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Author Topic: Interludes  (Read 144813 times)
Lord_S_Gray
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« Reply #135 on: January 09, 2018, 03:06:39 AM »

Really good Dutchman, loved the 'Tenebris Pugione" name!  just genius, and the back story...makes you wonder where those Night Sister got it from originally though....And the training session was good too, Zearic is improving a lot it seems with his water forms, still a bit to learn though.

The Jorya Chillum section was excellant, one of the best bits you've written in my opinion, took two usually unrelated characters together in a way that really emphasized both their key traits, Jorya determined but still young and unsure (not unlike another character floating around 600 years earlier) and Chillum providing the guiding hand she needs but keeping it about her learning about herself not just a rote lesson. 

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Lord_S_Gray

Surik: "Kreia, what are you—are you a Jedi, a Sith?"
Kreia: "Does it matter? Of course it does, such titles allow you to break the galaxy into light and dark, categorize it. Perhaps I am neither, and I hold both as what they are, pieces of a whole."

Karmack
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Light side points please.


« Reply #136 on: January 09, 2018, 07:59:05 PM »

*** Dawn of a Knight ***

The Mak'Tor Shrine literally glistened for the assembly.  Volunteers and attendants had scrubbed the native stone, imparting a shine to the polished granite that highlighted the sparkle of the embedded crystals.  I felt a small thrill run through me at the sight.  It brought back memories.  Good memories.

But tonight wasn't about me at all.  It was about the young man standing next to me.  "Relax, Ken.  Breathe."

Ken chuckled.  "Yeah, easy for you to say."  He dipped his head toward the gathered Knights.  "You know most of these people.  You're one of them, even out-rank most of them.  Who am I?"

I turned and faced him, grasping his shoulders and turning him to face me.  "You, young man, are a strong and talented young Teidowan who has done remarkable things.  You've passed the Trials and stood in the face of evil.  You've sacrificed your very life to protect and defend the innocent and those you care for.  We..." I tossed my head to make sure he understood I was including the entire assembly in my comment, not just his mother and I "...are all proud of you and honored to accept you not as a student, but as a peer."  I met his eyes, making sure he was listening.  "Are you ready?  Do you accept this honor?"

I watched as hesitation and doubt flickered briefly in his eyes, but then those emotions were banished as he made his decision.  Resolve settled and all fear and doubt disappeared.  "Yes.  I am ready, Father."

I smiled.  "Excellent.  Then lets get this show on the road, eh?"

He nodded, grinning now.  I turned and nodded to Arnor, who stood next to the Kage at the dias.  She nodded back, also smiling, and leaned over to whisper into the Kage's ear.  Kage Lo's eyes rose to the foyer where we waited, composed now, and a ghost of a grin played on his face briefly as well.  He waited a few seconds for Arnor to discretely step back and join the ranks of the Silver Koawan.  Then he stepped up to the front of the dias and made a small motion with his hands, bringing the assembly to order.  The quiet, discrete conversations that had been going on among the assembled Masters and Koawans faded and the room stilled.

"Show time..." I heard Ken mutter under his breath.  He beat me to the punch by less than a second.  I smiled slightly.

"Let the Candidate come forth!" Silman Lo's deep voice boomed across the hall.  Ken immediately stepped forward, moving at a dignified pace down the main aisle of the Sanctuary.  I fell into pace with him, a half-step behind and to the right of my son.

As we approached I noticed a few unexpected faces in the crowd.  D'Aylanna and Zearic Vihn'Tor were still on-planet and in attendance, the large man decked in his formal Water Warrior robes and rank but still totally overshadowed by the resplendent presence of his Hapan wife.  Jorya was not present: the Knighting was only open to those who had attained the rank of Koawan Gray.  I also spotted both Er'Lav Racc and L'Gan Zane.   Zane surprised me simply because she had been down with a virus and had not been sure she would be able to attend.  Racc was unexpected, however.  The Sentinel had been on a long-term cover assignment.  No one but the Kage and Telow'na Jackson knew the particulars but I was momentarily shocked by the haggered look she had.  I need to catch up with her.  Something is going on...

I filed the thought and brought my attention back to the present.  Everyone was in "dress" uniform - black pants, boots and shirts with dark gray under-robe and lighter gray over-robes.  Our rank symbols were affixed to the left breast, opposite the Mak'Tor symbol on the right.  The badges were platinum inlaid with a song-steel alloy that was a mid-night blue color.  The rank symbols were simple devices with a small crystal embedded in the center.  Guardian Knights wore sapphire blue, Healers ruby red, Counselors emerald green, and Sentinels citrine yellow.  Master Singers bore an additional carved ring of Onyx around the gem, highlighting the bright stone with a black ring, a tradition dating back to the Masters of Song mourning the loss of Kage Odjina centuries earlier.  The sight was inspiring, with over fourty of our Knights able to assemble tonight for this ceremony.

