[IC] Star Wars: Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath

[Ellri]

~| Cellblock 2 |~

As always, there was no warning when the Thick door of the cellblock opened. What was different was simple. Unlike a single Sith, there marched in no less than fifteen troopers, all in full armor. Each pointed their weapons towards the prisoners within. Following them but a moment later, was another in similar armor, but marked above one breast with a insignia of rank. He was clearly the one in charge. He stopped before the pillar in the center of the cellblock, inserting a data spike into a small slot therein, which in turn disabled the cell shields.

The soldiers leveled their weapons towards the prisoners within. There were two humans, two Twi’leks and one Kaminoan prisoner there. The Kaminoan seemed to be clutching some object in his hands. The twi’lek in the cell beside the door seemed particularly discomforted by it, while the human in cell opposite the door seemed not to cringe so much as the other human, who stood beside the door. The leader walked around the cells, looking at each of the prisoners, his expression invisible beneath the helmet. After the third circuit, he stopped before the first twi’lek, right beside the door. “Prisoner 224-659-57. You have proven your worth to the Emperor. It is… lacking.” he said to her with his synthesized voice, then nodded to the three troopers aiming their weapons at her. ”Kill her.

The troopers did not hesitate. Did not care that she was clearly unarmed. They opened fire instantly, firing bolt after bolt into her body. Even after she collapsed to the floor, the continued firing. The commander crossed his hands behind his back, fingering the lightsaber sheathed along his left wrist, walking on to circle the remaining cells. The lightsaber was the only indication he was a Sith. He stopped before the human right beside the door, one of the two humans. ”Prisoner 224-412-10. Your value to the Emperor has been… Tested. It is not lacking… Yet.” He said. On one hand, she looked relieved, but fear still shone in her eyes. Though not visible to anyone, the Sith found this pleasing.

Once again, the commander started circling the central pillar. He stopped before the human opposite the door. ”Prisoner 202-412-53. You worth has been tested. You will be of use to the Emperor. You will live.” He turned away from her, marching over to the other Twi’lek. ”Prisoner 224-659-63. You usefulness to the Emperor has been tested. It has been found… Sufficient.” he said to her, his synthetic voice emotionless. Then, and only then did he give the Kaminoan anything but a glancing look. ”Prisoner 224-103-14. You will be of use to the Emperor. You will come with me.” The Commander turned around, marching out of the cellblock. Two of the soldiers with their weapons aimed at the Kaminoan slowly stepped into the cell, always keeping their weapons aimed at the prisoner, until they were behind him. One of them prodded him in the back, indicating he should move, which he did after a moment, holding the object in his hands close. The faint red glow from the object could be seen as he passed the other prisoners. Then the other soldiers drew back, the last one pulling out the dataspike from the central column, after which the Force fields upon each cell reactivated. After they had departed, the cellblock door closed again.

~| At the same time: in Sith quarters, block L1 |~

Minder 62 entered the quarters of the Sith lord Sish. He eyed the various decorations, some with admiration, others with trivial indifference. His eyes met those of the Sith, who came walking out of a side chamber the moment he entered. “Sith. Imperial intelligence has a task for you. One requiring your special... Talents. We need you to remove an... Obstacle. You may use whatever means you see fit. You will not be punished for it. It will be ensured.” As always, he spoke utterly without feeling. The only evidence he found the idea pleasant was his emphasis on certain words. ”You are to remove the Sith Lord Jaicen Varien and the Jedi prisoner Taia Venthon... Permanently.” With that, he turned around, walking away, leaving the Sith lord to figure out the meaning behind his words.

[Kentsukan]

Collaboration by Kentsukan and Rtron: Calista and Sish:

Calista was never a great fan of solitude: while she didn't want to be alone all the time, she appreciated solitude more often than not. This sort of solitude had become a rarity ever since she had been captured and imprisoned on the Sith ship. The blood on her face was washed off, but it had long sense turned brown and crusty on her robes. A bracelet made of a lock of blonde hair rested on her hands, worn and faded with time. "I wonder, where is she? Is she even alive after all this time?" She thought. As if to answer that question, suddenly, a great mass of dark energy seemed to be coming closer and closer. "Strange. It almost seems as if... No. No, no." Her eyes widenened and flashed back to a time years ago, when she was trying to track the woman whose hair was in her hands with psychometry. Of how there was an aura that put a black veil over her eyes. The sight of a Trandoshan throwing that woman out a window. "It's him." Her eyes glanced back at the bracelet, now eyeing it as if it was poison. She shoved it within the folds of her robes--"No, wait, that might not work!" Her mind frantically worked as it thought of a possible place to hide the bracelet. "Where, where, where...? ... The toilet?" She looked at the toilet in her room wearily, and made a small disgusted face at the bracelet. It could work; the stench of her waste could overpower the smell of a bracelet that was six years old. "I have no choice." Quickly, she ran over to the toilet and placed the bracelet inside, then stood before it and tapped her foot. "Now what?" She decided to run to the bed and sit down: all she could do was wait. She took in a deep breath, and resigned herself to her fate. She had wondered about the Trandoshan Kinsa had seen: now she knew. Whether or not that was a good sign, however, was very unlikely.

Sish walked into the Jedi's prison chamber, still one eyed, grinning. He couldn't help it. This was almost as good as killing the Jedi. Almost, but not quite. Alas, seeing as he would be in trouble if he did kill the Jedi, he would have to settle for causing them intense amounts of pain and breaking them. The longer it took, the better. After all, there wasn't any fun in breaking a jedi like a twig within one session. Well...there was a lot of fun in that actually. But it was more enjoyable to break a resilient one rather than to break a weak one. He didn't want to waste any energy on dragging the Jedi to a cell, like he had the last one. All that torture...lost because he had wanted a few moments of fun before hand.

"I won't lie and say I'd prefer if you came quietly. I'd much prefer if you fought and gave me reason to harm you. Severely. But, it is your choice. Come quietly, and save yourself a bit of pain, or fight, and have my fun begin even sooner."

"Lovely," Calista thought to herself as the Trandoshan entered her room, her eyes fallimg closed for a moment as she listened to him speak. She almost wanted to let out a sigh of relief simply because she was right. And he didn't seem to notice the existence of the bracelet, so Calista took it as a win. "But... Should I resist like he wants? Or come quietly?" It literally didn't matter what she did at this point; his presence here signaled an official beginning to physical torture. She didn't see much of a point at it at all, however, gaining his contempt might make the overall session worse due to his distaste. Of course he could always torture her more simply to see if she'd fight back, though she doubted she'd be in an actual position to do so during the session. It was surprising to begin with that he even granted her an option. "Invoke the wrath of a Sith Lord... Or invoke it later. Hurry up and pick, Calista!" Her mind yelled at her in frustration.

Finally, she merely held her hands up in surrender, showing a willingness to come without a fight. "If there's really a chance for me to escape, I'll see then. Until then, I'll come quietly. I'm a Jedi; not a beast that fights on command."

Sish made a disappointed sound, before grabbing Calista by the upper arm(none to gently), and dragging her to a cell. The same process as with Xid happened. The girl was restrained, and Sish grinned at her once more. "Before we begin, is there any information you'd like to offer, Republic defenses, secrets, army placements, that could help you avoid this whole experience?" That was a lie of course. She'd have to go through whatever tortures Sish desired, even if she was telling the truth. He didn't care about information, or conversion. He only cared about pain, causing pain to the Jedi and watching them break.

Though it would be easier to explain if he went overboard if the Jedi refused to give up any information. In a hostile manner, of course.

Calista did not give Sish the pleasure of hearing a noise from her as she was dragged out of her room and restrained against a table. It was starting to get difficult to regulate her breathing as steady breaths instead of erratic ones. She knew this was coming: she had no naïve beliefs to the contrary when she first arrived on the ship. But being just moments away from it made it entirely different. "You can do this, Calista. You can do this. He can hurt you all he want, but he can't kill you. With luck, you'll pass out quickly. Be brave." With that she turned to face Sish with as steady a gaze as she could muster and responded to him evenly. "I have nothing to say. I was at the JedI Temple for the duration of the war. Any useful intel I could have had was destroyed when the Sith destroyed the Temple. And my answer matters little."

Sish's grin never wavered. "True, but you could still remember that information. Especially since it's important." At her final words, he snorted a little, before responding. "What? You don't trust my word? I'm insulted." False innocence dripped from his words, bellying the hurt look on his face. Without waiting for a response, he raised a claw and pierced her skin at the temple, going in about an inch before dragging it slowly down to her jaw.

Her jaw clenched and her hands clenched into white knuckled fists. When the finger reached her jaw, her muscles loosened because of the pain of sliced flesh. She breathed in a shakoer breath, and swallowed a whimper that tried to claw ita way from her throat. Her head also tilted back and her eyes squeezed shut. "F-Force... S-Sharp... Ow..." Calista now felt sorry for the two Zabraki who fought him in their memories. "Why hurt my jaw when you want me to talk...? Don't let him hear you in pain, Calista!" She looked back up at Sish with pain in her eyes, but her gaze conveyed what she could have in words (speaking would hurt thanks to her injured jaw): no.

Sish chuckled. Defiance. That was good. She wouldn't be like the Barbel, falling within the first few hours. Though, the Barbel did die almost immediately after that. Which meant, obviously, he was simply not strong enough to be a Sith or a Jedi!(Sish catalogues the Greys as Jedi. If you're not a Sith, you're an enemy, a Jedi, a weakling.) Rather than doing what he wanted to do(which is continue the torture until she started screaming), he leaned close to her ear, making sure to memorize her scent, and spoke softly.

"You know who I found before the Temple came fully under our control? Younglings, roughly a dozen or so of them. They were being protected by a Padawan, no older than yourself. By the time his head stopped rolling, two of them were missing limbs. I took my time. I can still hear the screams as limb, after limb was removed. Some were lucky. I tore their throats out with my jaws. Tell me, Jedi. If your Order was so powerful, so strong,why couldn't you have stopped that? You couldn't have. Because you're weak. Held back. "

"I..." Her voice was also soft, due to the pain in her jaw, "... Can't... Say. I make no assumptions about whether or not I could have protected them. I would have certainly tried... At least. They are dead. They have become one with the Force: it matters little now. What is strength, to you? To the Sith? Might?"

Sish laughed. "One with the Force? Doubtful. They're dead, and only cold oblivion awaits them. You would have tried and failed, Jedi, because you're weak. You do not possess the strength required to win the fight, much less the war." He considered he final question for a few moments before responding. "Strength is not only might, Jedi. Anyone could have that, be they Sith, Jedi, or barroom brawler. What strength is, is emotional freedom. Honesty. You hold yourselves back from most emotions, or all emotions. You claim they make you fall, make you evil. Not always Jedi, not always. The fall is a personal choice. The emotions, are nothing more than strength. Imagine what you could do if you'd give into your anger. Your hate. Your fear. Your love. Strength does not come from the calm, still, pond. It comes from the raging storm. Life is struggle, not peace."

"Hmm. True, the Jedi do not advovate the indulgence of emotions." Calista made a thoughtful noise and a shrug in acquiesce. "I've never been fond of either extremes. Complete and total apathy isn't correct. We are mortal. Our emotions are a part of our mortality. But surrendering to them isn't right either. It is too chaotic. Too intoxicating. It can just as easily cause a loss in mortality. A moment of happiness does not lead to the Dark Side. Small emotions--happiness, affection, a little sadness--these are not the problem. The problem is bottling them up, or worse, their extremes. Euphoria. Rage. Depression. And... Passion. These are dangerous. And they must be controlled. You say power comes from the raging storm. There is power in a raging storm--a raw, tangible power. But that isn't the only form of power. Balance... Serenity... The rain. There is power in even the smallest trickle of water. There is power in control. A subtle power, one not easily discerned. And there is an eye in the middle of every storm. While chaos and struggle are everywhere, order and peace can be found even within the most tumbulous corners." Love, however, struck a chord with Calista. Love was the enigma out of the emotions listed so far. Was it so bad? Could she even say? Or was she biased? Regardless, she wouldn't touch that subject. Too dangerous.

"It may not be the only form. But it is the strongest." Sish leaned back and casually gripped Calista's arm once more, drawing blood, before unleashing force lightning, coursing through her body. This one was unexpected. Discussion, rather than defiance. It made for a refreshing change. Still, she was a Jedi, and she was still going to be tortured with much glee by the Trandoshan, but there had been a slight change in her standing. Not much, but it's a start, at least. He kept the lighting going for several seconds before releasing her. "Information. Defense systems. Troop locations. Jedi temples." He demanded.

Calista winced at his grip, but the sudden surge of Force Lightning caused her body to spasm and her nerves to scream in pain. She could form no coherent thoughts at the surge of electrical power, and her mouth opened to let out a scream. Still, she tried to resist, and her mouth shut, letting only a very pained whimper escape her lips. "So that's... That's Force Lightning... I think I saw the stars..." The back of her head leaned against the table, and her head shook. "N-no!"

"It would be an end to the pain. You'd return to your cell, and the torture would stop. All that's required is that you give up a few locations. A few system passwords. It would be easy, it would be quick.", Sish said, licking the blood from his claws. That was a token gesture. He knew she wouldn't crack at just a few words, and she knew it to. Still, it was an attempt. Even if she did, through some way, break at those words, he wouldn't stop. He'd have to, professionally of course, assume she was lying.

"No. No he won't." Her brain told her. Obviously she couldn't voice that, but from what she had seen, past and present, her words had no bearing. Even if they were true. For however long she would stay on the ship, she had to delay her spilling of the beans until the Republic successfully negotiated their release. Or if they escaped. Regardless, she had to stay silent. For her own sake, her friends' sake, and the sakes of Jedi not onboard the ship. "How can I get him to end this quickly...? Without giving up?" She wracked her mind for a solution, and the only one that came to mind was to anger him enough to hurt her to the point of blacking out. "Let's see if this works...! Force help me!" Wordlessly, Calista snorted, and spat a loogie at Sish's face. She even used a bit of the Force to guide it right at his face. If she was lucky, it would hit his eye. Or his nose. Or face in general.

Sish didn't react as one might expect. There was no roaring in anger, no cursing her, no snarls. He simply grinned wider. But his anger and rage swelled, the darkness Calista sensed filling the room around them. Sish's vision went red with rage and he wiped off the loogie off of his face and went to work. It was over within several long minutes and by the time it ended Calista was a mess. Most of the bones in her arms and legs broken at least once, clothes torn from claw rendings, Ribs cracked and broken. Her body covered in blood and cuts and burn marks from lightning. She had passed out a few minutes ago, Sish refusing to let her have the bliss of unconsciousness until he was done. Roughly, Sish dragged her from the torture room to the medical room.

The staff didn't react beyond a widening of eyes, going through a hustle bustle of work, ending up with the Jedi in a Kolto Tank. Sish left, but not before ensuring there was a couple squads of troopers watching the Jedi until she was returned to her cell. He didn't make the same mistake twice.

[Fallenreaper]

Xid

Xid felt his body just float there, hours had passed but his mind hadn’t registered them or noted the importance. For a distinct time it was only him. Life seemed to have slipped pass his fingers and death loomed over him like a great beast, the fangs bared in mockery over this weak Padawan. Fear…it should’ve been the first thing to come to his mind, that instinct to fight and desire to live as his memories should’ve flashed pass his mind or so he was told would happen. However, he found he didn’t care. Death was far better than a bitter truth Xid couldn’t escape. The truth he tried to pretend didn’t exist, dark feelings and pain has seemed to swirl about, focused and centered on his stay on Belsavis.

His determination to die seemed fixed…at least until a voice, a terrible and dark memory, had waivered his choice to die.

'We’re more alike than you can ever imagine. The painful truth is this: One day, Xid, you would’ve destroyed everything you once held so dear when you finally reach your full potential… just like me…'

Xid’s eyes snapped open at the voice that echoed in his head, his vision watered down and blurry from the Kolto liquid that surrounded him. A slightly fear at not knowing where he was quickly faded to a sad realization. The Sith hadn’t killed him, instead likely hauled his wounded and slowly seeping body to what seemed to be a medical ward within the ship. His head turned, immediately stopped at familiar sight in a nearby tank: the Zabrak Sith. Her eyes were closed and her blond hair out of its tie, strands floated to the tank top, the scene gave her a peace look. It was hard to believe this apprentice had only moments ago both witnessed his and engaged in Strago’s torture. A slight hard sensation had swelled in his chest only to fade away. The idea has angered him, even for a moment, yet the emotion hadn’t stuck. Not like did with the voice’s owner. A bitter truth had begun to enter the Padawan’s head, one he rather not entertain, before it completely faded to leave him to a peaceful state. At it had for now.

It was unlikely it would do so forever and that worried Xid. Mostly because he had started to see the disturbing similarities in the recent situation when compared to the voice owner’s own history, though thankful there was extreme differences. For one, though Kinsa didn’t see it, he exposed a monster like one he had encountered in Belsavis…even if this one didn’t reflect on the outside what she was on the inside. He didn’t worry about being fooled by her ‘kind’ words but Kinsa was possibly another matter.

Xid‘s mood sank a bit at the thought then glanced at his wound into his side. There was no trace of the blade, physical or otherwise, save for a phantom sensation where it had plunged into him. The padawan could mentally recall the pain, his blood’s warmth then numbness which swept through his essence and the only physical change might’ve been a slightly paler complexion. He closed his eyes and pressed his head into the tank’s thick glass, wondering why his master and he had decided to be on Coruscant on this day. The answer was simple: him. If his master hadn’t been worried about his recent depression or decline to speak to her, then likely they would’ve still been on Belsavis at the time the Empire assaulted Coruscant instead. It was a painful truth he couldn’t deny. One he wished was otherwise and would’ve saved some self-guilt over this recent event.

Master…where are you? He thought, a vain attempt to use his connection to seek her. The effort wasn’t rewarded but he felt no sense of loss at least, a positive point Master Sela might’ve survived the ordeal and fled to safety.

His peaceful relief was shortened by the decreasing level. The tank was being emptied and drained, allowing a sudden chill that seemed to lick up his bumping flesh. He shivered but remained where he was. It was pointless to escape at this time as there was little place to go or where he could, not to mention these people, despite their position, hadn’t done anything to him. At least yet and besides, Xid’s thoughts lingered to Strago, Allanar, and even Taia. He couldn’t help wonder how they were doing, his mind fell back to the present when he heard footsteps. His head, no longer supported by the glass because it shifted down, jerked up to spot a stone faced medic simply place his clothes in front of him. He mumbled weak thanks but received no reaction to acknowledge his words. Slowly he got up, his feet weak and still unsteady after remaining in one position or maybe it was from something else, he couldn’t know for sure and didn’t want to, in his effort to put back on his robes. Other than being slightly cleaned, the rips and tatters remained unaltered. Despite the sad state of his clothes, he didn’t mind it. More because they reminded him of what he was and a promise to himself, his words to Namore echoed around in his head only to fade.

When he dressed and just escorted out by troopers to his cell, his eyes caught Sish’s familiar image. The Sith dragged a torn, beaten, broken Jedi woman into the medical bay with a cruelty he still tried to understand. However, he couldn’t right now. His eyes just hovered there for a moment until a shove stirred his feet into motion. Soon enough he was marched back to the Jedi cells, his head lowered and deep in thought, where he was pushed through the Bulkhead doors then left among the other Jedi. A little different compared to the positive and rather cheery Padawan he earlier had been, Xid couldn’t bring himself to make a comment of any sort.

He noted Viera’s absent right away which made him slightly unease. It was likely she was taken by a Sith to be…interrogated or worse. There wasn’t anything he could do about it. A little depressed by the reality, he shuffled deeper into the Cellblock and glanced to see Strago mediating. It was best not to disturb him and , besides, Xid won’t know what to say. There was so much going through his head that Xid found it hard to, more accurate was that he was too tiresome, to examine them. Clearing his head would take some time.

Right now, he wanted a distraction. The Padawan moved over to Allanar’s cell area in a faint hope he could relieve some worry in his heart. Xid at that moment, most of all, wanted the Jedi to make it through alright. He wanted them all to make out of this nightmare alive. His hope seemed to not reach the Force. There was no change in the Jedi’s condition and it was even less likely they would live to see the end of this. In this moment, the only thing Xid could do was at least make the man’s suffering a little more tolerable. He retrieved his sleeve off the man’s brow then once more dampened it at the sink, his fingers wringed it out before he dabbed the man’s head. He would likely continue until exhaustion or someone interrupted him. His odds seemed to favor the later.

[Sundered Echo]

As Zanna walked down the halls of the ship, idly checking to make sure she didn't have any blood on her clothes from those stupid, insignificant, insects that had dared to challenge her. Her mind flitted between the various threats, plans, and experiences that she had had recently, that demanded her attention. The Sith woman, Thallia who tried to have her killed. Sish, the brutish Trandoshan(how he became a Sith Lord she'll never know). Nyiss and the...pleasurable experience attributed to the Darth. Lea with her innocence and naivety. Jewel, though Zanna hadn't had the...delight of meeting the woman, she had heard of Jewel and she knew the human was on the ship. Doubtful the woman would just allow Zanna to take Nyiss's apprenticeship, even though it was hers by right of blood and superiority. She would have to be dealt with, sooner or later.

