The Alpha Legacy - "The Return" Post KotFE Epic

[GuardianElite]

Vanquished from the Galaxy, the heroes of The Old Republic and 'The Coalition' disappear from sight, almost overnight. The conquest of the known Galaxy by the faction known as the Eternal Empire conquers all and with little or no resistance begins their rule of the Core Worlds of the once proud Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire...

Five years later....the heroes start to emerge, slowly at first; the Zakuul already having fallen into a state of relaxation are unaware of the vengeance held in the hearts of so many who slept seething over what they lost. No one holds greater vengeance in their heart than the Former Darth and Hammer of the Empire, Mrysti Alpha. Believing her sister dead and having lost two of her brothers as well as other family members to the Juggernaut that was the Zakuul Empire, Mrysti returns to exact more than a pound of flesh for all that's been taken from her....

Things have changed however, there are new players in the game and Mrysti must decide if the price of her vengeance is worth the cost. Especially in light of the family she must some how piece back together from the ashes. No one will be more effected than Mrysti....and her NEW daughter, Samantha.....

Prelude

“Finally, the respect you and I deserve….”

Arcann smiled and glanced over at his brother Thexan who looked down shyly and smiled in return. This was a long road, but finally the Sith Empire and the Republic were no more. In their hands they carried a bit of flag from both factions and the lightsabers gathered from the most difficult to defeat of each faction’s heroes. Arcann was slightly annoyed that the ones who vexed him on Korriban before the assault on the Republic’s homeworlds were not included in the package that they were about to present to their father. And Thexan absolutely refused to give Arcann Karolin’s lightsaber. She wasn’t dead, instead resting comfortably in the carbonite chamber Thexan set up for her. Still, Marr’s lightsaber was there and though he did not have Mrysti’s lightsaber wrapped up in the flag under his arm, Arcann was sure sooner rather than later he would get it. She couldn’t be far and now that the galaxy was his, he would spare no expense in finding her. The matter of Karolin was still creating a rift between the two brothers.

As the lift stopped, the door to the throne room slid open with the Eternal Cordon of Zakuul Knights guarding the highly polished path to their near untouchable Father. No one came here, no one had reason as their father sat privately most of the time. The few visitors he did see were mostly family, meaning the two brothers and Vaylen; who was still out in the Mid-Rim tying up some loose ends with the Hutts. The two brothers stepped off together after a quick glance at one another. Walking purposefully, pridefully and fully in sync. A destiny fulfilled, the task complete, they stopped in their normal spots bowing and then kneeling as they were taught to; each one unfurling the tattered flags they carried to reveal the lightsabers of those most dangerous foes they encountered in their conquests. Two sabers each lay on the tattered remains of the once proud symbols of both the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Thexan and Arcann both gave a solemn glance at their father before they both dipped their heads at the neck in a sign of reverence; each expecting the just reward for a task that cost each brother something.

For Thexan, it cost him innocence. When he left Zakuul, he was a mindless automaton. Following the orders of the Emperor, his Father, blindly. Being exposed to the different cultures of the Republic and the Sith Empire, he grew. In power and in knowledge a grudging respect was earned for the power they both come to know now as ‘The Force’. Neither brother was the same person they were when they left, but of the two Thexan was changed the most. Both in wisdom and in knowledge. Still wholeheartedly committed to his Father’s dream of ‘Justice to the Galaxy’, Thexan had to wonder if perhaps there were different forms of Justice. That perhaps the Zakuul way was not the only way. Of the two factions, the Jedi seemed most like the Zakuul and in Thexan’s brief encounters with them; Karolin especially, he saw very little difference in the views they shared with the Zakuul. It was this doubt he harbored and helped to create the rift between himself and Arcann. Then there was Karolin, Thexan was sure now that he loved her. Though he knew she hated him and his Empire for what they done, in his heart he knew when she was awakened he could convince her of the futility of resistance. Her power would be his power and together they would forge a brave new galaxy, one free of injustice and turmoil. A peace eternal to rule…until the stars burned out of the heavens.

Arcann held no such illusions. The loss of his arm and most of his face at the Battle of Korriban, Arcann felt he gave more than he received. As was always the way with Arcann, throughout his childhood, he craved acknowledgement and attention for the achievements he made. Though overshadowed by his brother who fought and thought in a more controlled manner, Arcann wanted recognition regardless. The rift was formed from the very first training session at 5 years old, when his brother Thexan bested him in the contest. The rift grew as Thexan’s power grew and Arcann held the feelings of inadequacy and guile deep in his heart. He loved his brother, but he loved power more. Hate twisted him, Zakuul Justice was a path to that power and through meting out that Justice on the unsuspecting galaxy of the Sith and Jedi; Arcann was fulfilling his destiny. But it was never enough, there was never enough acknowledgement . It was as if his whole life, his Father purposefully kept that love and recognition for something else; like he was waiting. In Arcann’s mind that day had come. If the vanquishing of the two most powerful factions in that galaxy were not enough, then nothing was going to be.

Valkorian kept his eyes straight ahead, like he always did. He was above the pettiness of actually looking down, he would never look down at anything. Of course he knew what the two brothers were unfurling in front of him; his tribute in a way and a show by the two of them of what they accomplished. It was unnecessary, he already knew what was going to happen when he deployed the two to lay waste to the Republic and the Sith. And it was not over, even though he could feel that the two brothers believed their hardest work was done. Sighing visibly, Valkorian stepped away slowly and turned his back on them. Still they had not passed the final test, even in this act by the two brothers Valkorian was not completely satisfied.

It started as a slow build up, Arcann’s head snapped upwards as he heard his Father move away and turn his back on them, as he always had. Thexan’s gaze shifted as he felt the change in his brother, looking over at him. Something broke in that instant inside of Arcann as he clenched his cybernetic fist, his breathing becoming heavy and he gazed at the mechanical hand. So much sacrifice, so much destruction. And after all he had given, his Father would dare to turn away from them yet again. Having nearly died for the cause and after years of neglect, Arcann had enough. He was not going to force his Father to acknowledge them and as without warning he jumped up and leaped into the air igniting his lightsaber; Arcann was going to kill the source of all of his pain.

Thexan jumped up immediately, the change was instantaneous and he knew what it was. On Korriban he felt it and in the presence of the Sith he felt it. Arcann had fallen in that instant to the injustice of the Dark Side. Murder was on his mind. Thrusting his hand out Thexan grabbed Arcann in the Force and pulled him back in the last moment before the saber came down. A blow that would have surely severed the head of their Father. The pull in the Force was not so much to protect their Father, but to protect Arcann. In all of their struggles together, in their journey to the other galaxy for conquest the one thing he always tried to impart to Arcann was patience. As Arcann sailed through the air, he screamed in rage at having been stopped once again from his goal. Once again denied that which was owed to him. Fury bit into him as he landed, his one good eye glazing over as the flame iris of the Dark Side ignited within him. Thexan, his brother, was now his enemy.

Thexan immediately activated his own saber to block the saber strike from his brother as Arcann landed. Being completely on the defensive, Thexan parried and moved to the side, blocking again. In his rage, Arcann stayed on the offensive, matching each block with a strike-slash and pressing forward. Arcann’s vision was clouded with the crimson haze of a bloodlust he couldn’t possibly understand as he struck-slashed again and crossed through the middle of his brother’s block bringing the saber across Thexan’s midsection. Almost immediately Arcann realized what he’d done as Thexan stopped and lurched forward slightly, the saber in Thexan's hand deactivating in disbelief. Arcann dropped his own saber and ran to his brother as he fell. The darkness in his eye clearing as he cradled Thexan’s head, grasping his arm as they always did and lowering him gently to the ground. The look of disbelief in Thexan as he watched his brother lower him in those final moments. Thexan’s thoughts drifted at the loss, as Arcann had just taken the most important thing from him he could ever hold dear; his life.

“No…”

Thexan closed his eyes and went slack, his body finally giving in to the deathly blow his brother had given him. Arcann bowed his head and stared in disbelief at what he’d done. A profound sadness had overtaken Arcann as the one person in the universe he ever confided in, Arcann just killed. The rift was no more, the bond broken; Arcann had slain Thexan. Footsteps made Arcann look up as Valkorian stood over him and Arcann looked up like a shy five year old who had just done something dreadful, not really sure what his Father would do. The Emperor’s eyes still not bothering to look down, not even in the death of one of his sons. At last, the final test had been completed and Arcann had passed the threshold. For the first time in their lives, Valkorian did look down on Arcann and extend his hand; speaking the word that Arcann had longed to hear since his birth.

“Come with me…my SON….”



Zakuul - Special Carbonite Containment Facility - (Continued from the Finale in "Fall")

Still blind from the Carbonite, Karolin held onto the shoulder of the one who freed her. Her sense in the Force was returning as the two of them ducked behind some conduits at her rescuer’s urging. A slight breeze wafted by the two of them as Karolin suddenly realized; being out of the climate controlled antechamber of the Carbonite storage area, she was completely naked. Sneering at her misfortune she cursed under her breath.

“Kriffin’ Thexan…wait until I get my hands around that scrawny neck of his…I am gonna—“

“Prince Thexan is dead…”

Surprised at her own reaction, Karolin looked away in shock. Her head lowered she searched for answers wondering about how much could have taken place in the time she was frozen in Carbonite. She looked back in the direction of the shoulder she held onto knowing her face was still twisted in the shock she felt at hearing of Thexan’s death.

“How…long has it been? How long was I in Carbonite?”

The hand went over hers as she felt an urging both in the Force and tugging on her own hand, “Come…we have to move. I will be happy to answer whatever you wish once we get out of the Palace. I have a place on the lower levels of the city.” Karolin’s hand jerked away in disgust, she still didn’t know who this benefactor was and in her blindness was loathed to follow someone who may lead her into another trap.

“You have a place here?!?! You’re Zakuul??”

There was a sound of running feet as Karolin felt in the Force the arrival of two other presences, two entities she felt before many, many times. The muffled electronically modulated voice of a Zakuul Knight echoed in the corridor as the shuffling of the feet approaching them stopped.

“Halt…’Outlanders’! You! You have broken a Royal Edict in releasing this…’Jedi’. You will surrender at once, drop your lightsaber!”

Karolin heard the tell-tale signs of saber staffs being activated and the sharp whine of reflective shields come online from the direction of the two Knights. Close to her Karolin heard and smelled the ions of a saber activate as the voice attached to her ‘benefactor’ replied defiantly.

“We ARE leaving this place! You can stand aside or be destroyed…it’s your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate—“

Even in her nakedness and thankful she couldn’t see at the moment to be more embarrassed, Karolin stepped around from behind the voice who was protecting her. She dealt with these ‘Knights’ before and had no intention of showing quarter to the more than adversarial and conquering warriors. Eyes that were shut lightly she began to ‘see’ in the Force, the auras of the two Knight lighting a blue-yellow in the blindness of her mind’s eye. Karolin raised her hands as the swirling yellow-red light of the Force began to caress and make it’s way over her body, coalescing in her hands.

There were no statements from Karolin as she cast her hands out and pushed the Knights away like leaves in the wind. The ‘Disturbance’ caused by the Force Push tossed the Knights aside and Karolin hoped it pushed them into something that was hard enough to kill them or at least knock them off an edge. The running feet of the one closest to her and the slashing sounds made by a lightsaber hitting armor told her it wasn’t. Karolin’s mysterious benefactor moving quickly to dispatch their two assailants. Grabbing her hand, the ‘benefactor’ pulled her onward with an admonishment.

“We could have avoided killing them I think…that was unnecessary in the—“

Jerking her hand away, Karolin stopped and bent her head down, “Look I don’t know who you are, but in my world these people are the enemy…and they are responsible for more than just putting me in Carbonite. I show no quarter and they all have much to answer for, especially for the death of my family.” With her head cast down, Karolin was still ‘seeing’ in the Force and the aura cast around the mysterious stranger was all yellow light, which told her at the very least he was a Jedi. As he approached she could feel his emotions turn more sympathetic, the hand again grabbing hers more gentle this time.

“I know…I know it. And that’s why I’ve come for you. It’s time, Master. More than you know has happened…” He paused as Karolin felt the sense of urgency rise in him again, “…and I will be more than happy to answer it all once we get out, but right now…” And he pulled her, the two of them running down what seemed like a long wide corridor. The curiosity still eating at her, Karolin spoke while they ran occasionally stopping as she sensed the movement of guards and other individuals in the vicinity.

“Well…at least answer this. How long was I under this time? You seem to know me, so I guess you realize I have been in Carbonite before.”

There was a slight chuckle as the two of them started their movement again, “Five years…and yes, I know all about you. I was a Padawan on Tython at the time of the Zakuul Invasion. One of my first study assignments gave me the opportunity to view your Holocron and I became…” There was a hesitation in the voice as Karolin sensed some embarrassment from him, “…’interested’ in you and your family. I studied more and before I realized it I had become more of an expert on things involving your family than I realized.” He stopped as both of them knelt down under another series of conduits, “After the fall, I started seeking out the members of your family. My studies took me above and beyond what a normal Padawan would have been responsible for and I stumbled on the first of your clues left behind by your sister, ‘Mrysti’.”

Karolin smiled as she looked up and at the voice, even in her blindness she could sense his excitement as well as the beam on her face at hearing her sister’s name, “She’s alive?!?! Then we must find her…go to her!!!”

The hand pressed on Karolin as she started to get up, “Not so fast Master, we are on Zakuul and a long way from where your sister may or may not be. In fact, no one knows where the facility is. I said I found the clues, I didn’t say I found her. The only ones who knew are either in hiding or I can’t get to. General Alpha is almost untouchable and she’s a ghost in the movements of her and her resistance unit.” Karolin nearly jumped again in surprise.

“General Alpha?!?! You said my sister was still in hiding?”

The smile behind the words could be heard as the benefactor replied, “General ‘Porchia’ Alpha…leader of the resistance. Or at least one branch of it. There are units scattered throughout the galaxy.”

Pressing her hand to her forehead it was a lot for Karolin to take in. ‘Porchia? A General? And where was Marstel?’, she thought. At the time of Karolin’s departure, Porchia was only 20 she was nearly 25 now. So many questions swam around Karolin’s head as the two waited for the footsteps to pass before getting up and proceeding. She felt a coat being thrown over her as Karolin’s rescuer spoke again.

“My name is Derrick. I was an architect at the time of the Zakuul invasion.” Derrick saw the look of surprise from Karolin as they entered the doorway and out into a maintenance causeway before exiting on ground level and out into the lower levels of the city. “And yes, I was a Padawan. Force ability in my family was not something we advertised. My family was well-connected on Alderaan, which kept me at home and out of the Jedi Temple. I didn’t feel compelled to join the Order until after I saw first hand what the Zakuul were doing to our galaxy. Now, I regret not becoming a Jedi in the first place, but rescuing you and…well, this is my way of making amends in a way.”

They rounded a corner as Derrick eased Karolin into a seat and she heard the sounds of a speeder starting up. They rocketed away as she relaxed a bit, her eyes adjusting to the light blur of her vision returning slowly and Karolin squinted looking over in Derrick’s direction.

“You said you found clues…what kind of clues and who else knows about them?”

Derrick continued to pilot as the two of them rocketed toward a destination Karolin had no idea about; Derrick speaking as he worked the controls, “Well, not many…your family I suppose. I do know that General Alpha has dropped off the grid, I suppose it’s time to start looking for you all and she is doing what I am. As I said, I haven’t spoken to her. I do know that her and the adopted daughter she has…” Karolin lurched forward again grabbing Derrick’s arm.

“Daughter?!?!”

Karolin could sense no deception in Derrick, only curiosity at Karolin’s response to what he was saying, “Yes, a little Mirialan girl…they call her Samantha. No one really sees her or Porchia for that matter. Does that mean anything to you?”

Laying her head back, Karolin began to smile broadly her eyes cast to the sky and the blur of light with faint hints of a blue sky. The laugh came slowly as Karolin wiped her face, a tear forming and streaking down in happiness as she murmured to herself, “Samantha.” Not privy to what happened after she was taken away on Korriban, Karolin’s last image was that of Marstel dragging Mrysti away from the cliffs edge before Thexan was about to sever her head with his lightsaber. Sparing Karolin he placed her in Carbonite, even after she cursed him and begged him to kill her. They did lock eyes when Karolin looked at Mrysti on that cliff’s edge, it was Karolin’s way of trying to tell Mrysti that it was ok, that she was ready to join the Force if it was required. In the months leading up to that moment both Mrysti and Karolin shared a vision of Karolin’s death and it suddenly dawned on her as she stopped smiling and sat up. “She thinks I’m dead.” Derrick glanced over intermittently as Karolin thought and murmured to herself, completely lost as to what she was thinking.

“They all think you’re dead, Master. You’re location was a closely guarded secret and only the very highest of Zakuul authority knew about your existence…I only stumbled on it by chance when—“

Karolin interrupted him as her thoughts started piecing together things quickly. The talks Mrysti and she had before the fall, the planning. There were plans inside of plans and Mrysti always knew where to hide things. But Karolin being dead, Mrysti may have changed things. It dawned on Karolin that Mrysti would have sought out another Holocron to place a clue in; the original plan was to place the first clues in Karolin’s Holocron and plant it in ‘The Castle’. Karolin desperately wanted to go to ‘The Castle’ and simply wake up her sister, but as she glanced at her wrist in blindness she realized she had no idea what the timetable was. Was Mrysti even awake? Was she even alive? What would she do if all was lost, did any of them survive? Karolin knew Porchia was alive and had what seemed to be Mrysti’s daughter with her. Karolin smiled again thinking about that, Mrysti’s daughter. Samantha had to be Mrysti’s daughter it was the only explanation and Porchia most likely knew where that first clue was if she indeed dropped off the grid as Derrick suggested. Where to look and where to begin was vexing Karolin as the speeder finally came to a stop shutting down.

“Well, we’re here and that was much easier than I thought. The Zakuul were not guarding that area as heavily as I was lead to believe."

Karolin stumbled as got out of the speeder awkwardly in her blindness, her genetically enhanced intellect already calculating the possibility that she was ‘allowed’ to escape, though she didn’t voice it. Instead Karolin grabbed Derrick’s wrist and felt around for something.

