Cecile walked over to the unconscious pair, kneeling down to nudge each of them carefully. Neither showed any sign of reaction.

"Is this a stage of consummation I am not aware of? Hello?"

The lights throughout the ship dimmed abruptly, leaving them bathed in the ambient green once again. Even the hum of the ship's engine ceased, leaving an eerie, almost complete silence behind.

Cecile rose back up with a slight grind in her knees, looking around the corridor. There was still one sound that hadn't gone out with the rest of the ship, a repeated beeping.

Her eyes flickered, and with another look at Maarani and Izan, she straightened up and made her way over to the cockpit.

"They probably allowed a critical system to drain the energy reserves, and now life support has failed. Typical negligent-"

It hadn't taken long to reach the cockpit, and while she had noticed it was the proximity alarm that was sounding off, it wasn't until she took a look up through the top of the window that she noticed the real problem about to overwhelm them.

"By the Maker!"

An Imperial destroyer was moving into position overhead, ready to draw them into the lower landing bay.

With little time left, she left the cockpit in stride and made her way to the weapon locker. Out came the case carrying her quad set of blasters, which she replaced into each of her wrists. Now armed and ready, she calculated what her next move was to be, eyes flickering yet again.

"They cannot be allowed to harm the Mistress."

The box she hid away again, then made her way over to the top of the boarding ramp, standing ready for the inevitable arrival of Sith troopers.


"Level one alert. All hands on standby."

A squad of troopers jogged down the corridor, weapons in hand, followed up by two officers and a Sith apprentice in a procession headed for the lower landing bay. Many of those on their way about the ship moved to either side, concerned about the sudden movement but not questioning it outright, behaving as any Imperial was expected to.

By the time the troopers arrived, the Distant Star had been tractored in through the doors, and after a command to the onboard computer to perform landing procedures, was now being settled in on the deck itself.

The troopers formed up in defensive positions around the boarding ramp, leaving room for the two officers, Harton and Jenrik respectively, and the apprentice that only went by the name Night to step forward.

"Ready arms! Fireteam Onith, prepare to board and retrieve captives!"

The outermost four troopers of the procession changed position, now ready to move inside at speed.

When the ramp began to lower, Night raised his arms, looking for any sign of hostility, itching for a chance to use his honed powers.

After a few tense moments, a childcare droid shuffled down the ramp.

"Thank the Maker! Words cannot express my relief at seeing people! My owner and her lover simply fell unconscious without warning, and I couldn't wake them at all!"

A collective sigh of disappointment went through the troopers, and even Night himself who grumbled to himself about stupid droids.

Harton motioned his hand for Onith team to proceed inside, which they did in perfect formation, leaving him to deal with the droid. "Be silent. Do not attempt to interfere, or you will be destroyed on the spot."

Cecile straightened up, keeping all four of her hands against her sides. "As you wish." She took note of the guns trained on her while she moved well out of the way, holding position when Harton motioned at her to stop.

Not long after, the Onith troopers barreled back down the ramp. The first two had Izan and Maarani slumped over their shoulders respectively, the third following behind them for armed protection. The fourth made his way back over to Night.

"Found this between them."

Raising an eyebrow, Night picked up the crudely made lightsaber, turning it in his fingers a few times. He slid the cover open to get a look inside, raising his other eyebrow at seeing the cracked red crystal within.

"Very good. I'll pass this along. If you find any other lightsabers, inform me immediately."

While he walked off, Harton motioned for his counterpart to board the ship along with the rest of the troopers. "Confiscate and secure any other weapons in Locker B3, supplies are to be left on board. Lady Sloane will be making a personal inspection, I expect top notch behaviour."

"Yes sir!"

As soon as they marched off inside, Harton turned to Cecile once more. "Report to Droid Maintenance Bay Three. Obey all instructions and you might just leave with your owners. Understood?"

Cecile nodded her head with a loud squeak. "Clearly."

"Off with you then."

Keeping her head high, she walked off in the direction of the nearest corridor where Maarani and Izan had been taken. At the first intersection, she stopped and moved to one corner, making note of the signs in the place before moving on.

