Dark Age of the New Republic

[Flamehart]

Strider looked at the rest of the Hunters. It was evident sheerly from his expression he wasn't exactly the happiest to be on speaking terms with the Dark Lord, but his eyes urged them, for the time being, to play along.

 

"None that I can think of. We know what we're here for, and there's some other information I need to look into while I'm here that I know this place contains," Strider answered calmly.

 

He was entirely telling the truth - he did in fact wish to locate the remains of the Sith Hunter experiment, but the other things he personally wished to locate was any records of his former Sith Lord - He presumed he had been dead, and wished to keep it that way, but he wanted to know what his last actions were prior to his death. Next, he wanted to know the experimental results on himself. He knew that when they tried to innoculate him with the age stopping agent, his body had rejected it. Whenever they tried any of the other genetic alterations, his body rejected all those as well. He wanted to know what exactly it was they must have found about him due to the failed tests, but this is not information he would disclose with the Dark Lord verbally.

[Black Knight of Keno]

"Strider. I need to warn you specifically. Your hunger for knowledge will only get greater when you get inside. The Temple was abandoned because nobody could withstand the power surges and the immense whispering the Nexuses caused inside them. Wise Scholars became Mad Scientists, Noble Warriors became Wild Beasts. You must suppress every emotion or need in your body so you won't be lured. Because the two of you are... or were my friends, Riebe and Strider, I must tell you that I am still prepared to kill any of you who is pushed beyond the edge" the Dark Lord said and walked to the entrance not too far from them. As he stepped inside, a howl was emitted from inside.

 

'The Ghosts scream for a new feast... I will not give them that' he thought and looked back to make sure the Sith Hunters were following. so they enterted the only somewhat lit corridors of the ancient Temple.

"Lord, there are several signals starting to rise up from the very bottom levels" the Colonel said via their comlink. Tepe sighed and sped up the pace.

"There are signals coming from the lowest levels. There are creatures her I do not want to meet. Block your force energies, it might distract them" he said and closed his eyes for a bit. It had become much more difficult now to block all of his energy, but he managed to do so even if he continued to lead them around in what some might even call a maze

[Flamehart]

Strider kept a map in his head of the path they were taking. Even if the temple mysteriously changed, he would at least have a fraction of an idea of familiarity. He restrained his own massive power, though keeping a hand on his hilt.

 

As they continued, he quietly replied to Tepe, "My thirst for knowledge is my own to quench. Unlike the Jedi, or the Sith, I know when to stop feeding before I can consider my eyes larger than my stomach. You would be unwise to underestimate my ability to resist the lures of the Dark Side. I've been there before and that serves as a well enough warning to indulge in it once again."

[Black Knight of Keno]

"Even the greatest fall, Strider. You were not the greatest when you fell. Falling onve does not make you immune to their lure" he said and led them into a large staircase going down to the next level and then to the next after that and to several levels even after that. The sith sighed and stopped before turning towards the Hunters.

 

"I am leading you to the most horrible machine Sith alchemy was ever involved in. You seek it to find answers and possibly turn your newer members into what you are. But have you really thought of what you will find? The Sith Lords and their skills have vanished by now. Nobody knows how to operate it or how much Dark side energy will be consumed when it is started. Nobody knows what measures must be taken after the machine has done it's work or how long it will take to fully finish the procedure. There is no manual. Are you really ready for this?" he asked and looked at them. He shook his head quietly and looked behind him at the corridors. It was not far now to the old Sith Hunter project

[Flamehart]

"The cell structure for the genetic alteration is within Riebe's cells," Strider commented, ignoring his response regarding himself. "If we really wanted to manually, it would be simple enough to recreate the cells from Riebe's genetic information if one knows what to look for. If I can bring up my own test results, finding the needed data to look for within her cells would be easy, as the tests failed on me so we'd know what to look for," Strider answered simply, then paused.

 

"Or, if we really want to make it simple to make sure it's what we're really looking for," Strider started to say, "We could easily just stick me in there. My body already rejects the genetic alterations. If all the tests fail and match the previously failed results in the records, then we know what we're looking for," finished the Sith Hunter.

[Writer]

"I remember this place," Riebe murmured softly. She pushed Tepe gently aside and took the lead. Only a few paces later, she turned down a long, narrow hallway... toward the nesting area of some of the creatures Tepe had mentioned before. But long before they came to the nesting area, Riebe dropped out of sight.

 

"I cut that hole more than 2000 years ago," she observed, looking up as the others gathered around a hole in the floor, clearly made by a lightsaber. "Let's keep moving."

