Homecoming

With a datapad in hand, Ice Matango entered the training room to see her Padawan, Soren Kai, sitting against one of the walls. She had read the information he had given her while they had been on Tython at the Jedi meeting, but she wasn't usually one to make quick judgements about people. Walking over to him, she pushed her round rimmed sunglasses up on her head and studied him with a contemplative look on her face.

"Hello, Soren. I've read the file, but I would like to know your side of the story. This can't be all there is to it."

She briefly glanced around the training room before meeting his gaze again, waiting for him to fill in the blanks.......

=Coronet City=

*The sun was setting Coronet City and for the most part, things were relatively quiet as twilight fell. The streets weren't very crowded as most of the evening commuters had already made it home. CorSec's night was an easy one, as the only calls they were getting were minor disturbances at worst. As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, it seemed like the quiet night would continue.

The relative quiet around one of the residential areas was shattered as a shuttle careened out of control over the district, its stabilizers completely out of commission. It sank lower and lower over the district, causing many to run outside to see what was going on. Those that did were just in time to see, to their horror, as the shuttle crashed right into the upper floors of one of the apartment buildings. It burst into flames upon impact and continued through the building to crash into the lower floors of the apartment right next to it. Both buildings had caught fire and the flames spread rapidly.

It wasn't long before the district was swarming with emergency vehicles and personnel, and to be safe, most of the district was evacuated and rescue efforts began, but the damage to both of the apartments was severe. Amid all of the chaos, no one seemed to notice the figure that had jumped out of the shuttle before it crashed...*

=Corellian Jedi Academy=

*Terra entered her room, having returned not long ago from the conclave on Tython. Serrin had given her the rest of the night off, but she figured they'd get right back to training the next day, so she was planning to shower and go to bed early tonight. She felt a little drained from all the talking, the crowds, the speeches, everything really. She hoped that next time there was a gathering of Jedi, she could be a little more confident and actually try to talk to more of the Order's members.

She undressed in the refresher and hung her towel on the rack before stepping into the shower and turning on the water. Her mind wandered as she washed up, the conclave having gotten her thinking about her future in the Jedi Order. She still hadn't figured out what role she would play in the Order, though it was still relatively early in her training. Serrin had told her not to rush in her decision, but she wasn't sure how much longer she wanted to remain undecided.

Her train of thought abruptly stopped when a disturbance in the Force rippled through her, and probably everyone else in the academy as well, and she found herself shuddering as she leaned against the shower wall. Something terrible had happened, and it had been very close by, probably somewhere in the city.

Terra turned the water off and hastily dried herself off before dressing and heading to the dataterminal in her room, which was flashing. The message was from the one of the academy's administrators, instructing the Padawans and younglings to stay put. The Masters were taking care of it, and while she understood why maybe staying behind was a good idea for now, she didn't like the idea of sitting this one out for long. Still, she didn't know what had happened, so she sat down at the dataterminal to see if the Holonet had any information...*

[quote="Ice Matango":2bnngo1t][color=#FFBF00:2bnngo1t]With a datapad in hand, Ice Matango entered the training room to see her Padawan, Soren Kai, sitting against one of the walls. She had read the information he had given her while they had been on Tython at the Jedi meeting, but she wasn't usually one to make quick judgements about people. Walking over to him, she pushed her round rimmed sunglasses up on her head and studied him with a contemplative look on her face.[/color:2bnngo1t]

[color=#FFBFFF:2bnngo1t]"Hello, Soren. I've read the file, but I would like to know your side of the story. This can't be all there is to it."[/color:2bnngo1t]

[color=#FFBF00:2bnngo1t]She briefly glanced around the training room before meeting his gaze again, waiting for him to fill in the blanks.......[/color:2bnngo1t][/quote:2bnngo1t]

Soren sat against the wall, his arms resting on his knees, his eyes gazing past Ice at a group of LANsec guardsmen training in close quarters combat a few dozen steps away. His face was so peaceful, his voice so calm and controlled that his turmoil through the Force was almost unsettling.

"Let me tell you," he said, "what that datapad says that is true. My mother was Captain Selena Kai, a Coruscanti immigrant to Corellia who served with distinction in CorSec for fifteen years before transferring to the Corellian branch of the Republic Navy during the first outbreak of hostilities with the Sith Empire twenty-two years ago. At the Battle of Hapes, when Kirst Ohran detonated an antimatter charge in the planet's atmosphere, the vessel my mother served aboard was vaporized, along with two thirds of the Republic fleet and the entirety of the Sith fleet. She left behind her husband - my father - and a child. Me."

The corner of Soren's mouth twitched into a wry smile he didn't feel. "Twelve years later I joined CorSec. I had the best marks, the best references, the best pedigree. So they shuttled me over to Point Solitude, the place where the biggest, meanest recruits get honed into Corellia's finest. And despite getting roughed up every night by a Graan with a chip on his shoulder and a deficit of gray matter, I excelled there too. 'Gifted,' they called me. Sector Chief Shellen called me the finest graduate of Point Solitude he'd every seen. That is, before Director Arnolict had him sacked.

"I was an officer in six months, an investigator in three years and had my own SpecOps squad by the time most kids my age were starting to pay off their student debt. I started getting tougher assignments - assignments that other SpecOps teams had to turn down. The kinds you weren't expected to survive, you know? 'Go here. Capture this crime lord. Figure out how to extract him with this tub of Hutt grease and a shockball.' Those sorts of things. Elsbeth, my tech specialist, thought they were trying to ice us, but we were getting paid well enough, so that couldn't have been it. And we always came home when the sun rose on Coronet. We were dependable. Shellie was proud.

"Then, a month ago give or take a few weeks, a bomb went off in a cafe in Tyrena. Thirteen civilians died, five of them kids. We tracked the bastards who did it to a crowded dive called Norbet's Nest in the Skids, and we got our orders. 'Capture the target. Eliminate the target's entourage. Limit collateral damage.' In other words, 'Here's your Hutt grease and your shockball. Don't kriff it up.'" Soren let out a short, barking laugh. "Famous last words, right?

"By the end of that night there were seventeen dead civilians, I'd disobeyed a direct order and allowed one of the target's accomplices to escape, and Shellen, Elsbeth, Marko, Huma and I got crucified. 'Golden Boy Goes Rogue' was the headline. Marko managed to get bumped down to officer and is going to be filling parking meters for the rest of his days on the force. The rest of us weren't so lucky. Who's going to keep a bunch of terrorist sympathizing screwups on their payroll, anyhow? So we left, counting ourselves lucky that we still had our heads. Huma stayed in Tyrena, I think out of some kind of masochism or sick sense of duty. Elsbeth stayed in Coronet, waiting on tables in some diner. I left the Five Worlds."

Soren's jaw tightened as he shifted his gaze to meet Ice's. "Everything else - the psychiatrist's testimony, the spice abuse on the job, the death threats and sexual harassment - they're lies, plain and simple. Maybe Arnolict wanted to make me an example, to say that this is what happens to someone who doesn't play ball with the new folks in charge. Maybe he wanted revenge for screwing up his pet project and killing the terrorist leader in the crossfire. All I know is, no one asked me why I let the leader's hacker go. No one asked about the sudden firings, the abuses of power, the mysterious orders that never got explained. No one asked why no one told us Norbet's Nest was a deathtrap, or why our air support failed to pull us out when half the scum in Tyrena drew weapons on us. No one asked why Barv's insurance plan no longer covered his Zithrom├óÔé¼Ôäós syndrome just days after he filed a report to CorSec Plaza demanding to know where the prisoners we captured went. I got crucified because I wouldn't let my conscience get the better of me. And Shellie got fired because he wouldn't stop asking questions."

He turned his gaze back to the LANsec soldiers, who had finished their exercises and were packing up the gym equipment. "Does that explain anything?"

[quote="Terra Kiros":2bnngo1t]=Corellian Jedi Academy=

[narration:2bnngo1t]Terra turned the water off and hastily dried herself off before dressing and heading to the dataterminal in her room, which was flashing. The message was from the one of the academy's administrators, instructing the Padawans and younglings to stay put. The Masters were taking care of it, and while she understood why maybe staying behind was a good idea for now, she didn't like the idea of sitting this one out for long. Still, she didn't know what had happened, so she sat down at the dataterminal to see if the Holonet had any information...[/narration:2bnngo1t][/quote:2bnngo1t]

The holoscreen flickered to life, displaying an anxious looking young Devaronian female speaking over a crush of humanoids and the blaring of sirens. Plumes of smoke passing in front of the holocam made it difficult to make out the background, but Terra could recognize the statue of blind justice standing in front of CorSec Plaza.

