http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr-SwOB4-jA&feature=sub)
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Korriban, Valley of the Dark Lords, 18:30
"Ruin," announced the cloaked figure to the three lone beings who were its audience. "Nothing but rack and ruin, and desiccated Sith Lords in their tombs. Naga Sadow. Ajunta Pall. Tulak Hord. All of them are dead...or so the Jedi believe." The figure crossed its arms over its chest. Was it male or female, human or alien, or even a projection through the Force? No one knew, and not one of the three who were listening to him dared to find out.
"The truth is that Sith never die. We are a way of life, and a belief. As long as there are those who follow our teachings, we shall remain immortal."
The figure looked first to the human female on the right, then the Iridonian in the middle, and then the third Sith Initiate, clad in body armor so rigid and inflexible that anyone would have mistaken him or her for a droid at a distance. Metal, mesh, and a mask--that was all the third Initiate revealed.
"You," drawled the mysterious figure once more, pointing to the armored one. "You shall venture into each of the tombs, bringing me whatever secrets may remain locked within the sarcophagi of our forefathers." The figure smiled beneath a long, hooded cloak. The plan was to seal the Initiate inside, because that one had already lost. Failed. Disappointed the Sith fatally.
"Goran Tex," continued the figure. "You have much to learn of the second tier--strength--in the code of the Sith. Do not return to me until you have slain one hundred sentients, or one hundred beasts, with your bare hands. If you bring me back dead gizka, or the corpses of weaklings, you will fail."
The Initiate on the right was the true test--the test for all of them, and for the future of the Sith. He did not name this woman winner for naught.
"Gagnante," he said slowly. "The passion of battle runs strong in you, as does strength, but you still have something yet to gain--victory! Seek out the Jedi Enclave ruins upon Dantooine. The Force is disturbed there. If you locate our enemies, duel one and cut out his or her heart to bring to me. I will be able to feast upon that Jedi's essence in the Force. Do you hear?"
"I hear, my Master," replied Gagnante softly, kneeling down, "and I obey."
It was all she said, and was taught to say, to such a figure by her tutors. They were Sith, but they were not as powerful as this one. Not by far. There was only one thing that the young woman had to remember as she stroked the hilts of the two vibroblades at her belt: The winners earn their place as Sith, and their lightsabers. The losers die. That is all there is to know.
It was not long before Gagnante entered her non-descript courier's vessel (stolen from an abandoned spaceport lot on Coruscant) and launched off...
Juhani looked at the ruins of the Dantooine jedi academy and sighed heavily. No matter how many times she saw it, the sight always made her feel depressed.
It serves as a reminder that the Jedi are not invincible. That we will always have our own failings. So many of our number died here.
It was times like this that she wished Jolee would leave the temple on coruscant and accompany her on more missions. But the old man enjoyed teaching the children his unique views and nothing she said could perusade him to leave.
She found her thoughts returning to that of the mission she had been given. I need to find that holocron. It's highly unlikely that the salvagers found it all those years ago.
Juhani simply sighed once again and continued on in toward the ruins of the enclave.
In the tranquil blue skies of Dantooine, free and without danger ever since the Jedi Exile had helped restore them to their former peaceful expanse, a one-man courier vessel perched inconspicuously in the landing zone near the Khoonda Administration Building, still headed by the stalwart Administrator Terena Adare. A female emerged from that ship, red-haired and confident, wearing humble leather garments of an indeterminate grayish-black hue.
She told a protocol droid, that suddenly accosted her out of nowhere, that she had a message to deliver to the Jedi stationed at the Enclave. She produced a holocron (pried from the cold, lifeless hands of a true Jedi in the time of the Sith Triumvirate) that her Master had recovered. It was a decoy, the bait that would lure an unsuspecting Jedi into her trap! The woman strode confidently toward the Enclave ruins once the protocol droid informed her that they lay directly east of her through the fields. Propelling herself through the Force, she sprinted.
Once she reached them, Gagnante frowned, disappointed. They were just as shabby, ivy-covered, and smelling of mold as the ruins on Korriban had been dusty, desolate, and sweet with the stench of long-ago death. This is it? she thought to herself.
Suddenly, she sensed a presence nearby--Force-sensitive, and female.
Good. Gagnante positioned herself within the Jedi's line of sight. She appeared to be Cathar, with golden eyes and a knot of twisted purplish hair.
"Greetings, Jedi," smiled Gagnante. "I have a message for you: To the death!"
She flicked out her vibroblades and took a stance both aggressive and wary.
"Greetings, Jedi, I have a message for you: To the death!"
What?!
Juhani instantly drew her own violet lightsaber and positioned herself into a battle stance.
"I didn't expect to run into another force sensative on this world. But I know what you are. You are sith...you reek of the stench of Korriban. Of the darkside itself."
And with that last statement, Juhani ran at the Sith, hoping to take her by suprise.
Gagnante wasn't surprised. She rarely was. Ever since she was a child raised in the highly-congested and crime-ridden slums of Coruscant, she had learned to trust no one and watch everyone. The Sith remnants had taken her in, trained her, made her strong. That was what pain did to you, and anger. You always came out ahead in the end.
Disdaining such acrobatic tricks as the midair flip attacks the Jedi used, the young Sith Initiate parried.
You reek of the stench of Korriban... That she did. She hadn't had a proper wash in seven days--six of which had been spent on that Force-forsaken planet, standing at attention in the desert sun for hours, allowing herself no sign of weakness or fatigue. That was how the last five initiates in her squadron had met their ends. They deserved it. So her instructors said.
Gagnante performed a sudden volte-face, with her two vibroblades clanging up against the hilt of the Cathar's lightsaber. She cut in a downward stroke, lacerating Juhani on the arm, but it was a light flesh wound only.
She then lurched forward and gave a mighty kick, sending Juhani backward.