Ken made it to the dias and stopped, facing Kage Lo.  The Kage looked down at him and his face was all business, though his eyes shone.  "Teidowan Ken'a'Nia Mack, you have been tested and found worthy to join the ranks of the Knights of the Mak'Tor.  With the confirmation of the Master's College I now offer to you the rank of Koawan of the Gray.  Do you come to accept this commission?"

Ken spoke, his voice calm and clear.  "I do, Kage."

Silman allowed a slight smile to play on his face.  "Very good."  His gaze shifted to me.  "Knight Ka'A'Mack, Meanowan Master Sentinel and Master of Song, you are the Teidowan's Mentor as well as his Father.  Do you, without reservation, endorse his elevation to the rank of Koawan of the Gray?"

I stepped forward, schooling my own face into impassivity and kept my own voice steady as I answered.  "Kage, I do."

Silman nodded to me and I stepped back.  His eyes now turned to Master J'Nor Kroven, Master of Balance.  J'Nor had been in charge of Ken's passage through the Trials.  "Master Kroven, do you confirm before your peers that Teidowan Ken'A'Nia has successfully completed the Trails?"

J'Nor looked grave as she stepped forward.  "My Kage, I so confirm."

Kage Silman nodded again and turned his attention back to Ken.  "Teidowan, you have been endorsed by your Mentor and the curator of your Trials.  Present your lightsaber for inspection."

Ken reached under his outer robe to his belt and withdrew his saber hilt, handing it up to the Kage.  Silman made a show of inspecting the hilt, checking the power tell-tales and visible construction before igniting the blade.  Ken's saber came to life with the familiar snap-hiss of it's kind and settled into a steady, throaty hum in the Kage's hands.  Kage Lo gave the saber a couple of test swings, finishing with a complicated fourish before deactivating the saber.  He set the weapon on a small side table next to him and faced Ken again.  "Ken'A'Nia Mack, please kneel."

Ken swallowed and sank to his knees on the small cushion provided for him.  Kage Lo descended the dias to stand directly in front of Ken and opened his own outer robe to reveal the hilt of an anachronism: the hilt of a genuine sword riding a scabbard on his own left hip.  With a singing hiss he drew it, the Songsteel blade bright and shining in the light of the Shrine as he extended it in front of himself, the blade hovering naked several inches above Ken's head.  "Teidowan Ken'A'Nia, you are found fit to accept the title of Knight of the Mak'Tor with the rank of Koawan of the Gray by your Mentors and Peers.  Further, you have indicated your willingness to accept the honor and responsibility of this rank.  Do you, Ken'A'Nia Mack, swear by the Holy Maker that you will honor and defend the Mak'Tor, living by its principle adn following the Code of the Mak'Tor Order?"

Ken, looking straight forward, answered clearly.  "I will."

Kage Silman continued.  "That you will strive always to maintain a personal devotion and relationship with the Maker to facilitate doing Right as the Maker revealed to us in his Way?"

"I will."

"That you will protect the innocent and defend the weak from those who would oppress them or unjustly use them?"

"I will."

"That you will conduct yourself in all matters as befits a Knight of the Mak'Tor, drawing your sword only for just cause?"

"I will."

Kage Lo nodded one last time.  "Then having sworn these solemn oaths, I Kage Silman Lo, by right of law and in the name of the Knights of the Mak'Tor, dub you Knight..." the blade dipped, tapping Ken's right shoulder, "...Koawan of the Gray..." the blade rose and dipped again, tapping Ken's left shoulder, "...Knight of the Mak'Tor."  The blade dipped one last time, again tapping Ken's right shoulder, then hovered briefly over his head again before the Kage sheathed it with a flourish.  The Kage then reached back and called Ken's saber to his hand.  "Rise, Koawan Ken'A'Nia Mack and accept this saber.  It is your badge of rank - and your honor.  Bear it with dignity and use it with skill to defend the Order, the Innocent and the Weak."

Ken met the Kage's eyes and took his saber from the Kage's outstreched hand.  He stepped back and ignited the blade, flourishing it and raising it in salute.

As one I and the rest of the assembled Knights drew our sabers.  Silman Lo again drew the sword, rather than his own lightsaber.  In unison, we ignited our blades and returned Ken's salute.  And again, as one, we finished the flourishing salute and deactivated our blades.  Ken held his salute until the Kage finished his own flourish and sheathing motion, then completed his own.

The Kage stepped forward again, smiling now.  He took Ken by the shoulders and turned him to face the gathered Knights.  "Knights of the Mak'Tor!  I present to you Ken'A'Nia Mack, Koawan of the Gray!  Koawan, go forward and meet your peers!"

I looked over at Arnor as the room erupted in cheers for the new Knight.  Ken, grinning sheepishly now, stepped forward to begin the long task of introducing himself to each Knight in the room.  I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw tears in my wife's eyes.  But it was hard to tell: I couldn't see clearly due to the water in my own eyes.

Three cheers for Koawan Ken!

Hip Hip ... Hooray!

Hip Hip ... Hooray!

Hip Hip ... Hooray!
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

TheDutchman
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« Reply #137 on: January 09, 2018, 11:12:56 PM »

Alright Ken!  Three cheers for the new koawan!