"... is still to be seen. Again, for those of you who are just joining us, tragedy struck this evening as a CorSec shuttlecraft, apparently suffering from a stabilizer malfunction, crashed into a Coronet apartment block just minutes away from CorSec Plaza. Fire fighters and peacekeepers have been deployed to the affected area, which is estimated to spread up to three blocks around the crash site. We're getting reports of civilians getting evacuated from the apartment block's lower levels, amid concerns that the shuttle may have destabilized the apartment block's structural integrity. CorSec officials are urging civilians outside the affected area to stay in their homes as the dust and smoke may contain hazardous chemicals. This tragic episode brings to mind the Tyrena cafe bombings last month, where thirteen civilians -"

*Terra watched the report with a mixture of sadness and horror at the destructive scene that was playing out onscreen. She caught glimpses of some of the officers on the scene, mixed with firefighters and plain robes of the Jedi Order as well, indicating that some of the Knights or Masters were on site as well. The Padawans and Initiates were told to stay at the academy, not that she had any thoughts of trying to sneak out anyway.

She shuddered, partially from the cold as she hadn't really dried off properly, and also from another tremor in the Force, probably from the crash site. At least she thought it was from the crash site. Something didn't feel right about it...

Getting up from the dataterminal, she grabbed the towel from the refresher and dried her hair more thoroughly and, seeing as she wasn't going out again anyway, decided to change into her sleepwear. Still, she kept a clean set of robes on her desk, just in case something else happened. With the crisis that was going on, she would need to be ready in case any of the Knights needed assistance.

She sat back down at the dataterminal, sleep not coming easily to her despite her fatigue. Another tremor in the Force, eerily familiar and yet she was unable to determine its origin and where she could possible know it from. Sighing softly, she poked around at her dataterminal, occasionally checking the news report to see about new information about the disaster in Coronet.*

[quote="Soren Kai":bxyj2mzu]

Soren sat against the wall, his arms resting on his knees, his eyes gazing past Ice at a group of LANsec guardsmen training in close quarters combat a few dozen steps away. His face was so peaceful, his voice so calm and controlled that his turmoil through the Force was almost unsettling.

"Let me tell you," he said, "what that datapad says that is true. My mother was Captain Selena Kai, a Coruscanti immigrant to Corellia who served with distinction in CorSec for fifteen years before transferring to the Corellian branch of the Republic Navy during the first outbreak of hostilities with the Sith Empire twenty-two years ago. At the Battle of Hapes, when Kirst Ohran detonated an antimatter charge in the planet's atmosphere, the vessel my mother served aboard was vaporized, along with two thirds of the Republic fleet and the entirety of the Sith fleet. She left behind her husband - my father - and a child. Me."

The corner of Soren's mouth twitched into a wry smile he didn't feel. "Twelve years later I joined CorSec. I had the best marks, the best references, the best pedigree. So they shuttled me over to Point Solitude, the place where the biggest, meanest recruits get honed into Corellia's finest. And despite getting roughed up every night by a Graan with a chip on his shoulder and a deficit of gray matter, I excelled there too. 'Gifted,' they called me. Sector Chief Shellen called me the finest graduate of Point Solitude he'd every seen. That is, before Director Arnolict had him sacked.

"I was an officer in six months, an investigator in three years and had my own SpecOps squad by the time most kids my age were starting to pay off their student debt. I started getting tougher assignments - assignments that other SpecOps teams had to turn down. The kinds you weren't expected to survive, you know? 'Go here. Capture this crime lord. Figure out how to extract him with this tub of Hutt grease and a shockball.' Those sorts of things. Elsbeth, my tech specialist, thought they were trying to ice us, but we were getting paid well enough, so that couldn't have been it. And we always came home when the sun rose on Coronet. We were dependable. Shellie was proud.

"Then, a month ago give or take a few weeks, a bomb went off in a cafe in Tyrena. Thirteen civilians died, five of them kids. We tracked the bastards who did it to a crowded dive called Norbet's Nest in the Skids, and we got our orders. 'Capture the target. Eliminate the target's entourage. Limit collateral damage.' In other words, 'Here's your Hutt grease and your shockball. Don't kriff it up.'" Soren let out a short, barking laugh. "Famous last words, right?

"By the end of that night there were seventeen dead civilians, I'd disobeyed a direct order and allowed one of the target's accomplices to escape, and Shellen, Elsbeth, Marko, Huma and I got crucified. 'Golden Boy Goes Rogue' was the headline. Marko managed to get bumped down to officer and is going to be filling parking meters for the rest of his days on the force. The rest of us weren't so lucky. Who's going to keep a bunch of terrorist sympathizing screwups on their payroll, anyhow? So we left, counting ourselves lucky that we still had our heads. Huma stayed in Tyrena, I think out of some kind of masochism or sick sense of duty. Elsbeth stayed in Coronet, waiting on tables in some diner. I left the Five Worlds."

Soren's jaw tightened as he shifted his gaze to meet Ice's. "Everything else - the psychiatrist's testimony, the spice abuse on the job, the death threats and sexual harassment - they're lies, plain and simple. Maybe Arnolict wanted to make me an example, to say that this is what happens to someone who doesn't play ball with the new folks in charge. Maybe he wanted revenge for screwing up his pet project and killing the terrorist leader in the crossfire. All I know is, no one asked me why I let the leader's hacker go. No one asked about the sudden firings, the abuses of power, the mysterious orders that never got explained. No one asked why no one told us Norbet's Nest was a deathtrap, or why our air support failed to pull us out when half the scum in Tyrena drew weapons on us. No one asked why Barv's insurance plan no longer covered his Zithrom├óÔé¼Ôäós syndrome just days after he filed a report to CorSec Plaza demanding to know where the prisoners we captured went. I got crucified because I wouldn't let my conscience get the better of me. And Shellie got fired because he wouldn't stop asking questions."

He turned his gaze back to the LANsec soldiers, who had finished their exercises and were packing up the gym equipment. "Does that explain anything?"[/quote:bxyj2mzu]

[color=#FFBF00:bxyj2mzu]Ice listened quietly, with great interest, to Soren tell his side of the story. When he finished, she remained silent for a moment or two letting it all sink sink in. She sensed an unsettling turmoil in him as he spoke of the vents that had led up to his dismissal from CorSec. She vaguely remembered the headlines on the holonet about the incident, but hadn't paid much attention due to the fact that they were still cleaning up after the last IF attack on Honoghr.

Settling herself down beside Soren, with her back against the wall, she cast a side glance at him.[/color:bxyj2mzu] [color=#FFBFFF:bxyj2mzu]"So you and your team were basically the scapegoats....the ones thrown under the bus to cover up what was really going on with the higher ups?...."[/color:bxyj2mzu]

[color=#FFBF00:bxyj2mzu]It was more of a statement than a question. She believed Sorens side of the story, she had no reason not to, and it angered her to know that there were some less than honest officials in high positions in CorSec, but then that was almost expected with a an organization that big. Gazing over to the LanSec soldiers for a moment,with a contemplative look on her face, she chewed on her lower lip before glancing back to Soren and continuing.[/color:bxyj2mzu]

[color=#FFBFFF:bxyj2mzu]"Since they didn't bother to ask you....I will. Why [i:bxyj2mzu]did[/i:bxyj2mzu] you let the lead hacker go?"[/color:bxyj2mzu]

[quote="Ice Matango":2y4jyrtc]

[color=#FFBF00:2y4jyrtc]Ice listened quietly, with great interest, to Soren tell his side of the story. When he finished, she remained silent for a moment or two letting it all sink sink in. She sensed an unsettling turmoil in him as he spoke of the vents that had led up to his dismissal from CorSec. She vaguely remembered the headlines on the holonet about the incident, but hadn't paid much attention due to the fact that they were still cleaning up after the last IF attack on Honoghr.

Settling herself down beside Soren, with her back against the wall, she cast a side glance at him.[/color:2y4jyrtc] [color=#FFBFFF:2y4jyrtc]"So you and your team were basically the scapegoats....the ones thrown under the bus to cover up what was really going on with the higher ups?...."[/color:2y4jyrtc]

[color=#FFBF00:2y4jyrtc]It was more of a statement than a question. She believed Sorens side of the story, she had no reason not to, and it angered her to know that there were some less than honest officials in high positions in CorSec, but then that was almost expected with a an organization that big. Gazing over to the LanSec soldiers for a moment,with a contemplative look on her face, she chewed on her lower lip before glancing back to Soren and continuing.[/color:2y4jyrtc]

[color=#FFBFFF:2y4jyrtc]"Since they didn't bother to ask you....I will. Why [i:2y4jyrtc]did[/i:2y4jyrtc] you let the lead hacker go?"[/color:2y4jyrtc][/quote:2y4jyrtc]

Soren felt his head nod at the suggestion. Then, when Ice raised the question, the Jedi apprentice smiled tightly.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't because she was a female - I've cuffed, even killed women before, more attractive ones than her, and I was always taught to suppress my more... protective instincts in that situation." He searched for the answer, puzzling through. "She was this thin, pale, malnourished looking woman. The kind you see on street corners begging for death sticks, you know? Tattoos, piercings. Half her head was shaved, showing her neural implant. But when I looked in her eyes, I just... [i:2y4jyrtc]knew[/i:2y4jyrtc] her. What she did. Why she did it. What she was feeling. She was a scared little [i:2y4jyrtc]girl[/i:2y4jyrtc] barely younger than me, and it was my finger on the trigger, her face in my crosshairs. She was innocent. Maybe not of all crimes, sure, but she wasn't a terrorist. Not the one we were looking for. So when my comm buzzed and Command told me to ice her, I told my handler to go kriff herself, and kriff the whole mission while she was at it."