“Do you have a Chrono…what day is it….the year?”

“It is exactly 4 years, 42 weeks and 7 days since you were placed in Carbonite. Why?”

Karolin was assembling things at a rapid pace. Her mind working in three dimensions as she worked her thoughts over, Mrysti was not yet out of her hyper-sleep and as much as she wanted to simply go to ‘The Castle’ and retrieve her there were other factors to consider. One, was the new little girl they were responsible for. Samantha, had to be safeguarded and without knowing if ‘The Castle’ even survived the Zakuul conquest, going to Mrysti would be fruitless until Karolin had more information. It was really a lack of good information which was poking holes in the many thoughts Karolin was having as to what course to pursue. What she did know was enough to go on, but she still needed time to consider. With the effects of the Carbonite slowly wearing off she began to see an image of a face. It was a blur, but it was definitely a face. Karolin smiled in Derrick’s direction.

“We have a lot to do, but I need some time to assemble things. We can’t be too hasty, Derrick. The reports of my death although false, can be used to our advantage. We just need to decide which way to move first and I will need my things…my lightsaber especially…”

Derrick looked down sadly in Karolin’s blurry vision, she watched him until he looked up again.

“That is most likely at Prince Thexan’s estate. That’s where you were held before Arcann had you moved…”

The name sent a shock of lightning through Karolin as she felt her anger rise. All of the thoughts of planning immediately subsiding as she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth repeating it, “Arcann…” Karolin stepped around Derrick as he fumbled with the code key to his apartment glancing at Karolin worriedly. She could sense a change in him and it was fear. Perhaps all he read was more than he bargained for in meeting Karolin in reality. She didn’t hide her anger, but instead sighed slightly placing a hand on his arm to reassure him. “Don’t worry…I am not going to harm you, Derrick. But, I am going to need your help. That lightsaber is incredibly valuable to me, it has a very rare crystal in it and…well, I really just don’t want to leave my lightsaber in the hands of those who murdered my family. So, I am going to get it…Arcann and the rest of his pathetic people, be damned.”

Derrick saw the flash of light in Karolin’s eyes and stepped back slightly as the door opened. The feeling he got was pure evil and he began to realize that indeed, he may have gotten more than he bargained for in helping to free the one he became enamored with.

[GuardianElite]

Kaas City, Dromund Kaas




Flashing a brilliant smile at the Zakuul guard standing near the customs counter, Porchia pushed little Samantha behind her handing the guard her Identification. The guard looked at the picture that came up on his holo-display and then at Porchia. Blue now, Porchia’s hair was much longer and she carried little of the young girl features she once bore. The freckles were mostly gone and her face lengthened slightly in the curvature of a mature woman. War had aged her. Death had stolen from her much of her innocence. The lines on her face told a story, one of a girl watching her father sacrifice his life for those he loved; of a woman who fought on and took charge of a resistance what was near annihilation. It told the stories of a leader, who carried the weight of a legacy that was fast asleep and that the galaxy had forgotten. The lines spoke of a girl who became a mother to the daughter of one she hated, who she grew to respect and through that daughter erased all of the hate she had in her heart. Finally, the lines told the story of a woman who refused to give up and in that moment with the purpose for her going on living pushing behind her, was following the clues to bring back what almost everyone had forgotten. The time had come to bring her family back together.

As Porchia squeezed the hand of the little girl who fidgeted behind her, she smiled again at the guard who continued to look at the Holo and then at her. Obviously he was comparing the photo to those of the ‘Most Wanted’ on the Zakuul’s hot list. Porchia’s name was sure to be at the top. But she made sure to pour on the charm. Besides, there was no reason for a known criminal to be on Dromund Kaas. The likelihood that ‘The Terror of Alderaan and Corellia’ as Porchia was so aptly named by the Zakuul forces in that area, would be in this part of the galaxy was almost nil. So, her chances of getting caught were lessened, but that didn’t make it unlikely. Looking past the guard to his screen, she watched as the facial recognition software in the system stopped intermittently comparing her Holo to known ‘criminals’.

Scoffing inside, Porchia laughed at the word ‘Criminals’. It was funny to her how the so called righteous could become rebels so quickly. Those that once carried the banners of the Republic and the Sith Empire were now being hunted as wanted criminals across the stars. These people had no idea what they done in waking her up from her dream of being a pod-racer. That was all another life now. These Zakull were the criminals. Criminals in how they captured her galaxy and criminals in how they continued to mettle out their own brand of ‘Justice’. The humor subsided as she thought about her resistance movement and the many strides they made in liberating parts of the galaxy. Porchia was a thorn in their side, as she and many other resistance cells continued the fight to let the Zakuul know, ‘You may have won the battle, but you ARE NOT winning the War.’ Even after they declared victory, Porchia personally went to Zakuul for the bombing of the ceremony for that announcement. It was there that she saw him again, ‘Arcann’. And she relished in the fact that as he stood on the upper dias with his Father that his cybernetic condition was a direct result of the bomb her own father detonated right in his face. Porchia only wished it would have killed him. Murmuring under her breath it made the guards head come up, “Mother kriffer….”

“Excuse me? What was that?”

Porchia smiled as she reached over to take the Identification Cylinder back from the guard, “Nothing…just thoughts…” The guard looked annoyed as he cleared her for entrance, the false identification very good; created by some of the best slicers in the known galaxy who all happened to be working for the resistance at the moment. As the guard was just about to allow her entrance, the little voice behind her perked up and Porchia turned three shades of red at her words smiling embarrassingly.

“Motha Kriffa!!!” Samantha exclaimed excitedly as Porchia quickly scoped Samantha up into her arms apologizing profusely to the guard.

“I am…so sorry!!! They just repeat everything they hear at this age, you know?!?!” And as Porchia started to walk away, faking an admonishment to her little charge, “Samantha!!! Where did you hear that?!!?”, Porchia quickly kissed her on the cheek and smiled, “Good girl…that’s exactly what he was…”



The little girl was growing by leaps and bounds, so much so Porchia felt old at 25 just being around her sometimes. Though she never had Samantha tested for fear of having the data leaked and getting both of them discovered, Porchia was fairly certain that Samantha held some of the genetic traits passed down to her by her Mother, Mrysti and Project Alpha. At the very least, Porchia was almost certain the little girl had the use of the Force. On one occasion when her back was turned a doll mysteriously went from one side of the room into Samantha's hands after Porchia had taken it away from her for refusing to go to sleep. There were other little instances, but Porchia had no knowledge of the Force and no way of measuring it or telling if it was there.

Over the years, Porchia kept Samantha well hidden, even away from the eyes of her own cell members; some of which were former Jedi or Sith who would easily have been able to detect the Force in the girl. The promise that was made was just too important to Porchia to even risk those closest to her in knowing that she had a little girl. Those that did know Porchia could count on one hand and all of them thought she was an orphan from the War. Because the little girl was Mirialan it made explaining her that much easier, the results of the Zakuul Invasion making orphans throughout the galaxy.

What some may have considered a sacrifice, was nothing to Porchia. After the Fall of the Republic, Porchia went into hiding with Samantha still in the maturation container. Not sure what she was going to do, she went back to Tatooine and attempted to erase the life she left behind. Though the Zakuul had conquered the Hutts, the peace the slimy creatures made with the Zakuul ensured that Tatooine remained a place people could still ‘get lost’ in. Porchia stayed close to Nathiu, the man she met shortly before the war started and together they started the process of raising a baby. It was almost like the two of them were married sometime, even though Nathiu never asked Porchia anything like that. In both her and Nathiu’s eyes the galaxy was just too unstable to start a life with a bond like that. It was with much regret that Porchia made the decision to leave and join the resistance; Nathiu even volunteering to take care of little Samantha in her absence. But, this was her promise to keep and a burden she just didn’t trust anyone to hold, not even the man she loved. Though difficult at times, Porchia managed to keep Samantha safeguarded and out of prying eyes.

As they approached the main thoroughfare in Kaas City, Porchia looked around still seeing the remnants of the War all around. The people all walked quickly to their destinations, eyes cast down and under the watchful gaze of the Zakuul who seemed to be on every corner. In another life, Porchia would have relished in the seeing the Capital of the Sith Empire in such a state, but no one not even the Sith deserved what they got when the Zakuul arrived. Looking at the locator, Porchia was sure that Mrysti and Uncle Marstel visited here before the fall and before Mrysti went into hibernation. It may take some days, but she was determined to find what Mrysti left behind. The clues to reassembling the family and beginning the process of taking back their galaxy.

Samantha ran from Porchia, jumping into the fountain by a set of stairs as she laughed loudly. Porchia ran quickly scoping up the little girl and smiling at her again. So rambunctious, Samantha had so much of Mrysti in her it made Porchia think often of Samantha’s father and if he even knew what a beautiful little girl he helped bring into this world. Had Mrysti even told him? Porchia had no idea, there were no plans to tell him as far as she knew and no one ever came calling to claim little Samantha. Which was just fine by Porchia, she most likely would not have given the little girl up at any rate. Samantha was family, she was their legacy; All of their legacy and through her the future of the Alphas. Porchia frowned slightly as she held Samantha, looking away. So much loss, all of them had lost so much in the War. Samantha was the only thing good she could think of that came from it. In a way, Porchia consoled herself in her father’s death in thinking that in order for Samantha to come into the world, her father had to leave it. And now she couldn’t think of life without her.

Still holding Samantha in her arms, Porchia moved to a nearby hotel and checked in. They needed to establish a base camp in order to begin the search and it may take a while. Porchia had all of the data with her about her Aunt Mrysti and the clues she left behind to lead her to this point, but Kaas City is where it ended. It seemed even Mrysti didn’t trust that Porchia or anyone would survive what was coming and Mrysti made it extremely difficult to trace anything beyond this point. But, Porchia was sure. There was something here, something was going to happen in Kaas City.


Zakuul - Lower Levels of the Capital City


Moving to the mirror, Karolin rubbed her hand over her hair and then to her face with a frown, “Blonde??? Really?? This is the best you could do?”

Derrick moved to the mirror and smiled over Karolin’s shoulder, “I think it’s very becoming. Not that any color wouldn’t look good on you, but you look rather exotic now.” Karolin turned around to look at the man who rescued her. In the few days they been there in his apartment, Karolin had learned a lot about him. For one, his being enamored with her went far beyond the scope of just a Jedi being curious about a Master he studied in a Holocron. And Karolin could sense the infatuation was much more carnal and physical than what he let on. Derrick was in love with her even before he met her, like reading about your favorite Holo-novel character and building up a fantasy in your mind, Karolin was everything he thought about and more. It was something in a former life Karolin would have definitely used to her advantage, but her mind was on other things. Not that she didn’t catch the way he looked at her.

Laying out the robes, Derrick moved to an adjacent table and pulled out a large flip top case filled with the weaponry surrounded by the plush padding of the case he brought with him. Taking out a plasma rifle of what looked like Zakuul design, he charged it before setting it on a table before Karolin; quickly grabbing a vibroknife and slapping a power cell into it. Karolin ran her hand over the robes slowly as he worked, her thoughts drifting back to her last time on Tython and what must have become of the Jedi Order. It was gone now as was most everything of order in her galaxy. Derrick stopped moving and watched her a second, sadly. It was such a sad thing to see someone out of time like Karolin was, the losses she suffered throughout her life. Derrick knew everything about her and studied her so closely that he felt the pain and the heartache in even the most ancient of her trials and tribulations.

“If it doesn’t fit…I can get something that is befitting a Jedi Master. I only thought that if you were to go back into action that you would want—“

Watching Karolin move to the closet, Derrick cocked an eyebrow at the black synth-leather combat suit she ran her fingers over. Taking it out, Karolin laid it on the bed and smiled. The outfit barely covered the person that would wear it, but Derrick knew, it was definitely an outfit Karolin would wear. Never one for heavy robes or ornaments, Karolin was a product of her experiences. As she started to undress in front of him, he looked away willing himself to not look at her. Not only was she a product of her experiences, at 40 Karolin was gorgeous in anything she wore; including heavy robes.

The body of a 20 year old, Karolin was not shy about herself though she tried to play that way at times. Smiling wickedly, Karolin watched Derrick turn away she slid the half black body suit over her legs and over her arms. The front was completely exposed and as Karolin reached to get the bodice that would cover her, she hesitated setting it back down purposefully. Yes, she caught Derrick eyeing her on several occasions once she got her sight back. It was a tease, she knew he wanted her and the Sith inside couldn’t let it pass without seeing how far she could push him.

After she slid the thigh high boots on and connected them to the body suit via a garter which hug down between her thighs Karolin turned to him; her chest still bare, “Heavy robes are not my thing…what do you think?”

Derrick stammered and knocked over one of the rifles on the table as he looked seeing her chest bare and quickly turned away again. His face turning three shades of red, “I…uh…yea, that’s totally you…”

Karolin smiled as she slapped the vibroknife down in the sheath next to her leg, still not putting the bodice on. Angling her head, she laughed and caught his eye as Derrick slowly turned his head, “You know Derrick…for someone who knows so much about me, you act like you don’t know anything.” Placing her hands on her hips, Karolin lifted her chin and pursed her lips at him, “If you know me, then you know how much of a tease I am…” The smile started to ebb slowly across her glossy lips. She looked down slightly, "impulsive, I can feel that growing inside of you...if you have something to say Derrick just say it becau--"

Derrick half dived, half stumbled over the table as he leapt at Karolin. Arms squeaked against the glossy material she wore as he furiously embraced her pulling her into a kiss. Karolin’s first reaction was to push him away, they did have work to do, but she did tease him and in a way this was her asking for it. Grabbing his wrist, Karolin pushed Derrick into the wall looking at him hungrily. With her other hand on his shoulder keeping Derrick in place, Karolin smiled wickedly before diving back in. Derrick may have initiated, but Karolin was not about to be taken, not at that moment and not as a aggressive as she was feeling with everything going on. Leaning back into him, Karolin still held Derrick's wrist as she slowly looped her arms around his neck and started returning the kiss. ‘Damn, I still got it….’ Karolin’s hand drifted from Derrick's shoulder down to his belt buckle as the second thought hit her, ‘Kriff…now I have to take all this tight shit off…’

--

The door slammed loudly behind him as Marstel entered the house and closed the main door behind the screen one that slammed behind it. It made Mai jerk slightly as she turned around to see him standing there with a strange look. “What”, she asked as she continued to move things around, putting some things away in a container the others she stored in cabinets overhead. Pulling out the chair at the table in their small house, Marstel dropped his mass down with a cry from the chair.

“Gave ‘em back tha star…told ‘em they were on their own….tha’ you an me is leavin’…”

Mai stopped what she was doing and sat down across from him grabbing his hand. In the time they both had been on the planet, both Mai and Marstel had made an impression on the frontier town. More than blend in, Marstel and Mai brought law and order to what was an uncivilized part of space. All of it done mostly at Mai’s urging after the both of them witnessed how lawless the town was upon their arrival. They needed a sheriff and Marstel as well as Mai were not individuals who allowed the wrongs of a people to go unanswered without a right being involved.

Marstel had served as the sheriff for over four years and in that time established a relationship with the people that surpassed other settlement's relationships with their officials. Both Marstel and Mai were more than just officials, the people looked at them as friends. People they could count on. It didn’t hurt that Mai was teaching school in town, her love of history and showing people the benefit of a learned mind a new passion for her. It was part of what made Marstel forget the ‘other’ life, the life he and Mai left behind. And it was what made leaving so hard for the both of them. She squeezed his hands, looking at him sympathetically.

“We got thangs ta due Marstel…” He smiled at her. It still struck him as strange how quickly a Sith Lord could not only blend in, but also pick up a ‘twang’ to her speech. Marstel looked at his Chrono as he got up to go start moving things in their bedroom.

“Ya know…you was wrong ‘bout tha time…she ain’t out yet…”

Placing her hands on her hips Mai gave Marstel a curious look. She was sure that she told Marstel the right time, but as she watched Marstel lift up and take the ONE crate he never touched out of the closet it hit her. They were really leaving. Removing the Datapad from that crate, Marstel brought up the holo-field and the first thing to pop up in the blue haze was a countdown. Marstel was right, Mrysti was not out yet. Moving over to the old-fashioned bed, Mai sat down and ran her hand lovingly over the spread she made to cover it.

They had learned to do all sorts of things while they were on that backwater planet. Mai discovering things about herself she never knew as well as the two of them discovering things about each other. It was a life she could have very gladly given over to, if not for the responsibility they both left behind. Marstel looked down at her and flopped himself on the bed, the springs creaking and groaning loudly at his mass as it sprang back up slightly. Mai laid down next to him, the both of them looking at the ceiling a moment.

“I know you don’t wanna go Marstel, Void I don’t either…but, we gotta. I got things and you got things to do….”

Rolling over slightly Marstel looked at her intently a moment, his hand going up to move the mussed Magenta hair out of her face, “I know weh do…it’s jus’….” He stopped and put the hand fully on her face, “Fer tha las five years…I have had you all to myself. No responsibility…no one tryin ta kill us er comin ta call on us fer nuthin’. IT’s been you an meh…an I jus’ don know if I am ready ta give you back ta tha galaxy. I’m not sure If I am ready ta give myself back.” He caressed Mai’s cheek with his thumb, “Maybe it’s tha reason I never asked ya, ‘cause in tha back ‘a my mind I always knew this day wuz comin’…”

Eyes getting wider, Mai grabbed his hand and stopped him from caressing her face. Her mind raced, she was pretty sure she knew what he was talking about. Getting angry, her face twisted a moment as Marstel saw some of that old Sith Lord in her start to come back.

“Naw…un-uh…you ain’t gonna pull this on meh now Marstel Alpha. This is yer way ‘a tryin’ ta git meh ta stay here with you, well you kin fergit it.”

Not getting angry, Marstel smiled in response and squeezed her fingers that held his hand at bay, “Naw…it’s noh. Yer right though, I wuz gonna ask ya ta marry meh, but noh cause I want us ta stay…” He sat up, “I wuz gonna ask ya ‘cause it’s sumthin’ I shoulda asked ya a long time ago…I just don’ kno why I didn’….”

