[IC] A Galaxy in Twilight[Lord Gressh/Zarkun]

[Lord Greshh]

Captain Camden

"A village? But... but that's impossible! All the intelligence we had on the place said it was an enemy base! Why would they have a village on Kessel?"

Caalin Daemon

"Because they knew the Republic was looking for them. It was such an unlikely place, they were probably counting on everyone dismissing it." I give a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid it wasn't faulty intel, Captain. This corruption goes all the way to the top. It's no secret Chancellor Sucal has a personal vendetta against the Sith. Is it really so outlandish to believe he would stoop to killing noncombatants?"

Captain Camden

Lowers head. "I... need time to think about this. You are all making very serious accusations of not only my fellow soldiers, but the Chancellor of the Republic. How do you all know so much about this?"

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

"Because we always seem to be tangled up in the galaxy's hotspots, even years after the end of the war." I offer a datapad to the captain. "This contains journals from the Supreme Chancellor himself, downloaded from an astromech droid formerly in his ownership. It comes with audio as well if you'd rather listen to them. Perhaps it will answer your questions better than I can."

[Lord Greshh]

Captain Camden

I take the datapad, then wave the rest of my team over. "If what you say is true, my men and I will take a close look at the contents of these journals. If the Chancellor is truly the villain you claim him to be... Well, to be honest, I don't know what we'll do."

Millu'ci'vanda

"We're basically in the same position most of the time, making it up as we go. Usually it works out."

Captain Camden

"A good team knows how to make plans on the fly. We'll think of something." Once the team is gathered around, I activate the audio logs. "Now, excuse us, won't you? It's time we finally learned the truth."

Millu'ci'vanda

"And it's time I got back to the cockpit, and Caalin to med bay. Those wounds could do with a kolto salve or two." I take Caalin by the arm and escort him to med bay for treatment.

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

"If you need any clarification, I'll be down the hall. Just inform the crewmen who will be keeping an eye on you." After I've followed Luci and Caelin out and the door has shut and the crewman locked it, I faced the pair. "Do you think they're really gonna give us a chance?"

[Lord Greshh]

Caalin Daemon

I law down on the medical bed. “I believe they will give us a chance, at least. They might not take up arms against the Chancellor, but Camden seems like a good man. He won’t shoot us in the back.”

Millu’ci’vanda

“It’s more the front I’m worried about. What if he thinks the journals are forged? We don’t have room for a shoot out on this ship, especially this far away from civilization where even the smallest hull damage could leave us stranded.”

Caalin Daemon

“I don’t believe it will come to that. But if it does... well, we have at least two able bodied force wielders on board.”

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

"Perhaps we should have disarmed them, just in case." I shrug, sitting across from Caelin. "Regardless, what's done is done. What happened on Kessel, though? I thought Hayden was almost ready to come home."

[Lord Greshh]

Caalin Daemon

“She was, or at least she said she was. She was certainly done with the Sith, but she seemed... hesitant to return to Dantooine. She never spoke about it, I think she felt like she needed to atone for her action before she could go home. Like she didn’t deserve to find peace yet. Every excuse she could find to keep us busy, she took. When I had a vision of the Sith village on Kessel being attacked, Hayden jumped at the chance to go help.” I frown. “We arrived too late. The village was in ruin, and there were Republic soldiers and SH droids all over the place. Like I said before, we tried to fight them, but one of the droids stomped me into dirt. When I woke up, I was in a force cage aboard Camden’s Thunderclap. I don’t know what happened to Hayden, but I sense she is still alive somewhere. Either she’s still hiding somewhere on Kessel or she took off with our busted old freighter.”

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

"Uh, well, she's not on Kessel. From what I understand, it was a junker freighter that sent Camden and his ship into the Maw."

[Lord Greshh]

Caalin Daemon

"Really?" I try to sit up too fast, then grown and slump back down. Despite my pain, my mood has noticeably brightened. "Then... maybe she is still nearby, looking for me. Maybe if we..." The ship suddenly lurches, sending equipment sliding off of tables and knocking everyone standing off balance.

Millu'ci'vanda

I grab the table to keep from falling over. "What was that?"

Koraline Okarr

My voice sounds out from the ships intercomm. "All hands to stations! Zar'kun, Luci, get up here!"

Millu'ci'vanda

"Oh stang." I say, then quickly strap Caalin down to the bed. "Sounds like we're about to hit some turbulence. Try not to hurt yourself anymore than you already are."

Caalin Daemon

I wince. "Yeah, like that's even possible."

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

"Copy that, Koraline, we're on our way." I turn to Caelin. "I also doubt she's nearby. We're IN the Maw. I'll explain later." Moving quickly out of the medbay, I head to the cockpit, prepared for a galaxy ending monster of some kind. "What's up?"

[Lord Greshh]

Koraline Okarr

My hands fly over the controls, flipping switches and turning dials. "Something's got us good! I'm trying to boost the engines, but I can't break free!"

Millu'ci'vanda

I slip into the co-pilot's seat. "We get snagged by a black hole, you think?"

Koraline Okarr

"No, this feels different. Almost alive, or at least mechanical. Everything I try gets countered. I swerve one way, it pulls me the other! I speed up, it holds tighter!" I pull on the yoke, trying to maneuver the ship away, but it barely budges. There is another shudder, and the sound of stressed metal. I growl in annoyance. "Luci, get me visual on the dorsal turret! Maybe we can get a visual!"