"Major Karren, report to requisition office to receive your delivery. Major Karren, report to requisition office."

Somewhere in the middle of mapping out a third intersection, Cecile noticed a sentinel droid approaching her. Her scanners went off immediately as she began to approach as well.

"It appears my navigation systems are subpar. I am having trouble locating Maintenance Bay Three."

The sentinel droid responded in Binary, directing a hand towards the left most corridor.

"My most humble gratitudes. Long live the Empire?"

The droid opposite her beeped in agreement, watching closely as Cecile walked off in that direction.

"General notification; all uniforms are to be checked for badges and other objects before cleaning. Check uniforms before cleaning."

Just before reaching the droid section of the ship, a small poster attached to a doorway caught her attention. Written in Aurebesh was a warning about hazardous materials inside. With an indignant huff, she strode over and ripped it off from the bottom up, casting the ruined poster aside.

"Hmph, as if anyone will fall for that one."

Her eventual arrival in the maintenance bay was met with a surprising look at the array of Imperial droids working on board the ship. Quite a few were sentinels on standby, one of which was being attended to by a repair droid. The ship's protocol droid was lying on a table undergoing maintenance of its own by a human man, who glanced at her once before returning to his work.

"You. State your designation."

Cecile turned to the droid that had spoken, a rather well polished model that she didn't recognize. It had large ocular sensors, and a very visible vocalizer in its square mouth that had a strong grate to its voice.

"CC-13. Programmed for child care, under the ownership of-"

"Silence."

The overseeing droid accessed its comparatively small workstation, muttering some things in Binary before looking back up. "Your presence has been logged. You will not leave this bay unless ordered." One of its ocular sensors extended out of its head, twisting to zoom in on her. "You are in poor condition. Authorization will be sought to begin repairs."

Cecile's eyes flickered. Her lower hands went to her hips, upper ones crossing over her chest. "I am perfectly functional, thank you very much. I don't need-"

"You are not authorized to object. Resistance will see you deactivated. Report to an evaluation station immediately."

There was very little recourse left, no real action she could take other than to abide by their instruction. It was not the time to put her plan into action. She had to take the chance that they would not think too hard about what they found inside her wrists, and her head.

She tilted her head with indignance as she moved on to find the evaluation station she had been ordered to, resuming her scans of the vicinity once more.


As soon as Izan noticed that he was lying on a cold metal floor, and that there was a lot of his skin touching that floor, he bolted upright. The speed at which he did that left his head spinning badly, a fresh wave of nausea sweeping over and causing him to groan.

When his vision settled, he had the very disheartening view of a grey cell around him. The doorway had a particularly nasty variant of ray shield sealing it.

Normally, it was after getting a little too drunk that he found himself in such a cell, and at least in those cases he wasn't stripped down to briefs and left in the cold. There was little use in feeling compromised, so he accepted his condition and slowly stood up to approach the ray shield.

The corridor outside seemed to be devoid of guards, human or droid. From his limited view, he could see a few other cells beyond the one directly opposite.

"Hey, what's the deal? Where's my clothes? Where's Maarani?"

"Right here."

He looked to the opposing cell here Maarani was coming out from behind the small portion of wall that offered the only privacy left to them. She too had been stripped down to her underwear, and from the new marks on her face and body, had also been beaten very recently.

"Where are we?"

Maarani's lip quivered as she slapped a hand to her face in a way that was painfully sarcastic. The sort that indicated just how unstable she was yet again.

"Oh, I don't know. Try a fucking Sith destroyer you fucking moron!"

Izan scoffed to himself, almost walking back off to his own private corner. "Right, you're still in a bad mood. I'm in good hands aren't I?"

"Oh yeah, we're getting out of this one alright. Our Jedi friends will save us."

She slammed a fist against the ray shield, causing burns to her skin. Her expression remained unfazed.

"Oh wait! I fucking marooned them didn't I? Good job Maarani!" Her other hand came up so that she could put on a mocking voice. "Well gee Maarani, guess you'll have to break us out." That hand smacked against the ray shield as well. "Yeah, I'll get us out! There's a security panel right here in the cell, I'll just slice in with this keycard I nicked off the guard and prance around the ship in the nip like a cutesy little Twi'lek girl who doesn't have a clue what she's doing."