His smile forgotten, Soren pressed on, trying to find the words for what he'd felt. "When you're a cop, or whatever kind of kriffed up soldier/cop the Directorate turned you into, you're taught to suppress your sympathy. Cuff this guy, shoot for the center of mass when you have to. Do what you have to do first, file the relevant paperwork later. I remember my first kill - this drug dealer who pulled a shiv on me during a bust. I put a blaster bolt in his eye. Seven years and twelve weeks of counselling and I still remember his face when I did it, but you hide it, you know? You don't let it bother you. You justify it, and turn the man you put down into a monster or an icon. But when you look into someone's eyes and you [i:2y4jyrtc]know[/i:2y4jyrtc] them, feel what they're feeling, understand everything about them... You can't kill someone feeling that kind of empathy. If I had, I... I think it would have broken me anyway. I'd have been killing myself."

He shrugged, feeling the lump in his throat grow larger. "Didn't matter, turns out. When I dropped my rifle and stepped aside, Skyle Huma took the shot instead. But Skyle's a footman, you know? The guy who cracks heads and kicks [i:2y4jyrtc]shebse[/i:2y4jyrtc]. He doesn't know how to work an anti-mat gun. His shot tears through the girl's shoulder, blasts her arm off and a good chunk of her torso. Blew up part of the wall behind her, too. I'm watching, and she just... falls. Off the balcony, into the sublevel below."

Soren rubbed at his eyes. "Even if the fall didn't kill her, and she somehow managed to land on some of the Skids' many garbage piles, she'd have been losing a lot of blood. Blaster plasma can only cauterize smaller wounds - hands, feet, lacerations. That sort of thing. Her whole arm was off, and a good part of her body as well. CorSec never found her body, which is why I got pinned for aiding and abetting in addition to dereliction of duty."

It felt good to talk to someone about it, even if the subject matter was painful. Soren pulled himself to his feet and brushed off his clothing, then glanced back at Ice. "Shall we get back to training?"

[quote="Terra Kiros":2y4jyrtc][narration:2y4jyrtc]Terra watched the report with a mixture of sadness and horror at the destructive scene that was playing out onscreen. She caught glimpses of some of the officers on the scene, mixed with firefighters and plain robes of the Jedi Order as well, indicating that some of the Knights or Masters were on site as well. The Padawans and Initiates were told to stay at the academy, not that she had any thoughts of trying to sneak out anyway.

She shuddered, partially from the cold as she hadn't really dried off properly, and also from another tremor in the Force, probably from the crash site. At least she thought it was from the crash site. Something didn't feel right about it...

Getting up from the dataterminal, she grabbed the towel from the refresher and dried her hair more thoroughly and, seeing as she wasn't going out again anyway, decided to change into her sleepwear. Still, she kept a clean set of robes on her desk, just in case something else happened. With the crisis that was going on, she would need to be ready in case any of the Knights needed assistance.

She sat back down at the dataterminal, sleep not coming easily to her despite her fatigue. Another tremor in the Force, eerily familiar and yet she was unable to determine its origin and where she could possible know it from. Sighing softly, she poked around at her dataterminal, occasionally checking the news report to see about new information about the disaster in Coronet.[/narration:2y4jyrtc][/quote:2y4jyrtc]

It was difficult to sleep that night, with the terror and anticipation of a thousand sapient beings rippling around Terra through the Force. And above it all, there was a thought that gnawed at her, prying at the folds of mental scar tissue in the girl's mind.

[i:2y4jyrtc]Terra Kiros...[/i:2y4jyrtc]

[quote="Soren Kai":3er2bx8z]
It was difficult to sleep that night, with the terror and anticipation of a thousand sapient beings rippling around Terra through the Force. And above it all, there was a thought that gnawed at her, prying at the folds of mental scar tissue in the girl's mind.

[i:3er2bx8z]Terra Kiros...[/i:3er2bx8z][/quote:3er2bx8z]

[narration:3er2bx8z]Terra tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes and began to drift off, she felt a strange tugging in the back of her mind, and she found herself waking with a start every time. Maybe it was because of the disaster, as she was certain that the ripples she felt through the Force were coming from there. But it was something else too, something she couldn't figure out. It made her even more uneasy, as she felt the unmistakable tint of the Dark Side.

Sighing and rolling over on her bed, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on something else, doing a little mediation to try and calm herself, but even then, she still felt it.

Needless to say, it was far from a restful night for the young woman...[/narration:3er2bx8z]

Three months passed.

On Honoghr, Soren's time was occupied by both physical and mental exhaustion. Ice had decided that the former lieutenant's extensive workout schedule need to be complemented by gymnastics, weight lifting and sparring. Despite Soren's height, wiry strength and quick reflexes, Ice consistently beat him in the latter, shamed him in the former, and was less than pleased with his progress with the weights.

There were other lessons, too. Ice taught him how to draw on the Force to speed himself, strengthen his body and shield his mind. Soren found his CorSec training useful when Ice taught him the principles of cloaking yourself with the Force - stay quiet, stay calm, draw your emotions around you, and people might just be convinced that you're supposed to be there. A quick nudge from your mind could turn vidcams into static messes. Breathing exercises could calm you and help your body repair minor damage quickly and easily, provided you had a basket of protein bars nearby. With subtle facial and body cues, you could look into the eyes of someone you questioned, find out what they wanted, and manipulate them accordingly. On flimsi it looked simple enough, but the mental discipline required to split your consciousness and wield the Force.

This was not all Ice taught him, but those other lessons were for Soren and Soren alone.

Late each night Soren fell asleep, battered and covered in contusions. He awoke each morning at dawn, staring up at the ceiling of his cubicle and wondering what new torture Ice had devised for him.

As Soren became a Jedi apprentice on Honoghr, on Corellia Terra's training progressed more slowly, as the Masters' attention became fixated on the events of the shuttle crash and the rescue and cleanup efforts. Many of the students and teachers of the Academy had left temporarily to join in the emergency services' efforts, leaving Terra to wander the mostly empty halls of the Corellian Jedi Academy.

Her dreams were anything but empty, however. She dreamed of fire and blood, of countless masses chanting in darkness, of a masked man with death in his hands and murder in his heart. As the weeks after the crash crept into months, the dreams grew stronger, the voices louder. The chanting was becoming distinct, and Terra wasn't sure she wanted to know what the voices were saying.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Shaking.

"Soren?"

The apprentice stirred, then let out a soft groan. He opened his eyes to find a sleepy feminine shape looking down at him. Soren decided to close his eyes again. "There had better be an eclipse outside, because if I look down at my chrono and find out it's any time before dawn I [i:38vruu1u]will[/i:38vruu1u] spank you."

The shape shook at him again, insistently. "Very funny. Wake up, slowpoke. Your comm's chiming."

"Let it chime. I'm busy. Dreaming."

"It's a HoloNet call."

This got Soren's attention. HoloNet calls, in addition to being near-instantaneous methods of communication, were ludicrously expensive for both the receiver and the transmitter. Government-issued HoloNet transceivers like the ones aboard starships were subsidized, of course, and some luxury hotels and other accommodations offered complimentary HoloNet services as a part of a package to wealthy businessmen who couldn't settle for anything less than light speed.

But Soren's tiny transceiver, cannibalized from the now retired X83 TwinTail that was now occupying the bottom of a garbage compactor in Nystao, was neither of these things. Which meant that someone was willing to spend a lot of money to try to contact Soren directly.

"Alright, I'm up" Soren hissed. He untangled himself from his cot's bedding and stood up, stretching. The dark-skinned Iridonian woman on the bed watched, amused, as he sleepily pulled on some trousers and wandered over to the keyboard. He punched a button, then sucked in a breath when he saw the face materialize in front of him.

[comlink:38vruu1u]"Marko here. Can you talk?"[/comlink:38vruu1u]

Soren's mouth went dry. "Not yet. Wait twenty standard minutes, then call again."