Mai looped her arms around his neck from behind pulling him back down on the bed with her in a tussle as she flipped around over the top of him, purposefully bouncing slightly just so she could hear the bed squeak. That smile that Marstel got used to over the years gleamed down at him as she started unbuttoning the top of the handmade dress she wore, “You know…” Mai's speech started getting formal as she tried erasing all of the ‘twang’ in her voice. It was dark and rich speech that dripped with a near venomous passion, “…what I will miss most of all about our little plantation here?” As she took the top of the dress off sliding it down to meet the attached flowing bottom which was draping itself across Marstel at the moment, “I will miss this bed.”

[GuardianElite]

Zakuul


Karolin was already up and moving around when Derrick rolled over, extending his arm across the bed to the empty spot where Karolin once lay. He seemed scared a moment as he sat up a suddenly and then relaxed once he saw her moving around. Smiling he looked down shyly, already moving around Karolin was intently studying the rifles and busing herself with the operation of the weapons; seeming deep in thought. The previous nights activity, to Derrick, seeming to be the furthest thing from her thoughts. Karolin seemed intent on loading the weapons and familiarizing herself with the operation rather than lay in bed and snuggle. Or seem in any way affected by Derrick or the torrid affair they partaken in. Derrick almost had to pinch himself to believe that it actually happened, the way she was acting.

Having taken marksmanship training at the Jedi Temple, Karolin was trained as well as most Jedi. It wasn’t that Jedi did not like blasters or other forms of weaponry, most judged weaponry of this sort as ‘uncvilized’ in an age where the lightsaber was the symbol of authority and justice in the galaxy for the Jedi. It was more than a weapon, it was a tool and a symbol of what the Jedi stood for. As Karolin concentrated on what she was doing, it seemed a duality to Derrick that Karolin was handing the rifles and was missing her lightsaber, a symbol of the change that had come. The Mirialan looked comfortable with those weapons in her hand as the old order had passed away. Her eyes were closed as she assembled and reassembled the weapons to familiarize herself with the operation. Derrick purposefully made some noise to let her know he was awake seeing her not notice him. She spoke with her eyes still closed and her hands still moving the pieces of the rifles around in the Force; only Karolin had her sense stretched to the far reaches of the room and outside the door. She knew the second Derrick opened his eyes.

“I know what you’re going to say…and you don’t have to. It was totally my fault and I let myself go. The last thing I need this morning is an admonishment for ‘un-Jedi’ like behavior….”

Smiling to himself, Derrick brought his knees up pulling the sheet that covered the bed up and around him as he sat watching her, “I wasn’t going to say that at all. My first thought was…’Good Morning’, but I can see you have already started your morning.” The smell of Caf wafted in the background as Karolin carefully assembled the second rifle. After the last piece clicked into place, she grabbed it out of the air quickly and charged it. The chrome finish of the rifle gleamed in the low light as she turned around to face him.

“Lair”, Karolin smiled, “I can sense your embarrassment at having woke up with a woman in your bed.”

“Well technically….you weren’t ‘in’ my bed…you were at the table playing with blasters…” It was Derrick’s attempt to add some levity to the situation. There was already a feeling of awkwardness creeping in. Karolin stood up looking at the smiling face, she held one of the rifle down at her waist as she looked at Derrick rather sternly. “The Order is gone Derrick, all of it is gone. So, I feel no amount of guilt at...well....last night. In fact, I quite enjoyed it…you do have a lot to learn about me though.” Finally smiling at him she sat back down and started taking the weapon apart again, this time by hand and without the use of the Force.

Derrick watched Karolin and thought about what she just said. He did feel slightly embarrassed for having given into his emotions, but to him it was like a dream. The fantasy he built up in his mind over the years of studying about her somehow became a reality. It was like it happened to someone else and he was only watching it. Derrick couldn’t have written a better story if he had the talent for it. But, Karolin was right, the Order was gone. The rules had changed at least for those who remained. Not that he wanted to discard his oath or violate the Jedi Code, but it was new times and a new way of looking at things. Perhaps what the times needed was a Jedi who could balance their passions and their serenity in one package and Karolin Alpha; the Jedi out of time was that Master.

Standing up, still naked his first impulse was to pull the sheet around him, but he saw her look at him and purposefully dropped the sheet he held in his hand, making a show of it. Karolin laughed out loud at seeing the change in him so suddenly, “Look…don’t feel you have to be someone you’re not just because I’m sitting here, I’m not judging you…” But she was, in every look in every thought; Karolin was judging. It was her nature and part of her genetic make-up. The advanced intellect constantly judged everything and assessed.

Across the room, looking at Derrick she could feel his conflict even in the simple movement of getting up and standing before her naked, she could feel his turmoil. He felt guilty on some level for the previous nights affair. It was time to clear the air. Reverting back to her old way of doing things, Karolin sought to let him off the hook. Men and the morning after never went well with her. Somehow it always became her job to let them know, it didn’t mean anything. That the act itself was just two people having ‘fun’. That the act itself was just that, an act.

“Look…Derrick, I appreciate you coming to rescue me and I want you to know last night was not about that. It was entirely my fault, I have years of manipulation under my belt and I could sense how badly you built this up in your mind.” Karolin waved off-handedly at him trying to be non-chalant, “It doesn’t mean anything. You don’t owe me anything. And I don’t expect anything from you.”

The look of hurt from Derrick caught Karolin entirely off guard as he moved to the other side of the room quickly to find his clothing. Beginning to put it on in an angry fashion, she continued to watch. That little speech usually worked, at least with the fly-by-night affairs she had in the past. It dawned on her that maybe she said the wrong thing, but now was suddenly at a loss for words. Derrick nearly got fully dressed before he finally stopped and threw the shoe he was holding down angrily, glaring at Karolin.

“I accept that you think it was totally your fault. But, you are so wrong, you can’t even see through it.” He moved to the tiny kitchen area of the small apartment and began to pour some Caf, but stayed away from looking at her as she watched him. Her hands no longer moving the pieces of the rifle around. Looking down Karolin suddenly felt awkward, what she said affected him in a way she wasn’t anticipating. The line she used on so many of her lovers in the past, instead stabbing the man straight to the heart. He wasn’t finished and she knew it, Derrick was desperately trying to form the words in his mind, “You have been my obsession for years. And last night…” He stopped again, the words simply failing him.

“Last night you had the chance to live the dream you have been thinking about forever….”

Turning suddenly, Derrick threw up his finger which soon clenched into a fist, “Exactly! See you get it…but what you said…” Derrick’s face twisted in anger, “What you said was wrong. I am not just some guy…I don’t want to be. Last night meant a lot to me and…” Karolin got it, it finally hit her like a lightsaber through her own heart. Men never knew what a mouth was for and even five years later still hadn’t learned. Things in this department hadn’t changed that much. Slowly Karolin raised up out of the seat and gently placed the part of the rifle she had in her hand down slinking over toward Derrick. As always, she was going to finish the ‘man’s’ thoughts for him. Though her assessment was entirely wrong.

“And….you ‘think’ you love me? I can feel it…you really believe that you do.” Karolin had two great loves in her life, she knew what it felt like and it radiated off of Derrick like the Light of the Force. Love and Karolin simply didn't work. The love of her life died at the hands of the Sith when they sacked the Temple on Coruscant and the other greatest love took his own life due to his own inner demons. This couldn’t be real, Karolin was convinced of that. Unconsciously, she wanted to push him away. But, as doubt creeped in she had to know for sure. It was a awful thought, but in her mind for his own good as she pursed her lips looking down again.

Still slinking close to him she leaned on the counter, the black suit she wore squeaking against it as she brought her backside to rest, “Derrick, you don’t love me. You are infatuated with me. You are in love with a legend, a fictitious person who doesn’t really exist. I am more than the sum of my Holocron or anything that has been written about me or my family.” The anger Karolin suddenly displayed was real as she lost track of her thoughts of discarding him. Thoughts of Marcus and of Shamp came back in her mind, the two men she lost and loved more than anything in her life. Throwing her hands up she pushed off the counter as Derrick continued to watch her, “Look at me! I’m a mess…I always have been. There is no such thing as a meaningful relationship and love is for fools. It doesn’t last and they always…ALWAYS leave!! The woman you think you’re in love with doesn’t exist and all that does exist is this old broken down person who is incapable of loving anyone or anything.” Karolin went back to the table and started reassembling the weapon angrily, “You don’t want to get mixed up with me. Trust me on that….you’re better off Derrick…consider last night a mercy, for you and for me...”

Setting the cup down hard, Derrick moved over to Karolin grabbing her arm and twisting her around. The words finally did come. He was about to tell her how he felt like he traveled through time to get to her, how she consumed every moment of his days. How every thought and action he took was with her in mind. But, as he twisted her around to a slight gasp and squeal from her, Karolin’s arms coming up to her sides and closing in defensively; Derrick placed his hand on the back of the hood she wore and kissed her deeply. It caught her off guard again as she melted into him, but it was more than the kiss or the closeness of the man. She could feel it, the absolute passion and behind that veneer...true unadulterated love.

‘Finally’, Karolin thought, ‘….a man who gets it.'

Dromund Kaas

Looking over at the sleeping girl, Porchia picked up the Caf and continued typing away on the holo-screen with her other hand. Encrypted transmissions to her resistance cell she would leave in a dead zone of the Holo-net; a little known address frequency that no one ever used and that the Zakuul slicers had not thought to look for yet. Turning her attention to the task at hand, she brought up the data from her family and the clues she had in her system that led her to Dromand Kaas.

While it was true that Mrysti had left instructions with Porchia as to how to locate ‘The Castle’ should the need arise; the structure itself was nearly impenetrable. Not to mention how vast the structure was. Built to house 4000, it was a series of chambers, all of which were independent of the others. Even if Porchia was to go there the possibility of finding the right chamber or of getting in undiscovered was almost an impossibility. Then there were the Zakuul that had saturated the area and stayed in the vicinity till this day. Arcann knew that Mrysti and her forces went to the system outside Ilum, but had never discovered it’s location. A search that went on till that very day. Porchia rubbed her hand over her face and finally down her mussed blue hair.

“Traps…codes…automated defenses....the Zakuul…how the hell are YOU going to get out of there Aunt Mrysti….”

The little voice startled Porchia as she looked over at the smiling girl who had already sat up in bed. “Mrysti!”, the little voice exclaimed as Samantha rolled out of bed and toddled over to where Porchia was. Over the years, Porchia had not mentioned her Aunt, Samantha’s mother, to the little girl for fear of confusing her. Sam was finally at that age where curiosity in all things were getting the better of her. She heard, she repeated and then she asked questions. Even at 5, Sam was brighter than most and though things made sense to her in a way a 5 years old would comprehend; Porchia always talked to her as if she was a person and not just a 5 year old. Perhaps sometimes Porchia would ‘dumb-down’ what she told the little girl, but she still spoke to her as if she would understand. Samantha never gave any indication that she didn’t comprehend and if she did have questions, she always asked. It wasn’t the kind of questions you would expect from a 5 year old like ‘Why is the sky blue’ or on this world a constant gray. The kind of questions Sam asked had to do with what she heard, so Porchia was prepared for it as Samantha made her way over to the terminal where Porchia was sitting. Pointing at the screen, Sam swayed back and forth, one hand behind her back dragging her favorite doll. “Who’s that….”

It was Holo-image of ‘The 5’ taken at ‘The Castle’ after its construction and shortly before the Zakuul invaded the galaxy. In the picture all five of the siblings; Hamner, Marstel, Mrysti, Karolin and her father RT were posing for what looked like a family portrait. It was in fact the last picture of them together before her Uncle Hamner met his demise at the hands of the Zakuul in the Outer Rim at the beginning of the invasion. The little green finger was pointing at one person and Porchia smiled at the irony of it all, Samantha couldn’t possibly know she was pointing at her own Mother in the picture.

Pausing before answering, Porchia had to consider how to respond, not because she didn’t think Samantha wouldn’t understand. They had conversations before as to why Samantha was green skinned and Porchia was light skinned. In those conversations Porchia always told her she was special and that was why she had green skin. But seeing her point at her Mother brought up many questions in Porchia. Sam had seen other Mirialans before, but never asked anything about it, yet there she was pointing at the colored Holo of her Mother.

“Why do you ask, sweet pea? Does she look familiar?” Porchia’s eyebrow perked up as she watched the little girl. Samantha dropped the finger and leaned in getting close to the Holo finally shrugging.

“Nope. But she’s special…”

Porchia had to smile at that. The kid had a mind like a durasteel trap, she remembered everything recalling what Porchia had originally told her. But, the reason they were on Dromund Kaas was to find the clues that would allow the two of them, Mrysti and Samantha, to somehow come back together. It was sad in a way for Porchia, she had been a Mother to the girl since she was born and as the bile rose in her stomach at the thought of losing the little girl, Porchia swallowed it back down deciding the best course. Draping her arm around Samantha, she pulled the little girl into her lap putting her between the screen and herself so she could still look at the Holo.

“Samantha…I have to tell you something ok…and it’s a secret. Do you remember what I told you about secrets?”, Samantha nodded as she continued to play her finger through the screen. “It’s time I told you about the people in this Holo…especially that ‘special’ one you pointed out….”


Zakuul


The speeder came to a stop as Karolin flipped out the Holo-pad on her wrist and gave the complex schematic one last look. She glanced down at Derrick and closed the pad. There was a sad look on his face, especially after that kiss and the subsequent fall back into bed before leaving. Karolin knew he wanted to come with her, but this was something she had to do. Rescue was one thing, but this somehow felt more personal to Karolin. Smiling faintly, she nodded to Derrick.

“Just be at the rendezvous…this shouldn’t take long. I am going to approach from the maintenance tunnels like you showed me and come up though the main auxiliary path. There should be less guards there, if there are any at all.”

Standing there, the two plasma rifles tied by a lanyard to the belt on the suit with the vibroknife strapped to one side of a leg, Karolin looked more like an assassin than a Jedi. And as Derrick nodded sadly, his thought was that perhaps that was what Karolin was at the moment. An assassin, going to kill the last of the nightmare that was ‘5 years ago’. In trying to reaquire her lightsaber, it was Karolin’s way of reclaiming something taken from her, when the ability to reclaim the lives of her lost siblings was out of reach. Karolin claimed that it was because the lightsaber was special and that it couldn’t fall into Zakuul hands, but it had been in their hands the last 5 years. There was more to it, Derrick could sense it, but he didn’t press as he watched Karolin slink away and drop down into a maintenance tunnel. Setting the speeder to the proper coordinates Derrick let it auto-navigate to where he would go and meet her later.


Karolin wasted no time, raising the rifles and charging them with a slight push out of each hand. They whined loudly as she started down the dimly lit walkway. The guards at the end never saw her coming, or if they did they didn’t react as she fired plasma bolts in both of their chest plates before glaring at the two small rifles disgustingly.

“So…uncivilized…”

[GuardianElite]

Dromand Kaas

Slicing was not Porchia’s specialty, but it was something she dabbled in from time to time. Kneeling in front of the door, she looked up slightly at Samantha who was watching her very curiously.

“Whatcha doin?”, Samantha asked as she swayed slightly, slinging the doll she held into her other hand and behind her back. Porchia didn’t want to lie, she just didn’t want Sam to get the wrong idea as she smiled in return to the question.

“Opening this door, Sam. My Uncle used to live here and he didn’t leave me a key…”

The way a child’s mind worked always amused Porchia, but no child had a mind like Sam’s. She was able to put things together very quickly and as Porchia spoke going back to slicing the locking mechanism to enter her Uncle Hamner’s former apartment, Sam frowned and looked away.

“He ain’t home…”, Porchia nodded and continued her work not noticing the frown Samantha was giving her. The little girl continuing to sway slightly from side to side., “Gone. An not comin back…”

That did make Porchia stop as the door clicked on its own and popped open slightly. Porchia finding the right code as she looked up, “That’s right Sam, but how did you figure that out?” Hamner was dead and had been dead for longer than any of the family they lost. Porchia still didn’t know for sure, but somehow Sam knew he wasn’t coming back. Slowly the little girl looked down, biting her bottom lip and shrugged slightly. Half of the time, Sam didn’t even know how she knew things, she just did. Porchia stood up grabbing her hand and gently pushed the door open as the two of them slipped inside closing the door behind them.

The apartment looked like a warzone, though it was obvious it hadn’t been opened for some time. There was stale air about, but most of the furnishings were in place. Discarded and thrown about were all of the containers and boxes which held anything of value Hamner might have squirreled away. Not even sure if she was in the right place, coming to the apartment was one of five places she figured Mrysti may have hidden something. Porchia had already been to three of the five places. Porchia had no idea where to begin looking or if Mrysti had even gone there before she departed Dromund Kaas just before the fall. Samantha let go of Porchia’s hand as she ran off on her own. Porchia looked back a second, but let her go. The air was way to stale for anyone to have been in there recently.

“Sam!! Stay where I can see you, ok?”

Nodding happily, Sam ran off and up the stairs giggling. The door to the staircase having been forced open, it seemed to be stuck there with no power on in the apartment to close it. The little girl walked slowly in the dark, she clutched her doll a moment before relaxing it a bit. There was a voice, a faint whisper to the little girl as she looked around for the source, her movement up the stairs continuing as it seemed to get louder.

“Hello…do you hear me…what’s your name?”

There was a strange vibration behind the voice as it seemed to carry on and around Sam. Sam stopped, getting frightened for a moment, before she answered weakly, “S-sam…” There was only slight confidence in her as she answered, having no idea that not everyone could hear the voice that she did. To her, it sounded like the voice was right next to her. The response seemed to soften a bit in realizing the one answering it was a little girl. Sam smiled back at the voice.

“Why…hello Sam, is that short for…’Samantha’? I am Timothy…what are you looking for Sam? Are you perhaps looking for me….”

Even with the slight softening of the response there was an uneasy eagerness to the voice that Sam could not possibly detect. In her smile she ran up the stairs dropping the doll and suddenly deciding that ‘Yes’ she was looking for Timothy. A game of hide and seek is exactly what she wanted in such a vast, new and strange place. She shrugged in response, the voice of course not being able to see her shrug and thinking it was being discarded.

