Who wants to know something interesting that I just found out?
So, you all remember Cut Lawquane from The Clone Wars, right? That clone that deserted the Republic and went and got himself a twi'lek milf wife? Remember the kids he had that were twi'lek/human hybrids? While I already knew they weren't his kids due to being older than Cut would have been in service, I found out that there's actually a distinction between Canon and Legends on whether the kids are Suu's biological children or not. In Canon, Cut and Suu adopted the two kids for reasons unstated, while in Legends, they are Suu's biological children. Very strange that they would change that when these characters only appeared for a few episodes and then disappeared.
Read and review.
The first thing Nax sensed when he started coming to was the distinct smell of metal being melted. Trying, and failing to keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds, Nax attempted to adjust where he was sitting, only to receive a sharp pain in his chest. That pain managed to get him to fully wake up, and he looked down to find that his chestplate had buckled from the crash, rendering it utterly useless until he could get a new one. "…Son of a…" he quietly cursed in pain as he slowly remembered what had happened.
They had found two rings floating in space with a massive starship graveyard around it, and no easy way to leave on sublights, especially since Kyra had suddenly blacked out. The realization quickly hit Nax, and he frantically searched the cockpit for her. Somehow, she had disappeared, which added to his worries. However, when he looked outside the cockpit, he saw her slumped between a rock and a tree, having created a small trail of dirt when she was evidently launched from her seat. Her helmet wasn't too far from her body, but her matted white hair certainly would stick out to anyone looking for the crash site.
Struggling to get up, Nax stumbled down the corridor, passing by a deactivated Arfive and Katy and practically wandering in the darkness. Nax turned roughly to where the entrance ramp was, and then something hit him like a brick – the power was out, meaning he was trapped inside the Knight with no way to get to Kyra. Sure, she'd been sent flying out of the cockpit, but there was no way he'd fit through there.
Quickly brainstorming a solution, he remembered that they still had Knockout on board, just deactivated. Hopefully, he wasn't too badly damaged by the crash, otherwise Nax was well and truly out of options. Hobbling as fast as he could to the hold, Nax fumbled around in the dark trying to find Knockout. "Master Strag, my sensors have indicated that we have crashed. I have been waiting on idle for the past four hours awaiting orders." Knockout boomed as he turned on the glowrod in his chassis, temporarily blinding Nax. "Do you require assistance?"
Nax shielded his eyes and clutched his chest. "Yeah, you can break the things holding the entrance ramp up, right?" Nax asked, finally managing to get a look at Knockout's slightly scratched chassis. "'Cause if you can't, then Kyra's trapped outside of the ship, and we're stuck in here."
Knockout took a moment to process this. "Affirmative." was all he said, before marching down the corridor, glowrod still turned on. Nax followed after him as Knockout took a quick detour into the engine room, plugged his scomp link into one of the terminals, and kicked the emergency lights on, bathing the Knight's interior in a dim red glow. Knockout proceeded towards the entrance ramp, and again activated his scomp link to provide power for the door to open it, pressing through. Knockout then punched the two struts that held the ramp in place, and after stepping off, kicked down on the ramp, sending it crashing into the dirt. "I will escort you." he stated, definitely not willing to take no for an answer.
Descending the ramp, Nax had to duck under a portion of the Knight's hull to climb out of the crater the ship had created when it crashed. Knockout simply went to a slightly less steep part of the crater and jumped up. Even in his injured state, Nax wasted no time in getting to Kyra and immediately checked if she was still breathing. Her breaths were heavy and labored, but the important thing was that she was alive. However, what was more concerning were her considerable wounds and the rather large pool of blood that was collecting in the bluish-green grass. Kyra's face had been scratched up pretty badly, her armor more or less irreparable beyond total reforging, and her duster had been torn to shreds. Nax gently picked her up and hefted her over his shoulder, making sure to grab her helmet. With a silent nod, Knockout escorted Nax back to the Knight and shut the door behind them.
Nax headed for the crew lounge and laid Kyra on the table before turning to Knockout. "Do me a favor and get medical supplies for her wounds out of the hold, Knockout." Nax ordered. Knockout immediately turned away and marched down the corridor, leaving Nax to get Lexi from the top turret. Nax found out the hard way that a good chunk of the turret shaft had been wrecked in the crash, meaning the ladder was highly unlikely to support his weight for long. Regardless, Nax climbed up to the top gunwell and found Lexi sprawled against the turret controls with injuries similar to Kyra's. Significant lacerations all over her, ruined clothes, and so on, but her armor had survived relatively unscathed. Nax picked Lexi up and ever so carefully descended the ladder, leaning against the back of the shaft to support himself. As he tried to climb off the ladder and back into the corridor, the rung snapped off, sending him stumbling, but thankfully he didn't drop Lexi.
