Knights of the Old Republic: Darkness Falls II - Alliances

[3yks]

Brax had taken care of what he needed to, and stood out on his balcony. It had begun raining a short while ago, and he had shed his robes, wearing just a simple loin cloth, his hair clung to his head, water pouring down from the sky onto the long white strands, and all over him. Water ran in rivelette's down his nearly naked flesh. Beads of it showing the extremely defined curves of his body. Brax was well muscled, he had spent most of his life working on his body and his mind.

 

He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander, traveling out from his balcony into the great forests of Omwati. To the village he could make out on the horizon, he sensed the life there, seaking out each seperate entity, till he found the one he sought.

 

An old Omwati, with hair that had darkened with old age, nearly black with his years lay on a small bed, mostly just a wooden frame with a blanket on it. He was sweating, and fevered, his grey eyes were glazed as if he could not see, which was the case. Blind with old age. Brax sat down beside the bed, and placed his hand gently on the man's own hand. "Father?" He whispered, leaning over to look down at the face, it was similiar to Brax's own, older, and with slight differences. Brax's mother influncing his looks as well.

 

"Abraxius, my son." The words were barely a whisper, "You return at last? Your mother told me you had died, and then ... and then she died Braxie. And now ... I feel the tightening of death upon my own heart."

 

"I know father, but you need not worry. The end is just a new begining," but Brax's words fell on deaf ear's, for the old man's heart had stopped. Brax reached out touching his fingers to his fathers lips.

 

Brax shook with tears, the rain cascading from the sky covering this to some extent, he had found himself sitting somehow, legs crossed under him, his head bent forward. His body shaking with silent tears.

[JasraLantill]

Jasra had no sooner entered Brax's chamber, when she felt his overwhelming sense of grief. She knew immediately what had happened, and despite the sadness of the situation, it comforted her to know that their bond was still strong.

 

As she padded towards him in her bare feet, a wave of tenderness washed over her. He had taken care of her all this time--it was now her turn to take care of him. While the rain fell upon her in big, soft, warm drops on the balcony, she slowly knelt beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

 

"Do you know what's good about the rain, love?" she whispered softly. "No one can see you cry."

 

Even though she didn't feel any lustful feelings, she wrapped her arms around him, and gently laid her head on his shoulder, her strange feelings of detachment and Atton all but forgotten.

[RobQel-Droma]

Karda took a seat in the copilots area. "So," he said, "What exactly did Crystal tell, you, 'Eagle'?" His eyebrows were slightly raised questionably.

 

Even as he said this, his thoughts were still wandering. If Tylor and the Doctor are still sitting back there, I'm going to get annoyed if they ever show up to Myrkr. As for the others... His expression did not change, but glanced slightly off to the side after his question.

 

Perhaps I should send a message to Brax, or Atton; figure out what they're doing on that planet. He looked back up to Crystal.

[Writer]

"Oh, that you're an..." Eagle began. Crystal grimaced and cut him off.

 

"Eagle," she warned. Even that shut the ship up for a moment.

 

"I can't tell him what you think of him?" he asked finally. Crystal shook her head.

 

"Nope," she answered.

 

"And why not?" Eagle pressed. Crystal glanced at Karda for a moment. Then, she smiled.

 

"Because the opinion can be changed," she said.

 

"And wouldn't you like him to know the old opinion so he can work to change it?" Eagle demanded. "I think it's what any logical human would do... but what do I know? I'm a ship!"

 

Crystal laughed at this. "Alright, Karda. You want to know what I told Eagle about you? I told him you were an idiot of a Jedi who couldn't accept that his opinion might be wrong."

 

"Aw!" Eagle groaned. "I wanted to tell him!"

 

"You're glad I didn't let him," Crystal told Karda. "He'd have blown it further out of proportion. Besides, you showed some flexibility in the..." Her words trailed off for a moment before she finished, "... the other timeline."

 

"Other timeline?" Eagle wondered curiously.

 

"Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime," Crystal answered. Then, to Karda, she went on, "And in the battle back there, you showed that you've got a logical head on your shoulders." She grinned and teased, "So you're not a total idiot Jedi."

[The Doctor]

EDIT: Forget about that. Sorry JW and Rob.