“I’m sorry…did you say something Samantha…I am up here…in the anteroom, the box under the floating chair…”

Running into the room, the door also seeming to have been forced open at some time before Sam or Porchia arrived, Sam looked around. It was indeed a vast room, the only light coming in from the huge windows which looked out over Kaas City. It was raining and overcast as the light cast a dim pale over the different furnishings; Sam looking around for a ‘floating chair’.

The only chair in the room that made a show of floating on its own was Hamner’s Throne. It sat next to the large bay windows facing inward toward the rest of the furnishings of the room. One for vanity and displays of power, only Hamner would have a large throne like chair that faced inward in order to be admired, but all of that was lost on Sam as she decided that the chair in question had to be the one. As she approached, the chair seemed to shift or perhaps it was just the low light in the room. Sam stopped getting slightly afraid again, not really sure if the chair was shifting on it’s own or the light was making it look that way. Looking up and out of the windows, she saw the lights of a speeder lane causing ripples in the rain soaked window, smiling to herself again. Bending down, Sam crawled under the chair and decided it was as good a place as any to hide; that ‘Timothy' was now going to find her. The voice, much closer this time echoed from what seemed like inside the box next to Sam, as she finally noticed the small guilded container resting comfortably next to her.

“Awww…you win Sam!!! I lose, you’ve found me…”

Walking up the stairs, Porchia was half looking for Sam and half keeping her eyes open for clues. Seeing the doll lying discarded on the stairs, Porchia lost all thoughts of looking for anything but Sam as she darted the rest of the way up the stairs after picking it up.

“Sam!!! SAM!!!”

Samantha heard Porchia and she was just about to call out to her, but there was a desperate tinge to the voice in her head.

“No…Samantha, open the box first…then you can answer her. You found me, you have to set me free to win the game….”

Not really understanding why, Samantha didn’t open the box next to her, instead dragging it out from under the chair as she sat up in front of the floating device. She smiled at Porchia as their eyes met, “Here I am!! Are you playin’ too?” Porchia had no idea what Samantha was talking about, quickly scooping her up and clutching her tightly. Pulling her away to look at her Porchia frowned at the little girl.

“Samantha. I told you to stay where I could see you…if you want to go on adventures with me, you have to follow the rules, understand?”

Sam frowned in response dipping her head slightly; Porchia letting out a sigh of relief. Pointing at the ground, Sam smiled before she threw herself deeper into Porchia’s neck and hair hugging her.

“Look.”, the voice was muffled but sounded amused as Porchia slowly put the little girl down to pick up the box.

Opening it, Porchia was surprised to find it contained a Sith Holocron. Automatically, all of it came back to her, being no stranger to what Holocrons were used for. Porchia was raised by her Aunt Karolin in the Jedi Temple and knew full well what these devices contained. This was it and Porchia was sure of it. Dropping the box and palming the Holocron, which was completely dead in her grasp, Porchia looked down at Sam in astonishment. What were the chances that Sam would find the clue her Mother left behind?


Prince Thexan’s Former Estate – Zakuul


It didn’t look well lived in, Karolin could tell some of the furnishings in the darkened palace had never been touched. Some of them were still covered in shipping wrap as Karolin slowly made her way through the darkened and abandoned Palace. Her sense stretched as far as she could in the Force, she tried to get a feeling of where Thexan would keep her things if they were in fact there at all. The light from a corridor stood out from the rest of the dark of the rooms as Karolin cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. A stark contrast to the rest of the Palace, the room still seemed activated.

Approaching cautiously Karolin rounded the bend of the corridor to face the light of the dimly lit room. But even in the low light it stood out against the utter dark abandonment of the rest of Thexan’s palace. The room itself was a contrast to the rest of the décor of the Palace. Terminals dotted the walls as well as a storage locker and a bed which was placed next to the most prominent feature; a circular alcove cut deep in the center of the room. Lights emanated from the top and the bottom illuminating the steam that rose from vents cut in the same circular pattern in the floor. Something was once in that alcove, something that was on display and as Karolin laid her hand on the terminal that sat against the railing which blocked off the alcove from the rest of the room she had a flash of memory.

This is where he kept her. Thexan used this as Karolin’s storage area before she was moved somewhere else. The room spun as Karolin’s vague memories of Thexan standing across from her against the railing just to watch her, hit home. She glanced around nervously; the bed…the storage area…the terminals. The rest of the Palace wasn’t used because Thexan lived in this room! He lived in the room with her, keeping a vigil over her as she sat in a Carbonite vigil over him. Karolin started to get sick to her stomach, the anger and hate rising with the bile in her gut. Feelings of love and infatuation passed over her and this time it wasn’t Derrick. Thexan was in love with her. Leaning over the rail, Karolin vomited into the alcove area.

Wiping her mouth, Karolin glanced around again this time her eyes adjusting to the dim light of the room and falling on the circular terminal which had a field surrounding the center of it. Inside hovered Karolin’s lightsaber. She approached purposefully, at first pushing the buttons on the terminal in an attempt to deactivate the field, but she was still enraged at what she felt and seen in the room; murmuring to herself as she pressed the buttons in futility.

“How DARE he…that stupid—“

Karolin let out a slight grimace as she slammed her hand down on the terminal cracking the glass casing. Though not as physically strong as Mrysti or Marstel, Karolin still had the genetic enhancement in her make-up that gave her strength beyond that of a normal humanoid. Finally, she just reached in the field and grasped the saber to the shock of the protective shielding.

“AAARRGGHHH!!! Son of a BITCH!!!”



Quickly, Karolin withdrew her hand and with it her lightsaber. Igniting it she tore through the room, cutting the bed Thexan had used to stay with her in the room, in half. She launched a blast in the Force at the wall terminals and pulled the storage lockers down in her rage, “Kriffin’!! Asshole!!! YOU WATCHED ME!!!”, In her fury, the pain of five long years rose within her. The memory of RT, running toward Arcann and disappearing in a blinding flash that consumed him, but not Arcann. The loss of her Son, Beta. All of it came pouring out as she screamed in rage, “I should have killed you!!! It should have been ME!!!”

As she let the rage subside, her eyes clearing slightly Karolin looked over at the downed storage units. The items on the floor were all hers; her robes, her boots, everything she was wearing the day all of it happened. The day her world ended and it was because of Thexan and Arcann. At first, Karolin wanted to go an retrieve them, but as she approached looking down at the things, Karolin turned her back on them to look at the destruction of the room. The old Order was gone, the old Karolin….gone. It was time to start anew.

Leaving the room her wrist comm pinged to the sound of Derrick’s voice, “Hey…I’m at the rendezvous. Where are you? You are 30 minutes overdue?!?!”

Karolin looked back at the room one last time before answering, “Had to bury something. I’m good now…meet you in 5.", She started walking, but brought the wrist comm back to her face, “....And Derrick, get the ship ready. I know where we have to go now, I am finally ready to leave Zakuul….”


Dromund Kaas – Kaas City





Porchia rolled the Holocron in her palm looking at the triangular device as Sam sat next to her eating an ice cream happily; not really paying attention to anything but the drip that was threatening to ebb it’s way clear of the lashing tongue coming after it. The day prior, after they found the Holocron, Porchia had given it to Sam to hold and as she expected it glowed brightly in the little girl’s hand. Also as was expected, Sam was Force sensitive. Porchia went on to explain some things about Mrysti and try to make Sam understand where she came from and what was going to happen soon. Sam seemed to understand, but was intent on asking too many questions that didn’t seem related to what Porchia was saying. Things like, ‘What was Mommy’s favorite color? Or did Mommy have dolls like she did?’

Laughing inside at the questions, which were so innocent, it was clear this was going to be a tough transition if and when Mrysti ever came back. ‘That woman has no favorite color except the ones that decorate her blade’, Porchia thought at the time. Looking at Sam, Porchia saw so much of Mrysti in her, but yet there was so much different. There was little that Porchia didn’t know about the two sisters; Karolin and Mrysti, but she never got into what happened to her Aunt Mrysti after she fled the Jedi so long ago. ‘Is Sam what she would have been like if the Sith and such a hard life hadn’t changed her?’

Someone was reading that thought as they approached, a devilish smile framed by the ruby red lips of a woman who was searching for Porchia. Porchia's thought was interrupted by a voice from the past, it had a slight giggle behind it as Porchia looked up suddenly.

“Probably…you know, Mrysti was the shyer of us both. You wouldn’t know it to look at her…”

Porchia’s hand went to her mouth as she looked up to see the face of her Aunt Karolin. Larger than life, the smaller of the two Mirialan twins had a smile a mile wide. Jumping up and crossing the two feet between them quickly, Porchia threw herself into Karolin’s arms as she allowed the tears to begin flowing.

“They said y-you w-were—“

“Dead?”, Karolin laughed pulling Porchia away, “The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerate—“, Karolin stopped speaking as her eyes dropped to the little girl who sat eating the ice cream. Oblivious, Sam continued to conquer the ice cream, nearly done and down to the boney cone that held it. It was Karolin’s turn to cry as her hand went to her mouth and she seemed to stumble back slightly, “Who is...Is this—“ Karolin looked at Porchia in awe and for answers. Having no way of knowing what Mrysti would do after Karolin saw her being pulled away on Korriban, her mind raced quickly trying to make sense of the red eyed, green skinned little doll she saw before her.

Smiling as wide as the greeting she was given by Karolin, Porchia stepped away and bent down to Samantha who looked up at her guardian, smiling; her mouth covered in a chocolate ring of destruction she unleashed on the Ice Cream Cone. “Sam, come here a moment, I have someone very important for you to meet…”



Hopping down off the bench, Sam followed Porchia shyly as she noticed the green skinned woman for the first time. The ice cream having met its entire demise at Sam’s hands. Looking down shyly, Sam hid behind Porchia’s leg as she whispered harshly. Trying desperately not to be heard, but failing, “She looks like me…is this Mommy?”

That word made Karolin gasp as she got weak in the knees, bending down for fear of falling; her hand still covering her mouth. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as Sam peeked out at her from between Porchia’s knees; Porchia pulling her to the side so Karolin could get a good look at the little girl.

It was everything Porchia could do to stop herself from crying again as she tugged on Sam, “No, baby…this is Mommy’s sister…this is your Aunt Karolin…”

Karolin froze, not moving. There were no clear answers for the blankness Karolin felt at the moment her heart started to swell. All of the evil of the world couldn't change that moment as Karolin gazed at the youngster in awe; the hand still not moving from her face as she looked at the little girl through the haze of her tears. Then it was a full release as Sam pulled herself away from Porchia and approached Karolin cautiously, her head down and her hands behind her swaying slightly.

"I seen you...in my dreams..."

The little girl threw her arms around the other Mirialan’s neck and hugged tightly. Karolin dropped her hand and wrapped her arms around little Sam clutching her tightly, everything seemed to fade away for the moment as Porchia watched. It was happening and she was right about her thoughts on coming to Dromund Kaas, something special was taking place. The Alphas were coming back together.

[GuardianElite]

The Return....





An elite unit, The Zakuul Jumptrooper Corps was not the most elite unit under the Royal Family, but still highly specialized and difficult to get in. The most elite corps of troops being that of the Zakuul Knights; a unit of Force Using armor wearing troops that made up the vanguard of the Zakuul forces. Those that were not Force sensitive found themselves in the ‘Regulars’ or the ‘Jumptroopers’.

As was the ritual with all new recruits, the veterans of the corps used every opportunity to haze the new recruits and the day was no exception. All of the veterans crowded around the monitor to watch as the one trooper they sent out to the old battlefield moved the scanner around trying to ascertain the meaning of the strange readings he was getting. The veteran troopers laughed tremendously as the Sergeant in charge flipped the key to communicate with the youngster, trying to sound serious and stifle his laughter.

“It’s out there kid…but be careful, as we told you, that ‘ghost’ will get you if you disturb his resting spot.”

There was a skeptical look from the youngster in the monitor as he stood in his full Jumptrooper armor panning the scanner left and then right. The site was the old main entrance to the Tantra Defense Grid. The signs of a battle 5 years earlier still fresh in the frozen ground. Scorch marks and a huge crater was the backdrop of an area the force once known as ‘The Coalition’ fought the then invading Zakuul for control of the planet. In reverence for what they did, the Tantra people who all lived below the ice shelf underground never repaired the entrance, leaving the way it was immediately after the battle. A stark reminder to all who entered this area that not only did some give their lives in defense of their planet, but also the awful price of War.

As the Veterans continued to laugh and elbow one another, an explosion and some yelling in the background in the area the youngster was in quelled the fun for a moment. The Sergeant keyed the handset again, his face twisting in a bit of concern as he waved to the others in the room to calm down. Tantra for the most part had seen no action since that day five years ago. It was considered by the Zakuul to be one of the most peaceful of conquered planets, it being the first in a long line of planets in a galaxy once occupied by the once proud forces of the Republic and the Sith Empire.

“Hey…’kid’…what was that?!?! Get up out of the culvert and let us see…use your HUD Holo-cam…”



The walker exploded and slowly fell at the feet of the one attacking, it’s long red hair and black wraps blowing in the cold arctic air as it continued to stalk forward. In one hand it carried a purple blade that to the Jumptroopers of the Tantra Garrison looked like a lightsaber. Not one they seen before, being used to seeing the lightsabers of the Royals in yellow.

“Zoom in!!! Zoom in!!!”

Several Jumptroopers on patrol rocketed down in front of the approaching entity, which still looked small on their screens. The troopers, especially the Sergeant were so shocked by the explosion and the sudden attack no one sounded the alarm, just staring in awe at what was taking place. The two Troopers immediately started firing on the entity, the first Trooper taking a purple blade that penetrated his chest armor coming out the other side as the entity raised its other hand lifting the other Trooper into the air in what seemed like magic, the Trooper being lifted placed his hands around his throat grasping at an unseen force that was choking him to death.

Withdrawing the saber from the first with a rageful scream that seemed to make its way across the surface of the entire planet, the entity pulled the choked Trooper onto the now free blade and impaled him much the same way as the first Trooper. The holo-cam shook as the one filming the entity dipped back down in the culvert. The last image of the entity suddenly taking on a burst of speed headed the direction the youngster was standing in.

Breathing that could be heard over the chaotic movement of a scared Jumptrooper, the youngster turned to run, to get anywhere but the place he was at the moment. There was a gurgling sound followed by the ‘swoosh’ and piercing sound of a saber penetrating armor in the Holo-cam as the faceplate of the young Jumptrooper was turned around to look into the face of the one who just killed him.

All of the veterans jumped backwards in the control room at what they saw. A green face, terribly scarred, marred with the tattoos of one who challenged and sacrificed themselves in personal contests. All of that another life, a life before the Zakuul. Framed by the red hair that flowed endlessly around the twisted and angry face of the green woman, she knew exactly whom she was speaking to as the body of the one she held at the length of her lightsaber suddenly went slack on the Holo-cam, his head falling limp and losing the image of the green entity for a moment. Grabbing the now dead chin of the one who had her on Holo-cam, the green entity lifted the faceplate of the dead Jumptrooper looking back into the Holo-cam. She knew they were watching and her words were simple to her now captive audience. Knowing she had them and NO ONE was going to escape the carnage she started, alive.

“Where…is Thexan!!!”


Four Days Earlier….





Silence, only the occasional beep of monitoring equipment could be hard in the room that stood still for the last five years. The final neural-recording ceased in the system as the unit next to the hyper-sleep chamber suddenly kicked on. Red swirling lights began to come alive in the room as the anticipated countdown on the screen reflected off the ceiling and the floor of the small chamber. A voice, female in its tone, but highly computerized echoed in the chamber.

<PRE-REANIMATION sequence beginning. RELEASING exhaust. [AUTO-LOCKING mechanism-RELEASE]>

<05y:01m:13w:18d:23h:05m:18s…17…16…15…>

The voice continued to echo the room suddenly coming to life as lights twirled and the hum of holo-fields clicked on near the solitary cylinder, which had a veneer of frost on the cracks and corners of the seals keeping it closed.

Cracking loudly, the top hatch lifted to the whine of hydraulics and the ‘snap-hiss’ of released coolant. The cloud raised into the air threatening to cover the lights; the individual inside still not visible through the thick haze. As the top hatch locked into place with a loud click, the side doors of the container opened as the whine of hydraulics of the door mixed with the bed chamber inside the device lowered. All of the systems locking into place simultaneously with the same loud ‘clang’ of locking mechanisms. Lights drifted over the steam as it hissed and filled the chamber. Mrysti moved slightly, her head lulling to the side as one of the leads attached to her face came off dangling free. She fell forward onto the floor, the sound of cold meat slapping a highly polished durasteel surface.

<REANIMATION Sequence complete – Hyper-sleep time 5 years 1 month 13 weeks 18 days 23 hours 10 minutes – Welcome back –DARTH Retuvisa…MESSAGE awaits your response…>

Reviewing the message, Mrysti; still naked with a veneer of smoke still emanating from her cold flesh looked at the containers to the right and left of the hyper-sleep chamber. The memories starting to come back to her as well as a mind full of 5 years of neural induction therapy, she was lining up her thoughts. Moving to the large white durasteel container, she opened it slowly. The armor and robes she placed there 5 years earlier still resting in their place, untouched since her placement. They showed the marks of a War fought for preservation of their society, for freedom from a conquering race of people who steamrolled over their galaxy. As her mind moved over the message and the thoughts that plagued her, she remembered how very alone she was in this new world. Wanting her first action to be, to go find Porchia and reclaim her daughter as the message stated; Mrysti knew she couldn’t do that. It had been 5 years. Five years of the Zakuul getting comfortable in their conquest, unafraid and confident in their ability to govern a society that was out of heroes. They no longer knew fear.

Donning the robes and the armor plates, Mrysti looked down and picked up the last item. Igniting her lightsaber in the din of the smoke filled room it vibrated loudly off the walls. The purple hue of the blade giving her face a sinister pallor. Yes, the Zakuul no longer knew fear. They no longer had any worry that someone would rise up and take what they themselves had taken from everyone. Mrysti needed to regain her bearings and get a sense of where Galactic affairs lay in accordance with Zakuul rule. She starred at the purple blade as her mind raced. There was a deep seeded desire to do something more as the vengeance in her began it’s slow feast of her heart. And as it ate of her, she grimaced. Family was the most important thing, she should go find Porchia and start reclaiming the remnants of her family. What was left after the Zakuul had taken so much from her. That was not to be, as Mrysti clenched her teeth in silence the jaw so tight it threatened to snap her teeth. Her first move would be to send a message…it was time for the Zakuul and the brothers to know fear. It was time to let them know….The Hammer had Returned.