I won't lose. You don't know what kind of a Sith you're gambling with.
Juhani caught herself directly after she was kicked backward and force-jumped back a few feet landing on her feet.
"You honestly think you have a chance against me?" She asked in bewilderment. "Let me tell you something child. I fought against the followers of Darth Malak during the Jedi Civil War. And then I survived the great purge by fighting Sith warriors."
She is quite good. She was able to get a small cut on me. She has had some training which means one of two things: That a Sith master yet lives or that she has had training from some sort of holocron.
Juhani ran at the sith and then kicked at the sith's leg using the force to add more power to the kick. She smiled slightly in satisfaction as she heard a sharp crack when her foot connected to the leg.
"Surrender now. You need not die here today."
Gagnante tumbled forward, a searing bolt of agony tearing through her skull. The Cathar Jedi, with her Force-imbued kick (which was far stronger than her own had been), had connected to her tibia and caused it to fracture.
Dropping her vibroblades so abruptly that all they did was clatter uselessly upon the ground, the Sith could do nothing except kneel on all fours.
Fighting back tears of pain and humiliation, Gagnante gritted her teeth.
For about two minutes, she shut her eyes and tried to heal herself through the Force. She had strength and will the likes of which her Master had rarely seen. If she could knit the bone back together, at least temporarily, then she could keep fighting. If not--she was no longer worthy of her name. It meant "winner", after all. If she surrendered...
Her tibia was unresponsive to her deep meditation. Gagnante decided to try a different strategy. Sometimes opponents were beaten not by brute force, but by stealth and trickery, as in the games of dejarik that she loved to play in her scarce free time.
"You may call me Gagnante," she said, pronouncing it ga-nyahn-tuh. "I wish to know your name before I decide to live or die. You are strong--strong enough in the Force to arouse the attention of my Master, and astonish me."
She dared not reach for the vibroblades. It was too much of a gambit.
[Can I be the figure in the first post? :P]
"I wish to know your name before I decide to live or die. You are strong--strong enough in the Force to arouse the attention of my Master, and astonish me."
"My name is Juhani." Was all Juhani said before pulling a long-distance comn unit out from one of her robe pockets and activating it.
"This is Jedi Knight Juhani of the jedi order requesting permission to speak with the Grand master. I repeat, this is Jedi Knight Juhani requesting permission to speak with the Grand Master. I have urgent information regarding the sith."
Juhani took a quick look at the two vibroblades laying on the ground before grabbing them with the force and sending them flying away from both her and the sith. She didn't want to take any chances.
Fethe arrives on Coruscant from a mission on Tatooine, where a band on raiders attacked a small settlement near Mos Espa. Fethe leaves his ship on the dock and heads towards the training grounds, there he founds with Jolee.
“Greeting Jolee, sparing time with the young apprentices”- Fethe says “Maybe I can help you on anything.”
Gagnante, noticing that Juhani was contacting the last person in the galaxy that she herself would want to see at that moment, mustered her strength (which was quickly ebbing away due to the excruciating pain of her broken leg) and used the Force to propel the comlink out of Juhani's hand and into the air. After it landed in the grass a safe distance away from her, the Sith Initiate crushed it through the Force, shattering it into a hundred pieces. There.
Sweat was beading on her forehead and cheeks. "Two can play that little game," she said slyly, referring to how Juhani had tossed her vibroblades away from her. "The Grand Master of your Order is the last person I would want to execute me. You know how we Sith operate: Winners rise. Losers die. I would rather perish by your hand than his--or hers." She sighed. "My Master is going to kill me anyway if I return empty-handed, without the heart of a Jedi as proof that I have indeed slain one. That will be my victory, if I can achieve it."
Coruscant
“Greeting Jolee, sparing time with the young apprentices”
Jolee Bindo looked up watching a training match between two young apprentices and observed the stranger.
Where have I seen that face before? Oh right. Fethe Ernhan, someone else who decided to hide himself on Kashyyyk.
"Well hello there youngster! No...I'm far to old to spar with these young ones. They're just a little too fast for me to keep up with."
“Maybe I can help you on anything.”
Jolee smiled as a sudden thought came to mind. "You can help me by taking over my training class for a bit while I go and take a short break. I'm an old man, I'm entitled to a short break once in awhile."
The Grand Master's chambers
Grand Master Brianna was looking over reports from the various jedi who were scattered across the galaxy when she heard a knock at the door of her private inner sanctum.
"Please enter."
A jedi wearing the robes of a Padawan learner nervously entered the inner sanctum holding a datapad. "Grand Master, we recently recieved a transmission from Jedi Knight Juhani. She said that she had urgent information regarding the sith before the transmission was cut off."
"I need to think on this. I need to think of the appropriate Jedi to send to assist her. In the meantime try and get back in contact with Knight Juhani. Rest assured, my decision will be made quickly."
The learner nodded once and then left the chamber, leaving Brianna to meditate on who to send.
Dantooine
"My Master is going to kill me anyway if I return empty-handed, without the heart of a Jedi as proof that I have indeed slain one. That will be my victory, if I can achieve it."
Juhani simply stared daggers at the Sith. She needed to warn the Order that the sith were still awake in the galaxy. Right now the order was unaware and that had to be fixed.
"Rest assured...the Jedi do not kill their prisoners. I will not kill you. Despite how tempted I may be."
Fethe looks directly at Jolee's face and smiles “I would Jolee, but I believe it is you're duty friend” Fethe leaves the room and heads towards the meditation chamber, looking for some rest and awaiting for any mission or duty to attend. Fethe has been having deep toughs of taking a apprentice, he believe it is time, but he will wait until he finds the correct person to train.
"Tempted?" The Sith Initiate's interest was piqued. "I understand your anger. I feel it in your blood, in the veins that are starting to pulse on your forehead. You heard the call of the Dark Side once, didn't you? I can teach you to heed it again." She quickly cast a Force barrier around herself, just in case the Jedi tried to attack her again. Gagnante was still kneeling on all fours. Her pain was too great to allow her to stand. "With your power and sheer force of will...you'd be invincible."
