Chapter Six
Weeks rolled by without incident after Lokahviing installed the holographic projector in the training room, and hooking it up to a solar array for power. Training became much more challenging, but absent of the lethality Lokahviing used in his training. The furious fighters, and Shifu, were all impressed with how challenging the holographic simulations could be. More than once, they had to re-do a simulation because of an error or slip-up on the part of one of the members. Moreover, it brought them closer together as a team. During this time, nary an inquiry was made into Lokahviing's past, still shrouded in mystery and pain.
Tigress, as Po, wanted to continue piecing together the story of the immortal Dragon Prince. So, one evening, Tigress spoke up: "Lokahviing... would this be a good time to speak of your past?"
"Well, I'd say it's a bit overdue, considering it's been six weeks since I last spoke of it; what did you want to know?" Lokahviing asked.
Tigress paused to consider her choices. They all knew Lokahviing left his home world on a self-imposed exile to keep himself from succumbing to rage, hate and despair, during which he learned of his immortality; he returned twenty years later to learn that his home had been desolated by the Vasari, after which, he took on the title Darth Taral and went on a mad crusade of vengeance, driving the Vasari mad with fear and forcing them to flee in terror at the wrath they provoked; after his rage diminished, Lokahviing left Vasari space to find a world to die on, where he met Paarthurnax, who named him Lokahviing and bequeathed to him the title of Fal Dovah Kulaan, and when Lokahviing learned of the rise of Dovahkiin, and was sent to safety among the stars by Paarthurnax himself; however long it was, Lokahviing then met the Dragonarians, and subsequently, other dragon-shifters, and joined the Marauder Corps when they waged what he called the Marauder War, after which, he was discharged, gathered his effects, and returned to his life as a wanderer, where he eventually came across a world named Coruscant, where he was sought out by the Jedi Order, taken in, evidently trained to some degree – though what exact degree remained unclear – and remained among them until the event Lokahviing described as Order Sixty-Six, where he witnessed the massacre of every Jedi at the Jedi Temple, barely escaping with his life; from there, however, Tigress knew he eventually stayed on a world he called Circinius IV, that he spent time among a Trader Fleet, where he learned how to combine their technology with the Holographic technology he picked up elsewhere before his run-ins with the House of Duras, and that he was nearly killed by the Jiralhanae, then subsequently found by and befriended the Sangheili, living among them for thirty years before coming to the world Tigress resided on. It seemed clear where next to continue the story.
After gathering her thoughts, Tigress spoke, "After you escaped the Jedi Temple... where did you go?"
Lokahviing nodded, downing a bite of his meal. "Well, as you can imagine, I no longer felt safe in that universe. I had to get out of there, and fast. After linking up with my carrier ship – which was hiding cloaked out-system – I headed to one of the several universes where humans resided. I no longer remember which one it was, but this particular 'verse was ruled by a united faction of humans known as the United Nations Space Command, or the UNSC."
"I can't imagine you were happy there, considering what humans had done to you so many years before," Viper commented.
"Not true, Viper," Lokahviing responded. "At that point, my hatred of humans as a whole had completely dissipated. If anything, I was relieved to be among the humans of the UNSC, because many of my Jedi colleagues – not to mention my friends outside the temple – were human."
"How did you get them to accept you among them?" Po asked.
"Funny you should ask that," Lokahviing said. "I told them the truth as I saw it – I was a refugee fleeing from a coup. They thought I was running from a massive Innie attack."
"What's an Innie? Some kind of alien?" Song inquired.
"I asked myself that for a year and a half, until I looked it up on the UNSC interstellar networks – Innie was just a common nickname the UNSC gave to the human rebels that they called the Insurrectionists. They had various sub-factions – Venizian movement, United Rebel Front, blah, blah, blah – point is, they were rebels against the UNSC for god-only-knows-what reasons," Lokahviing explained. "Anyway, after having a few run-ins with them in the outer UNSC colonies, I decided to move inward, where I came across Circinius IV."
"So, Circinius IV was a UNSC Colony?" Po asked. "Did the Innies have any presence there?"
"No... but my stay there was, to be blunt, short-lived," Lokahviing replied. "The UNSC was to be embroiled in a war for their very survival against a real horde – and not the Innies."
"Who?" Tigress queried.