With the girls in the relative safety of the ship, Nax prepared himself for what he had to do next – treat everyone's wounds, starting with Kyra since she was worse off. When he returned to the lounge, Knockout was waiting for him with one of the spare medkits. "Gimme a light, Knockout." Nax ordered, and Knockout complied. Carefully taking Kyra's damaged armor off, Nax stripped her down to her skivvies and wiped the blood off of her wounds with a clean rag, and then applied bacta spray and bandages before re-dressing her.
As Nax finished wrapping Kyra up, Lexi began to stir in her seat. "…My whole body feels like it's on fire…" Lexi complained, groaning in pain. "Scratch that – it feels like I've lost my damned arms and had my chest bashed in." she gritted out, trying to shield her eyes from Knockout's light.
"Try not to move, Lex." Nax cautioned as he moved Kyra off the table and traded her for Lexi, who was wincing and gasping as he did so. "Where does it hurt the most?" he asked, looking her over under Knockout's light.
"My stomach-" Lexi barely managed to get out in-between gasps. "Sithspit!" she swore, doubling over onto her side in pain, clutching her stomach. "Something feels like it's not where it should be!" she continued to complain, and Nax set to work trying to mend her, getting her armor off as quickly as he could. Her stomach had some pretty bad bruising, but no deep gashes or anything, so Nax applied a bacta spray regardless.
"Knockout, you wouldn't happen to have any medical scanners on you, would you?" Nax asked, and Knockout silently moved next to him, leaning over Lexi.
"Scans indicate Master Sapphyra does not have internal bleeding or damaged internal organs." Knockout clearly stated, turning to Nax. "However, her body is likely recovering from the blunt force trauma caused by the crash. Suggested remedy outside of bacta treatment would be for her to simply rest." he advised, and Lexi looked exasperated.
"Sure as hell doesn't feel like 'blunt force trauma', Knockout." Lexi said derisively, before wincing as Nax wrapped her bruises up in a bandage. Lexi sighed in relief as the pain began to go away rather quickly, and then her eyes widened, darting to Knockout. "...Wait, why the hell is he on? I thought we were keeping him off until I could make sure his systems were okay?" she questioned, about ready to slug Nax.
Nax looked over to Knockout. "Power was out and I couldn't get to Kyra through the cockpit, so I had to get Knockout to break the loading ramp's supports." he explained as he stripped his armor and top off to bandage himself.
In an effort to make herself useful, Lexi helped patch up wounds that Nax couldn't reach while Knockout shined his light on them. Even though the situation was dire, Lexi caught herself staring at Nax on more than one occasion while they worked.
When the medkit had finally been exhausted of its supplies, Nax sat it aside and collapsed onto the lounge seat with the girls. "Knockout, can you go reboot Arfive and Katy, please?" he requested, and Knockout immediately set off to fetch the droids. Nax ran his hand through his hair and sat back, letting out a frustrated sigh. "So, to recap, one of us is knocked out, we're all injured, a good chunk of our gear is damaged, and the ship is slagged beyond what we can repair ourselves."
Giving a worried glance to Kyra, Lexi leaned up closer to Nax. "You almost forgot that we're stuck in the Unknown Regions on a massive ringworld, with a huge graveyard of ships orbiting it and little hope for rescue." she dryly commented, and Nax buried his face in his hands. Lexi sighed. "What a mess."
Nax shook his head angrily. "I should've told that Garuda bastard to go pound sand when he wanted us to go on this stupid mynock chase." he remarked, before giving Kyra an apologetic look. "Odds are the Void Charter isn't even here, or if it is, it's in pieces."
Lexi appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Why would he even want what the Void Charter had?" she questioned. "It's not like it's the Katana fleet – it's just a research ship."
Feeling a brief pain in his wrists, Nax quickly checked them before returning his attention to Lexi. "Considering the possibilities, he probably wanted it for his boss."
"And who would that be?"
"Jabba." Nax answered flatly. "Valarian doesn't operate out as far as Bestine, and she's the only other possibility." he deduced. "He probably wanted to present one of the creatures on-board to Jabba as a new pet, or sell him the research from the databanks."
Their conversation was interrupted by Arfive and Katy wheeling themselves in. Knockout also entered, only to set out the emergency beacon they had gotten from Iridonia on the table. "I must assess the damage to the Knight, so please excuse me, Masters." Knockout apologized, before leaving.