[comlink:38vruu1u]"Sure, boss. Make it quick."[/comlink:38vruu1u]

Soren clicked the receiver once, then pocketed the device and began hastily pulling on clothes.

"What is it?" The Zabrak pulled herself to look up at Soren, concern in her eyes.

"Trouble," he answered. Then, shrugging into his faded grey jacket, he left the room and walked into the night.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

On that same night, light-years away, Terra awoke with a start to find a note pinned to the pillow beside her.

[quote:38vruu1u]3 Crystal Plaza
Sewer Entrance
8 PM
"The Shadow Rises."
Tell no one.
- C[/quote:38vruu1u]

[size=85:2txdurb2][quote="Soren Kai":2txdurb2]As Soren became a Jedi apprentice on Honoghr, on Corellia Terra's training progressed more slowly, as the Masters' attention became fixated on the events of the shuttle crash and the rescue and cleanup efforts. Many of the students and teachers of the Academy had left temporarily to join in the emergency services' efforts, leaving Terra to wander the mostly empty halls of the Corellian Jedi Academy.

Her dreams were anything but empty, however. She dreamed of fire and blood, of countless masses chanting in darkness, of a masked man with death in his hands and murder in his heart. As the weeks after the crash crept into months, the dreams grew stronger, the voices louder. The chanting was becoming distinct, and Terra wasn't sure she wanted to know what the voices were saying.[/quote:2txdurb2]
[/size:2txdurb2]

[narration:2txdurb2]Terra absently chewed on a piece of bread, her fatigue evident on her face and in her body language. Training hadn't been going smoothly lately, with most of the academy's senior staff going to help with the ongoing cleanup and relief efforts in the devastated residential district in Coronet. But it wasn't just the disruption of her training that was a problem.

It had started with just hearing chanting and seeing a masked man in her dreams, not always every night, but as the weeks passed, the dream had become more and more intense, more like that of a nightmare. Every night now, when she closed her eyes, she saw a masked man standing amidst flames and chanting masses. She didn't understand what they were saying, or who this man was, or what it could possibly mean, though more and more she got the feeling that deep down, she knew.

Sighing, she put the half finished piece of bread down and slowly went to put her tray away before plodding back to her room. It had been three months since the disaster in Coronet and she had noticed some of the Knights had returned to the academy as the need for help had diminished a little bit. Her own master was still on site though, which meant another afternoon of training by herself.[/narration:2txdurb2]


[quote="Soren Kai":2txdurb2]On that same night, light-years away, Terra awoke with a start to find a note pinned to the pillow beside her.[/quote:2txdurb2]

[narration:2txdurb2]Terra had spent the rest of that day practicing with her lightsaber, going through the motions of Shii-Cho, mostly focusing on deflecting blaster fire like her master had instructed her to do last week. Hopefully by the end of the week, the academy would be getting some of their Masters back, as well as more of the Knights and then her training could pick up again. She returned to her room, apprehensive about going to sleep knowing what awaited her in her dreams. It was still quite early, but eventually, her weariness overcame her apprehension and despite the relatively early hour, she laid her head down on her pillow.

The dream was the same, the flames, the masked man standing in the center of a mass of chanting people, their faces obscured by darkness. The chanting was approaching a deafening crescendo and even when she covered her ears, it did nothing to block it out. She tried to run, but was frozen in place, unable to do anything but stand and watch in horror. She shut her eyes and covered her ears, screaming for it to stop.

Terra bolted upright, gasping and frantically looking around her room, still seeing the flames and hearing the chanting masses. She bolted for the refresher after a minute and splashed her face, trying to snap herself out of her nightmare. It worked for the most part and she looked at herself in the mirror, her face dripping wet from the water. Questions flooded her mind, and there were no answers for her.

She walked back into her room, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself, and sat down on her bed. The same dream, the same voices, the same masked man in the center of it all. Every night for the past three weeks she had dreamed this. Every single night it was the same, and it had all started when that shuttle had crashed into the residential district.

Looking down at her pillow, she frowned when she saw a note taped to it, and her eyes widened as she suspected that someone had been in her room. Maybe it was someone from the academy? It made sense, as no one else surely had access to the grounds. Picking the note up, she held it close to her face and read it.[/narration:2txdurb2]

[quote:2txdurb2]3 Crystal Plaza
Sewer Entrance
8 PM
"The Shadow Rises."
Tell no one.
- C[/quote:2txdurb2]

[narration:2txdurb2]Terra looked at the clock beside the table. 7:30...did this note mean 8PM tonight? It didn't say anything else, which probably meant that whoever left the note meant tonight. Curfew was coming up, but maybe she had time, but with no idea who had left it, she wasn't sure she could trust this. It could be dangerous. Or maybe...maybe it had to do with her dreams and the crash. It was a possibility, but could she take the risk? It would probably be better than trying to sleep again though...

10 minutes, and Terra had swapped her plain white tank top and shorts for her Padawan robes, with her lightsaber clipped to her belt. With the note in hand and a datapad with the directions, she slipped away from the academy grounds, unnoticed due to the lack of presence, and headed into the city.

7:55PM, and Terra was approaching the sewer entrance at 3 Crystal Plaza. She had seen no one she knew and she kept her hood up to avoid recognition. One hand was beneath her cloak, on her lightsaber. This was dangerous, but she could find some answers...

8:00PM, and Padawan Kiros stood at the sewer entrance of 3 Crystal Plaza...[/narration:2txdurb2]

[quote="Terra Kiros":3r7nzxg0]
[narration:3r7nzxg0]Terra had spent the rest of that day practicing with her lightsaber, going through the motions of Shii-Cho, mostly focusing on deflecting blaster fire like her master had instructed her to do last week. Hopefully by the end of the week, the academy would be getting some of their Masters back, as well as more of the Knights and then her training could pick up again. She returned to her room, apprehensive about going to sleep knowing what awaited her in her dreams. It was still quite early, but eventually, her weariness overcame her apprehension and despite the relatively early hour, she laid her head down on her pillow.

The dream was the same, the flames, the masked man standing in the center of a mass of chanting people, their faces obscured by darkness. The chanting was approaching a deafening crescendo and even when she covered her ears, it did nothing to block it out. She tried to run, but was frozen in place, unable to do anything but stand and watch in horror. She shut her eyes and covered her ears, screaming for it to stop.

Terra bolted upright, gasping and frantically looking around her room, still seeing the flames and hearing the chanting masses. She bolted for the refresher after a minute and splashed her face, trying to snap herself out of her nightmare. It worked for the most part and she looked at herself in the mirror, her face dripping wet from the water. Questions flooded her mind, and there were no answers for her.

She walked back into her room, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself, and sat down on her bed. The same dream, the same voices, the same masked man in the center of it all. Every night for the past three weeks she had dreamed this. Every single night it was the same, and it had all started when that shuttle had crashed into the residential district.

Looking down at her pillow, she frowned when she saw a note taped to it, and her eyes widened as she suspected that someone had been in her room. Maybe it was someone from the academy? It made sense, as no one else surely had access to the grounds. Picking the note up, she held it close to her face and read it.[/narration:3r7nzxg0]

[quote:3r7nzxg0]3 Crystal Plaza
Sewer Entrance
8 PM
"The Shadow Rises."
Tell no one.
- C[/quote:3r7nzxg0]

[narration:3r7nzxg0]Terra looked at the clock beside the table. 7:30...did this note mean 8PM tonight? It didn't say anything else, which probably meant that whoever left the note meant tonight. Curfew was coming up, but maybe she had time, but with no idea who had left it, she wasn't sure she could trust this. It could be dangerous. Or maybe...maybe it had to do with her dreams and the crash. It was a possibility, but could she take the risk? It would probably be better than trying to sleep again though...

10 minutes, and Terra had swapped her plain white tank top and shorts for her Padawan robes, with her lightsaber clipped to her belt. With the note in hand and a datapad with the directions, she slipped away from the academy grounds, unnoticed due to the lack of presence, and headed into the city.

7:55PM, and Terra was approaching the sewer entrance at 3 Crystal Plaza. She had seen no one she knew and she kept her hood up to avoid recognition. One hand was beneath her cloak, on her lightsaber. This was dangerous, but she could find some answers...

8:00PM, and Padawan Kiros stood at the sewer entrance of 3 Crystal Plaza...[/narration:3r7nzxg0][/quote:3r7nzxg0]

"Crystal Plaza" was as ironic a nickname as any for the squalid dump in which Terra found herself after taking the mag lev train across the Golden Beaches and into Tyrena's Skids district. Its well-intentioned architect had envisioned a shining hab block that would be the kernel of a gentrification effort in Tyrena's poverty-stricken undercity, but had clearly not foreseen the likelihood that Tyrena's huddled masses would scare away potential residents. The developers abandoned the plaza to the destitute, and the Crystal Plaza's distinctive blue transparisteel habitation modules soon became host to squatters, the insane, stim addicts, spice heads and drug cartel members. Before long the towers of the Crystal Plaza became as rust-streaked and filthy as the rest of the Skids.

