Power and Perdition
"Carris, we're going to Aduba III. We have reason to
believe that there are Sith on the planet. We're
going there to investigate and, if need be, stop them
ourselves. We leave immediately."
"Yes, Master Silbat."
"What are the Sith doing on Aduba III, Master Silbat?"
"Padawan Relford, you aren't going."
"... What?"
"I said that you aren't going. Come now, Carris. We
leave immediately."
"But... But Master Silbat, Relford and I always work
together. He – "
"Quiet! Carris, I said that he is
not going... therefore, he is not going!"
If only he had said something more, tried harder...
Relford shook his head to clear his mind. He looked
down at the Lightrunner's navigation screen. He set
the coordinates for one of the only two spaceports on
the entire water planet. He was positive that this
was the right one; the tug on his heart told him so.
Relford had taken the fastest ship in the entire Jedi
fleet, the Lightrunner. It was a light, sleek,
one-passenger ship with small living quarters in the
back. When met with protests he had given a glare
that could freeze the blood in a man's veins. He
judged that it had taken him about half the time to
arrive than it had taken Carris and Master Silbat.
His feeling of danger had been growing steadily
stronger the entire flight.
The spaceport was now in view. It was small and
consisted of only three large, gray durasteel
buildings with no windows that had begun to show the
effects of prolonged exposure to wet, salty air. The
vessels were mostly small, gray, two-passenger cargo
ships with the front section containing the cockpit
and the back, which was considerably larger, used to
transport loads. They weren't designed to go more
than about twenty feet above the water. The only
other ships that he saw were two completely destroyed
starfighters. Master Silbat's and the Sith's. As he
left his ship, he was blasted by warm, salty air and a
feeling that chilled him to the bone. DANGER!
Out of the building nearest to him burst two black cloakedfigures. Relford sprinted after them. He fell in
beside Master Silbat and Carris, who had also just
exited the building.
Master Silbat's bald brow creased into a frown as he
ran. With his mouth not visible from beneath his
long, sliver-gray beard he yelled in panting breaths.
"What – are – you – doing here?"
"I think they're trying to escape in one of the cargo ships!" Relfordshouted in reply with one long breath, choosing to ignore Master
Silbat's protests. The two Sith scrambled into the
cockpit of the closest ship. Relford saw Master
Silbat fling something into the ships single engine
mounted at the rear. A thermal detonator. A flash of
light and heat accompanied by a loud explosion
singaled that it had indeed detonated. Still, the
ship began to rise and Relford, Carris, and Master
Silbat all leapt into the cargo bay.
Incredibly, the ship's engine was able to push it away from thespaceport as the cargo bay's door slid shut. There
were several chains used for securing cargo hanging
from the ceiling. They weren't swinging very much;
the ship's engine was damaged.
Two figures stepped out of a sliding door
leading to the cockpit at the front end of the cargo
bay and the door slid closed behind them. One
was a human with short cropped, spiky blonde hair
and two long, thin braids hanging in front of both ears.
It was Adyn. There wasn't even the slightest trace of warmth in his pale blue eyes as
Relford had seen the last time they meet. His
handsome face was now twisted into a menacing sneer.
His master was humanoid but not quite human. He was
about even feet tall and his head nearly brushed the
top of the ship. His face and head were completely white and
devoid of hair. The Sith Lord's eyes were the
blackest color that Relford had ever seen; there
wasn't even a trace of white in them. They looked
like two windows in his white face that showed the
most evil regions of the Dark side.
All three of the Jedi charged at the two imposing Sith.
Relford's twin sabers were raised above his head, blue blades glowing, when
lightning suddenly erupted from the Sith Lord's
fingertips, catching him squarely in the chest. When
his vision stopped spinning, Relford saw that Carris
and Master Silbat had been no luckier, although master
Silbat leapt up once more.
In one swift motion, Adyn drew his double-bladed lightsaber, activated the redbeams, sliced Master Silbat in half at the waist, sent
both halves flying to the back of the ship, and
returned his weapon to his hip.
Relford thought that he saw the
top half of Master Silbat's body shakily
pulling something light silver out of his singed robes and squeezing
it tightly before he died, but he wasn't sure. He and Carris turned their attention to the Sith again and focused all of thier concentration on
the Force, allowed it flow through them, and turned it against their opponents. The Sith Lord raised his
hand again, but this time there was no lightning.
Instead, Relford was lifted from his feet and sent flying
back. He hit the rear wall of the cargo ship with
such force that his breath was knocked out of him and
his lightsabers were sent clanging to the floor. When
he drew air back into his lungs, he saw that
Carris was on her knees, clutching her throat.
