ZIOST
Bloodshade Darkstar crept along the streets of the Citadel, picking her way through the city about the academy itself, making their way up the levels. She had stealthed them a number of times to slip by random encounters. So far things had gone as well as she could have hoped. They had yet to be spotted at all, no mean feat given the towering form of the deshade that tagged along behind the human and herself.
Doc was withdrawn and silent as they went. He had made the mistake of reaching a hand out to touch the woman in the sith robes and skull looking helmet. The moment he had, Doc found himself lifted off his feet back to slam against a stone wall, staring into the deshade's toothy maw and angry face. Doc squirmed but had been unable to get free.
"Touch her again worm and I will suck the marrow from your cracked bones." Khem Val had snarled.
"Khem, let him go. He's learned his lesson." Bloodshade had commented waving a dismissive hand at him. "Besides, eating him would likely make you ill."
Doc had not said a word since. He had taken the slight in stride. The woman had utterly no sense of humour and seemed quite strange. Having just tried to lighten the mood, he settled for just following along, all too well aware of the large creature following at his back. Doc could literally feel the thing's hot breath and burning gaze staring holes in his back.
"How much further?" He finally broke the long standing silence.
"Not far. Across this courtyard and then around the outer wall of the training grounds. Just be silent and follow my lead." Bloodshade answered, peering out over the courtyard.
The sith looked about carefully, noting how open the courtyard was. Three streets entered it, the far side the wall of the training grounds. If they could get across to it and follow it about, there was a narrow walkway between wall and where the ground rose they would follow to the hiding spot. Casting a glance back, she stared a moment at the large deshade. Had Khem not come along it would have been easier, she knew. Then again if we get into a fight, his strength was unmatched and could prove the difference, she reminded herself.
Teffa Darkstar let the probe wander out down the street, watching the readouts that it fed back to him. Nobody was out on the street despite the houses on the one side being occupied. He and Tormen had managed to make their way along the streets up to where he had wanted to get them. They had skirted the occasional patrol, mostly on the lower levels, but had yet to run into a real problem. Teffa had little worry even if they had. He knew he could handle most of what they would run into, and was just as confident in Tormen's abilities even if he would not vocally tell him such.
"You sure you know where we're going?" Tormen asked, peering about.
"Just ahead. The end of the wall there is a path behind it between it and rock. We follow that along and we're there."
"So let's go." Tormen urged, making to move forward but Teffa's hand coming out before him stopped him in his tracks.
"Not so fast. It's too quiet. No sense in being sloppy now."
They waited and watched as the probe finished its sweep down the street, then started back up towards them. All remained quiet and clear in the street. Teffa frowned inside his helmet. He knew the academy had officially moved to Korriban, but this particular street, known as cantina row, was never as quiet as it was now. Things change, he reminded himself even if it did little to sway his caution.
"Quick and quiet." Teffa said finally, knowing there was nothing else to do but go forward, watching as the smuggler's armoured head nodded in agreement.
They darted out of the side street and down the main street, keeping close to the wall and away from the entry ways that they passed. They were halfway down when one of the cantina doors opened and four Imperial officers stumbled outside into the street. Teffa swore under his breath, drawing up and standing there, Tormen doing the same to his left. The men staggered and laughed, clearly intoxicated and utterly unaware of their surroundings. Teffa stood still waiting until the men walked up and literally into them. One bumped into the armoured chest of the bounty hunter before stumbling back.
"What is this shit?" One of them stammered out slurring his words and squinting to focus his vision.
"You're drunk." Teffa growled. "Go home, sleep it off."
"I'm not drunk." Another of them men stated but when he went to emphasize his words by poking Tormen in the chest, the smuggler stepped aside and he fell to the street.
"Oh Chass, umm… yeah your drunk! I'm not though!"
Teffa shook his head then glanced at Tormen and shrugged. Neither of them wanted to waste time and have anyone else walk up on them, especially if they were less inebriated. Teffa upper-cutted the closest guy before giving a kick to the head of Chass who stayed where he had fallen on the ground. Tormen moved equally as quick, kicking the closest drunkard in the balls then pistol whipping him in the back of the head. The smuggler then punched the remaining man square in the face dropping him back onto his back on the ground.
"Let's move." Teffa growled.
