The cramped escort ship that Lara was piloting was already making her claustrophobic and she hadn't even risen out of the atmosphere yet. She couldn't imagine how the pilots of these things ever got used to this cramped cockpit that offered so little room to move or get comfortable. It probably wasn't helping that she could feel the Dark Side of the Force getting stronger with every kilometer closer to his flagship she became.
Caine, he called himself even though it wasn't his real name. She remembered when he started using that name, demanding that the other students refer to him as such and getting irritated at anyone who didn't. As days and weeks went by and his fellow Padawans seemed disinterested in acknowledging this supposed change, he actually started to become outwardly angry about it. It was strange to say the least and even Master Skywalker seemed a little put off by it at first, but eventually he just let it be. When it became clear that their teacher wasn't going to raise a fuss about it, everyone sort of gave in. Before long it was as if it was always his name. Looking back, it should have been one of the first warning signs that something had twisted his way of thinking about himself and his training, but no one really put the pieces in place.
What does he want? Lara thought for what may have been the tenth time since he demanded that she be delivered to his ship. How long has he been looking for me?
Every question she asked herself just led down a road to more questions until her thoughts became an incoherent mess of what-if's with her consciously having to stop the rush of negative uncertainty to clear her mind. It wasn't long, however, until the cycle repeated and she started down the same road of frantic searching for answers that weren't there.
As the ship cleared Nuldarra's atmosphere and the dark starfield of space came into focus through the cockpit's transparisteel panes, navigational alerts chirped to life on the control panel. Lara confirmed the change in course needed and quickly re-oriented the ship's trajectory. She prepared to fire the sub-lightspeed engines to accelerate towards the flagship, but something strange happened.
At first Lara felt a tightening in her chest. She took a deep breath, trying to draw more air into her lungs but it didn't lessen the feeling of not being able to bring enough in. She tried again and although she made a much more pronounced inhale, this time it felt worse. Her anxiety ticked upwards as she checked the life support systems to see if anything would indicate a loss of cabin pressure or breathable air. After cycling through all of the main diagnostic screens, Lara could uncover no reason why she was having an increasing difficulty with breathing.
She decided to reach for the emergency life mask below her seat when a shock blasted through the muscles and bones of her extremities. It was as if some invisible alien creature had grabbed her arms and legs with its multiple strong hands to render her motionless. The sensation was absolutely horrifying and for a second she worried that she might be paralyzed. She could still move all of her fingers and toes, though, and her head and neck were not immobilized either.
Her inability to grab the mask now had Lara in a full panic. Her breathing was still becoming increasingly difficult and if she couldn't take more air in soon, she knew that she would pass out without any way to signal back home for help. Just then she felt a thunderclap of Dark Side energy radiate through her skull, resonating from front to back. She finally realized what was happening. As her vision started to narrow and blacken with her consciousness slipping away, Lara knew that the next thing she was going to see was the face of evil.
She was not quite correct. Upon opening her eyes, she first noticed what looked to be a hovering metallic device shaped like two pyramids inverted onto each other. Her vision was still a bit blurry but the shape was pretty unmistakable and she recognized what it was immediately. It glowed with a blue light that on one hand was calming, but in another way cold and distant. The feeling was certainly paradoxical but as her vision began to sharpen she focused less on the object and more on what sat in the distance of her field of vision, maybe twenty meters behind and slightly above it.
Lara actually felt his him before she could see him. There was a dark swirling storm of hate and rage sitting back there, much stronger than when she had been in his presence before. There was much more focus, however, which she knew made him even more dangerous than he was years ago when he murdered her friends and shattered many of her dreams. It was hard to contain the anger she herself was feeling now sitting here across the dark room from him. She tried to rise, but quickly realized that she was restrained in her seat. Glowing green energy binders wrapped around both wrists and ankles as well as her waist, making it impossible for her to move. Her anger rose as she struggled and when he finally spoke, she wasn't surprised at the first words he said.
"I feel fear and anger in you", Caine said in a condescending, mocking tone.
"You can't feel anything, you're incapable of it.", she shot back. "Millions of deaths down there prove it."
Caine said nothing, nor did he move.
"You're a monste.r", Lara shouted. "And also a thief I see."
The dark figure rose and walked slowly towards the object hovering between them. As he came out of the shadows, the soft blue light of the geometric object illuminated his facial features—eyes that seemed to have no whites anymore, chiseled cheekbones and a thick black beard that hid his lips, not allowing any emotion to be read.
"This holocron has no owner.", Caine stated as he stared into its light. "It's knowledge is for any and all."
"It belongs to our Master, a TRUE JEDI.", Lara snapped at him, struggling vainly to escape from the hold of the binders. "When and HOW were you able to take it?"
"And now we get to the reason you are here.", Caine informed her ignoring her question as an unsettling smile appeared on his face. "Master…Skywalker. My FORMER teacher."
"He seems to have vanished.", he continued. "But I would very much like to know where he is."
"Why is that?", she sneered.
"Because I want REVENGE-!", Caine shouted, the smile suddenly gone and rage showing in his black eyes. "He exiled me…ME, his most talented student-! I wasn't strong enough to face him and exact it then, but now I am."
A long pause hung in the air. After a few seconds he spoke again
"And there is another reason."
Lara could only imagine what other plans his twisted mind could have but she didn't bite. She didn't care what his insane reasoning told him.
"You're still delusional. You'll never be as strong as him", she countered. "And why would you think I know where he is, anyway?"
"You led me to his sister, didn't you?", he replied mockingly. "Now her planet's surface is devastated and it's your fault…just as it was your fault that your two childhood friends were killed."
Lara jerked on the restraints even harder this time like an animal fighting for its freedom, but she could get no closer to her tormentor.
"I think it's also highly likely that you DO know where your uncle is.", Caine continued. "You'll tell me eventually. I'm sure of it"
"Let me out of this chair.", she growled. "And I'll SHOW you where he is"
Caine laughed out loud at her suggestion, then he took a few steps forward until he was standing directly in front of her. He stared down at her with the smile of a madman returning to his lips.
"I suggest you stop struggling and just make yourself as comfortable as possible.", he told her. "You might be stuck there for a while."
He abruptly turned away from Lara and strode purposefully to his chamber's doorway. Just before he arrived at the exit, however, she shouted to him
"Hey"
"I sense fear in you also. You may be able to hide it from your lackeys, but you can't hide it from me."
He stopped and stood silently for a second, but he didn't turn around to face her.
"Is that so?", Caine said.
"Yes", Lara shot back. "You're afraid you are going to have to do the one thing you couldn't do last time we were together."
Caine remained motionless but she could sense a change in his demeanor and was sure that it was showing on his face, even though she couldn't see it.
"For all the talk of your strength.", she sneered with sarcasm dripping from her tongue. "You still don't have enough."
He slowly turned around to face her again. His predatory smile was gone and his eyes glowed like burning yellow coals.
"We shall see.", he hissed.
"Keep a very close watch on her and have your weapons at the ready at ALL TIMES.", Caine told the two guards stationed outside his quarters. 'Do not speak to her and do not let her get into your mind. Remember your training."
Both of them immediately nodded in the affirmative before turning and entering the room.
As the door closed behind him and he began walking to the bridge of the Spearhead, he pondered the girl's last words to him. His confidence wasn't shaken, but he had to admit that her defiance had struck a nerve. She had always been an annoyance, from his earliest memory of her. That she had the audacity to challenge him again was something she would finally and decidedly come to regret.
She was going to find out very soon how strong he had become since their last encounter and it was not going to be pleasant. It was not going to be pleasant for her at all.