Arfive instantly lit the room up with a hologram of the ring with its physical dimensions being printed out next to it. Ten thousand kilometers in diameter, and five-hundred-kilometer surface width for both rings. Nax and Lexi both whistled as Arfive moved the hologram to a much more localized part of the rings, near the bottom where the two rings connected. Zooming in to a scaled representation of the surrounding landscape, two more holograms appeared, one of the Knight, and another of a downed capital ship – a Venator, specifically. Arfive then babbled on in binary as a trail was being drawn from the Venator to the Knight, hopefully talking about a potential rescue from the denizens of that ship.
Nax could barely hear it, but it sounded like something heavy was walking on the hull – multiple sets of footsteps, in fact. There was even strange, almost birdlike squeaking coming from outside, and it was moving overhead towards where the entrance ramp was. "Sounds like we've got visitors." Nax pointed out, getting what remained of his clothing and armor back on and grabbing the DC.
"Wait," Lexi suddenly said, reaching out and grabbing Nax's arm. "Don't do anything stupid, Nax!" she pleaded, worry hanging from her words.
"I won't, Lexi." Nax reassured her. She almost looked like she was about to fight him to not go meet the neighbors, but relented and let him go. Nax headed down the corridor where Knockout went, grabbed him, and headed to the entrance ramp door. The footsteps continued plodding along the hull of the Knight, before Nax heard something drop down.
The footsteps continued, this time on metal, getting progressively closer to the door before suddenly stopping. Nax was about to order Knockout to open the door and blast the poor sod, but the man actually knocked against the door. "Is anybody in there? I'm here to help if anyone's still alive." a man in a thick Concord Dawn accent asked.
Nax was understandably apprehensive about opening the door for the guy. "Knockout, does this guy sound trustworthy?" he whispered, hopefully inaudible to the man at the other end of the door.
Knockout appropriately lowered his volume. "Audio playback of this unknown is a 100% match for Jango Fett." Knockout stated clearly. The name Fett set off warning bells in Nax's head, but Knockout quickly corrected that. "In all likelihood, this man is a clone trooper of the Grand Army of the Republic. He likely belonged to the crew of one of the Republic ships wrecked in orbit – trusting him is a valid option." Knockout continued, before pausing for a second. "Unless, of course, Jango reattached his head and came all the way out here."
Hesitating, Nax looked to the door, DC prepped just in case. "I hear you. Who are you?" Nax asked, and there was that same chirp from earlier on the other end of the door.
"Woah, a survivor this time?" the man on the other end said in shock, before quickly composing himself. "I'm CT-3291, with the 52nd Helljumper Legion, second regiment, third battalion, first company, second platoon, fourth squad." the clone rattled off, as if that had all been drilled into him from day one, which in all honesty, was pretty likely. "But you can call me Bitterman." the clone finished.
"Bitterman, huh?" Nax said, pressing up against the door. "...Are there others with you?"
Bitterman was quiet for a moment. "Just me and my compdog, Shockbolt." he replied, and his companion chirped again. "I'm a scout, but there are other survivors living out of a crashed cruiser about twenty klicks downspin from here. We've got food, beds, and medical supplies – more than what the natives can offer, if they don't just kill you outright."
This ring had natives? Nax briefly pondered the implications of a species actually being native to this place, but shrugged it off. "Alright, I'm gonna open the door for you, but I'm gonna warn you now – try anything funny, and my guard'll turn you into dust." Nax warned, motioning for Knockout to unlock the door.
Bitterman chuckled. "Wouldn't expect anything less – hell, I've been shot at for-" Bitterman began to regale, cutting himself off when he saw Knockout in full. When the sight registered, Bitterman jumped back, weapon nearly raised to fire. "Jumpin' Jawas on a frag mine, you should've told me your guard was a damned Super!" he cursed as he calmed himself.
Nax came around in front of Knockout, arms crossed. "That would've ruined the surprise, Bitterman. Couldn't be sure if you were a pirate or not." Nax pointed out as he got a good look at Bitterman's armor. Definitely a Phase II variant, but the helmet's T-visor had been enlarged significantly into more of an anvil shape and given a blue tint, while the white plastoid was now a faded and chipped black. Nax also spotted additional mount points for armor that looked like they hadn't been used in a long time.
Bitterman slowly managed to catch his breath. "I suppose that's true – hell, with how much firepower you're packing I'm amazed you even got shot down." he panted, before giving Shockbolt a friendly pat. "…You did get shot down, right?"
Nax nodded. "Two fighters that moved like nothing I've ever seen." he revealed as Arfive came down the corridor to investigate. "I've got two wounded, both patched up but one's out cold, and a bunch of supplies that're gonna go to waste." Nax went on.