She closed her eyes. "Except to the one whom I obey. He would fight and slay you in seconds, but if you wish, I can teach you how to stand against him." Gagnante's eyes flashed golden-orange for a split second. "I am not a full Sith, or even an apprentice. I am only an Initiate, but even I know that our way is the way of betrayal. He wants your heart, but we can remove his!"
"I understand your anger. I feel it in your blood, in the veins that are starting to pulse on your forehead. You heard the call of the Dark Side once, didn't you? I can teach you to heed it again."
Juhani slowly shook her head and smiled sadly at the sith initiate. "True...I once fell to the darkside, but it is a path that I never want to fall to again. The darkside leads only to death, not power."
"I am not a full Sith, or even an apprentice. I am only an Initiate, but even I know that our way is the way of betrayal. He wants your heart, but we can remove his!"
I feel so sorry for this one. She is just now starting out on her journey down the darkside and has no idea what lays in store for her.
"I will counter your offer with one of my own. I can take you far from this place, to the Jedi Temple on coruscant where your wounds can be treated and you will be safe from your master."
The Jedi ruins on Dantooine proved to be an excellent hiding spot, especially if you needed to lay low for a while. That was the case for Psycho 6 months ago when he landed a stolen vessel here. He had gotten used to Dantooine's climate to the point that he actually enjoyed it. It was much better then the cell he was forced to rot into day in and day out. His days in that cell drove him mad to the point he began to fall in love with Death. He probably would still be sitting there had he not agreed to assist the jedi with certain tasks in exchange for being allowed out of his cell to do so. He knew the jedi would get suspicious soon so he had to do his job here. That was another benefit of Dantooine, they were so many jedi artifacts here he could just take one and claim he got it from elsewhere. He started walking towards the temple when he was suddenly brought to the ground head first. He looked up and saw two vibroblades on his chest. He snarled as he got to his feet and looked in the direction to where they were launched. A little detour wouldn't hurt, especially is he got to kill the people that did this. He started heading Northwest until he found a human woman and a cathar jedi...a very scary looking cathar jedi. Psycho instinctual put his hands to his throat then wondered why he did this. He shook his head and walked over to the two.
"Hey," he said to the cathar. "If you're gonna be training your apprentice out here could you please be more careful next time?" he said struggling with the word please. It was hard for him to act polite around the jedi but it was something they wanted from him.
Goran Watched in the Distance Looking through his Scope.
"These Jedi have no place in strength, If i bring these Pathetic Creatures back, My life could be at stake." After a Pause Goran Spoke Again " I will Have to keep Looking for my Prey. but then Again these Things could Make good Target Practice"
Goran left the Hillside and Started up his Speeder, Before Riding out into the Distance
Gagnante, truth be told, almost wet herself as soon as she saw Psycho approach them. What in the Force is that disgusting--thing?! It appeared to be a masked, droid-like figure with red and black body armor and clawed hands. "Stay back, monstrosity!" she growled. The Force barrier around her started to weaken. She was losing her concentration. "Are you of the Dark Side, or the Light?!" Then, realizing what the thing said, she raised an eyebrow. "You're assisting this Jedi? Then I'll have to kill you, too."
Once more she tried to stand, slowly, slowly--but the effort was futile. The shimmering barrier around her body dropped, and Gagnante knew that either way, by Juhani's hand or the creature's, she was done for. She looked up.
"Do you know what Gagnante, my name, means?" she asked. "Winner. I was trained and raised as a Sith, ever since the remnants of them found me in the slums of Coruscant. I was only five years old. I'm thirty-three, and I've never lost a battle until now. My Master does not call me that for nothing. He kills anyone who fails him."
She turned her eyes to Juhani. "Before you strike, you may call me Perdante." Humbly, she pronounced it pair-DAHN-tuh. "It means 'loser', or 'lost one', in the feminine form. It's a Coruscanti slang word, and I choose to wear it as a badge of honor instead of shame. You have bested me, Jedi, and far more--you have offered me a way out of this trap in which I have found myself. If you wish to kill me, do so. I am Sith...yet I surrender."
The cheerful tune that Dominic was whistling hardly matched the work he was performing.
His pack was now empty of detonation charges, each one having found a resting place at the supporting structures of the Dantooine ruins. One had to wonder what the point of blowing up a structure that was hardly standing actually was, but Dominic didn't ask. He needed only to know that his masters had ordered it, and that was enough.
He checked the map on his datapad once more, verifying that he had placed a satchel at each of the designated spots, and then swung his pack over his shoulder again. It thunked against his back for, though its original contents had been used, he had found something to replace it with. His masters were strongly against the existence of any Jedi artifacts - he supposed that was the purpose of sinking this pile of rubble into the ground - but he was not positive of this. As far as Dominic was concerned, the best way to kill the enemy was to first know them - and so the item that thunked against his back was a broken datapad that he recovered from the piles of its broken brethren scattered across the floor of the Enclave's ruined library. The difference between this one and the others? It actually looked repairable - and if it was, then perhaps he would find himself at an even greater advantage the next time he met a Jedi foe.
Unholstering the blaster from his side, the Found operative began to make his way back through the deserted halls, upward towards the ground-level entrance. He frightened away what few vermin he saw with a bolt or two as he went. He'd done most of his fighting on the way in.
A few minutes later, Dominic emerged blinking into the Dantooine afternoon, detonator in hand. He was on his way across the cement walkway when he caught a trace of movement from the corner of his eye. He stopped and turned, raising an eyebrow. And here he thought he'd been alone...