[JasraLantill]

Jasra watched as the last of the supplies were loaded onto the Ssss. She let out a doleful sigh. She didn’t want to leave Omwat, but she knew that they had to complete their mission. The majority of the Zedai seemed rather reluctant to see her and Brax depart, too, with the exception of Sasshiv, who had been sporting a rather smug, scheming sort of grin as they had said their farewells.

 

The same sort of grin Atton had now as he approached her.

 

“So, I see you’ve forgone the native attire for something more...” He eyed over her Jedi robes. "...boring." He started up the ramp of the Ssss. “Damn.”

 

Jasra raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think a beaded necklace and slited skirt was appropriate for space travel. Space is cold,” she reminded him.

 

“Yeah. I know.” He walked up the ramp. “Damn,” he muttered again.

 

Jasra turned in Brax’s direction. He was just saying his goodbyes to Peronus as he was leaving him in charge while he was away. Sasshiv didn’t look at all pleased by the arrangement. There was something about her that Jasra didn’t trust, and she made a mental note to investigate Sasshiv’s file once they were on board the Ssss.

 

As Brax approached her, he gave her a questioning look, obviously feeling Jasra’s sense of distrust. She smiled at him. “I trust you completely, love,” she said by way of explanation. “It’s Sasshiv I’m wary about.”

 

“She is ambitious,” Brax said, putting a guiding arm around her shoulders. “That is all. Come. We must leave.”

 

Brax and Jasra boarded the ship, where Atton was already sitting in the pilot’s seat, doing his pre-flight. In a few moments, they had lifted off and were on their way to Myrkr to meet up with the others.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Atton caught sight of the couple as they entered the cockpit from the corner of his eye, and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from growling or saying something stupid.

 

She just needs a bit more. he reminded himself, The antidote hasn't taken its course yet...

 

Within moments they had left the atmosphere, and he was busily plotting their hyperspace routes out on the nav computer.

 

"So..." he said, forcing his voice to be casual, "What d'you think we'll find once we get to Myrkr?"

[The Doctor]

As the door hissed open, the sound of cocking blaster rifles reached Kira's ears. She looked around the room. Four guards -- two Rodians, a Twi'lek, and a Gammorean, each weilding a blaster rifle that was trained on her. The Hutt in the center of the far wall, however, seemed to have told them to hold their fire, as they didn't automatically decide to turn her into Swiss Cheese. Unhooking her lightsaber from her belt, she strode in, followed by Revan and the others.

 

"So good to see you again, Sorba," said Revan, stepping up beside Kira. "We didn't really have a chance to before you tried to kill us."

 

Sorba laughed like only a Hutt could. "[Not kill you, Master Jedi,]" she said. "[Merely threaten your life, so as to better your performance!]"

 

"Performance?" Kira asked, cocking an eyebrow, "You mean you threw us down there for enjoyment?"

 

"[Not solely, no!]" she said, sounding offended. "[For the gambling pleasures of my clients, of course!]"

 

She clenched and unclenched her hands, watching the Hutt. "Any reason you're not killing us now?"

 

She glared at Kira darkly, her tail twitching. "[What do you take me for?"]" she asked.

 

"A Hutt," said Revan immediately, stepping forward. "Now, are you going to tell us what happened to your 'dear cousin', or are we going to have to start stepping on slugs?"

 

The Gammorean guards grumbled and snorted, but didn't move. Sorba turned her massive gaze to him. "Your tactlessness is unbecoming, Master Jedi," she said. "Can you not imagine that the death of Vogga is a difficult subject for me to discuss?"

 

"You mean difficult to discuss without implicating yourself? Yes, I can imagine."

 

"We know there's something you're not telling us." Kira said, crossing her arms. "Think about it this way. The faster you tell us what we want, the sooner we're out of your...er...sight."

 

Sorba smile cruely, and Revan could feel waves of emotion washing out from her. "[Rule of Economics Number 6: Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity.]"

 

Kira frowned, resisting the urge to sigh. "Why did you have him killed?"

She shrugged - or rather, lifted her stubby arms in the Hutt equivalent of a shrug. "[He knew too much,]" she said simply. "[And good clients are hard to come by.]"

 

"And who was this 'good client'?"

 

Sorba shook her head. "[As I said, good clients are hard to come by,]" she repeated. "[i must respect the contract.]"