Suddenly, Arfive twittered a question at Bitterman. "CT-3291, 52nd Helljumper division-" Bitterman started up, but stopped once Arfive suddenly went ballistic, shooting off binary gibberish as if it was going out of style. "Whoah, whoah! Slow down, buddy! My translator can only work so fast!" Bitterman shouted, and Arfive gradually composed himself long enough to ask a coherent question to Bitterman. "...Deadshot? He's still with us, but I don't…" he trailed, catching himself. "Wait, how do you even know who Deadshot is?" Bitterman questioned, and Arfive gurgled something. "R5-G0? Wait, Edgewise?!" Bitterman realized, and then looked as if he had seen a ghost. Bitterman pressed down on the side of his helmet and looked away towards Shockbolt. "This is Farstrider to the Dropstorm, send a message to Deadshot – tell him that his chatterbox has come home, and that I need a LAAT at the coordinates zero five three…"
Arfive was warbling and bouncing around excitedly as Bitterman called the crash in to the cruiser, and Nax was curious to know just why he was so suddenly excitable. Five minutes later, a transport ship landed outside the Knight's wreck and picked everyone up, taking them downspin towards the cruiser. Bitterman reassured them that another transport would fetch the Knight itself and haul it back to the cruiser, and their personal effects would be returned to them in short order.
On the flight there, Nax witnessed a worrying sight through the slats of the transport's side doors – a single large creature, about six meters tall with a thick blue carapace fighting against two similarly sized creatures that seemed to have primitive armor vests on and even more primitive weaponry. The larger creature grabbed one of the two in its massive pincers, and then proceeded to roast it alive with a jet of flame that came from within the beast. Once it was sufficiently dead and its partner was panicking, the blue creature went for a quick, clean kill by simply decapitating its remaining foe. It then roared triumphantly, picked up both bodies, and began to drag them off, presumably to its den to feed.
However, there was another challenger for the beast – a rancor that was much, much larger than the blue giant. The rancor had its claws outstretched, ready to tear it to shreds, but the blue one was having none of it – it dropped its kills, roared in response to the challenge, and charged at an impossibly fast speed. The rancor was unprepared, and was knocked onto its back, enabling the blue creature to roast the rancor to a charred husk. As if to rub salt in the dying beast's wounds, it jabbed its right pincer into the rancor's chest, and its arm almost seemed to pulse several times. This proceeded for several seconds before the blue giant pulled its pincer free in a bloody mess, sniffed, and stomped off in a slightly different direction compared to where it was going before.
Lexi had apparently been watching with Nax. "What." was all she could muster to say. A rancor, one of the most feared creatures in the known galaxy, had just been downed by a creature half its size that could only be described as a blue crustacean with flame projectors for arms.
Bitterman moved up to the slats and saw the scene for himself. "That thing is a Gargan. We don't mess with them, and they usually don't mess with us on account of our turbolasers, but if one finds you in the wild, well, you may as well pray for a miracle." he said, before noticing the two dead bodies. "The other things it killed are Dinyol, nomadic tribals that we occasionally trade with."
"Are the Dinyol the natives you mentioned?" Nax asked, very much disturbed by the carnage he had witnessed.
"No, the natives are much smaller – around standard height. They've got earth-tone skin that sort of feels like a Quarren's, and their heads are kinda teardrop shaped, with eye stalks jutting out from the sides." Bitterman described, pulling away from the slats and looking towards the front of the craft. "They're openly hostile, and if they don't kill you outright, they'll enslave you, either to sacrifice, or for labor. Can't even communicate with them – any protocol droid we use on prisoners comes up empty."
Lexi's heart skipped a beat. "How many of the natives are there?" she questioned, very much concerned with the possibility of being captured.
Bitterman looked back at her over his shoulder. "On this section of the ring? Somewhere in the millions – biggest settlement of them on this segment is a city at the connection point upspin, but they're spread all around." he answered, before glancing at Kyra, who was seated in one of the transport's center seats. "What's with her?"
"She blacked out not long after we were pulled out of hyperspace." Nax responded.
"Does she normally do that?"
"No, this is the first time. Hopefully the last, too."
Bitterman turned around and gave Nax a very serious look. "...She's not the first to black out when dropping out of hyperspace here." Bitterman said. "Have you noticed anything abnormal happening whenever she's around?" Bitterman questioned, hoping to pry an answer from the two.
Nax gave an unsure glance at Kyra. "Not really? She's got better instinct than most people do, and she's a fine shot. The only thing I can think of is-"
"She punched a hole in a solid wall and completely shattered it. That's how we got Knockout, by the way." Lexi blurted out, alarming Bitterman greatly.
"That's… one way of putting it." Nax said, mildly annoyed that he had been cut off.
"That's more than what I would consider abnormal." Bitterman noted as the transport's engines began to wind down. "We're here." he said after a quick glance through the slats. "I'll talk to my superiors about your friend, in the meantime, get yourselves checked at the medbay." Bitterman continued as the transport landed, and the side doors opened to reveal a slightly dilapidated hangar bay with a few clones, civilians, and aliens moving about between the aged fighter hulls, which definitely looked nothing like any Republic fighter Nax had heard of.