The armored man didn't notice him as he emerged from the rubble, but that didn't make him any less of a threat in Dominic's eyes. His forehead crumpled into a frown as he sealed the detonator once more and deposited it in his belt, his other hand gripping the blaster more tightly. If this man was investigating the ruins' upper level, he might have found something...and if he did, he couldn't be allowed to live. All laity who consumed any knowledge of the Jedi needed to die; it was the only way to ensure that the ways of the Force were erased from the galaxy forever.
But just as Dominic was about to call out, a set of vibroblade hilts crashed into the man's chest, knocking him flat. The Found ducked into the shelter of a crumbled wall, surveying the area anew. He must have been down in the Enclave for longer than he'd thought; now there was not only one, but at least two other people in the Enclave's viscinity...and judging by the unmanned flight of those two vibroblades, he guessed that at least one was a Force user. His attitude soured. Despite his vow of obedience, there was only one order that surpassed the importance of his current mission - and for that reason, he could not detonate his explosives until after the Force user was terminated. His or her death took precedence over any work that he could be doing otherwise.
The armored man stood and carried on a few paces, speaking to someone around the corner. If you're gonna be training your apprentice... he said. Apprentice. That meant that there were at least two people, two Force users on the other side of the wall. And just when he thought this job would be an easy one...
Dominic came out of his hiding spot while the armored man's back was turned, and holstered his gun again. Looking upwards, he bit his lower lip lightly as he looked for a suitable path...and once finding it, he began to scale the rubble to the still semi-intact roof of the Enclave. From there, he would better be able to survey the area.
Staying low so as to keep out of sight of whatever Jedi were on the other side of the wall, he knelt down on the cement and unhooked the bottom plate of his right gauntlet, swinging the metal back and attaching it beneath his wrist. The eye-shaped tattoo on his palm glittered in the sun as if it were onyx embedded in his skin.
Two women stood across from the armored man, one human, the other Cathar. The Cathar was the only one of the two with a lightsaber, he saw...and she looked much older than the human. He perked a slight eyebrow, listening now to the younger woman speak...and realized that the armored man had been wrong; this was not a Jedi and apprentice training, but a real fight between a Sith and a Jedi. A victorious smirk crossed Dominic's face; both a Jedi and a Sith? This, certainly, would be fun.
"A Sith giving up?" he called, standing now and moving to the edge of the roof. His left hand dipped to his right hip, where there was a vibrosword sheathed. The shing of metal on metal echoed around him as he revealed the blade, and a hum joined it as the energy mesh activated. The Jedi's saber wouldn't be able to so much as scratch his sword now. "Your master was right to keep you an Initiate; luckily for you, he won't ever have to learn that."
And with that, he leapt from the building - but at the Cathar, not at the defeated Sith. That woman wouldn't be doing much of anything anymore; even if she was simply playing to the Jedi's soft heart in order to lure her into a false sense of security, it was obvious that she was wounded and disarmed. She wasn't a threat...but the Jedi was.
The defeated young warrior (well, at least younger than her conqueror!) felt her fevered brain spring into action. Lifting her hands high, in a gesture that did not only signify surrender, she threw up a Force wall between the Jedi and the man who had most recently spoken. Gagnante's instincts told her that he was out to kill them both, and the creature, before his day was through. Thus, if they were all to survive, they had to stand together instead of fight.
Kneeling on all fours again, she crawled backwards, trying to get further and further away from their newest attacker. How long would her Force wall hold? It seemed to have knocked the strange man away from Juhani when it came down, at least for a moment. Could she strengthen it to a full barrier?
She had to try. Knowing she was risking her own life to save the Jedi's, Gagnante--now known as Perdante--shut her eyes and meditated with all the strength of her soul. When she opened them, the barrier was solid. At last!
One minute, Dominic was flying through the air, on a direct route to slash out the Cathar's innards...and the next, he was on the ground, with a severe pain in the left side of his neck. He had been flying head-first, his vibrosword drawn back to his right side with both hands...and then he hit something. Something that snapped his neck to the side, causing his shoulder and the crook of his neck to take the brunt of the impact.
"Sith's blood!" he spat, lifting his left hand to massage the pulled muscle. No severe damage had been done, he found...but his pride had certainly been wounded, and it would be a debt that would be repaid.
The other two - the Cathar and the armored man - seemed to be a surprised by what had just happened as he was, because though he was distracted with a pained neck, neither one moved to do anything. So when he stood and straightened out his tunic and mesh armor, stretching his neck, both bodies were motionless...which suited him just fine. He frowned at the Cathar, not moving. What in the galaxy's name had just...
And then he saw it. The shimmer of a Force shield, parting him from the Cathar...but the energy wasn't coming from her. Slowly, he turned to look at the wounded Sith...and frowned. Risking her life to save a Jedi?
"You are a severely confused person, you know that?" he raised an eyebrow, but in a moment lost interest in her. Turning back to the wall of Force energy that was restricting him, he took his sword in his left and stepped back. Raising his right, a slow smirk began to cross his lips as the tattoo in his palm tingled. The Cathar would see a streak of light flash across it...and then, suddenly, the Force energy began to disappear.
Goran Again at a Great Distance Viewing the Events that Just Unfolded.
"Odd" He said aloud "It seems Our Master is now one Sith Short, I Would Return to him and Give him the News of this Failure, But Alas i am yet to kill 100 Mighty Foes. O Well."
As Goran Turned and Left he Wondered who that Mysterious Attacker was, And were he Gained such Power And New that There May be a Worthy Foe on Dantooine after all or a Worthy Master.
The assailant was right. Perdante--the former Gagnante--was confused, but not about her new purpose in life. That was very clear to her. She had to protect the Cathar who had defeated her, and the terrifying creature who seemed to be one of their kind--an ally. However, she could only protect one or the other, and she chose the Jedi. What?! My Force barrier is vanishing...
Her broken tibia screamed for the utter lack of attention she was paying to it, and she wept bitterly now. Was her second loss of the day to be her last?
