Knights of the Old Republic: Darkness Falls II - Alliances

[3yks]

"Maybe."

 

Brax's hands lifted and gently pressed to her temples, his fingers pressing against the sides of her head. He closed his eyes and leaned close, their foreheads meeting. She could feel him sliding against her, sensual movements causing a pleasant feeling in both of them, but then his mind slid forward farther. And they felt closer than they had before, their bond wrapping around each other. Jasra, the only way this will work is if you're fully willing, this bond I am creating will make it so that we will ahve ... a hard time being a part, harder than now. But it will also mean that we will share thoughts, you will gain my control over this problem ... I will take some of your problem with it. It isn't perfect, and it's probably not reversible, and ... it's gonna piss karda off to know end. I'm afraid of it, I'm not even sure it will work ... but I've heard of this bond I want to make. And I think I can do it.

[steven]

He switched channels again. "Tylor? Please escort our guests from the Ebon Hawk to the briefing room upon their arrival. I want you to join us, too, so make the appropriate arrangements for the helm."

 

"Okay, but It'll take me ten minutes or more. I'm on a completely different ship." Replied Tylor before running out of the bridge and onto the Dreadless, then heading toward the hanger.

 

He entered from top level of the hanger, from there he watched the Ebon Hawk land and it's crew walk out. "So this is the great Ebon Hawk, wicked." He said before rushing down the stairs and greeted Kira and her crew. "Good day fokes, Karda sent me to guide you to the breifing room."

[ForceFightWMe12]

Kira nodded as the soldier jogged down to greet them.

"Very well. But first, do you have a name?"

[steven]

"I do, Marshall Tylor, I perfer to be called Tylor if your don't mind. Do you lot have names?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

"I am Kira Starr." she said, the indicated each of the others in turn, "These are my companions: Atton Rand, Disciple, and I think my last companion can introduce himself."

[The Doctor]

Revan walked up beside Kira and Atton. "Atton, you left your coffee cup on the navigation console again. How many times do I have to tell you to be careful with my ship? Even Canderous knew how to..."

He stopped as he noticed the wide eyed look the soldier at the bottom of the ramp was giving him. Revan smiled and nodded. "Hey there," he said. "I'm Revan."

[steven]

Tylor nodded. "Tylor," He replied, assuming this wasn't thee Revan, just someone with the same name. "Anyone else with you or shall we head to the briefing room?"

[The Doctor]

Revan looked over his shoulder. "The Doctor will be along shortly," he said, throwing Kira a quick glance. "I believe he can find his own way."

[steven]

"The Doctor, I thought he was allready here, guess I was wrong. Well if your sure he can find his own way, please follow me."

[JasraLantill]

"I'm not even sure it will work ... but I've heard of this bond I want to make. And I think I can do it."

 

Even though it was reassuring to hear Brax’s thoughts in her head, Jasra struggled with herself in her own mind. One part of her desperately wanted the bond with Brax, hungered for it, craved it. Another part was warning her away from the bond, telling her to evaluate all her options before choosing her path. The conflict raged like a stormy sea inside her, ripping her apart from Brax’s mind one moment, yet trying to meld with him in the next.

 

“Arrgh!” She winced, though she did not have the will to physically pull herself away from him. “Too… many… thoughts! Jedi…thoughts!”

 

As he released her, she knew Brax had felt the conflict within her mind. Her physical body had been trained as a Jedi—and the memories were there, just denied by her current consciousness. She slumped against him, feeling exhausted now from her internal struggle.

 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, heaving deep breaths with her head pressed against his chest. “I want to, but I can’t.” Her ice blue eyes sought his and she gave him a soft grin. “Not yet.”

 

Steadied by Brax’s arms, she eventually found her feet. “Maybe Karda was right. If the pheromone effect was nullified, maybe I’d be able to focus,” she suggested, although she didn’t sound convinced herself. “Or maybe Crystal can help. She’s helped me focus before.” She frowned slightly, again not convinced. “At any rate, I do feel a bit more focused now, even though you didn’t complete what you were doing.” She bit her lip, and raised a sly eyebrow. “Though, I still feel an urge to kiss you.”