"An alien collective known only as the Covenant," Lokahviing responded. "Of course, I had heard rumors – loss of contact with the outer colonies, one by one, speculations that the Office of Naval Intelligence was hiding something – and with good reason, as I found out – but I never paid much heed to all that in my stay on Circinius IV. Until the Covenant came knocking. Smashed the orbital fleet, launched a surface invasion, and massacred every last human they could find." Lokahviing paused, visibly shuddering. "It... reminded me of Order Sixty-Six, only it wasn't Clone Troops I was facing down, but alien warriors much larger than me. Back then, I learned, the Sangheili were a part of the Covenant. They lead the attack on Circinius IV, and I only was able to kill a select few. My kill-count there consisted primarily of Unggoy and Kig-Yar. The Sangheili... used energy shields in their armor that deflected my weapons, even my lightsabers."
"Did you tell this to Thel?" Tigress asked.
"Eventually, yes – and it wasn't easy for me. But when Thel heard the tale, he expressed his apologies, said that he was ashamed that the Sangheili had taken part of such genocide," Lokahviing answered.
"Who is Thel?" Monkey asked.
"Thel 'Vadam – the current Kaidon of the Sangheili... and a good friend," Lokahviing replied. "But that's another tale for another time."
"Shifting back to Circinius IV," Shifu said officiously, "did you ever learn of any survivors to that massacre, other than yourself?"
"Not immediately, no," Lokahviing stated. "I didn't learn of any survivors until after I told this tale to Thel. As he told it, there were three survivors, found in the military academy on that world – Senior Cadet April Orenski, Freshman Cadet Michael Sullivan... and Freshman Cadet... Thomas Lasky."
"You say that name like we should know it," Mantis commented.
"No," Song discounted. "His tone implies he knew him."
"I did – I met him, eight years into my stay among the Sangheili," Lokahviing affirmed. "Commander Lasky was there visiting Sangheilios to deliver a diplomatic party. Lasky singled me out, recognizing me from Circinius IV, which I had no idea he had seen me, as I had never spoken with him there. He and I talked for a good long while. He is... among the closest human friends I ever had."
"What happened to him?" Tigress asked softly.
"To my knowledge, he died of natural causes," Lokahviing sighed.
"What of Thel?" Song inquired. "How old is he?"
Lokahviing scoffed. "Thel was my test subject for my chemical concoction, the one that could bestow my immortality on others; he is as ageless as I."
"Getting back on-topic," Shifu said, "How did you escape Circinius IV?"
"Right," Lokahviing sighed. "The events on Coruscant taught me the value of having an escape plan – I had my carrier ship hidden out-system, and my starfighter was kept away from the population center, to avoid it being targeted by an orbital strike. Good thing, too – I hid it in the surrounding forest, and when the Covenant came knocking, they targeted the population center, destroyed everything that could allow the people to escape. Anyway, as soon as I could, I punched a hole in the Covenant lines and high-tailed it out of there."
"Did you try and look for survivors?" Po asked.
"Yeah, but everyone I found was either dying or died as they tried to make a break for it. I tried to come back under cloak with my carrier ship, but by the time I arrived, the Covenant had burnt that world to a cinder," Lokahviing answered. "After that, I began hearing more and more of the Covenant's predations, decided my ship would make no difference in that war, and made for friendlier turf, which is when I crossed 'verses yet again and came into contact with the United Federation of Planets and their allies in the Klingon Empire."
"How did they greet you?" Tigress asked.
"Well, when I crossed over, I ended up orbiting the Klingon home world, Qo'nos. There were both Federation and Klingon ships present, along with a few from the Romulan Republic," Lokahviing replied.
"Romulan Republic?" Song repeated. "Not the Romulan Star Empire?"
"No, the Republic – the good, honorable Romulans," Lokahviing clarified.
"How did they react to your sudden arrival?" Shifu inquired.
"Well, the Federation and Romulan ships were cordial enough – the Feds more than the Romulans, as the Romulans went shields-up the second I arrived; the Federation ships stayed the Klingons' ships from attacking me; the Klingon ships went red alert, shields-up, and weapons-hot when I appeared," Lokahviing said.
"Why?" Viper queried. "Are they always so jumpy?"
"No, they mistook my ship for one of the ships from the house of Torg," Lokahviing said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It was an advanced-model version of the Bird-of-Prey popular among the Klingon fleet."
"Do you still have it?" Tigress asked.
"Yes," Lokahviing sighed. "And as I indicated before, it is hidden."