This Interlude would be awesome just for the good vibes alone BUT I love the new view into Mak'Tor ceremony!  And the Song-steel sword was a wonderful detail!

BTW, LOVE (and honored) to see D'Aylanna and Zearic included  Grin

I can't wait to read more Karm!
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My sabers:Zearic's Aldrnari, Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, AS; Zearic's shoto, Apprentice v4 w/Obsidian, AS; Graflex SE w/Obsidian, GB; Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, CG; Dark Sentinel v4 w/Obsidian, BR; Sentinel LE v4 w/Obsidian, GB; Initiate v5 w/Obsidian, AS; Sentinel LE v4 stunt, EG; Aeon LE v4 stunt, FO; Dominix v4 stunt, BR; Aeon v3 stunt, SY

Lord_S_Gray
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« Reply #138 on: January 10, 2018, 02:53:10 AM »

Congrats Ken...
Taken your first steps into a larger world...a world that will feature something to do with  Er'Lav Racc 's operations no doubt.
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Lord_S_Gray

Surik: "Kreia, what are you—are you a Jedi, a Sith?"
Kreia: "Does it matter? Of course it does, such titles allow you to break the galaxy into light and dark, categorize it. Perhaps I am neither, and I hold both as what they are, pieces of a whole."

Karmack
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Light side points please.


« Reply #139 on: January 10, 2018, 03:34:16 PM »

LOL  Nice catch LSG!  Next interlude will illuminate that...
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
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Light side points please.


« Reply #140 on: January 10, 2018, 09:15:34 PM »

*** Destruction of a Knight ***

I watched as Ken mingled with his new Peers, alternately laughing and looking shy as people he still saw as teachers and legends now addressed him as a peer.  I turned and hid my own smile, fueled by my own memories of being knighted. 

"He'll get used to it.  We did." Arnor said softly in my ear, slipping her arm into the crook of my elbow.

"That we did." I replied.  Arnor stood straight and strong, her body healed though there was still a shadow in her eyes at time.  But the old sparkle had returned as well, and I was glad to see it.  Still, a stir of guilt twisted through my guts when I saw her start at a sharp noise.  She laughed it off - we both did - but deep down I still felt a bone-deep blood guilt for what had happened to my wife.

Arnor's eyes turned sad and she reached up and cupped my cheek.  "Karm ... don't.  I knew what could happen.  It was not your fault.  Besides, you saved me.  And Ken.  Arguably you saved us all, and nearly died yourself doing it.  So let it go!"  The last was delivered in a stern voice, her eyes hardening, no longer joking.

I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it, doing the only thing I could.  "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled, accepting the kiss, then her eyes darkened again as they caught sight of someone behind me.  "Er'Lav..."

I turned and again caught site of the petite knight, and again the haggard look struck me.  So did her position - alone, near the refreshments, holding a drink in her hand.  When did Er'Lav start drinking?  The last time I'd seen her she had been recruiting for the Maker's Temple, looking for help with their children's programs and musical programs.  Singing was held in high regard in worship of the Maker, not surprising among a people defined by something described in musical terms, and helping people learn about aural music was considered a high calling and talent was greatly prized.  Er'Lav was a talented singer in all regards and loved to teach the children's choirs in her local congregation.  She was known among the Knights as fun-loving but strict in areas of personal morality, and was known as one who simply refused to touch anything alcoholic or even caffeinated.  But now...

"C'mon, we need to talk to her..." Arnor was already moving toward her.  I remembered that Er'Lav Racc had been Arnor Chillum's good friend in the Academy, and they had only separated when they each became Teidowans.  I followed my wife over to Er'Lav, who greeted her old friend amicably enough.  The hug that followed, however, became a clinging affair and I felt Arnor's emotions spike as her old friend clung to her like a lost puppy. 

"Let's sit down..." I suggested, steering the women toward the door and out into the garden, where there were many quiet alcoves supplied with benches - and privacy.  The flinch at the touch of my hand on her shoulder confirmed my fear - something very bad had happened.

By the time we reached a quiet corner Er'Lav's head was resting wearily on my wife's strong shoulder.  Her startling blue eyes were red with tears as she recounted four years of building horror, cut short by an unexpected brush with death.  "And...then they pushed them out the airlock.  No appeal, no trial, no discussion.  Just a blaster bolt to the guts and into space to die in vacuum.  I'm only here because they decided that since I was a slave and obviously not there of my own volition..." she looked away, shame overcoming her for a moment, before continuing "...that I was not a collaborator.  The wives, though...."  The tears started again.  "The girls who were there by choice, paid or married to the men, were stripped and herded into the air lock.  They let them scream and beg, and then left them there, waiting to die..." Er'Lav shuddered.  "They landed us in Mos Eisley, handed each of us enough money for some decent clothing and passage on a tramp freighter to about anywhere we wanted to go.  The women in the airlock were ... sold with the ship to pay for it." 