 

Hand in hand, she and Brax headed off towards the briefing room of the Dreadless.

[JasraLantill]

((OOC: Sorry for the double post, but as Rob hasn't posted anything, I'll just go ahead with it. (Rob, just jump in when you feel like it.) ))

 

 

In the briefing room, Karda greeted Kira, Revan, and Atton as Tylor brought them in. “Glad you could come,” he said to them. “I think we’re going to need your help. The others will be here soon, but as they’ve already been briefed, I’ll just give you the basics of our mission.” He sighed. “Bastila Shan, and a score of Jedi hopefuls, are missing. They were on their way to the Jedi Enclave at Dantooine when all contact with their ship the Almanac was lost. When a Republic search team finally located it, the crew, Bastila, and her potential Padawans, were gone. We believe they’ve been kidnapped, but we still don’t know why. Or, if they are still alive.”

 

Karda gave Revan a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You and Master Shan were close friends, weren’t you?”

 

Just then, Rose and the Doctor followed by Jasra and Brax entered the briefing room and sat down at the table.

 

“Sorry we’re late,” Jasra quickly apologised. “We got….” She gazed into Brax’s eyes and grinned coyly. “Erm...distracted.”

 

Karda glared at Brax, then sighed as he turned to Kira, Revan, and Atton. “Jasra has a slight… chemical problem at the moment. But,” he continued, giving Jasra a quick glare, “right now, we need to figure out where we should start looking for Bastila and the Jedi hopefuls. We’ve been investigating the Almanac for clues, but I believe it would be helpful if we all shared what we found, so that we’re not following any false leads. Doctor?” Karda turned to the Doctor and Rose. “I believe you found something interesting on board. Care to share it with us?”

 

“Wait,” Jasra interrupted. “Where’s Crystal?”

 

Karda sighed. “I’m sure she’s on her way,” he said irritated, by Jasra’s lack of concentration on the topic at hand. “Now,” he continued, “Doctor? Tell us what you found.”

[The Doctor]

Revan narrowed his eyes slightly. Doctor.

Well this is interesting... he thought, touching Kira's mind.

 

The Doctor stepped forwad, Rose passing him the disc he had given her. "We found a video log recorded by the ship's doctor," he said. "It records the beginning of an attack on the medical bay, before the camera was destroyed by the attackers."

He walked to the front of the room, inserted the disc into the drive, and activated the screen.

 

The doctor appeared on the screen, and her dictation began.

 

"... just lost main power. We're running on backups. And the comm is out, so we can't even... bridge! I've ordered a-"

There was a burst of static, the screen flickering for a fraction of a second as the door to the med bay blew open behind the doctor, sending shrapnel everywhere. The doctor screamed as she was pulled away from the camera by a masked figure with overly large shoulders.

 

"Pause playback," said the Doctor. He tapped the console, and the screen zoomed in on the man's shoulders, bringing the small lizard-like creature drapped over his shoulders into focus.

"What is it?" asked Atton.

"That, Mr. Rand, is a Ysilmar. It's a reptile species native to the planet Myrkr. You see, it's predators are Force sensative. Therefore, they have evolved with the unique ability to create Force voide surrounding them. Depending on the size of the individual, this bubble of 'anti-Force', for lack of a better term, deafens it's predators to the Force, allowing it to escape with less difficulty."

[steven]

"Make's sence," Replied John "What better way of kidnapping a jedi then to take away they're power. Take away the very thing that they depend on. It's a good tatic. It was suggested that they should be used during the Jedi Civil war but we ran into a small problem."

 

"You see, Ysalamiri sink their claws into the trees on which they live and draw nutrients. It's very difficult to remove a ysalamir from its tree without killing it. All attempts we took to remove them from the trees ended up in complete failure so we stopped all operations and set up a few traps incase the enemy attempted to copy our operation."