Not if an inner voice inside her had anything to say about it. Stand! She knew this did not mean "try to stand", but rather "stand and fight"! Thus, Perdante decided to project a Force Wave directly at the sudden intruder.
Goran had Decided he Had seen too Much of this battle and Decided to End it. He Lept from His Hover Car that was Ingauged in Stealth Mode above the Battle. He Rushed to the Ground with Great Speed, Drawing his Twin Vibroswords and Activating his Energy Sword. Just Before he Went Staright Head first into the Ground he used his Jet pack so he Landed on His Feat. He was Now Between the Two Forces a Sword at Each One.
"At Last" He Wisperd Between his Breathe, "A Chance for My Soul to Whole Again"
((Sorry if I missed anything, but this is getting sort of confusing. If I did miss anything let me know.))
Juhani looked on in wonder as the sith managed to put up a force barrier between her newest foe and herself. She then turned to look at the armored man who had joined the fray.
It's a good thing that she was able to put up such a strong barrier. I was never good at those sorts of things.
She turned toward the armored man and nodded at him and then looked at the barrier which was begining to fade.
What could be causing that barrier to fade like that?
She turned to the armored man and motioned for him to stand at a battle position. She then used the force to speak directly into his mind. You take him from the left...I'll take him from the right. Try and protect the sith at all costs.
Juhani was just about to begin her attack when yet another person using twin Vibroswords seeminly dropped out of nowhere.
"What is going on here?" She wondered outloud.
Goran Sensed the Jedi was Shocked and would Noramlly Attack at this Stage, But he had No idea of the Other Attackers Skills and was Not Prepared to Risk.
The Iridonian Stayed as he was Swords at Each Side Watching and Waited.
"I Have Ran my whole Life" he Muttered Under his Breather, It seemed this is what Calms him and Allows him to Use his Skills to the Fullest "I Ran From My Home when it Needed me to Fight, I Failed My people, I Failed Myself"
The Others Could Not Tell as Being a Iridonian he had to Wear a Full Head to Toe Armor to Keep the Poisions Air Away, But he Began to Cry Under his Mask"
Perdante let out a long, slow, groan. Too many attackers, and not enough defenders. It was a position in which she often found herself playing dejarik against a more experienced opponent. One of her pieces would be under siege, and she hadn't enough pieces protecting it. Thus, she lost it.
At this rate, the Jedi is lost. I am nowhere near as powerful as she is in the Force, and I can't hold the barrier up around her for much longer. She again became aware that her hair was soaked with sweat, and she stank.
Let's see, there's one attacker--the strange man who broke my Force wall. He's most definitely after Juhani. Then there's a second attacker, the Iridonian I know, Goran Tex. He seems to have surrendered for the moment and is weeping. Strange. What am I going to do if either one of them suddenly decides to come after me? This pain is driving me mad, and I might faint. The only one defending Juhani besides herself is...me. The creature who seems to be her ally is just standing there, albeit in a battle stance.
She tried counting seconds in order to concentrate upon re-creating the barrier around Juhani. One, one thousand, two, one thousand, three...
Perdante could take it no more. She collapsed in an unconscious heap.
Juhani looked down at the Sith as she hit the floor, apparently out cold.
This is not good. I can't create barriers so it looks like it's time to retreat. I'm outnumbered and I don't think I can take on this new opponet, not without help.
She grabbed the sith who was still out cold on the floor and threw her over her shoulder before turning to the armored man who had gotten angry at her for throwing the vibroblades at him and motioning for him to follow.
"Follow me! And make sure you keep up!" Juhani shouted before taking of toward where her ship was docked. Thankfully it was nearby so she wouldn't have to use the force to enhance her speed for long.
Psycho was nothing short of confused as to what was going on. He had no idea who anyone was, who he was going to fight with or what would happen next. At one point he had his bladed tonfas out ready to strike the man when something weird happened to him. Then another sith jumped down into the fray, and finally the sith girl had blacked out.
"Follow me! And make sure you keep up!"
Psycho shrugged his shoulders and sprinted after the Cathar. It was either go with her or stay here and possibly die. He might not have had a force speed but that didn't mean he couldn't keep up. He could enhance his suit's speed enabling him to match the speed of a jedi using Force Speed.
When people are unconscious, they do not dream, because they are not aware of anything. That was what Perdante had always been told by her Sith superiors, especially when they were training her in the use of weapons that did not involve the Force--like poison. Unconscious prey is easy prey. That she was, and yet the young Sith Initiate was being rescued...
Aboard Juhani's Vessel, Medbay
Fire. The smell of sulphur. Pandemonium as everyone in sight screams and tries to run for cover. Debris is flying through the air, some of it burning rock. There is no escape from what has happened, and none from what will happen if the Found insist on trying to save--meaning imprison and kill--the lost.
Perdante wriggled upon the medbay cot like a wounded snake, still incapacitated, but dreaming nonetheless. It was a strange coincidence--or was it?--that at the same moment she was having the nightmare, the ruins of the Jedi Enclave exploded. The bombs that Juhani's attacker had planted at the base of it had all gone off, and now the headquarters of the rebuilt Enclave were in flames.
((Capisce? The Jedi Enclave EXPLODED, because FFWMe12 blew it up! Uh, FF--sorry I had the Enclave explode, but let's just say the detonator went off by mistake during your battle because it was jostled by accident. You're still alive, BTW. Don't hate me!))
ELEVENTY-ONE!1!1))
Juhani made sure that the sith was in the medbay and was under close watch by one of the ship's two droids before settling herself into the pilot's chair of the Ebon Blade, a dynamic class freighter much like the Ebon Hawk that she used to travel on back in the days with Revan and the others.
How I miss those days.
She motioned for the Armored man to sit down in the co-pilots seat as she began to power up the ship's engines. Even as she did so, she heard a loud explosion from off in the distance.
