"A bold claim, but you are not Sith. You wear the trappings of the Sith, you fight like the Sith… but this can be imitated, however. You lack a vital quality found in all Sith. Sith have no fear, and I sense much fear in you"
- Count Dooku
Sith Gothic 2
Part 8
"How are you feeling?" I asked as I entered the room.
"I am able to serve," the Miraluka said as she stood up to face me "If we enter battle, I will fight and die alongside you".
Wow she was so emo.
"That's not what I said" I corrected "I asked, how you are feeling".
Not that I needed to enquire verbally, after all I had the Force.
"I… I have not heard that question in some time" the young Sith told me "My flesh is healed, if that's the answer you seek".
Actually her state of mind concerned me more than her body. They had great medical science in this galaxy, so I knew that she'd been fixed up.
"Okay now that the pleasantries are over, let's start at the beginning" I decided "What is your name and home world?".
"I am Visas Marr," she replied. "My home world was the Miraluka colony of Katarr, which was destroyed by my Master".
All this I knew, but it was best to double check as things could be different from what I remembered from the game.
"In the med bay, I noticed that you have a lot of scars. Who hurt you?" I desired to know.
Could be self inflicted, she seemed emo enough.
"The scars are many, and their causes equally so," Visas said, dismissively "It is of no importance."
Systematic abuse perhaps. Torture?
"How did you find me?" I asked.
"I found you through the Force," she told me.
Not very helpful.
"Who sent you?" I asked next.
As if I didn't know.
"I serve my Master. I am an emissary, a scout." Visas told me as she moved to sit on her bed "My Master was aware of a disturbance in the Force, and tasked me with finding you".
Most likely so I could be brought before him. He would want to chow down on a powerful Force User like myself.
"There is little my Master does not know, and that you eluded his sight for so long is significant, but I do not know why" she said "I was sent to track you down, to bring you back to him as a captive".
As expected.
"If your master has trouble detecting me, how were you able to find me?" was my next question.
"There is much I see that my Master cannot," Visas answered. "I fear it is because of my nature, the nature of my race. My people spend their lives seeing the galaxy, the energy streaming off stars, the growth of life, and all things touched by the Force".
I had more to enquire about, I still needed to make sure I had all the correct information.
"Anything else you can tell me about your master" I said.
"His vessel roams the borders of known space, and even I do not know where he travels, until he calls for me" she told me, after she took a breath. "You will meet my master. It is inevitable, I have seen it. And when you stand before him, and realise what you face, you must be prepared".
Since I wasn't the Exile I had to wonder why Visas believed I could stand up to her master, she could just be so desperate that she was willing to grab onto any life line. Or something else was going on.
"That's all I need to know for now" I told her "In a short while, I'll have one of the crew bring you a meal. We will talk more later on."
Visas stood up before I could leave.
"Forgive me, but before you go, I must ask. Why did you spare my life?" she wondered.
Again I didn't lie.
"Because I have need of you" I told her "Your lightsabre is on the workbench, I fixed it".
And with that I left.
(Line Break)
Atton, the Handmaiden and I sat around the holodisplay in the main hold, we were eating a late breakfast.
"Has the Sith said anything yet?" the Handmaiden wondered.
I nodded.
"Lots" I told her "She wants to serve me".
Well she'd not actually told me that, but it was implied.
"I'll bet she does," Atton remarked, "That would make it so much easier to get another shot at you".
Visas didn't want me dead, she wanted to bring me before her master, then either he would consume me, which was what her master wanted and why he'd sent her to me, or I would kill him, which would free Visas, so either way she benefited. A very Sith plan, and if that was her attention I was impressed by her cleverness.
"She can stay" I told the crew.
No one took this well.
"Why? She just tried to kill you!" protested the Handmaiden.
Not so.
"Her orders were to capture me, and when we duelled, her heart wasn't in it. I think she wanted to die" I told the warrior woman "Those scars of hers, she's been tortured, and had other nasty things done to her".
Visas shouldn't have been that easy to beat, her master must have been leeching of her, possibly like Kreia was leeching off me. Now that there was some distance between them she should get stronger.
"And you think you can turn her," Atton asked skeptically "bring her round to our side".
What was our side? After all I was a Sith I wasn't allied with the Jedi this time and I didn't care for the Republic.
"I'm not sure," I admitted "I'm going to continue talking to her, and see where things lead."
Next I turned to Handmaiden.
"After you've eaten, could you take a meal in to Visas" I requested, making sure it didn't sound like an order "Talk to her if you can, she might say or do something around you that she wouldn't around me".
The Handmaiden nodded curtly.
(Line Break)
"You have befriended the seer. The Sith carry the battle to you, and you spare them! And as we travel, the empty places of this ship are filled" Kreia complained.