"This is fun!" Tormen cracked laughing as the two men broke into a run, the bounty hunter leading them to the end of the wall then onto a small narrow dirt path running between rock wall and the stone that ringed the training area.
Teffa shook his head and chuckled at the smuggler, leading the way to where the gap was between the two training ground walls, spotting Bloodshade leading her group. Teffa gave a wave and met up at the entrance to the small space they had used as their hide away as children.
"Looks like you made it here just fine." Teffa commented.
"It was uneventful." Bloodshade nodded her head and glanced about.
Teffa was about to ask about Necrolis when he spotted the man and his sister racing up to join them. The bounty hunter noticed Shadelis seemed upset, wondering immediately what had happened. The helmeted head turned to Necrolis who gave his brother a nod in greeting. Teffa did not miss the fact that his brother was without the gree helmet for his armour that he had been wearing.
"What kept you?" Teffa asked, looking from Necrolis to Shadelis and back again.
"Just had to take our time getting around some old familiar faces." Necrolis answered, causing Teffa to look between the two once again. Necrolis gave him a look that said not to press the issue further and Teffa merely nodded back.
Gathered together once more, they entered the small little space that the Darkstar's had remembered from childhood. It was covered mostly in snow and ice, with benches and a small stone ring that had at times held a small fire to ward off the cold. It had not seen use in a long time, snow filling it now. Necrolis cast a look about, memories of them sitting about for hours together coming back to him. They had spent a lot of time here, especially in the early years before things had happened that drove wedges between them. Every family had their squabbles, he knew.
Teffa reached a hand up to place it on Necrolis' shoulder, remembering long forgotten days himself. He was still looking about as Doc moved into the space, heading right for one of the benches. The medic made some comment about finally being able to relax a moment as he made to stretch out and lay down. Teffa's display in his helmet flashed red, the outline of a motion device showing on the bench. He made to yell at the man to stop, but it was too late.
"Dammit!" Teffa swore getting all their attention. "We have to get out of here now!"
Attention swung to the bounty hunter even as he strode over to Doc, grabbing the man by one hand and yanking him off the bench, even as his other reached under to rip out the device. Holding it up he showed the others his discovery. Stupid and careless, Teffa thought as he chastised himself for being careless. He had been too caught up in the past, in remembering days long gone, he had not thought to scan the place.
"Is that what I think it is?" Bloddshade asked.
"They know we're here now." Shadelis confirmed for her sister, unslinging her rifle and moving to peer out of the space back along the narrow walkways.
"Looks like we're doing things the hard way after all." Necrolis commented as he shrugged and looked to Teffa who shook his head and tossed the device down in disgust.
"Way to go, Doc!" Tormen tossed out at the man.
Doc gave the smuggler a cold hard glare, hand straying to his hip where his blaster was holstered. Fingers clenched into a fist instead of grabbing the weapon, no matter how he would have liked such. Gritting his teeth, Doc reminded himself there would be a time and place to get back at the man, but it was not right now.
KORRIBAN
Blackheart Darkstar stretched and stifled a yawn. He glanced about, feeling the softness of the bed he was in, sheets tangled about his waist and legs. The chambers were not extravagant but nice all the same. Looking over towards the large couch that spanned the far wall he saw the naked form of the cathar sith. Pumirra was stretched out relaxing, reading a data pad. His eyes slid over the curves of her furred form, remembering well the feel of her against him, under his hands.
"Mmm… morning." Blackheart said softly, watching the cathar glance up and smile over at him.
Stretching out her form a moment, Pumirra set aside the data pad and rose, hips swaying as she made her way over to the bed. She watched the zabrak's eyes on her and could feel the intensity of his gaze, the hunger in them. They had literally worn each other out and slept for a time, but it seemed he was as insatiable as she was. She liked that.
"Someone woke up finally!" The cathar purred as she slid onto the bed, crawling over to Blackheart, sliding a hand teasingly up over his leg to cup and stroke him through the thin sheet that covered him.
Blackheart growled and sat up quickly, grabbing the dark short black hair in his hand capturing Pumirra, claiming her mouth in a hard deep kiss before grinning and winking at her. Pumirra kissed the man back before he drew away, leaving her panting and licking her lips. She saw the wink and gave a squeeze of fingers on his length and winked back before laughing.
"So you are content now to be my prisoner?" She asked playfully.