Arnor pulled her close, whispered something into her ear, then turned to me.  "Shoo, Karm.  We ... need to talk."

I nodded, silent, and walked back toward the happy sounds of the reception.  Maenowan Er'Lav Racc was a broken woman, her will destroyed by whatever she'd lived through.  I had no knowledge of what she'd been sent to do originally, but her mission had gone horribly wrong.  No doubt Telow'Na had been going crazy trying to locate her lost agent, but had been unable to do so until Er'Lav had shown up unannounced at the Mak'Tor medical mission on Ryloth a month ago.  And the people who had rescued her...

I shook my head, looking back at my wife.  Whatever had happened, her 'rescue' had been the finishing stroke.  No doubt Arnor and the Healers would be able to help Er'Lav recover, but for now she was a broken person.  Deep down inside I wanted to find out more about who had done that breakage - and whether or not they needed to be dealt with.

I walked back into the reception, my face showing a smile while my eyes searched.  After a moment I found my target and moved circumspectly to intercept him.  Meanowan Zearic was circulating through the room, smiling, engaging in small talk, and generally feeling miserable.  I saw his eyes light up as I approached, a face he knew in the sea of strangers.  "Karmack!  Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Zearic." I replied, smiling as we clasped hands with the characteristic metallic clash of our prosthetic hands.  I let my face go serious and show some of my concern as I gestured toward the edge of the room.  "Zearic, could I ask you a question?"

"Of course." The larger man replied, moving with me to a window overlooking the mountains.  We stood for a moment, taking in the view, before I turned and asked my question.

"Zearic, what do you know about ... the Son's of Kessel?" 
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Taegin Roan
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« Reply #141 on: January 10, 2018, 09:28:50 PM »

I am starting to see a reoccuring thread with these Sons of Kessel. I am beginning to wonder if they are more than just some organization that is freeing slaves in the Outer Rim and Hutt Space. But we will see as we continue on.

And then this:

"I walked back into the reception, my face showing a smile while my eyes searched.  After a moment I found my target and moved circumspectly to intercept him.  Meanowan Zearic was circulating through the room, smiling, engaging in small talk, and generally feeling miserable."

I understand this so well. That feeling when you go to a party or meeting with only one person that you know, and the rest a bunch of strangers, but you have to be friendly (which I don't do great. I generally don't even talk to people if I can avoid it). So relatable.
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"I am the Outcast's Shadow" - Taegin Roan
"Confronting fear is the Destiny of a Jedi" - Luke Skywalker
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala

TheDutchman
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« Reply #142 on: January 10, 2018, 09:49:01 PM »

LOL This was AWESOME Karm!

I am LOVING these collaborations!  Perfect characterizations my friend  Smiley

On a more serious note, poor Er'Lav.  Her treatment at the hands of the Sons of Kessel... Brutal, just horrible.  Details like that... Hmm.

And it's always a pleasure to see Arnor (and her rapport with Karm), especially after the ordeals that she'd endured...
You know, I noticed that Karm and I really, really like to beat the hell out of our characters  Wink

I can't WAIT to see where this leads!  Great job Karm  Cheesy
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Sig courtesy of DarthScrub

Cataphract Triarch of the Vhal'Dan

My sabers:Zearic's Aldrnari, Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, AS; Zearic's shoto, Apprentice v4 w/Obsidian, AS; Graflex SE w/Obsidian, GB; Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, CG; Dark Sentinel v4 w/Obsidian, BR; Sentinel LE v4 w/Obsidian, GB; Initiate v5 w/Obsidian, AS; Sentinel LE v4 stunt, EG; Aeon LE v4 stunt, FO; Dominix v4 stunt, BR; Aeon v3 stunt, SY

Karmack
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Light side points please.


« Reply #143 on: January 10, 2018, 10:27:10 PM »

Thanks.  :-)

I do want to note: Most of the abuse came BEFORE she ran into the SoK.  The ... casual disregard for possible innocence, shall we say, was just the straw that broke the camel's back. 
At least, that's what the therapist's report says...  ;-)
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Lord_S_Gray
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« Reply #144 on: January 11, 2018, 02:00:29 AM »

Brutal and troubling...every organization had its bad apples...but there is a hideous irony in freeing slave but then selling the former masters...No doubt the SoK leadership would be very unimpressed to hear that was happening...but how do you control people who have been brutalized once you liberate them?   

Taken together with the Dawn of the Knight it is an interesting mirror, the heights of celebration of a new knight to the realities of what a life of a knight can involve and the price of that.  No doubt for all their pride in Ken that is a timely reminder of what can happen to him.

Well Done Karm!   
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Lord_S_Gray

Surik: "Kreia, what are you—are you a Jedi, a Sith?"
Kreia: "Does it matter? Of course it does, such titles allow you to break the galaxy into light and dark, categorize it. Perhaps I am neither, and I hold both as what they are, pieces of a whole."

