"Konyechna," said Tysyacha quickly, and then, "Um, I mean
'of course!'" She giggled to herself. "Sometimes I forget that my native
language is hard to understand, and I slip into it when I have strong
emotions. Fear is the emotion I feel right now--that's strakh,
but I also have hope-- nadyezhda. You have given me hope,
Alyssa, and you companions of hers. I can't wait to board your ship!"
Tysyacha, Alyssa, and the others with her strode back toward the
vessel. Once they were all aboard, the young exile began to explain
more about her former Masters, the Nihilites. Her chest grew tight.
"These people are more dangerous than the Jedi or the Sith have ever
known. I suppose that eventually, you can't even call them 'people'
anymore, because they--they know how to Draw. You know how the
Dark Jedi use deadly Force Powers called Drain Life and Death Field?
Well, my Masters, the Nihilites, have perfected these techniques and
consider them art forms. The Nihilites believe that these powers are
the strongest ones in the Force. I've seen Sith use them--they are!
"Not only have they perfected Drain Life and Death Field, but they've
improved them tenfold, calling these enhanced Powers Lifedraw and
Draw Field. Under these circumstances, anyone can get killed with
two or three such Draws, and if a Nihilite Vanquisher uses them--
that's the equivalent of a Sith Lord, but much higher--it only takes
a single Draw or a use of Draw Field to turn someone into a corpse!"
Tysyacha sighed heavily. "I'm so glad they exiled me!"
Reynolds, Burne and 'Vales', having encountered them before, ignored Tysyacha. Once they arrived at the ship.
"Burne, get to the cockpit, now." He walked to the engine room where Kayla was hard at work.
"Kayla how long till we can get in the air."
"I don't know, Cap. Compression coil's busted, I'm working on a fix."
"Get it done soon. We're getting out of here. "
…accepted his new knowledge, Ben Skywalker roamed the planet of Kalahan searching for someone…he has sensed that there is someone else beside him in this place…
"What is going on here??"
he wondered as he saw a big ship…probably a republic one landed on the ground adown him…after a moment of thinking, he decided to go down and ask them, thus he landed near the republic ship, an then he got out from his…
"What would a group of people do in a system like Kalahan…speak quickly???"
He said with an order tone..
(there's actually two ships.)
The nearest person was Orlov, who took one look at the kid trying to give orders and laughed.
"CAP! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!"
Reynolds came running.
"What's going on?"
"There's a kid here trying to give orders!"
Reynolds looked at Ben.
"Orlov, that's Skywalker's kid."
"What?! That arrogant runt is Luke's kid?"
"Orlov, your mouth's still moving. You might want to see to that." Reynolds turned to Ben.
"What do you need?"
((Korfredonn... Ben would probably have recognized Alyssa... but since he didn't immediately, she's recognized him! :p ))
"Ben Skywalker," Alyssa said. "You've been gone a while... but I don't remember you demanding information from everybody you met." She sighed. "To answer your questions, I am here because I was led here."
She smiled slightly. "I didn't pay attention to the coordinates I plugged into my computer," she explained. "But it seems the Force has led me here." She gestured to Tysyacha. "This girl's name is Tysyacha. She was a Nihilite servant and was recently exiled for her desire of knowledge."
A sound gurgled from Tysyacha's throat, a startled "Fhqhwhg!", but she
quickly stood at attention. "Are you really Ben Skywalker," she asked
humbly, "the son of the victor at Endor, Luke Skywalker?" She shyly
held out a pale, soft hand with long fingers for the young man to shake.
"You don't know how pleased I am to meet you," she told Ben. "Is your
father, Luke, still alive?" Master Skywalker's hair might be gray by now,
or white, but that didn't mean Tysyacha considered him past his prime!
Meeting Ben made Tysyacha temporarily forget the hurt she felt
at being ignored by Alyssa's companions aboard the ship. Aside
from Alyssa and now Ben, she didn't know anyone else's names.
Zaalbacca prepares for take-off while Roarboar reprograms & repairs HK-47. "I'm detecting a bunker nearby." Zaalbacca said. "I didn't know that anything else besides lava fleas lived here." Roarboar said. "Let's check it out." Zaalbacca said. They flew the Falcon close to the bunker & landed. They go inside to see what they can find.