[The Doctor]

"Well, someone seems to have devised a way of removing them without killing them," said the Doctor. "And used them to kidnap Mistress Shan and her padawans."

[steven]

"And I put my credits on that the Sith or some Dark Jedi Cult kidnapped them." Said John. "It's make perfect sence. They proberly used some acient device they found in the ancient ruins on Korriban, kidnapped Bastila to use her Battle Meditation against the Jedi and the Republic and took the padawan in hopes of turning them to their side." John suggested "Or I could be completely barking up the wrong tree."

[The Doctor]

"Bastila's Battle Meditation doesn't do anyone any good unless they're openly at war," said Revan. "Besides, they'd have to turn her to the Dark Side - something she won't let happen. Not again."

[steven]

"Maybe this is all a trap, you know to lure someone or something out. But still we keep in mind my Battle Meditation idea. I've seen what it can happen when the Battle Meditation is used for evil first hand." Said Tylor "Refering to the Battle of the Starforge.

[The Doctor]

"I trust Bastila," spat Revan, glaring at Tylor. "She won't turn on m... us."

[steven]

"Okay, I believe you. Any other suggestions people? There has to dozens of reasons on why some power crazed sith would want a jedi of Bastila's status."

[The Doctor]

"Maybe they want to use her as a bargaining chip or something?" suggested Rose. "She's got to be worth something to the Republic..."

[JasraLantill]

“Well, I vote for Tylor’s trap idea,” Jasra volunteered. “Whoever kidnapped Master Shan probably knows that the Council would send other Jedi to look for her. And as a Master’s duty is to protect their Padawan, they are probably using the trainees as a way to keep Bastila from escaping. I mean, she wouldn’t escape if it meant leaving them to die.”

 

As she looked at Brax for reassurance, Karda cleared his throat loudly and gave Jasra a look.

 

“What?” Jasra bristled at his insinuating glare. “It’s totally plausible.”

 

“Yes,” Karda agreed. “But why? Why would someone go to all that trouble to kidnap one Jedi Master and a handful of untrained Padawans, even if it were to lure in a few other Jedi sent to find them? If we disappear on this mission, you can guarantee that the Council won’t be so quick to send anyone looking for us.”

 

Jasra shrugged. “Well, I don’t know why,” Jasra answered. “I’m just saying that if I was needing to lure in a live Jedi for some reason, that’s what I would do. Kidnap one and wait.” She shrugged. “I mean, we’re here, aren’t we? If that’s their plan, it’s working like a charm so far.”

[The Doctor]

"But why would they want any Jedi?" asked Rose. "I thought there was no bounty on them anymore?"

[JasraLantill]

“No more bounty?” Jasra looked at Rose and the Doctor askance, then snorted. “Well, I suppose without Togo around in this timeline, there wouldn’t be anymore.”

 

Karda had been pensive for a moment, but then said, “Perhaps it’s not so much being a Jedi, but just being Force Sensitive.” He began to punch some buttons on the console in front of him, apparently searching for something in the computer databanks.

 

Jasra snorted. “Or maybe Tylor was right. Maybe they want to use Bastila’s Battle Meditation for some other war. One we don’t know about.” She looked at Brax. “You and Revan both were in the Unknown Regions. Any wars going on out there?”

 

“Here,” Karda interrupted excitedly. “Look at this.” A hologram appeared in the middle of the conference table, showing a large area of space scattered with several blue dots. “This graph shows the locations of all reported attacks by pirates on ships in this area of space. But, filter out the ones that have also reported some of their crew or passengers kidnapped and…” The hologram changed, now showing small concentrated clusters of red dots. “All of these clusters are near the hyperspace exits on routes between Nar Shadda, Naboo, Coruscant and Corellia. And our location is right in the middle of them all.”

 

“So?” Jasra said flatly. “Those are the richest trading routes. Pirates and Freelancers everywhere know this.” She cleared her throat. “Well, at least I did when I was a …nevermind….”