 

She continued leading the way until they came to what looked like an infirmary... or what was left of one. Bits of unrecognizable medical machinery were scattered across the floor. Riebe pointed to one that was almost entirely untouched.

 

"We'll repair that one," she said. "I have a vague memory of what it looked like." She turned to Strider. "Perhaps you remember it better... didn't they put you through it more than once?"

[Flamehart]

"Yes.." Strider said, looking at Riebe. "They couldn't get it right, so they did it several times. I recall being completely conscious on one such occasion," he clarified. He moved over to the machine and looked it over. "However how to reconstruct it is a little...elusive at the moment. Riebe, you can maybe go through my thoughts to see it to get a better idea, or..." he trailed off, then turned to Tepe. "You can fix it," he addressed the Dark Lord directly.

[Black Knight of Keno]

"Unfortunately I'm not an engineer and with all these parts here laying around, I have no idea what parts go where and in which way. However, I can try something else to help you on it" he said and stepped over to a masive computer terminal. You could say that it was old because of just it's size and that it had an old binary instead of the newer one. He placed a hand on the machine and unleashed an electric shock inside it. The jolt activated it and an old file popped up. First nothing else but sound of someone screaming, then picture of Jokemaster inside the machine while several Sith Lords observing their tests subject. Tepe swiftly freezed onto a frame where they could see the machine in all it's glory.

 

"I guess that would help then. However, now several of those things roaming about know where we are" he said as a screech and a thud echoed from the corridors. They had found the hole they came throught.

"I'll step outside. You'll need all the time you can get to bring yourselves at peace with the beginning" he said, nodded and walked out. The door closed behind him and he drew out his sith swords, getting ready to take on the evil, mutated creatures. One rushed towards him. It had burning red eyes and it's body was black. At about the same size of a dog, the spider-bodied thing jumped at him only to get sliced in half and then sliced again to make sure that it was dead. The Sith Lord concentrated and took on the first flood of the critters that crawled over the floor, walls and roof. It was like something from a horror movie as the lights flickered and the report came in that the powers were starting to fail. However, the creatures did not take it to notice they were facing one of the greatest Dark Lords of the Sith since the mixing of the Sith species and the Dark Jedi or since Darth Vader, even if his powers were reduced much by the mechanical parts

[Writer]

Riebe flinched at Jokemaster's screams. As Tepe froze the image, her eyes found the image of Jokemaster's face and she stared at him in silence for several seconds.

 

"This room was one of the first places I visited during our escape," she said softly. She crossed the room, putting a hand on one of the broken machines. Instantly, she was overwhelmed by memories of her own time in the machine and she dropped to her knees, eyes squeezed tightly shut.

 

"I felt sick," she whispered. "Vomiting, shaking, aching. I knew something had happened..." Slowly, she began to shake. "They carried me here in stun cuffs and strapped me into the machine. I tried to fight, but couldn't..." The shaking grew worse. "The machine... pain... greater pain than I've ever felt. I thought I was dying..."

 

"Just fix the machine," Jahara snapped impatiently. "I can deal with pain."

 

But Riebe didn't hear her. "And then, the pain stopped. I couldn't move..." Her hands slipped from the machine and she collapsed to the floor shaking convulsively. "... couldn't stop the shaking... carried out and then dumped in... the room..."

 

Slowly her shaking stopped and her breathing slowed to normal. Slowly, weakly, she stood and opened her eyes, steadying herself against the machine. Turning to the others, she said certainly, "I can fix this..." She gripped the machine with both hands and some of the scattered pieces on the floor lifted up to surround her. From time to time, parts were wrenched from the other broken machines. Only a few moments later, the sounds of energy surging into machinery could be heard and the whirlwind of parts surrounding Riebe and the machine dropped away.

 

"It works," she said softly. "But after what you just saw of me, consider your choice very carefully. Are you willing to go through the pain of sickness and death to live a great number of years longer than any other human being?"

 

"I have come this far," Jahara answered slowly. "I will not hesitate now."

 

And so Riebe helped her into the machine...

[Black Knight of Keno]

The Dark Lord walked back inside the room, a swarm of spiders still on his tail but not for long. He launched first a chain lightning upon them, killing many and those that survived were cut down by the skillful swing of the two Sith Swords. The Sith sheathed the swords and looked over only to see everything ready.

 

"You're fast, I gotta admit. Sorry for not leaving any of those thing to you. They were fun to kill" he said as the door closed. He took a seat against the wall next to the door and watched as things started to get moving along. He leaned back and seemed to be quiet, even if in the minds of Charna and Kaoin his voice rang clearly.