Terra's path took her under the creaking tram line and to the entrance of the water processing facility for Crystal Plaza, a rusted "3" hanging askew over the old-fashioned wooden door. Before the girl had the chance to knock, the door opened, and two men - human, burly, wearing faded Imperial Army fatigues and covered in the pockmarks indicating heavy spice use - stared at her from the darkness beyond.

The taller one broke the silence. "Pass phrase."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The door to the Grand Dukha's rooftop entrance burst open and Soren strode through, carrying a live holoprojector in his hand and glaring at the bald-headed man in CorSec uniform somberly looking back at him.

"Marko, why the [i:3r7nzxg0]frell[/i:3r7nzxg0] are you calling me here?"

"Elsbeth's dead, Soren."

Soren felt the color drain from his face. After a long moment of silence, he finally found his voice. "How?"

"She was found last night with her throat cut. Current theory is she was robbed. Her credit chip was missing, but I don't buy it."

It's said that the human mind could adapt to anything, given time. Abstract concepts like death, which as a civilian seem comfortably distant, become ever-present in a paramilitary force like CorSec. Soren had lost dozens of friends over his years on the force; some to blaster wounds, some to age, others to simple accidents. Soren had found that the best coping mechanism was simple:

Ignore the pain for now. Don't think about Elsbeth's laugh, the way she smiled as she worked, the way Skyle grinned at her when she opened doors for him. Don't think about her steady aim or the way she liked her caf cold instead of steaming hot. Work on the case. Grieve later.

He pressed on.

"Speculate."

"In the past three months twelve CorSec officers, either former or current, have either disappeared or died."

"Occupational hazard."

"Normally I'd agree, but all twelve - including Elsbeth - were involved in Tyrena. It started with the shuttle crash in Coronet three months ago."

"I heard. Fifty-five died in the crash itself, another seven hundred or so from the radiation and fumes. Elsbeth's father, Vesh Karkand and a Sergeant Bride were among the dead."

"Did you know that Sergeant Bride was the leader of the cleanup operations at Norbet's Nest nine months ago?"

"I thought Commander Mek'tuo handled the cleanup."

"He got the credit and got bumped up to Chief after Shellen got fired. Scuttlebutt has it that Bride was Arnolict's man, had a talent for making things disappear. Good at cleaning up crime scenes for a man with such dirty fingers."

"And you're counting Bride, the pilot and Captain Damora as the first of your mysterious twelve to die. That leaves eight, counting Elsbeth."

"A few days after the crash Lieutenant Sel Waylan died at his desk at CorSec Plaza. Heart attack, his coworkers said. I did some investigating and found out his caf cup had a thin ring of synox on the lip."

"You're a desk jockey, Marko. How could you possibly know that?"

"I broke into his apartment and searched the place. Sue me."

"Someone could. But please, continue."

"Sel was one of the first responders to our S.O.S. call. He and his team - Marak, Darkray and Bartlum."

"Let me guess. They're all dead too."

"We know for sure that Marak is. He was floating face down in that fancy pool of his. Contusion on his skull, so they're saying it's an accidental drowning. Bartlum hasn't been seen for a month and Darkray was last seen a week ago."

"Alright. Your theory is starting to make more sense. Who are the other four?"

"Virik Ismar and her squad, those that didn't die in Norbet's Nest, are missing. Sector patrols found a waterlogged corpse near a sewer grate in the Skids yesterday that might be Ismar, but the corpse was too mangled for visual identification. They'd have pulled Ismar's dental records or fingerprints, but the corpse they found had her jaw and teeth ripped out and her arms cut off, so we'll have to wait for DNA testing."

"That's eleven," Soren said quietly. "Who's the last?

"I haven't been able to reach Skyle for days." Seeing Soren's face, Marko continued. "The guy's paranoid, Soren. Even when we were keeping regular contact he was dropping on and off the grid. After you got put on the stand and had half the force lie about you, he turned in his badge and cut contact with anyone wearing one. Elsbeth was the only one he'd talk to, and now that she's gone..."

"Now that she's gone, we're the only ones left." Soren's jaw tightened. "Anything else you can tell me?"

"You'd think all these deaths would get Command riled up, huh?"

Soren let out a bitter, choked laugh. "When it's us dying? No, Command couldn't give less of a frell about what happens to us."

"Well, you'd be right. But Command's keeping things on the down low, which is the weird thing. No official investigations, and they jump like gizkas at any chance to rule these disappearances and deaths accidents, or burglaries gone wrong, or anything that doesn't point to the obvious: someone is killing cops. Soren, they didn't even order a tox report on Lieutenant Waylan. It's like they knew he was poisoned."

"You think Command ordered it? Even for them, that's..."

"I know. Arnolict's a crook, but he's no murderer. And even if we did have proof -"

"Who's this 'we' you're talking about? Marko, is there something you're not telling me?"

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Boss, after Norbet's Nest most of us got canned, along with half the officers in SpecOps. Shellen and Damora got fired; Skyle Huma resigned, and I got bumped down to Corporal in Traffic Control. We stayed in contact, Shellie and Elsbeth and I, with Skyle talking to El on the side, and we decided that CorSec could use some... extra assistance."

"You mean vigilantism." Soren's voice grew cold. "I can't believe Shellen signed off on that."

"He didn't not at first. Skyle and Elsbeth spent a good month talking with him, trying to get him to agree. He works at ODI now as chief of security, so he had firepower we needed."

"Good for him. Get to the point, Marko."

"Stang, boss, give me a second. Shellen just wanted me to be his eyes and ears inside the force. Nothing more. El and Skyle were arguing with him, trying to get him to slip a few wares their way. He was reluctant, as you can imagine. But finally he signed off on it, and with me on the inside we started coordinating."

"You formed your own private police force. Little crime stoppers, huh?"

"Nothing so dramatic. Shellen had a few leads he wanted us to check up on, and having Skyle and Elsbeth on the ground to do the actual snooping."

"What kinds of leads?"

"You know that old saying, 'Follow the money?' Well, there was a lot of it. It's common knowledge Arnolict's hands are dirty. We were just finding where the dirt was coming from. He was living pretty big, even for someone as well paid as Director of CorSec. Skyle planted a bug at the Director's mansion in Coronet and caught a glimpse of someone talking with Arnolict in his private quarters."

"Who was it?"

"A Twi'lek by the name of Muri Tal'dira."

The Jedi apprentice let out a low whistle. Tal'dira's crew was among the most vicious and bloodthirsty of the drug cartels in Corellia's criminal underworld, responsible for at least half of the spice addicts on the Core World. Their product was as chemically pure as spice came and formed into slender blue crystals that could be smoked, crushed and snorted or even injected under the skin for a debilitating high that lasted for days until the crystal dissolved into the bloodstream - or the user died from an overdose. Soren had seen too many Crystal junkies in his days on the force; the children with spindly arms and sores on their faces were the worst to see. Sometimes Soren missed his work in CorSec, but when he recalled performing drug busts in the Skids he missed it a lot less.

"Sounds like you know him."

"He's a killer, through and through. Tal'dira's wanted for murder in at least twelve sectors. He's absorbed half of the major drug cartels on Corellia into his gang. The Blood Hounds have been toeing the line between murder and terrorism for years."

"You think he's our mysterious killer?"

Soren shook his head. "No. That corpse you mentioned, the one that might have been Ismar, that could have been them, but the rest are too low-key. Tal'dira's killings are messy and brutal, and he doesn't mind leaving collateral damage so long as the blood flows. As nasty as he is, he's an amateur. Whoever is killing CorSec officers - if this isn't a trend of highly unfortunate coincidences - is a professional."

"I doubt that."

"That he's a professional?"

"That it's a string of highly unfortunate coincidences. The synox on the caf mug proves it."

"Poisoning definitely isn't Tal'dira's M.O. But the fact that he was in Arnolict's mansion and left of his own free will says Arnolict's hiding something. Did your bug pick up anything else? Audio?"

"A little. The only place we could put it was near the ventilation shaft, which plays hell with the acoustics. We caught reference to a 'mutual friend' and talk about arms shipments before Tal'dira left. He didn't seem happy."

Soren let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Marko, I appreciate you telling me all this, but... why? I'm not a cop anymore. I'm not your boss anymore. Hell, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be talking to me."

"Because as bad as things got between us and the force, I always thought of you as a friend. And I thought you should know about Elsbeth's death, and how things are going on Corellia."