"Maarani, shut up."

Maarani brought up her finger for him.

"And stop being so fucking rude! Stop acting like a child and maybe start thinking on how the hell we get out of this!"

When she went back to hiding, he groaned in failure and started pacing the very limited space available to him. Czerka's days of dubious allegiance to the Sith were long gone, and the Empire wouldn't take money from the Exchange, even assuming that his mother would consider bailing him out a second time instead of leaving him to rot for his betrayal.

And as Maarani had so aptly put it, there was no-one else out there ready to rescue them.

Except for one.

"Say, where do you think-"

A door down to his left opened, the sound of several heavy footsteps approaching their position. Too many for a simple patrol, they were escorting someone.

"Open Cell Besh."

The ray shield on Izan's cell dropped, two guards moving right in, blasters at the ready. Another four took up positions outside, also maintaining ready positions.

"If this is an apology for manhandling us, I'll take it. That bitch over there doesn't deserve one."

That earned him a weapon barrel to his jaw, knocking him to the cold floor. It left him with the view of a barefoot woman stepping inside, nails painted black like the tattoos running up her bare legs, save for the thin strips of black fabric bound to anklets that left them swaying at the slightest movement.

He remained unapologetic as he slowly looked up at her, all the swirling tattoos beneath what material there was covering the essentials. What struck him as odd was how minimal the tassels hanging over her breasts were, when the headdress adorning her head looked absurdly lavish by contrast, spiralling out into a pair of black, sparkling horns that stood out against her stark white hair.

It wasn't until he gripped his bloodied chin, sharp black nails digging into his skin that he finally noticed the headdress covered her eyes altogether. More importantly, when she spoke, it was without even turning her head to him at all.

"Strange. I've come to expect far more gratified reactions from prisoners. Not even a hint of wonderment? Of temptation?"

Izan bit down onto his tongue firmly. The woman holding him had a cold presence to her that was unmistakably Sith. And if he was right in his assumption, and she was Miraluka, that made her incredibly dangerous. She could have heard his speculation before even entering the room, ruined that one shred of hope.

He had to bury all that away before he sensed it.

In a stroke of fortune, she was too distracted dragging him out into the open in front of Maarani to dig into his mind, and not with those dangerous nails.

"I'm seeing her presence on you, and yours on her body. You've clearly been intimate recently, so I assume this will have the desired reaction."

Small arcs of lightning leapt from her fingertips right into his head, making him cry out in pain.

Maarani, stuck in her cell while staring at the sickening display of sexualized depravity that was her Sith captor, didn't even bat an eyelid at Izan's suffering.

"Interesting. She's very good at hiding her feelings."

"She tried to rape me. That's not intimacy, you stupid Sith fuck!"

He cried out again, a faint hiss coming out over the zapping as his skin began to burn at her contact points.

"Quite frankly I fail to see the difference, nor do I care." She turned her head at last, black painted lips pursing as she noticed Maarani's proper reaction. "I also know you've met my cousin, twice now in fact. And from the thoughts in her mind, you've got a lot to think about. That makes me so happy."

Her hand twisted around, flowing over Izan's face until she had a finger pointed directly between his eyes.

"How much does he really mean to you, Twi'lek? Shall I put him out of his misery now? Or should I keep him around, use him as leverage to make you answer my questions? I do wonder…"

Izan's eyes fixated on Maarani as he faced the moment of death in front of him.

Maarani met his gaze, cold as ever. She didn't like being accused of things, and he had decided to go for the very low in distancing himself from her.

How easy it would be to have one less problem to worry about…

"He's like a brother to me. Not that I usually try seducing them, what with them being dead and all..."

After a chilling laugh from above, Izan felt the grip on his face grow slack, and fall away altogether. Spared for the moment at least.

"Take the Twi'lek to my chamber. On the way, Maarani, I'd like you to think back to the time you murdered a dear friend of mine." She stepped out of Izan's cell right before the ray shield went back up, motioning for the guards to attend to Maarani's cell instead. "A Mirialan by the name of Hodechi."