Blackheart nodded before kissing her again. He had no complaints now at all. What was there to complain about? He was free of any restraints and the only condition on him was to remain close to the cathar, following her directions. So far that had proven very easy indeed to do. She had not lied at all, and so long as he followed her instructions he was free to do as he would. The word guest had replaced prisoner, though he was still all too aware he was a means to an end. A guilded cage is still a cage, he reminded himself.
"Uh-oh." Pumirra commented, reaching her hand up to stroke over his furrowed brow. "You're thinking, I can tell."
"Just wondering what will happen to the others." Blackheart admitted to the woman, flopping back down onto the bed. "They don't need to be killed. They're going to come to try and find me."
"More than likely they will, that is true." Pumirra admitted, knowing they had already put plans in place to deal with just such a situation. It had been the plan before she had decided to alter them. Capture one of them and make them suffer to draw the others into a foolish rescue attempt.
"I don't want them hurt." Blackheart looked at her intently, and the cathar shook her head and smiled lightly.
"Are you asking me?" Pumirra questioned him, sliding up to hover over top of him on all fours. "What do I get out of it if I agree to ensure such?"
"I think I can make it worth your while." Blackheart answered, hands rising to stroke along her sides before grabbing hold of her hips and pulling her down on top of him.
ZIOST
Valderas Lokhee paced before the giant desk in the spacious quarters of his office. The headmaster of the Citadel paid little attention to the room about him, or the view out over the frozen landscape visible through the giant windows that ran the length of the room. Pausing he brushed fingers over the sharp curved metal edges of the desk. The feeling of that familiar presence still plagued him, brought back the memories both sweet and bitter. So close, he thought, I had been so close to enjoying everything. He had indulged himself with acolytes before often enough, but where Shadelis Darkstar had been concerned she was something special and different.
The man resumed his pacing, thoughts turning from the lovely blue skinned chiss to the one that had ruined everything. Necrolis Darkstar not only interfered and upset his well laid plans he had escaped his vengeance as well. Even stuck on Ziost, Valderas had been able to learn all that had come to pass in regards to the pure blooded sith. He was now the favoured of the Emperor, his right hand, the Wrath. The child who had discovered what he was, that had brought him nothing but misery and suffering, had grown and risen to a lofty height while he wallowed stuck on a frozen planet.
"One day…" Valderas muttered as his hands clenched at his sides in anger.
Distracted and lost in his thoughts, he almost missed the chime of the holo terminal built into his desk. Annoyed at the sudden interruption, the Head Master stared at the blinking blue light marking the incoming call. Shaking his head, Valderas made his way about the desk and then hit the control to answer the call.
"What is it?" He snapped irritably.
"Head Master." The pale blue light of the figure appeared, one Valderas knew all too well. Kayln Nidor was Overseer of the Imperial operatives, as well as being in charge of running the administrative side of things for the Citadel. "We have a sensor reading in the courtyard at the training grounds."
Valderas smiled thinly as he listened to the chiss speak, knowing he had indeed been right. He had felt something. Could she have returned to me, Valderas wondered? Absently his hand rose to stroke fingertips over the scarred flesh of his cheek where she had left her mark for all to see. Whoever it was, they would be dealt with. And this time there was no Dark Council present to worry about intervening.
" I want Varel and Janas out there and dealing with this. I want them found and brought to me so I can welcome them to Ziost properly."
Kayln Nidor nodded her understanding to the Head Master before ending the call. The chiss then made the appropriate arrangements with her counterparts. Janas Terek and Varel Thane were Overseers but also took care of heading up the remaining occupational forces within the city. Both were capable men, strong strategists and fighters. Janas was the elder of the two by a handful of years, the dark brown hair tinted with silver-grey about the temples. Tall, broad shouldered, and thickly muscled, the man still struck an imposing figure. Varel was tall, but not as muscled. He was lean and well put together, with short cropped black hair and eyes. The chiss had to admit the man was handsome.
"Orders are out, converging on the target point now." Varel's voice came over the comm channel to her.
"Sentry units activated. Citadel in lock down." Janas stated in that deep rich commanding voice he had. " I want check in by all check points every ten minutes."
Kayln smiled seeing things in hand, moving over to the observation and security station, the red eyes moving to view the camera feeds. Watching them she waited patiently to see who it was that had dared to come calling. It was strange the only evidence of their presence had been a long ago placed sensor in a spot few even knew of.