"There's not much I can do. I'm on Honoghr now."

"You could come back."

The notion brought Soren up short. He gave Marko a quizzical look. "They took my badge and my gun. I've got obligations now. I can't drop all of that just to look for a cop killer who may not exist."

"I know, I know. Look, boss, just come to the funeral next week. You owe Elsbeth that much."

"I owe her a lot more." Soren considered it, then let out a short, hollow laugh. "Fine, I'll do it."

"I knew you would."

"For El, not you. This isn't a promise that I'll help you with whatever plan you've cooked up. I'm not going to clean the streets with you or go hunting for bad guys in the sewers."

"Sure it isn't."

"I'm serious, Marko. I'm not that guy anymore." Soren paused. "Why are you laughing?"

"Soren, you've [i:3r7nzxg0]always[/i:3r7nzxg0] been 'that guy.'"

The Jedi hissed. "Goodbye, Marko. See you at the funeral."

"Take care, boss."

Soren switched off the holoprojector and placed it in his pocket. He had a lot of thinking to do.

[quote="Soren Kai":3fcosrgf]"Crystal Plaza" was as ironic a nickname as any for the squalid dump in which Terra found herself after taking the mag lev train across the Golden Beaches and into Tyrena's Skids district. Its well-intentioned architect had envisioned a shining hab block that would be the kernel of a gentrification effort in Tyrena's poverty-stricken undercity, but had clearly not foreseen the likelihood that Tyrena's huddled masses would scare away potential residents. The developers abandoned the plaza to the destitute, and the Crystal Plaza's distinctive blue transparisteel habitation modules soon became host to squatters, the insane, stim addicts, spice heads and drug cartel members. Before long the towers of the Crystal Plaza became as rust-streaked and filthy as the rest of the Skids.

Terra's path took her under the creaking tram line and to the entrance of the water processing facility for Crystal Plaza, a rusted "3" hanging askew over the old-fashioned wooden door. Before the girl had the chance to knock, the door opened, and two men - human, burly, wearing faded Imperial Army fatigues and covered in the pockmarks indicating heavy spice use - stared at her from the darkness beyond.

The taller one broke the silence. "Pass phrase."[/quote:3fcosrgf]

[narration:3fcosrgf]As Terra made her way through the slums, she had started to wonder if coming here was a mistake. She didn't need Ashla's guidance to know that this place was dangerous for someone like her, even with her Jedi training. She took a calming breath and let Ashla's presence surround her as she stopped in front of the address that was written on the note she had found on her pillow.

She didn't even have time to knock before the door opened and two rather large men appeared, barely visible in the darkness and asking her for the pass phrase. She was confused for a moment, having no idea what the pass phrase was, until she remembered something else written on the note besides the address.

The Shadow Rises...that had to be it.

She tried to talk loud enough for them to hear[/narration:3fcosrgf]"Um...The Shadow Rises..."[narration:3fcosrgf]She took a calming breath and drew her cloak more tightly around herself. She still had a funny feeling about all of this, especially given the place she had been led to. She waited to see if the pass phrase had been the correct one. If not, she had to be ready to run...[/narration:3fcosrgf]

[quote="Terra Kiros":1kdjxsh5]

[narration:1kdjxsh5]As Terra made her way through the slums, she had started to wonder if coming here was a mistake. She didn't need Ashla's guidance to know that this place was dangerous for someone like her, even with her Jedi training. She took a calming breath and let Ashla's presence surround her as she stopped in front of the address that was written on the note she had found on her pillow.

She didn't even have time to knock before the door opened and two rather large men appeared, barely visible in the darkness and asking her for the pass phrase. She was confused for a moment, having no idea what the pass phrase was, until she remembered something else written on the note besides the address.

The Shadow Rises...that had to be it.

She tried to talk loud enough for them to hear[/narration:1kdjxsh5]"Um...The Shadow Rises..."[narration:1kdjxsh5]She took a calming breath and drew her cloak more tightly around herself. She still had a funny feeling about all of this, especially given the place she had been led to. She waited to see if the pass phrase had been the correct one. If not, she had to be ready to run...[/narration:1kdjxsh5][/quote:1kdjxsh5]

The shorter one looked to the taller man, who looked back at him. They exchanged curt, professional nods that contrasted oddly with their scruffy appearances. Then the short man raised a commlink to his lips. "Hit her."

Terra didn't fully feel the dull impact of a stun bolt hitting her between the shoulderblades. By the time the ground rushed up to engulf her, blurry and out of focus, she was beyond feeling anything other than panic. Then, even that was torn away from her.

The next few moments went by in a haze. Terra smelled raw sewage, rushing water; she saw distorted bodies milling about in the shadows, picking up crates and shouldering weapons. A few turned to look at her with kaleidoscope faces that had teeth like broken combs. In the distance she could hear screaming; muffled, but intelligible as pleas for mercy that somehow Terra knew would not be coming. This was no place for mercy. This was a place of pain and darkness, one that reminded her of...

Her mind recoiled from the memories. [i:1kdjxsh5]Oblivion is preferable.[/i:1kdjxsh5] She felt her eyelids grow heavy again, and she relaxed in the grip of the men who carried her.

Finally, Terra's glide slowed, and she found herself kneeling, supported only by her spine. The pressure under her arms was released, and the two Force-presences beside her retreated into the shadows. Terra sat there for a long time, trying to rally herself.

"'[i:1kdjxsh5]And she spoke, and the darkness surrounded her. For she was their child, and the shadows protect their own.[/i:1kdjxsh5]'" The deep voice was contemplative, almost amused. Metallic, too, as if emanating from the grill of an old speaker.

Terra's eyes opened.

The thing approaching her was tall and broad, at least two meters in height. What little skin was exposed by his black clothing was waxy and grayish, with dark lines running through what looked to be blood vessels that reached up like claws to caress his hairless head. The entire ensemble gave the impression of a man three days dead from sepsis.

On each hip he wore two lightsabers, each of varying design, alongside a collection of what appeared to be humanoid bones that clattered quietly as the man moved. Each of the items looked singed and blackened, as if they had been bathed in fire. As the man padded towards her, Terra caught a glimpse of two mechanical arms bereft of synthskin protruding from his zeyd-cloth and leather sleeves. If her knowledge of cybernetics was up to speed, the rest of the speaker's body must have extensive modifications as well, judging from the subtle whine of servomotors as he walked.

But as terrifying as the speaker's body was, it was nothing compared to his face, or rather, what was left of it. Where a normal human would have had a nose, mouth and jaw, this creature's face was covered by a metallic mask that was clearly replacing the organs and bones it covered. A pair of sensory nodes extended from the speaker's cheeks, clearly governing the quiet rasping of his rebreather. Occasionally they clicked against the grill of his mask, like mandibles on a loathsome spider.

And above that mask, sunken and red-rimmed, were eyes. Sith eyes.

"You look surprised to see me, old friend." His mandibles clicked, as if in laughter. "I apologize for my men, but even knowing what you are I could not allow them to bring you here with your eyes open." He gestured with one prosthetic hand.

Terra's vision cleared.

She was on a catwalk, far above rushing water and the sounds of hundreds, possibly thousands of humanoids rushing about. Peering below, she recognized some as denizens of the Skids; with torn, soiled clothing and weary stares, they were clearly distinguishable from the men and women in old Imperial Army combat uniforms. Others were members of gangs she'd learned about at the Academy. Most were Blood Hounds or Marauders, with a few jacked-up Fiends in the mix. They were picking up crates, pulling tarps over weaponry and loading them onto hoverskiffs to be taken farther into the network of sewers and old tunnels that crisscrossed beneath Corellia's surface.

*Terra shakily climbed to her feet, trembling with fear as she beheld the humanoid monster that stood before her, not needing the Force to determine that he was obviously a follower of the Dark Side. It wasn't just her fear of the monster standing before her, but the terrifyingly familiar aura that seemed to permeate this place, stirring up the distant memories that she would have rather stayed buried. The voice was somehow familiar as well, and it caused her to tremble even more.

Her eyes darted around the catwalk as she tried to determine some means of escape, but in the darkness and the crowds below, she didn't see much. Having been stunned for the journey here, she hadn't seen exactly how she had been taken here.

She took a deep breath and tried to stop herself from shaking. This...thing clearly knew something about her, or maybe he was just trying to play some kind of mind game. How could he know her at all?

Her voice shook as she spoke.*"Wh-what...I am? What d-do you m-mean?"

[quote="Terra Kiros":2ofdjo79][narration:2ofdjo79]Terra shakily climbed to her feet, trembling with fear as she beheld the humanoid monster that stood before her, not needing the Force to determine that he was obviously a follower of the Dark Side. It wasn't just her fear of the monster standing before her, but the terrifyingly familiar aura that seemed to permeate this place, stirring up the distant memories that she would have rather stayed buried. The voice was somehow familiar as well, and it caused her to tremble even more.