As she drew ever closer to the prisoners, she idly skimmed the minds of the crew, searching to see if she missed anything truly important. The first few were the usual. Mundane worries, base desires, and other things Zanna had absolutely no interest in. What one of the medical staff(as the man all but ran towards his next goal) was thinking about, however, drew the Pureblood up short(mentally, of course). Apparently, there had been an explosion...an escape attempt by a Jedi...the Jedi was back in prison, but the Trandoshan had been injured, along with his apprentice. The former had recovered nicely, while the latter was still recovering.

Leaving the man's mind, Zanna muttered a small curse. Sish had survived, which was disappointing and slightly irritating. If the lizard had just had the courtesy to die she would have had more time to deal with other, more important, nuisances. Still...he was injured. So that made things easier for her. As for his apprentice...Zanna struggled to remember what she knew about the Sith Lord's apprentice. Nothing much. Just a name, and a race.

As she approached a Sith Trooper, she made a mental note to learn more about the Zabrack. One could never be too careful after all. "You there, soldier. I want you to gather five non-jedi prisoners. A mother, a criminal, a republic soldier, a young man, and a young woman. The mother with her children alive and on this ship, preferably, the young woman with loved ones on this ship and alive as well. Send me all we know of these prisoners as well." After telling the trooper where to meet her with the prisoners, and how to send the information to her datapad, she gathered two more Sith troopers and went to Viera's cell, opening it. "You can either make this easy on yourself, or make this hard on yourself, I, nor they I suspect, don't care." She smiled at the Epicthanix, in an almost friendly manner.

Viera looked up sullenly at the Sith. There was no question that whatever the twisted woman had planned would be horrible. Her nervousness welled and she replied "I don't think I have a choice. Its not like you to provide realistic choices. Your hearts are blacker than your skin is red. Why don't you just kill us? It would be faster." Nonetheless, she stood and followed the Sith. If for no other reason than to ensure the other Jedi wouldn't have to watch whatever this Sith was going to do to her.

Zanna's smile never wavered. "You always have a choice. It's a matter of how intelligent you belive that choice would be. As for my black heart," She shrugged. "It seems to me that we appear to winning, black hearts and all. Coruscant razed to the ground, most of it's adult male population dead. The children are all slaves, the women, those that aren't whores or dead, along with them. You don't win a war through purity Jedi. And killing you would serve no purpose." With the Jedi following, closely watched by the two Sith Troopers, she lead them to a preselected torture chamber. Ushering Viera in, she turned on the two troopers, keeping an eye on the Jedi. "You, give me your sword." The Trooper, in a slightly surly manner, did as requested. "Now, both of you wait outside. Let the one coming with more in, with the amount I request at the time, and don't let the rest escape." With that, she stepped into the chamber, door closing behind her, giving a brief disgusted glance at the torture tools. Barbaric.

"It'll take a little bit for what I've requested to arrive. Might as well make yourself comfortable. Oh, and you'll want this." She slid the sword across the floor to the Jedi. A few moments passed before Zanna let curiosity get the better of her. "Viera, is it? How did you come to be captured on the Hask?"

Viera just looked at the sword as it was slid across the room to her. "Why would I tell you anything? Why do I need a sword? You aren't going to let me out. And don't you already know how I was captured? I'm sure you have reports. You know you don't have to do this. You could be the one to make a difference in the Sith order. You could let us all go." Viera was babbling, and it would probably annoy the Sith. But at least she was trying to save the poor woman.

Zanna raised an eyebrow as the girl began to babble. Then, deciding that it would be best to answer the questions first, one at a time, she began. "You don't have to tell me anything. Seeing as there will be no harm in the information I ask for, you don't need to be tight lipped either." She smirked slightly. "A problem you obviously don't have. You'll need the sword later, trust me. And no, I don't know how you were captured. I haven't read your report yet." That was a lie. She had read most if not all of the Jedi's files and repots from front to back almost as soon as they
became available. But, Viera didn't need to know that.

She gave a soft laugh at Viera's last words. "I don't have to do this. As I said before, there's always choices. I could let you all go, escape with you. I could make those choices. But, you see, the thing is, I've already made my choice. I want to do this. Morality, ethics, conscience, those are all meaningless and signs of weakness. Weakness that can be exploited. But let's imagine that I do want to betray the side I was born too, the side I'm utterly loyal to, the side I'd die for." Not really, but sounds nice doesn't it? Death wasn't appealing. Life on the other hand, was. "Assuming you've somehow convinced me to do with this, and I free you all, arm you, and then try to help you escape, what do you think will happen Jedi?"

As she waited for the Jedi to respond, she glanced down at her datapad, information about the coming prisoners. The young woman didn't have any siblings, sadly, and the mother didn't have any live children. The criminal was only a small time thief, and the soldier was a coward who had broken within the first day. Not exactly the cream of the crop for what she had planned, but nothing a few lies couldn't fix.
Despite the Sith womans assurances that she would need it, Viera left the sword where it was on the ground. She had a bad feeling that co-operating with the Sith would mean the deaths of innocents. "I think, if you did leave the Sith, you would eventually see the truth of the Light side of the Force and become Jedi. No-one is beyond redemption."

Zanna's eyebrows slowly rose as Viera spoke, staying high on her forehead for a few moments. "I think you're skipping a step. First we have to escape the ship with enough defenses to make it a ship version of Korriban. Then we have to escape any pursuit the very angry people will send after us. But we won't get to that step because I will have died a horrible death by then, and you would be back in the prison." She fell silent, tilting her head. "Redemption...I don't want or need redemption."

Viera maintained little hope of converting this Sith. Here in the midst of darkness, it was unlikely anyone would see the light. She kept trying at least. "If we were caught and killed, it would at least be better than the both of us being prisoners. I to the other Sith here, and you to the darkness that gave you no choice but to serve."

Zanna snorted. "You would live Jedi. Trust me. I, however, would die. Slowly. Painfully. As for slavery...I don't think I'm a slave to anything. I use the darkness. To rise in this universe I have to."And to survive in the world of the Sith. Before she could continue the, interesting, conversation, the Trooper she had sent to find the prisoners entered. "I've brought what you requested, my lord." Zanna peeked her head out, and gestured at the young man. "Bring him, leave the others." The young man shaking in sheer terror, but at least managing to retain his dignity, the Trooper did so. Zanna smiled at him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

Then she ruthlessly took control of his mind. It wasn't that hard, and she was even able to prevent the scream that naturally leapt to his lips. The shaking stopped, and Zanna's smile and poster never changed. The blast doors were still opened, and Zanna forced the man to lie down between them(in a distinctly puppet like manner), head towards the Jedi. Still keeping a firm control over the man, Zanna turned to Viera. "What's going to happen is going to be very simple. I'm going to close the blast doors. I want you to stop it with the force. I won't try and stop you, nor will any of the troopers. This young man's life is in your hands." She could feel his panic and terror growing, raging inside of him, unable to do anything a she forced him to remain perfectly still.

"If you fail, he'll be cut in half in a very painful fashion."

Viera looked on as the poor man the Sith had brought in was Force Dominated. It was a horrible thing to see, his body moving awkwardly, placing himself between the toothed edges of the bulkhead doors. Her stomach turned at the knowledge of what those doors could do to him, and that the Sith would allow it. "H- How can you do this?" She stammered. "You can still stop this Sith... come back to the light..."
"I can't stop this. The choice is already in your hands. Let this young man, who used his sister as a shield after leaving his father to die, live, or let him die. I know what I would choose. But that's me. I'm far more interested in what you will choose." She smiled at Viera, sadly, before shaking her head. "You don't seem to get it. I don't want to go to the light. It is weak, and foul, and infested with hypocrasy. I'm not suggesting the dark is perfect, as perfection is an unobtainable goal at best, but it's better and more honest than the light.
"As for how I can do this....very easily. I'll give you to the count of three. Then I'm pressing the button. 3...2..." Zanna smiled again at Viera, only this one was far more predatory. "1."

Viera was aparalyzed by indecision. on one hand, the Sith said this man was a monster, but she was probably lying. No-one deserved to die, by the tennets of the Jedi code, even the most horrifying of Sith Lords did not deserve death. But what could Viera do? Attacking the Sith would be giving in to her anger. She wasn't strong enough to stop the doors. And time was ticking far too quickly. Turning to the man on the ground she spoke "I'm sorry..." was all she managed in the short time remaining.

Zanna pushed the button, allowing the man one scream of terror before the doors closed on him. It was bloody. The snapping and crunching of the pelvis and hip bones could be heard, and blood splattered the blast doors. The man's scream turned from terror to unimaginable pain. He was still alive, if bleeding an obscene amount of blood from where his waist used to be, and having his entrails exposed and hanging. He was scrabbling and clawing at the floor, screaming and gibbering and calling for his mother.

Zanna opened the blast doors again, allowing the man to crawl away in his insanity, his face twisted with pain, entrails dragging behind him, leaving a trail of blood,and closed them again. Her eyes had never left Viera once. "Interesting. I would have thought that you would have made even the most paltry of efforts, rather than letting him die. Perhaps you're not as close to your light as you'd have me believe. Regardless, I did give you a sword for a reason. Put him out of his misery, if you want to. Or, let him suffer an agonizing death. Once again, your choice."

Viera fought back tears at the sight. Never in her life had she witnessed such brutality, and to think that it could be committed by a sentient being... It was more than she could witness. She squeezed shut her eyes and started to speak the Jedi code. "There is no emotion, there is peace." She began, softly. "There is no ignorance, there is knowledge." Louder now. "There is no passion, there is serenity." She focused on the peaceful feeling of being amongst the shelves of the archives. "There is no Chaos, there is harmony." Her anger and horror began to wash away. She opened her eyes and looked at the Sith then. "There is no death... There is the Force."

Zanna had to strain to hear over the screaming of the man who still wasn't dead. But she caught the words the Jedi was reciting, and chuckled again. Amusing. Interesting. Hypocrisy. She let Viera finish the Jedi code, and then walked over to her meeting the Epicthanix's eyes. "There is no emotion? That's a lie, jedi. There is always emotion. You killed this man. You caused his death, and you are the reason he is still suffering. You could have stopped me. An attack, a plea, the use of the force. But no. You stood there and watched, secure in your Jedi ideals. You watched, as I pressed a button you could have stopped. I gave you plenty of time to prepare. You could have even pulled him out of the way. But you didn't."

She pointed at the man, still screaming and howling and crawling. "This is your fault. I pressed the button, but you allowed it to happen."
Viera met the Siths eyes and stared defiantly as she spoke. What she said only proved her monstrous addiction to the dark side. Viera then replied, her voice cold. "Don't try to twist your actions on to me Sith. You said yourself that you do not have to do this. The only responsibility for this man is yours. You want me to show you the light, and I have tried to tell you it is within you already. But you don't want to hear me." She then knelt next to the screaming man and reached into his mind with the Force, using all her skill to calm his mind and block off the pain, letting him die in peace. "I'll not do anything you demand of me that brings injust death Sith." Even as she projected calm and strength towards the sith, her heart was slowly breaking to know such cruelty existed.

Zanna laughed, a cruel tone to it. "I'm twisting nothing Jedi. I don't have to do this. But I want to. And, the responsibility of mine ended when I gave you the opportunity to save him. I have no illusions about myself. I'm cruel, ambitious, ruthless. I'm what you would classify as evil. I killed this man. And I'll kill again. But, don't the Jedi preach to the masses that they are protectors. Heros. People who would do the best they could to prevent an innocent from dying an agonizing death?" She watched as the Jedi walked over to the man, calming him and blocking off his pain.

"Oh no Jedi. You're not getting off that easily." With that, she fought against the workings of the Jedi, turing the man's mind into a battle ground.
Viera felt the Siths influence spreading into the mans mind, reigniting the pain he felt and heightening it. She was a hypocrit. "Get away Sith! You asked me to save this man from his pain, and thats what I'm doing! You asked me to act, I'm acting! Is that not good enough for you?" The mans mind was fragile as it was, and with the battle of wills taking place there, it snapped with ease. His body began to shake, his mouth froth and his ears bleed. Seconds passed as Viera realised that this was probably the Siths goal all along. She cut off her attempt to calm him then immediately, and with the lgihtside energy stopping, his mind was destroyed instantly under the Sith's assault. His body stopped moving. He'd finally expired.

"See what you did Sith. You killed him. You don't want me to act as a Jedi. All you want is to witness the pain of innocent people."

Zanna snorted, ignoring the corpse. "I didn't say you could save him Jedi. I gave you two choices. Kill him, or let him die. What you did was only useless. It served no purpose than to make yourself feel better." She walked away to the blast doors, opening them to speak to the troopers. They seemed, for the most part, numb to the whole experience. Just another day in the service of the Sith. The prisoners, on the other hand, were terrified and in various stages of weeping. "Bring in her, and him." She ordered, pointing at the criminal and the young woman.
The two were thrust into the torture cell, and Zanna turned back to the Jedi. "Why don't you explain how you came to be upon this ship." She said to the criminal, force persuasion being used heavily of course. "I was looting an abandoned home, when the Sith attacked. I got scared, and ran for cover. One other joined me in the mad panic. A young kid, he couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen. The Sith troopers caught up with us and I threw the kid at them to buy me time to run. Obviously, they still caught me." The man fell silent, tear streaks still evident on his cheeks.

"And what about you?" Zanna asked the young woman. "I-I was with my husband. We were at one of the sites of the initial attack, and they caught us within moments. I tried to run when my husband screamed at me to..but there were so many people. So much panic.." Quite suddenly she did more than Zanna asked for. "Please, don't kill me! I don't want to di-" "Silence." Zanna spoke quite calmly, but the wave of force persuasion shut the woman's jaw faster than the blast doors.

"Now, Jedi, I have a simple question for you. Who shall live? One of them must die, and it'll be your choice. And, before you get any notions of refusing to choose either, let me give you a tidbit of information. For every four hours you don't choose one, I'll take three more innocents, who won't have to die if you choose one of these innocents to die, and kill them slowly and painfully in front of you. I have a very large group of prisoners to select from, and even if you last that long, I'll move on to your friends." Zanna's eyes were unwavering. "Choose. The criminal, or the wife."

Viera was confused. She just couldn't figure out what this Sith wanted of her. To choose a prisoner to kill, yes, but why? "Why would you do this Sith? Whats the purpose of it all? For all I know, you'll keep asking me to choose until there is no-one left on this ship. What will you do If I do choose?"

"Knowledge Jedi. I know how a fellow Sith would react to this, and I have an inkling of how a Grey Force sensitive would react. But I have no clue as to how a Jedi would react when faced with two evils. Or if the information presented to them would affect their decision at all. See, if I hadn't made them tell you anything about how they were captured, you would have randomly killed one. Simple enough. But now, you must decide who is more worthy of living. Who is more worthy of death. As for keep asking you to choose, no. That would be a waste." Zanna gestured at the two, silent but shaking, prisoners. "I'd suggest you hurry. My patience is wearing thin, and three more can be easily summoned."

"You're wrong Sith..." Viera started. She knew that what she was about to say could get her and these poor people into even more trouble. But She would not compromise the Jedi ways. Especially not for a Sith's cruel whims. "No-one deserves to die. Not the criminal. Not the Wife. Even you can be saved... I wont choose which to kill. If I must deliver Judgement, I say lock the criminal up for... um, a decade or two. But no one is to die. If you really have to kill someone Sith... let it be me."

"Your choice Jedi. I'll even do you a favor this time, and only bring in two." She opened the blast doors and called to the guards. "Bring them both in, if you please." The mother and the republic soldier were ushered in, and the troopers stepped out once more. Zanna opened the blast doors and turned to the mother, using Force Persuade on the broken woman's mind. "Lie down with your leg where the door will close." The mother complied, and Zanna turned to Viera. "I gave you the choice, and warned you of the consequences. You chose this."
Viera knew the Sith would do this. Unlike last time, she'd had enough time to make up her mind. She rushed into the gap between the doors, standing protectively over the woman whose legs were extended. If the doors shut now, it would be a swift and painful end for Viera. "I told you Sith." She said, her voice cold. "Not to hurt them."

Zanna sighed, and held up a hand palm towards Viera. "I had hoped that you would last longer than this, but there are more Jedi, after all." Taking a deep breath,as if preparing for something, she pressed the button. The doors sprang towards the Jedi, prepared to end the life of the Epicthanix and take the leg off of the woman. Focus...Focus... Zanna thought, using the force to slow the doors. Close, too close. The doors were still moving forward, and the there wasn't much room left for the Jedi before she became two halves of a Jedi.

Zanna lifted her other hand and used the Force to pull the Jedi out of the way. The damn fool of a girl was just standing there with her eyes tightly shut, waiting for the end. Well, that wasn't coming anytime soon. As the Jedi was yanked away, out of harms way, Zanna released her hold on the doors gasping slightly in relief. The doors slammed shut and the woman screamed and Zanna briefly crossed over and sliced off another slim section of the woman's leg with her lightsaber. Couldn't have her bleeding out.

Zanna turned back to Viera. "Choose. Or I slowly cut off her leg to the hip, then start on her other leg. Then her arms. Then her torso. Then I move to the soldier." She gestured towards the republic soldier, standing and shaking off to the side.

Viera shrieked as she was pulled from between the doors, though her own voice was drowned out by that of the innocent woman. Tears streamed down her face. This Sith was a monster. How could she stand in the light amidst such all encompassing darkness? But no. She would not choose. Could not choose. This had to end.

She gathered her will and with a sudden gesture she Force pushed at Zanna's Lightsaber with all her might, hoping to throw it against the wall
hard enough to damage it.

Zanna, already holding tightly onto her lightsaber, stumbled as the lightsaber was nearly torn from her grasp. While she managed to keep her grasp on the lightsaber, her knuckles took the blow meant for her lightsaber. She let out a small curse in her native language reflexively. It wasn't the pain, she had felt much worse in her years as an apprentice to her previous master, it was the surprise of the whole thing. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at the Epicthanix. Oh, how she wanted to make the bitch pay for that little stunt...but it was clear she was close to
becoming a wreck, and that wouldn't do at all.

She pushed the other prisoners out and told the guards, in a flat tone, "Take them back to containment. I'll deal with the jedi and the one legged woman. Send someone to clean up this mess though." Audible sighs of relief could be heard from the spared souls, while the woman Zanna had sliced a leg off of with blast doors continued moaning. The troopers and their prisoners soon left. Casually, Zanna force pulled the sword to her that she had intended for Viera to use and shoved it through the stomach of the woman Viera had tried to save, dragging it up and down a few times, as the woman screamed. It wouldn't be a quick death, and Zanna wanted the Jedi to know it.

"Let's get you back to your cell, Jedi. Can't have you staring at this woman who you doomed to die slowly for hours, can we?" Zanna gave a sweet, mocking, smile. "And no trying to ease her pain. Or I'll make it worse and I'll make sure you have to watch." She added sharply. Gesturing to the blast doors, "Lets go.."

Viera watched in horror as her attempt to disarm the Sith failed. When the Sith cursed, she felt the wash of rage emanate from the woman, and she expected the worst. She was, however, surprised to see that the Sith then chose to let them all go. Until, of course, the red-skinned monster pulled the jagged sword into her hand and plunged it into the injured womans stomach. Viera's eyes snapped shut as the woman screamed. It was all she could do to hold back tears. She was about to reach out to the woman, but then the Sith threatened to worsen the manner of ths poor inncoents death even more. Viera felt weak, she'd witnessed such horrific cruelty, and it was getting to be more than she ever imagined she could handle. She followed lamely as she was half dragged back to her cell, refusing to give the Sith the final satisfaction of her breaking down into tears.

The moment the cell doors slammed shut though, her body was wracked with sobbing and her face was wet with tears. How could such evil exist in the galaxy? How could such horrific acts occur?

[Frettzo]

KINSAKWI'TEKSA

Silence.

Why was it so terrifying now? Maybe it was the only true time that she had experienced it? She knew for sure that she had never quite gotten the technique of meditation down, as she could never actually clear her mind before... But now? This time she was clear, and it scared her. It had only been a few minutes since her encounter with the Sith Lord, and she was afraid she had changed. Things didn't quite feel the same, and she was confused.

She sighed, shaking her head and standing up to pace around her small cell. After a few minutes, she pulled a small metallic finger out of one of her new attire's pockets, looking at it intently, before pressing it lightly against the nub leftover from her actual ring finger and letting a tiny smile graze her lips.

"I still have my friends..." She whispered, but before she could continue, the familiar sound of the bulk doors of the cell block opening was heard, making Kinsakwi spur into action, hiding the finger and sitting on the cell's bed. Fifteen soldiers, all armed to the teeth, and a single one of them had an insignia marked on his chest. So many soldiers in one place couldn't be good, certainly something was going to happen, and it wasn't going to be good.