--



Unabated, with the sound of the Zakuul Klaxons blaring in the background, Mrysti crossed the threshold of the spot they sacrificed so much in front of five years before. The Jumptroopers now responding in Force. Wasting no time she slashed and crushed as many that stood in her way in the most grotesque fashions imaginable; with no quarter and very much on purpose. They would know fear. They would know that at her approach their deaths were an absolute certainty. Fury that knew no bounds and palming the face of one of the Troopers she pulled to her large hand; Mrysti squeezed in the Force, the blood and sinew pouring from the sides of the helmet as the interior flesh pulped and oozed out of the cracks she created. With every death she silently whispered a name....

Karolin...

Tossing the man aside as if he were nothing she continued forward. The other Troopers backing up and shutting the bulkhead behind them as her image disappeared on the other side of the door. A blast of the Force denting the door as the Troopers closed and locked it behind them. Mrysti stopped a second and looked down at her bloodied gloves, wiping them on the door and backing up step. A uncanny peace settled over her as she raised her fist, physically slamming it against the iron bulkhead.

“WHERE!!!!....IS THEXAN!?!?!”

Looking at what was left of their small garrison the Sergeant pointed and stammered at the remaining troopers, “G-get on the Comm!!! Call b-back to Zakuul…tell them w-we have a situation here!!!”

The door rocked, threatening to come off the hinges as Mrysti screamed once again on the other side. She was not going to say anything, but seeing how the screams of rage and the tenor of her voice affected the troopers upon her arrival, she lowered it. Dark and dripping with a subtle vengeance.

“You are ALL going to die…consider yourselves lucky…” The door rocked again, this time the corner bending as two or more Troopers threw themselves against it to hold Mrysti off, “Open the door and I will kill you swiftly. Continue to resist and I will drag out your deaths for a week!!!” The door rocked again, this time it pushed the Troopers off as they launched themselves back against it, “I am going to strap your carcasses to the outside of my ship!!! But only after I drag you there by YOUR ENTRAILS!!!” This time the door blasted open as the Troopers drew their blasters firing madly at the entity that was coming through. The blasts ending quickly as Mrysti either ripped the blasters from their grasps or simply crushed the hands holding them.

They writhed in pain as she systematically walked one to the other....

RT...

A lightsaber through the face here....

Hamner...

....one to the chest there until there was only her and the Sergeant. Speaking to the Comm he stumbled for his blaster, raising it, only to have it ripped from his grasp. His body thrown against the console as Mrysti held him there in the Force and approaching the panel. As she looked over the system, she slowly allowed the Force to ebb in her grasp of him, preferring to wrap her fingers around the man's throat herself. He never dropped from the height he was lifted as Mrysti's physical strength was on display for her latest victim to see. The purple-blue holo-field finally rezzed into an individual who visibly lurched backwards at what he was seeing. Mrysti glared at the image.

“Get me….Thexan. I have a message for him…”

Pulling the Sergeant from the wall to her grasp, Mrysti held him in the display for the respondent to see. Finally the figure answered, “P-prince Thexan…is dead?!?! Who are y-you?!?!”, Mrysti response was to sever the head of the Sergeant allowing the respondent to see....

Beta...

The response angering her further, her revenge for the death of Karolin being suddenly ripped away from her. The figure in the holo-field gasped, his hand coming to his mouth, “You will answer for this!!! Whomever you are!! Do you hear me?!?! The Eternal Empire will not—“ Mrysti’s laughter broke his threat as she tossed the headless body aside.

“Eternal Empire?!?! Is that what you’re calling yourselves???” She leaned close to the Holo-field, “Are you recording this…I certainly hope you are…” Mrysti grinned wickedly, her eyes flashing in the field for the man to see, “Let Arcann know…the end of Eternity has come…’I’ have returned.” She leaned closer still, “…you let him know, I am coming for him. HE will now answer for my sister's death. And there is nothing, absolutely NOTHING he can do TO STOP ME!!!” Putting her saber through the console Mrysti turned and walked out stepping over the carnage without even looking at it.

True to her word, she reached down lifting two of the Zakuul Jumptroopers in the Force. Slicing their abdomens, she let their entrails spill out, wrapping her fingers around the outsides of the gooey substances that oozed from the wounds and began dragging them out of the room. Her mind was blank, but for one image. Thexan standing over her only sister, his lightsaber raised as he was about to end her life; and Mrysti jerked harder on the guts of her victims pulling them out into the cool air toward her ship. Accomplishing what she couldn’t five years prior, Tantra was free for the moment. And the Fury it seen it would not likely see again, unless Mrysti thought to return. Waves of rage, physical in appearance followed her as well as A whisper that escaped the silence that now followed Mrysti out into the open, a reassurance to herself...

I will never kill enough of you...to make up for what you've done to me...


Zakuul

Arcann stood in his anteroom, the General who brought him the Holo-vid standing nervously nearby. Watching the entire scene, Arcann brought his cybernetic hand to his face, with his other hand isolating the image and pausing it in the Holo-field. Mrysti's frozen image hovered in the Holo-space, a teisted visage of rage caught in a frozen moment of time. As he walked around the console looking at it Arcann finally turned to the General. The man responded before he was asked.

“This morning…our Garrison on Tantra…completely wiped out. I have never seen the like—“

Arcann’s voice cloaked by the cybernetics which now kept him alive answered turning back to the screen and nodding slowly, “I have…The Hammer has re-emerged…” Arcann didn’t sound worried as he reached down pressing the button to resume playback.

…absolutely NOTHING he can do to STOP ME!!!

The sound of Mrysti’s voice filled the room as the Holo-vid ended, Arcann finally turning back to the General, “And no one else has seen this? Not my Father…no one?” The General shook his head as he watched Arcann carefully, “See that no one does…it’s curious, she doesn’t know my ‘brother’ spared her sister’s life. That could be an advantage, see that she is thawed and brought before –“ Arcann stopped as he watched the General turn red and look down, “What? What is it?”

“She has escaped your Excellency…I thought you were informed of th—“

Immediately Arcann lashed out thrusting a hand outward toward the officer and grabbing him in the Force as he lifted the helpless man from the floor. Gritting his teeth as he approached the floating man, he got as close as possible without having to lower his arm, “When. Did. This. Happen?”

Obviously the General could not answer, as his neck was now under the vice-like grip of an unseen Force, Arcann still holding the man aloft for a moment before he tossed him aside, gently as not to kill him. Though he released the Officer gently, his anger was anything but subtle. A major bargaining chip had been lost in dealing with the reemergence of the one he still hated. Having not forgotten either sister, Arcann was happy to have one in Carbonite and the other on the run while he searched for her. He was realizing now that he hadn’t searched quite hard enough. Looking at the General he sneered slapping the console hard to shut down the holo-field.

“Find her!!! I don’t care how far or how hard you have to look…she could not have left Zakuul. Find Karolin and bring her to me!!!”

Still on his knees, the General looked up at his Prince rubbing the spot where the unseen Force held his throat in its vice like grip, “She is gone your Eminence…a-attacked Prince Thexan’s former estate and retrieved something, only to leave and—“ Again the vice like grip took hold of the General, lifting him to his feet. This time Arcann was not letting go as the distinct crunching sound of neckbone and throat cartledge caved in to the pressure. Storming off, Arcann gestured for the two guards outside his door to follow him, approaching a communications room inside his personal estate.

Arcann spoke to the room and no one in particular, his modulated voice sounding particularly frustrated and angry.

“I want…as many bounty hunters, opportunists, thrill seekers, intelligence gatherers….and anyone else who has an inclination to make currency HERE within the next two days!!! Flash a bulletin over all Zakuul frequencies…’Find Karolin Alpha’, I want her ALIVE!!!”

Leaving the room with his two guards in tow, Arcann thought about the image transmitted to him. That green monster who called herself the Hammer of the Empire at one time. It wasn’t fear that stopped him from sending out a message concerning her as well, it was the need for leverage. Karolin was the best leverage he could get and his own people had managed to let her escape. Though Arcann had not spoken his brother’s name outloud since he killed him in anger, Arcann still held a special place of hatred in his heart for Karolin, it was different than the hate he held for the other one, Mrysti. Karolin started the rift between Thexan and Arcann and still had much to answer for. But, her death would have to wait. Re-obtaining her was the primary goal, that goal to lead Mrysti to him and weaken her knowing Arcann had her sister. Arcann knew all too well what having a twin did to ones resolve.

[GuardianElite]

‘The Castle’

Kneeling down Marstel picked up a rock and tossed it back at the gaping hole that was once the entrance to ‘The Castle’. He was beating himself up for not being there when his sister woke up; as smoke slowly rose from the double blast doors. They were twisted and bent out of the way, blasted from what looked like a bomb. What made Marstel more worried than anything were the doors looked bent and blasted from the inside. Mrysti was free and she was pissed. As he continued to kneel, surveying the damage, Mai tapped him on the shoulder. Her blue robes flowing around her in the wind as she leaned over his shoulder, the Holo-pad in her hand bringing it over his shoulder to show him the latest images from the Zakuul controlled holo-net.

“Look”

…In an apparent attack which authorities are now blaming on resistance radicals. Again, though the radicals were neutralized and the garrison saved, it was not without cost. The rebel attack also cost the lives of several Tantran citizens as well. The rebels, indiscriminate in their attack, their only objective simply to kill whomever and whatever they could to sew discord on an otherwise peaceful world. Zakuul High Command is offering a reward for any information on this rebel leader and her band of rebellious citizens. Once again, this image of the leader was captured via Holo-cam as the attack took place inside the Tantra Defense Grid Complex….

An image of Mrysti entering the Tantra Defense grid made Marstel take the Holo-imager out of Mai’s hand to look at it. It couldn’t be true that Mrysti would kill innocent civilians, but in her current state of mind, who knew what she was capable of; Marstel grimacing at the thought. It was most likely state propaganda, but Marstel couldn’t be sure. Knowing he had to find her, he started going over the plan he and Mrysti made in their mind five years prior. Mai folded her arms over her chest as Marstel watched the state controlled broadcast, finally speaking up from behind him.

“Where do you think she’s going, Marstel?”

Turning slowly he started walking back toward their ship deactivating the holo-pad as he moved, “I kno where she’s headed…we goin’ there too…back to Nar Shaddaa…”


Dromund Kaas





Glowing brightly, the Holocron levitated above Samantha’s outstretched palms. The little girls spoke outloud and giggled loudly as she answered the voice that only she could hear.

“That sounds fun…”

“Mhm…I can do that….”

“When…I only get to play in ‘secret’. Do ya know what a secret is?”

Karolin just finished pulling her boot on as she leaned over to strap it. Hearing the voice she got up off the bed and moved toward the door to Samantha’s room and placed her ear against the door. Karolin was wondering who she was talking to and in the Force she could almost feel a presence. Over the past two weeks, Karolin had been getting more acquainted with her new niece, Samantha. Realizing the girl was Force sensitive, Karolin was sure the presence she was feeling was Samantha’s; as she had been feeling that aura had to be the tiny girl’s. But there was an ‘echo’, Karolin thought she felt something else that seemed to indicate ‘two’ presences. The door swung open as Karolin pushed it in quickly only to find Samantha sitting alone in the floor looking up at her. Smiling, Karolin extended her hand toward the little girl, looking around the room curiously.

“Who were you talking to sweetheart?”

Sam smiled as she stood up. Incapable of deception, she took her new Aunt’s hand and together they left the room. “Timothy, he’s my new friend…” As the two of them left, Karolin shutting the door behind them, the Holocron’s glow faded from under the bed where the voice told Sam to place it; only seconds before Karolin entered the room.

During the two weeks since Karolin arrived on the former Sith Homeworld she had seen an increase in activity by the Zakuul. Even keeping a low profile, Karolin found herself having to use the Force to mind trick the occasional ‘regular’ who thought to stop and question her as she moved around the capital city. Reports of a massive attack on Tantra had the Zakuul in an uproar, around the galaxy the various resistance movements used the opportunity to launch a series of attacks on their own. Even though Mrysti was apparently back, she still had not made contact with Porchia. It vexed Karolin to no end as to why Mrysti would not come to Kaas to find Porchia and her daughter. At that point, even Karolin didn’t know what was going through Mrysti’s mind and no one was closer to Mrysti than she was. Other than obviously sending a message for some purpose, Karolin could think of no reason why her sister would be staying away and apparently doing whatever she had to in order to draw attention to herself. It made sense that she wouldn’t be looking for Karolin, she didn’t know Karolin was alive.

Then the matter of Marstel, who no doubt was taking his time to get back from whatever hole he and Mai had run off to. Perhaps it was part of some plan Karolin was not privy to and Porchia had little in the way of answers. Following the few clues she was given, Porchia counted herself lucky to have even found the Holocron and to have made it as far as she had in her pursuits. The crackdown had Porchia on edge. There were things she was responsible for as a resistance leader and now that Karolin was back, she was focusing more on the sudden rise and crackdown by Zakuul forces across the galaxy.

Holding little Samantha’s hand, Karolin walked into the bistro and sat down across from Porchia who was busy typing away on her holo-pad. The red glow of the holo field from her headset linking up to the information she was viewing and typing on the pad in front of her. Sam smiled looking around as Karolin waited for Porchia to finish, who started speaking lowly while continuing to move around and type the floating information in front of her eyes.

“There is no trace of her. It was all propaganda by the Zakuul. It wasn’t a resistance cell that hit Tantra, it was only Mrysti. That much ‘we’ know. But after she destroyed the garrison, she vanished. Who knows where…”, Porchia finally looked at the both of them, her eyes stopping on Sam a moment to regard her smiling, “…it’s the reason for the crackdown. They are scared. My contacts have also told me…” Porchia frowned at Karolin, “…there is a warrant out for your arrest, Aunt Karolin. There is also a bounty of 10 million credits for your capture. Luckily, alive…someone wants you very badly.”

Taking off the headset, Porchia sat back looking at the ceiling. She didn’t want to do say what she was about to say, but it was for the good of the family. With Mrysti out running rampant in the galaxy, apparently on a mad quest for vengeance the Zakuul were increasing their presence on worlds Porchia and the other resistance members had strongholds within. Mrysti’s re-emergence was having a negative effect and something had to be done. Before she even said it, Karolin smiled looking over at her niece.

“You’re a General in the resistance, Porchia. It’s fine…you go. I will stay here and take care of Sam. I need to keep a low profile anyway. One of us needs to get out there and try to bring Mrysti in and we both know it can’t be me…not with the bounty on my head.”

As they discussed the details, Derrick walked in sitting down across from the three ladies. He ran his hand over Sam’s head as he smiled at her, his eyes moving between Porchia and Karolin as his demeanor got serious, “Ok…nothing from my people on the Republic side of things. At this point I think Porchia here probably has better intel than any of us in the Old Order.” They all looked at Porchia after he spoke, Karolin leaning forward and grabbing Porchia’s hand.

“I know you don’t want to go kiddo…but listen, if it’s Sam you’re worried about; don’t be. Derrick and I can take care of this. She couldn’t be safer and you’re right, we need to get out there and bring Mrysti in. I don’t know why she’s on this tirade…it was obvious that she meant to come to Dromund Kaas at some point otherwise, why leave the Holocron…”

Mentioning the Holocron made Sam’s ears perk up suddenly. Samantha was listening to the conversation and playing with her doll, but not really paying attention until the Holocron was mentioned. Over the past two weeks, Sam had snuck in to play with the device on several occasions, mostly because it was speaking to her. Not having told anyone of her new ‘friend’ until Karolin discovered her earlier, Samantha was having full blown conversations with the entity in the Holocron when no one was around. At the mention of the device, Samantha suddenly got interested sitting quietly to listen. And though she didn’t understand much of what the adults were talking about, she knew them mentioning the Holocron was important. It was her ‘friend’s’ home and a ‘toy’ she liked to play with.

“It’s not that Aunt Karolin…I just…I made a promise to Mrysti and I almost feel like I am going back on it by leaving her with you…I mean…” Porchia looked at Sam as she continued, “…she has not been out of my sight since she was born. I feel like I am abandoning her…”

Karolin squeezed Porchia’s hand lovingly, “I know…and I know how difficult it must be. But, among the three of us, you have the connections and know more about what’s happened in the galaxy over the past five years than we do. Someone has to be here on Dromund Kass if Mrysti turns up, someone has to watch Sam. But, one of us has to get out there and find her…who knows what state of mind she’s in at the moment…you are our only option, baby…you have to do it.”

Porchia turned a shade redder smiling slightly at being called ‘baby’. It was hard to comprehend for Porchia, that to Karolin, Porchia was still this young girl. It was refreshing in a way to hear it. Hearing Karolin refer to her as ‘baby’ made her feel more at home than anything. For the first time since her father’s death she finally started to feel part of a family again. Slapping the table slightly, Porchia stood up looking down at the group, “You’re right…I will get on it. My next clue was a message Mrysti left concerning a contact she had on Nar Shaddaa. I will contact the resistance there and head out. If I find something, I will let you know immediately…”

Nar Shaddaa

More controlled than other worlds, the independent peace the Hutt's made with the Zakuul came with stipulations. Though there weren’t Zakuul soldiers on every corner, the Hutt intelligence apparatus and underworld had been switched from an entity used for gaining profit, to an entity meant to control the populace. The Hutts were focusing inward now, looking for what they were told to look for on Nar. Not just anyone could come and go as they pleased anymore. Though it was still possible to get lost in Nar, staying lost was the problem with so many eyes watching. Business had definitely changed on the pleasure planet, a feeling of subtle control was over everything with Hutts being made to puppet for their new puppet masters.