As the man slipped outside the compound and rounded a corner, a bit of an electric jolt shot through him and he flinched. Something...was going on. Somewhere...somewhere there was a gathering of Jedi. Or, at least a gathering of Force Sensetives, somewhere near by. Off system, apparently, but not far enough away to escape his senses.
No matter. I will deal with these intruders, then I will investigate.
He darted around another corner, down a hallway, and up some stairs. There, he came face-to-face with a pair of wookies. He was taken by surprise for a moment before doing a back-flip away from them and slipping a rod from his belt. He flipped a switch, and a beam of molten fire errupted from the top of the rod. He slid into a fighting stance, holding the saber horizontally next to his head.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded
Roarboar & Zaalbacca draw their lightsabers when they seen the figure. Roarboar said,"It's a free galaxy,so don't tell us what to do.". "Why are you here?" Zaalbacca shouts.
The man was slightly surprised when the wookies drew sabers from their belt. This could complicate things a bit. No matter. They were still no match for the teachings of the ancient Sith.
"This is my home, my place of solitude. My temple, if you will. Regardless of how 'free' this galaxy is, you have no right to trespass here. I order you to leave, or else face the consequences!"
"Look, we're here to collect minerals & scavange what we can find." Roarboar said. "We'll leave in peace if you dont harm us or our ship." Zaalbacca said.
"If you leave now, I will allow you to go in peace." he said, but he didn't lower his saber. Although he was positive he could easily take the two walking carpets, he wasn't eager to engage in combat. He still had to discover what that disturbance was.
…"what do you need?" Reynolds said to Ben...
"You've answered my question with another….how strange…" He said, then he saw a girl from afar, he believed that he knew her, yet he recognized her when she said…
"You've been gone a while... but I don't remember you demanding information from everybody you met."
She was Alyssa, one of the academy students, and she justified her presence on this planet by a mysterious and yet a similar word "the Force has led me here", at first he did not believe this reason, but then he felt stupid because he himself was led by the force too...there was another girl, she tried to hide at first, consumed by fear, but when she heard his name, she came quickly toward him, meanwhile Alyssa was introducing her to him, she said something about a nihilite servant which he didn’t understand, yet she mentioned the word…"Exiled.."
Tysyacha unleashed a sea of question toward Ben while she held her hand shyly for Ben to shake, he gave his
"Yes I am Ben Skywalker, Luke's sun, and he is alive…" he answered seriously,
He gazed at her, probably tying to remember her from his dreams-if it was her-
But in vain, soon their hands held together began to sweat, thus he pulled his hand and a little smile adorned his serious face, soon the smile disappeared as he move his sight to stare at Reynolds
"We have to leave this place at once…its dangerous to stay here…"
Then he looked at Tysyacha then at Alyssa and uttered
"You must take her to the academy in Yavin…looks like her interesting information might answer the strange disturbance within the force my father had felt…"
Then he cloaked and marched toward his ship, yet he could here a sound coming from behind…
Alyssa nodded, but there was a frown on her face. She turned to Tysyacha. "I had not been planning on returning to the Academy so soon," she said. "But it's either that or you must travel with me."
She paused. "I think I'll let you decide. What is it you want to do?"
Tysyacha made a quick decision. "The Nihilites are not like any other
enemy the galaxy has known, not even the Yuuzhan Vong. That group
of aliens and their vicious attacks will seem benign compared to what
my former Masters plan to do! If Master Skywalker is indeed at the
Academy on Yavin, then I must tell him about the Nihilite threat."
She waited for Alyssa's response, her palm still a bit damp from
holding Ben Skywalker's hand. She hoped no one could see the
sudden blush that had come to her cheeks, or her delighted eyes!
…Ben stopped when heard Tysyacha's words, she seemed so honest, and he wanted to believe her…but what if she was "the snake" that the myth talk about, if so then she might betray him, and worse, he might fail in his mission too, but what if all this is wrong?....he speak to himself, what are you thinking you fool?!! Are you still suspicious even after what you've seen?!! "the eagle" has failed in his mission because he was suspicious like you now, so try to show some self-confident or you'll end up like before….
