CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
THE FOUNDRY
The Starwolf landed in the hanger, heat venting spewing the white clouds of heated air with a hiss. The ramp lowered and those that had gone to Ziost began to filter out of the ship and down the lowered ramp to meet those that waited impatiently to greet them.
Seeing Necrolis, Vette bounded forward, racing halfway up the ramp to launch herself into the man, wrapping her legs about him and holding onto him. Necrolis caught her and laughed before kissing the twi'lek soundly. Shaking his head, he gave her a mock annoyed look that just made Vette laugh.
"Hi there." Vette said, leaning in to kiss him once more.
"You'd think you missed me." Necrolis commented back as he continued walking down the ramp, carrying Vette along.
"You'll find out later." Vette purred in Necrolis' ear. The sith laughed, giving her ass a hard squeeze in response before settling her back on her feet, knowing there would indeed be time enough later for such. For now, Necrolis knew there was simply too much to attend to before he could allow himself to indulge in more pleasant distractions.
The pure blood sith looked about and locked his sights on Aela Darkstar and the man standing next to her. Malavai Quinn had seen better days, Necrolis knew, but he was alive and there. That was what mattered in the end. Quick steps brought Necrolis to the man, and stunning him, grabbed him in a tight embrace. Drawing back, Necrolis quickly slammed a fist into the man's jaw. Malavai Quinn felt the impact and fell onto his ass on the deck hard, dazed and confused look lifted to the sith.
"My Lord?"
Necrolis shook his head and reached down, grabbing the man's arm and yanking him back up to his feet. Arm resting on Quinn's shoulder, hand grasping the back of his head, Necrolis looked hard into the other man's dark eyes.
"It is good to have you back, Quinn." Necrolis said. "Now don't ever fucking do that again!"
"Yes, My Lord!" Malavai Quinn said with a smile.
Kira Carsen followed out of the ship, Tormen moving close behind her. Asha moved forward and grabbed the woman in a tight hug. While she knew Kira could take care of herself, there was the natural worrying when she knew where she had gone and all had been silent for so long. Looking at her, Asha arched one thin eyebrow as she noted the tired look on Kira's face. She could feel the tension emanating from her.
"You okay?"
"I'm good, don't get all motherly now." Kira laughed, knowing she was alright but she still had a lot on her mind.
Asha gave Kira a sharp look at that comment, knowing she was joking but it still rubbed her the wrong way. I am not that old for starters, Asha thought. Tapping Kira on the nose, the jedi then looked to the smuggler. She caught the wary look in his eyes and glanced back to Kira before looking back at Tormen again. Now just what is going on here, she wondered?
"Hey there, red." Tormen remarked and gave Asha a wink.
"Hey yourself." Asha replied, not missing Kira looking away. It didn't matter that she did so, Asha could still see the blush on the other woman's cheeks. "I think you and I might have to have a talk."
"Yeah… "Tormen answered back, rubbing a hand to the back of his neck.
"Where's Doc?" Asha asked, looking past the two at the others still coming out of the ship. She did not miss the uncomfortable looks on Kira and Tormen's faces at her question, and she felt a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"And that would be what we need to talk about." Kira commented with a shake of her head.
Kamthar Mantell stood with arms crossed over his chest, watching and taking in the reunion as the other group returned from Ziost. He took in the smiles and hugs, even among the sith, noting that despite the differences in sides, there were a lot of commonality. Seeing the smuggler and jedi, he himself smiled and breathed a little easier. When the bounty hunter came down the ramp marking the last of them, Kamthar knew they were one body short.
"Looks like someone didn't make it back." Alric growled out, voice kept low.
Kamthar nodded to the cathar soldier's words before casting the man a glance. He was surprised to see him. Since arriving and heading off with Elena, the cathar had been rather scarce about the Foundry. No one had said anything, nor would they, but it hadn't gone unnoticed either. Don't even think about it, Kamthar reminded himself.
"Wonder what happened?" Alric said, moving to stand beside the Havok Squad commander.
"Am sure we'll hear about it soon enough." Kamthar said with a shrug. "I'd expect we learn all about things soon enough."
"Good." Alric grumbled. "Maybe now we'll get some answers."