 

Revan pulled his lightsaber from his belt. "We're altering the contract," he said. "Who is this contract with?"

 

Sorba sighed. "[i see you will not be detered...]" muttered the Hutt.

 

"No, we won't." Kira answered, "We must know who that contract was made with."

 

Sorba turned away. "[Then I regret to inform you that this... interview... is over. Deal with them," she snapped to the guards.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Revan swung his lightsaber in a wide arch, igniting it as it reached the height of the arch. He swung the blade around to meet the axe of one of the Gammoreans, slicing it in half. He brought the blade around in a tight circle, slicing through the green skin. The smell of charred Gammorean filled the room.

 

"Ugh, nasty smell." Kira muttered. Her saber flew from her belt and ignited in midair, peircing the shoulder of a Gammoeran before even touching her hand. Running to the pig-man, she grasped her saber and pulled out the weapon, spinning in the same movement and beheading the Gammorean.

 

The Valeyard watched as the Hutt fled. Taking the sonic screwdriver from his pocket, he made after her - he had to deal with her before she told Revan and Kira too much.

 

Kira turned to the last guard in the room, who was fumbling with his blaster's power pack. She watched him for a few moments, hand on hip and a smirk on her face. Eventually, the Gammorean got his blaster working again, and fired off a round.

 

"Whoops, missed." she said as she side-stepped, the blaster bolt scarring the wall. He fired off a second round, and she stepping in the other direction. "I'm over here!"

 

Revan rolled his eyes and reached out with the Force, grabbing the blaster from the guard's hand. He turned it around and sent a volley of shots at it's owner's face.

 

"Hey!" Kira said, turning to Revan with both hands on her hips, "Why do you always have to go and ruin all the fun?"

 

"Because you're wasting time," he answered, grinning slightly. "We need to catch up with the Valeyard."

 

"Yeah, yeah, you and your silly time..." she muttered, turning and heading in the direction she had seen the Valeyard leave in.

 

They turned the corner to see the Valeyard standing over Sorba, the sonic screwdriver in his hand. It was emitting a high pitched scream, which had reduced the Hutt to a squirming, screaming mass at his feet.

 

Revan grabbed him and spun him around, throwing him against the wall, smashing the hand holding the device against it as well. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he yelled.

Kira says:

"The screwdriver!" Kira murmured, looking at the thing in his hand, "Why did you kill her? We needed what information she had!"

 

"You think I didn't interrogate her first?" spat the Valeyard, pushing Revan away.

 

"Mind sharing what you learned within the few minutes that we were seperated?"

 

He picked up the sonic screwdriver, shot Revan a dirty look, then turned to Kira. "Vogga was buying slaves, then re-selling them to Valclav Amek," he said. "But Vogga's client no longer wished to work with him. Sorba was approached with an offer, and she accepted. She had Vogga killed to make sure he didn't discover that she had stolen his client."

 

"Hm." Kira muttered. "Well, that told us a lot. C'mon, let's get going."

[JasraLantill]

"So..." Atton said, forcing his voice to be casual, "What d'you think we'll find once we get to Myrkr?"

"Hopefully, the others," said Jasra. "Hope they've found some clues as well. All we have is the name of Vros and that he's doing some kind of weird experiment on people. Maybe the others have found out where he could be located."

 

"We could extrapolate some possible locations based on what we already know," said Brax, sitting down in the co-pilot's seat next to Atton. "He has to be located on a habitable planet, in approximately," he pointed to an area on the star chart displayed on the screen in front of him, "this area."

 

Jasra looked over his and Atton's shoulder at the map. "That's still quite a big area."

 

"It will take us at least two days to reach Myrkr," said Brax. "We have plenty of time."

 

Jasra grinned at him. Even though she didn't feel the strong urges to be with Brax all of the time, she still felt very much in love with him. "I can think of other things I'd rather be doing than looking through star charts," she said to him flirtatiously.

 

Brax grinned in return. "Oh, really?"

 

"Really," she said. "Besides, Atton seems quite capable of both flying the ship and looking through star charts. I'm sure he could handle it on his own." She glanced at Atton, giving him a disparaging look. "Besides, it might give you something else to think about besides playing Pazaak in your head."

