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Author Topic: Reunion  (Read 17968 times)
Karmack
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« on: March 05, 2018, 06:00:09 PM »

Chapter One: The Fallen

I drift in darkness...  No light...  Just a sound...   A horrible sound, a desperate whimper, filled with pain and indescribable terror...  The song explodes into my awareness, the melody subsumed in a horrible scream of dischordant clashing sounds.  The pounding rhythm of evil slammed through the song, underlying the horrible screams, both organic and lyric.  Finally light rose, and I could see the room.  I immediately wished I could not...  A low stone alter dominated the center of the room.  On it, a person writhed, bound, gagged, and already torn open, the contents of her abdomen removed in a gory mess.  Blood soaked everything, and continued to pour from her body onto the stone, the floor...

I felt a song rise within me, instinctively reaching for the regenerative motif I'd discovered when Ken was injured, but even as I started to sing I felt the song choke off in my throat.  There was a ... separation.  I could not touch the scene before me, only observe it.  See it.  Smell it.  Feel it.

I felt her die...

<<<NOOOOO>>>

The scream of defiance startled me, and I realized with a start that it was my own voice.  It startled the Zabrek standing over his victim as well.  He turned, eyes searching, mouth still twisted in whatever dark-side ritual he was performing.  His victim's blood covered his arms and spattered his torso and face.

Mellichae...

His yellow eyes met mine, and I felt the hatred he radiated.  His features twisted into a snear and he reached down, patting the now still face of his victim, the eyes staring vacant now.  "I feel you, Gray.  I know you can see me.  This one wasn't strong enough, but soon.  Soon.  I will find one who is.  And then I will have the knowledge of the crystal - and my revenge."  He looked down at the mutilated, broken body on the alter and his look became sickening.  "Meanwhile, I'll just have to keep playing with your healers..."

He laughed, a maniacal, high-pitched laugh that seemed to rip through me and I felt his sick twisting of the songs of healing in the force.  The pulse of his laughter echoed the evil rhythm and I tried again desperately to reach him, to stop him...

The scene faded out and I sat up, breathing hard, sweat pouring off me...

"You can't stop him from there, young one.  You must come here, to where we are."

I blinked.  I was on a bench, in a simple room filled with golden light.  I looked at the man who had spoken, rotated and sat up to face him.  "What...  Where did they go?"

"You know where they are.  But right now we ... are here."  He lifted his hands to indicate the room, which I realized was actually a gazebo, open on all sides, but there was nothing beyond but diffused golden light.  "And you know where 'here' is as well."  He continued, anticipating my next question.

I opened my mouth to protest, to disagree, but I could not.  "We're ... inside the Ancient One."  I looked more closely.  "Master Dorian, I presume?"

The ancient master smiled.  "Well done!  Was it a guess, or do you still have a record of my appearance in the archives?"

I moved into a lotus, mimicking Dorian's posture.  "A bit of both.  Your image is on file, but its ... older.  But somehow I also ... felt your identity."

"Yes.  Our essence is stored in the crystal, much like a holocron stores the memories and experience of a Jedi Master, though I think Klu did a far better job on the recording matrix.  At least, it seems far more complete to me.  But I digress."  Dorian's face became serious.  "I hope you are well, young one, because we are in trouble.  That ... monster ..."

"Mellichae."  I growled the name, feeling the spike of fury rise in my breast.  

"Yes.  Him.  I will not name him.  He is not entirely sane.  His hatred has twisted his mind, he believes that through this systematic torture and mutilation that he will be able to force us to captitulate, to open to him and provide him with our knowledge.  And ... he enjoys it.  We have already discussed destroying ourselves to end the killing, but we are fairly certain that it would not work.  He would continue, perhaps even intensify his actions, believing it to be a ruse of some kind.  So we only have one option: You."

I nodded.  "As I feared.  I am on my way, Master Dorian.  We left The Sons of Kessel a few days ago.  We will need to make several more jumps, but we'll be there soon."