Maarani only had moments to think back and come to a shocking realization before she was issued a staggering punch to her gut that made her collapse in pain. The guards that grabbed her by the shoulders made no effort to drag her along the floor in any kind of tolerable fashion.

"One of the great Sith sorcerers under Darth Malak, killed by a Twi'lek woman with holes in her memory. The Republic must have broken her mind altogether to achieve such a feat. And they call us the heartless, murdering tide..."

She followed behind in small stride, motioning for her guards to follow.

"Inform Lord Rak'Sakar that the Twi'lek Maarani has been captured, and that Lady Sloane will be conducting her interrogation. We will finally have the answers we seek about her relation to Lord Lasidia, and both the Following and the Fallen."

She drew a slight breath when she stepped in a spot of blood on the floor, feeling it stain her pale toes.

"And have the mess cleaned up promptly. We don't want any further accidents."


Once more, Maarani found herself in the realm of the Lady of Balance, fully clothed, free of pain, free of Sith restraint.

When the Lady offered her hand for help, she took firm hold of it and rose to her feet.

"I'd say welcome back, but you are not here by choice. I am doing what I can to protect your mind from Sloane's attack."

After getting her bearings, Maarani took in a calming breath. For the first time in a long while, she didn't feel angry, or upset, or betrayed. She could ask her questions in a rational way.

"You knew Azera Vass was Kiarna. You had to know. Why tell me about Azera at all if you knew I was going to break when I found out the truth?"

She had seen the Lady at a loss for words once before, back in an earlier memory when they had first begun to communicate. This time, it looked as if she had an explanation in mind, only she didn't know how best to put it.

"It was a development I couldn't foresee. I expected that she would go to Katarr and deal with her inner darkness before revealing the truth to you. That she would had gone to the source of evil and chosen to walk the path of light, shed the name and being of Kiarna altogether. Maarani, I did not intend to deceive you by omission, I truly believed that the White Healer would win out over the Red Empress. The two halves of her mind, locked in battle with each other. The good person, and the evil entity."

Maarani remained quiet throughout, and when the explanation was done, she slowly stepped back to breathe in more, letting all of it sink in.

"A normal woman, and a Sith, in the same body. Just like me and the Lady of Sorrows? Is that why we're bound together, because we've both been mucked up in the head?"

The Lady gave a very regretful shrug. "The Lady of Sorrows was buried so far down I couldn't possibly save you from her, I had hoped that Azera could instead through her ability to heal. And to do so would require a bond that forms out of love that is pure beyond all, one that had to form first. But, in a twist of irony, it was Darth Nihilus who did that, by consuming the Lady of Sorrows and leaving you intact."

"Darth Nihilus? What's he-"

The Lady closed the distance between them again, raising a finger to Maarani's lips for silence.

"We cannot communicate for long. Sloane is constantly watching for my presence, she seeks to destroy me, and the Following. Do not trust a word she says. Until we meet again, choose your questions carefully." The grey marking on her face began to glow at last. "Trust in the Force. It has always been with you, and it still is to this very moment. Your trial has begun, as has Azera's. When it is over for you both, you will find peace together. I promise you that, Maarani."


"In for four."

"I'll call."

"Same."

Three sets of clinks came from the centre of the table as three sets of chips were tossed to the pool. The attention settled on Caura, who was carefully weighing up her hand of cards.

"Come on Caura, toss one if you have to."

She whispered something under her breath before throwing in five. That earned a chorus of admiring calls from the other three officers at the table.

"Feeling confident?"

Caura glared over the top of her cards. "I've got shift in an hour."

"You can cash out you know." Merik cracked a smile when the others gave him a jab for that. "This is a new game, no-one's an expert."

All four of them abruptly moved to stand when Harton strode up, looking a little red in the face.

He waved for them to relax, pulling off his cap and slinging it onto the corner of the free chair in a smooth motion. "Too late to deal in?"

"Not for you, Colonel." Karren picked up a few cards and tossed them over to him carefully. "What's your buy-in and starting bet?"