"Well, Jedi," the Sith Lord spoke in a liquid voice as
smooth as velvet, "it appears that you and your pretty
friend here are at my mercy, at the mercy of Darth
Lord Drosir. I believe that before I kill you, I shall
have a little fun. Yes, that will be nice..." Darth
Darth Drosir lifted Carris up and smiled as she kicked in the air. Then he let her drop to the floor. She tried to scramble away, but an
invisible force slammed her to the ground.
"Relford!" she cried. But Darth Drosir's loud
voice drowned her out. It was still liquid, but no
longer like velvet. It was more like a searing hot
razor blade.
"As I said, you are at my mercy."
Somehow his eyes seemed to get even darker. "And I
don't have very much." Relford noticed that Adyn was
wearing a frightening smile. As Relford began to
rise, more lightning came from Darth Drosir's fingers.
But this time it didn't stop immediately. He
writhed in agony under the blue streaks, screaming.
After the lightning had stopped, he was still
twitching but his hate filled eyes were on Darth Drosir.
With his voice filled with pleasure, Darth Drosir looked
directly into Relford's eyes and spoke: "Before I begin on
your friend – " Carris had suddenly gone pale and
quiet and her breathing had become shallow, but her green eyes burned with pure hatred that Relford had seen only once before: in Adyn's
eyes " – I believe that I will give you a small taste of what I shall do to her." He lifted his hand at Relford and squeezed it into afist.
Relford's body suddenly exploded with pain. He felt
as if every nerve in his body were on fire. His
insides seemed to want to scream with pain. Even his
bones felt like they were being broken and crushed
over and over relentlessly. Relford could hear
screaming and realized that it was his own as he
contorted and thrashed on the floor. But, as soon as
it had started, it faded away.
Gasping for air, Relford sat himself back up, but felt an invisible force stophim from standing. Hatred filled him, consumed him.
They had caused him pain like he had never thought
possible. And they were going to do it to Carris. He
tried his hardest to stand up, but Adyn's eyes were
fixed on him with a focused stare. Relford could feel
power flowing from him, forcing him to remain seated.
His body and mind were too weak and dazed to fight it
much.
Darth Drosir smiled. "Now it's time for you to watch."
He pointed his hand at Carris, whose green eyes were
now filled with terror. Darth Drosir lauged as he
clenched his fist. Carris immediately started
screaming in agony. Relford clenched his eyes shut,
but the look of pain on her face seemed to be burned
into the backs of his eyelids. Screams filled the
cargo bay for thirty seconds, then stopped, replaced
by heavy gulps of breathing and soft laughter. When
Relford opened his eyes, he saw Carris lying on the
floor much like he had been.
Rage filled him. Hatred. An unstoppable need to kill Adyn and Darth Drosir. He flung
himself to his feet and saw Adyn flinch and stumble with surprise.
No sooner had he gotten up than he was flung back
down. Adyn had regained his focus, and Relford knew
that he could crush him with a thought.
Darth Drosir laughed again. It was a cold, mirthless
laugh that sent a shiver down Relford's spine. "My,
my, Jedi. I can feel your fury... you hate me,
don't you?" He smiled, curling is lips back to reveal
pointed yellow teeth. "I'm fairly certain that your
friend here does too." Carris was looking up at him,
her eyes filled with an anger that Relford had never
seen, not even in Adyn's eyes, although they were tainted with fear. He
knew that his must look that same way. "By the end
of our little game, you won't even remember what anger
feels like. You won't remember anything. Except for
pain and despair." The Sith Lord's voice filled with
amusement. "Or maybe even agony or fear if you're
lucky." His teeth still bared, he raised his hand at
Carris again.
Relford's back straightened as the pain subsided. Blood erupted from his mouth as he vomited. He wasn't sure how long it had gone on; no
more than twenty minutes, he supposed. But it felt like aneternity. Darth Drosir had been focusing most of his power on
Carris, occasionally striking Relford without
warning. He seemed to enjoy it immensely when they
cried. Even more when they cried for help. The most
when they cried out each other's names. Sweat soaked
every inch of both of them; blood and bile stained their tunics and the floor beneath them.. Relford's body was now surging with pain even
Darth Drosir's powers weren't on him.
But whatever he was feeling, he knew that
Carris's pain was much worse; she was receiving most
of the torture. Her screams echoed in Relford's head
long after the ship had stopped reverberating with
them. He could tell that Darth Drosir would kill them
soon; his sessions were becoming longer and longer.
Sometimes Relford could feel his heart beating as if
it were going to explode. He felt as if he wouldn't
be able to stand even if Adyn wasn't stopping him.
But Darth Drosir was wrong about one thing: Relford
hadn't forgotten his hatred. Quite the opposite: it
had grown. When Carris was screaming, it was his
only thought. How much he hated Darth Drosir and Adyn.
