Elsewhere, Elsewhen...
The Acheron was falling to pieces. The battle had been going on for days, and the ship had not been at its full strength to begin with. After years of searching, they had finally entered a galaxy that had a direct gateway point to the Nexus. No more jumping the beams to traverse from dimension to dimension, this Gateway would take them directly to their final goal, and Asmodeus was willing to sacrifice everything to get there.
They had not come unchallenged. A band of Jedi, led by a particularly bothersome Guardian called Halcyon, had fought them every step of the way. Time after time, they came to blows as Asmodeus sought the secret location of the Gateway, and there had been plenty of casualties on both sides. But finally, after years and years, Asmodeus' prize was within his grasp.
The last battalion of the warlord had been sacrificed to get them up to the steps of the temple, and from there Asmodeus had joined the battle personally and cut through the final resistance. Between himself and his faithful apprentice Haborym, the last of the Jedi had been cut down. All that stood between them and Gateway was this dark-haired Guardian, who was drawing on the Gateway crystal to amplify his own powers.
"Step aside, boy. I've come too far to be denied my prize now." Asmodeus brandished his large sword, snarling. Haborym slunk behind him, giggling. "The Nexus will be mine. I've earned it."
"I will not allow it. As long as I draw breath, I will protect my charge." Michael Halcyon was still young, but resolute in his duty. "I'll not allow Keena's death to be in vain."
"hehehehe, she tasted like wine, that one. Lovely screams, lovely screams..." Haborym twisted his fingers together and laughed. The years had not been kind to him, and his devolution had reduced him to little more than a drooling psychopath. His lighthearted expression turned hostile, and he snarled at the Jedi. "She died with your name on her lips."
Michael raised his lightsaber, a brilliant blue blade. He tapped into his Guardian energies, and his body and saber were surrounded with a golden hue. "May I be so fortunate to pass the same way."
The Sith drew their weapons, and crossed the threshold of the temple.
The reaction was immediate. The Nexus was in danger, and the Universe was responding. The storm formed almost instantly, and the winds kicked up, tearing trees up by the root, and the roof of the temple blew to pieces as the wind and rain swirled above them. The Gateway crystal glowed with purple energy, and resonated with every step Asmodeus took towards it. As Michael fought the Sith off, they pressed in ever closer, and with every meter closer, the storm's strength intensified.
Michael despaired as the bodies of his compatriots were blown away, but did not allow himself to mourn. His final duty was at hand, and he was willing to die to keep this monster from defiling the Gateway he protected. High above, the Acheron could be seen in high atmosphere, barely held together. The storm raised high enough that it tore at the mighty ship, and it was beginning its final descent.
The Jedi fought with the ferocity of ten men, but in the end it was not enough. Battered and broken, his saber lost, Michael crawled up the steps of the altar towards the Gateway crystal, losing blood quickly. His vision was fading, and he knew he had little time left. The storm was very great indeed, and most of the temple had been demolished. The Acheron could be seen above, far too close for comfort. It was coming down, and if Asmodeus did not kill them all, then the crashing ship certainly would.
Haborym huddled in the corner, fearful of the storm that swirled around. It was an unearthly power, and it frightened him. Asmodeus, however, knew no fear. He relished in the blood of his defeated opponent as he watched the Jedi crawl and pull his broken body up to the Gateway. The warlord slowly made his way up the steps, stepping over the pools of Michael's blood.
Michael himself had summoned the strength to stand, and pressed himself against the Gateway crystal. Its purple energy enveloped him, a gentle caress, thanking him for his service. He cried, and laid his head against the stone, feeling its warmth throughout his body.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I tried."
"You failed."
Asmodeus lurched forward, and jabbed his sword through the Jedi's back and into the Gateway crystal. Michael Halcyon arched backwards, and screamed the names of his fallen compatriots with his final breath. "Keena! Leuqores! Rojali! Clay Munrab! Sarai!" Asmodeus wrenched the sword through his opponent's torso, and Michael's cries fell silent.
The Gateway Crystal surged with energy, which flowed through the sword and into Asmodeus. The storm raged, and Haborym cowered as mysteries of the galaxy flowed through his master. Asmodeus' eyes grew wide as the Gateway opened and his eyes beheld the Nexus.
Asmodeus wept. Michael died. The Acheron fell. And across all the known galaxies, the Halcyon line was determined too dangerous to be allowed to continue.
Tartarus...
Pravitas was unconscious, his armor smoldering. The med bay was in shambles, and Haborym was pushing his way off the table. Oryon stood dumbfounded, uncertain of what he should do next. His enemy had just attacked the man he considered a brother...and he was right to do so.