Not trying to hide, Mrysti walked with impunity off the ramp of her ship, her long red hair flowing behind her as she stepped off walking purposefully for the control station. The guards visibly backed up at her approach as the 6 foot 9 inch tall Mirialan’s shadow leaned over the station before she did. There was no reason to lie, this was HER galaxy. In Mrysti’s mind the Zakuul were a non-issue, a bug to be squashed whenever that opportunity arose. So it was with some matter of confidence as she glared at the two guards speaking in an authoritative tone.

“Though I know it is common practice on this slimy world…I will hold each of you personally responsible if my ship is molested in any way…” Mrysti thumbed behind her at the ship, which both guards were now looking past Mrysti to glare at. Strapped to the hull were the burned and charred corpses of two individuals Mrysti had so carefully placed there. The guards exchanged nervous glances as she smiled wickedly, “…not even those two bodies I have strapped to my hull. Remove them, you take their place.” Mrysti looked down at the two men, meeting both of their gazes, “Do we have an understanding?”

Stepping away from the guards, Mrysti walked about ten steps before she heard the whine of a blaster powering up. It didn’t even finish its cycle; switching from powering 'on' to ‘kill’ mode before Mrysti had her lightsaber in hand and turned around with a start pulling the blaster from the bounty hunter's grasp. The look of shock from the Trandosian as his weapon was pulled from him matched the looks from the guards at seeing the purple blade appear suddenly. Mrysti didn’t bother with subtlety as she tossed the weapon aside, pulling the Trandosian into her free hand and lifting him in the air by his throat with physical strength alone. Mrysti tilted her head as he squirmed, looking at the bounty hunter curiously.

“Bounty…or personal I wonder…?” That question lasted long enough for Mrysti to simply run the lightsaber through the midsection of the squirming hunter as she stabbed the purple blade through his midsection. Dropping the lifeless body to the deck at the surprised stares of the guards one of them cleared his throat smiling weakly as he gestured to Mrysti.

“Ya want me ta add this one to yer hull???”

Stopping, Mrysti turned and smiled at the guard, shaking her head. “No…that is quite unnecessary. My hull space is reserved for the Zakuul only…”

--

Finishing the last of the guards, the sound of the snap-hiss of the lightsaber cutting through armor echoed in the anteroom. Mrysti found it curious that so many were stationed in and around Karolin’s former sky-apartment. It was almost as if they were expecting her to go there. The last guard gurgled at her feet as she looked down kicking his hand out of the way slightly. A frown crossed her features, she should have left one alive as she thought about the need to know why so many guards chose her late sister’s apartment as an ambush site.

The door to Karolin’s bedroom slid open as Mrysti slowly entered. In almost a reverent way, Mrysti strolled in and stopped, looking around at the furnishings and the items left relatively untouched from a time five years prior. This was Karolin’s refuge, a sadness that overcame Mrysti at that realization, she moved to the Voss style bed and sad down with a hopeless look. Staring off into the shining lights of Nar Shaddaa, Mrysti watched as the marquee’s flew by. Her mind was a blank slate in that instant. No feeling about what she came to Nar Shaddaa to do.

Mrysti had sent the message, now she had to gain access. On Tantra, after the display of power to the Zakuul, Mrysti drug those two Jumptroopers up to her ship and lovingly lashed them to the outside of her hull; just as she said she would. Tying the bodies on, she made a decision. The best thing she could do for her family was to rid the galaxy of the Zakuul. And that started with the head of the snake, Arcann. The decision to take on the Prince on his own world was an easy one to make in light of the feelings of loss she carried. Five years…all gone. Nothing could bring back what had been taken from her. And as much as she enjoyed destroying the garrison on Tantra, poetic as it was being the first defeat of ‘The Coalition’ five years prior, even Mrysti knew it couldn’t go on like that forever. She couldn’t continue to go from planet to planet destroying all of the Zakuul’s holdings. As powerful as she was, even she was not omnipotent. Eventually, they would corner her and with that destroy her.

Deciding she had nothing to lose, Mrysti was going to seek out the contact she made before she went into hiding. An information broker and ‘ask’ him to tell her what information he had on the Zakuul and their homeworld. The purpose was to gain entrance and possibly confront Arcann once and for all. Mrysti knew that the confrontation would most likely be her last and final act as a sentient being in the galaxy, but in her eyes, she had nothing to lose.

Mrysti’s mind shifted to the daughter she had not yet met, in the care of a niece who had nothing but distain for her. Looking at her hands, they began to shake slightly as she flexed them in order to bring them under control. How could a child love her? How could she ever love a child with all the hate in her heart? There is no way Mrysti could ever explain to her daughter why she was doing or had done some of the terrible things that had taken place. The decision made, Mrysti got up and walked to Karolin’s wardrobe. Though she was not the same size as her late sister, Karolin did own some things Mrysti could very easily slide into. She needed that ruse to attract the attention of the information broker or at least the people who would lead her to him.

Moving to the speeder launch and stepping over the bodies of the Zakuul guards, Mrysti flung her hands behind her head and braided her hair. It was the first time since emerging from the cryo unit that she even touched her hair and she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection off the speeder. She was ready, the final move in what was most likely an act that would lead to her demise. All for the greater good.

[GuardianElite]

Nar Shaddaa - Second Tier of the Slippery Slopes Cantina





Approaching the club, the music seemed to infect her as Mrysti stopped in her tracks smiling. Her eyes got heavy as she inhaled deeply almost drinking in the sound. For a moment, Mrysti almost forgot why she was there, her head moving slightly in time with the heavy bass of the dance music. Forcing herself to get serious, Mrysti strode forward with the light reflecting off the shimmersilk cloth that barely covered her. Again she smiled to herself thinking of how mad Karolin would be if she were alive to see Mrysti stretch one of her expensive dresses to the ‘outer limits’ of physical capacity.

Even with the lightsaber prominently displayed on her hip, Mrysti was not getting the kind of looks she thought she would, the uninviting kind. Instead the tall, voluptuous Mirialan was getting the normal hungry glares as she passed the dance floor to prop herself up on the farthest bar, just to survey. It was about to happen, it only took 3 to 5 minutes for the first man or woman to hit on her. This particular night was no exception.

The first was a burly bounty hunter. Mrysti tried to give the obvious signals, looking away as he approached and sipping her drink as he started to speak. As usual, it didn’t work. Things hadn’t changed that much in five years, people were still willing to test fate and try their luck. Usually, Mrysti would have humored it or even have been slightly flattered. For several reasons, she turned quickly grabbing the man by the back of the head and without warning bouncing his face off the bar counter. One of the reasons, she was just tired of it. Even after being asleep for five years and as much as she loved a good dance club, she was tired of the constant haranguing every time she went into one. Mrysti woke up with a new sense of herself and blaming it on the neural-induction she programmed into her cryo-system. Mrysti was ready for something permanent. As the bounty hunter’s unconscious body slipped off the counter landing unconscious at her feet, she picked up her drink moving slightly to the music. If she didn’t have a date with Eternity, she would definitely be looking for that 'something' permanent.

That brought the second reason to mind. It was always the same thing. Mrysti could get 'it' anywhere she wanted which unknown to everyone was always a slight surprise to her. The multitude of scars that covered every inch of her body and that she continually added to gave her a complex. Mrysti was extremely unsure of herself around other people, no one could have ever guessed that about her the way she carried herself, but at night, when she was alone and with only her thoughts; she would stand in the shadows and just count the marks on her skin. A monster in spirit, in action and in her estimation...appearance, Mrysti was extremely surprised anyone would be attracted to her; at least when they got up close and actually saw the lines on her face that at one time denoted the borders of her head which were held together by surgical tape and titanium striping.

Even unconscious, the bounty hunter’s apparent ‘sudden’ lapse into unconsciousness didn’t draw much attention. In fact, as Mrysti looked around the second level of the multi-tiered dance club, there were several other people lying about, passed out on the floor. The bounty hunter blended in nicely. Mrysti’s eyes kept drifting to a table of people, who seemed to be connected in some way, though she didn’t recognize the symbols they wore on their make-shift uniforms. As the large crowd at the table moved and shifted, Mrysti caught a glimpse of what she was looking for, Gardurgga’s information broker, though a little older and much more weathered than she remembered. He was a long way from Hutta, but in just the right spot for her.

Looking around Mrysti realized that she would need to part the crowd somehow, separate the man from the rest of those people. As she placed the empty glass down and pushed off the bar, the second suitor of the night bumped into her. Unbeknownst to Mrysti, it wasn’t a suitor.

“Buy ya a drink…big tall an’ beautiful…”

Mrysti looked at the shorter woman annoyingly, still trying to watch the table as she tried to push past the woman., “No…if you’ll excuse me I hav—“, missing the fact that the woman was fully armored, even under the heavy cloak the woman wore to cover it up. Waving dismissively, Mrysti started to move past her as she felt the business end of the blaster jab roughly into her side.

“I’m afraid I have to insist…’My Lord’…if you will calmly step with me toward the door. We don’t want to make a mess of things inside the club now do we….”

Letting her chin drop slightly, Mrysti glanced out of corner of her eye at the hunter. This was getting annoying; first at the starport and now in the club. The mission to get to the information broker was too important, otherwise Mrysti would have said nothing and simply killed the hunter on the spot. As it was, Mrysti laughed slightly as she brought up her hands, but did not move toward the door.

“You are making a terrible mistake, Hunter.” There was a wicked almost sarcastic tinge to Mrysti’s voice as she continued to look at the Hunter through the corner of her eye, “I have already killed seven people today, please…let’s not make it eight…” The Hunter obviously knew who she was by the way Mrysti was addressed, but that didn’t seem to phase this particular bounty hunter as she jabbed the blaster into Mrysti’s ribs a little harder.

“Mistake? I don’t think so…I was going to walk you out to kill you, so I didn’t have to drag your body to my ship. You are kind of large, but…”

The tingle Mrysti felt in the Force seemed to slow everything down as the whine of the blaster coincided with the feeling she got telling her a trigger was being depressed. The burn of the blaster bolt struck across her abdomen as Mrysti moved in a flash at the last second, pulling the arm holding the blaster in toward her and twisting her body into the arm to break it in one motion. The hunter recovered quickly even with a busted arm to draw a blade in the next second with her other hand. Mrysti gestured sending the blade flying off into the crowd. A set of arms wrapped themselves around Mrysti’s torso as another individual joined in. Jerking her head back, Mrysti broke the nose of the one holding her with a reverse head-butt. Kicking out with the highheeled boots she was wearing, Mrysti landed a sharp heel into the first bounty hunter who attacked her, knocking the hunter into the wall.

As the female bounty hunter landed against the wall and another set of people, a fight on the wall broke out between the three of them. ‘Broken nose’ guy screamed as he lunged for Mrysti who spun in the air kicking the larger man back into the crowd. Laying her hand on her lightsaber, she quickly took it off and back to a defensive stance, ‘Not yet’ she thought. The commotion on Mrysti’s side of the bar was growing as more people joined in and the fight started to grow. It drew the Information Broker’s attention, who’s eyes went immediately to Mrysti as his jaw dropped open in recognition. Getting up, the Information broker started for the door.

The broker slowed down as a group of heavily armored guards entered the doorway and started toward the crowd. Mrysti sneered seeing a Zakuul in the lead of the pack of would be peacekeepers. A foot jabbed itself her direction which Mrysti grabbed and flipped away from her without looking; her eyes locked on the heavily armored troopers entering the club. They seemed to zone in on her as she stood up slowly from the floor the saber hilt in her hand.

“Darth Retuvisa!!! Hammer…of the Empire….you are under arrest for the murder and destruction Zakuul personnel and equipment as well as inciting insurrection against the Eternal Empire! Drop your weapon and stand down.”

The fight seemed to quell slightly as she activated the purple blade running at the group of armed guards; all eyes her direction. As the blaster bolts started to fly, Mrysti jumped into the air above the crowd her body twisting once and sailing toward her new attackers. She noticed two things that surprised her. First, that the guards would even try to warn her they were going to attack by asking her to drop her saber. She laughed on the inside, ‘They would have stood a chance if they just entered and started firing.’, she thought. Secondly, that people in the bar seemed to stop fighting each other and immediately start in on the guards. Fists were flying as the guards began firing on the crowd instead of Mrysti. She landed and it was a full blown fracas. The hornets’ nest had definitely been kicked as blaster bolts and fists flew freely throughout the establishment.

The Zakuul was the first to go, Mrysti slashing across the hapless guard as the snap hissing sound of her saber penetrated armor and flesh simultaneously. The other guards now had bigger worries from the rest of the crowd as she allowed the dead Zakuul’s body to drop in front of her moving to the side and catching the last glimpse of the Information Broker running away. Breaking into a full pursuit, she started running up the tunnel entrance after him.

Near the entrance, a foot jutted itself out. A large man, long white hair and piercing eyes stood with his arms folded across his chest. Seeing the Information Broker scared and running from something, the large man placed a foot in his path to stop him. Still looking behind himself for the pursuing ‘green giant’ the Information broker never saw the foot placed ever so subtly in front of him. Mrysti reached the broker just as his body hit the floor face first and he began to slide away from the entrance. Passing the large man that assisted her, Mrysti flashed him an annoyed glance before she moved toward the broker lifting him with one hand from the floor, the large man now standing directly behind her.

“I see my competition running away from something…I figure there has got to be a reason…” The large man spoke as he stopped directly behind Mrysti and her Information Broker, who now squirmed in her grasp, “I’m Xerxes, by the way….” Though he didn’t extend the hand, it was clearly an attempt to introduce himself to Mrysti in order to waylay the annoyed glance she gave him. Mrysti continued the look, passing it between the two men as she finally rested her eyes on her ‘hero’.

At a little over 6 foot tall the large man was roughly eye level with Mrysti, but that wasn’t what caught her eye and made her stammer. It was the eyes and the sharp features of the man. Ears that were pointed slightly and pressed back, his face was incredibly angular and rough cut. Again the eyes captured her, they were incredibly light almost without color in some way. Mrysti shuttered on the inside at the intensity of the eyes as she seemed to get lost in them for a moment, trying to control the writhing man in her grasp. Xerxes looked down at the saber still lit in her hand as he backed up a step smiling, Mrysti not having said anything to that point. Deactivating the saber she glared at Xerxes to hide her constant stare into his eyes.

“Uh...yea...I didn’t need your help!!! I could have caught him on my own!!”

Raising his hands Xerxes backed up another step but continued to smile. A smile that seemed uncomfortable on such an angular and chiseled face. “Just tryin’ ta do my part…Like I said, I see my competition running and I figure, it’s got to be worth stopping him.” Mrysti started to move away with the man in her arms as Xerxes called out to her, “And who might you be…” Mrysti’s head snapped back around angrily. Her look softened as she turned her head away a moment, just to avoid his eyes again, “Just curious…I would like to know who I owe a ‘thank you’ too once my business picks after ‘he’s’ gone…” Xerxes pointed at the still writing man caught in Mrysti’s clutches. She smiled wickedly, her red eyes flashing slightly Xerxes direction. The words were playful with an alluring hint to them.

“None of your business…that’s my name. ‘None of your business’…” She smiled devilishly, “…but if you’re really curious, keep your holo-net on. You will find out who I am soon enough…”

Thoughts of the stranger still plaguing her thoughts, Mrysti smiled to herself before she looked at the broker she had in her grasp, the smile turning deadly. ‘Time to get back to business’, she thought. The image of those eyes still burnt into her thoughts, it was too bad for her that she didn’t have more time or it was pleasure instead of business that brought her to the club. Mrysti would have more than likely thrown herself at such an exotic looking male specimen. But nothing happened in the Force without a reason, it was something she picked up in her War with the Zakuul. The Force always had a plan and Mrysti had no doubt she was going to see that exotic looking man again.

“So…you left Hutta and are plying your trade for the Zakuul now? Don’t bother denying it, I’ve already checked…” The man stopped writhing to give Mrysti a pained and pleading look.

“Duh-duh-Darth R-retuvisa….so nice ta-ta-ta see you…You’ve been well I trust?”

Mrysti jerked the information broker close and pulled him into a wall, “I would just ask you what I need to know, but I already know you are going to lie. So…we will skip the foreplay and go right to the main event…” Mrysti clasped her hand around his throat, “Where…is Prince Arcann and how do I get to him undetected…?” The hesitation in the man told Mrysti she was right, he was already thinking of a way to avoid the question. Mrysti tightened the grip as the broker sputtered slightly under her grasp, “Wrong answer…you hesitate, not a very intelligent thing to do with a Sith. Already your mind is trying to concoct ways to get yourself out of this, instead of simply answering the question. No matter, I anticipated as much….” Mrysti tossed the man to the floor away from the wall as she stalked toward him finally picking him back up, “It’s been what….five years since I tortured anyone?” Mrysti cracked her knuckles as she approached, “I may be rusty…Void, you may actually die during…but, I am so longing to get those juices flowing again….”

[GuardianElite]

Nar Shaddaa


It was an abandoned factory, one Mrysti had firsthand knowledge of on the rare opportunity that she had something to hide or a meeting to hold in secret on Nar. Not really sure why, Mrysti had taken off the exquisite shimmerilk dress she wore pulling the armored top back on but leaving the skirt and spats off and staying in her undies. The broker was tied to the chair and bound by a pair of binders behind his back, Mrysti had to knock him unconscious when they arrived. The broker having already surmised by their destination that he would never leave the place alive. And he was right, Mrysti had told him as much in the speeder as they traveled to the far side of Nar Shaddaa.

The wheels of the cart squeaked loudly, which made the Broker wake slightly and look around. And as the cart came to a stop, Mrysti stared at the broker longingly, “Mmmm….you have no idea how I have wanted to take my time on something like this…” she reached over picking up a durasteel hammer and twirled it in her palm, but continued to speak as if she was giving a lecture, “…do you realize, that since my re-emergence…I have killed at least 33 people…give or take one or two. And in that time, I have dispatched them in the most grotesque fashions I could think of.” Mrysti frowned as she lifted the hammer into the light so both of them could see it. She gazed at it like studying it for flaws, “Even with killing the Zakuul in the most grotesque ways in order to incite fear…it was always quick. I have yet to truly savor the deliciousness of anyone’s pain…” Mrysti’s eyes darted to the Broker’s, “Until this moment…”

“Pleasssse…I will tell you what you want to know, just don—AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!”