Though he still not convinced after his last self argument, he decided to let go right now, he has stopped and the people behind were waiting for him to say something…he turned and gazed at Tysyacha, she was quite different now, the fear that once was eating her from the inside is altered with happiness that made her face to glow like a mourning star in a complete darkness…
"Great…then you have to go with Alyssa to the academy…if these Nihilites are as strong as you said, then we should be prepared…"
Then he turned his back to her and said
"I will meet you in Yavin…till then…may the force be with you…"
He got in his ship and fly away…
Kayla approached Tysyacha.
"Don't mind the captain. He gets rude when he's worried."
"Yeah I do" said the Captain. "Which reminds me, why aren't you working on the engine again?"
"Compression coil's busted to hell. We can fly but we won't be able to go into hyperspace."
Reynolds sighed.
"Okay, what's in-system?"
"Only place they'd have them is on Mustafar. On the old factories."
Reynolds cursed.
"Dammit. I don't like it, but we're going to have to go there. Tell Burne to set a course there, then have everyone meet me here." He turned to Tysyacha.
"This ship's can fit more people. Do you want to come with us or to squeeze in with her." He motioned to Alyssa.
"I think I'll bunk with Alyssa," said Tysyacha matter-of-factly, "since we're
both young women. As for me--is there any menial ship-keeping work I can
do? I'm not good at repairing engines or anything like that, but I'd be truly
willing to wash dishes or launder clothes. Anything I can do to help, sir."
Syscha smiled and gave the captain a humble salute. It wasn't the
military snap-to-attention such persons usually expected, but for
a servant, the Nihilites considered such a gesture entirely appropriate.
The captain smiled.
"No neeed for that. Anyway let me introduce you to my crew. This is Kayla, our engineer." He tapped her on the shoulder and she smiled friendily.
"Over there is Orlov, my second-in-command." He pointed to an older man who was currently cleaning a rather large collection of weapons.
"Over there is Vale" He realized he'd ly said another name. "Sorry, I mean Vales." The young man was currently getting the hovercraft back into it's hold.
"And up in the pit is my pilot, Burne."
"Finally this" He tapped the ship's wall "Is Fable. "
Tysyacha smiled back, glad to know that the captain of the fabled Fable
was as honorable and friendly as her new colleague Alyssa seemed to be.
"I'm glad to meet you," she said, "and if you're wondering where I come
from, I'm not the only one in my family who has ever been exiled. Long
ago, there was another Tysyacha, known as the Jedi Exile, the one who
chose to cut herself off from the Force upon the planet of Malachor V.
I am a direct descendant of hers through one of her twin sons, Kilian."
She glanced around the ship to see if anyone recognized these names.
"Ok, may we please take the HK-47 unit with us?" Roarboar asked.
Orlov reacted for a split second to the mention of the Exile, but immediately returned to cleaning his weapons. The captain's face carefully stayed expressionless, but recognition sparked in his eyes. The rest didn't react at all.
"We should lift off now, the Nihlites could be back any second." Said Reynolds.
"The Exile," Alyssa whispered. She nodded. "Come, Tysyacha." She turned to Reynolds. "You're headed to Mustafar? Be careful. I've heard of a young hermit living there... and he doesn't like to be disturbed."
She made for her little ship. "I'll take Tysyacha to Yavin IV and Skywalker... Master Skywalker." She grinned and shook her head. "I'm picking up my old master's bad habits."
The cockpit of the little fighter opened, revealing two seats and Alyssa turned to Tysyacha. "I know it's not the most comfortable way to travel, but there are worse ways to do it... Riebe and I always managed." She smacked her forhead with the palm of her right hand. "Another of her bad habits I picked up... always talking as though the person I'm talking to knows who I'm talking about!"
She laughed and climbed into the pilot's seat of the fighter and motioned for Tysyacha to get in behind her. "Riebe Sothe was my master. She recently turned me loose and went on to find her own path... wherever that might lead her. This was actually her ship..."
She flew the fighter up into the atmosphere and docked with its hyperspace ring. "Old technology, I know... Riebe doesn't say much about herself, but I seriously suspect she's a good little bit older than she admits to being."
The docking completed in a matter of seconds and Alyssa quickly plugged in the coordinates for Yavin IV. Before engaging the hyperdrive, she paused and glanced over her shoulder, "Ready?"
