his small ship over to the Victory II-class Star Destroyer Starlisk's End, commanded by Captain Karson, which would be his flagship for the battle. In minutes he had siezed command of it and minutes after that, it had left the core and was en route to Selvaris.

[Kautra Nadio]

Kautra and Moons ships sliped out of hyperspace together, coming to a slow drift in the dark void.

 

"Now young one, as the force brought you to your crystal, it will also provide you with how to build the saber"

 

Kautra rummaged through a creat of spare parts that he always kept around for making lightsabers. focus lenses, and metal tubing. And a set of assorted wires and all the other material for creating a lightsaber. The was enough material there to make six in total, none the same. If she could not find what she was looking for, then she was out of luck here.

 

He laid the parts on a table, and called moon over to see.

 

"with the force you should be able to bind the metals together, and bend, and form the handle to any style of your liking."

 

(( i have been pretty lax on the level of detail of posts, but this one is very important. This is almost you last few posts with me and this is the one that tells me that you are ready to be set free into the RP on your own=P so lets make it the most beautiful posts you have ever writen. You dont have to do it in 1 post, i would like you to spread it out into about 3. After that is all said and done, we are heading back to Haruun Kal, to give you the final test))

[ForceFusion]

Aerec dropped a deep sigh. He knew this conversation would come. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to have it yet, but he knew it would come. And he was ready.

 

"Well, like you said, I saw visions in the caves. I could feel the power of the Force even as I entered it." He didn't want to detail the visions he'd had...but he knew he should. He knew it was what Darex was expecting and he knew that it was probably the best thing for him.

 

"The first person I saw was you, Darla." His eyes fixed on her sadly. He still didn't know what reality was concerning his friend. Would his nightmare from the cave come true? "We haven't talked much about...anything. But I can tell." How could one admit this, broach this subject? "That you...are sickened by what I had become. I can feel it, maybe in the Force, maybe just by what I see. I dunno. But that's what the vision was. It was short and...horrible. You confronted me, very briefly, and then...walked away. You'd given up on me. I realized that was one of my worst fears. People close to me giving up hope on me. It was heartbreaking. And...I'll be honest, I still can't tell what's real and what's not."

 

He let that sit, but not for too long. He didn't want to delve deeper with Darla, not yet. He needed to talk about the other things he'd experienced. "Then I saw you, Darex. And you sort of equipped me for the battle I was going to face. You told me it was okay to be unsure about some things about the Jedi, because they're things we experience along the way. I've been pretty unsure about it all since we first met on Gala. I still don't have a grasp of everything. And I know that feeling of being lost played a big role when I...fell. But your words in the vision gave me comfort. I...hope I wasn't just making them up to make myself feel better." He allowed a small smile on the corner of his lips, trying to show that there'd been humor in that statement. But...there wasn't. It was a tough thing to admit, but if Darex's words in the vision were false, then Aerec was basing everything on a trick he'd played on himself.

 

Perhaps that was one of the things....no...he wouldn't think about that now.

 

"Next I confronted Riftor. I guess I couldn't expect to get out of that one, could I?" A small chuckle lifted his chest. "He did everything you'd expect. He tried to get me to admit I didn't know what I was doing. I told him that it was all right not to know because I was still learning. He tried to tell me that he was too much apart of me, that I was ignoring my anger and hatred and all the things that had fueled me. He tried to make me the person who just survived. And I finally realized what you meant when you said some things are worth dying for. Then he assaulted me with all the anger and hatred and everything that I was as a Sith. And I wanted to kill him. I wanted to attack him back. But I resisted, I knew that nothing could actually end him. So I just said that I was a Jedi and that some thing were worth dying for. And that did it. He faded away like a flickering flame and where he'd stood was where I found the crystal to make this." He indicated the lightsaber in his palm.

 

Aerec wished that was all. He really almost stopped right there and didn't go on. There was a long pause where he'd trapped the next words in his throat. He knew that one more word would admit the one thing that he wasn't sure about, the admittance that might fulfill the prophecy Riftor had laid out for him.

 

"He came back." He dropped his head. "I thought I'd defeated him, but he came back. It wasn't really a vision this time, I couldn't see him and he couldn't do anything but speak to me. But he came back and wouldn't leave me alone. I was building my lightsaber and he played on my frustrations and lack of confidence. He told me that I was fooling myself, that I wasn't even sure I wanted to become a Jedi. That I didn't know what it meant and that I was making a decision that I would later regret. He said one day I'd wake up and realize that so much of my life had gone by fighting for this Jedi ideal that I never really believed in. And then I would hate myself more than I ever did as Riftor. And that I would be born again as a Sith more powerful than Riftor could have ever been.