 

“They are also the routes with the highest passenger traffic,” said Karda, plaintively ignoring Jasra’s reference about her alternate past. “And with higher numbers of people, the odds of finding Force Sensitives among them increases.”

 

He punched a few more buttons, and began scrolling through the list of missing people. “Priests, healers, pilots…all of these missing people had positions where having Force Sensitivity would be a distinct advantage. Maybe they weren’t Force Sensitive enough to have been selected to be a Jedi, but I bet they had some amount of Force Sensitivity.”

 

“Any Dark Jedi or Sith in that list?” Jasra asked facetiously, turning to look at Brax once again.

 

Karda checked further, then grinned smugly. “As a matter of fact, yes, there are. An entire Sith transport was found abandoned in this area shortly after the Battle of the Star Forge. So, you see, it’s not just Jedi someone’s after.” Karda looked at Kira, Revan, and Atton. “It’s any Force Sensitive. And we have to find out who they are, where they are, why they want them, and then, stop them. So, where should we start first? Should we seek out this Juppa person that owns the salvaging ship or the one who paid Juppa. What was his name again, Jasra? Jasra. Jasra!”

 

“Huh?” Jasra shook her head as if trying to clear away distracting thoughts. The effect of the Force technique Brax had used to try to solidify their bond and help her focus was wearing off, and she felt herself becoming obsessively enamoured with the Omwati once again. “Erm…”

 

“The name of the one who paid Juppa,” Karda repeated.

 

“It’s…it’s on that disc,” Jasra said, unable to recall the name for the moment.

 

Karda searched the disc for the name, then ran it through the database. “Valclav Amek. Trader, slaver, and commodites broker. Used to run his business out of Nar Shaddaa, but now…he’s on Myrkr. What a surprise. So,” he said to everyone, “what will it be? Shall we seek out Juppa the Hutt on Nar Shaddaa or Valclav Amek on Myrkr?”

[3yks]

(Re-read, I changed some things)

 

"Going to Myrkr is a mistake, wether he's there or not. It's asking to get captured, or killed." He looked over Karda's shoulder at the information, reaching out and tapping a few keys. "I thought I saw that," a dark frown cross Brax's lips. "We should head for Omwat." He moved away from Karda, sensing hostility, but not before whispering softly. "What ever happened to that no emotion thing your people practice?"

 

He leaned against the wall a foot or so from Jasra, "There was another ship found abanoned a few months ago, it was from my world ... I know my people, and by now the Zedai know that the group they sent, probably to find and help me, has had no success. They will have already started looking into this, they may have information we can use ... they also have something that might make going to Myrkr not suicide," he looked at Jasra. And maybe my people will know a way to help you without ... what I offered before. His mind brushing hers.

[Writer]

Just after Brax had finished his sentence, there was a loud clatter as one of the chairs went spinning away from the table, crashing into a wall before settling on its back near the door. Less than a second later, the door opened, allowing Crystal to enter. Without a word, she picked up the discarded chair and set it back at the table where it had been, and sat.

 

"No need to bring me up to date on the meeting," she said quietly. "Since I couldn't get here right away, I..." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. "Never mind that."

 

Clearing her throat, she went on. "Brax, you suggested Omwat because there was a ship from your world abandoned. Nar Shaddaa was mentioned because of Juppa; Myrkr because of Amek. These are beings we might gather information from. That ship... we have to know how it came to be where it is and why."

 

She glanced at Jasra and then her eyes rested on Brax. "I'm sorry, but I just don't see how a trip to Omwat would get us that information."

 

You're distracted, Jasra, Crystal's words echoed in the other girl's head. Perhaps a trip to Omwat...

 

Aloud, she said, "But it wouldn't hurt to resupply our ship... ships, I mean." She blinked, her thoughts seeming suddenly less organized. To Brax, she asked, "Is Omwat on the way to either place? Nar Shaddaa or Myrkr, I mean. For supplies... and how would they... your people deal with strangers? I mean, would they be... upset in any way?"