I wonder what that was? Sounds like some sort of foundation gave way directly after the explosion.
She spoke to the armored man even as she hit the buttons that activated the ship's repulsars. "We're getting as far away from Dantooine as possible. Activating shields just in case and setting course for Coruscant."
And so it was done. Three from the figure's arms shall part, yet only one shall return. For there can be only two, and fate has decreed Gagnante shall be the figure's apprentice. But the loose ends... they have not yet been tied up. And this is what the figure's heart, if he has one to call his own, is set on now.
Korriban is buzzing with the force. The Dark Side. And it is this powerful energy that the figure harnessed, and used it to see inside the tomb of Ajunta Pall. How a great swordsman will have his tomb forever lost to the darkness was a mystery to the figure, but it was not for he to question, but to do.
Initiate, he thought, contacting the lone figure that ventured inside. There shall be no kindness for him, as he was a failure, and not worthy to be called the Sith. He heard the initiate clad in armor speak, unable to comprehend how his master has entered his thoughts. Initiate, he repeated, you have failed.
The minds of creatures are fealty to no one, and are easy to manipulate. It would've been easy for the figure to summon a hundred Desert Hulaks to his own bidding, but that was not his goal today. For the spirits of the Sith shall feed on the failure of the initiate. He summoned a great deal of force, then used it to contact the Hssiss, and draw them back to their corporeal form. Then, upon seeing that they have, he sent them all to the tomb, as ethereal beasts.
The initiate would not have realized until it was too late. By then, a hundred rocks would fall in and seal the initiate to his brutal death. A scream would be heard, and the tale of the armored initiate would be forever forgotten, except by the figure, who is Ibis.
Dominic was beaten - and a beaten Dominic was not a happy Dominic.
His ship hovered in orbit around Dantooine, a small smuggler's vessel suited for only one or two people, at most. It was cloaked, so as to avoid detection; after all, the sector was alive with Republic cruisers and their ships, searching for the one that might have been responsible for the pit that was now the Jedi Enclave's final resting place.
The explosion had been fantastic - a deep rumble from the center of the ruins, the high-pitched hissing of that initial blast of air escaping from any crack it could find...and then the structure began to give way, the stone and steel crumbling with sickening cracks and snaps, sinking away into the earth as a ring-shaped cloud of dust fired out from its center. Having been the one to set it off, Dominic was far ahead of the dust cloud, and so he never knew what happened to his attacker. Not that it mattered. He didn't care to see the man again.
He ran his thumb along the bandage that hid the cut on his cheek as he spun one of the Sith's forgotten vibroblades a full three-sixty, its crosstree acting as an axis as it hooked and spun on his thumb's knuckle. Its blade sang as it cut through the air, and then Dominic caught it, silencing it immediately. Silence. That was all there ever was on this ship.
Placing the vibroblade on the shelf across from the foot of his bed, he set aside his thoughts on its owner and the woman she was defending for now. There was nothing he could do; he hadn't the foggiest idea as to where they might have fled to, and so had no way to give chase. All he had to do now, he surmised, was to return to Coruscant and report to his masters on the success of his attack. When he returned to the room once more, the hyperdrive was whirring comfortingly and the autopilot took care of the rest.
Ever since she'd been exiled, this tiny little ship had served as a home for Arai Elan. Barely more than a cockpit, a bedroom, and a small twelve by eighteen foot space intended for some sort of cargo, worn out almost to the breaking, it actually deserved the name painted haphazardly on the port and starboard sides of the arrowhead cockpit: Rusty Bucket.
Artificial gravity was off, though whether it was because Arai flicked the switch and turned it off or whether its connection to the power supply had failed (again) was up for debate. Whatever the cause, Arai was deep in a meditative trance drifting lazily in almost the exact center of the entire ship's mass, and expending only a fraction of her meditative energy to remain so. The ship itself was in a high orbit around Coruscant and there were two body bags strapped to the walls in its tiny cargo room.
Her mind drifted back in time almost a full day. She found that it was easier to let go of her darker actions if she replayed them in her mind while fully in the Light Sided meditation and repented. Her peaceful expression twisted just slightly as the memory began...
It had begun innocently enough. She sat across from a man whose reputation she'd been told was a bit questionable. His clothes suggested it was more than just dubious. But he had information and she needed it. It would have been easy enough to find and follow his lesser shatterpoints through to the conclusion she wanted. They'd have both left the table happy.
"I should have done," she murmured.
But she didn't. She saw the fault line as plain as day. It was fast, it was easy, it was ruthless. A darker element deep within her heart mocked her, told her that she was too weak to make use of something so cruel. It dared and she accepted. Her eyes flashed golden briefly before reverting to their natural blue.
"Kattra Havia," she said softly. "Pike district. Coronet Noble Apartment number three."
He panicked, exactly the response she'd expected. "What? What did you do to her?"
The fault line moved just slightly. It was still centered around the woman. "Nothing yet," she answered. "But do you want to risk that?"
He'd given her the information. Then, she projected the woman's image into his mind, in pain. He lurched from the table, in tears. With a faint, cruel smirk, Arai rose and returned to her ship.
It was such a subtle use of the Dark Side, but nonetheless poisoning to the heart. With great care and deliberation, she took the memory and released it into nothing. The event was still in her mind, but the emotion that had accompanied it had passed. Slowly, Arai unfurled her legs and opened her eyes. Still drifting, she called on the Force to switch the gravity back on. There was a pop and nothing happened. Laughing softly, Arai drifted into the tiny, cramped engine room and got to work at repairs.
Again.
Gathering Place of the Found, Coruscant, 14:00
"In order to be found, you must first admit that you are lost."
"Praise the Creator!" came the responding cry of five hundred people, both human and alien. They were listening to their teacher, Seeker Adeline.