Mako watched as Blizz raced down the ramp and over to her, the little jawa grabbing her leg in a tight hug. Laughing, mako reached down and patted his head even as he chittered and bounced about, clearly happy to once more be back. Torian crouched down and held up his hand, which Blizz promptly let go of Mako's leg to race over and high five the mandalorian.
"Blizz glad to be back." The jawa stated merrily.
"Good to see you too little buddy." Torian replied before looking up to see Teffa making his way down the ramp, the last of them of course.
Mako raced over and Teffa laughed and leaned down as Mako tried to throw her arms about his neck and kiss him, working about the swollen baby bump. Teffa kissed her back before extending a hand to Torian as the young man joined them at the bottom of the ramp.
"Good to see you, kid." Teffa grinned at Torian.
"Likewise, old man!" Torian shot back, watching Teffa give a snort and then a hard look at him.
"How did it go?" Mako asked of him, reaching up to touch his face gently.
Teffa gave a small tight smile and shrugged, not quite sure how to answer that. They had found some information as they had hoped and wanted, but lost Doc, and still were no better than before if he was honest in his opinion. They had gotten very lucky as well. Had Kayln, and most importantly Abraxas, not helped them then none of them might have returned. The fact Abraxas was dead because of such still gnawed at him.
"We're here, and not quite so in the dark." Teffa answered his wife finally. "Guess it went well enough."
Mako smiled softly and nodded, though she knew how to read Teffa well enough to know he was glossing things over. It was there in the inflection and choice of his words, hidden in the look in his eyes. A great deal had happened on Ziost, and bad enough he did not want to talk openly about it. Mako knew to be patient. Alone, just the two of them, he likely would open up more when he was ready.
The Widowmaker moved slowly through the asteroid field, weaving a slow deliberate and careful path to the large secluded base. Reyal Bloodmoon sat in the pilot chair, hands deftly controlling the manoeuvring thrusters, bringing the craft down and along the curving underside of the asteroid base. Beside the youngest Bloodmoon, Sciowen manned the co-pilot chair, eyes on the sensors and working to keep their energy signature undetectable. Behind the two stood Kiren Bloodmoon, brown eyes watching the two siblings work, every so often glancing out at the base they would soon be entering.
Running a hand through the black hair that hung down partly into his eyes, Kiren took a deep calming breath. It was time, he knew. Identifying the Mantis class ship returning, he knew the whole group would likely now be present. It was time to ear their credits and bring Darth Marr his chosen targets. The sooner the better, Kiren thought, knowing he was not thrilled with answering to the Dark Council member. It may have been profitable to take the contract, but it was rife with peril if they upset their client.
"Steady as she goes, Reyal. Bring us in to dock." Kiren commented before turning and hitting the internal comm system of the ship. "Everyone gear up and stand by."
"I still don't like this." Sciowen Bloodmoon muttered under her breath, but Kiren heard her all the same.
"Just do your job, sister." Kiren commented. "I'll worry about the details."
"Too many variables, and we have no idea about internal defences." Sciowen answered back, casting a worried look over her shoulder before shaking her head. "I'll do my part, you know that, I just don't like it."
Kiren looked at his sister and frowned, knowing she was right. There were a lot of variables with the job that left them all ill at ease. This was far from a simple hit and drag them back type job. Each person they were up against were battle hardened and well known on both the Imperial and Republic sides. They would not go down without a fight. Worse, Sciowen was right in they knew nothing about the place they were infiltrating to confront them. At least we have the element of surprise, Kiren thought before reminding himself just how quickly that could change. Too late now to worry about that, he decided. It was time to do their job and get paid.
Necrolis had given them a bit of time to get out of their gear and settle before calling them all to the large meeting room. The table was still not fixed from before, but the chairs still worked as most settled in them, a few like Havok Squad remaining standing about the room. Necrolis likewise stood, hands flat on the table as he glanced about taking each of them in. Still one short, he noted, knowing that was going to quickly become a topic. He could tell from the look on Asha's face she was not happy with Doc's absence.
"First I am glad most of us are here and present. Welcome back, Quinn." Necrolis said as the others grew silent and listened. "That said there's a few things to go over here, and I already know Asha has a question."