 

"And I didn't have an answer!" he cried out. "He got the last word and I went on and finished my lightsaber anyway, and I'm still not sure I have an answer. I mean, I know the ideal I want to live by and I think it coincides with that of the Jedi but...I just don't know. I didn't know and I don't. And...I'm afraid that's what is dooming me later down the line."

 

He couldn't lift his head to look at Darex or Darla. "There are some things I don't understand. I didn't want to admit that. I almost didn't talk about that last part with you. But...I don't know."

[Serpe]

Moon nodded, and stepped over to the table, her eyes scanning everything. She picked up a wire here and there, a few pieces of metal, but set them all down. She scanned them again, her purple eyes glimmering with the stars. Her mind was completely focused on the task at hand. She chewed on the left side of her cheek thoughtfully.

 

"Hmmm." She sighed, picking up a lens. This one was not like the others, she noticed. It was a little more concave than convex. The set it down on a clean part of the table, near the lower left corner; choosing the first part of her new lightsaber.

 

However, when Moon set this piece down, she did not let it go. She kept her forefinger of her left hand on it. Instead, she used her right hand to find new parts. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath in. She exhaled, closing her eyes. She opened herself to the Force, letting it, not her, guide her right hand across the pieces.

 

Moon did not open her eyes when her right hand clenched a piece of wire. She gracefully, as if her eyes were open, set it right under her left hand. She breathed slowly, the Force flowing through her. Soon she had picked out not only the lens and a few scraps of wire; but also a short tube, an even shorter tube, and a small, bent tube that could connect them both. The similarity in these pieces were that they were not new, but sort of dull. They reminded her of life on Manda'yaim.

 

She opened her eyes now, the purple glimmering even more. She seemed even more focused, drawing in on the Force to find more of what she needed. Four more pieces of wire. Then, her right hand rested upon a strange looking sort of cup. It was small, small enough to hold a crystal. It, too, was sort of dull.

 

Moon looked at the now not-so-clear lower left corner of the table; the deep purple crystal she had found at Dantooine still protected in her hand.

 

"Master, I think I've got it." She looked at him intently. "May I proceed?"

[Kautra Nadio]

Kautra piad close attention to Moon as she picked out the pieces of her new lightsaber. He remembered when he was a young padawan like her, so new to the force, and the exquisite feeling it gave him. He remembered his old master, and how he had taught him the ways of the force, and how to build his lightsaber.

 

He caresed his thumb across the metalic surface of his first saber under his cloak, and felt the force flow gently into him. He still had a strong connection to it, and was glad that it had yet to leave him. The first lightsaber a Jedi builds was the most important he thought. When a Jedi is young, the force flows through them without much limit, making the connection all that much stronger with their first weapon. They build it out of love, and care. Not out of needed or desire. They way it looks is completely different then any other that they would create again.

 

Though Kautra had built several lightsabers since his first, they were all built out of need, thus not entirely personal. Curved handles gave more leverage when swinging the blade, making the motion quicker, and more powerful. A stright handle made the blade designed for thrusting, and stabbing. He had yet to build a double light saber, but it wouldnt be too long before he accompplished that task. Kautra wanted to be well versed in all the forms of saber fighting. So he would stand a much better chance should he encounter any foe.

 

Kautra lost his concentration when moon asked to get started, and he couldnt help but smile.

 

"Yes, you are free to sit where ever you want, and take as long as you need, there are no time restrictions here, for we have no appointment to make."

[Avararda Dinn]

"Ugh."

 

I heard a groan, but all I could see was darkness. To assess my own damages, I attempted to lift my head. With the added weight of my helmet, this proved to be an especially difficult task. I let my weight go and my helmet hit the deck of my ship. I could only lay there on the deck in a senseless attempt to recall how exactly I got here. I retraced my steps back from what I remembered.

 

The job... Coruscant... Capture... The woman... The woman! That was why I was here, laying helpless on the deck of my own damn ship.