Her suspicions were proven true as the higher ranking soldier deactivated the shields and three soldiers aimed their weapons at her. For a second she froze up, staring at the barrels pointing at her oh so menacingly. Her heart rate shot through the roof, and she felt her breath quickening- At least until the officer moved to one of the cells, containing the other Twi'lek, and spoke of her worth to the Emperor, and got her executed.

"... Oh shoot..." She muttered, gathering her thoughts and keeping her breath under control while the officer kept going through the cells, each time he spoke the verdict being a moment of extreme tension. And when the officer finally reached her cell, and gave his own verdict, the relief she felt was immense. Relieved because she got to live another day? Relieved because she was told she was useful? Because she would still have a chance to live through this nightmare? She had no idea.

Then they left, with no further word. LEaving the dead Twi'lek behind... Like waste.

[Sundered Echo]

Thallia Valcia stormed through the corridors towards the prison cells Her arm was held close to her side, unmoving, still largely untouched by the medical teams aboard the ship. She told them not to heal it so she could have the satisfaction of taking the energy needed to heal it from the Jedi who’d inflicted her injury in the first place. She’d made sure to rise from her rest as soon as she could, much to the protest of the medical staff, in order to get to Strago before anyone else did. She would have her revenge.

As she turned the corner to the cellblock section she was confronted by the sight of the Jedi staggering unnaturally back into his cell, followed closely by another Sith. One whom Thalia had never seen before. This was unacceptable. Strago was hers. It was her right to torture him first. She marched up to him just as he turned and the cell door shut. “Who do you think you are? That prisoner belongs to me!”

Guide looked at the female who was shouting at him. A human, he thought that his niece would have taught these beings their place by now, obviously not. However he had other things to attend to and he could not be bothered to deal with stroppy little girls who interfere with matters above them. He merely shrugged it off, and began walking down the corridor outside of the cell block.

Thallia stood slightly stunned as the other Sith passed by her before wheeling about and following the old man. “Don’t you ignore me!” She shouted at his back, quickening her pace to catch up to him. “I’m going to ask once more. What were you doing with that Jedi!”

He turned around. “My you’re a persistent little one aren’t you? What I was doing with that Jedi is my business and mine alone. If you want to know? Then you must become of use to me.” He turned back away and continued on his journey down the corridor.

He was walking away from Thallia once again. Unbelievable. She caught up once more and reached out with her uninjured arm. “Don’t you dare walk away from me-” She said as she grabbed the man's shoulder and tried to spin him to face her.

As soon as Thallia touched him he turned under his own strength, Guide didn’t even have to lift an arm. A sudden and incredibly powerful Force hit her in the cheek, throwing her up in the air and spinning her until she hit the wall and slid to the floor. “Do not forget your place, Jen’jidai. You are not but a pawn in a greater game than you know exists, than anyone aboard this ship exists other than the Jen’Ari and myself. You shall not rise above your station, do I make myself clear?”

Thallia’s world was spinning. Not literally. Not anymore at least. She’d hit the wall hard, and when she tried to focus on the man responsible, her vision started whirling. By some miracle of luck, she could still hear him clearly, though she could not reply. Another moment passed, and pain flooded her injured arm - she’d fallen on the Lightsaber wound. She felt blood seep down her arm then. The impact had ruined the small amount of healing done by the medics and opened the wound. Blast. She thought. Another robe ruined. For a few minutes, she remained sitting, slumped uncomfortably against the wall.’

Guide moved forward closer to her, bleeding out slightly. He focused on the wound, not healing it but sealing it to prevent it bleeding anymore than it currently was. “I asked you a question apprentice, do you understand that you are not meant to rise above your station?

Suddenly, Thallia’s vision was filled with a wizened red face. “Leave me alone.” She croaked.

“You still do not learn your place Apprentice.” He focused on the wound again, selecting the skin on either side of the wound he had just repaired and pulled, practically skinning her slightly. Tearing at her flesh, yet not allowing her to bleed. Of course he could of just simulated the pain however he had to keep some secrets from her. “Do you understand, that you will not rise above your station? That Jidai is not your prisoner, he belongs to no-one but Darth Nyiss, her word is law and as such I can experiment on whom I chose. Do you understand?”

Thallia clenched her teeth so as not to scream in pain. Whatever this old man was doing to her arm was excruciating. After only a moment she knew she had to submit. “Yes… Master.” She managed through the pain.

Guide leaned in slightly. “Call me Guide.” With that he turned and walked away, he did not bother mending her skin together, it wasn’t bleeding so he saw no need, it wouldn’t cause a mess and have people ask questions. However his job was done and that was the most important thing. However this young Sith may be useful, he turned his head back. “If you are the one I have heard of, who squanders potential and you ever wish to decide to utilize it. I may be willing to teach.” He turned back around with a swish of his cloak and walked away without another word.

Thallia watched the man go, and as soon as he was out of sight, she pushed her hair from her face and stood. She had business with Strago, and a wound that was much worse than before. She hoped the Jedi was still in good condition after Guides visit. She would need all his strength.

Strago barely moved in his cell, doing his best to continue to meditate, his mind drifting off onto other thoughts, and feelings much more than it normally did. Through the Force, he felt much more than during the other times he had on the ship. He could tell that another Jedi had died, and it got to him more than he expected. His mind went to many different things, wondering if death was the best thing for the Jedi on this ship, or if they still had some chance of making it out alive.

He had a feeling of worry much more so than he normally did, not able to just tell himself to be strong, and deal with it for the moment. After all, if he was going to worry about it on the ship, he knew it was better to do so alone than in the presence of a Sith.

Deciding it was likely the best course of action, he put much more focus into healing the scars that Guide had left from his own forms of healing. He knew he had to be strong if he was going to be able to do anything for any of the other prisoners, and he had the intention of finding a way to help them if he could, despite his lack of knowledge, and experience in certain things that would be of obvious use.

Thallia felt a disturbing amount of lightside energy coming from the cell as she stormed down the hallway. She wasted no time, slamming the button that opened the door and marching in. The Forcefields activated as she did so, which was a good thing right since THalia didn’t plan to take Strago out of his cell for this. The Other Jedi in the cell would have to watch, hearing the muffled sounds of torment through the Forcefield.

The walls of energy deactivated before her and reactivated behind her as she crossed the cellblock to reach Strago, the Jedi meditating and channeling the Light side of the Force. The moment she was within his cell her voice was raised to a near hysterical shout. “Look what you did to me you impure freak!” As she yelled she pointed at her injured arm with her free hand. “You’re going to pay for that!” She yanked the sleeve up from her arm to reveal the gruesome wound for all to see.

Strago opened his eyes slowly as he heard the doors to the cell block open, quickly followed by footsteps. He continued with his meditation as much as he could for a moment, but watched as Thallia came toward him, and quickly began yelling at him. He remained quite calm, but looked down slightly as she showed him her injured arm before looking right into her eyes, “It was not my intention to harm you.” He said quite flatly, but genuinely meaning it. His mind had gone back to what had happened the last time he was with her, and it reminded him to make sure he was mentally prepared, knowing that she was one of the Sith who made noticeable use of mind influencing abilities, unsure of what exactly her intention was here.

Thallia’s rage only grew at hearing the Jedi’s stereotypical attempt to placate her. She didn’t bother answering. The Jedi was set in his ways and the pain was clouding her mind. She prepared to make use of a technique she only knew from reading, a technique whereby a Sith could transfer the life-force of another being into themselves for healing purposes - Dark Heal. She reached out with her uninjured arm and placed her hand flat on Stragos chest. She focused on her pain and the desire for it to go away. Moments passed where nothing happened, but then she began to feel a slow buzz of energy. The pain in her arm did not decrease however, instead it became even more intense as her body resisted the attempt to repair it unnaturally.

Strago watched as Thallia’s arm moved toward him, not sure what she was going to do, deciding to just stay still as it did despite having a bad feeling about it. Once it made contact he could feel her starting to drain the energy from him. He waited for a moment, expecting something more, but then realised that there wasn’t anything more, and quickly grabbed her arm, pulling it off his chest toward the side, but toward him as well, not intending to just let her take his energy, though still not making any effort to actually harm her.

Thalia had expected him to try something. He was a meddling kind of Jedi. This time though, he didn’t have a Lightsaber to defeat her with. She pulled her arm free quickly as he grasped it. Through gritted teeth she said softly “Not this time Jedi.” Then she took a step back and raised her hand to point at him. Dark Heal might be difficult for her, but Force Lightning was easy and she had a lot of anger to back it up. The energy shot from her fingertips at the Jedi in a several second burst. She couldn’t do too much damage or there would be no energy left to take, but if she had to set him back in line, she would.

Strago watched as she pulled away, then saw her raise her hand, knowing what was coming before it even did, instinctively raising his arms to block it, grunting very loudly as he felt it against him, doing his best to force it back, but not being very successful, especially without more preparation. He then immediately looked into her eyes once again, his face much more stern now, ignoring the pain from the lightning as he stood tall, obviously having no intention of giving in easily.

Thallia was exasperated by this Jedi’s continued defiance. Why couldn’t he just acknowledge her superiority? She changed the shape of her hand and grasped the Jedi’s throat with the Force, raising him up off the bed on which he was sitting quickly, before he could employ any of his damned resistance. “You’re doing this to yourself you stupid Jedi!” She half expected a response, but it was unlikely he’d be able to speak much with his throat crushed almost to breaking point.

Strago was once again able to tell what was coming before it happened, but had too little time to react to do much about it. Instinctively, he moved his hands toward his throat as the choke began, but he knew very quickly that it wouldn’t help him. His eyes continued to focus onto hers, the pain very obvious on his face, but a more aggressive look showing as well. It didn’t take him very long before he let out the strongest Force push he could muster in about half a second, directed right toward her shins, hoping it would knock her down, or at least throw her off balance.

The moment the Force push struck Thalia’s legs she dropped the Jedi out of the hold she had on him as she staggered. He was troublesome indeed. Her lightsaber whipped into her hand as she rapidly regained her balance. Then, rage overcoming pain, she reached out with her injured arm and willed the transfer of energy to occur once again, contact or no contact. There was nothing to indicate it to the eye, but she felt the transfer begin again, stronger this time. The flesh in her arm hurt intensely, but the bone suddenly repaired itself and the flesh next to it snapped together layer by layer. She held the Lightsaber between herself and the obstinate Jedi, purple blade active and ready to strike him down should he try anything.

Strago fell to the ground, able to react fast enough to make sure he landed standing. He watched Thallia as she took out her lightsaber, not making Strago much more scared from it, knowing that if she wanted him to die, it wouldn’t matter at all. He stood still as he watched her move her arm out, not moving for several seconds, but quickly able to tell that she was taking energy from him, noticing that he was already feeling weaker, sending another Force blast toward her legs while simultaneously using the Force to try to pull the lightsaber from her hands. He knew it was more a test of how much she was paying attention over an actual challenge of ability, but if he was going to lose his energy anyway, he intended for it to be on his own terms.

Thalia stumbled slightly with the attack on her legs, less than before. She was by no means an excellent duelist, but using the same attack twice in a row was something even she knew to be foolish, and so she had prepared. When she felt her Lightsaber begin to slip from her hand, she clenched down on it with both the Force and her hand. Strago had proven he could challenge Lord Sish with a Lightsaber. She didn’t want to go through that again. If he didn’t kill her, one of the other Sith probably would. Regardless, it was enough to disrupt the healing. blood veins that had moments ago been temporarily shut sprung open and her arm became quickly drenched in crimson as the now clean wound bled. She mustered her mind quickly and began again, only half focusing on the heal. The Rest of her mind was ready to resist whatever the Jedi felt he could attack her with next.

Strago began moving closer to her despite his plan not working. He walked toward her at a fast pace, knowing he needed to act urgently if he wasn’t going to be too weak to do something, but not wanting to go so fast that she would slice him with the lightsaber, “You’re the one who’s doing this to yourself, Sith.” He said, her words from not long ago still on his mind, “I could easily have helped heal you if only you had asked.” He added, partially to prove a point, but also to distract her, this time trying to pull her entire body toward him, prepared to grab at the lightsaber if the pull worked, but also ready to jump toward her if it didn’t, knowing that resisting the pull would be its own distraction that he could also capitalise on.

The Jedi was up then, talking and walking towards her. Offering help. “So could the medics with their Kolto. I wanted to do this- She was cut off by a Force pull. His talking had been just a distraction, but enough of one to pull her ahead. This time at least, no blood vessels were exposed and she didn’t bleed, but she did stagger towards the now much closer Jedi. In the process, she swung the Lightsaber wildly, grazing his chest with the tip of the blade. With her other hand she unleashed a wild burst of Force Lightning, desperate to avoid Stragos clutches again.

Strago grunted very loudly as the lightsaber went across his chest, this time yelling as he felt the lightning hit him, making no attempt at some kind of defence this time. Instead he began using the Force once more, just trying to move the lightsaber out of her grasp with it, not able to focus enough to try to get it to come in his direction because of the pain.

Regaining her Balance, Thallia felt another attack on her Lightsaber hand. The weapon remained in her grasp but the blade was flicked into the nearby Forcefield, the energy feedback from it causing the blade to flicker off. It did give Thallia an idea though. Not letting up with her Lightning, though controlling it a little more, she through the hardest Force push she could into the Jedi’s side, in an attempt to throw him into the Forcefield. Such a thing would cause great pain, and if she could she would hold him there with the Force until he blacked out.

Strago looked at the lightsaber, and just yelled even louder as the lightning continued. A moment later he felt a Force push bringing him toward the forcefield. He re-directed it as much as he could, grabbing toward Thallia, hoping to take her into it with him, or make her stop because of the chance of it.

Thallia was once again in the grasp of Strago, and now they both slammed into the ForceField. Pain coursed through her side at the touch, and she briefly felt her own Sith Lightning once again. As they both tumbled to the floor, she tried to activate her Lightsaber again. The first tap of the button did nothing. This was it, she was not getting out of it this time. The second tap - Nothing! She was going to die. Once more, this time, the purple blade flickered to life. She pulled her legs up towards herself, kneeing the Jedi in the groin as she went, and swiped the Lightsaber low. There was a distinct thump of something dropping to the ground as she rolled the two of them over and pushed away from Strago, standing and stepping back quickly. Next time, she’d get the Kolto for her injuries.

Strago made a very brief attempt to grab the lightsaber as they slammed into the forcefield, but was quickly overwhelmed by the pain. He kept his hands on her as much as he could, letting out a sound between a yell, and a grunt as she kneed him in the groin, letting go with his left hand, and instinctively moving it toward there, but gripping her clothing with his right quite tightly despite not having enough strength to actually take advantage of it in any way. After a moment, he yelled loudly, the pain of the lightsaber going through his shin, and calf not entirely registering for about a second. His grip was weak enough now to let her go as she backed away, quickly feeling himself fall to the ground. He was conscious enough to stop any attempt at further damage, but he felt far too weak to continue fighting for any other reason, feeling his consciousness slowly fading.

Thalia stood looking at what she’d done to the Jedi. All she could think of was the announcement that no Sith was allowed to remove anything that would not grow back from a Jedi. She was in shock. This could mean her death! She’d seen what happened to the last Sith who’d overstepped her bounds. Thallia didn’t wait to see what would happen. Instead, she ran. Straight out of the Prison cell and into the hallway. She took a moment to calm her breathing. She stopped by the Med-bay, grabbed a Kolto spray to finish healing her arm and said quickly to the medical staff “One of the Jedi’s been attacked! Someone cut his foot off with a Lightsaber. Quickly, go fix it while you can.” No sooner had the staff begun to move than she was herself out of the Medical bay and headed towards the security room. She had camera records to edit….

[Rtron]

Sish

The Trandoshan blinked as the Minder left. Then, a vicious grin slowly worked it's way across his face. Torture and a fight? In the same day? It was almost too good to be true. Before he went about the, assuredly bloody, business, Sish put on his battle armor. One could never be too careful after all. Still grinning, Sish found the nearest ship personnel and stopped him, whirling the man around by his shoulder to face the Sith Lord. "Where is Lord Jacien Varien quartered?" He demanded, impatiently keeping a claw on his lightsaber. The man seemed insulted for a moment, and ready to make a sharp retort, when he seemed to recognize Sish. He paled considerably, and his demeanor changed quite drastically. If Sish didn't have more important things to do, he would have spent a few more minutes just making the man uncomfortable. "Over there, My Lord." He gestured to a door, only barely refraining from stuttering. Without another word, Sish stalked over to the doorway, opening it without announcing himself. Lord Jacien was lying on his bed, apparently napping, coming awake as soon as Sish entered the room. For a moment, there was silence as Sish grinned at him and the door to his room shut behind the Trandoshan.

"Can I help you?" The man asked. Sish's grin grew wider. "I'm going to kill you." He informed Jacien, quite helpfully. Sish's lightsaber activated, and he waited for Jacien to make his move. Too his credit, the man gave no visible reaction. "Ah. We'll just-" A blaster pistol was suddenly drawn and fired at Sish taking the Trandoshan by surprise and in the center of his battle armor. Sish grinned a bloodthirsty grin. "My turn." Taking a leap forward he brought his lightsaber down in a two handed blow. The man was fast, Sish had to give him that. Just as quickly as the blaster was drawn, it was dropped and a lightsaber blocked the blow meant to sever him in half. Still pressing down with his own lightsaber with one hand, Sish reached down with his other and dug his claws into Jacien's shoulder. The man cried out and Sish felt more than heard the bone cracking. Such a shame he wasn't more prepared. Sish reflected, before slinging his opponent across the room into a dresser. The dresser caved in, and the few glass decorations on it shattering and going into his unprotected back. Jacien left a smear of blood on the dresser as picked himself up.

Sish had taken a step towards him when Jacien flung out his hand and sent lightning towards the Trandoshan. Sish blocked it with his lightsaber, his teeth still bared in a grin. When the lightning ended, he quickly closed the distance, lightsaber sweeping down in another powerful blow. Jacien rolled out of the way, and his dresser was cut in half, a cut being left on the wall and floor as well. Sish whirled around, stretching out a clawed hand. Jacien was lifted into the air, hands grasping at his throat. Sish slammed him into the wall, then the roof, then the floor, then the wall again. He repeated the twice, at which point he began to tire, and dropped Jacien. The human was still alive, even though a goodly portion of his blood was on the roof and floor and wall, and some of the bones in his arm and shoulder were showing where they shouldn't be. Sish let the man pick himself up, and closed in for the kill.

The man had enough wits and energy left to try a few dirty tricks in an attempt to escape, something Sish appreciated. The wits and energy, not so much the attempt at a low blow and run. Sish force pulled him backwards, and then stomped with his foot. There was a sharp cracking sound, and suddenly, Jacien's knee was bending sharply in the wrong direction. Just to be on the safe side, Sish flicked downwards with his lightsaber twice. Jacien's screams took on a much louder tone as both his hands crashed to the ground, separated from their wrists. As the screaming continued, Sish got annoyed. He could at least have the dignity to die quietly! So, the Trandoshan helped Jacien shut up. Or tried to at least. Jamming a claw under and through Jacien's jaw, he took a firm grip, and pulled. For a brief moment, there was resistance. Then, with dual pops and a tearing sound, Jacien's lower jaw came out in Sish's hand. Dropping the gruesome trophy, Sish kicked Jacien in chest, feeling the sternum crack and shatter as his toe claw dug into it. Cleaning off the blood on him with a piece of Jacien's clothing that wasn't covered in blood, Sish finished off the other Sith Lord with a thrust to the skull with his lightsaber. Then he left.

There was a Jedi to kill, after all.

[Fallenreaper]

Xid

It seemed like an hour had passed before the familiar hiss from the cell doors being open came, his fingers paused in his care to let his eyes look up and spot Viera. Xid felt his heart sank at her image even when the door slammed shut behind her. She was trembling like a leaf while tears streamed down her face, the Padawan’s body instinctive reacting to her pain. He could almost feel it wafting off her, enhanced by her sobs. It didn’t take a talent or anything special to note her emotional state had been pushed dangerous close to the fraying point. Immediately, leaving the wet makeshift rag upon Allanar’s head, he lifted himself and made his way towards Viera. His boot clicked in his steps eating the gap between when he exited the older Jedi’s cell. He couldn’t bring himself to ask her what had happened for the mere question might’ve shattered her completely, but instead placed a reassuring hand upon her shoulder and gave a weak, empathic smile.

Slowly he wrapped his arm about her shoulders and in a slightly coaxing fashion, gently guided her to the empty Cell beside Allanar’s. He had done it absentmindedly, even worse hadn’t realize it was his own cell until they had actually walked in. Regardless he was too mentally exhausted to care at this moment and likely-he had a feeling-Viera might’ve not really acknowledged her whereabouts at all.

This wasn’t enough to help, Xid thought bitterly as the familiar disappointment wash over him. Despite his own depression and tiredness, Xid’s heart stirred in hopes to comfort Viera in some manner. Currently how he was going to be able to accomplish such a feat was a mystery to him. Once past the door he guided her to sit on the bed and soon took the space beside her. The Padawan’s mind was so full of concern and this made him a little thoughtless in his word choice. So the comment that popped from his lips was likely the worse one he could’ve chosen. “You look as terrible as I feel. Mind telling me what’s on your mind or would you rather I leave you alone?”