The jedi turned blue eyes on the pure blooded sith. Asha arched an eyebrow though she knew it was not unexpected he would head off this part of the conversation at the start before it became a festering distraction. She had not had much of a chance to get more of the story out of Tormen. The smuggler had been very uncomfortable, and had not been right there either.
"What happened to Doc?"
There it was, the rancor in the room exposed for all to see Necrolis knew. He watched as Asha never took her gaze from him, while the rest cast looks to one another. Straightening up, Necrolis met Asha's gaze unwavering as he answered her.
"I do not know." He said to the point in response. "We were in an adjoining room. Doc was left to keep the main room secure. The others were in the corridor outside. When Shadelis and I came back into the room he was just gone."
"You sure he didn't just annoy you enough, you killed him?" Tanno Vik commented from the side and Necrolis glared at the man, even as comments began to fly back and forth between the factions in the group.
"Quiet!" Asha snapped, yelling out and glaring at everyone.
The jedi rose and then looked hard at everyone, knowing it had been unexpected such a call came from her. Turning her blue eyes back to the pure blood sith, Asha studied him a moment. Calm, impassive, not giving away much at all, that was always how Necrolis appeared. Still, Asha could detect no deception in his words, and she had the distinct feeling there was more to Doc's disappearance than any of them knew. Doc had his own issues, Asha knew all too well.
"Necrolis is speaking the truth, and I accept such." Asha finally commented, making sure to look at every one of the Republic aligned members in attendance. "We are not going to start drawing lines in this group now. We all remain threatened and we have to stick together!"
Silence fell at Asha's words, glances cast among those gathered to one another. Necrolis waited and watched himself. Asha Lightstar sat back down before looking to the sith at the head of the broken table and nodding to him. Necrolis returned the gesture before speaking once more.
"Now on to the main matter at hand." Necrolis began. "What we were able to uncover shows those of the Darkstar Legacy to be some sort of experiment. We were genetically created, not just altered. We still cannot comprehend what the great plan of Mekhis was, but we do know we were created to bring about the fall of both the Empire and Republic, the sith and the jedi."
"Created how exactly?" Aela asked, eyebrow arched in curiosity as well as a hint of confusion.
"I don't know the processes involved. A lot of the material remains way over my head." Necrolis answered and shrugged. "What we know is we aren't clones. Genetically it accounts for all of us being from different species. Seems we were not abandoned and given up as most of us thought."
"Great. We weren't cast offs, we're just lab rats." Kamthar remarked sarcastically.
"That is all well and good, but how do we solve the current problem of staying alive because of all this?" Tormen Darklight tossed out, glancing about at the others.
"We do the only thing we can do." Teffa growled, leaning forward and rising to stand. The bounty hunter looked to each of them in turn before looking directly at Necrolis. "We fight."
KORRIBAN
Darth Marr entered the chamber in the bowels of the academy, head turning to take in the whole room and everything in it. The masked figure stood in the doorway, noting the low lighting that barely lit the room. The room was colder than he expected it to be, though he knew standard tactics for interrogations was to alternate the heat and cold to torment the person held within. The room was small, but devoid of any furniture leaving ample room. Marr knew few would have ventured down so low a level, and as such few knew such a place even existed.
Eyes peered through the visor of the mask that covered Marr's visage. The hooded, armoured sith was never seen otherwise. Looking to the center of the room he watched as the chained and hanging prisoner shifted, chains clinking the only sound save for the occasional groan or sob that broke from the prisoner. Beside the prisoner a handful of the Empire's troopers were also present. With a wave of his hand, Marr dismissed them and sent them running to get out of the room. Marr had expected as much, though in truth was surprised to find it had not gone worse for the former overseer of the academy. Loun had made her choices and chosen her side, and Marr had no sympathy or mercy. She was fortunate Blackheart had ensured her life would not be taken, Marr thought, though had the young sith not served a greater purpose he knew he would not have held to that at all.
Loun had been stripped of any trappings of her old life as a sith and overseer. Gone was her lightsaber, her overseer robes stripped from her and burned. She had been tortured for information, the signs of such marking her nude form. The red skin of the pure blooded sith had been cut and burned, leaving her bloodied. Strung up and hung like a broken toy, Loun had been left to the mercies of those who took what they wanted from her body. Marr had no doubts how many had come, some returning often since she had been hung so. He could see the signs of their use of her, knowing she had endured the pain of such physically and mentally.