 

But how? My eyes fluttered slightly and a gentle amount of luminosity seeped through my helmet's automated light filters. Slowly I let my eyes drift open, silently thanking the filters for dimming my visor. I struggled to turn over onto my shoulder. After a minute and a couple grunts, I was able to shift over to my stomach. My strength was beginning to fill my body, albeit slowly. I remained there, on my stomach, letting my energy seep back into my lame body.

 

One hand”¦ and then the other. I walked myself through the process of returning to my feet. Now my knees. I slid my knees up under my body and slid one hand up the wall, using the unyielding resistance to raise myself to my feet. It was there I wobbled only slightly before noticing the woman on the floor.

 

I paused and couldn't help but to glance at her astonishing features. Her jet black hair was strewn across the deck, as was the rest of her. The Marabi armorweave she was wearing only accented her curvy but slim body. I looked at her face, but didn't recognize her. Switching my external voice emitter off, the only thing that heard me was my helmet's built in sensor.

 

”œRun facial recognition,”

Edited April 29, 2009 by Guest

[Guest]

::Quintus shifts a little and winces at the burns caused by the droid's stun tendrils chafe.::

 

"Depends what kind o' work it is you're up to, fella. I'm always in the market for extra money, long as it's not something retarded like workin' in a soup kitchen or somethin'."

[Master Prophet]

(OOC: Previous Post)

 

The bounty hunter's composite assault armor wasn't much to look at, that's for sure. It was plain, dark in color, and had lost its reflection years back from too many fights. He could tell that it was somewhat of a keepsake to the bounty hunter he ”œpersuaded”

[Darex Trevelian]

Darex listened as his apprentice described what he had learned. He remained quiet as Aerec spoke of his vision of Darla, then offered a smile as he told Darex what he had seen in his second vision. "I'm glad at least that vision was one of comfort," he said. "And of truth."

 

As he spoke of his vision of Riftor, Darex inwardly nodded. Aerec seemed much calmer now, much more determined to follow the Jedi path, despite acknowledging his lack of understanding about what that meant. "You know Riftor will always be a part of you. But you did defeat him. He no longer has any power over you unless you allow him to."

 

He leaned back as Aerec finished. "As far as Riftor's prediction, we can never truly know the future. Some allow that to bother them, and by doing so, turn down the very path that they were trying to avoid. For others, predictions and prophecies they might see never come to fruition."

 

The Jedi Master paused. "We rarely know everything that being a Jedi fully means. It is a gradual understanding that develops over time, and it is constantly changing with the times.

 

"But Aerec, if you know what would help you understand, then I'm all ears. What do you think you still need to learn to become a Jedi?"

[James Krote]

The Thing was flying through the abyss known as space. James took solace in the fact that he was completely alone. He let his thoughts roam free as he got comfortable in his seat. He took out the datapad with his instructions and read through it and when he was comfortable he knew what was expected of him. He placed with the rest of his gear and relaxed.

 

After awhile of relaxation he saw Mon Calamari approaching and he readied himself and his things.

[apophenian]

That particular situation had not been working out to the best of his knowledge. For all intents and purposes, it just wasn't something or someplace he needed to be. Besides he secretly missed the finer things in life.

 

So he had waited and then when their backs had been turned so to speak stole out in the middle of the night, his ship a lost shadow in a sea of blackness, long before he made the jump to hyperspace. Now he was back toward moving to the center of the galaxy, totally focused on a task at hand.

[ObliviousKnight]

Armiena Darkfire's Ghost Breath raced through hyperspace.

 

 

And all the way back again.

[ForceFusion]

Aerec nodded, glad that Darex had confirmed that he wasn't fooling himself in the caves. He still wasn't entirely comfortable with what Riftor had said but...perhaps that would go away in time. It was best, now, just to ignore it, and get on with his training. With his life.

 

He was glad that Darex asked for his input in the training. It had been itching at him for a while now, even before he'd turned to the dark side. He had finally come up with a reason, in words, as to why he wasn't sure about the path of the Jedi.

 

"Darex, I need to do," he said. It felt like letting pressure out of a balloon. "I need to go be a Jedi. I want to go with you and do Jedi things, figure out what I'm supposed to be doing and where. I want to see if, in reality, my ideals are congruent with the Jedi. From all you've said to me, I think they do. But I won't know until it's tested.

 

"I've read that part of a Jedi's path is the class he or she chooses, Consular, Sentinel, Naturalist, Ace...I don't remember them all. But I have no idea which one I am. And I should probably start thinking about that. Heck, I don't even know which one you are."