Worry was clear in his voice as he spoke the last word, upset that his new friend would shut herself down. It sounded like something he would’ve done and that idea became a queasy notion in his core but he tried to hide any sign of it showing on the outside. Xid couldn’t bear to unnerve her anymore then she was.

Before either he could continue or Viera answer, the forcefield and energy doors suddenly went up when the Bulkdoors came open again, immediately followed by the appearance of a Sith. Without thinking, the boy had hastily pushed to his feet only to realize he was trapped within the cell alongside Viera. His head turned briefly her way to note the same fear that pulsed through him then took a closer look at the new arrival. This Sith was unfamiliar to Xid, the Padawan thankfully never had the unpleasant chance to meet her, so he took the chance to absorb her image. Just in case he ever did. She was a human with long straight hair and aggression in her walk through the deactivating forcefields.

As her stomping boots brought her deeper into the Cell Block, she finally halted and entered Strago’s cell. At first Xid had thought she had come for a Jedi who hadn’t been tortured. His mind had thought it would’ve been Taia, his mind jumped to her because he had yet to see her leave or return. Any farther thinking was interrupted by the Sith’s shriek as his sights looked across to the Cell, much to his horror he was able to view much of the scene’s on goings through the energy doors and multiple forcefields which separated Strago and the others. The idea of being a spectator didn’t sit well with Xid at all, his eyes cease watching the scene when the Sith placed her hand upon Strago’s chest for reasons unknown to him.

His body moved to the energy doors and slammed into the release button within the cell. Nothing… viciously he jabbed at it again and again, the same thing happened. Nothing. The energy doors to the independent Cells weren’t opening. He didn’t know why, just that he couldn’t get out -not that it would help since he seemed to forget about the forcefields. Upset, Xid attempted to fiddle with the contraption that held the button. He tried to take a firm hold but felt his hand lose grip and skid to the side. It flung into the barrier creating a familiar hiss. He bite back a scream from pain rippled through his mind as his flesh cooked, his hand instantly jerked back. He ignored the throbbing fire and he feverishly returned his attention to the scene. Xid faintly hoped the Jedi would come out on top.

It went back and forth, finally escalated into a fight. The Sith one moment had the upper hand only to have Strago counter, gaining an advantage that soon fell afterwards. They seemed well matched for each other until the Sith started to play dirty. Flashes from the force lighting lite up the cell walls, filtered by the light blue and red barriers, while she struck at Strago and likewise, the Jedi used push or pulled to counter her attacks. For Xid, though he couldn’t be sure, it looked as if the Sith was trying to use the Jedi to heal. However the idea was strange to him because such a thing was unheard for him. At some point in the fight they had made their way towards the forcefield with Strago in the process of overpowering the Sith…but things went horrible wrong. She tried to push him into the blue light barrier, her lightsaber shut off by earlier impact, and this time he took her with him. They both hit and it made Xid flinch. It had to end at some point but soon after that thought slipped out of his mind, the Padawan wished he could take it back. It was like a slowed down image fixed in his head when the Sith panicked, her lightsaber turned on and kneed him into the groin. The worst part was when she sliced right through his lower leg!

Xid’s eyes stood in silence and shock when the pair fell, the Sith separated finally from the Jedi’s grip.

“No…no..NO!” He didn’t notice the shouts weren’t inside his head.

The Sith seemed almost as stunned as him, but the boy didn’t notice or at this point care. His eyes had been fixed to the cauterized leg, if he waited too long then it would become useless and Strago crippled. Once the woman exited, the forcefields fell causing Xid’s fist to slam the button with success this time. The Energy door disappeared just moments before he rushed out. He wasn’t going to allow this. Not this time, Xid swore, his body leaned down and pulled up the still warmed fleshy limb. The Padawan peeled away the fabric to focus on the skin itself and in hopes to mend it, dropping hard to his knees. He ensured to reposition it best he could. There wasn’t going to be any holding back this time. He would heal it or died trying. Xid’s eyes disappeared under his eyelids during his focus, the familiar energy tingles shot through his fingers and into the Jedi’s flesh. Just like in his earlier trials, his energy seemed to drain away at a quick rate. However he wasn’t going to stop until the leg had healed. His mind was so in tune with the task, Xid didn’t hear or feel Viera pull him. He hadn’t seen the Cell Block door open, the trooper with raised blasters pointed at him, or the medical team that rushed in. Viera had managed to pull him away when the Empire medics started to pull towards Strago.

His eyes, now opened, never left the Jedi that was rushed out followed by the troopers. The door’s hiss echoed in Xid’s numb mind and weakened body. His skin had paled once more thanks to his healing falling short of ideal but luckily he could at least stand, albeit wobbly, onto his feet. Once he found his balance using the wall to aid him along, Xid had started to shuffle his way back to his room in a machine like way.

[Rtron]

Zanna

As Zanna left the prison cell area, she began to learn more about this Thalia, who wanted her dead so badly. She didn't like not knowing anything about who was trying to kill her. It left her feeling...vulnerable. And in the Sith world, vulnerable quickly meant dead. So, she set about correcting that lack of knowledge. That meant using Force Persuade to ask the ship's personnel all they knew about her. Even the alcolytes. The majority seemed to know little, which was irritating but the few who did know proved valuable. She was a lazy human apprentice, who had apparently been with Nyiss for years. The alcolytes worshipped her to a ridiculous point. She had never shown any ambitions. That was from those who weren't alcolytes.

The alcolytes, on the other hand, made the human appear as if she was as powerful as Nyiss, if not stronger. There had to be a reason for that, right? Even the most ridiculous of lies had a small basis in the truth. Did the girl have power? Was she just biding her time? Was the laziness a facade? It was a puzzle, that was certain. Well..there was only one way to find out, wasn't there?Zanna headed to the security room, stopping only briefly by her own room to grab materials she would need for what was coming. She needed to find Thalia quickly, and there were cameras everywhere on the ship. Flicking through the cameras on the screen, she almost passed the human. "My, my. What are you doing there?"

Zanna wondered aloud, as Thalia entered the cell of the Jedi. She settled down to watch, a small smirk on her face. The smirk grew into a smile, which grew into a grin, which turned decidedly wolfish as Thalia sprinted from the cell. "Someone made a mistake." Zanna almost sang aloud. Pulling her datapad out, she copied the video file of the attack onto it. She knew where Thalia would be running to.

Zanna turned around towards the door and waited, smiling. This was going to be easier than she originally thought.

[Fallenreaper]

Sish~l~Xid: Rtron and Fallenreaper

Sish was walking towards the prisoner cells when another Sith, the useless one that had gotten captured by a Jedi, ran past him. She smelled of fear and panic. He was mildy curious for three seconds. Then, his mind returned to the Jedi he was going to kill, and he forgot all about the useless human female and her terrified sprinting. He had located which cell the Jedi was in beforehand, using a computer to find the information he needed. As soon as that was done, he left, going as fast as possible wihtout actually running. A few more moments passed after Thalia ran by him, and a medic team followed by troopers ran past him, heading for the prionser cells. Now his curiosity was roused, if only because he was worried they were going for his Jedi. There was no fun in killing a nearly dead or severly wounded opponent! It would be like crushing a bug! Short, and depressingly unsatisfying.

So, Sish was greatly relieved when Strago was rushed by him, rather than the Jedi he was promised. Within a few minutes, he was at the cells and entering them. The smell of cooked flesh, and the prisoners inside looked like they had been through hell. Which wasn't much of a surprise, given that this was essentially hell for the Jedi. He ignored every prisoner except the one he was supposed to kill. Walking forward with a feral grin on his face, he activated his lightsaber. The Jedi backed away, perhaps sensing what was to come. "It would be easier if you just faced your death with some form of guts. Less work for the both of us."

Xid hadn't paid attention to where his sluggish steps had taken him and his head slightly throbbed from the effort to help Strago, the day seemed more hellish the longer it went. Not that he could tell day from night anymore. Merely they just melted into one another and his mind gave up trying to tear them apart as now all his thoughts turned to sleep. Rest might heal his pain. At least the physical type. The nightmare wouldn't give him any mercy, the young Padawan felt, before something nudged his mind.

Immediately his feet moved. His body darted, wearily, to one side. Too quickly in fact that he failed to registered which way he had shifted, stepped away his cell and towards Taia's! It took a moment for the Padawan to realize it until the familiar sound of the bulk doors opened. A strong dread washed over the youth when his eyes spotted Sish's form walk into the Cell Block, his claws clicked and clanked on route towards where the pair were. His form passed each field as it went down, the Sith ignored Xid to stop in front of the older Jedi. His claws clicked his lightsaber to life that casted its bronze.

Not again... Xid thought with wide eyes, his body moved from against the wall to step between Sish and Taia. He didn't stop the next word from exiting his lips, struggling to remain on his feet during his statement. His eyes lite with something deeper and different then before. "I can't let this happen again..."

Right around the same time that the soon-to-be-dead Jedi ran out of room to run away from him, another one stepped in his way. Sish turned his gaze from the terrified Taia to the exhausted Xid, glaring. He couldn't maim or kill the other Jedi, not without repercussions. But, that didn't mean he was just going to let the annoying Jedi get in his way. Still, he noted that there was something different in the Jedi's eyes, and in his bearing. He wasn't the cowed pathetic bug from before. Sish shifted his stance so he was facing Xid in a more ready position, before responding. "You won't let it happen. You'll just not get in my way after a nice little show of attempting to defend her. With that, he shoved Xid out of his way with a strong Force Push.

Xid wasn't strong in the Force enough to stop the Sith from tossing him away. He felt his body shoved to the side, his feet lifted off the ground in his tumbled towards the wall. Wham. His body hit it hard enough, the pain rippled through his spine and head, his mind saw stars. For a moment, the Padawan blinked. His thought stalled in his stun before he tried to get up. His boot slipped out from under him, preventing his weak form from rising. No...NO! Xid's mind screamed at his fumble.

Managing to sit up, he held out his hand and attempted a force push at Sish's leg. A weak one thanks to the strength sapped from healing Strago. He would be surprised if Sish could even notice it, let along affect the Transhadon.

Ignoring the Jedi he had thrown to the side, Sish walked ever closer to Taia. The padawan had ran out of room to retreat to, and threw up her hands at Sish, as if to fend off any blows. The Trandoshan was distracted by the light tug from Xid, and when the much stronger push from Taia arrived, he stumbled backwards. Seeing an opportunity, Taia tried to run past Sish, to at least make more space between him and her. Seeing her attempt to run past out of his good eye, Sish lashed out with his lightsaber.

A scream echoed in the small chamber as the lightsaber sliced into Taia's leg at the thigh. The girl crumbled to the ground, and Sish regained his balance. Walking over, he grinned at her before kicking Taia in the side. His claw came back bloody, having torn through flesh and robes, breaking ribs in the process.

The crack of bones and sight of blood made Xid's body shake. His mouth couldn't allow the words to escape as his hand pressed against the wall, unable to rise and help. He knew he had to do something. Not just sit here and watch her died, his mind felt a bit numb to the sight.The youth's breathing seemed never to settle in his lungs, his heart raced like a hooved animal that beat at his chest. What good was he if he couldn't save her? The question seemed to taunt and torment him, the unsaid truth that proved he was pathetic. Then again he never put much worth in his own life. A mere tech who's only worth was tinkering with machine but the creature that did this, he was bone and flesh. The plain fact Sish was living made Xid unless.

A memory... that familiar voice echoed past words again. You and I, we see the world very differently. Why change our view of the world when it's easier to just adapt the world itself to our view?

The Padawan blinked for a moment and let the slight click set in. How could he had forgotten that? After all this time it never made sense before until now. Xid closed his eyes, forced his breathing and body to settle through Taia's screaming. Each time the Sith kicked harder depriving some sick pleasure from the blood he drew and the bone he broke. Not easy to ignore the sounds during the struggle as he fought the shivers that finally died down. Under his breath Xid muttered an inaudible phrase then snapped his eyes open. His teeth gritted and hand flipped out, pointed at Sish's planted foot. Energy, small but focused aimed at the Sith's leg where the Achilles tendon was.

Just as he was bringing his leg back for another kick, taking a pleasure in the blood slowly pooling beneath Taia's body, he suddenly felt pain in the back of his ankle. Pain the blossomed into a small, centralised form of agony as he felt the tendon snap. He hit the ground with a thud, snarling a curse in his native language. Taia was too busy curling in a ball from the pain to have done it, and there was only one other Jedi in this room. Sish glared at Xid, wishing that the Minder had made it three targets rather then just two. It would so easy just to kill the both of them and be done with it! But no. He had seen what happened to the apprentice that had killed the prisoners without permission. While he doubted they would be able to do that to him, he also knew that his own punishment would be very painful, and not very fast.

So, rather than impaling his lightsaber in the two Jedi and leaving, he raised a clawed hand towards Xid. Without a word, lightning arced from his hand to the Jedi, fueled by Sish's hatred, frustration and anger.

Pain... the lightning hit Xid like a familiar feeling that seemed to rip him apart. He let out a scream, long and loud, his force released from the Sith. His focus torn between fighting the pain and not seizing up. His muscles tensed, seemed to fold up or collapse in on themselves. He couldn't just stop now. His heart seemed ready to bust from his chest, the purple jagged lines raced up his arms and legs seemingly to cook his flesh. Focus...Focus through it... Xid scolded himself, knew he had to save Taia. He had to save her at any cost...

His hand struggled to edge out, slowly and painfully, finally straightened. His teeth were clamped shut from the dark energy rippled through him and part of him wished for it to end. Electric...nerve ends... in his mind Xid saw the living wiring that aided the Sith, the spot near the Transhadon's spinal stem. He had to stop this. Not for him, but for those he cared for. His forced reached out just as his fingers curled, connected with a key nerve on the 'machine's' neck that would certainly distract and likely piss the Sith off.

Sish kept his lightning going, reveling in the pain he was causing, until he felt the pressure on his neck. Pressure rapidly turned into pain, and the pain turned into agony again. He had the sense of mind to realize that it was the Jedi he was electrocuting him before instinct took over and he crumpled to the ground, one hand going to his neck in a futile attempt to stop the pain. His other remained firmly clamped upon his lightsaber, however. Old habits die hard, and keeping his weapon no matter what was one of the oldest.

He became faintly aware of the fact that the Jedi could very well kill him here. The thought filled him with anger. Not because he was dying, that was going to happen sooner or later, but that it wasn't happening at the hands of Jayda. He had failed. The Zabrak was still weak, still unsure of where true power lay.

Xid was surprise he felt nothing when the Sith collapsed to the floor. It was scary and odd, his fingers curled tightly until it was just a fist. The lightning had ceased but he continued a little longer. He didn't want the Sith to get back up, never to hurt Taia again or anyone else he cared for. He wanted the suffering to stop above all else. Even if someone else was hurting to do it.

Xid felt sicken by the realization of what he was doing, his eyes filled with shock and terror at the image of his foe helpless just a bit away from him. This wasn't what he wanted, he realized as his fingers unfurled, the force pressure released and freed his victim. What had he done or almost do? The question rang in his head over and over, his hand dropped to his side. His head tilted to see the Taia's limp body, her eyes closed and blood stained the cell floor. A slight dread filled the Padawn when he couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. Painfully he pushed himself off the wall and started to crawl over to her, thinking for the moment the Sith would take some time to get back to his feet. Arms pulled him along until he was right beside her, his finger stroked her bloody cheek smearing red across the dark skin. Nothing...

He whispered, softly. "I'm sorry...I couldn't save you."

The pain suddenly stopped. Never one to let an opportunity slip away from, he pushed himself to his feet, snarling another curse as his snapped tendon flared in agony. The Jedi was crawling over to Taia, who was obviously dead. Still regaining his balance, Sish watched Xid warily. He couldn't understand it. Why were the Jedi so attached to the corpses of their fallen? The dead were gone, and cared little about how their bodies were treated. Yet, here the Jedi was, tenderly stroking her cheek. How could the Jedi possess such power, yet hold such weakness?

Regardless, he felt confident enough to walk without collapsing to the ground, so he limped over to Xid, catching his whispered apology. "You could have saved her. If you hadn't waited so long to use real power. If you had killed me rather than letting me go. You could have kept her alive for at least another day. But you didn't. You clung to your Jedi ways, and she died for it. Next time, I'd suggest you realize where powere is and use it sooner, so another doesn't die." And then, with is free fist, he hit Xid in the back of the head.

Xid could hear Sish's words yet they didn't seem to hold much meaning. It wasn't suppose to be anger he used at all but the strong need to protect someone, a person's whose life was worth more then his. The Sith was right, he waited too long yet he would never allow this to happen again. He couldn't. Xid had made a silent vow that day never to become like him and that was a promise he sought to keep. There wasn't death after, just the force and at least within it he would've been of greater use then what he had been.

He world went black the moment Sish's fist hit, the Padawan taken by brief pain and exhaustion in the end.

Before Sish left, he had to make sure Taia was dead. He had assumed someone was dead once before, and she had come back to try and kill him. That had worked out in the end, but the next time might not. With a deft flick of his lightsaber, Sish cut off the head of Taia's corpse. Deactivating it, he turned around, and limped out of the prisoner cells, heading towards the Med Bay.

At this rate, he was going to have to replace all his limbs with cybernetics.

[ultimate523]

Fallenreaper/Ultimate523 - Jayda/Strago

Jayda felt the Kolto level sudden drop, the liquid drained from the tank and soon vanished. Her skin bumped from the wave of chill that licked up her figure, barely noticable among the scarring and damage. She pulle her head forward, removed it from her mouth as her eyes cautiously watched the glass shift down signaling for her to come out. Placed the mask at her side, Jayda started to pull out. Her skimpy shorts and tank darkened and suctioned to her figure but she didn't care. Her only thoughts were to get dress and find Sish. Only the Gods knew what trouble his appetite for mayhem, suffering and brutality had caused in her absence. It was harder then normal to remember his cunning shown in the past yet she knew it was still there, just hidden under the surface even if others thought the Zabrak gave him too much credit. Paranoid is what most would've called her. Then again, they didn't know her Master like she did.

Her body leaned against the Kolto's machine while she waited for her robes, partly hated the sensation of being exposed and almost naked during the lengthy time she waited. Arms crossed over her chest, her legs pushed outright, her wet hair hung loosely about her shoulders. Her mind was a buzz of activity though none positive. Mostly frustration at Sish that mixed with worry, rarely drifted to who might've wanted her dead. Movement caught her eyes in time to jerk up and see a familiar Jedi hobble towards her recently vacanted tank.

Strago woke up on some sort of operating table. He looked around slightly, and saw some droids along with what seemed to be the medical staff. Once he felt somewhat safe, his mind went back to what had happened with Thalia. He couldn't feel his lower body much, and slowly sat up, moving his hands along it slowly to make sure it was all there as he looked at it. His left leg felt strange at an upper part of his shin, and he realised it was the prosthetic put where the lightsaber had cut through. He then laid back down, occasionally looking around, but mostly resting.

Several minutes later one of the staff came, and said something about putting him in a Kolto tank. Strago felt quite skeptical about just letting them do so, but the anesthetic hadn't fully faded, and his body also hadn't fully recovered. Plus, they had helped him get his leg back, so they at least appeared more well intentioned than the Sith.

They got him to put on some strange, tight clothing that didn't cover very much, then aided him slightly in standing, and walking, but he still struggled with it. On his way there he saw Jayda, and stared at her for several seconds, observing her more than really feeling a lot about it, though his mind did briefly go back to what had happened with her before his focus returned to the moment, not expecting to see so many scars on her body, but not nearly as surprised as if it had been many others. He considered saying something, but decided against it, not seeing any benefit to doing so at the moment, but making sure to remain aware if she did, or said anything herself.

"I wouldn't stare too hard Jedi," Jayda spoke to the eyeing Jedi, "One scar tends to turn in many, inside or out."

She watched the Jedi struggle to walk right causing a flicker of confusion to dart across her exprssion then tilt downward, her sight brushed along his leg. Her eyebrow rose in question, slightly expected Strago to say the attacker yet remained silent. It only took her a few seconds to note the white of the artifactical bit in his leg that seemed to slice it all the way through. The look only lasted a moment as her patience had drawn rather thin during the waiting for the Jedi to move into the tank. Mainly cause she spotted a medic, her clothes in hands, just enter behind the the wounded man. He currently stood in the way. She gritted her teeth to displaydisplay her irittation then reached out her hand, aimed to take hold his of his arm. Not too gentle or overly rough, Jayda planned to shift the Jedi easily towards the tank...or at least she hoped to.

It didn't quite end that way. His hand whipped out, the fingers took hold and with whatever strength he had left tightened. His eyebrow lifted in question slightly that almost had Jayda chuckle at the resisence. Almost, depite her Master's claims she was nothing like him and would never allow it.

"You're in the way Jedi and since it'll take you forever to get to the Kolto, I figured I would speed you along. I know my orders and maiming you now would likely farther your way to death. The light doesn't forbade you from accepting another's help... or have the Jedi Code changed since I read it?" Jayda kept her voice steady and rather calm, her eyes however seemed to dare Strago to continue struggling.