"Well, that should keep him down for a bit." Haborym tapped the side of his head, knocking some of the slime from his ear. "I feel like I've had a headache for years. Thanks, doc! That's some good doctorin' you did." He grinned at Oryon, and then walked over to where Pravitas was embedded into the wall. "Now, let's finish this guy off."
"Hold it!" Rodeo stepped between Haborym and Pravitas. "He's down. If that is Michael, we owe it to him to get him out of here."
"Step aside, cowboy. I'm strong, but he's beat me before, and I need to put him down before he wakes up and goes on the offensive."
"Not a chance, psycho! You really think anyone here is going to side with you over him?"
"Rodeo..." Elder's voice came softly from the back of the room. "Step aside."
Rodeo was shocked. "Elder? Are you insane?"
Elder stepped forward, a very somber look on his face. "He's fallen, Rodeo. It has been a long time coming. We promised him, if he ever fell..."
Rodeo shook his head vehemently. "He's fallen before, and we never gave up on him then." His eyes narrowed at Elder suspiciously. "What is the matter with you, you've never given up on him before."
"Look at him, Rodeo. He's never fallen like this before. He's harbored darkness, but there was always light inside him. Can't you feel it? The creature at your feet is evil, through and through. And if he wakes up, even our combined strength will be no match for him." Elder regarded the fallen warrior sadly. "Step aside, both of you. It should be me."
Haborym shrugged. "Come on over, grandpa. We'll do it together. Save the ribs for me though."
Elder stepped forward, pushing Rodeo and Haborym both aside. "I'm sorry...I always thought it'd be you, you were so promising, so familiar..." He kneeled and put his hands on Pravitas' head. "I'm so sorry I pushed you into this."
The Halcyons bowed their heads in deference, preparing for the passing of one of their greatest.
"Well this isn't very encouraging..."
Elder's eyes opened, and confusion spread through his mind. It...can't be...
He turned sharply, as did everyone present, and watched as Michael Halcyon leaned against wall on the far side of the med bay. He was clutching his side, and bleeding profusely. His face was bruised and beaten, but it was unmistakably him.
Haborym was the first to break the shocked silence. "Oh Sithspit, there's two of you now?" He stomped his foot and shook his head in mock exasperation.
Elder stood, his eyes filling with tears. "Michael..."
Michael leaned forward and began stumbling towards the group. "You don't get to talk, old man. You were about to kill me."
Oryon rushed forward and embraced Michael suddenly. "You damn fool. You damn fool."
"Easy, Blue. I'm leaking a bit here."
Oryon pulled back Michael's hand and examined the wound. He had been injured badly, by a lightsaber from the looks of it. The muscle tissue had cauterized instantly, and there was a substantial portion of his waist missing. "Good god..."
"I'll be alright." Michael gently pushed Oryon aside and began hobbling forward. "Don't know if you fellas noticed, but we don't seem to be able to die here." He looked at Mitvekzuk, who was rested against the kolto tank with a hole in his chest. Awake, but very much in pain. "Well, I guess Mit here knows what I'm talking about. You hanging in there, Mit?"
The soldier nodded, wearing nothing but his undergarment and his ridiculous helmet that never left his face. "I'll make it through this. You?"
Michael shrugged, "We'll find out, I guess."
"Okay what the kark is happening here? Why are there two of you bastards?" Bakurro was trying to light a cigar with a surgical laser saw. Volaro slapped it out of his hands.
Michael limped up to Elder, who was still in shock. "You want to tell them, old man, or should I?"
"Michael..." Elder reached out to touch Michael, but he stepped backwards. The older of the two sunk, and sighed. "I thought it had happened. I thought it had been decided."
Michael frowned. "I've been telling you for years. Future ain't set in stone. Not even for us." He looked over to Haborym, noticing his presence for the first time since entering the room.
Haborym waved. "Hey buddy. How ya feelin?"
Michael looked curiously back at Oryon, who shrugged. "I don't know. For the moment he's with us, I guess."
Haborym feigned offense. "Why, I'm hurt! I'm a team player, all the way. Brand new me, turning over a new leaf. I'm a hero now!" He put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.
"I don't buy that for a second." Rodeo grumbled.
Haborym pouted, and Oryon threw up his hands. "Oh for heaven's sake, are we telling them or not?"
"I'd sure like to know just what the hell you people have gotten me into." Alan muttered.
Michael looked back at Elder, who sighed again.
"Listen, we...don't have time to get into all of it here. But the short version is...well..." He looked down to Pravitas.
"Elder is actually me. Or, a version of me. Older me. A different Michael Halcyon." Michael blurted it out, fed up with Elder beating around the topic. "Remember the story? 'ripped from time and space?' Well he's an example of the time part of it. And apparently, our friend down here taking a nap is part of the same lineup."