Bitterman quickly disembarked from the transport with Shockbolt, exchanged a few words with a clone in a white pilot's jumpsuit, and then disappeared behind a fighter. The aged clone he had been talking to looked over in the direction of the transport and ran over. He completely ignored Nax and Lexi, and instead grabbed Arfive in a hug that looked like it could crush bones. Arfive, naturally, complained in protest, but didn't physically resist. "Edgewise, you bucket of bolts! I thought you were gone forever!" the clone said in a tearful voice as he embraced the droid. Arfive chirped something in response, and the clone let him down finally. "Who's this?" the clone asked as he looked over at Katy. Arfive gave a neutral beep, and the clone smirked. "Ah, your girlfriend? Didn't know you got around, Edgewise." he teased, and Arfive gave an angry series of warbles and twitters, while Katy gave the closest thing she could get to a chuckle. The clone set Arfive down and finally turned to Nax and Lexi. "Name's Deadshot. Which of you do I have to thank for bringing my droid back to me?"
Nax simply gestured to Kyra. "She is. Sort of. It's a long story, better saved for when we're not busy recovering from a crash."
"Then I'll thank her when she wakes up." Deadshot said, before looking back to Arfive. "We'll catch up later, I've got work to do right now, but at least I can die happy knowing you're still around, buddy." he finished, before stepping off the transport and disappearing into a crowd of mechanics. Knockout picked Kyra up, and the group headed towards the medbay to get dipped in the bacta tanks.
If they even still had bacta here, that was.
The medbay on the Dropstorm was predictably not in the best shape, but it was at least functional. There were a few aged medical droids, with the most modern one being a 2-1B with miserable bedside manner, who had apparently been with the 52nd since their activation. After a quick inquiry, Nax found out that they did in fact have bacta, but it was reserved for only the most dire or important of cases since they only had so much of it. Everyone else got dunked in Vitor – a viscous red liquid with similar healing properties to bacta, which was also in much more abundant quantities due to being native to the ring. It just so happened that since Nax and Lexi were on their feet, they would be getting vitor treatment, while Kyra was being given bacta for reasons that the medical droids were refusing to answer.
Three days later, Nax and Lexi stepped from their tanks, smelling slightly of copper, fully expecting to find Kyra awake and ready to rejoin them. Instead, they found her in a bed with the 2-1B at her side, her wounds healed, but still unconscious. "Ah, good timing. I thought we wasted the vitor on you two." the 2-1B said, not taking its attention off of Kyra.
The pair moved closer to Kyra's bed, concerned for her. "Why is Kyra not awake?" Nax questioned, and the droid gave him a sideways look.
"Maybe because she's still in a coma, genius." the droid remarked sarcastically, before giving an electronic, exasperated sigh. "Look, the best answer I can give you with the aged equipment I have is that some part of her 'disagreed' with the rings, and knocked her out. It'll be permanent if we don't give her a remedy."
Lexi raised an eyebrow, not buying it in the slightest. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she demanded to know. "How the hell does a part of you just 'disagree' with an object floating in space and just decide 'yeah, I'm gonna go knock myself out now, bye!'?"
The droid gave another sigh. "With the way things have apparently been going outside our little corner of space, I doubt you two would understand." he remarked, before turning his attention back to Kyra. "Though, to put it into words that you can grasp, these rings are alive. Not like a sentient, more like a simple organism." the droid explained, before pointing to the ceiling with its syringe hand. "That starship graveyard in orbit, for example, is a result of the immune system, but I digress – this ring can communicate with beings that are… let's say 'attuned' a certain way, and can have an influence on their bodies. In most cases, this results in unconsciousness."
Nax moved up to Kyra's side, opposite of the droid, and gently ran his fingers through her hair before looking up at the medical droid, its white-blue photoreceptors faintly glowing inside of their sockets as it stared at Nax, utterly unflinching. "What was that about a remedy?"
The droid perked up now that the effectively idle banter was out of the way. "There is an herbal remedy that we have used in the past for cases like your friend's. Our last stock of it was destroyed shortly before you arrived, however, so you'll need to fetch the ingredients." the droid said as it began to whir and click. "To start, I will need three drakma root, the petals of a goel flower, and-" the droid began to list, before realizing who he was talking to. "Actually, I'll just have one of the clones guide you around to get what I need."
Lexi nodded. "Fine by me. One thing, though," she said, hesitating slightly when the droid snapped to face her. "This remedy – it'll work, right? And what about side effects?"