Strago laughed very slightly, and smirked a bit, "I may be moving slow, but I'm also certainly in no rush." He said, looking into her eyes to try to read her as best as he could, "Though if you truly wish to help, my arm isn't the place to be grabbing." He added, not changing his stance at all, and still holding onto her arm for the moment, trying to be as prepared as possible despite knowing it possibly wouldn't matter if she actually wanted to do something to him.

Jayda's look narrowed on the Jedi in question, her face showed something near curiousity as her mind wandered into places it had no place being in. He was prisoner and she the jailer. Any mingling of the two would end up either one or both dead, possibly worse. A slightly relucancy started in her eyes only to empty out like the Kolto Tank. This was her choice, something she would see through to the end. Even if it ended in death itself and not a Jedi would alter that, kindness meant little here and weakness show would set the wolves upon her.

"Not the best offer Jedi. Now, you might want to move quicker or I will move you." Her voice held a firmer tone this time, her hand tightened a bit to prove she wasn't afraid to force him aside. "Or are you still intending on facing the light so blindly again?"

Strago's slight smirk remained despite Jayda's threat. He took the threat seriously, but something between the anesthetics, and having had nearly half his leg chopped off not all that long ago made him feel practically no fear at the moment. Despite that, logic still prevailed to some degree as he moved toward the side, giving Jayda more space to move, though still holding onto her arm, but ready to let go, "Now I'm not in your way. Your crew can handle the rest." He said, knowing it would possibly come off as a challenge of some form, but also not wanting to just rush into the Kolto tank while he still felt weak.

Jayda merely rolled her eyes and spoke, "It seems you do, Jedi...just beware of the shadow you cast because of it. Let's hope it doesn't swallow you up."

She moved past him without another word, her hands reached for her cloths and then shifted to put them on without farther delay. She had shown enough of her skin for the day and any longer made her unsettled at her vunerablity. She didn't want to dwell any longer here then needed as her clothes were hastily shoved on, hera slightly relief to feel herself once more covered and donned the outfit she became so use to. She was about to leave when a medic stopped her. The Zabrak almost snarled when it seemed the staff had wanted her to stall her leave for a little longer, at least until the Jedi had been placed into the tank and secure.

Feeling the frustration edge in her voice, she snapped at the Jedi again. "Might want to hurry up. If they wanted you dead then you would be already."

Strago watched as Jayda walked away at first, keeping a lot focus on her even as she started to change, but slowly moving toward the tank again as well. Not long after, she was quickly back, and Strago laughed slightly at her comment, "You make it sound like that's not obvious." He said, not moving any faster because of her returned presence, still keeping a lot of his focus on her, both because he wanted to be ready to defend himself, but also to try to understand her way of acting as much as possible for whenever it became relevant, assuming it ever would.

"The way you're acting it's hard to tell if you know this then at some point, I'm sure that will change. A Jedi is not worth much alive nowadays." Jayda commented casually, her mind attempted to rein in her tempt as her her eyes shifted to the Jedi female in the other tank. Her eyes dart between and started to wonder, her mind shifted back to the man's reaction to the Padawan, if he would act the same. Would he hurry if she threaten another? Part of her loath this low tactic, wished the Jedi would just listen instead of pointlessly stalling this situation out. Then she wouldn't have to hint at her intentions. "There's other ways to make you speed up Jedi..."

Her head turned clearly hinted at her other solution. She would do it if needed, though she hated to stoop so low.

Strago somehow hadn't noticed the other tank until Jayda looked at it. His focus moved to it, his face showing no expression as he stared at Calista inside of it for several moments, looking as if he had become suddenly drained of much of his energy.

As Jayda spoke again, he quickly clenched his jaw, and began staring her right in the eyes, more anger showing in his own than he hoped any of the Sith would get the chance to see, "Very well, Sith." He said, practically spitting out the last word as he did his best to walk normally without any help toward the Kolto tank, but still feeling weak, and not used to his new leg, causing him to limp. He ignored the pain of it, and began staring into Jayda's eyes once more as the staff prepared him, and the tank.

Once the tank went up, he couldn't hear her last words and unlkely he couldn't the dislike of what it took to make him listen. "If you just do what you're told Jedi... then I needn't threaten others. I've been long gone instead."

With those words behind her, the Apprentice left.

[Ellri]

Moff Katherion, Allende Laval, Jewel & Lea Rahn ~|~ Ellri & Sundered Echo

Moff Katherion stood silently on the bridge, watching a holo of what was occurring down in the hangar. They were bringing in a few more prisoners for the Sith. With a single nod towards Lieutenant Laval, the first prisoner’s file appeared in the air beside the holo so that he could review it. ‘A human-zelosian hybrid?’ he thought to himself, finding it curious. He, unlike so many others, knew well that Zelosians were a species of sentient plants. ‘Human mother, Zelosian father.’ He found that even stranger. That could not have been a comfortable pregnancy for the mother, having something so alien growing in her womb.

“Lieutenant. Have the prisoners been moved yet? Are the prison cells ready for the new arrivals?” He asked, without turning. As Lieutenant Laval was the only other person on the bridge, he had no need to fear anyone listening in. The very existence of the prison deck was still a secret from most of the crew. Now that nearly a thousand troopers had been offloaded, the chances of anyone unwanted discovering it were remote.

“No, Moff. Not yet.” She answered, typing rapidly into her console. “It will be done in but a few minutes now. Command has been issued.”

“Good.” he said, continuing to watch the holo. Once the loading completed and the shuttle had departed again, he would have the fleet depart Tatooine. They had been there long enough now. Next stop would be Teth, where he had to pick up several regiments scheduled for reassignment.

~|~

Jewel carefully and methodically cleaned the blood off her hands in her quarters as she thought. It was unfortunate that the male padawan was so unreceptive to her words. It created difficulties for those that were. Until she was confident they believed her enough to discount slander, she’d need to keep them apart. Once she’d stripped the last of the red liquid from her hands and gloves she found a Datapad and started tapping in a few commands for the guard. First and foremost was to keep Xid and Kinsa apart. She put Xid in cell three and Kinsa in cell four. Calista, for the moment, could be with Xid. She was aware of Jewel’s ability to inflict pain, so there was no danger there. She didn’t know the rest of the prisoners so she just placed them randomly with the intent to confuse and bewilder.

She also noticed a pleasant surprise in the form of a new prisoner, though unfortunately she was not entirely human. As an amusing aside, she added to the orders to take the prisoners on a circuitous route through the ship, each of them alone to be taken into their new cell at different times. Even though the cells were just across the room, it might make some of the Jedi think it was a different cellblock. With a faint smile, she tapped the command to carry out the orders.

~|~

Lea was not particularly surprised when troops marched into the cells yet again. She had been expecting it. Shortly before they did, she’d grabbed her few belongings from their locations in her cell and hidden them in her robes. The troopers split them all up and led them on a circuitous route through the cell complex, only to return to it after a while. She tried to keep track of the turns they took, but it was impossible. The corridors were simply too similar to each other.

They shoved her through the door to a different cellblock, then into the second cell from the left. She stumbled somewhat, but managed to avoid falling over fully, or for that matter drop her personal objects. Once the shield went up, she quickly found a place to stash the objects, getting an idea of any differences from her last cell. There weren’t many worth speaking of. Over the next while, she could not say exactly how long, two other prisoners were also brought into her cellblock, one of which was clearly sick. She found that most intriguing. She would have to find out more about him. She had a theory about exactly what was wrong with him.

The other new prisoner clearly looked like he had been beaten up recently. She found that too curious. ’Which Sith had done that?’ she asked herself, not really expecting to be able to think up an answer. She did not know who he was, though.

[Fallenreaper]

Guide~l~Jayda: Sep and Fallenreaper

Jayda’s body moved quickly from the medical bay, her boots clipped and set an almost ruthless pace. The metal hallway echoed her urgency far too well for her enjoyment that only aided to make her more edgy. Her mind set on two things: Sish and covering her own ass. His words still echoed in her attention, his word choice seemed to hint for something she hoped was a mere lie, a ruse to dig out ever Light she might’ve had. The very Light that should’ve died a long time ago when Jayda had turned. If she did protect the Jedi, even subconsciously, then it was unlikely she would be living much longer. At least if another Sith discovered it. Her hearts seemed to thump relentless within her chest, both to spur her onwards and increase her speed. Once that was over, the Apprentice intended to check on Sish and retrieve her lightsaber.

Once clear from the man’s furious glare, Jayda had time to reflect upon the Jedi’s odd leg with the painful realization. No one was supposed to remove anything that wouldn’t grow back. That meant someone, a Sith likely, had in their arrogance or stupidity disobeyed the Darth’s orders! In the back of her mind, Jayda had desperately hoped it hadn’t been Sish. She had believed he won’t be that reckless but he did have a temper and the likeliest suspect onboard to commit such a crime. In the end, it would only take the right buttons pushed before Sish’s temper got the better of him. Especially since he almost killed the first Padawan victim until she reminded him about the Darth’s orders. Did the Transhadon just keep forgetting on purpose? She didn’t like Sish giving the Darth a reason to eject him before Jayda managed to kill the bastard,,,more and more that seemed unlikely to happen. The notion of Sish’s death by other means then her own doing created a slight anger from within her, the wrath brought to surface as a darker and more chaotic energy. Like before within the arena, what seeped off didn’t seem completely right. Especially, since it had come from the normally well controlled Zabrak Apprentice.

It went unnoticed for several paces until Jayda finally noted it thanks to a minor headache. Ironic her Light managed to hurt others while her Dark managed to hurt her most. She didn’t understand why, doubted she ever would completely understand her relationship with the Force itself. She stopped abruptly, body grinded to a stop and once more tried to maintain a measure of degree over her temper. A faint hope to ease the built tense anyone could likely sense. Surprisingly it had become a bit more difficult than usual. The reason for such trouble was slightly unknown to her yet she knew it was wise to leash it soon, last thing she needed was Sish doing it for her. That would release all of her hatred, pain and misery at once and her advantage would’ve been lost. Not to mention the effort to begin again.

The Zabrak made a mental note to combat mediate as soon as she could. Likely after she erased the evidence, deal with Sish and retrieved her lightsaber. Dealing with the Lizard would be rather tiring itself but not nearly what she needed. Jayda stood in place a little longer, ensured her anger and energy didn’t leak out for several moments. The worst part is she still showed obvious signs of just getting out of the Kolto tank. That made her weak to others in her mind.

Guide was doing what could only be described as musing as he walked through the halls of the ship. How could apprentices be so… rebellious nowadays? So resistant to the wisdom that came with age and the experience he had. He even doubted that she had even known who she was beforehand but the main thing was that she knew now. He felt a strange, greying presence looking down to see a Zabrak apprentice. No doubt another of his Nieces pets or toys or whatever she classed them as. Yet another one who would likely not know who he was, and yet another who would try and overrule him. Another who would feel pain but not cruelty, simply instruction.

Her eyes flickered up at sighting an older Sith. For a moment the Zabrak was slightly surprised, not many lived to that age or at least she had encounter which weren’t many. Immediately her head bowed slightly, averted her eyes and careful not to touch him as she made her way past. Just ahead of her was an Acolyte and her target, her mind recognized the male human’s robe that gave away his position. Jayda wasn’t fazed at the man’s sudden reaction. He pressed lips, his face clear disgust on spotting her approach and quickly made to avoid her. Naturally she was faster. Jayda hastily skirted her direction a little farther to the left, her path made to block his escape as her form stepped just in front of his way to the nearest door. The Zabrak cleared her throat then spoke.

“Would you know the location of Sith Lord Sish.”

“Get lost Impure… I don’t know where your filthy master is. It’s a pity you didn’t die in your little accident,” the Acolyte snarled, hopeful to get a reaction out of her.

Jayda merely stood firmly there, her face blank though underneath she felt the hatred rise. Not because she couldn’t tolerate the human’s views but because time was important. The longer he delayed her, likely the more trouble Sish would get in and more certain she was certain he would get himself killed. Jayda inhaled. Then she tried to focus, her Force reached out to the stubborn Acolyte’s mind. The man seemed to sense her intention because he tensed and started to fight back. The Zabrak felt herself stiffen, clashed with the man’s will as it seemed to push back a little harder than she expected. In return he shook off her mental grip like a dog shaking away water.

“Nice try Impure but you’re worthless attempts is rather pitiful.” Human shoved past, his shoulder clashed with hers on the way.

The Apprentice turned back to watch him go and looked at her hand, a little irked she failed. “What am I doing wrong?”

The acolyte suddenly found himself turning around and walking back to the couple. His eyes widened and moved back and forth as he looked at the Zabrak. “Wha… What are you doing to me?” At that moment the elderly Sith walked around behind the Zabrak with his arms behind his back. “She is learning right now in a lesson. That is what she is currently doing Acolyte-” He walked beside her. While he didn’t like non-Sith he proffered the Zabrak species to the Human Species. The Zabrak integrated to Sith society and did not try and take it over, they aided it and helped it grow more powerful. “You are a mere Acolyte, she is an Apprentice. She asks you a question and you answer it, now. Or I will make sure that she gets her answer one way or another.” He waited for the Acolytes response, he was scared out of his wits, not saying anything. The acolyte didn’t know what to do and he almost wanted to laugh although he had decades to perfect his control over his body language and vocal tendencies.

“So what will it be acolyte?”

Personally Jayda looked as shocked as the Acolyte, her eyes slightly widened and inside knew this couldn’t have been her doing. She couldn’t completely force someone to do this with her lacking training. Then movement came from behind her, the Zabrak’s body stilled so not to move, while the earlier elderly Sith had moved to the front. His words caused an eyebrow to raise in question at this bizarre reaction. Namely since kindness or even something close to it was rare, especially for an impure like herself. Her eyes watched him a little more with deep confusion until he spoke to the man. Currently she was willing to learn what she could from this incase she needed it.

Naturally the man struggled, the fear clear in his eyes, while his body tensed. His mind attempted to release the Sith’s hold even if out of his fallen pride. Jayda could feel it seep from him but merely made no sound, allowing the Sith to teach her in his own way. Besides, what good would her questions do other than irritate him? Jayda had a feeling the older Sith would’ve knocked her on her ass for any ignorance showed so best be silent.

“She’s an impure… Apprentice or not. Her master’s nothing but a Lizard.” The man’s frighten voice attempted to reason with the Sith, though it trembled.

“That may be true of her Master, and she is Impure in comparison to me. However you are far more so. Your kind are a scourge far more than hers is. None of you deserve a place within the Sith Order that is one thing you should know. Since the Jed’aii order kicked you out hundreds of years ago you have done nought but spread like a plague. Also-” Without so much as a move, so much as a flinch the Acolyte was removed from his feet and moved in an upward left direction from his feet and then moved across to the other side of the corridor and then after hitting his head and falling to the floor pushed his way back to his feet automatically even though he still appeared dazed.

Guide then turned his head to the Zabrak. “Who told you how to use a Mind Trick Apprentice? For they should be an apprentice themselves. You must believe what you are saying when are implanting the idea in their head, make them believe it is their own fully and completely.”

Jayda flinched, briefly, when the man went flying. In her mind she could almost hear the smack from an invisible hand when the man’s feet left the floor, his body smacked the other wall easily. The Pureblood looked at her then and spoke. She wasn’t sure what stung more, the fact he was right or that it was more obvious by a mere glance. Her pride wasn’t pleased with that fact, made worse since it showed she was easy prey. She took a breathe then spoke, truthfully. It pointless to lie when the truth was plain in sight.

“Sadly, yes. My Master is a Trandoshan as for my Mind Trick, it’s currently self taught. My master’s mental abilities are...” for a moment Jayda had struggled for a suitable word. Many sprang to mind but she settled on one phrase. “Less than ideal to learn from. Currently, what I’ve managed is only self taught without any reference to go on.”

She stepped forward to the woozy Acolyte when his form started to raise slowly, once more upon his feet and clearly unwillingly. Jayda’s mind wandered to the Sith’s words, her mind seemed to consider them then whispered. “Make them believe it.”

Then the Apprentice attempted once more. Her mind reached with the thought in mind, the strong desire and slight coaxing to suggest the idea was their own. It was difficult to acquire the right feeling for it yet the man’s weakened mind seemed well suited for her level.

“You want to tell me where Sith Lord Sish is,” The slight distaste in saying his name was soft, however she focused upon the task at hand. There was little resistance when the man answered.

“He was heading to the Jedi Prison Cells last I saw. I’ve no idea where his current whereabouts are.”

After the Acolyte's words, Jayda released him. He was no farther use to her and digging for more information was pointless when he had little more. She still seemed dissatisfied with her performance, her form stepped back and then looked to the Sith to see what he would do.

This Trandoshan was a bit of a evil aboard the ship and Guide didn’t quite know how to feel about him without meeting him however this Apprentice had potential. There were too many Dark Side only users who planned to take over and corrupt the Galaxy and gain more and more power for themselves he liked this Apprentice. She seemed ambitious but not overly ambitious and was certain not to rise above her station. Not to mention the fact that from what he had seen so far she was a quick learner as he sensed no deception in what the acolyte was saying, none at all.

Guide would of smiled however he was better than to simply show his emotions openly to someone other than his niece and even then it was a bit of a rarity that he would show any form of emotion even anger. He simply nodded his head and turned to her.

“You are a quick learner. No matter how much your master neglects your training in certain aspects you can always make up for it.” He paused and began to walk away without saying so much as a word.

If Jayda didn’t know better, and she did, she would’ve believed there was some sense of accomplishment there. However her Zabrak pride cried she could’ve done better. Not for power but merely the sense of doing a job accurately and a trait most her race shared and practice on her homeworld. Usually to the extent of broken bone or bleeding after endless practice. The Sith nodded his approval in her effort yet she refrained from smiling, her face unbroken by the fitting gesture. It wouldn’t do to show something so minor had such an effect upon her or to appear smug about it.

“A student is only as good as her teacher.” Jayda replied after him, not expected him to bother with a reply or acknowledge it.

She knew her place having learned among others though this turn of events had seemed rather strange to her. She admitted his words made her slightly worried. Mainly since it forced her to watch her step as well as become a potential target, at least among Sith who would she was rising to far above her role, a risk in itself. The Apprentice preferred to be in the background rather than draw attention because it was so much easier to kill off any threats to her, the only reason power to her was required. However Jewel’s words still echoed in her head that she could be stronger and the fact the Zabrak seemed to not belong in either world. What effect it might have in the future seemed to unnerve Jayda most of all.

[Ellri]

The troopers shook the young Xid awake, followed by loud barks to rise. Slowly the youth had started to stir with a soft moan. His mind still hazy and hurt, pain riddled his aroused subconscious into faint awareness. His hand reached for the source of his pain, a lump where the Transhadon’s fist connected upon the back of his head as he hissed, ache shot from where his fingers brushed and caused them to withdraw. The touch had done little to help ease his suffering. His booted feet curled underneath before strong, impatient hands shoved him to stand then towards the Cell door at blaster point.

His vision caught the decapitated body of Taia for a moment. She was gone…the realization seemed to stab him in the chest that soon faded, his mind slightly glad her suffering was over and now she was with the Force once again. She was somewhere better. He stared a bit longer then needed at the discarded body before the trooper next to him grew irked at his slowness. Again, another rough shove send the Padawan moving, his eyes dart quickly towards the sick Jedi’s Cell only to noted Allanar’s absence, a slight worry budded from it had followed him in his exit.

Of course the trip felt like it went from one end of the ship then to the other, ending back where he originally started: the Cell Blocks. When the doors to his left hissed open, Xid was then shoved in and placed into the nearest cell to the door. He fought to be careful enough not to stumble over his own feet when his ears caught the energy doors instantly rise, his body turned to watch the troopers exit once more. It seemed he was the last Jedi to be escorted here for now which made the Padawan relax a bit. His eyes looked towards the other cells, mentally scanned each of his new cellmate but had a problem seeing who was in the cell across him. Once he was sure the troopers weren’t coming back, Xid’s hand slammed the button that released the energy doors then stepped into the large main section. He was still slightly weak from Sish’s encounter so his hand steadied himself against the wall along the way. The boy had a faint plead it was who he wanted to be and that gave him some strength.

When Xid finally managed to arrive, his eyes brightened to see Allanar despite the fact he was slight ill. At least he wasn’t alone and suffering, The Padawan thought gratefully. His feet shuffled towards the identical sink within the cell once more. Xid mentally groaned to realize he had left his last sleeve within the first cell and now needed to another, his head turned to the shivering Allanar from corner of his eye. Leaned against the hard sink edge, his fingers reached upwards his second sleeve from his tunic then ripped it free. It made a loud sound in his effort and he started to attend to Allanar again, a distinct feeling he didn’t help at all. There weren’t any changes to indicate he had done any good after all. Xid placed the makeshift damp rag over Allanar’s forehead, his lips pressed into a weak, smile. Too bad his mind didn’t seem to feel the same way, he thought bitterly.