"Why? You have everything you need. The droid has been in my family for generations, ever since my ancestors were brought here. No, you cannot. And unless you'd rather see what color your insides are, I highly suggest you leave. Now." he turned to leave, but one of the wookies spoke up.
"But, wait, hold on--"
The man handled his saber menacingly. "Leave. Now." he said with all the menace he could muster, aiming to scare them off.
Another jolt was sent through his body, and he turned sharply, gazing into the distance as if he saw straight through the walls.
That Force signature...I know that Force signature!! But how could it be him?? I thought he was dead!
"All right, let's get moving."
Reynolds pressed a button and the ramp started retracting. He calmly stepped back into the ship, the doors closing a split second behind him.
"Get us up Burne."
The ship slowly lifted up. Reynolds walked across the hold and up some stairs. Orlov intercepted him.
"Sir, with all due respect, why the hell are we agreeing to helping these people? We found skywalker, let's get paid and get outta here."
"There's something going on. We find a jedi, a Nihlite servant AND Skywalker all on the same planet? There's something going on."
Orlov looks angry, but walks away. Reynolds walks up to the pit.
"How we doing Burne?"
"Doing good Cap. We should be in its orbit in a few minutes."
"Good."
"OK, we will leave." Zaalbacca said bravely."He thinks he's scary." Zaalbacca thought. The Falcon takes off. "That, hopefully is the last time we will ever go there." Roarboar said. Then, it hit them. "We forgot to leave HK-47 back there." both of the wookies said in unison. "Hopefully, he doesn't have a ship." Roarboar said."Yeah. We can return him when he's upgraded and restocked with the deadliest weapon out today." Zaalbacca said confidently.
A man stands in the same spot where they found Tysyacha. He approaches the exact spot where she was lying down, kneels down and inspects the ground. He stands up.
"She's gone." He says. "And not alone. " He follows the group's tracks out of the forest. He sees the trail the hovercraft left behind and frowned.
"Who are you hiding with, servant ." He wondered.
Tysyacha felt a shudder run through her. Someone is looking for me,
she thought to herself, but why would it be one of my former Masters?
Once the Nihilites exile someone, they completely wash their bloodstained
hands of him or her, unless that same exile returns to the Temple. If anyone
is foolish enough to do that, then they're Drawn, and that's the end of that!
"Excuse me...Orlov?" Tysyacha asked timidly. "Captain? I know that you
all might be suspicious of me, considering where I come from, but I was
almost Drawn for disobeying the Nihilites. The only reason that they
reconsidered, I think, was because one of the Dark Lords saw me as
unworthy even of that final indignity! The Nihilites mainly prey upon
sentients and beasts that are very sensitive to the Force. Like Jedi."
She swallowed hard, even though there was really nothing for her to
swallow. Her mouth had gone dry. She hated speaking of her previous
Masters. Nevertheless, Syscha knew that doing so was necessary if
the Nihilites were ever going to be stopped. She stood her ground.
(OOC: As I said before in 'The Lawful Sith,' I'm going to my Uncle
Emil's funeral. I'll probably post again on Tuesday, because we
might get back late Monday night. May the Force be with you! :))
"Where you come from isn't any fault of yours." Said Reynolds. "Neither is who you worked for before. What matters is what yo do now. I'm trusting you, and I swear we'll do anything in our power to stop these guys." Orlov looked angry at this, but walked away silently. "Now go on to Yavin with Alyssa. You'll be safe there. We'll catch up as soon as we get what we need."
=========
Later, in space
The crew stood around the lounge, with the holodisplay in the middle. It showed a cylindrical object with a handle on the side and two cables sticking out of both ends
"This is what we need." Said Kayla "A compressor coil for the hyperdrive. They're pretty common, so we should find one easily in one of the old factories."
"All right. Everyone get some rest now." Said Reynolds. "After that we're going to Yavin."
Orlov, waited for the crew to leave then spoke.
"This isn't our fight, Cap."
"It is now. We've faced these guys before, if they're really planning to conquer the galaxy it's better to stop them sooner than later."
"Why don't we just turn everyone over in exchange for letting us live."
"Yeah? How long do you think that will last?"
"What about the . You heard who she's descended from! We can't trust her."
