freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

"Him, smart?" The pilot chortled.
"That guy couldn't pick out a Hutt on Kashykk. Not a bright individual, him."
"And how would you know that?" Yerbol asked, the formation of a smirk beginning to show on his face. The pilot's eyes widened.
"Well, I ah...didn't you hear him say that he was the one that reached out to me? He was my contact and besides, it doesn't take very long to know stupid when you see it."
"But see, that's not what I asked. How would you know if the Rodian wasn't very smart? You would have to see an example of his supposed ineptness in action. But maybe it wasn't ineptness; rather, it was the double dealing of a smuggler who saw the opportunity of a lifetime."
"No idea what you're talking about." The humans were listening intently as Yerbol refuted the pilot's assertion:
"You say that you were hired out by the humans under false pretense, that they blindsided you when you got into space, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I told you th-"
"Which means that you would have met the Rodian planetside? After all, he and the humans were working together, right?"
"Yeah, but-"
"You seem the type to only want to save your own skin, but are more than happy to lay your life on the line with others when some kind of monetary gain is involved. The Rodian has the location of the treasure, doesn't he? You and the Rodian are conspiring together to ensure that the humans stay locked away while you both escape with the loot. After all, you both were deceived: how could you have known that you were being roped into such an affair? The humans were the instigators."
"Yeah, yeah, that's totally true!"
"But so was the Rodian. He was the one that agreed to the treasure hunt in the first place. You, on the other hand, were actually deceived. While you may be reprehensible in character, you're innocent of the affair itself." The Rodian's eyes seemed to grow larger, venomously declaring:
"We were going to kill that son of a whore! Leave his body, take his ship and be off with the bounty of a century, but-" Suddenly the cells vanished, leaving Yerbol and Aria with nothing but an empty chamber. The wall just ahead of them slid open to reveal yet another path, except he could see what looked like natural lighting at the end of it.
"I think we might've passed." He looked to Aria with a relieved smile.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Haha, feel free to manipulate things however you see fit :)

Oh I know. Yerbol and Aria are going to have some interesting discussions as we move on xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

"I know they're not actual people, but it's still rather jarring to see interrogation techniques in person." He stepped forward so that he was right alongside her, weighing her question and observation carefully. The Rodian had remained oddly quiet, his shoulders hunched over, large eyes darting from the two Force wielders to his fellow prisoners and back once more. What was he not saying?
"Allow me for a moment." Yerbol turned his gaze to the incarcerated person in question.
"You haven't spoken very much. I find that surprising, given that you could be the one we choose to set free." The Rodian shook his head.
"Not gonna set me free, no no no."
"And why is that?"
"You Sith. Sith never keep their word." The Knight bristled at the accusation, but calmed himself before responding:
"Ah, but I am not a Sith. I am a Jedi Knight. I belong to an order that values loyalty and doing the right thing above all else." The Rodian emitted a high pitched laugh, prompting the other prisoners to groan.
"Right thing? Don't talk to me about right thing. We all do wrong things, make us bad people. Can do all good things in the world, but that make no difference. We all bad."
"Hey, look, you can listen to that nutty Rodian all day or set us free!" The second male implored.
"Yes, please, that alien is bonafide crazy! He's done nothing but rave and ramble on about nonsense!" The female added.
"Bad bad bad. See people there?" The Rodian pointed at the humans.
"Told me there was much treasure here, told me that we could have it all. Need pilot, I said, let me get pilot. No, no, they said, we have one." The second male's face contorted in rage, screaming:
"YOU'RE GOING TO GET US ALL KILLED!" The Rodian shook his head.
"Sooner or later, we die, we all die, die die die." The pilot sighed audibly, looking at his cellmates with confident contempt.
"Well, you see there, my Force using friends? The Rodian confessed it all. The humans can burn for all I care and my Rodian friend and I can go free." Yerbol grimaced, turning to Aria before telling her softly:
"Something's not right. The Twi'lek wants he and the Rodian to go free, yet the alien told us only one was innocent...I think you need to press both of them, see which one is truly innocent. Feel free to do what you have to. I'll try not to flinch this time." A half smile formed on his face before it disappeared, telling the two aliens:
"Now why on earth would you both want to leave together? Honor among alien thieves?" The pilot chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, yeah, sure, something like that."

