STAR WARS
THE CRIMSON BLIGHT
Episode 6: Force link
DROMUND KAAS: Briza's skyscraper
"Let the force flow through you." Tikala uttered in a calm voice, not for the first time this night and definitely not the last.
Briza tried to calm herself as much as she could. In the past six hours, she and her little half sister, had been trying to connect to each other through the force link they shared. So far Briza had learned that sensing the power of their link and using it, were two very different things to her.
Tikala had found out how to supplement her own force connection to her sister's, making Briza a much brighter spot in the force, but so far, Briza couldn't use any of the extra power she now possessed.
If Briza hadn't felt the power that came with being connected, she would have viewed it as a violation to the sith teachings, as the combining of force powers with another being, a jedi no less, was unheard of as far as she knew. "This is still difficult." She grumbled a bit.
"It's only in the light, you will find the wisdom of sharing and receiving." Tikala said, half in meditation.
"Or you could join the darkside and we could rule over our superiors with an iron fist." Briza countered, tired of hearing Tikala's jedi preaching.
Tikala was about to protest, but noticed that she might have overstepped a few boundaries, as far as their original non-conversion agreement was concerned. "I'm sorry... if I offended you." She carefully said in a low voice.
Briza sighed in irritation. "I have offended myself, by letting jedi stay in my home, instead of arresting them for illegal trespassing!"
Tikala was not sure what she should say or do. She could feel the turmoil in her sister's mind. "I'm sorry, when I see... people in pain. I feel obligated to help them, in anyway can."
"I'm not in pain and your jedi philosophy is of no interest to me." Briza muttered in a tired voice. She began to understand why Deedrah considered Mathorn a very atypical jedi. He never gave life healing sessions, had no problem giving in to his emotions and was not shy about showing desires. He could probably have become a great sith lord, if he had been trained on Korriban instead.
Tikala could sense her sister losing focus, as she seemed a bit in thoughts. "Are you tired?"
Briza was about to dismiss Tikala for now, but decided to continue as it could be a useful ability for upcoming missions and as long as they have been grounded for an unspecified period, she may as well use the time to become stronger. Even if she needed a jedi to teach her. "Let's begin from the start."
Tikala smiled as she muttered. "Certainly. Now... open yourself, feel the force as it engulf you..." She then concentrated her own energies and prepared for phase two. "Now keep it steady... accept my presents and feel as my energy flows into you."
Briza once again this night felt the intensifying heat, as she now had an electrifying force presents surrounding her. But now came the hardest part. She tried to take something as simple as her brush and make it hover in the air in front of her. It was extremely difficult to control, first she couldn't get keep it steady in the air, falling to ground a few times. Secondly she sometimes accidentally unleashed too much pressure into it, making it fly up in the ceiling and once hit herself in the face. But it was still a great improvement considering where they started the previous day, proving there was great potential ahead, if they could improve on the technique.
OUTERRIM: The Empire's Vengeance
On board the Dreadnought. After countless attempts to fall asleep, his mind haunted by painful memories of a now dead person. Imperious now sat meditating inside his chamber, with the Mask on his lap.
He looked down at this ancient artifact, focusing on it. As a reaction, the Mask started to make a faint orange glow, with a silhouette of dark energy surrounding it. Imperious studied it for a moment, he sighed as he felt too tired to take a risk, as he deemed himself too weak to control something of unknown power. He placed it on a pillow on top of a small table next to his bed.
For the last few hours, he had seen several dozen events of the past, but the memories was still very incoherent and chaotic. But now at least he had seen his enemy both as a boy and as a man. Not that he thought it would help him much at the moment. He also wondered if he should involve high standing scholars of the sphere of sith knowledge, in unlocking the mask's true nature. But he decided against it for the time being.
DROMUND KAAS: Briza's skyscraper
For once, the halls were silent as a tomb, when Mathorn walked out of the door this very morning. Of course was it not for the buildings noise dampening field, the constant heavy rain and thunder strikes that illuminated the hallways in this glass like building would sound like an eternal battle of gods "Great... Another depressing day, in evil land... I am never going to get used to this" As he looked out of one of the many wall size windows.
He wandered about for a moment, before one of the droids asked him if he wanted breakfast served or if he would until the mistress awoke. "Mister bolt, serve it asap. I'm hungry"
The droid made no remake to the nickname he was given. It only hurried to the kitchen to fulfill the order.
Not long after, Mathorn seated himself in front of the vid, watching imperial broadcasts with lowered volume so he wouldn't accidentally wake anyone. He sensed everyone was soundly asleep. Except for Tikala with whom he could never tell, because she always was cloaked in shadows for safety reasons. "Everyone have been working all night it seems, I wonder if we are going on any missions sooner or later" he mumbled to himself.
"Mathorn could we speak in private?!" Came Tikala's voice from behind, in a surprisingly strict tone.
Mathorn was a bit taken aback about his sister speaking so strictly to him. "Good morning sister... Well, sure we can do that" he nodded and followed her.
Inside Tikala's chamber, Mathorn sat down on the bed awaiting his sister to begin the conversation, while Tikala sat cross legged on the floor calming herself for a brief moment.