The droid audibly snickered. "A Zeltron worried about side effects? Shocking." he snarked, and Lexi resisted her flaring temper long enough for the droid to answer her question. "No, there aren't any side effects that you should be concerned about. She'll probably be fatigued and drowsy, but that's it, and yes, this works. I wouldn't have brought it up if it didn't, you voidhead. Now, begone. I have work to do."
Kyra stared into the darkness. There was no sound, no smell, and most certainly no light. She wasn't even standing on anything solid, just floating in an endless void, which actually felt more like swimming through congealed liquid than anything else. The only thing she could feel with absolute certainty was her own body, but every movement she made caused immeasurable pain, yet she made no screams. Even breathing felt like it was hurting her. If there was a hell, then this would be it. Left alone in an eternal darkness, deprived of her senses, with absolutely no way out.
Even though these realizations were making themselves apparent to Kyra, she wasn't panicking. There was a feeling of unease, yes, but she didn't feel fearful – more like she was just tired. Kyra blinked once, and the void was replaced by a rather elegant looking bedroom, fit for a royal. There was a queen sized bed to her left with some of the prettiest and most comfortable looking quilts she had seen in, well, ever. She even spotted a walk-in closet near a balcony. However, what was most noticeable about the room was that about half of the space opposite the bed was dedicated to maintaining one's personal appearance. There were three vanity mirrors centered around a small backless seat – one facing head-on, and the other two at forty-five degree angles to get better looks. There was also a very small dresser situated between the chair and the mirrors that had a hand mirror, a familiar looking comb with some strands of hair in it, and many, many expensive beauty products.
Finally, there was a woman in a primarily white dress with light blue floral patterns – her shoulders were exposed, and the dress wrapped around her neck, but her arms were not bare, as she had long white gloves that reached up to her upper arms that ended in two golden cuffs. The woman was calmly combing her long, white hair, utterly ignorant of Kyra's intrusion.
Slowly, Kyra approached the woman, careful not to make any noise, but as she did so there was a nibbling sense of worry in the back of her mind. Something wasn't right, and her fears were soon proven correct, as when Kyra moved directly behind the woman and looked in the mirrors, Kyra found that the woman was an exact duplicate of herself. "What in the name of..." Kyra let out with a gasp as she recoiled from the duplicate. Getting over the initial shock of seeing herself, Kyra decided to try pushing her luck, so she waved her hand in front of the duplicate's face.
No reaction.
Deciding against physically disturbing the duplicate, Kyra instead opted to observe the differences between herself and the dupe. For starters, her duplicate had a rather large amount of makeup on. Not a thick, trashy amount like what you would see on a Nar Shaddaa prostitute – the duplicate's makeup was much classier and looked professionally done. Even though Kyra couldn't remember wearing makeup herself, she had to admit that her duplicate kept very good care of herself.
However, that just raised more questions for Kyra. Was this duplicate from a blocked off memory of hers? Or was this caused by some sort of hallucination? Whatever the answer was, Kyra's train of thought was interrupted by a series of knocks at the door, gaining the duplicate's attention. "Come in, Vandra!" her duplicate said in a slightly more upper-class tone than Kyra was used to.
Instead of someone coming through to talk with the duplicate, the door was burst open by six shadowy tendrils. Kyra didn't even have time to scream as the tendrils grabbed her, pulling her from the room and back into the formless void she had been in before.
The tendrils let go of her shortly thereafter, and Kyra ended up tumbling along something metallic. When she recovered and got up, she found that she was on a long walkway in a huge dome. The wall platings were artificial and filled with wiring rapidly pulsing harsh reds and oranges out towards the center of the area, coming down into a central ring and looping down into the bottom of the area. Overall, Kyra had to guess that this dome was one, maybe two kilometers in all directions?
Whatever it was, it obviously looked important, so Kyra opted to head towards the center, intent on discovering its function. However, she had barely moved ten paces before there was an overwhelming, bassy voice echoing through the dome. "VRAY?" the voice boomed, damn near shattering Kyra's eardrums. "VAR SCHA'FFEN."
Kyra covered her ears, closed her eyes, and dropped to the ground in an attempt to block out the voice, but it was an ultimately futile gesture. Eventually, her ears stopped ringing long enough for her to be able to stand on two feet again. When she opened her eyes, though, the room was cast in a faint blue light, and when she turned her attention towards the center ring, found that a large, holographic eye with two lightning bolts crossing in an X-pattern just behind the eye itself. "...Vray?" Kyra repeated in confusion. "Who is Vray?"
The hologram shuddered. "VAR." the voice boomed again. Kyra, naturally, didn't understand what was being said to her, but whatever she was speaking to apparently understood this and shined a light around Kyra so that she could understand that it was referring to her.