Dorian sat up straight, his face lighting up.  "On your way?  How did we not..." He squinted in concentration.  "Oh.  You're cloaking your presence in the force!  Sneaky...  I approve!"  Dorian looked over my shoulder.  "See, I told you this one was special."

I started and looked behind me as I suddenly sensed another presence.  Several presences...  "Yes.  He is powerful, but there is more he must learn."  

I looked to the side and saw the speaker, a young woman.  She was surrounded by several others, most wearing the robes of Masters, a couple those of a Kage, but she was young and wore only the robes of a Koawan.  Her eyes, however, were the darkest of them all with tragedy and pain, and I recognized her, knew her song...   "Yes.  Much to learn, I think."  She stepped up and cupped my chin in her hands, probing me with those dark, pain-filled eyes.  "Pray the Maker, young Ka'A'Mack, that you live long enough to learn what you must."

I nodded.  "Yes."  She released my chin and I looked around.  "Are you all..."

Dorian answered for them.  "Yes. We can hold him off for a while longer, but time is precious.  Now go, there is much to do."



I started awake, sitting up suddenly and crying out, spilling the covers off of myself and Arnor.  Sweat soaked my shirt, matted my hair.  I looked around the darkened cabin and recognition calmed me: I was on the Wayfarer, with Arnor.  Back in the physical universe.  I hummed a meditation motif to calm my body and bring my hammering heart back under control.  A quick counter-melody scrubbed the adrenaline from my system as well, bringing the slight shaking to an end and quelling the queasiness in my gut.

Well, most of the queasiness...

Arms snaked around my waist from behind and I felt Arnor's warm breath on my neck.  "Are you OK?"

I sighed and leaned into her warmth.  "No, not really."  I spent a few minutes telling her about the vision.  "He's insane, and mad with the need for revenge."

Arnor shuddered slightly behind me, and I could feel her own fury mixed with sorrow in the force.  Her voice was watery with the tears she'd shed during my description.  "I had hoped...why is he killing them?  What is the purpose?"

"Based on what I saw I think he's performing some form of darksider alchemy, but its more like black magic than anything the Sith would do.  Though torturing innocent people to try to get a force ghost to give up information isn't utterly out of the realm of possibility even for a Sith."  I turned and wrapped Arnor in my arms.  "But its clear that he is in fact torturing the healers he's kidnapped to try to force the crystal open, one way or another."

Arnor buried her head in my shoulder and clung to me.  It was a rare moment of weakness for her; a moment for her to be vulnerable and draw strength from me in the face of abject horror.  Her empathy for what was happening could only be heightened by her own recent near-death experiences, made worse by the understanding that unlike her, these healers had not chosen to put themselves in danger and had been given no opportunity to fight back.  For them it was just torture, horror and death.  "We need to do something...  Get there faster..."

I smoothed her hair.  "I'll have Two and the gang tweak our course and get whatever spare speed they can out of the drive.  We'll get there as fast as we can."  I held my wife, continuing to stroke her hair as the horrible scene replayed in my mind again.  I didn't recognize the healer on the alter, in fact I didn't know any of the abducted healers personally, but they were all Mak'Tor healers, all strong singers and barely marginal force users, and they were all in Mellichae's clutches.  There were over thirty missing healers, according to the latest report from Telow'na.  How many were still alive?  How many more had he snatched up while we were locked in hyperspace?  Would we be able to save any of them?  

And underneath it all, the ever-present drone of my own guilt.  If you hadn't gone to far trying to heal Ken.  If you'd had more control, the Zabrek wouldn't have been able to steal the crystals and get away.  

This is your fault, Karm.  Your mess.  Clean it up ... and never forget.
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TheDutchman
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« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2018, 08:37:21 PM »

Wow...

I knew that Mellichae was bad news but this... Those poor Healers, nothing but playthings for the Zabrak to use against the Master Singers within the Ancient One...and Karm.  But the connection...that's new.  And yet another way that Mellichae can torture Karm.