With a heavy heart, Tikala began to speak "I sense the darkside is rising inside of you my brother, your action to kill a slave owner in cold blood was unjust, even if you save-"
"I KNOW! But I couldn't standby and watch them suffer," Mathorn tried to explain, thou those words sounded hollow in his own mind.
"Listen Mathorn. You can't save everyone in the world. But can save yourself. This planet is a nexus of the darkside of the force. The darkside temptation, is stronger on this planet, than on any other planet I have ever witnessed." Tikala told him worryingly.
"So you are afraid I will become evil?" Mathorn muttered a bit dumbfounded.
"The darkside is not evil, it is death, I don't want to see you die. Following the darkside is like dying slowly, as you will slowly lose yourself." Tikala expressed her belief to the best of her current knowledge.
"Our own half sister is a darkside user, she doesn't seemed that full of death?" Mathorn pointed out, not having any direct intention proving it.
"Briza is strong, both her will and determination has remained uncorrupted. But..." Tikala paused, as she took a deep breath before continuing "she is still tainted by the darkside. The reason she let us stay with her, is her passion for the ones closest to her. I believe her love for Terrow, is the reason she have never lost her humanity."
Mathorn was silent for a long moment, before asking her about something that had puzzled him for a bit. "Why didn't you tell me this, when I came home with the Twi'leks?"
"I was greatly weakened by the dark energies of the planet, while remaining cloaked from the lords of darkness," Tikala explain and continued with a sigh "Only now, as I have finally gotten used to this nexus of darkside energy, I can finally see properly in the force."
Mathorn could only see this as good news, "Awesome! That means, you can finally go on missions without being in the back?"
"Not necessary, I still need to keep out of sight," Tikala elaborated, and added. "But nonetheless, I believe I can use the force to help you from a distance, or channel my force connection into you or Briza."
Mathorn smiled widely with glee and gave Tikala a big hug, "You are the greatest sister anyone could ever have!"
Tikala sighed heavily, "You never change, just remember to be extra careful not letting your feelings get out of control."
"You have my word, I wouldn't go Jedi killing... Jonathan and Urr'tar would be very sad if I did." Mathorn said as a joke, although he did mean it seriously.
Tikala couldn't see the humor in such a joke, but she accepted his answer none the less, "Thank you Mathorn, that's all I need to hear," she smiled, before suggesting. "Now, shall we go see what our family is up to?"
"Sound idea." Mathorn nodded in agreement as they exited the room.
DROMUND KAAS: The Office of Law and Order
Imperious arrived at his office after a very long trip, with much less sleep than he would have liked, he walked with long determined strides, as was costumed of a Darth, to show no sign of weakness. But when he neared his office, he was too tired, and dropped all pretense of strengths.
Despite having already read the mission report, it was still a shock for Deedrah to see her Lord in such a weak state. She was about to ask if she could assist in anyway, but Imperious held up a hand, signaling her to remain silent.
"Speak not, I need some time alone to study, do as much as possible without me." He firmly ordered, but with a very exhausted voice.
Deedrah just nodded in acknowledgement, before continuing her work, assigning troops and signing bills on his behave.
For awhile, Imperious just sat staring into the black mask. He noticed that, when he focused on any particular negative emotion, it made the Mask show tiny red or orange flares inside it's glassy surface, like a reflection of his soul.
"I still don't know why he just gave this to me." Imperious mumbled to himself. It irritated him a great deal that this mysterious enemy had just handed over such a powerful artifact, and at the sametime had dealt a blow to his personal team of sith sorcerers. A team he personally needed to rebuild, and in addition find a new apprentice. It was also frustrating, that his chaotic memories of the now dead Drenes, hadn't provided him with a clue as to the whereabouts of Psiron. "The memories of the past means nothing, if you seek something in the now."
As he mentally searched through these chaotic memories, with his frustration mounting to a boiling point in form of a headache. The Mask suddenly glowed a very bright orange. It hurt as if his inner were in flames, but the memories suddenly became clear, he saw himself as a young female acolyte, learning how she sensed a powerful strange darkness.
Through her memories, he observed her performing a thorough investigation on a backwater planet in the Outerrim, where she found a single human child. Judging from the little boys clothes, he was a breed of slaves. After talking to the child, she learned, that when his owner killed his mother for disobeying an order, he somehow used the force to make the slave masters go crazy and commit suicide, but also affecting everyone else in the slave camp, they all went mad, including his own dad. So when lord Drenas arrived, the only thing still standing was this three year old boy, surrounded by a field of corpses.
She took the boy in as her apprentice and named him Psiron. Even though she was still an acolyte, she spent all her free time to teach the child the ways of the darkside. She had even used him as the key to several schemes to kill of her rivals.
She stubbornly believed, that he was as devoted to her as if she was his real mother. By that, also believed she could treat him anyway she liked, without fearing for a possible retaliation... Which Imperious now knew would be a fatal mistake on her part.
After a little while seeing Drenas memories through the Mask, Imperious felt extremely fatigued, darkness began to overwhelm him. He couldn't be sure, whether he had overextend himself using the Mask, or if his mind could finally relax with the memories of another person sorted out. No matter, he slowly drifted out and fell into a deep slumber in his office chair.