Karmack
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Master of Ceremonies
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Knight Commander
************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #145 on: January 11, 2018, 06:42:41 PM »

*** Tears of the Singer ***

I spun though the forms, always moving, shifting...  Targets floated around me, a dozen blaster-balls firing random shots as they whizzed around the periphery and several target drones moving in and out, some firing as well, others wielding practice blades.  My own staff was also one of the practice weapons, but I'd made some small modifications to the hilt so that it perfectly mimicked my new weapon in both weight and balance.  Only the pale blue of the low-power blades set it apart, and after days of hours-long workouts it was finally becoming the natural extension of my body and thoughts that I needed it to be.

Sweat flew from me and fatigue was creeping up.  I intensified my battle-song and added a small counter-melody that fed new energy into lungs and limbs.  My body responded nicely, the fatigue poisons leached away and renewed energy and vigor flowing into arms and legs.  But on the edge of perception I could feel the burning beginning again...  You need to back off.  Rest.  Recover...

"No!" I said, not realizing I had spoken out loud.  I threw myself into the form, flowing from point to point, increasing speed.  The blue blades disappeared into a whirl as they spun through strikes and orbits, moving in arcs and combinations that no one had taught in the classroom.  This was pure improvisation: the balance of form and function on the knife-edge of creativity.  Moving like a shade I slid through the salle eliminating targets, deflecting blaster bolts away from myself and into other drones...  I suddenly stopped in an extended stance, the blades still as the last target drone fell, the last blaster ball dropping from the air, deactivated by a deflected shot.  There was calm and stillness broken only by the ragged sound of my breathing and the hammering of my heart in my ears...

Slow clapping erupted from the doorway.  "Well done, Master Karmack!  Arnor told me you'd decided to brush up on your staff techniques, but I had no idea you were working on Juyo."

I turned and bowed to the dark figure in the doorway.  "Thank you, Master Zane.  I ... would appreciate any feedback you may have."

L'Gan Zane, Master of Blades, stepped into the room.  She was small, three centimeters shorter than Arnor, and lithe in form and movement.  Her black hair was cut in a short style that was both feminine and practical, and her hazel eyes practically glowed with challenge.  I had not sparred her in years, but had watched her best Kage Lo several days earlier staff to staff while barely breaking a sweat.  She moved like lightning and with the utter smoothness of quicksilver.  She was an expert in all seven of the recognized Jedi forms of saber combat, and preferred Juyo.

It was the ferocity form, and she was ferocious...

Zane picked up one of the fallen remotes and examined it.  "Twelve remotes and eight target drones, all set for maximum AI and interlinked.  One might think you were preparing for an army, Master Karmack."

I bowed again.  "I am, Master Zane."

She nodded, her bright eyes probing me.  "Well then.  Your form looks impeccible.  But as they say, good against remotes is one thing.  Good against flesh-and-blood..." 

I felt the attack coming and blocked it, the force energy of her thrust diverting around me.  Behind it a mind probe - trying to gather my intentions and cloud my actions - while simultaneously calling her own customized practice hilt to her hand and sending every single piece of loose equipment, targets, drones, even several extra practice saber hilts, flying at me.

I blocked the probe and rode it back into her own mind, going for her center of balance and looking for her intent as well...  She slammed the door on me, but it put her on the defensive in the mind war.  Simultaneously I caught the flying debris and channeled it all into a stream spinning around me, then sent that stream rifling back at Zane like a stream of machine-gun bullets.  Her force block scattered the pieces all over the room, but using it left her open...

I trailed the last target drone with a massive push of my own, catching her by surprise.  The push hit - hard - and sent her flying backwards.  She caught herself  and turned it into a somersault, landing gracefully across the room from me.  "Well done!  Now, the fun begins..."  She smiled, and I suddenly felt the floor beneath me shift as the section I was standing on suddenly shifted and flew away, throwing me awkwardly onto my back.  My own trick!  She used my own trick on me....

The thought barely formed before she was upon me, blades ignited.  I blocked her initial attack and tried another force push, but her defenses were up fully now.   

As were mine.  Our battle songs were in full voice, the tambre in the force making it clear that we were just sparring but it was as close to an all-out death-match as anyone ever came.  Zane was serious when she sparred.  She hadn't lost a match in years.  And I...

I will NOT lose.  Never again...

I felt something harden within me...  A resolve I hadn't known was there.  A shell around something else...   I shook it off.  Not now!

Battle-light was in Zanes eyes, but there was something else there, too...  "Let it go, Karm.  Whatever you're holding onto, let it go."

"What?"  I drew up a touch.  "What are you...."

She struck, blades flashing.  I barely managed to make the block, and the force of her attack threw me backwards.  I rolled, came upright and rebounded, using a force-augmented push to throw myself up and over her as she slashed through the place I should have been had I recovered normally.  I landed and spun, launching and attack of my own but she wasn't there....

Agony ripped through me as her blade hammered into my side.  I collapsed forward, the searing pain coursing through my torso, and then in a fashion Zane was famous for she finished the lesson with the follow-on shot to the head.  Fresh agony ripped through my skull, and my vision blanked for a moment...