After taking a glance at the dealt cards, he sighed in feigned disappointment. "Buy in at twenty, start at three." While the equivalent of seventeen chips worth was handed to him, he wiped his brow with the back of his hand.

"Rough shift? All we heard is that some ship got picked up, and some prisoners were moved."

"It took over three hours to finish searching that vessel for weapons. Only half were contained in the proper locker. I'd write that crew off as a pair of blaster smugglers if it were up to me."

Merik smirked again, setting his cards down to set off the second round of betting. "And what does the brigadier believe?"

"This wasn't by his order. It came from Lady Sloane herself."

Kriege, the junior officer at the table, mumbled under his breath after throwing in his second bet. "You mean the Sith slut?"

Despite being a little worn out, Harton was able to manage a small chuckle. "You make it far too obvious you're new to the Imperial forces as a whole. Sith sorcerers are always looking to be the centre of attention. Lady Sloane chooses to flaunt as much skin as possible, Lord Kiarna made herself an iconic figure of destruction. Lord Vale, before the fall of the Herald of Karath, would strut about in bright red armour. The few sorcerers that didn't take to the outlandish appearances, like General Tarran of the Revenant Dawn, chose the uniform instead, thus standing out as a Sith who actually respects the chain of command. It's never about being one of many with them. Even Darth Lasidia would say as much."

"When she shows up again."

The other four officers turned to Caura, who was now turning a chip through the fingers of her free hand nervously. "Rumour is she's been gone for months now, off searching Unknown Space for her superweapon. And no-one's said anything about the White Terror in a while either. Haven't any of you heard."

Harton made a quick glance around the room before leaning over to speak in a hushed voice. "Lady Sloane may let most comments slide, but I would avoid remarks about the Dark Lord, and her apprentice. Her whereabouts are only our concern should Darth Rak'Sakar or General Morgak decide as much."

When he leaned back into his chair, he put a smile on and motioned for the nearest waiting girl to attend to him. "But, speaking of whereabouts…" He paused to order a light drink for himself. "Seeing as some of us are new to this crew, and orientation tends to skip over the personals, this would be an ideal time to learn more about our shipmates." He laid his cards down into the hand. "Colonel Raiker Harton, Telos."

Karren cracked a smile, laying down her cards in the hand as well. "Major Lise Karren, Corellia."

That made Kriege nod in approval, also joining the hand. "Lieutenant Nathan Kriege, Corellia."

His nod was reciprocated by a smile from Karren. "Small galaxy then."

Merik took one last look at his cards before folding. "Major Lon Merik, Korriban."

Kriege turned to him with a clearly disconcerted face. "You mean…"

In response, Merik nodded, cracking a dry smile. "Oh yes. Dreshdae was my home, until Revan came in and laid waste to the place. Not much more to be said about it."

They all soon looked to Caura, still toying with that chip in her fingers. She placed her cards down into the hand carefully, trying to look calm throughout.

"Captain Angel Caura, Kashyyyk."

Her forced calm demeanour almost broke when she noticed Kriege snickering almost immediately. "Can it already. I do outrank you by one so I can make that an order."

"Easy captain. No need to be upset over a name, or being associated with those furpoles."

Caura kept her glare while tapping her cards impatiently. "The fact that I'm a female officer is reason enough to be wary, without having to be called 'Angel' or have my birthplace listed as Kashyyyk."

"I haven't had a problem making it to major."

"Yes, I'm so empowered when looking at you Karren."

"Alright ladies…" Merik gestured to both before motioning for Karren to start the round. "I've got a good one about my previous assignment while we look at the draw."

Without breaking a sweat, Karren turned over her hand with a grin. "Full Alderaan."

Kriege tossed his cards over with a sigh of defeat. "Double."

After glancing at her hand again, Caura sighed as well, tossing her cards out. "Rush."

When the attention turned to Horton, he too looked at his cards again, looking ready to concede to Karren as well.

"It's a shame really, I only just got here…"

That defeated look remained while he turned over his cards. "Escape Rush."

It took a moment to sink in, but when it did, Karren merely laughed and extended her hand to him. "Well played colonel. Beaten at my own game, in a sense."