Mrysti brought the hammer down on one toe, destroying it and then another for good measure. Even with her teeth tight and snapped shut she seemed to be in a state of bliss at the man’s screams, backing up slightly with the blood stained hammer to look at the broker, her breathing slightly off.

“Oh….I know you will. I will drag it out of you…” Glancing at the man’s shattered two toes she flicked one of the lumps of flesh with a finger which made the man wince again, “…toe by wonderful toe if I have to…” Darting toward him, Mrysti dropped the hammer in her movement with a loud bang on the ground grabbing the broker by the chin to lift his face to hers as she sputtered and sneered a mere centimeter from his face, “WHERE….is Arcann? I wish details…schematics, defenses…and any pass codes you have to allow me entrance to his most secret of inner sanctums….”

The man winced in anger and pain as he screamed for both reasons, “OK!!! Alright!!!....just don’t…do that again…”

Mrysti stepped back, but bent down picking up the hammer and slammed it loudly on the tool cart which made the broker wince again. The skills Mrysti obtained to conduct the type of torture needed to extract information she actually did have to learn from someone else. It was an actual class that she took in Dromund Kaas, though she was a quick study due to her personal experiences. Torture in and of itself was not a new realm for her, she relished in it and it was part of her upbringing as a Sith and as a woman. Not by choice of course.

Over time Mrysti not only grew to enjoy the pleasure of pain inflicted upon herself, she grew to enjoy inflicting it upon others. Part of it was her own numb view of the galaxy, particular cold at the moment as she cut off nearly all of her emotions to prepare herself for the inevitable confrontation that would most likely lead to her death. It enhanced the level she was willing to go, as her level of pity or remorse for how much pain she was willing to inflict to get what she wanted was incredibly high at the moment. Mrysti meant what she said when she told Gardurgga’s broker that ‘he might not survive’; Mrysti was not entirely convinced she could control herself if she got carried away.

Watching him gather himself, Mrysti stepped back, but drew the vibroknife slowly out of the sheathe behind her back running the sharp blade over a finger to test it, glaring at the broker. Struggling to control her own thoughts she pushed back any thought of her sister or her family or anything to do with ‘why’ she was torturing this man, instead trying to be purely antiseptic about the situation. His reaction was too slow as Mrysti began to sense he was once again trying to figure out how to get out of the situation. Her first instinct was to launch her hand and some lightning at her hapless victim, but having the knife and just finishing her run over a finger making herself bleed; Mrysti slashed at the man’s chest cutting the skin just above the cutaneous layer. It was razor sharp, the pain not registering immediately.

The Broker screamed out in pain again as Mrysti placed the finger in her mouth getting frustrated, “You are not getting out of this, so stop thinking about it…you are hurting my mind…”

“Kriff you!!! Kriff you, you kriffin’ bitch!!!” That made Mrysti smile as she lowered the knife in disbelief. Could the broker have been playing her all along, even through the utter annihilation of two of his toes. It was a look of being impressed as she stepped back placing the knife on the tool cart.

“My, my…. A little fight in you. Perhaps I underestimated you…no matter, I prefer to watch anyway…” Mrysti clapped her hands together loudly as the whirling and hover sounds of an interrogator droid started it’s way toward them both from the shadows of some shipping containers. It stopped hovering over the man and turning it’s red eye toward Mrysti who smiled and tapped the surface of the droid for her victim to see, “Now, I am going to ask that you PLEASE not tell me anything. In fact, I insist…continue to be resistant and fight…YES FIGHT!!!”

His face now grew a shade paler, Mrysti though a Sith and capable of amazing feats was still humanoid. Humanoids had to have respites even in the most intent and dire of interrogation sessions. Everything gained in breaking an individual could be lost in a two minute trip to the bathroom or stopping to change a torture device. The droid however, had no such limitations. As it whirled and twisted around on its spherical axis, it was selecting a tool and Mrysti already preset it for <constant> meaning the torture and the use of various devices would continue non-stop until either she got tired of watching it, the Broker did in fact ‘break’ or the droid's power cell wore out. At an rate it was going to be a long night as Mrysti noisily pulled a metal chair from the far wall in the Force and plopped herself down in it to watch. The screams of the Broker commencing almost as she sat down.

--

Smiling Mai walked back over to Marstel placing her hands on her hips and looking up at him, “By about 30 minutes…we missed her and there is no telling where she’s off to.” Marstel was looking at the scene now saturated by what looked like a mix of Hutt and Zakuul officials. He made sure to pull Mai and himself back to a safe distance before addressing her.

“There’s lotsa places she coulda got off to…buh, I thank she wuz ‘ere fer sumthin’. She found it and now she’s off doin’ whatever she has to with it…question is, wuz it a sumthin ‘er a sum won….”

Porchia saw them both from a distance, but didn’t approach. The smile almost strong enough to reach across the plaza and grab them both. Tapping one of her resistance members, Porchia handed the man a piece of flimsy and pointed in Marstel’s direction. “See that big one over there…next to the lady in blue? Make sure he gits that…”

--

Flipping the screen with a run of her finger over the surface, Mrysti looked up from the whimpers in the chair across from her. She licked her finger like turning the page of a normal paper novel as she moved the finger over the screen again. In the preceding hours, Mrysti asked not a single question busying herself between browsing the holo-net and getting up to date over the past five years of news and watching the man being tortured mercilessly at the hands of the droid, but now she was getting bored.

Sitting up she waved dismissively at the droid and spoke outloud like she was talking to it. It moved away slowly as it whirled and clicked into a safe position and floated away, “Well….I think we have gotten everything we need. And thank you…your codes and all of the information you have shared will be put to good use I assure you.” She paused a second before she slapped her knees standing up, “And…on that note…” Picking up the vibroknife from the tool cart she approached the man, no longer using it as a device of fear, Mrysti gripped it in one of 32 different combat holds. The broker’s usefulness had come to an end. Mrysti paused before she plunged the knife into the seared and scarred flesh of the listless broker, “Just so you know, it IS for a good cause. And I will be joining you and my sister shortly….”

Listless as he was and on the verge of unconsciousness, the broker looked up at the mention of Mrysti’s sister. Of course he knew Mrysti and her sister, more intimately than most. Not only was he a broker in galactic information, he was Gardurrga’s former broker of information. And Mrysti as well as Karolin had dealings with Gardurrga before the Hutt’s untimely demise, by Mrysti’s own hand. He murmured at the words from Mrysti, one eye opening slightly.

“K-karolin?!?”

Finally having enough of him, Mrysti grabbed his throat and tightened her grip on it. “I was going to kill you quickly, but you speak my sister’s name…now I will draw it out just to watch you suffer!!! NO ONE speaks her name…not ANYMORE!!!” Something hit her in the Force, though the man no longer cared if he lived or died Mrysti took her hand off his throat like it was molten hot stepping back. There was an image there, something the man knew that made him look up and say her name. Mrysti slapped him lightly on the face to make him come back from the brink a bit now curious due to his utter and complete lack of being dishonest, “What?!?! Say it…what were you going to say about my sister?!?!”

The head bobbed left and right at the light slaps as Mrysti got slightly anxious for some reason. Finally the man uttered something and Mrysti leaned in to hear it, “Say that again…I didn’t catch that…”

“A-alivvvveee….”

Lurching back like she been struck Mrysti’s face twisted in anger. Grabbing the man around the throat again she raised the knife above her head, “YOU LIE!!! I watched her die!!! I was there!!!” It was to the broker’s benefit that he had been tortured beyond caring by the droid as he no longer had any reason to lie. Mrysti stopped before she plunged the knife in the man’s flesh holding it above him and breathing heavily. She took her hand away from his throat and slapped him again, this time much harder. Perhaps he was telling the truth and thinking back Mrysti did not actually see her sister die. Marstel having pulled her away from the scene to spare her that agony. But she could not feel her sister in the Force not since that moment when RT and Beta died. It dawned on her as she slowly lowered the knife in realization. Just as something inside of Mrysti died when she thought she lost her sister, something DID die inside of Karolin the moment her son Beta was killed. Her connection to the living force died in that moment. The moment when Beta joined with the Force.

“Where…where is she!?!”

--

Barely alive and lying a pool of blood, the broker was flipped over by a massive foot as Marstel, Mai and Porchia all stood in a semi-circle around him. Shaking his head, Marstel reached down and picked the man up setting him back down in the seat as Mai got a cup of water to give to him. He of course could not drink, his mouth swollen shut by the extraction of various key teeth which controlled the nervous system and swelling of his lips and gums.

Flipping her Comm system out, Porchia began typing a message to her contacts in reference to what they found as Marstel pressed the man back in the chair lightly looking up into his face as his head lulled down lazily. He thumbed at the man as he looked at both women.

“We ain’t getting nuthin outta this guy…Mrysti done got what she needed an she’s off ‘gain…”

Looking around the area, Mai found the Datapad discarded next to the overturned cart of tools. It already struck Mai as strange that Mrysti whom she knew was so violent, much against her own personal opinion of such, would kill so many in her quest to get to this point, to only let this one particular man live. Activating the pad, Mrysti had forgotten to erase the last entry; a hotel on Dromund Kass. Mai passed the datapad to Marstel and the both of them looked at it, expanding the view to get more information on the place. Porchia approached and gasped placing her hand over her mouth.

“Uh..Uncle Marstel…I know where she’s headed. And we better get there fast…” As Porchia already started to move Marstel and Mai following with an inquisitive gaze, Porchia finished her thought, “That’s my hotel on Dromund Kaas…Mrysti is about to meet her daughter…and there no telling what she will do in the state she is currently in."

[GuardianElite]

Dromund Kaas - 12 hours later...





There are moments in everyone’s life where a single act can change everything. A song can inspire, words can motivate and a meeting can change a heart. For Mrysti, she arrived on Nar Shaddaa with a heart full of rage and vengeance. With the idea that when she next set foot on another planet it would be Zakuul and her final act as a living being in the galaxy. Darth Retuvisa was ready to sacrifice herself not because she wanted vengeance, but because she was ready to leave the galaxy, permanently. There was nothing left in her own mind to live for, the most important thing, her family and the life of the one she came into the universe with; her sister Karolin having been taken from her.

Of course, Mrysti thought of the daughter she never met, but not having met her she was content in the fact that a child would not want to know a monster like her. Content to go to her death with the assurance that her daughter was loved and would be continued to BE loved by one who Mrysti did not have a good relationship with, Porchia. Mrysti had taken something from Porchia, something very valuable. Mrysti had taken the life of Porchia’s step mother for a slight to her brother RT. Always with good intent, Mrysti never did anything without good intentions. The difference between Darth Retuvisa and other beings in the galaxy, is Mrysti had no moral compass as to what was right and what was wrong in attaining the completion of those good intentions. Mrysti would go to any length to secure the completion of a goal. Good…or evil, if so required.

Uncharacteristically, Mrysti let the man live. She did in fact get the information she required and the clearances she needed in order to secure passage to obtain her vengeance. But, hearing her sister was alive was something she was not prepared for. Already saturated in her bloodlust, she nearly killed the man just for uttering Karolin’s name. But something in the Force stopped her. As he cried out both in pain and in surprise at Mrysti not knowing, she could feel he was telling the truth. Karolin was alive. Mrysti’s heart leapt at the news. The entire way to Dromund Kaas, she thought of the million and one things she would say to her sister that she never said, all of the regret of a lifetime of being this person that everyone expected her to be holding her back from that one more moment of sharing a word or a special thought with her sister. Mrysti thought she lost that chance.

On Korriban, something inside her died the moment she thought she lost her sister. Something twisted her heart even further into an abyssal calm that raged from the moment it froze in the cryo-unit, till the moment she was thawed. The decision to seek vengeance for the death of her sister and her brothers was easy to come to, Mrysti had stewed over it for five long years in a slumber induced by those that not only took them from her, but forced her into that sleep. The daughter Mrysti never met, never even came into the equation and until that moment, Mrysti never considered the little girl as a factor in the reasoning. There was no reason to consider the little girl, you could not miss or love that which had no effect on you.

Hurrying through the streets of Kaas City, she was headed to the address she was given by the information broker. She should have killed him, she told herself. For if he knew the hotel they were staying at, nothing would prevent him now from sharing that information with those who sought the rest of them. The city seemed to blur around her, she should have been interested at the change, at the people since the invasion of the Zakuul. So many thoughts and the desire to get to her sister to whisk her away to some place safe so that no one could ever hurt either of them again.

Thoughts raced through her mind as she got closer, what would she say to Karolin, what would she do? Scenarios played in her mind of running to her sister and just holding her, of telling her the things she needed to say and never had because she was afraid of what Karolin might think. It was a second chance, a chance to make up for a lifetime of wrong. But all of that went away as the Force spoke loudly to Mrysti. It spoke as if it was a voice on a clear afternoon and was guiding her to a nearby stream. The cool water voice told her to stop and just 'be' for a moment. That what she thought she was going to say, that what she thought she was going to do, was not at all about to happen. The Force spoke very abruptly and told her to 'Stop'. It pointed at something, something wonderful and it said 'Breathe...Karolin is not the only one 'waiting' for you. YOU have another important role to play....'

The Force tingled as Mrysti felt her sister's presence and then another that felt like her own, an echo perhaps, but something that was definitely of her. Mrysti almost felt her own presence next to her sister already. The Force made her look up and she froze as she felt it's power smile in it's ultimate wisdom. She was 'Home'. Home is where your heart lies and that heart beat strongly in the chest of a small five year old body, who looked up in wonder not really sure why. Mrysti’s eyes drifted to the fountain. There was Karolin, but that wasn’t what made her freeze as the initial smile wiped away from her face. Those red irises that looked and saw the smaller of the two of them, now changed direction to the little girl in the water, who splashed playfully. And it was in that moment that everything, her entire world changed. There was no doubt, the little girl…was her little girl.

Karolin felt it too as she looked up. It wasn’t the sheer size of her sister, which did stick out among the normal sized passers-by; it wasn’t even the foreboding presence that always accompanied Mrysti wherever she went. Karolin stood up to see Mrysti’s eyes cast elsewhere, her eyes were watching the fountain in stunned silence. Her eyes were on Samantha. Karolin smiled and gestured for Samantha to come out of the water looking back up to Mrysti who now only smiled at her sister as their own similar red eyes met. All the thoughts of the thousands of things she would say that she never got to say were gone. Mrysti’s mind was blank and numb as it buzzed with that numbness. For everything she thought about in leaving the little girl in the care of others, of sacrifice for what Mrysti believed was the greater good now stepped out of the fountain looking up at her Aunt Karolin.



As much as Mrysti tried, she could not stop the tear from leaking out of her eye as she quickly wiped it away annoyingly. ‘I cannot let my daughter see me this way’, she thought. And try as she might she could not make her legs move, frozen in place staring at the two of them. Trying to compose herself, she did as always in threatening situations, Mrysti placed her hands on her hips to try and remain imposing. Another tear leaked out and Mrysti quickly caught it wiping it away again as Karolin pushed the little girl Mrysti’s direction. They stopped across from one another as Karolin stood up to her full height. She wanted to run to her sister and throw her arms around Mrysti’s neck and hug her, but this was not that moment. Karolin could feel the moment belonged to someone else as she looked down at Sam and then back up at Mrysti only uttering one word to her twin sister, “Hi…”

Mrysti pointed silently at Sam and legs that would not move and a mouth that could not speak suddenly gained power as Mrysti stepped away and nearly fell in her retreat, turning around just as suddenly to look back at the both of them. It was shock, surprise and a wondering that covered her face as she gave Karolin a hopeless look. All the thoughts of sacrifice, of have ever contemplating a suicide for the sake of revenge were gone. Gone with a surprised wonder at how stupid she could have ever been for thinking it. In an instant the only thing in the universe more important than her own life was that of the little girl. And that ownership of responsibility hit her in the split second it look for Mrysti to look into Sam's big beautiful red eyes and see that those eyes were hers.

Karolin smiled warmly and pushed Sam a step closer. Karolin could see the expression and thought she knew what was going through her sister’s mind. Karolin believed that the sheer and utter shock of seeing your own daughter for the first time had Mrysti so captivated that she was speechless. But, if Karolin could have entered the mind of her only sister at that moment she would have been disappointed as Mrysti thoughts ranged from, ‘How could I have ever left her? How could I have ever considered leaving this universe with her in it? And why did I ever think I knew what love actually was?’

Opening her mouth Mrysti tried to speak, but failed as Karolin knelt down next to Sam who was now looking up at the massively tall Mirialan in front of her. Sam’s eyes were wide in shock and surprise, she had never seen a woman so tall. Even in her tiny 5 year old mind as she built up to what her mother must have looked like, she never dreamed up this person standing in front of her. It was frightening, the look saying everything as Karolin whispered to the little girl, “It’s ok baby…this is your Mommy…”



That word broke Mrysti as she placed her hands on her hips again to try and gain some composure, one of the hands on her hips going to her face to cover her mouth. But her eyes spoke the volumes of wonder and love to Sam that she built up in her mind since hearing about her Mother. And Sam ran. Sam ran toward Mrysti who dropped out of her pose as the world melted away, to grab and hold the little girl. All the while wondering how life could have ever been complete without her. As Mrysti held the back of her head and clutched her tightly, the water broke from her eyes as the flood of emotion commenced from ‘The Empire’s Hammer’, the Dark Lord of Lords and the Leader of the Coalition across the galaxy. In that moment, she was only Mrysti Alpha, mother to Samantha Alpha and nothing else in the entire universe mattered. Not even her Vengeance.

--

The moment passed, the two sisters sat across from each other in the hotel room. Karolin content to sip at a cup of tea as they both made small talk. But both of them still gazing intermittently at the wonder that sat in the middle of the floor playing with her dolls. Mrysti more than Karolin, who got the impression that half of what she said was being missed. Karolin didn’t mind, it was understandable given the circumstances. Finally, Karolin said something that caught her sister’s attention as she sat the cup down noisily, “She’s amazing isn’t she….”