"Forget where you come from Orlov? Am I gonna judge you for what your grandfather did in the Civil War?"
Orlov glared at Reynolds.
"That's a low blow."
"Too bad. We also need work. The New Republic's ed at us, we need to make that right."
--------
The Kid's bunk
'Vales' sighed and lay down on his bunk. He closed his eyes and let sleep drift him off.
He was in a bright room. He looked around, there were piles of junk everywhere and a few windows looking out to a beautiful but dangerous landscape of flowing lava. Against his will he walked forward. He saw the part that Kayla had shown them, floating in mid air behind a small pile of junk and ran toward it.
He jumped over the pile of junk, and stopped in his tracks. He looked down. The part was floating over an empty bottom less hole. No, that wasn't right. The hole was full, full of darkness. He couldn't see it, but he sensed it somehow. He reached out for the part and grabbed it. He started pulling it toward him, when suddenly out of the darkness popped out a gloved hand, grabbed his wrist and pulled him in. He screa-
He woke up, fighting the urge to scream, his heart beating strongly enough to shake his chest. He stood up, went over to the sink and washed his face.
The man sat crosslegged, meditating. He floated a few inches above the ground, calling the Dark power he reveled in around himself.
What was that disturbance? he wondered as he felt a slight shake in the Force. His interest roused, he dove deeper, following the vibration to its source...
What he saw made him lose his concentration. In surprise, he slipped from his meditation and fell forward onto this hands and knees.
It was him. The boy. He knew it. It had to be. And what was stranger yet, he seemed to be looking for something...some kind of part. And he was coming straight towards the facility.
Like a fly drawn to light.
((Tysyacha, read post #73... we're in Alyssa's ship and she's waiting for a response from you. :) ))
'Vales' wandered the ship aimlessly, knowing that if he fell asleep the dream would come again. After awhile all the lights on the ship came on, and the Captain's voice came through the comm system.
"All right, lady and gents, time to get up and work. Everyone meet me in the pit in five."
'Vales' arrived there immediately, the Captain looked surprised but said nothing. The rest arrived in under three minutes. The Captain smiled broadly.
"That's why I'm proud to have you as my crew, always so damn punctual. All right, so this should be easy, a quick land and grab, except we'll be searching for a specific part. Now" He pressed a button and a screen came to life, showing a map of Mustafar, with various spots highlighted.
"These are all the factories on Mustafar. The good news is that these. " Most of the spots disappeared. "Have been off-line too long to have the part, these" A few more spots disappeared. "Still have security systems active, and these. " A lot more spots disappeared. "Are now covered in nice warm magma. So that leaves these. " There were now only a couple dozen spots. The captain turned to 'Vales'
"Now kid, eenie meenie miney mo, where the hell do we now go?"
'Vales' concentrated, and finally pointed to one spot.
"Here. There's been people there recently. But I've got a bad feeling about it"
The Captain sighed, and Kayla spoke.
"We could try our luck in some of the othe-"
"Our luck? Notice anything about our luck lately? We need certainty. I don't want to stay here longer than we need to. We'll head there, but we'll be careful. Orlov get the weapons ready."
Orlov nodded and left, meanwhile Burne got into the pilot's seat and manuevered the ship to land.
The man looked up as he heard pistons firing and a large thumping noise coming from one of the above landing pads.
The fly has flown into the spider's web.
He smiled darkly to himself. Picking up the part that he had lying next to him, he got up and headed towards the noise. Eventually, he came out to the top level. Just up a flight of stairs, there was a landing dock, and what else but a ship there. The man watched from the shadows as the crew disembarced. They had heavy weapons and armor. This would get interesting.
Let's see them shoot what they can't see.
Immediatly, the man was cloaked in the Darkness itself and disappeared from sight. Now, even if the lights in the room were turned on, he would only be found by a Force sensative. If the boy was with them, it wouldn't be a problem. But if he wasn't...
((This'll be my last post for the night...))
As they walked off the ramp 'Vales' spoke.
"I got a bad feeling about this."
Reynolds nodded.
"Burne, Kayla, stay with the ship. If we're not back in fifteen minutes, take off, get help, and come back to rescue us."
"What? And risk our shiny new ship?" Asked Burne. They laughed.