Elder winced through this painfully dumbed-down explanation of events, and tried to clarify. "Well, hold on there, Michael. That's not entirely accurate..."
"No time!" Michael snapped back at him. He turned to the group. "You all on board with that idea? Because we don't have time to sit through the long version."
Foster stood and spoke for the first time since entering the room. "Well...we're in a pocket dimension. Apparently we can't die. There's air in space, Akator met space-gods who built him a new body, and Haborym is thinking he's one of the good guys." At this, Haborym interwove his fingers under his chin and curtsied. "You three all being a different version of the same person? Not the strangest thing to happen today."
"Good!" Michael smiled. "Because we're about to make it weirder. Rodeo, you and Oryon pick up Sleepy over here. We've got to neutralize him before he wakes up." Michael grabbed a crutch for his injured side and began hobbling towards the hallway. "Everyone follow me."
"YYYYYEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!"
The party was in full swing when Kalna made his grand entrance. The music was blaring, the lights were waving back and forth, and everyone was drinking and dancing. Everyone, that is, except the two main dancers in their cages high above the Shock Pit. Kalna took note of this, and frowned momentarily before resuming his normal demeanor. "Welcome to the Corral!"
The crowd cheered, and Kalna flexed his grotesque body, much to the delight of the patrons. "Everyone eat, drink! Enjoy yourselves! Debase yourselves! This is YOUR night!" The music pounded, and the party continued. Kalna shuffled his way around the club, eyeing Barrow and Arbokk, who sat in their cages unmoving.
The party did not seem to care, yet. The occasional drunk would grab a poor squirming rodent or amphibian from its glass bowl next to the pit and toss it in. It would hit the ground and bounce around and the crowd would boo for a moment before going back to their drinks. Meanwhile, Barrow and Arbokk sat stoically above the pit, refusing to entertain this mass of hedonists.
Kalna frowned again and shuffled to the bar, where the Warden was tossing back his drinks. "What the hell are you doing, bro?" The Warden tossed back a shot and laughed. "Those two slaves aren't dancing, man. I thought you said they'd play along?"
"Relax. I've got a plan."
"Oh, a plan? Oh, yeah, I feel so relaxed now. A plan. The pig's got a plan." The Warden rolled his eyes at this. Kalna grabbed him and whirled him around to face him. "This is my party, and if you don't get those two slaves dancing, it'll be your last. Do you feel me, bro?"
The Warden frowned and brushed Kalna's hands off of his vest. "Fine. I'll handle it." Kalna nodded and began shuffling away. "Fat slug..." The Gamorrean muttered under his breath.
"In here!" Michael led the group back to the cell where he had been contained. As the crew began filing in, with Rodeo and Oryon carrying Pravitas around their shoulders, many of them gasped at the sight of Passus' dark machine towering over them.
"What in the world is that device?" Akator mused aloud, fascinated by the machine.
"Strap Pravitas into it, hurry!" Michael began working the controls of the device.
"Jeez, Mike. This is where they kept you? How the heck did you get outta here?" Alan was examining the chains that had held Michael aloft for the past week.
Michael did not look up from his task. "Our day job is breaking people out of Imperial prisons, Alan. You think I can't work up an escape on my own?" He keyed a command and the machine roared to life. He began preparing the opposite chamber. "I escaped once before already, but that creep Passus put me down hard. I had to wait until he was...distracted. When I felt all of you in the nearby med bay, I figured you had at least slowed the bastard down."
"Michael..." Oryon finished strapping Pravitas into the machine and had come down to speak with him. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's not like you, killing an enemy."
"Well, there are some that would argue with you on that point." He grinned. "But I'm not killing anybody."
"Oh no. No no no, Michael!" Elder realized what Michael was planning and stepped forward. "No way, you cannot do this. You've finally purged yourself of this foul creature!"
Bakurro leaned into Alan. "You following any of this?"
Alan pulled out two cigarettes and handed one to Bakurro. "Not a word. Hey, creepy guy! Eager-to-please?" He called towards Haborym who perked up when he realized he was being addressed. "Little help here?"
Haborym's face lit up, and he stuck out two fingers. A tiny bolt of lightning shot from either finger and lit the two cigarettes.
"Thanks, pal. You ain't all bad." Bakurro grinned and puffed on the cigarette. He and Alan leaned against the wall while the others argued over the plan.
After a moment, Bakurro looked down at the cigarette, and then over to Alan, who was wearing as little clothing as he was. "Where exactly did you just pull these from?"
"He's the only chance we got, Elder. I've made up my mind." Michael began strapping himself into the machine opposite Pravitas. "We don't have much time before he wakes up."