 

He sighed. It wasn't a heavy, disheartened sigh as so many in the past had been. Rather, it was a determined sigh, one ready to move on to something else, put the past in the past and work towards a daunting future. "Long story short, I want to go out and do what a Jedi does. And maybe that starts with delivering this message to the Grandmaster?"

 

The connection he'd made didn't really make sense. It had just been bugging him for a while that he hadn't completed the task the Emperor had given him. A man who could shoot Faust in the chest was not one you wanted to make enemies with.

[Darex Trevelian]

He smiled at his apprentice. "This doing is certainly something we can handle. And if you want to start by finding the Grandmaster, then we'll do so."

 

He paused. "The last comm I recieved from her said that she was on Gala. Let me just check and make sure she's still there, and we can change course."

 

Darex let himself go into the Force, and it slammed into him like floodwaters. He welcomed it and let himself be submerged fully into it's flow, then analysed the information it offered him.

 

That information was not good news. The crystalline coating of peace that had lain across the galaxy in the past few months was now shattered. The general currents of the galaxy showed him several spots where tensions and conflict was the highest. In the midst of it, he sought out Gala, felt the conflict in that system, along with Armiena's presence somewhere nearby.

 

He sighed, his heart heavy, and looked up at Aerec and Darla. "War," he said, his voice husky, "has broken upon us again. I feel several points of conflict, and a rising darkness that has always meant the reemergence of the Sith into a more public sphere."

 

He stood and accessed the Holonet, getting up to date with the destruction of the Temple. His comm chirped a distinctive three tone. He glanced over at Darla. "It's a Jedi alert and recall signal. Grand Master Darkfire is warning all Jedi that the treaty is broken and requesting aid."

 

He glanced at Aerec. "I guess your message is irrelevant now." He thought a moment. He didn't necessarily want to put Aerec back in a place of conflict, but he also knew that if the young man could handle it, he would show himself a true Jedi. All of this passed through his mind in an instant, and the look he gave Darla communicated it to her just as easily as if he had Force-messaged her.

 

His green eyes turned back to Aerec. "We have two choices. We can join the battle; Armiena called for the Order to regroup on Gala. Or we can go to other key systems in hope of discouraging an attack on one of them. Aerec, I'll leave this choice to you. Although, personally, I feel I must return to the Order, as is my duty. You however, can choose your own path."

Edited April 23, 2009 by Guest

[Rodya]

"Depends what kind o' work it is you're up to, fella. I'm always in the market for extra money, long as it's not something retarded like workin' in a soup kitchen or somethin'," said Quintus.

 

Rodya thought for only a second about revealing information to the injured man. It was time to earn the man's trust.

 

"Good, so you're at least interested." Rodya dabbed more ointment on a wound and placed the final bandage on Quintus's arm. "I've already introduced Wranon. My name is Rodya, and I'm a bounty hunter."

 

This information, Rodya felt, was obvious, but it never hurt to be up front and honest. "The reason I attacked you back there was I figured if I killed you, I could get some kind of reward from the owner." As honest as he was being at the moment, Rodya didn't mention any other reasons he attacked the man.

 

"That's what I do. I guess you could say I find hunting people for money fun." Rodya's twisted, inverted lips spread apart revealing a Dashade smile. It was however, not an honest smile. It merely covered his true feelings. "The job I've currently acquired is hunting for one of the most lethal, ruthless, dangerous people in the galaxy--a Jedi."

 

Rodya left the word to hang in the air. Wranon already knew where they were headed and had seemed fine with the idea, but Rodya wondered what reaction he would get from the wounded man. Most people saw Jedi as highly dangerous, and Rodya had to admit, it was a risky mission, though nothing beyond his standards.

 

"Obviously, such a dangerous hunt would be very rewarding, and it's far removed from any soup kitchen." Rodya stood up and asked "Are you up for hunting Jedi?"

 

The question barely escaped his lips before alarms sounded notifying the three passengers that they had reached their destination.

 

"Stay here and think about it. We're going to Nar Shadaa. If you don't want to work with us, I'll release you when we land." Rodya turned to leave the room.

 

"Wranon," he said before stepping through the door, "stay here and watch him."

 

((Move to Nar Shadaa))

[ForceFusion]

Aerec quivered with the news of war. Had he been to slow getting to the Grandmaster? Could his message have voided this whole mess? He closed his eyes and reached into the Force, feeling all the darkness and conflict Darex had. He couldn't feel if his presence had changed anything. He just couldn't tell. It weighed on him.