Kyra pointed towards herself, and the hologram seemed to nod. "...My name is Kyra, not Vray." she slowly said, getting a grip on the situation. "...Who… no, what are you?" she managed to question, and the hologram froze in place for several seconds.
There was a long pause between Kyra's question and the response. "TOPANKA TOR ROVANI, GARDI RET BULDARA ETERNOS IMPERIA." it boomed, and Kyra could almost barely make out some words in Basic. To hopefully help convey its point, the hologram changed into a that of a pre-industrial shield with an insignia Kyra was unfamiliar with. The insignia was a hollow diamond, cut vertically and horizontally through the middle, with a kite-shaped hole in the center. On the top and bottom parts of the diamond were two oval-shaped cutouts, while an egg-shaped object was overlayed onto the kite, with half of a capsule on both sides of the egg.
Kyra's eyes narrowed in realization. "You're a guardian." she said, furrowing her brows in thought. "Or protecting something." Kyra continued, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Do you have a name? A designation? Anything?"
Before the entity could answer her question, something sounded like it was tearing open behind Kyra. She blinked once, and the next thing she knew, she was on her back, her arms and legs shackled to chains on a stone altar of some sort. The only illumination in this new area were large torches placed around four stone pillars arranged in a rectangular pattern. "...Sul Vray kala'tan, ner hul!" a voice shouted to her right, sounding like it was speaking the same language as the entity. Kyra's eyes adjusted to the sudden shift in lighting, and she saw the owner of the voice. It was a tall humanoid, clearly amphibian judging by the way the torchlight danced off of its wet skin, with two eyestalks protruding outwards. Whoever it was, they looked important, judging by their elaborately decorated tunic. "Gliri kall il eternos!" the figure shouted, raising something Kyra couldn't quite see into the air and receiving a chant of those same words from what sounded like hundreds, possibly thousands of voices.
The humanoid turned to face Kyra, a malicious glint in its eyes, and as it approached Kyra, she got a clear look at what it had in hand. An ornately crafted dagger with a small, red orb at the hilt that seemed to glow, growing stronger in intensity as the figure came closer. Already realizing what was about to happen, Kyra struggled in her chains, but she wouldn't have had time to get away regardless of whether she broke out or not, as the humanoid was already upon her. It raised the dagger above her chest, seemingly smirked at her, and then plunged the blade down towards her chest.
Kyra shut her eyes and braced for the incoming stab. She waited, and waited, but it never came. In fact, the chanting of the crowd and the sound of burning torches was gone, replaced by the soft chirps from a nearby computer. Slowly, Kyra opened her eyes to find Nax and Lexi looking over at her alongside a medical droid. The sight barely had time to process before Nax pulled her into an incredibly tight hug. "...Kyra, I..." Nax choked, sounding tearful as he tightened his hug. "...I thought we'd lost you for good when you passed out."
Kyra smiled and returned the favor. "I'm here now, Nax." she responded in a soothing voice. "Only way the Reaper is ever getting his hands on me is if I go down fighting, and even then I'll kick his ass." Kyra reassured, adding a light chuckle despite the feeling of having almost been sacrificed moments ago.
"How heartwarming." the medical droid interrupted, causing Kyra to shift her attention from Nax to it. "Miss Kyra, was it? How are you feeling?" it asked, its photoreceptors flickering expectantly at her.
Nax let go of her, but remained at her side, unwilling to get too far away. "I feel fine, I guess." Kyra answered, rubbing the back of her neck. "There's a weird buzzing noise and I have a headache, but other than that, I'm good."
"How intense is the buzzing?" the droid asked, presumably taking notes internally.
"Not very, but enough to cause an annoyance." Kyra said, shooting Nax a slightly worried look.
The droid nodded. "I will have to find our medication for that. Try not to overdose." it dryly remarked, before returning to its slight professionalism. "Do you have any other comments?"
Kyra sighed and straightened herself in the bed. "I had a series of… I don't know what to call them. They felt like dreams, but they were too lucid to actually be dreams." she quietly said, running her hand through her bangs.
She certainly had the droid's interest now. "Dreams? Describe them. In detail, if possible." the droid requested. Kyra launched into as much detail as she could about the dreams, from the void, to the bedroom, to the conversation with the entity, and the sacrificial altar, making sure to include what she saw of the humanoid. "...This is..." the droid mumbled, before quickly straightening up. "This warrants attention. You seem to be fine in a medical sense, but I have some concerns to raise with those in charge. I will return momentarily." it finished, before stepping out of Kyra's room and into the hallway.
Kyra shot Nax a glance. "What's with him?" she asked in a confused tone.
Nax knelt down by Kyra's bedside and looked her straight in the eyes. "Kyra, that humanoid you described?" he said hesitantly, giving Lexi a brief glance before returning his attention to Kyra. "That sounds like one of the natives."