Mrysti looked back to Karolin forcing a smile, still guilty inside for ever having had thoughts like she carried before arriving on Dromund Kass. Brushing a length of red hair back over her shoulder Mrysti smiled, “Yes…” the voice drifted as her gaze went back to Sam who had now busied herself playing with her dolls,”….she’s the most amazing thing I have ever seen….” Karolin frowned slightly as she realized Mrysti was going to be caught in this ‘funk’ of guilt she was in until she did something about it. Reaching over and snatching a length of red hair into her hand Karolin smirked.

“And what’s this?!?! Long has never been you…makes you look wild, untamed.” It worked as Mrysti suddenly took her eyes off her daughter to regard her sister. Karolin knew Mrysti so well, both sisters had a level of vanity they carried about themselves. Karolin more than Mrysti. Responding in kind, Mrysti flipped a lock of Karolin’s blonde hair and smirked in return.

“Oh and Blonde is you?!?! Not to mention the length…Mine may be long, but at least I stayed with my original color…” Karolin sneered at Mrysti’s comment playful as she glanced at Sam twirling a bit of blonde hair in her hand.

“Derrick says it make me look exotic…”

“OH?!?! And ‘who’ is Derrick…the one who got you out of Carbonite?” Mrysti missed most of what Karolin and she had talked about, still wrapped up in thoughts of the little girl who sat in the floor. Sam got up and toddled over to where the two women sat, listening as they continued to gab to one another. Interrupting, Sam poked at her Mother’s leg and looked up at her.

“Mommy, you are really tall…” It was in the middle of Karolin explaining how she may or may not be in love with this new person, ‘Derrick’. A topic Mrysti had heard many times before. Of the two of them, Karolin was more prone to falling in and out of love and had many, many times. It was a subject that had brought both sisters to tears and to blows before. Though none of them thought about that now. Sam continued to poke at not having been paid attention to, Mrysti finally looked down at the little girl and smiled, not really hearing her she rubbed her hand on the back of her head and pulled her closer.

“Mommy!!! I said you’re really tall!!”

Karolin laughed, “Well, she certainly has your temperament…” This would be Mrysti’s first admonishment of Samantha, as the little girl pulled away angrily. Mrysti quickly grabbing her wrist so she couldn’t get away. Looking at Karolin first, Mrysti pursed her lips and turned to Sam raising a finger. Karolin was understandably curious how one such as her sister who lacked control in so many things would handle the anger of a little girl. The reaction was a pleasant surprise.

“Sam…listen to me. When grown-ups are talking you are not to interrupt. Do you understand me? You wait your turn. Listen, be mindful. Soon you will sense a break in the conversation or you will sense when it is your turn to speak….” Sam tried to pull away again, but Mrysti was not finished, holding the little girl at bay with little effort, “…and you will not take a tone with me. You will not try to pull away or fight with me.” Sam stopped struggling and looked at her Mother, who picked her up putting her in her lap, “If you wish to be powerful…you will learn the manners that a powerful woman should. And there are no better teachers than the two of us in this room…do you understand?”

Sam nodded but looked away, not really expecting an admonishment. Mrysti realized that fact, a mother’s intuition kicking in as well as five-years of neural induction therapy that included a full range of child rearing and parenting manuals. Turning Sam’s face to her own smiling one, Mrysti looked her daughter in her eyes, “Yes baby, I am tall…taller than most. I heard you…I wasn’t ignoring you. You must learn your place. That way when the time comes, you will never, ever be ignored…”

Mrysti pulled the tiny girl close, squeezing her so tightly she thought she might break her and was surprised that the strength she was placing in the hug was soon returned as Sam hugged tightly back. The words muffled in the made on hair about Mrysti head.

"I am happy to see you Mommy....I love you...."

[GuardianElite]

Zakuul


Much the same way that Arcann bent at the knee in the designated spot before his Father, Arcann’s minions did much the same thing before him. The rather nervous aide was not nervous to be in the Prince’s presence, it was the information he carried. Having served Arcann since the beginning, he joined the Prince shortly before the Battle of Korriban and had a front row seat into many of the things currently vexing the Prince. Namely the menace that escaped him on Korriban. As the aide continued to kneel awaiting acknowledgement, Arcann finished signing something with a thumb print to a Datapad as he waved dismissively to the other servant standing next to him. Arcann very slowly and deliberately took his time to turn his back on the kneeling man and sit slowly to look out over his miniaturized version of his father’s throne room. Almost as elaborate, but not nearly as large.

“Speak”

The aide swallowed hard as he immediately looked up into his master's face with a pained expression, “The news is not good, My Lord….” Arcann looked away If he would have had the capability to grit his teeth, he would have. His mouth being lost as well as the majority of his face in a blast on Korriban. A blast whom the information he required directly related to. Slamming his fist on the large throne like chair hard he grimaced, which through the cybernetics sounded like a bit of frequency distortion. Relaxing a bit, he sat back in the chair and waved toward himself.

“Out with it…”

“My Lord…she was spotted on Nar Shaddaa. Our forces engaged but…” The Aide stopped, Arcann already knew the rest, there was no need to say anything further.

“And the bounty?”

“Uncollected so far…she has dispatched at least 8 different hunters, we have no idea if they were in pursuit of the reward or not. Her face is now all over the holo-net…anyone literally could be trying to kill her for any number of reasons.” The aide took it upon himself to stand, gesturing toward his prince, “…which in reality, My Lord, is much to our advantage. It has given us something else, a bit of an edge in some cases….”

Arcann was considering strangulation for the aide’s insolence in standing up, but as he mentioned ‘advantage’ his one good eyebrow raised in curiousity, “Oh? Please…elaborate…”

“Well My Lord…’The Hammer’ tortured nearly to death one of our retained Information Brokers, though he was unable to give us all of the details; which personally I think because he is more frightened of her than he is of you, he was able to tell us something he neglected to share when he was initially retained by our people…” The aide smiled as he stepped closer to the Prince smiling, “…he knows where Karolin Alpha is located…and…’The Hammer’ is headed that direction.”, Arcann stood suddenly, about to summon his personal guard as the aide continued off-handedly, “…I understand you will want to handle this personally, your Excellency, but there is another matter at stake here…” Arcann turned slowly starting to get annoyed.

“I keep you around because you are effective in what you do…but your games tire me from time to time. So…out with the rest or you will find yourself at the end of my lightsaber….”

The aide was unaffected by the threat, it had been given before and he did so enjoy the drama good information elicited from Prince Arcann. Slowly he took out a holo-flimsy saying nothing else, but passing it to the Prince with a wicked smile. Arcann looked at it, flipped it over, looked at the blank side and then shrugged.

“What does this mean…a picture of a child? How does this affect my re-acquiring Karolin Alpha?”

Continuing the wicked smile the aide moved a step closer and pointed down at the Holo-flimsy, particularly focusing on the eyes. “The child…is the “Hammer’s’ daughter…”


Dromund Kaas


Watching from the outside in, Mai could see a light in Marstel she had not seen in a long time, not since the first season the two of them planted that first crop on Lameredd after their exodus from the galaxy. There was a light in him then at having grown something, at having done something with his own bare hands. Mai’s family was either dead or scattered, so she understood the pain and hurt involved with loss and of missing those that were not gone, but only missing. Seeing Marstel reunited with Karolin, Mai could not only see the light in him re-ignite, she could feel it in the Force even for someone who barely if ever showed his emotions. That fact alone, the feelings she was sensing in the Force from Marstel was enough to make her cry. But, she held it in. All of the joy of simply watching those who had no hope suddenly get a glimmer. None of it matched the happiness she felt though as Marstel stood over the tiny Mirialan girl. Mai laughed out loud and quickly stifled it as she felt the sudden shock and alarm from Sam at seeing her Uncle Marstel. Clasping a hand over her mouth, Mai turned red as she tried desperately to stop from laughing. Marstel was purposefully ‘hamming’ it up as he bent down putting his huge face with an inch of the tiny girl.

The voice was mockingly stern as Marstel’s face twisted in a faux show of intimidation, “An who might hugh be?!?!”

Samantha’s eyes got wide in fright as Marstel picked the tiny girl up by the back of her dress and lifted her up practically sideways to look at her. It was all for show of course, Marstel knew the little girl would be frightened of him. Mai slapped Marstel on the arm as he did so, scolding him.

“Oh…stop that! You are scaring the little thing…” Mai held out her arms with a smile toward Sam, “Come here to Mama…and leave that big ‘ugly’ man alone…” Mai flashed Marstel a nasty glare as she took Sam away from him, holding her close and whispering to her, “He was just kidding sweetheart. It’s his way…your Uncle and I would never do anything to hurt you….” Sam kept her eyes on Marstel even after Mai took her away swaying with her slightly and walking away. Marstel winking at the little girl and smiling as the rest of them all joined one another in the main room of the hotel.

The reunion was brief, but very intense. Marstel not even bothering to knock on the door when they arrived. Rushing in, Karolin and Marstel practically tackled one another, Marstel winning the contest of course as he took his tiny sister in his arms and twirled her around with a brilliant smile. If the man was capable, Mai believed that Marstel would have actually cried at seeing Karolin again.

It was a rush of information, Marstel feeling guilty for leaving Karolin in the hands of Thexan. Which Karolin quickly forgave, there was no way he or Mrysti could have known the ‘dark prince’ was going to spare her. What was even more shocking was Karolin explaining the reason behind sparing her life. Thexan was in love with her. That sent shockwaves up Marstel’s spine as it hit home, but did nothing to forestall the second wave of guilt that overcame him. Karolin placed her hand on his face looking up at him.

“None of that matters now…you’re home…you all are. And we can start rebuilding our lives again.”

The initial greeting were brief, all the while Mrysti busied herself being a ‘mom’ almost purposefully it seemed. People came and went, Marstel and Mai disappearing for a while then Marstel returned alone and incredibly somber. No one asked, no one had to. Karolin already knew what had happened, such was the Price of War. As Marstel re-entered the apartment and sat silently, he simply stared. Focused in an almost uncanny way. Mai had her own affairs to take care of. Marstel simply could not leave his to chase after her this time. Though it was amicable, it was very clear. Mai was gone and the possibility that she was coming back in the near future was unclear. Marstel waved it off as Karolin sat next to him.

“I’m gud…jus fergit it. We got thangs ta do…I ain’t got time ta dwell.” The seriousness of his voice made Karolin drop it immediately. There was nothing more to be said.

In the five years since everyone else’s departure Porchia had grown and no one was more surprised by all of it than Marstel. He was after all the ‘favorite’ Uncle. But as she stood in the center of the room, pretty much taking charge and calling all of them to order it truly struck him. Porchia was not the little girl anymore, she wasn’t this glamorous Pod-racing star who didn’t know the business end of real trouble if she saw it. Porchia Alpha had remade herself into a leader, a General in charge of the organization that Mrysti, Karolin and Marstel started. And she did it all with a baby on her hip and completely alone. That in itself got Marstel’s respect the fact that it was for the family got her his love and devotion.

As she started to speak, signaling all of them to allow her to finish what she was going to say before she even started, Porchia glanced at the door. “We have one more coming…I prefer to wait on her, but if she doesn’t show soon I will just start.” Karolin’s eyebrow was raised curiously, she already knew what she wanted to do and what had to be done. Anything Porchia would say was simply window dressing. As the door to the Hotel room opened to the shy glance of V’ictoria looking in on everyone, Marstel looked down murmuring under his breath.

“Wha tha kriff es she doin ‘ere???”

Karolin elbowed her brother harshly, “Oh shut up…she’s family…you know Porchia was going to Holo her.”

They had a history and it wasn’t a good one. Marstel was adamantly opposed to V’ictoria’s research to ‘cure’ the Alpha’s. And her experiments on Karolin enraged him, more to the fact that her experiments were done in some cases without Karolin’s knowledge. V’ictoria explained it to him on many occasions that Karolin was ‘too out of it’ in some cases to give consent, but Marstel didn’t care. He didn’t consider her family and he had no love for her at all based on her actions. They caught one another’s eye as Marstel looked away annoyed. V’ictoria nevertheless saying ‘Hello’ directly to him anyway.

It didn’t help matters that V’ictoria was enamored with Marstel. And for a second in ancient history they had exchanged an embrace as V’ictoria stole a kiss from him. Then Kat came along, then there was Mai. The wound from the last still fresh he wanted no part of it and as the thought crossed his mind after V’ictoria said ‘hello’ directly to him, Marstel felt ambushed. It was a loaded greeting, ‘Why did she say it directly to me?’, he wondered. Marstel already knew the answer as Derrick took his place next to Karolin after Marstel got up in anger to walk into the adjacent room. Everyone else may have thought V’ictoria was family, but that didn’t mean he had to.

Smiling at all of them, Porchia opened her arms to speak as if she was embracing the whole family, “It’s taken us five years to get here. There have been some surprises along the way…” Porchia purposefully looked at Karolin and Derrick who was sneaking Karolin’s hand into his, “…but I have to say that even with every hardship we’ve suffered, we have gained just as much.” Looking around Porchia, in that second, noticed that Mrysti was still in the other room, playing with Samantha. Karolin shook her head at Porchia as she noticed the same thing.

“She can hear you…leave her be…”

They continued to talk and Mrysti heard all of it as she sat in the floor with Samantha. It wasn’t until Mrysti heard Porchia say, “…and we will begin our offensive here…” that Mrysti got up, put Samantha on her hip and walked to the other room. Mrysti let them continue to talk about War and Offensives for another few seconds until everyone in the room noticed her. Squeezing Samantha slightly, Mrysti didn’t smile and she didn’t mince words with them. Her face was grave as she looked each one of the Alphas in the eye, each in turn.

“Samantha and I are leaving. I am not taking part in this…”

That made all of them stand, Porchia of course was already standing. They all talked at once directly at Mrysti and she couldn’t make heads of tails of it until Karolin screamed for everyone to ‘Shut up!’, “What do you mean…you’re ‘leaving’?!?! You started this!!! You have been on a rampage ever since you got out of the ‘cooler’. And now you’re just going to walk away???” Karolin’s voice was angry and ordinarily Mrysti would have returned that anger, but not that day. Not while she had her child on her hip. Smiling she looked at Samantha and back to Karolin, then the rest of them.

“Things have changed. I don’t want any part of War…I have new responsibilities and there is nothing more important than my daughter. So, her and I will leave…you all can handle this, you don’t need me…”

It was a way of trying to lessen the blow, all of them still stared dumbfounded. How could Mrysti just walk away? Karolin was boiling with anger on so many levels she didn’t even voice it. As Karolin glanced at Samantha, she snatched up her jacket and made for the door.

“That’s fine, Mrysti!!! You do that…do whatever you want!!! You always do anyway…don’t you?!?!”, That stung as Mrysti sat Samantha down moving in behind Karolin to call after her, but it was too late as Mrysti met the door slamming behind Karolin after she stormed out.

--

Karolin’s footsteps were heavy as she walked along the pavement in front of the hotel in Kaas City. Her mind was scrambled, unfocused in her rage. ‘How could Mrysti just walk away? Doesn’t she see that by staying in the fight she secures Samantha’s future?’ Karolin’s thought then voiced themselves, “You don’t WALK away…you fight, you get back what’s ours!!! Damn you…Mrysti!”

So focused on her rage, her sense scrambled; Karolin didn’t see the two men move in behind her. She didn’t see the surveillance spot her from an adjacent rooftop. It wasn’t until she entered a normally busy plaza that now stood completely empty of people, than it dawned on her. The voice closed the lid on the realization as Karolin turned to face him.

“Hiding in plain sight…that’s your sister’s tactic. Not yours. I thought you more prudent than that Karolin.”

She flashed a wicked smile at Arcann as he stepped out and around the blast barrier that separated the plaza from the walk. The men with him scurried like roaches coming out at feeding time as Karolin suddenly found herself surrounded. She dropped into a defensive stance calling her saber to her hand off her beltline.

“Kill me and you start something you will not possibly be able to control…”

“Kill you??? Kill you?? No, Karolin…I don’t want to kill you….” Arcann considered his words, the modulated voice making a distorted sound behind his half metal face, “…well, ok yes…I DO want to kill you, but that comes later. Right now, you are going to come with me…as a guest of course.”, As Karolin ignited the saber Arcann spoke quickly raising his hand to her, “Fight and I send every soldier on this planet into that apartment and kill everyone of them. I may not get them all, but I will get…your new niece…Samantha is it? Resist and she dies…I don’t have to kill everyone, I only need to kill her to hurt all of you. Come quietly and no one is the wiser.”

Karolin stood up straight deactivating the blade as she tossed it at Arcann’s feet. She should have been angry, Mrysti backing out; her running into a trap because of it. Instead she laughed, that brought a strange look from Arcann as he tilted his head walking toward her to snatch her by the arm. Karolin should have been angry, but Arcann had no idea what he just done. Mrysti may have wanted to back out, but now Arcann had just changed the rules of the game.

“What’s so funny??? I have you now…soon your sister will come and I will—“ The laughter interrupted him as he pulled Karolin close, “Speak damn you!! Why are you laughing?!?!”

“She was going to leave…she was going to get out. You…”, laughter interrupted Karolin as she continued to speak suddenly it stopped and Karolin stood upright again giving Arcann a deadly glare, “…You just called down the thunder, little man. My sister is going to kill you…and there is nothing you can do to stop it!”

--

Silence hovered over the room as Karolin stormed out, all of them just looking at one another as the Holo-comm chimed. Porchia thought it was Karolin and she was partially right as the image rezzed into existence. Arcann’s image locked on Mrysti almost immediately. Though brief, Arcann’s intent was clear.

<”I have her…Darth Retuvisa. I have your sister…and unless you come to Zakuul to retrieve her from me, she dies. Make whatever arrangements you deem necessary to this end. I have plenty of time….”>

Mrysti stared in stunned disbelief. He came all the way to Kaas just to issue the challenge and take Karolin. Just because he knew she would not be able to say no. There was no time for a reply as the image derezzed almost as soon as it clicked on, Arcann’s message delivered. The leather of her gloves groaned as Mrysti squeezed her hands tightly turning around to walk out of the room, the rage almost visibly steaming from her. She stopped briefly to take Samantha’s hand before speaking as she continued to stalk away.

“Porchia…assemble the teams. Let me know what you need from me…we all need to leave this place, immediately…”