 

But he thought past it. "If the Grandmaster has called the Order back to Gala, then perhaps she has a specific plan in mind. If we're in the middle of a war, then the Jedi will probably need every lightsaber they've got."

 

He gulped. "I guess this is as good a time as any to hone my abilities with this thing." He flipped the orange blade on and off. "Let's get to Gala."

[Darex Trevelian]

Darex nodded, his mood heavy now with news of the war. A few minutes later, he was in the cockpit, dropping them briefly out of hyperspace before setting a new course for Gala.

 

He then moved back to the main hold again. "Are you coming with us, Darla? It's your choice. If you want, we can drop you off somewhere." He didn't want to be parted with her, but he also didn't necessarily want her in the middle of yet another battle.

 

He then gestured at his apprentice. "Well, if you're going to be in a battle and have to use that thing," he said, gesturing at the young man's new lightsaber, "then it's best if you get at least a little training in it so that you don't lop off your own arm. I'm sure Faust taught you some basics. Let's see what you learned."

 

He drew his own lightsaber and ignited it, the deep blue blade springing into existence.

[Alora]

"This is my apprentice Wybert. So have you heard as to what the plan is yet?."

 

Alora turned around, letting her eyes rake over the young apprentice. At least he had bowed to her as was proper. She was sure that Draken would drum good courtesy into his apprentice... or the apprentice would die in the attempt. The Sith Mistress answered his latter question. "Not all. I'm sure you'll fill me in my dear."

 

She smirked at the escort and the other soldiers within the Auxiliary Command Centre. If they didn't have a job to do that required them to function in a focused manner she'd have a lot of fun distracting them. Alora behaved herself, the thought of wreaking havoc on the Jedi and Alliance more than enough to occupy her for the time being.

[darth shadowlord]

"Heh, he isnt the most intelligent apprentice I have ever. A warrior by the looks of him, doesnt have the knowledge to be a sorcerer or the skill to be an assassin. For the moment at least he is learning manners so that is one good thing at least. Force potential..... I'm really not sure. I'll need to test him more but from what I have seen, it would be similar to a bantha in cantina.

 

As to the plan, Raynuk has the first wave of attack With the Destroyer Heretic, Ar-Pharazon and Geki each have Destroyers under their command and are the next wave of the attack. This ship will form the rearguard of the assualt and also the ship from which we will wield Battle Meditation. I'm not sure as to the rest of the ships."

 

He put his arm around her and gave her waist a quick squeeze. He smiled at her then went to the front of the command center and sat down looking out at the stars and removed the vials of liquid from his cloak that he had picked up in Serenno. He then began to remove the numerous throwing daggers, normal daggers and various needles that he carried. He laid them out around him and began to coat the edges of each blade and needle slowly, letting the poison coating dry before returning them to their respective sheath.

 

Then with that done, he applied a portion of each poison to another weapon that he carried so that it would be ready in case he needed to use them. He reached into his cloak and removed two more small vials from his cloak. He levitated one over to Wybert and the other over to Alora.

 

"Take these before the battle begins, should I fall and my poison is turned against us. That vial contains the antidote, no one else has the antidote. Be sure to take it when we join the battle. It will taste vile but then it should after all, all things bad taste good, those that are good taste and are horrible."

[Ary the Grey]

Space. Aryian flew through it. By flapping his arms. Which was in all actuality physically impossible, because not only were arms aerodynamically unfit for keeping the weight of a human body aloft in a given atmosphere, but that space had a severe lack of said atmosphere. And just to break the fourth wall, he flipped off all the people who read this post.

 

Mods, please read this as "Aryian went through space on a ship."

[Lord Ar-Pharazon]

Ar-Pharazon, like an evil king from an epic war, long ago, against a nation of wise sages, sailed through space in his Star Destroyer, nearing the ultimate destination. He was ready to kill and maim and slaughter and kill some more. Let terror break!

[Wybert]

Wybert nodded as he was spoken of even if it wasn't a compliment. He knew that this was to be expected.

 

Wybert took the vial and studied it as Draken spoke. He put it in a safe spot on his person and listened. He knew they were going into battle but they most likely wouldn't fight with Draken providing aid through Battle Meditation. Wybert pondered that thought, he had heard stories of it turning the tide of battle and he was mildly excited to see it in practice and possible experience it's effects.