"Yes, I did wonder what the package in question was." He glanced at the pool, and rather than taking his winnings, smiled again and readied his chips for a new bet. "How about I take quarter earnings, and leave the rest to grow the pool?"

Karren grinned while collecting up all the cards for shuffling. "Careful. You haven't even gotten that drink yet."

"Careful indeed, it might just improve my holding face. Now, major, about your previous assignment you wanted to tell us about..."

Merik took the cards into his hand as they were dealt to him, grinning a little more at each. "Not long after that skirmish at Sarka, the more recent one, the munitions depot on Ord Radama received orders right from the top to move five hundred thermal detonators, including a few cases of high yield variants, into a single warehouse at a very specific location. Given the explosive potential such a high density of grenades presented, they ended up re-assigning a full platoon to guard that one building alone, myself included. Not that standing around that many explosives wasn't worrying, it was nonetheless a dull posting that I am more than grateful to be free of."

In that time, all had received their cards, and Harton had even gotten his drink which he sipped from quietly. "I'm sure a use will come of it eventually. It's pleasing to know you're a man of action in any case, not content to take an easy job such as that."

"I joined to fight Republic scum, not to stand around looking important. I'm just glad to be one step closer to that fight when it comes."

"As are many others I'm sure."


Maarani woke to the feeling of cold metal binding her limbs, a single light glaring into her eyes overhead, and an uncomfortable amount of darkness around her. It went beyond the usual type of interrogation chamber. This one had been designed specifically to make her feel isolated, while also ensuring there were no walls around to offer that minor comfort of security. Pure psychological manipulation. Anyone, anything could be hiding in the dark spaces around her.

She had little options to work from.

"Tegama'Arani. Female. Ryloth. Flight Lieutenant. Blue Six. Republic Starfighter Corps."

"Reciting the details of your military record? How predictable, and dull."

From an area to Maarani's left emerged Sloane, her headdress and tassels glittering in the lifeless light when she approached the table. Her nails came to rest on the bright blue skin of her arm, pointing in threateningly.

"Why don't I get right to the point, Twi'lek? During your posting to Mirial, you murdered a Mirialan Sith named Hodechi. She was a good friend of another woman you mercilessly beat by the name of Molbe, and she was a good friend of mine."

Maarani chewed her lip, trying very hard to not even look in the direction of Sloane. She didn't want to give her any kind of attention.

"Perhaps you need some encouragement. We were part of a cult in the Sith formed by Darth Revan himself, the Night's Bitterkiss. I believe you are familiar with the one who originally led that cult, another Twi'lek called Yuthura Ban."

The sharp inhale heard made Sloane smile. There was her way in. "It's easy to forget the terrible things done when someone chooses to return to the light. Venu Kasua almost forgot her origins in the Bitterkiss. I hear she even tried taking on a non-sensitive apprentice to distance herself from that life of darkness. A shame she's fallen back to the darkness at long last, especially for Padawan Carmen Sendis."

The veins in Maarani's right arm flared up as she tried to take a swing, only for the restraint to tighten further in response. Her stifled breath brought on a soft laugh from Sloane.

"So, you do care for at least one Mirialan after all. I wonder if it is because of guilt. A need to wash your hands clean of the blood of her kindred in her eyes."

She extended her hand to Maarani's head, causing a slight rumble as she forced the Twi'lek to look directly at her at last.

"You really don't remember killing Hodechi, do you? The report from those oh so conveniently leaked files merely stated you were thrown into her holding room, and released hours later as the only survivor. Surely some of that sounds familiar."

Maarani's eyes quivered, her lip growing pale from how hard she was biting into it, trying to fight off the whispering in her mind that sought to delve through every one of her memories, and dredge them to the surface in the most painful ways possible.

"I suppose you have plenty of holes in your memory anyway. You don't even remember the Lady of Balance making contact with you just now after all."

The whispering stopped, giving Maarani a moment's peace to think for herself. Now more than ever she wished so desperately that it had been an encounter she could recall. Any word or bit of advice to endure what Sloane was going to put her through. Any bit of comfort when she was most vulnerable.

"Oh yes, I didn't capture you for revenge, it simply helped to redirect your mind for a while as I prepared for the real reason you are here."