 

"What Atton does in his head is Atton's affair," Brax said to her. "You should not be prying."

 

"Yeah," Atton agreed.

 

"Well, not that I really care what's in your head," Jasra said to Atton, "but it bugs me that you've been doing it ever since I found you sparring with Sasshiv."

 

Brax cocked a brow. Slowly, he turned to Atton. "You were sparring with Sasshiv?"

 

"Not 'sparring' exactly," Atton said.

 

"No," Jasra explained, "it was more like, he was 'sparring' with training dummies, and she was watching him. Or coaching him."

 

Brax's other brow raised. "Sasshiv is an expert in Force-enhanced Zedai combat techniques. Did she teach you anything useful, Atton?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Depends on what you mean by 'useful'." Atton answered, glaring at Brax from the corner of his eye. The conversation between the Omwati and Jasra was getting on his nerves, to say the least. "If 'useful' includes the ability to hold my own against any Zedai, then yeah, real useful."

[JasraLantill]

"You? Hold your own against Brax?" Jasra couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Yeah. Right."

 

Brax, on the other hand, was not as amused. "Holding your own against a Zedai takes more than just a few sessions of training," Brax said in all seriousness. "Although, if you ever wish to test your skills, I would happy to accommodate you. There is room to spar on board."

 

Jasra blinked with astonishment. "Brax, you can't be serious. Watch you against Atton? That's not exactly what I had in mind for something 'fun' to do."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Well, it'll have to do, Jas." Atton answered, his tone hard as he stood up. "The ship's on autopilot for now. C'mon, Zedai. I'm eager to see just how well the things Sasshiv taught me actually work."

[JasraLantill]

Jasra rolled her eyes. "Oh, this is stupid," she said. "There is no way in the Galaxy that Brax would...." But Brax was already rising from his seat. "Oh, puh-leeze! You're not seriously going to spar with him now, are you?"

 

"Lessons must be taught whenever the opportunity presents itself," Brax said. He glared at Atton. "Besides, you might be able to block your thoughts, but I can certainly sense your feelings. Envy, for one," he said casually. "Jealousy, for another."

 

"Jealousy?" Jasra said as she followed the two of them to the cargo hold. "What does he have to be jealous about?"

 

"You," said Brax, chosing two training pikes off the wall and tossing one to Atton.

 

"Me?" Jasra looked visibly surprised and gave Atton a wary stare. "Why?"

 

"Probably because he's not with Kira anymore," Brax goaded, trying to get a rise of anger out of Atton. "Isn't that right, Atton? You can't have Kira, so you thought you'd go for the next best thing?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

Atton gave no warning. He sprang forward, flinging the pike ahead of him.

 

"You bastard!" he shouted angrily as the weapons clashed. "You don't have the faintest idea of what you're talking about!"

[JasraLantill]

Being a Zedai Master, and the leader of the Zedai council, Brax easily repelled Atton's attack. "See? Your jealousy fuels your strength. Use it." And with that he attacked Atton back.

 

Jasra shook her head with disbelief. "Are you sure he's jealous?" she asked Brax, not at all concerned that he wouldn't win the scuffle. "I just sense anger."

 

"He doesn't like the idea of you and I together," Brax said between parries, able to read some of Atton's surface thoughts now that his anger was taking hold. "He cares for you."

 

"He doesn't 'care' for me," Jasra argued. She stepped back into the threshold as they fought their way closer to where she was standing. As the pair broke off for a moment and circled around the room, she gave Atton a sideways look. "Do you?"

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Can't you shut up?" Atton answered, his eyes not moving from Brax. He crouched, holding the pike at an angle so that it came up behind his back as he hunched slightly forward. "You really shouldn't need to ask that."

 

He waited another moment before making his move. Lauching forward, he brought the pike back to swing. Brax, seeing the movement, threw his own weapon out to stop the impending blow -- exactly what Atton wanted him to do.

 

Alright, Sasshiv. Let's see if I really can fool a Zedai.

 

He ducked down and swung the pike forward. It hit Brax's knees hard, slipping back and knocking his legs from under him. The Omwati fell hard to the ground, and Atton flew over him, rolling to a stop. He stood once the momentum had worn out, and proceeded closer to the floored Zedai, his pike raised.