That should have ended the fight.  I could feel the fatigue now in my body and joints.  I was exhausted.  When I tried to augment with the force, the fiery pain that burned in my nerves was more than just a nuisance.  It was a warning: stop now.

No....

I shook my head, raw fury and anger welling up.  Irrational anger....  Boy, what are you doing?Huh I asked myself in the voice that sounded so much like Du'an Chillum...

The voice that replied was raw with fury.  Shut up...  I will NOT be defeated!

I threw myself into a forward roll and rose into a combat stance.  "Point."

Zane's face now looked very serious.  "Karm, stop this now.  What are you trying to prove?"

"I..."  For a moment confusion reigned.  Then icy rage and resolve.  "No.  Not again.  Fight!"

I didn't wait.  I launched my attack, physically and with the force.  I intensified my song, reaching out, focusing it...

No...  I can't do that...  The crystal isn't here...   The crystals in the practice sabers were neither the Ancient One or the Adegan crystals of my new staff.  They were simple Ilum crystal, and had no force connection.  The augmented song I tried to launch through the crystal reverberated ... and fed back through me.

It was to much.  I felt my body fail, muscles cramping.  Fire coursed through my body, my mind.  The battle song died, and I felt a veil drop over the song and the force as my connection to both failed.  I collapsed, writhing in pain, and for a time all I knew as burning agony.

No...   Not again....

Again, I had gone to far.  Again, I had lost connection. 

Again I had failed...

I came back to myself to feel strong hands working the worst of the knots out of my back.  The pain was immense, my arms and torso still cramped.   I could barely breathe.  Gingerly I lifted the veil, reaching for the song, the force.... 

It was like dipping burned skin into hot water.  The connection ... burned.  But it was still there.  Still working.  I gritted my teeth and initiated a mild healing song.  Slowly the soothing energy flowed into my limbs, relaxing muscles and clearing the fatigue poisons, but I couldn't keep singing long enough to clear everything.  I drew a full breath and rolled over on my back, pulling the claws of my hands back out, stretching the muscles of my fore-arms as Zane used the opportunity to carefully stretch my hamstrings.

Finally I was loosened enough to sit up and move again.  "Thank you, L'Gan."

Master Zane sat next to me.  "Karm, what is going on?  What are you trying to prove?  Arnor told me you've been in here every day for hours.  Are you trying to kill yourself?"

I met her eyes.  She was genuinely worried.  And if Arnor had sent her here to intervene, then my wife was far more concerned than I had convinced myself she was.  "No.  I just..."

I stopped.  What?  C'mon Karm.  What is it?  You know.  Say it.

I looked down at my hands, then back up at my peer.  "I lost the Ancient One and couldn't help Arnor because I ... went to far.  I wasn't strong enough."

Zane's eyes widened slightly, then hardened.  "Hogwash."

Anger - fury - welled up again in my chest.  "What do you know about it?" I snapped back.

The room echoed with the sound of Zane's slap across my face.  "You know perfectly well what I know about it!  How dare you..."

I felt the burn on my cheek from her hand.  I saw the tears in her eyes, shining.  Remembered her husband and son, dying together while she lay nearby, wounded and unable to help them...

...not strong enough...

I saw the pain in her face and realized I had caused it.  Caused it on purpose.  "L'Gan, I am so sorry!  Forgive me..."

Zane leaned in, nearly nose-to-nose with me.  "I will, Karm ... if you will forgive yourself."

"But..."  I slumped back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.  "But what I did..."  My voice was a whisper.  "I ... hurt her ... so bad ... so bad ..."

Zane grabbed my hand.  "You saved her, Karm.  You saved Ken.  You saved that other Gray, Zearic, and created the opening that let his wife finish the mission.  Do you really think Arnor, Jorya, or Ken would be better off if you hadn't done what you did?"

I looked at her.  "No..."

Zane stood up.  "Then let it go, Master Karmack.  Or it will eat you alive."

Zane sent her practice staff back to its place in the salle armory rack and walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Learn from failure, Karmack.  Du'an always told you that.  Learn.  And forgive.  You forgive others.  Forgive yourself!

Arnor's broken form flashed in my memory.  Her form, broken, naked, bloody... And surrounded by dead enemies.  Covered by my own cloak.  Rescued...

You saved her...

Ken's face, bloody and shocked, his right arm gone at the shoulder, his heart and lungs immolated by the Zabrak's saber.  That same face, slack now, as the healing song poured through me, through the Ruh Crystal, and the force energy reformed that shattered body...   Ken's face, alight with hope and joy as he received his knighthood.

You saved him...

"Maker, forgive me!"  I felt the tears begin as I released my selfish pride.  "Maker...  I am yours.  Forgive me my foolish pride..."

Slowly the knot in my chest, a knot I had barely acknowledged was even there, unwound its death-grip on my heart.  The anger and rage I had been directing outward dissipated as I released the fear and self-loathing that had fueled them.