Xid left the damp rag on Allanar’s head then slipped one foot, followed by another out from under him to sit cross legged upon the cold cell floor. His back leaned against the hard bed edge and silently curse himself for his failed usefulness. It seemed to common here, a fact that seemed more and more nerve racking to his mind than anything else. Right now, he morbidly mused, the Sith’s torture seemed better than watching the Jedi suffer and feeling helpless. Sadly a part of him disagreed. For a moment, Xid’s head darted up after feeling eyes upon him. His bright blue ones met green ones of another Padawan. He knew by the robes she wore and gave a faint smirk.

“Well, I guess I look like a mess, uh?” Xid said with a light tone in his voice.

“We’re prisoners. Its expected.” Lea answered succinctly. She did not feel saying more was necessary. Instead, she rose up and walked to the entrance of her cell, turning the energy barrier off and walking two cells over to where the other two were. She did not rush, nor did she delay, merely keeping a normal pace. She knelt down, placing two fingers against one of Allanar’s pulse points. As she had expected, his pulse was rapid, and his skin was slick with sweat. She was certain this was a result of Darth Nyiss’ work. “There is no healing this. The Sith has done something to him.” Neither of us have the means of affecting any change to him. Other than killing him, that is. I don’t think that would be of any benefit.”

“I was afraid of that.” Xid said, his stomach seemed to sink down his feet. “The worse part, other than healing, I can’t do any medical stuff. And the only Jedi I knew who could is likely…”

It hard to say the word, at least at first, until he fought to say. “Dead. He wasn’t human after all but he would’ve known what to do or at least had an idea what was the cause.”

Xid’s fingers picked at his robes a bit before he then added. “My name’s Xid Terrik. Yours?”

She looked up at Xid, wondering how someone his age had not yet been promoted to a Jedi knight. In a war like this, neither side was slow in expanding its ranks. “Lea Rahn.” She answered him. “Yes, I’m part of House Rahn. I don’t just have the same last name as them.” Her family was renowned for having many Jedi of fairly respectable power, so she had quickly gotten used to people treating her differently because of it. Sometimes, it had been beneficial, other times it had been a hindrance for her.

Now that she was sure about what was affecting the sick Jedi Knight, she saw no reason to stay in contact with him. It wasn’t infectious, but feverish, clammy skin wasn’t nice to touch. She dried her hand on her robes, then sat back on the hard floor. “So, how do you like it here? You been tortured much?” she asked, a funny expression on her face. It wasn’t exactly a typical question for a prisoner to ask another prisoner, but what did she care?

Xid nodded when he heard her name, remembering the Temple archives had data on the house but now rather upset he hadn’t spent more time there. Fours gone made it difficult to read and moving from planet to planet didn’t help. His eyes watched her hand withdraw and wipe away the sweat, a symptom likely from whatever happened to Allanar, onto her robes. Finally she settled onto the floor then started a conversation. His eyebrow raised in question at first. Then his lifted one leg and pulled it close to his body, his arms wrapped about it to keep them still.

“There’s a lot of things going through my head to be honest. Some sad, others regret, worry and mostly pain which after some mediation should make it better. As for torture… well, at least twice. I won’t count the last event as torture though I can’t forget it.” One of Xid’s hands ruffled his short blond hair in a nervous gesture then pulled back to place. “At least I got the last one to show her true colors. The only bad thing, I’m the only one that saw it and ended up in a Kolto tank for it.”

“What happened?” Lea asked. It was clear that Xid was more than a little put out of sorts by it. She had, over the time she’d been imprisoned, learned that there were many forms of torture available to the Sith. The physical torture was but a small part of it. She had not enjoyed any of the torture she’d been exposed to. “True colors? What do you mean? Don’t the Sith all show the same colors?”

She paused for a few moments, thinking back. “What sort of Sith have tortured you so far? Are you holding up well against their attempts?”

“Full of questions, uh?” Xid asked, inwardly slightly taken back by her sudden interest, but continued against his better judgement.

He took a breath and moved onto the more difficult question. “You would think it would be that simple. It’s not, I learned that the hard way from a prisoner. People like that tend to look like they are in complete control of themselves, to show you something they aren’t. However if you managed to peel back the layers then you end up facing what they truly are like inside. Their true colors if you will. It breaks the illusion they’ve created and they lose the power to manipulate you, but doesn’t stop them from hurting you. Just stop them from making you believe what they want you to.”

Xid could almost feel the blade enter his gut again when he thought back to Namore’s methods. He should’ve seen it from the beginning but he refused to remember where he seen it. After all, he didn’t want to reflect on the past two years. The older Padawan returned his focus back to the last questions. “A Sith Lord, Sish who was a Trandoshan, and his apprentice. She was a Zabrak. They were the first and it was mostly physical torture, which I didn’t fair too well on it. My healing abilities aren’t exactly the best or the most powerful of my skills. The second was more a mix of combat and manipulation. We were force to fight some droids to protect some Civilians that were brought in. I was with another Jedi Padawan around my age, a Twi’lek, and I disarmed one. I don’t know for sure what happened but one of them ended up getting hurt. She was a Senator. It turned out Namore was attempting to show mercy yet I know it wasn’t real, I just noticed it too late. She said somethings that rattled me and then when I refused to fight her, she gutted me. I really wished that was the end of it, at least being one with the Force I would’ve been of more use.”

He shifted the focus from him to her now. “How about you?”

“Various Sith.” Lea answered. “The last was one pureblood that forced me to drink some concoction of hers. Not really sure why. I think she had hoped for some other result.” Lea answered. “There have also been several others. At one time, I was left in utter darkness, isolated from any sound, for a long time. Three days at least, I think. It could’ve been more. Or less. There was no way to tell the time.” Lea did not enjoy thinking back on that one. Being deprived of sight, hearing and time was not a comfortable thing.

“Another time, they forced me to watch them slowly push a prisoner into an incinerator field. The prisoner screamed the entire time, but would not die. I think it took two hours before he died.” Lea shuddered slightly at the memory. She did not enjoy thinking back on her torture, so she secretly hoped that the Padawan would be satisfied with those three examples. After she stopped talking, she sat for a while in silence, shuddering faintly from the memories she had not spoken of.

“Don’t think I want to know much more. From the sounds of it, either you’ve been here longer than me or they must get some kick out of torturing you. With any luck, this nightmare will be over one day.” Xid said, leaving off in what was the likeliest manner it would end. His eyes drifted over to Allanar and added. “Right now, best I can do is focus on trying to help everyone I can through this. It’s not much but it’s something. Though, if I could get my hands on something which could provide a bio scan then it would slightly easier for Allanar. Not to mention I hope Strago is alright. I don’t even know if I managed to save his leg or not…”

“I’ve been here a long time now. Not really sure how long. The Sith won’t release us anytime soon, and considering how the ship keeps jumping about, I do not think rescue is likely anytime soon. I doubt the SIS even has any idea this ship is different from other troop transports.” Lea had figured out long ago that while this was a also prison ship, it was first and foremost a heavily armored and armed troop transport. “I don’t understand much of it, but I think several of the Sith here practice Sith Alchemy. That art mixes the Dark Side of the Force into genetic sciences. Or so I’ve heard. I have no idea if that would affect bio-scanners, not that we have much of anything available to work with anyways.”

Xid almost chuckled but stopped himself. Instead he asked a simple question, his curiosity stirred up. “What do we have to work with? I might be helpful in that though I can’t tell you how or what we’ll need sadly, it’s at least a start. I can’t stand not doing nothing and plain sitting here.”

“There is a little here and there. Some arrays in the walls. Surveillance equipment. Junk in one of the smaller rooms far out in the outer complex. That sort of things.” Lea thought she had covered the majority with that. She had very little technical knowledge, so she had no way to judge what was valuable. All she’d figured out was how to manipulate door controls.

“Bad part about the arrays in the walls, there’s metal that is rather hard to get by. At least without drawing attention and it will take time that will allow the cameras to spot it. So we need to deal with those first and the surveillance system is a bit more tricky. Namely there’s a cell emptied but I don’t know if there’s another Jedi that’s coming. We all came at different times and not to mention I have to disconnect the current image to make that area invisible. They’ll notice and after what the last Sith said, I rather not risk it. I don’t think it will end well...” His body shuddered at the idea then continued, his hand pressed upon his chin. An idea started to form in his head. “Unless...can you keep the cameras on you? That would lower the risk and anyone watching would likely be more actively focused on you. It’s still risky but less so than just doing it. Then we can then open one of the access points within that cell, couldn’t we?”

His head turned to Lea in hopes she might agree or otherwise talk him out of this. It was bad enough one Sith knew his knack with machines, did he really want to risk more finding out? Namore’s words sank in his head once more yet his mind was on Allanar. He had to risk it and hoped it worked out in the end. Best outcome was that he would die, the worse he didn’t even want to consider.

“That isn’t hard.” Lea answered, reaching out with the force and shifting the camera away from them both. It would’ve been even easier had one of them been capable of creating illusions, but Lea had not even heard of any skill capable of fooling machines in that way. It was one thing to fool a person, it was quite another to mess with machines. Lea had no idea how to go about that.

“Keep it there while I work on the empty cell then.” Xid requested, his body already moved upright and to his feet surprisingly quickly.

His head however didn’t caught up with his speed, his stand a little wobbly at first before the blood rush cleared. He made a note to himself not to do that again when he reached the empty cell. It had the same format as the others, basic and simple, and his head tilted to where the camera was. Slowly, he boosted himself upward and under it. His hand reached up to the thin metal access panel and pried it off. It wasn’t easy, his mouth let out a hiss when his finger snagged on the edge, the flesh sliced in his efforts. Luckily Lea was doing a great job distracting the cameras during his work. The camera flicked off, the image nothing but a static snow screen that was then looped to the previous image. It took a little longer to set where the image continuously repeated itself but he managed it with some ease.

“Got it.” He whispered to Lea, his bleeding finger placed into his mouth. His body hit the ground hard on his descendant and impact nearly knocked him on his rear, the task completed while he quickly returned to his spot. They won’t known he had moved since the camera was facing away. Though the bad part was it won’t be hard to guess who had done it.

Lea released her hold on the camera, breathing again. She had not even noticed that she held her breath. “What now? Did you take care of all the cameras, or do you need to deal with the others as well?” She truly wasn’t sure whether the other cameras covered some of the same area.

“Right now, there’s one cell invisible. Each camera has it’s own feed line and I have feeling the central one, where all the cameras feed into, would be farther behind the wall. At least, if I was designing it then it would be. That would keep the prisoners from tampering with it. We could try for more but we might draw their attention, unless there’s a enough loop footage to make it seem natural. Currently, Allanar’s cell would be the only one safe enough to attempt it with since he’s stationary. Less chance they would note something unsettling or repeats.” He stated then looked at Allanar’s camera, his eyes then in turn shifted from one to another.

“Ours might be more difficult due to the fact we move more, understand what I’m getting at? If the loops aren’t long enough, it seems unnatural and easier to spot.” Xid’s body still felt sore from his fight with Sish, the Sith had done a number and effects still fresh. He was lucky there wasn’t a concussion or he wouldn’t be able to do this without getting dizzy. “So, the choice is yours if you want to risk doing Allanar’s camera or not?”

“While I enjoy my privacy, I think it would be best not to tempt fate. The cameras do not cover each cell perfectly anyways. There’s a small section on each side at the rear that are outside their view.” Lea looked down at Allanar. “He’s not conscious now, but there’s no telling when he might wake. Or when Darth Nyiss comes for him again. Better not do too much.”

“That’s the bad part about me… I have a hard time waiting and watching him suffer.” Xid commented bluntly. “Besides, I can’t let it happen again. I couldn’t save Taia and she became one with the Force. To make it worse...I almost kill the Sith trying to stop him.”

“What’s so bad about that? Do not all Sith need to die if they cannot be redeemed?” Lea thought back to the words of her first master, and was pretty sure that was the idea behind them. At least what she could recall of them.

Xid shook his head. “I have two reasons to never allow that to happen again. First is this: Who are we to judge who’s worthy to live? Times are bad and yes, I’ve heard and seen some horrible things during this time but to me, that’s one of the key differences between being a Sith and Jedi. We have no right to decide who is more deserving to live, criminals or civilians, but our only task is to keep peace. Maybe I’m just being naive. To be honest, I really don’t mind it or know...”

“I remember my master speaking of how inaction is worse than doing the wrong things for the right reasons. If we never kill anyone, how can we win the war? There is no way we can convince our enemy to surrender.” Lea thought back on her master’s words.

“I can’t see the world the same way as most, even as a youngling growing up in the Temple, but I do understand what you’re saying. I don’t think killing is the best or only way to win a war. To me, it’s like a problem even if it’s more bloody, violent, and the costs heavy. There’s many ways to solve it, just not all of them have been thought of yet… and we tend go with the most familiar one when the most obvious solution fails.” The Padawan spoke, his mind wandered over Tolun Fi’s memory and the fact the Jedi had made movement to another possible solution. One that might’ve prevented the corpses from piling up within this war and saved lives. Now, that solution would never be brought to life. “Right now...we’re suffering great losses because of it.”

“Also, I have a second, more personal reason that makes me want to avoid ever doing that again…” Xid’s jawline tensed at the mention yet he didn’t dwell any longer upon it. His last action was far too close and what made it worse was it proved something that he didn’t want to believe, a reminder of the prisoner’s last words. For him it was as if someone had poured ice water over him which made him want to repeat it even less.

“My experience tells me that if everyone thinks like that, then nothing will ever be achieved. In the end, most people will always think of themselves first. It is their survivor’s instinct.” Lea only half-understood some of the things taught by her master, but that one she’d clearly understood, even if some of the terms were different from her own language. “My master taught me that while there might be a short gain in sacrificing self for others, the gain to all is greater if the sacrifice never happens. In the end, those who sacrifice themselves are usually dead, and alive is infinitely better than dead.” Growing up in the war had given Lea a very unusual perspective. She had never truly understood peace. She could not imagine anyone strong enough to enforce a galaxy-wide peace.

“If victory means that some have to die, then I think that may be worth it. Prolonged war will only result in many others dying.” Even as young as she was, Lea was quite familiar with the concept of death, including its finality, the way only someone growing up in wartime could be. “There might be other ways to end wars, but how many more would die while they are being developed? How many will die while the means are distributed?” In her weeks of captivity, Lea had seen death firsthand a number of times. Some of her captors had thought it a good idea for her to experience others’ deaths. Hardest had been the time when one of them decided she should spend four days in the company of one of those corpses. And of course that person had decided to stick the corpse under a heater. It had taken less than two days before the rot set in. She shuddered slightly at that memory. It had taken her days to get the smell out of her nose.

Xid just shook his head, his understand not intuned with the fellow Padawan before him or would it ever be. Even his own master, a Jedi and patient woman, couldn’t understand his line of thinking. Ironic that even among his peers he felt alone. “War’s result is sacrifice, sadly. and that’s the problem. However we can alter just what is sacrificed. I never said the other solutions were easy or without their price and that’s why few people bother with them. Jedi Tolun Fi was one of the few who went seeking another solution but likely he’ll never get that chance, something I wished was otherwise. All his work lost and no one will ever know if would’ve made a difference. His work aimed to do it without killing anyone, at least from what bits we talked about.”

The conversation seemed to make him sick inside. His head leaned back, having a strange feeling anything he would’ve said won’t matter. Lea seemed firmly set in her thinking and seemed to defend them as hard as he did. All he could add was this. “Different people will always see the same thing in different ways.”

“Jedi Tolun FI?” Lea asked, “Tall, long-necked, kaminoan? Not sure I’d trust him all that much. Last I saw him, troopers were escorting him away as he clung to a Holocron, looking like he’d lash out at anyone trying to take it from him.” Lea thought back to that event. “Of course, that also happened at the same time as one of the Sith had another Jedi executed. It was not a pretty sight. They kept firing their blasters at her for several minutes.” Even with the numbness of seeing a great number of deaths she had seen, that execution had been shocking to Lea. It had seemed like the Sith Troopers took great pleasure from the act. She had not understand why at the time, and she still did not do so.

Xid’s head flipped upright, his eyes stared at her in surprise. “Wait, he was here? Alive? Why didn’t they kill him back at the Temple? He had a Holocron...doesn’t he know what is inside of those things?”

His heart seemed to have dropped from his body. He knew about them, at least from the prisoner’s stories and more about tech involve then the actual holocrons. Though he had little doubt the Sith’s were altered in different ways than those from the past, the twisting in his stomach only was made worse when thinking about the Kaminoan holding one as tightly as Lea described. The image broken when there was mention of an execution and the cruel manner it happened in. “She’s one with the Force now and her pain is over at least. We had one injured, Strago, after he tried to fight back before Taia was executed and my failed attempt to stop him.”

“I think the knowledge was too tempting to Tolun Fi. I never understood what he was planning on doing, but clearly he felt the need to use the holocron for it. I doubt there’s much knowledge in that holocron he does not know by now.” Lea saw no reason to mention that she’d been present when he acquired said holocron. She had, after all, warned him about the traps within, and nobody could expect a young padawan like herself to have any chance to control the acts of a full-fledged Jedi Consular like Tolun Fi.

“If you want to stop a Sith, you should use what force is necessary, not hold back. My master taught me that.” Lea saw Xid’s reaction. “You don’t have to kill. A couple of shattered legs will usually stop a Sith nearly as well. Bones mend, so its not as if it is permanent.”

“I can only guess. I’ve never seen one but I’ve heard of them, even know a bit about their origins. Not much mind you.” Xid said in a soft voice, his expression clearly depressed by the knowledge he learned. It was still hard to believe Tolun Fi had fallen which seemed to hurt him more than he wanted it to. His eyes turned to Lea when she offered an alternative. He bitterly chuckled and replied in a subtle anger. “Then I wouldn’t be any different then him if I did and that’s the last thing I want…”

“Oh?” Lea answered. “You would have a reason for it. If I’ve heard right about him, he does it because he can, not because it is necessary to achieve the goal.”

“I don’t think we’re talking about the same him. Either way, that doesn’t make me feel any better about doing it.” Xid countered, his eyes seemed far off in a memory. “He had a reason too and it wasn’t even his fault that he turned in what he was. It was the Rakata that changed him… Little did they know what they created in the end.”

Xid felt that familiar rush of ice along his body, his head shook away and hand raised his mouth. A sourness had crept to the back of his throat and threatened to spill over the cell floor before he swallowed it down. He turned to her, his eyes slightly dulled and laxed in emotion. “Some memories are best forgotten.”

“Yes, there are memories I would like to forget as well.” Lea had spoken of several of them already. She did not really know much of anything about these ‘Rakata’. There was something vaguely familiar about the name, but nothing else. “Perhaps not. I have no idea who you’re speaking of.” Lea had, in fact, simply guessed. Incorrectly, it seemed.

Xid’s head bowed and looked at the floor a moment, his words commented in an attempt to ease the tension he believed was created. “I should’ve made myself clearer but that’s the past. Best it remains there.”

Lea was about to speak further when she sensed that someone was approaching the cellblock. She did not know who. With quick gestures, she silenced Xid and they moved back to their separate cells, so as to not arouse suspicion.

[Frettzo]

Kinsakwi

How long had she been sitting there? Ever since she was moved from her previous cell, Kinsakwi kept to herself. She couldn't bring herself to look outside of her cell, she tried not to think of her friends... She was lonely, yet she didn't trust the world outside her small cell. The ship was a hostile place, and the only thing it ever did to her was attack her, both physically and mentally. It had taken her integrity, her confidence, her security and lately, her health. She was ashamed of the simple thought of showing her face to anyone, or letting anyone come close to her in her state. She had stopped eating the food given to her, and she could barely stand her own breath.

She sighed as she opened her eyes, looking at her uncomfortable bed, then at the slender metallic finger hidden beneath the thin mattress. She smiled a bit, sadly, once she saw the finger, peeking out ever so slightly from its hiding spot. Was Xid okay? How long had it been since that session with Sith Lord Namore?

"Too long..." She whispered, pushing the finger back under the mattress, so it was fully hidden.

"It's been... Too long."

Then she felt a knot form in her throat, and she couldn't help the emotion that suddenly overcame her. A small tear flowed down her right cheek, before being wiped dry by the dark fabric of Kinsa's robes.

"No! That's what they want, Kinsa... They want to twist you, they want to destroy your training... They won't manage to do it. Besides, it's only been a few days... I think..." She said, pushing back her feelings and swallowing away the knot in her throat.

"Yet... They've already done so, haven't they? Wasn't it you who took justice in her own hands?"

"I... It was needed. Senators are corrupt."

"What about yourself? Are you not corrupt?" She asked herself, her facial expression quickly switching back and forth between inquisitive, stressed and depressed.

"What about that time you snuck into the archives? That time you studied those relics?"

"What about when you kissed that guy? Wasn't it corrupt? Wasn't it deviated? Wasn't it... Passionate?"