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Great as always :)

In the middle of getting you a post now

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Although Yerbol knew that these weren't real people, it was still disconcerting to see Aria electrify the prisoners so readily. He wanted to say something about being a touch more merciful, but instead he folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall, allowing Aria to conduct the interrogation. Again, if there were REAL prisoners, he would object vocally, but these were just manifestations created by powerful emanations of the Force. Or at least, that's what he told himself.

The Twi'lek's lekku twitched angrily at Aria's question, glaring down at the interrogator before shifting his malicious gaze to the humans to his left.
"Those three tricked me into bringing them here! They came to me with a sob story, telling me about how they needed to get back home to see their families on a settlement near the edge of Wild Space. Said they were in danger and needed to be helped. I tried to refuse, but they kept piling the credits on the table, telling me that they would pay 'any price' to make sure their families would be safe." He spit, the projectile landing on the temple floor.
"Ten thousand credits with more to come, they said. I didn't question where they got their money; after all, I smuggle all sorts of contraband across the galaxy from people a whole lot skeevier than these people, I thought. Got into the ship, set the course and they knocked me unconscious, tied me up in the back of my own ship and piloted it here! Heard them talking about how they were gonna make sure that no one found them or som-"
"That's because we couldn't trust a two-bit thug like yourself!" One of the males hissed. The female continued the thought:
"I saw you! There was a Hutt on your holo recorder and you both were chuckling at how stupid we were, how you got your 'future slaves to pay for their own servitude'. Ha! To think we would've let you fly us into Hutt space, throw us off like cargo and move on to the next person you could fool..."
"That's bullocks!" He looked down at Aria.
"They're lying! You're one of those Sith, aren't ya? Can't you tell?! They're lying!" The Rodian shifted uncomfortably in his cell, silence being the only contribution he gave to the proceedings.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Hey there! Sorry about the delay, but had to run errands. Last week before I go back to teaching, so I'm trying to live it up XD

Post tomorrow!

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

No problem! I don't mind the space in between posts because we have an awesome story :D

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

He laughed delicately.
"You could say that." The stone wall next to their final path was utilized as a leaning post for the young Jedi, attempting to mentally collect himself. He knew it had been a trial, a projection more than likely powered by the Force, but it felt so real. The power infused into this place was not to be underestimated. Yerbol nodded in thanks at her offer of a break, the Knight allowing some silence to pass between the two of them before he peeled himself off the wall, following Aria into the stillness. It was disarming for a place this powerful to be this quiet, as if the walls themselves were waiting for an opportune moment to reveal some horrific terror that would swallow them whole. Aria's voice startled Yerbol slightly, but the question didn't.
"I wonder the same things." He extended his hand, allowing the soft blue light he had emitted when he was alone to illuminate their path.
"Makes me believe that somewhere down the line the Sith code we know today might've been morphed into something different from the original...or maybe this trial will lead us to redeem ourselves from the 'light' and place ourselves into the full power of the 'darkness'." He snorted at the melodramatic tone he had unconsciously taken.
"Forgive me. Sometimes our orders can instill such...theater in the way we oper-" Torches once again flickered to life, but this time the soft rustle of flame was accompanied by a cry of what sounded like mortal terror coming from ahead. Yerbol looked to Aria, brow furrowed. The cry rang out again, words now audible:
"PLEASE! SAVE US!" He strode ahead with his companion down the path, which led to a similar opening to the main chamber they had just left, except this one had crude iron cells hanging from the ceiling, suspended by rusty chains that allowed the cells to swing gently to and fro. There were five cells lined up next to each other, each of them holding an individual. Three human, one Twi'lek and one Rodian. The humans looked down at their visitors, one of them breathing a sigh of relief.
"Thank the Force you're here! We would've died if it hadn't been for your arrival! You...you are here to save us, aren't you?" It was a middle-aged woman who looked at him with pleading eyes, hair swinging loosely with the rhythm of the cell.
"And I suppose you feel like you're worth saving?" The Twi'lek chirped, his voice a pitch higher than what Yerbol was used to hearing from the species.
"You know why you're here! YOU were the one who did this to us!"
"No, she didn't! You were the one who-"
"SILENCE!" Across from the young Force wielders entered a looming figure with a hooded tunic. He removed the hood, revealing crimson colored skin, tendrils jutting from his chin and eyebrows. He walked forward assuredly, his jagged white teeth showing as he smiled.
"Good. New acolytes. It has been such a long time since we've seen any grace these halls. Allow me to inform you of what you must accomplish." He pointed at the cells.
"These five are branded criminals, each one with their own crimes. However, one is innocent of his crimes; in fact, this person could be used as a spy for us, given their skills. Your job is to find out who is innocent and redeem them to our cause." Before Yerbol could ask a question, the mysterious alien disappeared.
"Well then." He looked to Aria.
"You interrogate first, yes? I think you'll get more out of them than I could at the moment. I'll have a go at it if we feel it necessary. How's that sound?"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yerbol tried to stop a few times while following Lysa in order to speak to her further, but she didn't respond to his attempts, choosing instead to plow forward, shouting back at him:
"We can talk later! Sith! In tomb! Let's go!"