I'm definitely looking forward to Karm getting some retribution from him.  But hopefully not too quickly; sometimes reciprocity is deserved  Wink
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Lord_S_Gray
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« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2018, 11:32:24 PM »

So Mellichae's either gone off the deep end or is a master Dark Sider...or possibly a bit of both...No doubt the Ancient Ones has safe guards but no one can plan for every eventuality....if he's found a way...One curious thing is Mellichae noting to Karm.

"This one wasn't strong enough, but soon"

Hmmm Healers with marginal force abilities are not strong enough...how to find someone who is a singer with strong force abilities...I think Admiral Akbar (long may we rue his dismissive end...) would have a choice sentence for Karmack at this point....

Having said that i'm not so sure Karm is exactly sane and clear headed either...guilt can cloud your judgement by over compensating in trying not to make the same mistakes again...
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Lord_S_Gray

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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."

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« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2018, 12:05:25 AM »

Hmmm Healers with marginal force abilities are not strong enough...how to find someone who is a singer with strong force abilities...I think Admiral Akbar (long may we rue his dismissive end...) would have a choice sentence for Karmack at this point....
Amen.  Ackbar dying--and especially like...THAT--was such a colossal waste...
Quote
Having said that i'm not so sure Karm is exactly sane and clear headed either...guilt can cloud your judgement by over compensating in trying not to make the same mistakes again...
...Which is actually a good bit of foreshadowing with Zearic...

...um, spoilers?  Wink
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« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2018, 03:29:33 AM »

When morals are left to others, results can be accomplished through methods those mooring in the moral ocean can scarcely fathom, and as a device, is powerful.  The effect it has upon Karmack is profound, and as well, predictable for those with a strong sense of morality, and is clearly meant to draw him into a trap.  If Mellichae is not a master level dark sider, he is well on his way, though his mad obsession is likely to be his undoing.  We are often undone by that which makes us most.  Haste is certainly needed to save the missing singers, but if time is not taken to learn and prepare, then haste makes this a fool's errand, and more may be lost than the healers lives...
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Taegin Roan
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« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2018, 07:18:39 AM »

And so it begins.

Lots of things to like in this beginning. I'll just mention a few. While Karm has no issues saying the name, Dorian will not. It reminds me of many of the legends about saying the name of a creature/being, and it appearing. Maybe its nothing, but then again, maybe its not. Yes, as LSG says, there is something about that "This one wasn't strong enough, but soon", especially combined with "Yes. We can hold him off for a while longer, but time is precious." that gives the sense that maybe Millichae has found a way to open the crystal. It also seems that disgraced Zabraks have a way of going insane, and needing revenge against someone (KENOBIIIIII!!!!!!!).

Hmmm Healers with marginal force abilities are not strong enough...how to find someone who is a singer with strong force abilities...I think Admiral Akbar (long may we rue his dismissive end...) would have a choice sentence for Karmack at this point....

Okay, and this just needs to be touched on. I think that this should be the phrase everyone uses when speaking of the late Admiral Ackbar (long may we rue his dismissive end...). It just fits.


EDIT: I also really liked Dorian's " "On your way?  How did we not..." He squinted in concentration.  "Oh.  You're cloaking your presence in the force!  Sneaky...  I approve!"  Dorian looked over my shoulder.  "See, I told you this one was special." "   Grin

Also, one other thing I was thinking of just now, It's probably a good think Luke never met any of our characters. He might not have been able to win if they got in a fight. Cheesy
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Karmack
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« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2018, 02:26:22 PM »

And so it begins.

Lots of things to like in this beginning. I'll just mention a few. While Karm has no issues saying the name, Dorian will not. It reminds me of many of the legends about saying the name of a creature/being, and it appearing. Maybe its nothing, but then again, maybe its not. Yes, as LSG says, there is something about that "This one wasn't strong enough, but soon", especially combined with "Yes. We can hold him off for a while longer, but time is precious." that gives the sense that maybe Millichae has found a way to open the crystal. It also seems that disgraced Zabraks have a way of going insane, and needing revenge against someone (KENOBIIIIII!!!!!!!).