By now, Kinsa stood silent, curling up lightly with her back against the furthest wall from the cell's exit, looking down at her feet as she rested her head on her knees, sniffling. Why was she having so much trouble keeping herself together? She really wanted Xid to be right about her, she wanted to feel like she was actually... Good. But she couldn't, and it made her feel dirty and tainted. Not to mention finger-less and helpless.

[ultimate523]

Vonar Loran had been assigned as the leader of the search through the ruins of the Jedi temple. He was an older human, and very experienced member of the Republic's SIS(Strategic Information Service) who had dealt with the Jedi several times before, and knew quite a lot about the temple. He always remained slightly skeptical of them, as he was with many groups, but for the most part, he was quite supportive of the order.

Over the course of several days, the search seemed to be finally wrapping up. The other SIS members involved had given Vonar as much information as they could find, and he looked through it repeatedly, having very mixed feelings on some of the results. Many Jedi were confirmed dead, but several bodies were hard to fully identify. Even with that, the numbers didn't match either. They had run a very thorough search, but there should have been more Jedi dead than there were. It gave an odd kind of comfort that they might still be alive, but brought up questions of what exactly their fate was, or would be.

Vonar reported all the information that had been found then made sure to meet up with some of the other members of the SIS looking into information that could be relevant to the situation. There were several ships seen on Coruscant that seemed like potential choices for where the Jedi would be if they had been taken, which is what most of the information was leading to. One of them, the Hâsk, had been spotted heading toward Tatooine. The information had also been confirmed by an Imperial soldier who was connected to the Navy after several days of torture. He had given some other information, but most of the rest didn't seem like it was connected to any captured Jedi, which was Vonar's focus at the moment.

The SIS members in the area would be told to keep an eye out for the ship, though the chance of them learning much wasn't particularly high at the moment, but they also knew that the sight of at least one Jedi would be enough to confirm several suspicions. It seemed very unlikely that the Empire were going to offer them in some kind of trade, especially considering that none of the Jedi were very high ranking, at least of the ones believed to have been captured. Vonar also knew it meant the Republic had less interest in them, but it certainly wasn't going to hurt if they found out more about what had happened to them, and what exactly the Sith had planned. There was also the possibility that the Jedi had obtained some useful information on the Empire, even if it wasn't the most likely.

For the moment, Vonar would look into everything that could get him more information without jeopardizing any other plans. He knew only so much could, and would be done with what they had obtained, but a lack of effort from him wouldn't be the reason for them not accomplishing something with it.

[Omega]

Sebastian Volonthrope was not generally prone to meditation but had taken to it generously during his trip aboard the small freighter en route to the Hask he was coming into the veritable lair of the Krayt Dragon. Darth Nyiss was an intriguing figure known for operating on her own with her own pet projects. At the same time those projects were often shrouded in secrecy due the nature of the projects being rather inhuman in nature. Within the circles he travelled she was well known as being a mad scientist. The lack of trust to the Dark Council from her and the little trust reciprocated would have doomed many a Darth to being reigned in earlier or even killed off due to their actions but not Nyiss. Her greatest saving grace was a simple one, she got results and Vole knew that was what made her most dangerous of all. She was intelligent, skilled, competent, and surrounded herself with loyal minions and only acknowledged those who made the grade she required of them.

He had to focus his core with his meditations, grasp his emotions and control them. The fear he felt at failure, the fear of what would happen to him. His anticipation of success, his pride in his skills. Everything that was him had to be pulled together to make ready for his arrival. He could feel it through the ship that the time was nearing. He could feel throughout the ship the 5 other living beings in the ship with him. His attache Missandra and the 4 bodyguards he had brought with him. He did not feel the need to have bodyguards really they were rather there more for show than anything else and if there came a time where violence was called for they would be meaningless anyway. The four men were to appear to be elite infantry of the Imperial Army though in truth they were a few men he had picked up along his travels in order to make them more loyal to him over any others, Mandalorians each one but once the ship docked he expected them to be quartered and never seen for the rest of his stay.

He was starting to probe at their minds when the communication device in his room went off. Markus, one of his bodyguards, could be heard speaking but Vole already knew what he was going to say. Reading into the man's mind and pulling images from there he saw his objective at last, the Hask was rapidly filling the view screen as it orbited the dustball of a planet. He spoke into the comm device in return to Markus, "Make ready to dock within the ship and send the appropriate codes." Standing up and slowly stretching out the taut muscles of his body Vole ran through everything he had been briefed on, the first danger had passed now. If Nyiss had planned to kill him it would not be while he was under her protection as no matter what that would reflect poorly on her but rather before coming to meet her or after he left.

Reaching out with the force once more he touched the mind of his attache Missandra and gave her an imperative to see him. Almost on auto-pilot she left her own berthing to come to his. She arrived just as he was putting on his tunic entered without knocking. "You summoned me?" He could not help but smile a bit, she had caught on quickly to his methods but long service with him had left a distinct impression upon her mind by him she would never be able to shake.

"We are almost there, prepare yourself and everything you may need I doubt we will be using the ship for quite some time." Wordlessly she bowed her head and left. He could have given her such an imperative mentally but wanted to see how she reacted to his figure now. All jobs were diplomacy and diplomacy required certain appearances. He cut one of a warrior he was not, lean and fit, lethal with a dangerous look. He looked like a Sith, like a representative of the Dark Council.

Aboard the hask

The small freighter slowly settled on the deck of the docking bay, the ramp lowering almost instantly and down it strode 6 humans. At the lead was Vole his black tunic tied tight across his torso. He generally eschewed the robes favored by many in both orders preferring a simple black tunic bereft of any insignia with loose black pants and dark gloves. The only indication of who he might be was the burnished silver lightsaber at his hip. The only weapon visible among the whole group in fact. Next to him one pace to his right and two behind was his attache holding a data slate and observing everything around her while her master looked only for Nyiss. Behind him strode the four Mandalorions in the dress uniforms of the Imperial Army. They walked crisply with him each step in unison, heels striking loud and solidly at the same time.

Darth Nyiss was not happy. The Dark Council, over the past few months, had largely had the respect to leave her alone, to not interfere with her important works. Now, it seemed, they had decided to change that stance. She’d known they would eventually get tired of her going over their heads but she’d hoped she would at least have reached Korriban before they started working their fingers into the project. She’d decided to meet this ‘representative’ they’d sent in person as he landed. He needed to know that despite his connections, on this ship she was in charge.

She was alone in greeting the man, only the deck crew and droids to accompany her. She’d changed out of her armoured robes, and wore plain, unassuming, shape concealing black robes. Apparently, the Council had seen fit to accompany him with several Imperial army lackeys. She wondered if some might be Imperial Intelligence, but that seemed unlikely given the presence of Minder sixty-two. Of course they probably had an undercover agent as well but that was only to be expected. Nyiss couldn’t help but admit that the Sith representative at least looked quite pleasant on the eyes…

She snapped her mind back to the task at hand as the six people formed up before her. She put on a smile as she addressed them, walking slowly around the group, taking in every little detail. “Welcome to my ship Sebastian. I trust you had a… pleasant journey?” She didn’t expect him to answer and kept speaking. “Of course I appreciate any assistance the Dark Council can provide… I do wonder why you think you need guards though. This ship is quite safe, despite its cargo. You can send your entourage and your ship to the Asha. You wont be needing them here. Then I shall escort you to your quarters.” She finished her circuit of the group right as she finished speaking, standing once more in front of them, waiting for the inevitable protest at having the escorts all sent away.

As he was addressed Vole bowed his head slightly breaking eye contact for the merest of moments only to look up and see that Nyiss had begun to circle him, he felt he would appear stupid to spin in place as she went around so instead as she went behind him focused on looking ahead casually trying to get a reading from Nyiss through the force. Naturally there was not a great deal as she was a Darth afterall and quite skilled at controlling herself. Initially he had some odd inflections from her though chalked that up to amusement at the game that had now begun.

He almost lost his composure for a moment when she began to come back around and informed him of the fate of his ship and crew. He could not protest though, not over something so trivial with a Darth. So instead he merely bowed his head slightly though this time did not break eye contact with Nyiss keeping them locked on her. His stare was meant to be intense but not threatening. "It is as you wish Darth Nyiss. I come on behalf of the Dark Council but am here at your leisure," He raised his arms slightly out to his sides palms towards her in a posture of openness as well as to indicate the area around them, "This is your realm and I shall do as you ask. I only wish that my attache stay with me for now she is a simple menial who I enjoy keeping around for tasks in which she helps me at times with my duties. Working for the Dark Council generates so very much paperwork after all as they always wish to be kept informed of everything."

There was a slight inflection on the last few words as he spoke to Nyiss though he did not give Nyiss an opportunity to say anything which may regard it as he then began speaking to his bodyguards though he never turned his head away from Nyiss, "Markus, take the ship over to the Asha I am sure you will be given billets there and await any further orders from me. Even as his men turned crisply and marched back into the vessel Vole now strode forward his hands now clasped behind his back towards Nyiss, "I suppose there is much now I must learn here Darth Nyiss, I would very much like to see the progress you have made. I have no doubt we have much to discuss."

“Do we just?” Nyiss’ immediate response made it quite clear exactly how much she intended on telling this interloper. She was skeptical of allowing Sebastian his attache, but one was at least much easier to manage than five. Or perhaps the woman was merely a pet for him, a toy. She looked the non-force sensitive woman up and down once before making up her mind. “Very well Sebastian. you may keep this woman for doing your… paperwork.” She turned on her heel then and started walking towards the Turbolift. she expected the younger Sith to follow immediately, and kept speaking as she walked. “Of course I’d be happy to hear what you know of the esteemed Councils dealings, but I think you’ll find they already know about my little project here. I did, after all, work with them in the sacking of Coruscant.”

Vole was surprised at even how Nyiss clearly contemplated not allowing him to keep Missandra with him. What was she doing here that she had so much to fear from the Dark Council. Removing his vessel from the ship had wrong footed him and now it was clear she was ready to deliver another blow to his mission. He knew she was competent but now he wondered how paranoid she may be.

As she turned to walk away Vole quickened his pace to catch up to her and Missandra followed in step several paces behind him. "Yes, the sacking of Coruscant was a victory above and beyond realistic expectations everyone involved can be thanked for such a tremendous victory. It gave us the negotiating room to seize worlds all along the border and now we bolster ourselves further in all areas, "Vole tried to gauge Nyiss as he walked and talked, he could not quite get a handle on the emotions which emanated off of her she was very complex, "The Council was very appreciative of your efforts involved and would like you to keep them appraised of anything noteworthy you come across and would be more than willing to work with you again on a similar operation in the future." He chose his wording carefully as he neared the turbolift if he could score an early opening on what kind of ideas she held then it would greatly aid him in future endeavors.

“Yes I’m quite sure the Council would appreciate me working for them in the future.” She looked at Sebastian as they entered the turbolift, waiting for the doors to close before continuing. “Imperial Intelligence should be keeping them appraised of everything that we learn here. That means you are here either because the Council are unhappy with their work, or they want you to investigate me. It’s not the first time you know. I didn’t expect them to be quite so overt though.” Her tone was half serious, half playful. Her words might not be those of the perfect manipulator but her tone and the feelings she allowed to bubble to the surface were confusing at best for onlookers. She gazed at the taller Sith. He was certainly handsome. And he obviously had secrets. She looked forward to their relationship quite a lot.

Vole was momentarily thrown off by her directness as they entered the turbolift but this was a tactic he was familiar with and easily recovered from it before any reaction escaped him. He quickly thought through her potential reasons for this and decided she was likely fishing, she wanted to know how much the Dark Council already knew of her of the book endeavors he figured. As he began to speak he drew more on the force to try and get a better reading from Nyiss, she seemed to be expecting his actions though as once more was getting mixed signals from her again though of a different flavor. She certainly did not seem to be emanating any hostility which meant she certainly had more long term plans for his involvement here and he could feel that he was in her emotions somehow though that was to be expected naturally, "It is in part your nature of being so far out from the center of Imperial space. Your experiments are also rather unique and while everything you find may be reported back some wonder if everything you do is not. It is also simple politics and distribution of power. I am sure you understand this given your position," Vole felt things were starting to drift a bit away from him overall and needed to reassert the official mission parameters, "As I am sure you are aware though my mission here is not to report on you but rather to aid you. I know the workings of a Jedi's mind better than most and I can help a great deal in breaking them and turning them to our side so that they may better help the Sith."

“In one sentence you manage to both accuse me of carrying out secret missions and deny that you have any of your own.” Nyiss said, amusement evident in her voice. “You really ought to improve the delivery of that line.” She added with a second thought, reaching up to touch the side of his face gently. She looked into the taller Siths eyes for a moment, a slight smile on her face, before bringing her hand back to her side and turning to face the turbolifts doors as they opened. “On one thing we can agree. You will be quite useful in converting these Jedi. Perhaps, with your history, you will be able to reach some of the more stubborn ones and show them the truth. Every Jedi who falls is a dual blow against the Republic, they lose an ally and gain an enemy. Make no mistake Sebastian, this war is far from over and we need every warrior we can get.”

Smiling as he listened to Nyiss he could not help but find something intriguing about her and she took him by surprise when she reached out and touched his face. Even after she took it away it was though he could still feel her touch for a moment. She was certainly rather unique it seemed. This more and more seemed to be an even more complex assignment than expected. With the smile still on his lips he responded with a certain light heartedness in his voice, "Oh, I am not accusing you of having secrets Darth Nyiss, we all have secrets, everyone in the galaxy has secrets. That is perhaps why I so often find someone willing to spend much time with me for you see my skills are well known. I am very good at finding secrets."

As he followed her out of the turbolift he continued to speak, "Of course currently I am tasked with finding the secrets of these Jedi and turning their own secrets against them. We will need them in the coming months for as you said this war is not over. In fact I feel it has only just now truly begun. I am sure the Dark Council will become increasingly distracted as time passes and you turning Jedi to join our order will most certainly reflect well on your efforts here." He kept his voice neutral as he spoke now but could not help but feel the creep of a smile on his lips as he continued to try and read Darth Nyiss through the force. He continued to try to provoke responses but she continued to divert him.

Nyiss ignored both the bragging and the attempts to provoke more responses from her. She’d been playing this game for a long time, and she wasn’t about to give away anything. Instead she focused on the task at hand, namely informing the new arrival of the rules on her ship and showing him to his quarters. “While you stay aboard this ship, you will of course have to abide by the rules I have laid out, Dark Council or no. You must follow usual Sith law - it is wasteful to kill a fellow Sith.” She wanted to mention that she wouldn’t mind so much if someone killed the Lizard, but telling the Dark Council representative that she might not always follow Sith law to the letter was a foolish plan indeed. “You aren’t to injure the Jedi in any way that will cripple their ability to function as Sith. Remember at all times why we are here. This is not a forum for your own personal vengeance. I doubt I’ll have problems with you in this matter, but you may need to remind some of the others from time to time. Killing a Jedi without my express permission will be punished severely. Other than that, you are free to use whatever other methods you like to turn them, but I expect results before we arrive at Korriban.”

She paused as they stepped into the turbolift that led to the prison deck, waiting for the doors to close before continuing. “Imperial Intelligence believes that one of the Jedi possesses an affinity for machines, as well as some information about several key Republic defenses and installations. Acquiring that information is secondary to turning the Jedi, as he will likely just tell us once he has seen the truth.” She turned to look at him then, putting on the most pleasant expression she could as she prepared to place figurative shackles on him. “One more thing, much of the crew is unaware of our little plan, so you’ll be largely confined to the Prison deck along with the Jedi. The turbolift is locked out from that deck, so the only way you’ll be able to snoop is if you have my permission.” She handed him a datapad then, an innocent smile still on her face. On it was all the rules and facilities available in written form as well as a map of the prison deck marking the location of his quarters. “Do try to enjoy your stay.”

Taking the pad there was a genuine smile on his face, there was certainly something interesting about Nyiss and looking down at the datapad he took the chance to glance over her form entirely again though this time with a different eye. Before coming here he had looked over most of the female members of Darth Nyiss’s staff and found several interesting candidates for his preferred methods of getting close to someone but something about the way Nyiss was talking to him and as he thought of the way she had touched him earlier a thought popped into his mind. He had dismissed her at first as such a partner but as his eyes travelled upwards subtly his mind changed on that and was certainly an avenue he was not going to pass up if such an opportunity came about. Holding the datapad out to her for a moment he asked, “In the event I wish to, discuss things with you in a more private setting, I do not suppose you would show me how to get to your suite?”

Darth Nyiss was amused at the question, mostly because of the quick look he snuck in beforehand. Still, her quarters did have a few sensitive materials within, and there was no way she was going to just let this agent of the Dark council just wander into them. She kept her voice neutral as she addressed him this time. “If you need to see me privately, contact me on the comms system and maybe I’ll tell you how to get to my quarters. For now, you have Jedi to turn.” As she finished speaking, she stepped back into the elevator and pressed the button that would take her back to the rest of the ship and lock the new arrival on the prison deck. The doors quickly slipped shut, leaving her to her own company. She had far more important things to do.

Standing beside his attache still Vole found was rather amused as Darth Nyiss left him to his own devices. With a probing of his mind into hers his attache presented him a datapad that had a list of female Jedi on them an known information about them. It was time to pick out his first target.

[Sundered Echo]

Darth Nyiss waited several hours after the Dark Council agent entered the prison deck before continuing with her plans for the day. He couldn’t be allowed to discover what she was doing, at least not yet. Once she deemed enough time to have passed, she unlocked the prison deck elevator and descended once more, giving orders remotely for the Jedi Allanar to be brought to the cell were her equipment was presently stored. Equipment that would now need to be moved off the prison deck after she’d finished. She sighed then, the company of this newcomer was irksome. At the very least he might provide a distraction and an outlet for passion.

Walking through the winding corridors she quickly reached the room allocated and entered. She felt the desire to have the Kaminoan Tolun Fi watch again as she stepped inside, but unfortunately that would probably not be wise. He was now studying fragments of some of her older notes in an isolated area on the prison deck. Or at least thats what he was supposed to be doing, he’d proved uncooperative thus far. No, this time she’d work alone.

Allanar was already in the room when she arrived, and it wasn’t difficult to force him onto the operating table given the weakness that had apparently overcome him. She’d hoped, indeed expected more from him after the fight he’d put up when she captured him, but it seemed the experiment was taking a greater toll on him. She’d continue anyway, but even without the diagnostics her hope for total success with this trial was fading.

It seemed he did retain enough strength to remain awake for the moment, that was good. She looked down at him with an almost sympathetic expression and spoke reassuringly “Don’t worry, it will be over soon. You’ll be much better. Improved in every way. You’ll see.” A cheerful smile broke over her face for just a moment before she turned away to get started on the next phase of the experiment.

Darth Nyiss knew that for future subjects, she would have liked more of the Kaminoan’s research, so that perhaps she might even be able to strengthen the patient’s connection to the force. But that would have to wait. One step at a time. She walked gracefully over to one of the tables, picking up several tools, then depositing them beside the patient. From a tray, she picked up several small, round objects with a small needle in the middle. These she pressed into the patient at various points. When she had inserted the tenth and last, she pressed a small button on a remote, and within seconds, the patient’s DNA appeared over one of the computers, with it being measured from each of the sensors. With a quick command, she had the patient’s original DNA from last test pulled up beside it. The differences were miniscule, but they were there. Her process appeared to be working, for there were, so far, no signs of the body rejecting itself.

“Excellent, my little pet. You may yet survive the process.” She spoke sincerely with no hint of malice. The patient did not respond or react. Using the force, she tore the sensors out of his body, depositing them in the tray, where they would be sterilized by one of her droids. She would not have herself contaminated by contact with his impure blood.

Darth Nyiss then lifted up an empty injector, attaching it to a machine on one of the side tables. Inputting a long series of commands, she let it work. Even with the new genetic data from all over his body, it would take a while to sequenze out the right serum. Some twelve minutes later, the machine chirped, indicating that the serum was almost ready. “Just one more step…” she murmured, and channeled lightning straight at the injector and into the dark red serum within. Unlike most machines, this one had been built to withstand even Force Lightning. Expensive, but more than worth it.

She did not bother informing the patient when she would inject him. Instead, she simply pressed the injector against his skin, injecting a little here and a little there, spreading it fairly evenly throughout his body. Once the Injector was empty, she placed it to the side, and channeled lightning straight at his body for exactly thirteen seconds. He writhed from the energy his body was being subjected to, but not as vigorously as last time. Now all she would have to do is wait.

She was turning to leave when she heard a murmur of sound from the prisoner. She looked back for a moment and was surprised to see that he’d managed to turn his head to look at her. He spoke slowly and with obvious effort, but she could understand the words. “Why… are you… doing this?”

Darth Nyiss blinked in surprise at that, she thought it was obvious. “I’m making you… better. You’ll see.” Then she turned and left, leaving her droids to clean up and take the prisoner to the guards outside.

[Frettzo]

Kinsakwi+Vole

Vole strode into the cellblock of his target alone he could feel the negative emotions permeating the air. All around him it stank of anger, desperation, sadness, and hopelessness. Few seemed close enough to break easily though which was why he had chosen his first target so carefully. Someone who was hurt, mentally, emotionally, and most importantly physically. That would allow him the opening he needed.