Millu'ci'vanda

I type in a few keys, bringing up a small video feed from the top turret. For a moment, everything on screen is completely black, almost as if the camera is turned off. But then, as the turret swivels to face the rear of the ship, a spot of light can be seen. "What is that?" I press another key, and the image magnifies, the spot of light to be a massive, asymmetrical mound of twisted metal; as if a thousand starships had been crushed together into a giant ball.

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

"Trouble. Get the crew into position, except for the two guarding our guests." Running to the dorsal cannon, I climb in and then get comfortable before closing my eyes and reaching out, tentatively prodding with the Force to see what kind of reaction I get.

[Lord Greshh]

Koraline Okarr

I give the command as Zar’kun said, continuing to pull out every trick I can to break the Redshifter away from the massive junkyard of a station. “It’s got us in some type of tractor beam, but it’s stronger than anything I’ve ever seen before.”

As Zar’kun prods at the station with the Force, there comes a tremor of energy in response. It feels like an extremely concentrated burst of pure Force power. It is powerful enough to rock the ship violently, but gentle enough to slip into the thoughts of everyone aboard and whisper a command; ”Come to me”.

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

I furrow my brows and continue feeling it out with the Force, though a little less obviously. "And just who are you, exactly?" I say to it through the Force. "What gives you the right to tell others where to go?"

[Lord Greshh]

Millu'ci'vanda

I feel another wave of energy go over us, and a strong urge to stop fighting pulls at my mind. I am strong enough to resist, but I look at Koraline. "You okay?"

Koraline Okarr

I shake my head, as if I could somehow shake the little voice out of my ears. "You don't get as far as me by being weak minded. I'm not turning around... not matter how much I feel like I should." I grip the yoke tighter. "But... if we don't break free soon, it'll tear this whole ship apart."

Millu'ci'vanda

My danger sense flairs, and I turn around in time to see one of Tren's crew standing in the doorway of the cockpit, a blaster in hand. "I think we have worse problems." I stand up, holding a hand out towards him. "Easy. Don't do anything stupid now."

Crewman

He speaks in an airy voice. "Turn the ship around."

Millu'ci'vanda

"Listen, you aren't thinking clearly..." before I can finish, he opens fire. I am quick enough to dodge to the side and hit the button to seal him out of the cockpit, but his bolts strike one of the control panels, causing sparks to fly everywhere.

Koraline Okarr

"Sith's Blood!" I wave away smoke with my hand. "Oh, he better not have hit anything vital! Somebody get these idiots under control before they get us all killed!"

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

Recieving no answer, I instead turn my attention to the crew, who were now trying to force the cockpit open. "I have one trick I can try, but I haven't used it on more than one person before. I strongly suggest you both pick something or some one to focus on more than any voice in your head though."

[Lord Greshh]

Koraline Okarr

I nod absently at Zar'kun's words. I try to focus mostly on hot wiring the control panel to keep all functions online. Still, I can hear the voice becoming me to give in to allow my ship to be dragged away. I try to drowned it out by thinking about... my parents. Well, my mother figure and my father figure. Joliee the Hutt, her larger than life face caked in stage makeup and sloppy lipstick. Niko Okarr, the old smuggler whose ship I stowed away on. Who took me under his wing and gave me a place on his crew, then later gave me his hat, then his ship, then his name. "This ship is yours, Niko. I'm not gonna lose it today!"

Millu'ci'vanda

I try to focus my mind on something other than the soothing voice trying lure me away. I reach deep into my thoughts and pull up the memory of... a man. Old, with gray hair and a beard, yet still standing tall and strong. He smiles at me through a blizzard, and offers his hand to a very young Chiss girl. "Kallus Twilight... Give me the strength resist. Give me guidance on how to escape this mound of metal that holds us."

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

Sighing, I close my eyes once more and focus, only instead of reaching out for the hunk of metal trying to pull us to our doom, I reach out for the minds of the crew. "Sleep, crew of Tren. Rest until you are needed." There's no immediate response to my gentle command, until a blaster bolt sails past my head and impacts the viewport behind me. I was fortunate that they were reinforced, otherwise I would be floating in space right about now.

Frowning, I decide that slowly amping up the strength wouldn't work. Tapping into my greater reserve, I ramp it up to a command from a suggestion. "Sleep now! And do not waken until I command it!" Several thuds are audible and when I open my eyes, I find that my mental hi-jacking had worked. "And here I thought my days using the Dark Side in such a way were done..."

[Lord Greshh]

Captain Camden

From the cargo hold, I stand with my back against the door, blaster out at my men. “Stand down! All of you!” They are ignoring my command, trying to force their way out of the hold. The smugglers standing guard outside have left, likely headed towards the cockpit. “I said weapons down! Those voices are nothing but illusion!” Even as I spoke; I could hear the genderless voice crawling in my skull. Luckily, I was not so dumb as to be easily drawn in by it.

I am fully prepared to shoot my men if I have to, but thankfully I do not. Suddenly, they all begin to slip to the ground and fall asleep. I feel the same command strike me in Zar’kun’s voice, and I drop to my knees and likewise lose consciousness.

[Zarkun]

Zar'kun Je'and

With the crew out except for myself, Luci and Koraline, I turn my attention back to the metal husk station. "I don't think that's gonna work on that thing. Got any big ordinance Koraline?"