I could not forgive myself.  But the Maker was faithful and promised in his Way that He would forgive.  And so, as the tears flowed, I laid myself at His feet and sought His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace.  And as the Way said, the Maker replaced my tears with His light.  My sorrow with His joy.  My suffering with His relief.

And I heard it ... the Song rang with it.  As my own eyes dried, the Tears of the Singer fell...and set me free.

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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Lord_S_Gray
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« Reply #146 on: January 11, 2018, 10:20:26 PM »

Working through not only the physical but the emotional fallout of Wind Chimes...I was wondering when Arnors abuse would catch up with Karmack, noted in the prior interludes but yeah glad you addressed it more strongly here.
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Lord_S_Gray

Surik: "Kreia, what are you—are you a Jedi, a Sith?"
Kreia: "Does it matter? Of course it does, such titles allow you to break the galaxy into light and dark, categorize it. Perhaps I am neither, and I hold both as what they are, pieces of a whole."

Karmack
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« Reply #147 on: January 11, 2018, 10:22:26 PM »

Working through not only the physical but the emotional fallout of Wind Chimes...I was wondering when Arnors abuse would catch up with Karmack, noted in the prior interludes but yeah glad you addressed it more strongly here.
Its a start.  Might take a while.  But you have to admit you have a problem before you can work on it.  I don't feel like I was up to the task of what I wanted to tell in that interlude, but it will have to serve. 
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Lord_S_Gray
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: 428
Posts: 1903



« Reply #148 on: January 11, 2018, 10:59:35 PM »

Legacy of the Aether Interlude
This story occurs approxumately 8 years before Legacy of the Aether, 12 after Children of the Aether
[/i]
The Father

He was a father.

The tears pooled in his eyes as he read the short stream transmission…his wife had given birth to a daughter…they had only been married a short time before she fell pregnant…the first child born on Vyth…the first of a new colony of the Mak’Tor…his first…

It hurt him he couldn’t be there…or even see a holopict…or even reply…the cosmology of this part of the deep core prevented any such complex transmissions coming through…it was a second miracle after the birth that a message had come through at all…the dense accretion of nebulaic material made navigation almost impossible…more than once already he had nearly found himself battered by ionic radiation, rent apart in a hyper dense cloud of neutrinos….

FourNine Chirped beside him,

“Yes it is good news…Holly had the baby,”

Another spray of noises ending in a droning boop.

“I wish I could’ve been there too”

He was two months of hard travel into a one week mission…no one could’ve anticipated the difficulties…he had been selected by Kage Odjina because he was the best pilot they had…and almost that had not been enough.  He worried about how his wife must be feeling to have not heard from him in so long….He tried to reach out in the force…yet felt only the cold of space all around him.

Warning lights blinked again, FourNines main photo receptor blinked from its usual yellow to danger red…another radiation spike…he was a father…strange how that made him just that bit more attentive…that bit more apprehensive than he had been ten minutes ago.
***************************************************************************************************************
He settled onto the moons roughly marked landing pad…there were no signs of life, no response to his hail from the automated system.

It peeved him to have missed the birth of his child for this…checking up on an automated listening post in the deep core…it had gone dead three months before…he was dispatched two weeks after…and then…two months…

At least here he was able to stretch his legs a bit.  As he headed to the pre-fabricated outpost.  It was a drab brown rock of a moon above a still molten world, no atmosphere it was in geostationary orbit on the side facing away from the planet into the seething mass of nova and dying and rising stars that jostled for space deeper into the core.

Why the Mak’tor had built this here…well no one knew…when he wasn’t struggling to keep his ship from be rent apart by gravity wells and triple checking hyperspace co-ordinates, he had read up on the history of the post. 

The best information they had was it was established almost 400 years before…after some kind of unusual force event, it was planned to be the first stage in an effort to map out what the leaders of the time had sensed…but events closer to home had soon become more important… He looked over the prefab buildings and shackled on sensor arrays…all of them no younger than 200 years old, the last time a maintenance crew had been out here…most likely simply fell apart by the looks of things. 

“FourNine check if the air lock still works…I’ll have a look around out here,” 
The astromech trundled off through the sooty grains that hung in the air after being kicked up by his tracks.

He had brought equipment to effect most any repair needed with Four Nines help…but that only added to the annoyance…this was surely a job more suited to a dedicated maintenance crew not a Koawan…but Odjina had been insistent…

“I need someone on the ground to sense what is going on out there…something feels wrong,”  the Kage had said…He didn’t’ doubt the Kage truly believed this was an important mission and he was rarely…in fact never…wrong…maybe this was the first time.

He gazed out at the lights of the core that danced on the edge of the black hole…life on the edge…so fragile…like his child…
**************************************************************************************************************
He hadn’t sensed it before…he did now…The inside of the prefab was clean…neat apart from a few spare spools of wire and power cells…but in the force…it…was dead…not just in the sense of being empty of other life forms…but like something in the room was actively pushing the force away…The computers were all disabled, their hard drives and backups removed…this was intentional….but why…what possible value could this stations data hold…nothing had happened in this sector for centuries.