"...Natives?" Kyra inquired, raising an eyebrow. "Nax, what in the hell are you talking about?"
Nax's expression immediately turned to one of confusion. "You don't remember? We're on a ringworld in the Unknown Regions. You passed out not long after we dropped from hyperspace. This ring's old enough to have its own natives." he said. Suddenly, it all clicked for Kyra. The strange dreams she had been having the past few days, the nightmare from when they first arrived on Coruscant, the voices, and what she had just woken up from. All centered around this one structure in deep space.
"You alright, Ky?" Lexi questioned, concerned for Kyra. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Kyra shook her head and snapped out of her trance. "No, Lexi. I don't think I am." Kyra replied in a sad tone. "It's… pretty difficult to explain." Kyra continued, and Lexi cocked her head to the side in response.
"What do you mean, Kyra?" Lexi pressed.
"I mean that it's not as cut and dry as it sounds, Lex." Kyra snapped, before shaking her head meekly. "Sorry." she apologized, and then looked back up at Lexi. "...Ever since we left Tatooine, I've been having regular nightmares, all centered around this specific ring. They've been getting clearer and clearer, but I put them off as just that – nightmares. Obviously not, apparently." Kyra went on, and then she glanced at Nax. "I can't shake the feeling that something wanted me here, and we fell for it hook, line and sinker."
Nax shook his head, absolutely brimming with confidence. "Kyra, whatever brought us here better be prepared, because I'm about ready to stick a speeder's worth of detpacks to its front door." he remarked, earning a laugh from both of the girls.
"Damn you and your optimism, Nax." Kyra said, a smile creeping up on her as the mood lightened. "Stars help whoever manages to get a ring around your finger."
"You offering?" Nax quipped, immediately flustering Kyra and getting another laugh from Lexi.
As the laughter died down and they calmed themselves, Lexi got serious again. "So, Kyra, if you think something brought you here, do you have any idea why that could be?" she questioned.
Racking her brain for answers, Kyra could only draw blanks. "...No. I can't think of any specific reason why something all the way out in the middle of the Unknown Regions would want me to come to it." she answered, visibly ashamed at her lack of answers.
Nax put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find answers soon enough, Kyra." he said reassuringly.
Kyra appeared sullen. "That's the thing, Nax. I don't even know if I want to find out." she replied, causing Nax to hug her in response. That, at least, helped to comfort her.
Dantinian looked down at the vacant altar, his knife stabbed harmlessly in the stone. In one moment, he had her chained and ready to give herself to the cause of the Reborn, and in the next, she had been snatched away from him, her bindings clattering harmlessly against the altar. The ritualistic chanting of his brothers and sisters had ceased, replaced by a quiet murmur among the crowd.
The manner of her disappearance easily ruled out the Overseer's involvement – she would have disappeared in a flash of light were that the case. No, she had simply faded away, and the only other suspects could be the Interlopers.
Ever calm, Dantinian plucked the knife from the altar and returned it to its sheath at his hip. He then turned to face the crowd. He spread his arms outward, as if he were reaching out to touch the crowd. "Brothers and sisters, hear me now!" he shouted, his voice echoing across the massive chamber. "For too long, we have merely tolerated the outlanders and interlopers on our ring, and now, the final key to the rebirth of our Empire has been stripped from us by them!" Dantinian continued, and the crowd began to grow agitated at the mention of the trespassers. "We will suffer their transgressions no longer! Today, I call for a purge of this ring, so we may reclaim our birthright!" he went on, before raising his fist to the air triumphantly.
The crowd exploded into a mix of cheers and war cries as they raised their weapons to the air in unison. The powder keg had been set for years, and Dantinian finally decided to light the fuse. While his followers filtered out of the temple, Dantinian chose to remain standing at the altar. He shut his eyes and reached out through the Nexus. Even in the corrupted darkness the ring emanated through the Nexus, she shined like a bright star. Brighter than any of her predecessors, even in her current state.
Dantinian opened his eyes again and began to descend, a wicked smile making its mark upon his face. When her blood is spilled, the Infinite Empire will finally be born anew, ready to wipe the galaxy of the upstarts that had taken their place.
One way or another, he would have the Dreamer in his clutches.
And that's that. I've been thinking on the state of past antagonists, particularly the Coruscant ones, and came to the conclusion that I needed someone solid in terms of threat, presence, and allegiances. Coruscant suffered a lot from switching antagonists very quickly, with the first intended antagonists being the Synthskins, then switching briefly to Tekti, and then finishing on the Path of Ludd. Compare that to Tatooine, which just had Lostur and his crew, with the only one becoming an ally of sorts being Foss. Hence, my creation of Dantinian.
Anyways, until next time.
-Tweak