Okay, and this just needs to be touched on. I think that this should be the phrase everyone uses when speaking of the late Admiral Ackbar (long may we rue his dismissive end...). It just fits.


EDIT: I also really liked Dorian's " "On your way?  How did we not..." He squinted in concentration.  "Oh.  You're cloaking your presence in the force!  Sneaky...  I approve!"  Dorian looked over my shoulder.  "See, I told you this one was special." "   Grin

Also, one other thing I was thinking of just now, It's probably a good think Luke never met any of our characters. He might not have been able to win if they got in a fight. Cheesy

LOL  Oh, now THAT's a thought...   How would Luke Skywalker react to running into Ka'a'Mack or Teagan or Zearic.  Hmmm......  ;-)

I mean, if they can put Luke into Battlefront II and have him interact with one of the playing characters, why not here? 

As for Dorian:  He's one of the more wiley ancients.  Remember, his opponent is only known to the Mak'Tor histories as "The Unnamed One".  Seemed consistent that he wouldn't speak Mellichae's name. 
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« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2018, 02:55:10 PM »

I need to express this...

WOW!  

Karmack, tell me that you're published.  If you aren't, then you totally ought to be.

Brilliant.

+1
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"The thing that always drives me hazy, is wondering whether it's them or me who's crazy." ~ A. Einstein

Karmack
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« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2018, 03:11:58 PM »

i wish.   I think the stories here are all publish quality, but getting anything Star Wars published or even looked at is nearly impossible.   
I would love to develop LSGs aethans with the various Grays we've created into a full blown novel series.  maybe even a movie trilogy.  It would rock. 

But ... Disney.
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« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2018, 03:22:23 PM »

I hear ya...  Undecided

Still though...man...lol
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« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2018, 04:40:39 PM »

This is fantastic!  Can't wait to see more!
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« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2018, 06:02:14 PM »

I need to express this...

WOW!  

Karmack, tell me that you're published.  If you aren't, then you totally ought to be.

Brilliant.

+1

I've tried to get them all (Karm, TD, and LSG) to do this multiple times, but they wont. Maybe someday I'll try with my own if I ever finish it, and if it is really as good as these folks say it is (though I'm sure they are just doing it to be nice). Cheesy
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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

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
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Knight Commander
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Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2018, 01:05:40 AM »

Chapter Two: The Trail of Tears

From orbit, Dantooine was probably one of the most peaceful planets I'd ever seen.  But as the saying went, looks could be deceiving.  WHile the agrarian world, currently in harvest, was outwardly placid and pacific, the force practically vibrated with evil.  And the song...

Screams of cacaphony ripped across the solid drumbeat of evil

I flinched away from the horror that rippled through my awareness, my hand squeezing my lightsaber involuntarily tighter.  Whatever Mellichae was doing, it as causing a very strong ripple in the force, bending the normal balance of this world to darkness and filling the song with the screams of his victims.  The only positive aspect of it was that the ripples were proving to be very easy to follow.

The Wayfarer was airborne, with Two and Mutt suited up and ready to drop if we needed them.  We'd landed briefly at the small field adjacent to the Imperial Enclave on the Khoonda plains, not far from a small mining outpost.  Despite its antiquity we could both sense the nearby ruins of the old Jedi Enclave as well as the dark echo of the Rakatan Ruins, both also on the edges of the plains.  The pull from the enclave was particularly strong, the place shrouded in mystery and cloaked in the force.  The song as also distorted there, possibly by the dark energy still pulsing from the Rakatan ruins, but something in my gut told me there was more.  Neither of us could sense what, however, and the target before us was too strong, too obvious to be ignored.

We'd both sensed it when we landed: a trail of tears, leading from this landing site, which served as the local space port since the Imperials had moved in just after the battle of Yavin, to a small farming enclave about a hundred klicks to the North, in the rolling heart of the Khoonda plains.  With the Wayfarer in overwatch, high enough to be out-of-site from the ground, Arnor and I rented a pair of speeder bikes and set off, following the trail.