"And I'm sure you have good reason to keep it hidden, so no one ask about it," Shifu said sternly. There was a long pause while everyone ate as they contemplated what was said so far. It remained that way until Tigress broke the silence by saying,
"How long were you in that 'verse? And what compelled you to leave?"
"I no longer remember how long I was there – at that point, the years were starting to blur together. I left because, as it had been with the Dragonarians and the Sangheili, I felt something calling out to me. I felt it... oh, I want to say, a week? No, two weeks, after I acquired that holographic emitter from a Ferengi merchant. Not long after I left, I heard he was arrested for selling Federation technology to the Romulan Star Empire," Lokahviing elaborated. "Anyway, from there, I was drawn to Trader space."
"Yeah, about that – who were the Trader fleets?" Tigress asked.
"Another society of Humans, but less... violent, if you can believe it. They set a record for me, being a faction of humans who had gone for a thousand years without waging war on one another," Lokahviing stated.
"And it was from their fleets that you gained a key piece of technology that allowed you to develop whatever you used to turn the room we gave you into your own domicile," Tigress surmised.
"Yes, it was originally used in their trade ships and freighters," Lokahviing said.
"And you told me you left that 'verse because of a war that broke out," Tigress continued. "If I may... who was it against?"
Lokahviing's face betrayed a look of melancholy. "You know who they are – I've told you of them before. They fled from a terror they could not defeat, a faceless assailant marching inexorably to their doom."
Tigress' jaw slowly lowered as comprehension dawned. "The Vasari...?" she whispered. Lokahviing slowly nodded.
"Somehow, I got ahead of them. Somehow, I was in the wrong place at the right time, and for once, I was able to save a world from a terrifying alien attack. But after that, I left."
"You wanted no part in yet another war," Tigress deduced, "Let alone to face the Vasari again."
"I was tempted to finish what I started," Lokahviing whispered hoarsely. "But to do so, I would have to become that monster again. I was burned by that fire before – I was not going to be burned by it again. I knew, if I started down the path of vengeance again, I would not stop until I had completely annihilated the Vasari, and I would become... something even a dragon-shifter hates." Lokahviing's eyes closed as his head sank. Tigress gently put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it.
"You did the wise thing," she assured him.
"Perhaps..." Lokahviing whispered.
"No 'perhaps' about it," Shifu reinforced Tigress' statement. "You were tempted to walk the path of vengeance again, and you turned away from it."
"Ran from it," Lokahviing corrected him.
"It doesn't matter – had you stayed and fought, you would have been corrupted," Shifu replied. "And we would never have met you."
Lokahviing heaved a sigh. "I suppose you're right... Regardless-"
Tigress silenced Lokahviing gently. "Save what happened next for another time," she said softly. Lokahviing paused, then nodded, finished his meal, and eventually, all retired to their rooms. Tigress found it unusually easy to get to sleep, but upon falling asleep...
… she found herself staring down an army advancing on the Valley. The defenders fought to protect the Valley, but were woefully outnumbered. Commanding this army, she saw the Wu sisters.
"Pull the defenders back," Lokahviing's voice said. Tigress looked to her left and saw Lokahviing standing there, dressed in those tattered, wraith-esqe robes, his eyes glowing red.
"Are you mad?!" Po shouted. "We pull them back-"
"I said pull them back!" Lokahviing hissed in that draconic thrum. Po hesitated, and Song blew the retreat horn. Tigress turned Lokahviing to face her.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"The one thing I do best," Lokahviing responded. "Zu'u los yol... zu'u los nahkriin... zu'u los... dinok." He handed his crossguard lightsaber to Shifu, then walked past the retreating soldiers to confront the Wu army. One crimson lightsaber flared, then the other, as a dragon growl sounded. He shouted, and a clap of thunder sounded in the sky, the clouds twisting as though Lokahviing had awakened the fury of the earth itself. Bolts of fire lashed down from the sky, blasting holes in the Wu army.
Tigress awoke suddenly as she heard Lokahviing roar in rage. She quickly threw off her blanket and rushed to Lokahviing's room, finding him still fast asleep. Did she...?
Tigress processed what she saw in her head as she exited Lokahviing's domicile. Could it be that she had her first vision of the future? Would Lokahviing stand alone before the fury of an army? Would he demonstrate the full extent of his rage?
Would he survive it?
Tigress went back to her room and meditated, trying to find answers, but none came. She decided to go back to sleep, crawled back into bed, and drifted off, her mind still on her vision...
(Things are heating up. Next chapter will follow as soon as I can type it up.)