"You better risk more than that, else I'll kick your ass" Said Orlov.
Orlov, 'Vales' and Reynolds headed toward the factory, meanwhile the ship's ramp closed again.
From where he hid, the man watched as three of the crew members came down the stairs into the room and the loading ramp of the ship close up again.
Only three? This will be too easy.
He stayed in hidding as the trio entered the room, searching in the darkness to find a way to turn the lights on. Even if they did find the switch, they would find that it wouldn't provide them with any light...
"Damn!" the man who appeared to be the captain swore. "Alright, use the sublights."
Immediatly, three beams of high-powered light sprouted from the edges of their gun barrels. Illuminated by the light, the man caught a glimps of each of the three crew members and smiled. It was him. The boy was with them.
"Spread out and get searching."
As the captain walked towards the place where the man stood, he snickered. The captain must have heard because he turned in his direction.
"Looking for this?" the man said, unshielding himself and holding the part up. The captain jumped back in surprise.
The captain recognized the man, and immediately aimed his gun at him. Orlov and 'Vales' did the same.
"What do you want?"
The man grinned evily. Almost insanly. "Oh Captain, Captain. What kind of welcome is this for an old friend?"
Turning towards the boy, he said, "As for what I want...two things. You tell me. Oh, and by the way, might I point out that this is the only part of its type in this factory? Ha, on Mustafar for that matter."
"Well, since we are, as you say, old friends I suppose you won't mind handing it over. "
The man chuckled darkly. "You would think, wouldn't you? Sorry, but there are a...few things that I require. I get what I want, you get what you want. And I think we both know what I want."
"Well, if you give us the part we can fly off, I can talk things over with my crew and we'll get back to-"
BANG!
A small explosion occurred next to the man's foot.
Orlov, holding the smoking gun, shrugged.
"Finger slipped."
Tysyacha turned to Alyssa. "The sooner we can reach Yavin, the better.
I hope everything is all right with this ship--not that I expected it wouldn't
be!" She let out a rueful giggle. Why am I always trying to say the right
things, but it comes out all wrong? she asked herself and sighed lightly.
(Hey guys, today (Oct. 4) is my birthday.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roarboar & Zaalbacca go to Corasaunt (sp?) to get their ship repaired by trading the minerals & get the HK-47 unit buffed, waxed, & repaired. They are soon ready to see the jedi council about their encounter on Mustfar.
"Aparently your reflexes are about as accurate as you are smart." the man mummbled.
"I'm growing impatient, Captain. Give me the boy and get out of here or by my ancestors Lord Elron and Lady Tysyacha, I'll--"
"Tysyacha?" Interrupted Orlov. Reynolds glared at him. "I'm sorry, cap, but she ain't worth getting one of us killed, or worse. " He turned to the man. "I've got some info that just may be worth that part. "
"You recognize the name?" Suddenly, the man was all ears. "Tell me, what is this information?"
"Orlov" Said Reynolds angrily, but Orlov continued.
"We picked up someone else by that name......a relative of yours probably."
"Really?" he thought for a while. This could easily be some sort of trickery so that they could get their parts, but he didn't sense any deception coming from the man. And he highly doubted that he had the advanced training needed to sheild his intentions. "Very well. I'll cut you a deal." the man said, "You let me travel with you so I can meet this...Tysyacha, and I will give you your part. No ticket abord the S.S.Retard, no part. Get it? Got it? Good."
"You want passage on my ship, you're gonna have to work for it. It's going to take more than just a part. " Said Reynolds. "So tell me, other than waving a lightstick around, threatening people, and moving stuff around, is there anything you can do?"
Tysyacha suddenly went up and bowed to Orlov.
"I had once heard of a man, a fearless Mandalorian called Canderous,
who was a master tactician and veteran of war. If I remember correctly,
Canderous accompanied the infamous Darth Revan to the worlds beyond
the Outer Rim. You remind me of this legend, if I do say so myself."
She cleared her throat. "Now to my point. I don't want to put you
or your crew in any danger, either necessary or nuisance. Canderous
would not suffer either, and in you I see his strength and bravura.
Perhaps it would be better if I returned to my exile, so that you,
your captain, Reynolds, and the rest of your crew can warp as far
away from the Nihilites as possible. You'll want to do so before long!"