The terrain was beautiful.  This section of the Khoonda plains was  covered by rolling fields filled with cereal crops, all purple, red, and gold in their ripeness, rippling like water as the light breezes played over them.  The fields were laced with pathways, mostly lined with blba trees and often sunken down and meandering through the low areas, going from farm to farm.  Like bloodhounds on a scent, we criss-crossed through the countryside, following the psycic pathway of the tears, echos of terror and fear reverbertating in the song from the passage of dozens of Mak'Tor healers who had passed this way.

It became evident after only a few kilometers that the pimary pathway was along one of the main roads in the area.  We stopped on a hilltop to survey the area and I pulled out my comm link.  "Two, we're following a primary road down here.  Can you supply an overhead visual?"

There was a pause before a text message came back: <<Overhead Online>>

I tapped the link and the screen lit up with a real-time overhead image of the valley centered on our position.  Arnor looked over my shoulder as I traced the road to a small gaggle of buildings.  Unlike the rare, scattered farms which were predominantly small, one family dwellings, these buildings were substantial - and surrounded by a security perimeter.

"That's the place." Arnor said, giving voice to my thoughts.  "Karm..."

I looked into my wife's worried eyes.  "You're worried."

"This is all ... to easy." Arnor replied.  "This trail, everything.  It ... feels wrong."

I put the map down and sat back in the bike's saddle.  "I know.  But not wrong, exactly.  Just ... dangerous.  The "danger" motif is weaving through the song, but there's more.  There's a trap, but this isn't  it.  This is..."

"The opening act." Arnor supplied.  "Not the headliner."

I nodded.  "Exactly.  Part of me thinks we'd be better off pulling back and trying a different tact, but there's something here.  Something we need.  Not the crystals.  Not Mellichae.  But ... something."  I sighed.  "Its shrouded, elusive, but important.  Mellichae thinks he's in control, that we're dancing to his tune.  We're going to use that against him."

Arnor met my eyes, saw my conviction.  I felt her open herself to the force and listen to the song, as I had done.  After a moment she sighed and nodded.  "Agreed. I feel it, too.  It looks like a trap being baited, but ... there's more.  Something important but subtle."

I nodded.  "So.  Lets go find out what's so important, shall we?"  I returned to the overhead image.  "IF we take these back roads, we can..."

<<<<<  >>>>>

It took less than an hour to get into position.  There was a narrow defile that ran through the property, between the residence and the primary commercial building, a large barn with massive doors for the huge harvesters employed by the Dantooine farmers. This defile cut right through the noticably new fence line and a double row of blba trees.  Our bikes were parked behind those trees and covered by a brown tarp and some loose foilage while we crouched in the defile, wrapped in mottled gray-green ponchos.  I was singing a stealth motif, masking our approach in the force, while Arnor did a detailed scan of the compound.  She suddenly froze and pointed.  "There..."

The building she'd pointed out was different than the rest.  Low-slung and heavily built, it looked more like a military bunker than a farm building.  But then, none of it really fit.  The huge barn was empty.  The equipment sheds were static, half-filled with old, broken-down equipment, and we'd both seen what had to be a squad of Sith Shadows emerge from the farmhouse only a few minutes ago, moving out to patrol the fresh perimeter. 

I nodded and indicated for her to take the lead, shifting my song from stealth to battle.  The song began a building crescendo, the voice of conflict crashing through the quiet song of stealth.  No more hiding.  Battle would be joined...

Arnor used the force to leap out of the defile, moving with super-human speed across the open ground to the low bunker opening.  I was right behind her, opening my senses to the force, reaching out...

I felt the Sith Shadow targeting us before he fired.  Arnor and I were fully linked in the battle meld now, my song filling us both with mutual awareness as well as focusing our abilities and the force energies that flowed through us, augmented by the tuned crystals we both carried.  Our sabers ignited in unison, screaming to life in the dusky shadows just in time to deflect the rain of blaster bolts that erupted from multiple angles.

Arnor, still in the lead, caught two bolts and sent them sizzling into a sniper's nest on the roof of the barn, tossing at least one Shadow trooper into the air and off the roof.  I spun through my Soresu orbits, scattering bolts back around the compound, several back into our attackers.  And ... NOW! 