 

"You see? You're not all-powerful. And I'm not some space-head. You're not better than me!"

[RobQel-Droma]

"So, Crystal... what is your opinion of me now? Your 'changed' opinion?" His smile widened. "I now know that I was an idiot, but I hope I'm somewhat better than that."

 

"At least, you'd hope; after all, I was a bit - confused - with what was going in the other timeline, so it might just be a fluke." He laughed.

[Writer]

((Whoa, what?? We aren't on the TARDIS... are we? Did I miss something?))

 

 

Crystal laughed with him. "Oh, you've definitely changed. Maybe it has something to do with the... other timeline... but whatever the reason, you seem much more open-minded. You're still a little... stiff at times, but that's just your Jedi Masters rubbing off on you. It's not who you are inside."

 

"My goodness, Crys!" Eagle exclaimed. "Are you actually... *gasp* growing to like this Jedi?"

 

Crystal's joyful laughter echoed through the cockpit and looked over at Karda. "Maybe, just maybe we can set aside our differences and enjoy one another's company. What do ya say, Karda? Are we 'grown up' enough?" She giggled and playfully blew a kiss in his direction. Eagle let loose his equivalent of a sigh.

 

"Beware, Jedi Karda," he said teasingly. "It seems you've become... attractive to my friend Crystal Gray."

 

Crystal immediately flushed and busied herself with the readouts of the hyperspace tunnel they traveled inside.

[The Doctor]

((Alright, slight change of plans. Since JW and Rob seem to have a handle on things again, forget my last post. They're still in their ship(s). JW and I have worked it out. Sorry about that. Here's an edited version of that last post...))

 

The Doctor flicked a switch on the TARDIS, and the engines began to grind. Rose stood on his right, watching him work. A small contingent of Republic marines stood by the door, Tylor in front of them. All of them were looking up to the ceiling in awe, their mouths open.

 

The engine noise stopped for a moment. The Doctor punched in a new set of coordinates, and pulled a lever. The engines kicked in again.

 

"The Dreadless is now in one of the TARDIS' larger rooms," he informed Tylor.

 

"What about Karda and Crystal?" asked Rose.

 

"As far as I can tell, Karda's ship has docked with Crystal's. We should be able to kill their engines and materialse around them, as well. There's room for it to go along with the Dreadless."

 

((Sorry about that, JW. Let me know when you and Rob are ready. ))

[steven]

"What do you mean the Dreadless is in a room!? You haven't seen the size of the Dreadless have you? It doesn't just fit in a room..." Tylor objected, still dazzeled by what was going on.

[The Doctor]

The Doctor didn't look up from the TARDIS console as he plotted the coordinates to pick up Karda and Crystal. "The TARDIS is a big ship too," he said. "There are things in here that you couldn't even imagine - the size of the interior, for example. The TARDIS is dimensionally transindental. The interior exists in a different dimension than the exterior. I could build a room large enough to carry an entire fleet of Republic warships."

[steven]

"And all in a blue wooden box, pretty impressive Doctor." Replied Tylor, said looking around the room, the whole diffrent dimensions made no sence to him whatever but nether the less he was impressed.

"If we had technology like this, the Republic could win the war..." Tylor muttured to himself. "Hows the Dreadless crew? You wouldn't happen to have acesse to my ships computers so I can check the injury list?"

[The Doctor]

The Doctor nodded. "Rose, if you don't mind...?"

 

Rose nodded, and motioned Tylor to join her at console 2. "You can access your ship's entire databse here," she said. "You can also use the TARDIS' comm system to let your crew know what's going on."

[steven]

"Yeah, how exactly do I explain to the crew that we are currently onboard a multi-dimensions spacecraft?" Tylor took a deep breath and thought for a minute."Here we go," Tylor said before pressing the comm butten "Hey guys, It's me, Tylor. Well if you looked outside you'd see your in a room, I cant see what it's like but I'm guessing it's an extrondinary sight. Well it seems we're on a spaceship... one in a different dimension or something, it's hard for me to explain. Anyways, we're still heading to our objective, just much faster from what I can tell. I want everyone to continue your work on the Dreadless, try and get all damage fixed soon as possible. Thank you and good luck." He stopped the message and turned to the others "Now what?"

 

((how many years is this from the end of KOTOR2))