How much he wanted to kill them. And Relford knew that his burning, unadulturated fury would sutain him; it would keep him from being broken.
Darth Drosir turned to Relford as Carris lay panting
on her back, the front of her tunic a brown color with blood and bile. Relford tried to prepare himself for another thirty seconds of Hell. But
all of the air still left
his lungs when Darth Drosir's powers struck him. But
this time it didn't last thirty seconds. It went on.
For a while, Relford was aware of laughter and someone
screaming, but eventually his world faded to pure
blackness and silence. All he felt was pain. All he had ever
felt was pain. He was floating in a cold void while
his body was hot with agony. Time lost meaning; he was
there for hours. Years. Eternity. He ached for whatever
it was to stop. But then the pain slowly started to
melt away.
He choked on a bitter liquid in his throat and spit it out.
After a while, Relford's world became visible again. He
could see a tall thing that looked almost human except
for its eyes. He also saw a handsome blue-eyed man
with blonde hair with a look of absolute rapture on his face. Then he saw a beautiful girl. She had gorgeous long brown hair and striking
green eyes, but they were full of tears.
Relford's ears were suddenly flooded with noise. He
heard himself screaming. He heard the two men
laughing. He could hear the girl crying. He knew the
girl from somewhere... Something dropped painfully
into his eyes. He wiped it away and his hand came
back red. He couldn't feel the pain, but he knew that
his face was full of cuts. So was his chest and
stomach. Relford looked at his fingernails; they were
caked in blood. He had been clawing at himself. A
smooth, liquid velvety voice echoed around the room.
It was laced with mock admiration.
"I'm quite impressed, young Jedi. Nobody has ever
survived for five whole minutes. For that feat, you
have earned the privilege of seeing your friend suffer
the same as you did. She is already dying; She won't
last nearly as long..." A tone of disappointment
accented the last sentence. The tall white humanoid
with eyes like death smiled cruelly and turned to the
crying girl on the floor. He felt something whenever he looked at her; he knew her...
The pale creature's hand balled into a fist
and the girl started screaming. It was the worst kind of
sound that Relford could have imagined. Her eyes
opened briefly and found his. Relford's breath caught as he stared into their depths. Then she doubled over and her breathing
became shallow. Who was she? His body was tingling
with a dull pain and he was barely aware of himself.
But he knew that he knew that girl...Relford gasped and his eyes widened as his mind
opened like a floodgate. His thoughts, his memories,
and his awareness all poured back into his mind. He
looked over at Carris; his anger and loathing suddenly exploded
inside of him again. They were about to kill her in
the worst way Relford could imagine. He shot to his
feet, but the ship buckled and threw him back down.
He tried to stand again, but Adyn had caught him and
was using the invisible power of the Force to keep him
down once again.
His head tilted back, Darth Drosir starting laughing again as he
saw Relford. Carris was barely breathing now.
Fury ignited in every single muscle in Relford's body. He
felt the Force swirl around him like fire. The chains hanging on the ceiling near him swung and thrashed violently. He shot up
once again, making Adyn stumble. Relford's
lightsabers shot into his hands and he charged at
Adyn, who had drawn his double-bladed saber and swung
at him. Relford sidestepped and lunged into the
attack, slicing off Adyn's hands at the wrists. Then
he brought his elbow slamming down on the back of his neck.
There was a sickening snap and Adyn's body fell limply
to the floor.
Darth Drosir's eyes seemed as lifeless as
they had before, but his face was twisted in panic.
He raised his hand, but Relford seized it with his
mind and twisted the wrist until it popped.
He enjoyed the Sith Lord's scream of pain. Relford
felt the Force flow from him and pull Darth Drosir
through the air towards him. Him hand trembling with
rage, Relford brought the glowing blue blade of his
saber up from his hip and cut the monster in half from
crotch to head. The two halves of his body continued
to fly through the air until they hit the opposite
wall.
Carris looked up at him with her face ashen and her
eyes dull with agony. Rage was suddenly replaced by
pain; not physical pain like Darth Drosir had caused,
but something much worse. His very being, something he
couldn't quite grasp, cried. He dropped his weapons and began to move to
her when the ship buckled again, throwing him into the
wall. Then Relford heard an explosion that threatened
to split his head and white light filled his vision.
Seconds later he felt himself tumbling through the
air.
Slamming onto his back awoke his senses; his cuts filled with saltwater. He was
idly aware of the pain, but all he could think about was the flaming ship crashing into the water and if Carris was alive. Relford felt the water
rush into his lugs as he gasped for air. He could still hear the echoes of screaming as he lost consciousness.