Without missing a beat I threw a massive force push against the bunker doors.  Arnor added her own push to mine.  The combined blast hit the doors just before Arnor arrived on the threshold, tossing the heavy steel doors inward like toys. 

She dashed through, engaging the guards inside while I brought up the rear, reaching out and picking up the Shadow troopers and tossing them away as I located them.  Sensing more troops still in the house armoring up I reached into the barn, where a disabled combine sat.  I lifted it and sent it smashing through the farmhouse, collapsing the building and scattering the troopers and their equipment across the fallow field behind the house.  A quick scan confirmed that the hostiles outside were all out of action, and I turned to follow Arnor.

I didn't get far.

Just inside the bunker entrance was a scene of horror.  The room was dark, lit by malevolent red and yellow lights, dim and casting long shadows.  The lights were centered on a low dais or altar, little more than a raised block of ferrocrete in the center of the bare room.  The altar was adorned only with four small metal rings with larger metal shackles, one at each corner.  Only in the light of Arnor's cyan blade did it become obvious that room was literally splashed with blood.

Human blood.

I swallowed bile.  I recognized the room from my vision.  "This is the place..."

"Karm!"  Arnor dashed to a dark corner, her blade throwing light into the darkness.  There, against the wall, two young women hung by their arms.  They had been stripped and beaten and left shackled, perhaps waiting their turn on the altar.  One was unconscious, the other awake but her eyes were wide with shock and non-comprehension.

In a moment I was next to my wife, and our sabers freed both women with precision cuts.  I shed my poncho and draped it over the shoulders of the conscious healer, covering her and gently settling her onto a small bench that had also been hidden in the corner.  "I am Karmack, this is my wife Arnor.  We are Mak'Tor Knights.  We're here to rescue you."

I pulled a small flask of water from my belt and handed it to her, letting her drink a small amount.  She swallowed, blinked, and then reached out and poked my shoulder.  When her finger hit resistance she suddenly gasped and cried out.  "Oh Maker!  You're real!  You're really here!"  Her mouth opened in a silent cry and she began to cry, tears rolling down her cheeks.  "You're real...  You're real..."

I reached out and cupped her head in my hand, reaching out to her in the force, flooding healing energy into her, weaving a calming song of peace around her tortured melody in the Song, now that I could identify it.  "Yes, we're real.  We'll have you out of here very soon.  What is your name?"

I felt the song take hold, her mind calmed a bit and her breathing slowed back toward normal.  "My name?  I am...  El'Isa'Tor, Koawan Gray of the Mak'Tor and healer with the Sisters of Mercy..."  She gained strength in the recitation, and I felt a new wave of rage roll through me as she identified herself as not only a healer, but also a Knight.

He was looking for stronger victims...

I met Elisa's eyes.  "Elisa.  I need to know: are there any others here?"

She blinked again, and I could feel her now, gathering herself in the force, humming her own healing and calming songs, getting on top of her own trauma.  "No, not here.  He was ... preparing the alter ... for me," she swallowed, purposely diverting her gaze away from the bloody altar in the center of the room.  "...but then he suddenly stopped and packed up.  He has at least five more, they were taken, he left Jo'anne and I to..."  She stopped and swallowed again.  "...to 'entertain the troops'." She finished in a rush.

I swallowed my rage, felt a gentle caress in the force from Arnor brush up against my incandescent anger, and with an effort I pulled myself back from the abyss.  I looked over at Arnor, where she cradled the other healer in her lap, doing her best to heal her wounds.  I melded with her again, merging our songs, and boosted her healing efforts, sending a powerful healing song through the room, using the crystals to amplify it. 

"Thank you." she said, turning back to her charge.

I smiled at her and pulled my communicator out again.  "Two, lock onto these coordinates and extract.  We have two wounded.  Keep your eyes open, I think we've knocked out all of the weapons but there's always a chance we missed something."  The series of beeps and boops that came back were predictably rude.  "No, I'm not trying to get you killed.  Now get your droid butt down here and dust us off.  Karmack Out." I said, making sure I cut the connection before chuckling.  "That droid..."