 

Wybert gave a bow before he left for the armory, he needed to get better armed. He wandered the ship in search of the armory until he eventually came across it. He found away in and looked around, he went to the explosive section and took a few choice thermal detonators, trip mines and adhesive grenades. He knew he might need them if he got into any sticky situations. The last thing he got was a heavier set of armor that he put on under his robe. When he exited the armory he looked more like a mercenary than a Sith with the armor and grenades.

 

He made his way back to Draken and Alora. He entered so he would be unnoticed without the aid of the Force. He found a seat and sat down. He prepared himself for what was next.

[SithAcolyte]

Darla had been listening to Aerec speak of his visions while her mind wondered. Something was pulling at her, calling to her. Not quite through the Force, but something within her own mind.

 

"Are you coming with us, Darla? It's your choice. If you want, we can drop you off somewhere."

 

Darex's words brought her back to the moment. She was a little shocked by them. Even though Aerec didn't know what had happened while he'd been away from the ship, it was still a strange thing for Darex to ask. Drop her off somewhere? Was his Jedi business more important than her? Was that what he meant.

 

They two of them weren't even really together yet, they had voice their feelings, kissed, but that was all. Already Darla's was questioning his words, his feelings and her own.

 

Why would he say that? Why would he think that I'd want to be dropped off somewhere? Perhaps he just said that for Aerec's benefit so that I could prove that I do want to stay, that I'm not sickened by him. That could be it. Or maybe he's worried. Worried that we're going into danger and I might be hurt because I don't have my abilities anymore.

 

I was a loaded question, but Darla didn't want to make a big deal out of it. There was a good chance that Darex had said it in all innocence and she was merely over reacting. She was still a little shaken up by the voice that she had felt in her head. It was an invasion that she had felt even without her Force senses. As far as she could tell, Darex hadn't felt it at all and she hadn't told him.

 

"I'm with you too. Where ever we're head." She smiled gently despite the little storm of thoughts and feelings that that churning inside her.

 

As Darex ignited his lightsaber she slipped out of the room and went to one of the cabins.

 

Once she was alone she took out the rosary that sat in her pocket. Julio had held the thing while he meditated. But there was more to the trinket than that. As she touch it, it almost seemed to whisper. Tiny voices left it and danced around her, half sounds that she wasn't even sure were real. They sent tiny shudders across her body.

 

She focused on the beads. Squeezing them tighter and tighter between her fingers. The whispers rushed back, getting louder and louder. The indistinct sounds suddenly becoming men, women, screams. They became louder and louder. Rising and rising. Darla dropped then beads to the floor and pressed her hands to her ears trying to block out the deafening roar.

 

The rosary hit the floor. Then the noise took Darla back...

 

Back. Back through her mind-scape. Back through her fractured memories. Back to the time and place where she had heard and felt the terrifying sounds.

 

Emptiness.... Blackness....

 

Darla stands alone in the nothing. Around her the nothing forms into a room. Still black. Still empty. But now she is aware of surrounding elements. Other beings. Things in the darkness that she cannot touch. Cannot grasp.

 

She still feels emptiness.

 

Suddenly she feels a piercing unbelievable agony in her chest. Before her eyes her heart is torn out. Even through the darkness she can see it as clear as day. Feel it. Tiny ashes pieces of black scattered across space. But she feels them. Knows what they are.

 

The agony subsides and Darla seemed to move away a little. Now she is just an observer. Watching. Bearing witness. Bearing witness to something miraculous.

 

Life after life. Death after death. Rebirth.

 

All of them and everything.

 

 

The fragments of her heart fly back together. Reforming into something hard cold and black. They don't return to her body though. The return to Julio's hand. He stands there in all his glory. Bloodied, beaten, burnt. In his outstretched hand he holds her heart.

 

Then he plunges his gauntlet-ed hand into flames. Flame that seemed to spring from nowhere in the dark, nothing of room that the two of them are in. Instead of burning, her heart un-burns. Flame dances across it's surfacing stealing away the black and leaving pink, ripe, bloody flesh in it's wake.

 

His hand leaves the fire holding her organ intact. In his grip it beginnings to beat. a steady drumming that seems to drown out the nothing. Darla wants to reach out and touch it. But she is nothing but a spectre in this realm. She cannot touch the beating organ. She cannot touch Julio.