Coming to her cell he saw the twi'lek curled up against the corner. She looked so sad, so pathetic, and very vulnerable. He reached out with the force towards her to feel what emotions, thoughts, or ideas emanate from her. He smiled at what he found there and keeping the smile on his face cleared his throat before speaking, "Hello, Kinsa."

The sound of someone entering the cellblock surely reached Kinsakwi's ears, yet they were of no consequence. What was the point of getting distraught over a single sound? A single Sith? Either way she'd be shocked to unconsciousness or have her emotions messed around with. This one would be no different, she was sure of it. Lord Namore had surely been nicer than she had expected, but Kinsa was worried that she hadn't heard of Xid ever since the session. Who knew what the Sith Lord had done to him?

When the Sith entered the room, Kinsakwi purposefully avoided his gaze while she kept her own stare fixed on her feet.

"... Only my friends call me Kinsa." She said, shrugging lightly to herself. "Are you here to torture me, like the others before you?"

"Well then, perhaps we can become friends." He still maintained a calm disarming smile. She was emanating a variety of conflicting emotions as could be expected. Sadness and despair he could use to his ends. They were not the best to work with but were something he could work with. He would rebuild her from what she was now into something stronger.

"Is there anything you would like currently that I could help get you? I read a bit about your treatment so far. You do not need to worry about anything like that happening ever again. I can assure you of that."

"I don't think so." Kinsakwi responded to the Sith's first proposal, then started to hesitate once he asked if she needed anything. What was she supposed to answer to that? Surely if she asked for something she'd end up screwing herself up in some way, and if she didn't, she'd screw herself up right now. It wasn't pleasant to have to smell herself, lately.

"Er... I guess... Something to clean myself with?"

It was largely a leading question, he needed her talking and thinking. If he could get her thinking about different things it would stir her mind. He continued to make his presence in the force only around her, maintaining subtly feeling for her thoughts, feelings, and wants. They were surprisingly basic and sent a thought into the mind of Missandra who was already acquiring food for Kinsa to already procure soap, clean water, and a pair of small towels before the jedi had even said what she wanted.

"It will be here momentarily. In the mean time though let us talk. You have been hurt, that is unfortunate. I wish to provide a true and heartfelt apology for that," the smile was now gone from his face as he spoke and he started to pace, "there are some Sith within the ranks who are not like me. They are brutes who care nothing for the feelings of others and relish only in their own strength. That is the flaw in a society built on strength and is not apparent until too late. People like him are culled in time but not before they do some damage. It is something we share in common between our orders, the Jedi and the Sith. We have some like you and me who are calm, rational, intelligent beings. Then there are the monsters, that is the problem with wars they breed monsters like him and the countless within the ranks of the Jedi."

Kinsakwi sighed as the Sith started to speak, trying to fill her mind with his talk even after he gave her a surprise by actually promising she'd get what she asked for. His words were slightly akin to Lord Namore's, and that didn't bring her much calm, but knowing she would not end up with a broken bone and a one finger less was nice.

Kinsa looked at the Sith as he spoke of monsters within the ranks of the Jedi and Sith, of the kind of people who just seeked to destroy rather than build or learn.

"I haven't lived long enough to feel a peaceful environment, how would I know if you're lying? What if it's just the fact that pricks are always there?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. The last few days she had fully forgotten about her training, but not anymore. The fear, shock and... Disgrace of being held prisoner of the Sith had gotten to her, but now that she had learned something about them other than black-and-white stories about them, she might just be able to apply her training to the situation. She was still shaken up, distressed like never before, but she at least felt a bit of hope.

She lifted her head, looking at the Sith's face before standing up and moving over to her bed to sit on it. "You know my name... What's yours?"

She was getting calmer, that was a bad change of pace. He needed her more distraught than that. He would have to work with her before he could bring his abilities to bear. I suppose you would not. Then again I have not lived in an era besides this one, an era of war. My first memories were of preparing for war quite frankly. I can still recall it, sitting at training lessons at the Jedi temple," he looked at her now using the force to see if any emotions registered with her, "Learning how to use a lightsaber, learning to use the force. I was weak then, almost too weak in fact. The Jedi were prepared to throw me away because I was not good enough for them. I was not though, I learned to adapt to my weaknesses, something the Jedi can and will never do unfortunately. Everything I have learned was first from the Jedi and now from the Sith."

Removing a blue crystal from his pocket he levitated it before him with the force. "I am Sebastian Volenthrope, my friends call me Vole," He was smiling again as he spoke to her, "I would like to think that if not now, then one day soon I can count you amongst my friends." He was smiling again as he looked down at the crystal and tried to project some of his own happiness onto Kinsa in the hopes of making her more pliable. "That is how I know what it means to be in your situation. Not a situation of imprisonment, but one of facing the darkness after a lifetime in the light."

The mention of his past surprised Kinsa, a Jedi who fell, and he didn't seem dead, or tortured, or depressed. Surely she could feel some darkness in him, but then again, was that darkness or light? One could never know.

Then he levitated a beautiful blue crystal in front of himself, a crystal that drew in Kinsa's eyes for a small moment, before she found herself looking up at Vole's face and smiling. "Actually, Sebastian..." She began, her eyes trailing off down and to the left, away from Vole. "Nevermind. You mentioned that I'd get something to clean myself with?"

Vole mentally checked on where Missandra was, she was nearing the cellblock with the food and soap he had asked her to bring. "It will be here in a moment. You seemed to be about to say something there, you can trust me. If anything I am here to protect you." He used the force to present an air of trustworthiness to her an aura of pleasantry to make her feel nicer and more at ease with him. He began to use the force more on here beginning to touch at the edges of her mind with his own. Nothing forceful yet, merely threads of the force at the edges of her mind with pleasant feels dribbling down them to infect her.

"I don't..." Kinsa started, before she sighed and shook her head. She felt strange all of a sudden, something about Sebastian was different, in the fact that with mere words he somehow made her feel better. How? Why?

"A few years back, I did a few things that my Master would have abandoned me for. I think he's dead now, as I haven't heard from him in a while..." She said, deflating for a short moment, before perking up slightly and looking at Vole with a small smile. "That just means he's not in a situation like mine, though. I guess that's good."

Vole was considering his next response when Missandra came in at last. She had a tray with various foods on it in one hand and in the other she had a pale with a pair of soft looking towels on and a container of soap on top. "Ah it appears my attache has arrived at last."

With a wave of his hand he lowered the force shield that held Kinsa trapped. Missandra then walked forward and at the edge of the cell placed both on the ground with a simple mental impulse from Vole. She then turned and left without a sound heading back to the room she shared with Vole. "Go ahead and eat and wash. I doubt you have had a decent meal in at least as long as you have been without facilities to bath."

When the items arrived, along with a small surprise of actually decent food, Kinsa stared at Vole. Why was he being so nice? What was his plan? There must have been something, as he didn't seem as the kind of man to do something without a purpose behind it.

Just as soon as Vole's attache set down the tray of food and the items, she scooted over to them, sitting cross legged on the floor and balancing the tray on her legs. She studied the foods a bit closer, and was satisfied with what she saw. A small bowl with some rycrit stew, and some munch-fungus bread to go with it. How long had it been since she had eaten those things? It must have been years! She could barely remember the last time she did back in Coruscant, and the nostalgic memory was intensified when she grabbed the sliced bread and took a bite out of it, the taste filling her mouth as she let out a light moan of pleasure, closing her eyes to focus on the rich taste.

Then followed the stew, and the small amount of water supplied with the meal. When she was finished, she set down the tray, but not before making sure not even a single drop of stew, or a single piece of bread were left.

Kinsa then looked at Vole, seeing as he was still there, and then looked at the towels and container. "Um... Is there anything else you need from me? I'd really like to wash myself."

As she was distracted by the food and enjoyed herself in eating it Vole used the opportunity to delve deeper into her mind. He felt her memories as she ate and as they were brought back. Pleasant memories, Coruscant, not surprising as she was young and likely spent almost her whole life there. She had a voracious appetite and it was gone swiftly enough. He could feel a pang of longing from her as she finished the food and looked at the water.

He was amused as she was clearly asking for some privacy now, "Need? No there is nothing I need from you. I am simply here to help," it was a lie, an obvious lie but he fed her feelings of warmth that coincided with the pleasure she was feeling now from being well fed and compounding the feelings he had thus far been giving her.

"If you wish I could leave now, though I am busy and may not return for some time. It is your choice if we continue our conversation for now." He now gave a slight hint of fear towards her mind. It was not directed from him but was a general feeling that seemed to come from the very air around her now.

Kinsakwi could still not believe this Vole was trying to feed her the same lie about wanting to help her. She knew they were lies, she knew he had a plan behind being nice, but… It was still good, to feel like some Sith didn’t just beat everything out of her. By the minute, this Sith showed to truly be… Different, at least. He wasn’t as manipulative as Lord Namore, and neither was he any close to the Lizard’s brutal approach. She kinda… Liked him, and when he let her know that he’d be busy and might not be able to return in some time, she was afraid. Afraid of ever having to eat the horrible food, afraid of getting to feel as disgusting and dirty as she felt now…

So she, looking worried, glanced at Vole. “You’re the first Sith to not try to manipulate me, so… Maybe we could share views or something like that?” She asked, not completely sure on what to do, even if he chose to stay.

She needed to clean herself, but doing it with him there was… Admittedly strange. It’s not like she had never bathed with others around before, as her early childhood as a slave consisted of communal bathing all the time, but it was still weird to think about.

He was disappointed she did not opt to bath in front of him. It mean she did not trust him enough for that yet and it disappointed him for personal reasons as well but that could all wait. In time she would come to trust him more, trust him completely. “What would you like to share your views on exactly? There is so very much we could discuss now if you want. I am here to help you afterall.”

“Well, first off, why are you a nice Sith? I thought all Sith just wanted the destruction of all Jedi and freedom. I mean, that’s what I’ve been taught all my life.” She said, looking at Vole and smiling a bit. yet the smile made her feel strange, once again. It was like she couldn’t help it, like she just had to smile once she saw him.

She was having a hard time believing it, meeting a nice Sith, and actually smiling once she saw one! What had she become? Or were her eyes just opening to the true nature of the Sith? Either way, as she waited for his reply, she scooted closer to the water container and the towels, and after opening the container, she lightly dipped the towel in the water, to be used to gently clean her face and head.

“I see you were truly taken into with the indoctrination by the Jedi and were never granted a chance to have your eyes opened as mine were,” he sighed for effect now, “the Jedi are a far more homogenous group than the Sith are. The Jedi require all force users to follow their exact teachings with punishments deriving from them punished… harshly.” He reached into the pocket of his robe and squeezed the blue crystal for a moment as he recalled the memories of his own part in punishing those who fled the teachings of the Jedi. He let some of his own memories trickle down into her mind allowing that they might crop up as part of her imagination.

“As you have learned there are cruel Sith, there are manipulative Sith, but most of us are more like me. Just people, people that want to help to heal and cure the galaxy people here to help just as I am here to help you. I am not nice to you over some grand scheme I am nice because I want to be nice and help you.” He was smiling again as he spoke of helping her, using the simple repetitive words to try to instil a sense of trust in her to view him as trustworthy and helpful.

“You said you believed all Sith just want to kill Jedi but when did you last see a Jedi take a Sith prisoner? Have you ever seen a Sith place inside som prison? Have you ever even seen a Jedi prison? I bet you will answer ‘no’ to all those questions when logically the Jedi would keep their most dangerous prisoners at the Jedi temple to keep an eye on them with the most powerful Jedi to watch them. No such prison exists though, does it? When you break from the teachings of the Jedi you are killed, there is no second chance and no questions asked. It is simple extermination,” he grasped the blue crystal again though pulled his hand from his robes, “Perhaps you have heard of the Sith Holocaust? I understand if you have not, if you have been to the Jedi library you know that while there exists a near infinite amount of knowledge there only a small fraction is allowed to any but the Jedi Council members. Let me educate you, the Sith Holocaust was an attempt by the Jedi to remove the Sith species from existence, because the Sith would not accept the jedi ways and were force sensitive. That was it, their crime was not accepting the Jedi as their lords and masters and for that millions had to die. That is the true Jedi way they do not teach you at the temple but force you to enact upon an unsuspecting galaxy.”

Holding up the blue crystal to look into it again he took a moment before speaking, “That is why I left. Sith may commit crimes but never on the scale the Jedi consider normal. The Jedi way is one of blind obedience in order to maintain the power of the Jedi council. That is their end goal, they are so settled and so stuck in their ways they cannot see past maintaining the status quo. That is why this war is fought and will be fought a thousand more times if required until the Jedi order is gone, either in form or in actuality. One way or another the galaxy will change whether if be from a new kind of Jedi finally being forced to take the place of the old hind-minded masters or because the Jedi are removed from power. The Sith embody what the Jedi espouse, freedom and truth. Through this whole exchange I have not uttered a single lie to I have spoken openly and wholly to you. Have you even heard of a Jedi master doing the same, going so long without tieing words in knots with claims of secret knowledge that must be found in some obscure way. A master who does not deny information with meaningless riddles. Have you ever known freedom to think as you want or are you given the lash for contemplating a life different than that which you are given? The Jedi have no freedom, everything is structured around them, they take children and give them lives they never ask for and never are given a chance to say no. Those that question the masters are said to be sent out on missions to the fringes of the galaxy, and yet the fringes of the galaxy know little of the Jedi. Tell me just how much you trust what you have been told by your masters?” He spoke with fiery passion that built as he went on. There was no need for him to reach into her mind now he used simple rhetoric now. The lies of the jedi worked against them now and it empowered him as he remembered his own time among the Jedi and used his natural oratory skills.

At first Kinsa had started to worry, had she opened some sort of box containing dark, corrupting thoughts? As he went on, though, she started to see the logic behind his words, and not much after, she was sold on his idea. But his small speech was nowhere near over, and with every word he spoke, Kinsa felt herself drawn to him. His words were true, and deep down, Kinsa knew it… But not all of what the Jedi did was bad. Because her childhood had been slavery, her destiny was to dance for someone, to be a symbol of status to some criminal here, or some slaver there. Her life would be nothing if the Jedi had never taken her from Ryloth… She’d just be one more dancer.

But she could understand how other children’s fates were different. Most came from homes and families different than the Twi’lek norm, where they had food each day and love to last a lifetime. How could the Jedi just… Drag them away?

With a sigh, Kinsa looked at Vole and tilted her head slightly. “My Master taught me a lot… I actually saved a few lives back on Coruscant. Not that it matters now.” She said at first, yet was reminded of it- The attack on Coruscant! How could she have forgotten that? The Sith, they- They had just killed millions, billions of people! Citizens, Jedi and Soldiers alike!

“It doesn’t matter, do you know why?” She asked, her glance growing more accusatory.

“Because the Sith attacked a world full of civilians, full of innocent people, and killed them!” She said, looking at him angrily, before huffing and shaking her head. ’Calm down, Kinsa…’ She thought to herself, taking in a deep breath.

“I had friends there…”

“And how many billions has the Jedi put down? The Sith came about because of the crimes of the Jedi. I came to the Sith because I could continue to be an executioner of the Jedi. I saw them kill children, children! Do you have any idea what it is like to see your master execute people because they refuse to use the force the way he does? Almost all the good things you think that you did were just lies for the Jedi council. My master was a council member, I sat with him as deals were brokered to fund the Republic war effort. I know the millions left to starve because the Jedi felt they deserved to send those resources other places,” Vole began channeling negative emotions into Kinsa now, anger, hatred, he would not let her calm herself now.

“There are no true good guys in this war because there are no good guys in war. You can only try to be the better one when the dust settles. That is what the Sith are, the Jedi control the senate and chancellor. The military is at their beck and call and that is why it is a war between the Jedi and Sith. The Jedi have perfected organized genocide on a galactic scale how else do you see so little opposition? I saw what happens you are part of the opposition, death, destruction, your fields burned, your children taken and indoctrinated to hate you if they are young enough or outright killed if not. What happened on Coruscant was terrible, millions died there but tell me do you understand how much worse the Jedi has done? I HELPED THEM!” He yelled at her now, seeming to lose his cool but instead tried to shock her as he began to more directly push negative emotions into her. Directionless anger, hatred at the horrors of war and life in general.

For a moment he seemed to realize what was happening and took a step back, speaking softly now he held up the blue crystal for her to look at, “This is my repentance, my service with the Sith. I cannot bring back the lives I took and so I always carry this with me. It is the focus crystal of my lightsaber when I was a Jedi. With this crystal I directly or indirectly helped in genocide and the deaths of thousands, maybe millions. Whatever you think the Sith have done the Jedi have done, far, far worse. The Sith are at least truthful about it, the Jedi hide their crimes and leave behind a trail of the suffering and the bodies of the dead. The Jedi are sick and perverse and because of them the Republic is a sham and dooming a galaxy to servitude to the Jedi Council. The Sith are liberators, we bring freedom and truth to this galaxy and I will fight for them until I die because only then can I be one with the force and hope I have done enough to help for those I killed for crimes they did not commit.”

Kinsa tried to remain calm as he spoke, but it was hard. He spoke with such intensity and hatred, that she couldn’t help but crack under the pressure and, with an exasperated groan, glare at him. Yet his yells came and she found herself standing up and balling her fists, on the verge of yelling back. How dare he yell to her? She couldn’t find rest, no matter who she spoke to, and she realized this. Vole might have been truthful in what he thought, but he had a certain way to mess with her emotions, and it annoyed her, it broke the hope she might have had just a while ago,

She couldn’t help but half-snarl at Vole, leaning her body towards him in an aggressive stance before breaking down and sobbing. She tried to stop herself, but it was impossible. Though she did manage to quiet herself down, a few tears escaped her eyes before she got things under relative control. She turned her back on Vole and crossed her arms.

“I don’t care about any of that! I don’t care about the Republic, I hate the Republic! I like the Jedi only because they saved me, yet they’ve always suppressed me. I don’t know who to trust, okay?! Stop pushing me around, I don’t like it…” She yelled at him, wiping her face again with the humid towel, which she had never dropped.

Seeing her weak like she was now he moved in and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close into a hug. Feeling into her mind now it was filled with turmoil, her training had never focused on mental aspects it seemed. “Shh, shh, it is okay. You can trust me. I am here to help you.” With that word again he pushed the idea further into her mind, help, he was here to help her. He let much of the turmoil remain but gave a simple concept for her to grasp onto. He was here to help her just as he had been saying all along.

Speaking softly and holding her firmly but calmly, “Jedi and Sith are just words, let your feelings flow for once now. You have pent them up for so long let yourself be free now. Ignore the Jedi, ignore the Sith. Just feel me here now. I will help you get over whatever you are dealing with now. I am here to help.”

Kinsa was lightly surprised when Vole wrapped his arms around her, but in the good way. While she still felt real bad, and was figuratively breaking on the inside, she found a little bit of comfort in being embraced like that. She placed a hand over her mouth as she attempted to quiet down her renewed sobbing, and dropped the towel she had been holding onto the bed, to be able to use her remaining hand to wipe her tears.

As soon as she could, she spoke through the tears and sobs, voice high pitched and quivering “Thank you…” She muttered, only finding herself to feel even worse.

He kissed her forehead in a tender, caring fashion and slowly moved her back to her bed, sitting her down. He went back and picked up the towel slowly dabbing at her tears, “Whatever you need, I am here to help.” He softly wiped away at her face cleaning the grime and the tears just the same.

“I will never hurt you, never betray you, I will always be here to help you. I only need you to let me help you.” He got the water and the other towel from the opening of the cell and brought it over to her, “I know you wished to get cleaned up. Let me help you.” He remained tender as he continued to wipe away at her face. With the force he maintained the idea in her head that he was to help her and tried to expand that idea to trust him.

Kinsa observed Vole, through her teary eyes she looked as he took care of her, wiping away her tears and a very small part of her worries. She listened to his soft words as he led her to sit on her bed, and slowly started to lean in towards him, forcing herself to hesitantly stop just a few inches short of his face.

“Okay.” She said quietly, sniffling as she lifted a leg onto the bed for added comfort, and rested her right hand on it, using her left to lightly caress the arm Vole was using to wipe away her tears.

As she caressed his arm Vole knelt down in front of her, placing his other hand over her left hand. He subtly began to draw from her thoughts. She thought of a former kiss, thinking to use that he took her hand off his arm and into his. With the towel be began to clean her arm and as he got up to her elbow kissed her hand gently allowing her to choose her next move now.

Feeling the soft kiss, Kinsa smiled, tilted her head slightly and blushed, her purple cheeks for a few moments turning a darker hue as she pulled her hand away from Vole and covered her arm with her robes. “I need to get clean now, Vole. Will you come back?” She asked, sitting on the edge of her bed, subtly motioning him to stand up.

Vole gave her a charming smile, “I will return as soon as I can.” he stood up as she indicated him to, “It may be some time as I said before but I will return when I can. When that happens hopefully we can talk for longer.” With that he strode out of the cell and as he left gave her a present, a sense of loneliness within her.