Well someone wasn't a morning person. Although I suspected her bad mood had more to do with me being a disappointment to her. I highly doubted the old witch approved of me going out and getting drunk.
"I hope your thoughts on this matter are clear," said Kreia. "If you take her on as a servant, you know that many Sith meet their end at the hands of their apprentices. It is not something I would wish to see happen to you".
An apprentice? Well that made sense. I'd defeated Visas, so she might want to learn from me, it wasn't as if I could be a worse master to her than her current one. Besides she would want to keep me alive long enough to get me to her master so I wouldn't have to worry about her stabbing me in the back before then.
"Like the servant of Atris, this one… has other masters" the old witch was now saying "She has ties to darkness".
Well I wasn't exactly the light.
"I intend to use her against her master, if possible" I admitted to Kreia "If she is connected to him than I can follow that connection or even use it against him, if I can figure out how"
Kreia chuckled.
"Wisdom and folly, I see" she said as she crossed her arms. "Now, you came to see me for a reason. What is it that drives you?".
There was something.
"When Visas attacked me, she did something to me" I told the witch.
I'd been drunk at the time, but you sober up fast when in a lightsabre duel. Visas was just plain bad when it came using a sabre, but she had good command of her Force Powers, which she'd used on me.
"She did nothing to you," said Kreia. "She has forced this upon you, but such crude methods are the way of the Sith".
Kreia knelt on the deck and motioned for me to sit down in front of her.
"Close your eyes" she instructed.
I did and soon Kreia's voice began to sound strange, distant, as if echoing through a cave.
"Feel this ship around you" she instructed "Ignore distractions, and focus on my voice. Now, stretch out".
I did just that.
"The breathing of the blinded one as she meditates in the dark" was what she said next "Now listen deeper. Past her breathing, and listen".
I'd done this before, tried to read surface thoughts, but this was different. It was much easier now.
As my feet walk from the ashes of Katarr, I shall not fear, for in fear, lies death, and…
"You are strong indeed" Kreia was now saying "What you heard were surface thoughts only, but it is something that masters have trained for, for years, and never learned".
The old witch had more to say.
"To listen to the thoughts of another is much like attempting to see the universe with only your eyes. It is equally limiting" I was told "You have brushed the surface thoughts of another. It is a start, but there is more. Calm yourself. Silence your own thoughts, keep them still"
Kreia's voice began to fade away, echoing within my mind once more.
"Stretch out, feel the ship around you. Strip away the metal, and see the souls and minds of those that walk its corridors".
From the first movement flows the second… strike, repeat, circle one's opponent… repeat, faster, quicker… if Father had been faster… if only Father had been faster… if I was faster, I would no longer be the last of my sisters…
Switch the face of the +1/-1 card, the totals are nine-ten. Switch the face of the +2/-2 card, the total is eight-eleven. Switch…
As my feet walk from the ashes of Katarr, I shall not fear, for in fear, lies death, and…
Now do you hear me? Truly hear me?
"You have taken the first steps on a much larger road" the witch told me.
This time, Kreia actually spoke, which brought me out of the meditation.
"That was intense" I said.
Kreia nodded.
"Now try again, reach out and really listen" she instructed.
(Line Break)
Visas was not expecting to meet someone as she went to recover her weapon. The woman didn't seem like much of a threat, at first glance, but a second look would reveal her to be deceptively lean and strong. Her stance was straight and proud and she held her staff casually at her side. She was a fighter; the Miraluka did not doubt that.
"What is it you want, Sith?" the woman asked.
The words were harsh and clipped, as though the fighter was biting back the impulse to say something much worse.
"I am only here to retrieve something of mine" Visas answered, careful to keep her voice neutral.
There was nothing on the workbench.
"Looking for this?" asked the warrior woman pulled out a small metal cylinder from within her clothes.
It was a lightsabre, her lightsabre.
"Yes" Visas said.
The woman made no move to give the weapon to Visas, nor to use it to challenge her. She merely held it, while examining it intently.
"So this is the weapon of the Sith," she whispered.
"It is also the weapon of the Jedi" Visas stated.
The female warrior's head snapped up to look at her.
"But you are no Jedi" she said.
"I do not serve the Sith now" Visas stated.
The woman bristled.
"You serve him? You tried to kill him! What do you even know about him" the warrior woman demanded to know.
"I know that he asked me to retrieve my lightsaber" Visas said calmly.
The fighter's gaze fell to the lightsaber once more.
"He wanted you to have this?" she wondered.
Visas felt a twinge of impatience.
"Do you know how to use it?" she asked.
"No," the woman admitted grudgingly. "I am not trained in its use. I was only admiring its design as a weapon. Its craftsmanship"
"Will you let me have it or not?" Visas asked.
She hesitated.
"You may use it to harm him if I give it to you" she said
"He chose to give it to me. Would you go against his word?" Visas wondered.
This was a question the seer actually wished to know the answer.