Sloane gestured to a nearby table on the far side of the room, drawing over Maarani's lightsaber, which she proceeded to turn in her hands. "Your sister doesn't believe you pose any threat to the Sith. Darth Lasidia on the other hand believed it enough to command that you be avoided at great cost. I now know you are only part of the threat that the Lady poses to the Sith, the Following are another. A sprawling web of people, ideas. All intended to undermine and destroy the unity that has formed within the dark side, despite its very nature of self-destruction."

The whispering returned again, making Maarani grit her teeth. "You talk way too much for a Sith."

Through the black painted lips came a stark white smile. "There's a lot you must learn, Twi'lek, before I call our business done."

She placed the lightsaber on a nearby table and began to circle around Maarani. "I have studied many legends in my time, Sith and Jedi alike. I have searched the reaches of foresight for signs of the Sith'ari, but, I have also remained aware of the signs pointing to the counterpart, the Jed'nasa. Perhaps more commonly referred to as the Chosen One."

Maarani tried to spit at Sloane, only to choke on her own saliva for several terrifying moments until the hold on her throat was released.

"Please, don't interrupt. For a long while, I pondered on the nature of the Chosen One. A being who would restore balance to the Force, presumably by forcing Jedi and Sith into a stalemate, and eventual peace. And then, one day, I reached a very crucial question."

By then she had circled around fully, leaving her to kneel down beside Maarani until their heads were in line. "Chosen by what, or more precisely, whom? When Darth Lasidia told me of her journeys in shatterspace, under the tutorage of Ludo Kressh, she also spoke of a being inhabiting that realm. One that bore three markings on her face, and sought balance in the Force."

She stood back up to continue her pacing, always keeping attention on Maarani's state of mind. Waiting for the signs of contact with the Lady she needed to discover for her own use at last.

"And now, the originator of a prophecy made twenty thousand years ago has returned, and named her Chosen, as well as her mate. The Following seek to protect, the Fallen seek to destroy. And others still want all Sith who come into contact with you to be eliminated. All of them want to destabilize the achievement of a unified Sith Empire, thus I must oppose them all as a result."

Her hand went out, turning to brush the back of a finger down the curve of Maarani's left lekku. "You're caught in the middle. Work with me, help me stop these outside forces from interfering, and we might just be able to achieve peace, and free you from the influence of the Lady. It was dear Kiarna who freed you from the Lady of Sorrows after all, she may yet do so again."

For a moment, the whisperings grew louder. Trying to sway her thoughts.

"No. I know just how many have become murderous tyrants despite going to the dark side with good intent. I'm not falling for it, bitch."

Sloane extended her hand again, smiling more. The first real sign of another presence had begun. "You can't even use the Force, how do you believe you will go on to become a tyrant yourself if you help me wipe out these rogue groups? You've already done so much harm, why not atone for some of it?"

After struggling against the restraints one last time, Maarani closed her eyes. "Sith always lie. I wouldn't trust any Miraluka at this point, least of which one who doesn't know what clothes are."

Just like that, the presence vanished again, almost literally slipping through Sloane's fingers. Suggestion had failed for the time being.

Her hand retreated away, eventually gesturing to the door of her chamber, unlocking it for her departure.

"I'll make it simple for you then. You've made contact with the Lady of Balance through more direct means, and based on reports, you've also made contact with agents of the Following. Tell me either of those means, and I will consider relaxing the terms of your imprisonment, and possibly even let your Zeltron friend go. I don't need you to turn on the Republic and the Jedi, merely your cooperation in this matter."

She made her way over to the door in silent steps, stopping as it opened up to her. "Think about it. I am not unreasonable, there are other things I can arrange to come to a settlement. I might even be able to restore your connection to the Force myself. And, I wouldn't mind seeing my dear friend Yuthura again either."

As soon as she was gone, Maarani slammed her head down against the flat metal behind her head and burst into tears. Sooner or later, regardless of what was said, she was going to be invaded mentally. There was no recourse left to her, no way out.

Sloane held all the cards, and no amount of talk, or appearing deranged would change that.