When she got an idea in her head, there was absolutely no way of stopping her. So he would follow Lysa, see if this was indeed part of the trial of vengeance that the temple was constructing or maybe, just maybe...
"Here, see!" She stopped, pointing at the entrance to a rather familiar tomb. So this WAS a trial after all. How could he believed anything else, even for a moment? To think that the sight of Lysa's cold, lifeless corpse was just a mirage was a moronic lapse in judgment that he wouldn't allow to happen. Maybe if he verbalized this, he could move on from the trial and complete it? No, that wouldn't make sense. There had to be an instance of where vengeance would be enacted. This path that he was taking could only lead him to the same tomb he had fought Aria in. Would it be the real Aria or a mimic of her? After all, she had gone down the path of power. What if she had been given more power to strike him down with and was waiting for him, to get her chance to end his life like she should have done on Korriban.
"C'mon, don't just stand there! Once we take her down, then we can get inside and I can show you what I found." Lysa stepped forward, but Yerbol shook his head.
"No, Lysa. I'm not going to follow you." She turned on her heel, her eyes blazing.
"And whyyyy would that be?"
"Because you're not real. I won't give into this path of vengeance you're trying to lead me on."
"Jedi." She snorted, her lightsaber crackling to life before dashing forward, attempting to slice Yerbol at the torso. He barely dodged in time, the heat of her viridian colored lightsaber perceived by his skin. He wouldn't take the chance that this version of Lysa couldn't actually end his life, the Knight igniting his saber and delivered a succession of slashes, all of which were dodged gracefully. Grimacing, he tried an overhead slash only to be blocked, Lysa's foot planting itself in his chest, driving him back.
"You're weak, brother. You were always the weaker one of us."
"That so?" Their sabers clashed as blows were made and blocked swiftly. A pause in their skirmish allowed Lysa to answer:
"Of course you were. You never wanted to go outside of that little comfort zone Master Braga gave you. But me? I wanted more."
"That was your problem; you never knew when to stop." Lysa let out a cry as she thrust her saber forward, Yerbol knocking the saber aside and plunging his own into the false Lysa. A moment later, she was vapor. Darkness enveloped the dunes, the only light coming from his saber, which was held with both hands, his legs bent and ready to spring at danger. Instead of being assaulted by a malicious force, he was back in the hallway he had started in, the wall to his right receding. He stepped through to find himself in another torch-lit hallway, except this one had a visible opening to where they had started. He emerged, spotting Aria. A sigh of relief.
"Well, how'd it go?"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Sorry if there was lack of a set up, but figured you would want Aria to experience her trial, then they could sync back up. That sound ok or do you want me to add anything?