I turned and met the wide-eyes stare of Elisa.  "You're Master Ka'a'Mack."  She held out her arms, both whole.  "These were both broken.  I could hold the pain back, but..."  She grabbed my hand.  "How?  How did you do that?"

"I'll show you, later.  Right now, we need to get out of here." A roar filled the air, muted by the heavy walls but plainly audible.  "And that's our ride.  Now, follow Arnor please."  I extracted my hand and gently steered her toward my wife, who was leading the now ambulatory but dazed Jo'anne toward the door.  She nodded, still wide eyed, and took Jo'Anne's other hand, helping her friend out of the bunker.

I waited until they were around the corner, then turned to where the blast doors laid on one of the Sith Shadow troopers stationed inside.  He'd been mortally wounded by the door blasting inward but had been an unintentional beneficiary of my healing song.  Now he was struggling, angry and still in some pain, pinned under the heavy door. 

I walked over and with a flick of the force I shifted the door off of him, exposing him to the light.  I knelt down and put my knee on his chest.  Human...  I applied force to his sternum while pinning his limbs to the floor.  "Tell me where the Zabrek is, and you will live."

"Go to hell, Jedi!" the Sith Shadow tried to sound defiant but his gasping delivery robbed him of the desired effect. 

I leaned closer to his face.  "Last chance.  Tell me, and live, or I will rip it from your mind and kill you, and I'll know anyway."  I let my icy fury show in my eyes, my voice flat.  "Ok, don't say I didn't warn you. This is going to hurt a bit..."

"Wait!" the man gurgled, the pressure of my knee making it hard for him to breathe.  "He's in the old Jedi Enclave.  No one goes there..."

I evaluated him in the force.  Truth.  And ... intent.  He was told to deliver this information...  "You tell the truth.  And so, I will keep my word."  I slammed an intense pulse of force energy through his mind, knocking him cold.  He would wake up in a couple of days with a raging headache and most likely no memory of the last several hours.  My hand twitched slightly, the urge to draw my saber and end his life flaring, but I pushed it down.  I'd given him my word, and it wasn't my job to be judge, jury and executioner. 

I stood and left, sprinting outside and boarding the Wayfarer as it hovered just off the ground.  Two had it airborne before I could hit the ramp control switch.

Arnor was in the infirmary with the two healers.  "Where?"

"The Enclave."
Logged

signature picture by DarthScrub

Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Lord_S_Gray
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: 428
Posts: 1903



« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2018, 02:55:58 AM »

Mellichae is back to his old stomping grounds…Hmm the Mak’Tor need to do a better job on security they are getting hammered by this guy in terms of number of losses…maybe take a leaf from Ansosn book and militarize a bit…Mellichaes a nut case and if he can do that much damage to their healer network imagine what someone sane and strategic could manage.
 
I thought this was pretty ironic…
“it wasn't my job to be judge, jury and executioner.  “

Isn’t that exactly what he is doing in his pursuit of Mellichae in the first place?  Down a dangerous road once more…each adventure Karm seems to get that little more aggressive, a little more stern and cold…another step on the path towards....

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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."

Taegin Roan
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: 2066
Posts: 6245


Lord of the Force


« Reply #14 on: March 07, 2018, 03:06:02 AM »

Hmm... I'm glad were back to Karm and Arnor. There is just something about their stories that are so much more centered around the Song than any of the others. This is definitely a darker tale than the others have been, but the Song aspect is refreshing. I found it interesting that Karm is struggling with wanting the kill. That is not a Jedi trait, nor a Gray trait, so it is interesting to see. It seems that so much has happened in the past few months, that maybe Karm may have some unresolved anger, and not just towards Mellichae. I know we didn't get much of a response from him when Illian died, so maybe that has something to do with it. Especially since he was killed my Mellichae. Who knows, but I think we will see some interesting developments in the coming chapters.
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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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