Her eyes darted around the catwalk as she tried to determine some means of escape, but in the darkness and the crowds below, she didn't see much. Having been stunned for the journey here, she hadn't seen exactly how she had been taken here.

She took a deep breath and tried to stop herself from shaking. This...thing clearly knew something about her, or maybe he was just trying to play some kind of mind game. How could he know her at all?

Her voice shook as she spoke.[/narration:2ofdjo79]"Wh-what...I am? What d-do you m-mean?"[/quote:2ofdjo79]

The Sith's head tilted to the side, almost quizzically. "You really don't remember, do you, child?"

"I am Cadivus of Lethos, a Sanctioned Assassin of the School of the Hssiss on Korriban. Adept of the Dark Current. Fallen and reborn harder and stronger in the Dark Side. Sith Knight." Mandibles clicking, Cadivus looked at Terra with what might have approached amusement had his eyes not been glowing red and yellow from his constant immersion in the Dark Side of the Force. "You I remember as Terra Kiros, a pupil at the time. We trained together on Korriban, under the eyes of Lord Sinistra. You were ruthless, fierce, and utterly loyal. Like a tuk'ata with a bone."

He stepped closer, again with the whine of servomotors, until he was circling Terra on the catwalk, forcing her against the railing to avoid touching the monster. "But that's not who you are now, is it?"

Terra sensed others, on either end of the catwalk, lost in the darkness. They were watchful, wary; more than one had weapons ready and were waiting for Cadivus' command. Cadivus looked into Terra's eyes, picking through her mind with his gaze. Terra felt little thoughts and memories rise up in her mind's eye to escape her grasp, as if the Sith Knight were sifting through them and discarding those that were of no use to him. Compared to the assassin's brutish appearance, his mental discipline was beyond anything Terra had imagined outside of perhaps Serrin, and even Serrin lacked the Sith Knight's razor-fine finesse. With more than a little panic Terra realized why she had heard frantic pleading on her way in. With Cadivus there were no secrets or ways to hide; he could violate minds at his whim with nothing more than a thought.

And there was no way for Terra to escape his gaze. The experience made her feel filthy.

Reaching the strange scar tissue at the back of her mind, Cadivus finally turned away to inspect his underground army as they packed up equipment. "We read reports from Korriban that you had escaped, killing your 'handler' over Tatooine. Some were impressed. I was disappointed. You were nothing more than a mad dog straining at the leash; it was only a matter of time before you turned on the hand that held it. When we discovered that you had been taken to the Academy on Corellia, I must admit I believed you had some plan, some way of making up for your indiscretions, which is one of the reasons why I summoned you here, but now I see that what even Sinistra could not accomplish with all her spies you managed to do through blundering ignorance." Had Cadivus still had lips they would have sneered. "After all, take away the Sith Alchemy, the cocktail of chemicals we fed into your veins and your memories, and what are you?"

For a moment, Cadivus considered this. Then, without looking back: "You could, with some effort, be made useful to us. Perhaps you could still atone for your sins."

*Terra couldn't believe what she was hearing, but even as she refused to believe anything he said, the memories that were surfacing were proving otherwise. She felt his thoughts inside her mind and she was powerless to resist his probe. Clutching her head, she fell to her knees and screamed as he continued to pluck the memories from within her mind, wanting to wake up from this nightmare, but it wasn't a dream.

Finally, Cadivus turned away and she doubled over, shivering violently as nausea overcame her. She felt violated and helpless against him, and she could only whimper with fright as her memories came flooding back, as if Cadivus had opened the floodgates that was holding back the tide of darkness within. The brutal training exercises, the torture that she endured if she failed and worst of all, the murders she had committed. Everything was coming back to her now, the pain, the anger and hatred...

Shaking violently, she raised her head and looked up at him, his back turned to her. It was obvious what he wanted from her, but she didn't want any part of it. All of her efforts since joining the Jedi had been to distance herself from her past, but now she was closer to it than ever. All she had wanted was to free herself from slavery, whether it was from some junk dealer on Nar Shaddaa or from the Sith.

Still shaking and her head still pounding, Terra pulled herself to her feet, fighting against the waves of nausea and the tide of darkness. If she joined him, there was only more pain and suffering as a slave to the Sith. She leaned heavily against the railing of the catwalk, gasping for breath as the effort to climb to her feet was taxing. Tears fell from her eyes as she slowly backed away from him, but her strength seemed to give out after a little ways and she fell to her knees again.

She couldn't find her voice, but it was obvious what her answer was. She didn't want to go back to that life, not after all she had done to try and escape it. But even as she thought this, despair was creeping into her. If the Jedi knew exactly what she was and what she had done...

She continued to scoot away from him, even as the doubts began to worm their way into her head...*

"You feel it too, don't you?" The respirator wheezed again, as if Cadivus was taking a deep breath. "The call. The yearning. The dreams."

Darkness flickered across Terra's vision, as if thousands of shadowmoths were flitting around her. The doubts in her - the despair, the knowledge that the Jedi would never again accept her now that they could sense the Dark Side within her - grew and threatened to engulf her. What would happen, now that she remembered what she knew? Would they kill her outright? Would they erase her memories again?

Then she felt anger, swift and terrible, rising in her mind like a coiling serpent ready to strike. What right had the Jedi to take her thoughts and play with them? As horrific as her training had been, it was part of what made her unique. To take away her memories was a greater violation than even her master had forced upon her. And they had called themselves her friends...

Cadivus continued, not turning away from his vigil. "The shadow rises. It knows you as one of us. It calls to you, just as it calls to me. Soon the Sith will be triumphant, and we will sweep across the Galaxy with fire and blood until all are united as one. When the enemies of the Emperor are dead, there can be..." Cadivus trailed off, taking another deep inhalation as the shadowmoths renewed their dance around the slowly retreating young woman. "Order."

Terra continued her backward scramble, trying to escape from the Sith, until she hit something hard and solid. Turning, she looked up and saw Cadivus' mouthless face grinning down at her, eyes glowing bright and baleful in the darkness. "Leaving so soon?"

He strode towards her, powerful, invulnerable, just close enough to touch her no matter how fast she scooted backwards. The shadowmoths danced, faster and stronger than ever, drowning her in despair.

"There is only one way to escape these sewers alive, Terra." Cadivus' mechanical hands - black, stained in blood, whispering servomotors gyrating - opened in welcome. "Join us. Help us purge this world of the corrupt and the powerful; those who stole your memories and turned you into a hollow, timid puppet of the establishment. Take your place at my side, and all those who harmed you will burn."

*Terra couldn't believe what she was hearing, but her feelings seemed to confirm what he was saying. As much as she didn't want to believe that the Jedi had covered up her memories, deep down, she knew it must be the truth. Could the Masters at the academy have known this whole time? Maybe they had also hidden it from her. Maybe they knew which Jedi had suppressed her memories and had refused to tell her. Each scenario played itself in her head as her anger grew more and more powerful.

She continued to try and scramble away from him, but she soon found herself cornered, nowhere else to run and nowhere to hide. The shadows continued to creep up, obscuring her vision except for the monster that stood over her. All she could do was cower beneath him, trying in vain to ward off her anger and despair. Anger at the Jedi for hiding this from her all this time and despairing that she had lost the only place she could have called home. A home where she didn't have to kill or suffer. For such a brief time, she had a future, but tonight, it was taken away...

Still, somewhere inside the sea of darkness she was now drowning in, some part of her still fought through, not wanting to return to a life of murder and endless suffering under this monster. She had already snapped once before, how long before she lost control again? Even if the Jedi had wiped her mind, they had also given her a taste of freedom, and the opportunity to decide her own future. Under the Sith, she had no future, just a tortured existence as a killer until her usefulness reached its end. It wasn't a life she wanted to return to.

She curled up on the ground beneath him.*"I...I d-don't....I don't w-want to k-kill anymore."

*Her hands clenched into fists as her anger continued to build, as the shadows continued to rise up to swallow her but she still resisted. She looked up at him, still shivering violently from his mind probe.*"I...I c-c-can't..."*Her voice shook with barely repressed rage. Her anger was turning now, towards the man, the monster who would doom her to a life of tortured slavery once more. She couldn't stop it now...*"I...I w-won't b-b-be your slave...!"*She slowly stood up, her hands now tightly clenched into fists.*"I w-won't be a slave again!!"*Her voice rose into a shout as she stepped back, one hand going to her lightsaber...*

[quote="Terra Kiros":1ovs4wv5][narration:1ovs4wv5]Terra couldn't believe what she was hearing, but her feelings seemed to confirm what he was saying. As much as she didn't want to believe that the Jedi had covered up her memories, deep down, she knew it must be the truth. Could the Masters at the academy have known this whole time? Maybe they had also hidden it from her. Maybe they knew which Jedi had suppressed her memories and had refused to tell her. Each scenario played itself in her head as her anger grew more and more powerful.