"Fine," the woman responded icily, before tossing the weapon.
Visas caught it easily despite being blind.
(Line Break)
As I sat up, I wondered a few things, one of which was if it might be possible to get Visas and Brianna into some of wrestling match, maybe involving a pool of something that would stick to their bodies and be enjoyable to lick off afterwards.
I'd just listened to their exchange, and I'd heard their thoughts rather than their words. What they'd said hadn't been important, words were wind, no what mattered was what they'd been thinking and feeling.
Mostly it was been female terrortial stuff, they were both interested in me, and for different reasons. While the Sith never had trouble finding followers I was a little surprised that my companions were so invested in me.
I also had to wonder if it was possible to influence people's thoughts as well as listen to them, if so it would explain why Kreia spent all her time alone, she wasn't monitoring everyone she influencing them too. And if she could do it, then so could I.
With that in mind I sat back down and let the Force flow through me.
(Line Break)
Kreia stepped into the cargo hold
"I know what troubles you, servant of Atris. And I have come because I have seen it too" she said.
The Handmaiden hide her surprise well. Kreia was rarely seen outside of the space she had claimed as her own.
"Seen what?" she asked.
"You know of what I speak" replied the old witch "He spared the Sith."
There was no reason she should be afraid of an old woman the Handmaiden told herself, yet her heart was just pounding in her chest just because Kreia had startled her. Still, she could neither explain nor dismiss the feeling that there was something unsettling about the old woman
"He trusts her" the warrior woman said.
To an extent this was true.
"But you believe he shouldn't, as I believe he shouldn't" Kreia was now saying "And if his trust should prove to be misplaced, it is you and I who must protect him. Who must stop the threat before it becomes a threat."
The Handmaiden thought, trying to determine if Kreia's intentions were sincere.
"Why come to me?" Brianna wondered.
"The pilot may try, but we both know a Sith's skills are far beyond that of a fool's" Kreia replied "And I must be able to count on you, Atton can not be counted upon".
Brianna considered the situation.
"I admit," Kreia said grudgingly, "that although I am his mentor, he does not care for me much. He trusts you. He listens to you. He likes you".
Brianna wasn't certain how to feel about that, she found Gothic to be... well she wasn't sure, but she did want to find out.
"You hold a certain...influence with him that I don't have," Kreia continued. "But if that influence is not enough, we must do what is right for him".
The Handmaiden nodded her head, and the old woman took that as an agreement.
(Line Break)
Once more I entered her room, when I did Visas rose and turned to face me.
"My life for yours" she said.
What did that even mean?
"How are you settling in?" I asked.
Visas had to spend some time thinking about my question, I could tell that she wasn't used to people talking to her like this.
"I do not think I am welcome here" she finally said.
No surprise there.
"So maybe the others don't like you too much," I said, "Don't take it too personally; they can hardly stand each and you just happen to be the new addition to our ragtag little bunch. You'll get used to it. And they'll get used to you".
Or they'd kill each other.
"Perhaps," was all Visas could say.
This was when I got down to business.
"Anyway I'm heading out to the refugee sector" I told the Sith "I might kill a few people, blow some stuff up, want to come along?".
Given that she was a Sith that might be like asking her out on date.
"I am ready to serve," she said.
She made for the doorway and I stepped aside to let her pass. Mostly so I could check out her ass.
(Line Break)
The crew was once again gathered in the main hold.
"The droid's the one who picked up the message-he's got it all ready to display" Atton informed us.
T3 beeped and cued the holodisplay, which projected an image of a Quarren in expensive business clothing.
"Lord Gothic, I regret this message has taken so long in reaching you, but I only recently became aware of your presence on Nar Shaddaa" the holographic image said with a bow "I am Visquis, a representative of an… exchange of shipping interests here on the smuggler's moon. I am extending an invitation to you to join me in my private lounge within the Jekk'Jekk Tarr, where we may speak without being disturbed. I wish to discuss something of mutual interest concerning your prospects for the future!. Oh, and do come alone-one human in my presence is more than enough".
With that the hologram faded out.
"Well, good thing it's not a trap," Atton deadpanned.
"It may be a traps, but traps work both ways," said Kreia. "The choice is yours. If you go, you will have to go alone, and unarmed"
I thought about it.
"The Jekk'Jekk Tarr is an alien bar," Atton said. "It's just off the docks, near one of the far traffic pylons. He's got you at a disadvantage there, though. The place is filled with cyanogen gas. One whiff of that, and it'll be the last breath you take. On top of that, a human walking around in there isn't going to get a warm reception".
I decided what to do.
"Well I could walk into a trap, or we could change the Hawk's ID so that it registers as one of Voggo's freighters, which Goto has been going after" I said "Then once were docked we can board his ship and kill the guy, that way there's no more bounty".
Might as well cut to the chase as it were.