Elder leaned in close to Michael. "Son, you are destined to become me. I know you do not believe that, but I do. How do you expect to do that if you blend your soul with his again?"
"Okay, first off? You're right. I don't believe that garbage. I ain't you, I ain't ever gonna be you. Deal with it." He strapped his legs in. "Secondly? This won't be like before. He was a vegetable while I carried his soul within me. I've programmed the machine to blend, rather than separate like before. Half me, half him, both bodies. I've got a lot more experience balancing light with dark than he does, and hopefully absorbing a little of me will get him with the program. Besides, we need his help if we are gonna get outta here." He fitted his arms into the sleeves of the chamber. "Ready when you are, big guy!"
Rodeo nodded. "If this doesn't work, boss..."
Michael nodded. "You have my permission to kill us both. If you can."
"Oh that's comforting." Oryon rolled his eyes.
Michael grinned. "Hit it!"
Rodeo threw the switch, and the room was once again consumed with darkness and the sound of screams.
In the back room of the Corral, Adara was taking a short break from the party. Several hours of serving drinks and being groped by drunken idiots had worn down her patience, and she needed a moment of silence before heading back out there.
"Adara? Are you okay?"
Adara scowled and set down the serving tray. "Okay, enough!"
Lilia stopped, startled by this sudden hostility. "What is it?"
The Cathar turned to face Lilia, who looked hurt. "Ever since the thing, ever since that creep got into our heads, you've been treating me like this poor little victim."
Lilia set down her own serving tray. "I just...wanted you to feel safe...?"
Adara's expression softened slightly. "Listen, you're a nice person. I get that. But I don't need you to save me, alright? That asshole got the better of me, yeah. But I'm not a victim, and neither are you."
Lilia frowned. "I feel helpless. I couldn't help you then, and I can't help us now."
"Yeah well, get over it." Lilia looked up, momentarily offended. "None of that is your fault, alright? We don't need no one looking after us. Ain't nobody gonna show us pity in the real universe, okay? You gotta toughen up, and stop trying to pretend like you're protecting people, get it?"
Lilia nodded, and Adara scowled again. This chick is going to be the death of me, I swear it.
She struggled to find a shred of empathy, and awkwardly put a hand on Lilia's bare shoulder. "Now, you gonna help me break us out of here or what?" The two girls smiled at each other, and found a moment of camaraderie.
It was, therefore, an extremely unfortunate time for the Warden to start throwing his weight around.
He burst in through the door, growling and stumbling drunkenly. "What are you two doin' back here? Get yer little asses out there and make some fellas happy..." He slurred his speech and wobbled. "I swear I'll slap shock collars on both of ya, you little whores."
Adara and Lilia exchanged a quick glance.
The Warden found himself capable of a brief moment of flight as he sailed backwards back into the Corral. His head was pounding, and he was fairly certain his groin had been attacked by a rabid akk dog. Nevertheless, he enjoyed his brief flight before coming crashing down onto a table, sending drinks flying through the crowd.
Adara and Lilia emerged from the back room, their slave outfits flowing around them. Adara had taken the Warden's shock stick, and Lilia was twirling the two giant axes around fondly. "Oh yeah, I'm keeping these!"
"grrrr...stupid slaves...I'll kick you so hard you ain't never gonna-ARRRGGGHHHH!" His threat was stopped short as Adara leaped over the crowd and shoved the business end of the shock stick into his mouth.
"Fry little piggy." She grinned.
Lilia waved the twin axes over her head and shouted. "All part of the show, people! Enjoy!"
The crowd roared in approval, and floor of the Shock Pit lit up briefly. Adara noticed this, and shoved the Warden backwards as hard as she could. He fell into the Shock Pit and landed hard on his back. He squealed in anger and quickly got to his feet, searching for a foothold by which he might climb out.
Arbokk and Barrow had other plans.
The beat pounded repeatedly, a heavy bass rhythm. The colorful lights flew back and forth across the walls, and the two men jumped to their feet. They caught each others eye, and nodded in agreement.
The crowd cheered, and a low voltage shock made the cruel Warden's knees tremble.
Barrow and Arbokk began to dance with the beat, their hips gyrating, their arms over their head, smiling at the crowd, flirting, winking. Each step they took caught the attention of another patron. Each swivel of their waist brought another cheer. With every thrust, another surge of applause.
"Yeah boys! Dance!" Adara shouted.
The two dancers twirled and twisted in their cages, pulling out the raunchiest and most crowd-pleasing moves they knew. They sweat, they danced, they entertained. They captured the attention of the entire cheering club, and hardly anyone noticed the smoke rising from the Shock Pit.