FourNine had popped open side panel and performed a bio sweep, but no traces of any biological matter younger than 150 years were found.  Even the secret recording devices he had listed on the schematics he had studied on the trip had been removed…how could they know they were even there…None of this made sense.

He crouched on the grated floor…trying to sense…anything in the force…but it was just a dead void. 

FourNine whistled excitedly,

“What is it?” he asked, the droid adjusted its eye and sent yellow laser light to where he should look, there was a small nick in the grate where it had been recently moved.

He lifted it up and found amongst the old corroded metal a small fist sized black ball…not just black…almost light absorbent material.  He stretched his hand forth and…

His own presence in the force suddenly exploded…he felt…magnified…like he was a million times bigger…as though he were an ancient thin transparent slide and a light had been cast upon him to project an image across the canvas of the infinite starts...he immediately retreated back.

“Maker Preserve me….”

Four Nine chirped with a quivering note,

“I don’t know either buddy…I really don’t”
**************************************************************************************************************
He had just finished hooking up the long range transmitter on the outpost to his ship in the hopes of boosting the signal enough to get a message back to Vyth…or any Mak’Tor or Gray…heck at this point he’d even settle for Grand Master Kimar!

The ship came in on almost the opposite vector he had – it was coming from somewhere even deeper in the core.  It circled for a moment about the outpost as he rushed to his ship and activated the comm…it sent no signals and began to land on the far side of the outpost. 

He swallowed hard and opened the chest with his sabre…he hoped he didn’t need this.  He flicked a glance back to the main screen…there was the simple if somewhat garbled message….”Congr[[ - ] healthy girl - 1.8 K – so h[]py M**s You.” 

A girl…they had already picked names…his daughter was Ha'Ona'Mack…named for Holly’s grandmother, a greatly respected Maenowan who had died before he could meet her…and perhaps mercifully before Kimar cast her apprentice Odjina and the Mak’Tor out of the Temple.

He was a father now…whatever was going on here…he had somewhere else he needed to be…someone else who needed him…he wouldn’t be distracted by it…but he had to remember it.
***************************************************************************************************************

The ship looked Mandolorian…but he wouldn’t be intimated or do anything that could lead to violence, he was a father now, and he had to get back to his daughter.

He couldn’t sense any presences as he approached the ship…perhaps it was automated…but then what had set it to come here…FourNine hadn’t detected any silent alarms…and FourNine was one of the best. 

“Hello,” he called through his suits speaker, the ships ramp started to lower…compared to his own there were no lighting scorches or anything…they must know a safe route through the stars here…

“Hello, I mean no harm, I’m just here to…” 

The snap-hiss of a lightsabre igniting was dulled in the thin wisps of nitrogen about the moon…a green blade appeared right beneath his chin casting a deathly glow into his eyes….How…he hadn’t sensed….he tried to remain calm…he dropped his hands to the side and kept them open and non-threatening…he didn’t want to antagonize whoever this was…maybe it was some kind of joke…a surprise…would Holly appear suddenly with his daughter…it was a delirious hope but all he could think of to keep himself calm…he wouldn’t…couldn’t die...he was  father….

He felt the force press against his mind…sharp…angry….it asked a question…

Who….


Ho’Li’Mak

How Many….

One

Why….


Love

What….

A child, a daughter…the future…

“Think you’re clever Gray”, came a helmet distorted voice, “think you can hide your true intentions behind your paternal emotions,”

“I don’t…I don’t have any intentions…” he was starting to sweat despite the cold of the void
“I just want to go home to my wife…my daughter…I’m…I’m just a father,”

“You lie well Gray…very well…” why, why wouldn’t he believe him….his every emotion was flowing freely in the force…he just wanted to live to see his child, to hold her in his arms….

A sigh from behind him…he felt the tip of a blaster press into the back of his suit, then…
“A pretty lie – daddy -…the hard way it is,”

Logged

Lord_S_Gray

Surik: "Kreia, what are you—are you a Jedi, a Sith?"
Kreia: "Does it matter? Of course it does, such titles allow you to break the galaxy into light and dark, categorize it. Perhaps I am neither, and I hold both as what they are, pieces of a whole."

Taegin Roan
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« Reply #149 on: January 11, 2018, 11:57:11 PM »

Wonderful interlude Karmack. It is so cool to see someone we all know now as powerful, strong, and almost unstoppable, becoming so weak. Then as he realizes that he cannot do this on his own, he opens up, and asks for help. A help he know he will get. Very well written, and very powerful.

And LSG, you just add a whole new depth to everything you touch. I love how you are kind of centering everything of yours in the past, but still tying it all together with the rest of the stories. Your incorperation of the black stone and the Mak'Tor order is wonderful. I feel like we will get hints to the future as we continue to see what you have to say. I am also wondering if the people that this Gray just met are the SoK. I get the feeling that they might be, though we don't yet know.

Wonderful interludes both of you.
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"I am the Outcast's Shadow" - Taegin Roan
"Confronting fear is the Destiny of a Jedi" - Luke Skywalker
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala

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