 

He could be her destroyer. He could be her creator. Darla is unsure as she watches. Out of the nothing a body forms. A hideous ashen, lifeless husk. It may have been a woman once but all it's features have been burnt away. A black halo of frazzled hair crowns the husk. Julio approaches it.

 

He plunges his hand into a cavity in it's decayed chest, depositing the heart! As his finger trace backwards lines away from it, the hole closes itself.

 

Darla wants to know what's happening. Why has this man torn out her heart and placed it in this hideous thing? She looks to Julio. He looks back. He smiles as if he can see her then directs his eyes back to the corpse.

 

There are two flashes of light and the body is engulfed in flame. Darla wants to reach out. Her heart is in that thing! She needs it back!

 

As she watches in sick fascination the body un-burns. Just like Darla's heart had done. Ashen bones become supple limbs, the matted crispy halo becomes thick luscious hair. Black twisted scars become pink soft skin and lips. The husk becomes beautiful as the flames dance across it, devouring all signs of decay before engulfing themselves and winking out of existence.

 

What was once a ruined corpse is now a woman in the prime of life. But she lays lifeless, she is clothed in little more than rags and blood. Despite the gore she looks like a sleeping angel.

 

Although the flames have remade her body there is still a gaping hole in her chest. Darla soon realises that this beautiful dead maiden is her. She's seeing her past. Watching as time flows backwards. Her undeath. Her destruction is reverse.

 

Suddenly Julio's lightsaber sparks to life. He plunges it into the hole in her chest and lifts her up with. She's on her feet. She's alive, but just barely. Darla is no longer a witness. She is no longer watching. She's feeling. She's right there in that exquisite moment. Between life and death. Between the blade and the fall.

 

Julio pulls her warm bloodied body to his. She's aware of how much of his own blood had been spilled as well. She's aware of his warmth as he presses his saber into her. In fact she's aware of very little else.

 

This was real. This had happened. This was the thing that she had been so afraid to face. So afraid that she crawled inside her own mind and shut out everything else.

 

But right now. Reliving her death and her life. She felt so vibrant! So ALIVE! Alive in a way that she hadn't felt since. A being of passion and violence locked in the embrace of death. Not wavering. Defiant to the end. Looking into his eyes and feeling like she could see into his soul. Seeing that sadness there too. He didn't want to slay her. He wanted her to join him. But she had fought him to the death...

 

"Shh. Don't move. You're in shock now. In a moment, you'll begin to feel light-headed, then drowsy. Don't resist, it's so gentle, like slipping into a warm bath. I regret it came to this, Darla, but every game must have it's end."

 

It was the same voice that had entered her mind on Ilum....

 

 

 

As the revelation came to Darla her body fell to the ground. The rosary slipped from her hand. She spasmed from the shock of what she had witnessed and her body shut down. By the time she hit the floor she was asleep. But it those final moment she had one thought.

 

Julio couldn't remember either...I must show him...

[Darex Trevelian]

Glad because he wanted her by his side and yet slightly saddened for the danger and death she could face; the fact that Darla was coming with them was acknowledged and accepted by the Jedi Master. He focused on working with Aerec for the next twenty minutes or so, noting that she had left the room, but staying focused on his padawan's training.

 

However, he suddenly felt a boil of emotion coursing out of the room she had vanished into. Shocked by the feeling and instantly put on guard, he froze in the middle of a sentence correcting Aerec's form. "Darla!"

 

His lightsaber still lit and on guard even though he knew that logically there could be no possible physical danger, he dashed to her room. The door slid open with the flick of a mental finger, and a quick glance around the room found it empty save for her prone figure. He disengaged his lightsaber and bent down over her, concern written over his features. He probed her with the Force and was relieved to find that she wasn't physically harmed.

 

But people didn't just pass out for no reason. He lifted her up and carried her in his arms to the med station, where the diagnostical equipment confirmed that she wasn't physically damaged. He thought about waking her with the Force, but knew that if she had been under a mental attack, encouraging her in the rather harsh way of a Force nudge could possibly damage her mind.

 

He motioned to Aerec, who had been standing outside the door, and shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea what happened." His tone held concern for her, but also the realization that since he was no healer, there was nothing he could do but hope she recovered on her own. It was a bit frustrating, and he resolved to seek out Skye sometime in the near future to get more training in the healing arts. Or perhaps Darla would teach him, as long as she recovered her Force senses.