"Those people who use the Force to advance their own power, for good or evil, are lost. The Jedi and the Sith are one in the eyes of the Creator."
"They are lost!" shouted the crowd. "Creator forgive them all!"
"And if they are not forgiven," continued Seeker Adeline, "it is their own fault. Force users have destroyed this galaxy, whether they claim to serve the Light Side or the Dark. They are the ones who have plunged us into civil war, have murdered our wives, husbands, and children, and have hurled us into chaos! We must make our homeworlds safe for all who are not sensitive to the Force, and safe for those who would never even think of wielding it."
"Keep us safe! Creator keep us safe!"
Seeker Adeline smiled. "You have all done well to remember these things. That is why each of you has been marked with the sign of the Eye. Without the Eye, you cannot find anyone, especially those who use the Force as either a tool or a weapon. Your mission is to find and save the lost." Turning her gaze from triumphant to grave, Seeker Adeline folded her hands in front of her. She surveyed her laity, knowing that everyone was highly devout.
"Now, then. Seeking and saving the lost has two forms. What are they? This time, only one of you may answer. Pilgrim Nadaa? What have you to say?"
Pilgrim Nadaa, a lovely orange Twi'lek, replied, "Gain through Loss, or Life through Death." She paused for a moment. "Gain through Loss is the first and preferred method of salvation. It's when a Force user chooses, of his own free will, to be exposed to the mineral embedded in our skin for one hour."
"Very good, Pilgrim. And what is that mineral?"
"The source of our salvation. It is called ostanovium, from an ancient word meaning 'to stop'. It absorbs and negates Force energy and power. If a Force user is exposed to it for sixty minutes' time, they will lose their ability to wield the Force. Gain through Loss is only to be used when 'finding' Jedi."
"And the Sith?" asked Seeker Adeline. "What of them? Someone else, speak."
Another Pilgrim raised his hand. "They shall experience Life through Death. This means that at the moment we slay their physical body, their spirit shall be set free. It will not return to the Force, and they will not return to use it."
Seeker Adeline smiled. "Excellent. You have learned well. Sith are to be killed on sight, and the Jedi imprisoned in solitary confinement until they either starve to death or choose to undergo Gain through Loss. I trust that each of you will do what is necessary to seek and save them, either through one method or the other. As for those who are Force-sensitive but not yet Jedi or Sith, they shall be exposed to ostanovium indirectly, yet powerfully. How this is to be accomplished, I will leave to the engineers in the crowd."
Nervous chuckles from the engineers. What in space were they going to do?
"In the end," said the Seeker, "why are we doing this? What is our purpose?"
"To seek and find," replied the crowd, "and to protect the galaxy forever."
The door to the Gathering Place opened. Someone had returned at last.
"Pilgrim Dominic!" Seeker Adeline's eyes lit up. "How did our operation fare?"
Dantooine:
(How Goran Escaped [Log]
"As i saw my Old Masters Failure fall to the Ground with a Mighty thud, my Mind Finally Was awake. I Would not be able to kill the 100 Beasts my Master Wants as i am not as Him. I Will No Longer be a Subject to the Sith or the Jedi. The Force Flows through all Creatures, Except those i left behind. I Escaped the Battle By Quickly Boarding my Own Vessel when the Attacker was Distracted by the Fleeing Jedi. I Have there Ship Locked in and It Appears i am Heading to The Heart of the Republic. The Failure cannot Die, As She is Something Different."
(Goran will Now Follow the Failure where ever she Goes Even if he doesnt Appear) [Mainly so MY Character Doesnt Get Lost xD]
And so, fate has come to pass. One only there shall be, any more shall be cast off, thought Ibis, as he walked the Korriban sand. Cast off they have been. One has failed, the other has deserted. But the Dark Side is not kind to those would embrace it, only to turn away...
He sat down, then, in front of the tomb of Ajunta Pall, then concentrated his thoughts. He channeled the energy of Korriban, the very dark energies that flow within its core. He harnessed it, and turned it into raw, unimaginable power. And as he did this, his true intent was revealed.
A crimson lightsaber flew outside of the tomb, and hovered above the Sith Lord. Ibis stood up, then held the lightsaber, and with his bare hands, crushed it.
"Alas, my initiate. You are forgotten."
Then, saying this, he dropped the fragments of the once-powerful weapon into the ground, concentrating on it no more. He stood up, looked to the skies, and soared. The Dark Side can do powerful things, impossible things with an otherwise limiting body. And in a place where the Dark Side flows as wildly as it does in Korriban, the possibilities are limitless for one who is knowledgeable.
And so, Ibis soared, above Korriban, looking, for the one who has ran away...
The next thing Perdante knew, she was comfortable, lying on a better cot with an actual mattress, and clean! Apparently Juhani had compassionately seen to her needs, including those that were not purely medical. Her broken leg was in a wrapping, but the young woman suspected that her vanquisher and savior had healed it through the Force--at least partially. She rose from the cot, tested the leg, and found it surprisingly pain-free, though yet unsteady. She'd walk with a permanent limp, no doubt.
She ventured into the cockpit, finding the Cathar at the controls of the ship.
Perdante knelt before Juhani, bowing her head. "I cannot express how grateful I am for your rescuing me," she said, "even though I tried to slay you earlier. You are stronger than I ever could have guessed at first glance, both in the Force and in your heart of hearts. You have won, and you may claim me as your prize for victory. I have lost, and yet I feel no shame. I am proud to be Perdante." She gazed up at the vessel's pilot with humble respect.
Hyperspace, En route to Coruscant
You have won, and you may claim me as your prize for victory. I have lost, and yet I feel no shame. I am proud to be Perdante."
Juhani shook her head. "I will not claim you as my prize. But as I said before, If you wish, I will take you to the Jedi temple on coruscant where you will be safe and your wounds will be treated."