She continued to try and scramble away from him, but she soon found herself cornered, nowhere else to run and nowhere to hide. The shadows continued to creep up, obscuring her vision except for the monster that stood over her. All she could do was cower beneath him, trying in vain to ward off her anger and despair. Anger at the Jedi for hiding this from her all this time and despairing that she had lost the only place she could have called home. A home where she didn't have to kill or suffer. For such a brief time, she had a future, but tonight, it was taken away...

Still, somewhere inside the sea of darkness she was now drowning in, some part of her still fought through, not wanting to return to a life of murder and endless suffering under this monster. She had already snapped once before, how long before she lost control again? Even if the Jedi had wiped her mind, they had also given her a taste of freedom, and the opportunity to decide her own future. Under the Sith, she had no future, just a tortured existence as a killer until her usefulness reached its end. It wasn't a life she wanted to return to.

She curled up on the ground beneath him.[/narration:1ovs4wv5]"I...I d-don't....I don't w-want to k-kill anymore."

[narration:1ovs4wv5]Her hands clenched into fists as her anger continued to build, as the shadows continued to rise up to swallow her but she still resisted. She looked up at him, still shivering violently from his mind probe.[/narration:1ovs4wv5]"I...I c-c-can't..."[narration:1ovs4wv5]Her voice shook with barely repressed rage. Her anger was turning now, towards the man, the monster who would doom her to a life of tortured slavery once more. She couldn't stop it now...[/narration:1ovs4wv5]"I...I w-won't b-b-be your slave...!"[narration:1ovs4wv5]She slowly stood up, her hands now tightly clenched into fists.[/narration:1ovs4wv5]"I w-won't be a slave again!!"[narration:1ovs4wv5]Her voice rose into a shout as she stepped back, one hand going to her lightsaber...[/narration:1ovs4wv5][/quote:1ovs4wv5]

The snap-hiss of a lightsaber interrupted her blade as it descended, almost as if Cadivus had anticipated its path. The assassin's sword was in front of him, catching the glowing lightsaber as it crashed against.

"[i:1ovs4wv5]I thought you had some fight left in you.[/i:1ovs4wv5]"

Pivot. Twist. Strike. Terra intercepted the next blow with a firm grip, her own lightsaber just barely turning the torrent aside. The magnetic crash of electric fields wrapped around deadly plasma roared in Terra's ears, louder than the rapid pulse of her heart and brighter than the red haze in her eyes. Plasma sparks flew like raindrops, burning tiny holes in Terra's robes and Cadivus' tattered clothing.

Distantly Terra's mind registered that Cadivus' robes were already deeply scarred with tiny plasma scores. Cadivus had done this before, many times, and the holes in his zey-cloth [i:1ovs4wv5]hanten[/i:1ovs4wv5] were trophies of those victories.

Then Cadivus was twisting in Terra's vision again, red lightning and black vibroblade weaving together in a deadly fugue. Terra's [i:1ovs4wv5]advance[/i:1ovs4wv5] turned into an awkward [i:1ovs4wv5]retreat,[/i:1ovs4wv5] her [i:1ovs4wv5]reprise[/i:1ovs4wv5] falling short of its intended target. The Jedi girl's guard came up again in a semi-circle parry to deflect Cadivus' thrust, just barely knocking the retractable vibroblade aside. Cadivus' blades scythed in front of Terra's face, with ionic durasteel and plasma nearly disfiguring her beautiful features. All that separated them from her eyes was her slender lightsaber.

"Your form is fragile. Your technique..." A crash again; a beat knocking Terra's guard wide. "[i:1ovs4wv5]Clumsy.[/i:1ovs4wv5] You are no longer a Sith. You aren't even a decent Jedi." Cadivus' vibroblade swept at her legs, forcing her to jump to avoid having her legs removed at the knee. The lightsaber stabbed right, catching her in the left shoulder and causing her entire arm to go limp. Terra screamed and clutched at the steaming hole as she stumbled back.

Cadivus casually, contemptuously deactivated his lightsaber and hooked it back on his belt. He watched Terra - wounded, still raging, her knuckles white around the hilt of her lightsaber - attempt to assume an aggressive posture. "You no longer have the ferocity you possessed when you were chained. You have submitted yourself to your petty desires. [i:1ovs4wv5]Freedom[/i:1ovs4wv5] has enslaved you."

The shadowmoths returned, wrapping Terra in darkness. Terra's lips curled to bare her teeth. She screamed and lunged, only for her lightsaber to meet empty air. A metallic fist lashed out, catching her in the ruin of her left shoulder with a crunch. Terra went sprawling, her lightsaber blade sweeping through one of the support struts and causing the entire catwalk to groan.

Terra looked up to see the blackened tip of Cadivus' wrist blade pointing at her dead in the eyes, an inch away from her face. She screamed again and batted the tip of the blade away, only for it to instantly return, taunting her. The shadowmoths were boiling around her, furious, driving her deeper into madness. [i:1ovs4wv5]Perhaps if she just embraced them...[/i:1ovs4wv5]

Cadivus' respirator rasped, chuckling. "Ah... You think [i:1ovs4wv5]anger[/i:1ovs4wv5] will save you? I was just a boy when they took me from the work-pits of Korriban. The first thing the Sith taught me was that anger was nothing without [i:1ovs4wv5]discipline[/i:1ovs4wv5]." The vibroblade swept down at Terra's throat, only to carve open durasteel plating apart like tissue. Terra was already charging into Cadivus' gut with her good shoulder. The Sith Knight staggered back a step, all hundred pounds of the former assassin plowing into him where he was weakest. When his wrist blade swept down again, it again only managed to cut the catwalk again.

He turned away, red eyes blazing, searching for her in the darkness. "Perhaps you have not forgotten everything..."

Terra shrieked again, her lightsaber blade arcing down in a cut that would have cloven Cadivus in two had the Sith not side-stepped. Instead the blade cut through another support strut, sending the entire catwalk listing to the side. Cadivus casually struck Terra on the skull with an elbow strike before he lost his balance and was forced to grip the railing with his bladed hand.

Terra's hand went numb with the world-shattering strike, and her lightsaber went spinning out of her hand. Cadivus regained his balance and leaned forward to grasp Terra by the throat with his free hand, dangling her over the rushing water below. He jerked his head, striking her in the forehead and turning the fuzzy haze in her vision into a torrent of static. "[i:1ovs4wv5]This is the price of betrayal, Kiros. Now die in agony.[/i:1ovs4wv5]" His fingers tightened around Terra's throat, impossibly strong.

Her lightsaber was still on the catwalk. If she could just reach it...

Cadivus' fingers tightened.

Terra's eyes met Cadivus'.

"Don't -"

The lightsaber activated, carving the section of catwalk away from the only remaining support. The entire piece plummeted into the rushing water below, sending Terra flying out of Cadivus' grasp. Together they fell, crashing into the water dozens of meters below. At that speed the filthy stream was as hard as duracrete, crushing Terra's ribs on impact and driving the breath from her lungs. It softened after the impact and enveloped her.

The last thing Terra remembered before the lights in her eyes exploded was that Cadivus looked almost impressed.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Define... [i:1ovs4wv5]Missing.[/i:1ovs4wv5]"

The mercenary shrugged helplessly, looking sodden and bedraggled. "These sewers are kilometers long and span the entire continent, sir. They could have taken her anywhere. We won't find her around the camp channels."

Cadivus considered crushing the mercenary's throat with the entire division watching, but decided against it. It would not do to kill a member of the Resistance. [i:1ovs4wv5]That comes later.[/i:1ovs4wv5] "Tear these sewers apart until you find her. Alert the members of the Resistance in the tram line, shuttle terminals, police stations and hospitals. If she shows her face there I want her head brought to me. Attached to her living body, if possible."

"The fall was fifty meters or more," the mercenary ventured. "There's no way anything could have survived that."

Cadivus reconsidered. "I survived it, Sergeant." His wrist blade flexed, and he took mild satisfaction in seeing the merc's face turn white as a sheet. "She is one of the Shadow, just as I am. Remember that." The vibroblade tapped against the merc's cheek. "[i:1ovs4wv5]Now find her.[/i:1ovs4wv5]"

The mercenary nodded. "Yes, sir."

The Sith Knight sheathed the vibroblade and looked down at the lightsaber in his bloodstained hand. Had he still had lips he would have smiled.