"Are you here?" The woman asked as she peered over the camera feeds intently, reminding herself to not get her hopes up.
"Way to go… Doc!" Tormen shook his head, giving the man a disgusted look.
"How the fuck was I supposed to know?" Doc shot back angrily, waving a hand at Necrolis. "They said this was a safe spot nobody knew of!"
Necrolis ignored the arguing between the two men. It was clear they had a dislike for each other to begin with, and fighting between them all would solve nothing. Teffa was pacing about the walls, examining them, looking for a possible way through the thick barriers that surrounded them. Bloodshade had taken up position on one side of the arched entry, Shadelis on the other, both women watching the narrow paths that lead to their spot. Completely trapped, Necrolis knew. The only good news was the paths were so narrow it was impossible for any forces to do more than come at them single file.
"You're a fucking idiot." Tormen snapped at the medic.
"Tormen, it ain't helping." Teffa growled stepping away from his examination of the wall to put himself between the two men before it turned into a violent confrontation. "Let's focus on getting out of here before we shoot the son of a bitch, yes?"
Tormen's armoured head nodded in agreement and the smuggler moved with the bounty hunter to searching the walls. Doc glared at both men, once more seeing in his mind drawing his blaster and putting both men down permanently. He was lost in that thought and almost missed that his hand was gripping hard on the grip of his blaster. Letting it go, Doc paced back and forth and fell silent, keeping to himself.
"We have company." Bloodshade yelled out over her shoulder, double bladed saber coming to life in her hands.
"We're out of time." Necrolis stated and shook his head before casting a glance over to his brother.
Teffa shrugged and threw his hands up in frustration. The wall was intact and too thick to blast through, even after all the time that had passed. They were trapped and there was going to be no easy way out. Short of trying to come up with a way up and over the ten foot wall covered in ice, they were stuck. Teffa could see Necrolis having the same thoughts, knowing they would not be taken without a fight, even if it was a battle they could not win.
"I'm with you to the bitter end, brother." Teffa stated, even as he brought his weapon systems online and moved to join the women at the arched entry.
"Nobody I'd rather be fighting with." Necrolis stated and drew his lightsabers.
They did not wait long to be engaged. Small groups of two or three Imperial troopers at a time made their way towards the entry. Forced to move single file, they were easily taken care of between gunfire, lightning, lightsaber tosses, and the occasional thermite grenade or missile barrage. Taking turns, the group cycled through keeping themselves rested and spreading out the use of their weaponry. Bodies of the dead piled up, clogging the pathway and eventually the forces against them were pulled back to regroup.
"They won't waste much time in figuring out how to hit us from a distance." Teffa stated, casting a glance inside his helmet to the displays and checking his stores.
"Bet twenty credits they come up over the walls on us." Tormen growled, crouched down, back pressed to the wall and blasters held at the ready.
"I don't see a way out of this one." Shadelis admitted and sighed, looking about at all of them.
Necrolis looked back at his sister, before casting his own gaze over those about him. He knew Teffa and Shadelis were right. If they tried to break out, they had to do so in one direction. Given their opposition had plenty of time and resources to fortify, the odds were not good any of them would make it. He was about to ask for any suggestions when he heard the crack of ice and caught the shifting of a piece of wall.
"Fuck me!" Teffa swore as he turned and levelled his blasters at the opening hidden passage in the wall. "They've got a back door!"
A hand appeared about the cracked open door waving at them, making them all pause. Necrolis frowned and glanced at the others before looking back, surprised and unsure. When a silver haired head popped about the wall to peer back at them with a toothless grin, the sith along with his siblings all gave a sigh of relief.
"Ab, you beautiful son of a bitch!" Teffa shouted, holstering his blasters and moving to grab the man up in a bear hug.
Abraxas Miransi groaned and smacked Teffa's armored shoulder as he was hoisted about unceremoniously. The Citadel groundskeeper was all too familiar with the children Darkstar, having been there from their arrival through to their departure. He had been there far too long he knew, though he we getting so old he doubted he would be about much longer. Looking at them each in turn as they came up and gave him a hug and warm greeting, the man could see they had changed little over the years.
"You'd best save the explanations and pleasantries until later." The old man said, waving at them to get into the hidden passage.
"Let's go!" Necrolis stated, waving at the others to move.