 

Darex shook himself. "Sorry to interrupt our training. You're doing well, padawan." He took out a remote from a pouch on his belt. "Training with this remote will help you fine tune your finesse with the lightsaber, as well as give you practice fighting a longer-range attacker and in deflecting blaster bolts--all of which you'll probably have to deal with in the upcoming battle. But either way, it's a crucial part of saber training. Once you find you can reflect the bolts back at the target, you'll be ready to move on."

 

He activated and let the remote go in the corridor outside the med area to prevent any stray bolts from hitting Darla. He left the door open and pulled up a chair by Darla's medical bed. This way, he could keep an eye on her as well as Aerec.

 

He also began to mentally prepare himself for the ordeal ahead. They would be arriving at Gala soon.

[ForceFusion]

Aerec's first instinct was to attack. He jumped in at Darex with an over the head blow with a lot of power behind it. Darex, of course, easily blocked it away. But Aerec was prepared for whatever riposte might come. He stepped back to re-set for a very quick moment, before jumping into another attacking combination.

 

They kept this sparring up for a few minutes -- Aerec the constant aggressor -- before he realized what was happening. It was strange to actually be dueling Darex. So many times under Faust's tutelage, the Hunter had used visions and illusions of the Jedi Master to manipulate. Now Aerec was fighting the real thing. Just sparring, practicing of course...but still.

 

I'm all attack! It struck him hard. Most of his combat training had come under the Sith Master. Faust had taught Aerec to be aggressive, to use his anger, to strike and cut at the opponent. Though his emotions weren't rising, the beat of his heart was quickening. He could feel his pulse raging, like it had when Faust had first taught him. When first had first taught him....

 

When Riftor had been born.

 

Come on, Aerec, came the voice. How weak do you feel, impersonating these attacks without putting any energy behind them! Lash out!

 

Aerec just pushed it away. He didn't want to deal with that right now. He was practicing his lightsaber technique. That was what mattered. Darex could teach him new things, correct his form. He didn't need Riftor getting into his head.

 

His muscles still remembered the attacks and defenses that Faust had taught him. It was true, though, what Riftor said. He didn't feel nearly as powerful without rage behind him. But his form was all right. After twenty minutes had gone by, rather quickly, beads of sweat rolled off his forehead. It was cleansing.

 

Then came a blast of anguish in the Force. Darex abruptly left and came back with a slack Darla in his arms. "I have no idea what happened."

 

"What can we do to help her?" Aerec asked. But it was obvious there was nothing. Darex wasn't a healer and Aerec wasn't even really a Jedi. He wished he could do something.

 

Darex didn't seem too worried, though. He set up the remote and instructed Aerec on how to defend against it. The first shot surprised him and caught him in the shoulder, sending a flash of shock and pain through his body. "Ouch!" For a moment, he wanted to get angry.

 

But instead he focused and predicted the next shot, blocking it down to the floor. Blocking the shots, he found, was pretty easy. He did it for a good twenty minutes before being fully confident that he wouldn't be hit, but his instincts were tuned by then. Re-directing it, however, was another story altogether.

 

He had never taken a physics class and had no theory on how to angle his blade to target the remote-opponent. The little blasts bounced all over the room, nowhere near what Aerec had been hoping to target. The trial-and-error lasted a good hour before he even started getting in the vicinity of the remote.

 

The subtle fine tuning of his deflection techniques took another two hours after that, and he still hadn't hit his target. He was getting closer though. Every so often his shots went completely off.

 

At least I can block the damn things, he thought, more than a little frustrated. By this time, sweat was pouring and he was panting. The exertion in the Force was somewhat exhausting.

 

"I think I'll take a break," he declared. He could've continued, but he wasn't sure there was much more his body and mind would learn without getting some rest.

[Darex Trevelian]

Darex nodded at Aerec. "Yes, get some rest. You've done well; it's difficult to pick up that much in such a short time." I can tell you've not only learned the physical aspects of fighting, he thought, but possibly some of the mental hows as well. He glanced at Aerec again. "Plus, we don't want to arrive unrested and unable to help."

 

As Aerec went to a cabin, Darex turned back to Darla's inert form. He kept his focus on her, and was constantly searching her presence with the Force, alert to anything amiss. His hand reached up and stroked her cheek. "What happened to you?" he whispered. His chair was drawn up next to her bedside, and from there the Jedi Master continued his vigil, hoping beyond hope that she was fine and would recover before they arrived at Gala.