Walking slowly about her, Marr let his gaze roam over her form, studying and taking in every mark on her. He watched as she twitched and shifted in the chains that bound and hung her spread open and on display. He could sense the fear flowing off her, the tinge of anger that laced it. Nodding as he moved, Marr circled once again fully before stopping to stand at her head, looking down at her. Reaching out a hand he grabbed the woman's black hair and drew her head up to stare at her.
"And so here you are, Loun. Broken, battered, a weak whimpering shell of someone who was to train our future in being sith. Pathetic." Marr snarled low and deep. "You cannot even muster enough anger to fuel your hate and even make a feeble attempt at fighting."
Marr let go of his grasp on Loun's hair, watching her head fall even as he wiped his hand on his robes as if it would clean it from having touched the woman. Once again Marr moved, pacing back and forth before her.
"You failed, at keeping Me from My goal, at protecting both Blackheart and Raistlis, failed at even being a sith."
"What… what do you… want?" Loun growled out haltingly, with effort raising her head to be able to glare hard at the man.
"To see such a pathetic fallen sight and revel in the crushing of you. I am glad you were spared death, this is so much more the punishment and enjoyable to see." Marr remarked before leaning down, putting his hooded and masked face before the woman.
"There is one thing you have not answered and I would know." Marr remarked. "Why did you go through such trouble to protect Raistlis? Who is he to you?"
Loun's eyes lit with fire at hearing the question, Marr noted. The tug and shift within the chains sharper, harder than it had been even if it was still futile. Bringing up the young sith had riled her, brought her anger and hate to bear. He had wondered what reaction he might have gotten when the subject was broached.
"Interesting." Marr muttered, rising and looking down at the woman. "Who is Raistlis?"
"No one… I thought… thought you meant them… meant them harm." Loun managed to force out, eyes closing tight trying to keep her thoughts clear and find a measure of calm.
"Spare me the lies." Marr cuffed the back of the woman's head with one hand and stood back up. "I will have the truth of this, and if I do not like what I hear I will kill him."
"No!" Loun cried out, suddenly finding the energy within to thrash in her bindings sending the chains rattling loudly even as she ignored the pain in her body and tried to break free to get at Marr.
Marr watched with a bemused smile hidden behind his mask. Slowly, seeing her responses, he was beginning to have a clearer picture of just what the answer to his question was. He could read her fear, her anger, even if she refused to verbally say anything. He already knew Blackheart had been sent to Korriban as a safe haven by his adoptive sponsor mother, Bloodshade. Loun however, had run right to Raistlis and then also rescued Blackheart. She had run and protected Raistlis. There was the telltale sign.
"He is yours isn't he, Loun?" Marr leaned back down as he asked the question, grabbing the woman's hair to stare into her eyes. "Tell me now, I do not need to cause him harm. He does not need to share your fate."
"You lie." Loun hissed, knowing such was true of all sith, but Marr was just too dangerous to ever trust.
"Sometimes, though now is not one of those times, woman." Marr stated as he looked at her, mask covered face hovering before hers. "My goal as ever is the protection of the Empire. If he is no threat, I have no need to act against him."
Loun grit her teeth and growled as she felt the burn in her scalp where he had hold of her hair. She was done, she knew. She could only hope for the release of death, but she knew that was not going to come at all. At least not until she could make it happen. Slavery was her destination. It was all they could do with her really, she knew. Every fibre of her being told her not to believe Marr at all, but she knew she would grasp at every straw and chance possible if it would save and spare Raistlis from any similar fate. She could not let anything happen to him. The truth was something that at least for now might keep him valuable to Marr, and as such alive.
"He is my son."
"I suspected such." Marr admitted and let the woman go, rising to his feet and then heading for the door to the room. Reaching such, he paused, glancing back at the woman. "And that makes him the son of someone very important indeed."
Loun groaned and sobbed as she realized she had done all she could. She was at the end of having any use at all. All she could do now was trust that Raistlis had grown well enough to protect himself from the mad games that would be played about him. Forgive me, she thought, head dropping and going limp in her shackles once more.