Juhani leaned back in the Pilot's chair and turned it around. "You must understand I need to ask you a few questions since you are a sith. I need to know more about your master so I may inform the council. Tell me all that you know of him."
Goran Was Waiting inside his Ship Playing a Game of Tetris on the Onboard Computer
"My Scanners Say there are Ships About 100 Meters Away From Theres", Goran Looks at the Windows at the Empty Space Around The Jedi's Ship. "This Could be Interessting"
[Crap, Holty, I have no idea what the hell your character is doing. "
"As i saw my Old Masters Failure fall to the Ground with a Mighty thud" What?]
[Off Role Play] Well The Betrayer, My Guy was Asked to Kill 100 Enimes Blah Blah and Now he is Simply Undisded on his Role in the Universe and is Following Perdante and Juhani for his Own Reasons and May or May Not Help. He's Following there Ship in His Ship
[/ Off Role Play]
[Son of a- That doesn't make much sense, but I'll try to cope anyway.]
Ibis descended, seeing that his prey was no longer in the planet. So be it. You may prolong your suffering, but it will come to you, in the end.
As he set down, he traveled to the old settlement of Dreshdae, largely destroyed and unpopulated. The Sith Academy's infighting years ago have not done well to preserve the community, and the old structures now lie there with the bodies of those who once lived in them.
But Dreshdae is not devoid of life. No, not today. Today, there was a salvor and his ship, set down just between Dreshdae and the Academy. He sat in front of the fighter, then meditated.
A few minutes later, a young man came out of the settlement, surprised to see Ibis meditating. Convinced that the Sith Lord knew not of his presence, he thought to bring out his blaster, and put a bolt inside the Sith's head. As he pointed at his target, however, his blaster suddenly flew away, grabbed from his hand by an unimaginable force.
Do not presume to outwit me, human, uttered the meditating Ibis.
The human thought to run away, but as he did, the doors of Dreshdae shut close. All of the human's attempts at opening it were at a loss. As he banged on it repeatedly, something quizzical would happen. He would float in midair, and set down near the Sith Lord.
Ibis then stood up, his meditations now over. It was at that time that the salvor was now on his knees, begging, "Please, great Sith Lord, spare me. My life is-"
"Hush. Your life may be useful to me in the times to come. Tell me, human, does your fighter have the capability to travel through hyperspace?
The salvor stood up, then nodded rather hastily. "Yes, sir, she can."
Good. That is good. You shall take me, human, to where I need to be. You shall be my slave. Your life is mine.
Perdante took a seat next to Juhani in the co-pilot's chair. "My Master is elusive," she began, "so much so that he--or she, or it--never let any of us Sith Initiates get close enough to confirm that this presence was even flesh and blood. Half the time when our Master was addressing us, I honestly thought that the figure I saw before me was a projection through the Force! Despite this, however, all of us were to obey any commands without question. That I did, and that is how I earned the title of 'winner'." She smiled ruefully. "Before this, I had never lost a battle. If I had, I would have been slain as a failure." A brief pause. "That's what my Master does to those who do not succeed."
She brushed back a strand of her dark copper-red hair. "I do not know his origins, his background, or his ultimate goal. I do not even know his name." Perdante shook her head. "I'm truly sorry that I cannot tell you more."
"I'm truly sorry that I cannot tell you more."
Juhani sat there in silent contemplation of what the former sith had said. Obviously this sith lord is much stronger then Malak...even stronger then the sith warriors I fought during the purge. I only wish that the sith knew more about this Sith lord.
She turned to the sith and shook her head. "You and I need to report all that we know of this sith to Grand Master Brianna."
She looked down at the navigation controls.
"We should be arriving at Coruscant within a day or so. In the meantime you need to rest. Your leg is not fully healed and I would hate to see you in pain once again."
Psycho frowned now that they were heading back to Coruscant. That meant he was going to have to do another task for the jedi, probably another boring one. He looked over as the sith woman and chuckled as she groveled before the jedi.
"So who exactly was that guy that wanted to kill all of us?" he suddenly asked.
"I know even less about him than I do about my Master," Perdante replied. "I received my orders from the latter, whereas the former simply came out of nowhere--in my opinion--and attacked Juhani. Perhaps he is the one who caused the Jedi Enclave ruins to explode!" She shuddered. "I did not feel the pull of the Dark Side upon him. In fact, he gave off no Force signature at all. It was as if he were gifted with a special talent to absorb, to negate the Force!"
Perdante looked at Psycho, her revulsion disappearing just a tad. "If so, this is even worse news than I thought. He poses a danger to both Jedi and Sith..."
"If so, this is even worse news than I thought. He poses a danger to both Jedi and Sith..."
"Which is all the more reason we need to reach the Jedi council. That man is far beyond even my current level of strength. I could sense it. Right now, I can only think of two people who might be able to beat him and one of them has vanished beyond known space. The other is Grand Master Brianna."
Juhani turned the autopilot on and then turned toward the sith who now called herself Perdante and the armored man.
"The autopilot has been engaged and I believe right now we could all use some sleep after what we've been through. But before we do anything else I would like to know what your name is." She said turning to the armored man.
Fethe has now been hours meditating on his chamber, channeling the force and practicing his abilities. During the meditation Fethe has seen a vision of the future, he sees a new menace coming to the galaxy, and unknown new threat, it is not clear how it will come but he senses it. “A new threat to the galaxy, I must inform Master Brianna of my vision, she need to know it.”- Fethe says as he leaves the chambers and heads towards the Brianna's private sanctum. “Sorry for the interruption master, but there is something you need to know.”
"The autopilot has been engaged and I believe right now we could all use some sleep after what we've been through. But before we do anything else I would like to know what your name is."
This he had to think about for a moment. He honestly couldn't remember ever having a name. The only thing he was called was Psycho, and the name just stuck with him wherever he went.
"Most people call me Psycho...actually come to think of it everybody calls me Psycho, and you are?"