 

'Get a ride to the old temple. I need you as soon as your test is over, which it should be in about twenty minutes. The Hunters won't be ready for another hour at least, so get in touch with the guards and observe the situation. I want to see you at the front entrance as soon as we come out' he told them and a slightly smug smile appeared on his lips. Some of the new immortal Hunters would die today and some would only get wounded. He had foreseen it in the start of the Sith Dominion's golden age

[Flamehart]

Strider's flashback had been quite different. He remembered when he had awoken in the room, the pain he had received had not tortured him - it had merely drawn out his anger, and caused him to struggle, not to end the pain, but to cause pain. Before long, the experiments had ceased to hurt him as they tested repeatedly, unable to discover why his body was rejecting the experiments. He felt the stinging pain of the genetic alterations, then felt an awkward twisting feeling within himself, as if his internals were turning inside out, as all the attempted changes seemed to reverse to normal.

 

Strider let out a breath and sighed, then looked to Jahara.

 

"Do not be overconfident. You will feel pain, your pride will make you vulnerable to the lures of the Dark Side that is here. Just trust us that we will try and make this as painless as possible," he said.

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Bump))

[Writer]

"I am not overconfident," Jahara answered quietly. "Only determined."

 

Riebe started the machine and turned to Tepe. "We're moving as quickly as we can... but I'm not sure how long this is supposed to take."

[Flamehart]

"I did not say you were, I merely warned you against being so," Strider remarked with a smile.

 

While Riebe was working the machine, Strider stepped away and found the datalogging computer. With some work, he was able to remove the hard drive. He plugged it into one of the working computers and booted it up, and began searching the hard drive, occasionally looking up at the others, to show he was still paying attention to the matter at hand, whilst he searched for the results of his own experiment.

[Writer]

Pain! Jahara almost couldn't believe the amount of pain she felt... or would have felt. Surprisingly, it seemed almost like an out of body experience. Though she knew how much pain her body was in, she felt more like an outside observer, feeling her own pain through the Force. Riebe on the other hand had collapsed to the ground, hands clasped tightly to her head and eyes squeezed shut.

 

And Jahara suddenly realized why she wasn't feeling the full extent of the pain; Riebe was taking as much of the pain through the Force as she could. And so began a mental battle between the two women. Weakened by the pain she'd taken from Jahara, Riebe quickly lost the battle and Jahara took the rest of the pain of the operation.

 

It took half an hour for the procedure to finish. By that point, Riebe had recovered and Jahara was almost unconscious and in no shape to do any of her own walking. Riebe put a hand on Jahara's forehead in an attempt to ease some of the residual pain.

 

"Strider," she said quietly. "Pull her out of the machine and set her down over there." She gestured to a small cot that seemed to have completely escaped Riebe's destructive rage when she entered to destroy the room 2000 years earlier.

[Black Knight of Keno]

Tepe grinned while he sat there calmly. As Jahara had gone throught the operation, the emotions it brought up were immense. The dark lord now knew why the sith Lords were so multiple in observing the operations. They were easting upon the people like leeches, just like Tepe had done right now when Jahara went throught the pain. While Riebe concentrated on taking in the pain, Tepe leeched upon the emotions but in small enought amounts that he was not notifced due to the busyness everyone faced with the operation.

 

------

 

Meantime, the Sith Council awoke from their meditations. The young Sith apprentices were released from their tests and they found themselves inside the Council Chamber.

"You have done well, Apprentices. We will inform your master about the result. Youare free to go and do whateber you wish to do"

[Flamehart]

Strider pulled her out of the machine and set her on the cot lightly. He indicated the next who was willing to go. Katherine boldly stepped forward without hesitation, looking at Strider assuredly. Strider nodded, and stepped up to the machine to set her up. He started the machine and waited. For her, he did the same as Riebe, and took into himself as much of the pain he could. His expression often flinched, or his fist clenched, but he did not stop standing, and he did not stop his focus on Katherine's pain. It had been a long time since he had felt the pain caused by this machine, caught off guard by its power, but resilient due to the many tests he had gone through.

 

Just as before, the process took thirty minutes. Katherine had, like Jahara, felt quite a great amout of pain. Strider had managed to hold through throughout the entire thirty minutes, amazingly, but a sweat was on his forehead, a rare sight for the Sith Hunter, and his skin complexion quite pale. He managed to, with some difficulty, to relieve Katherine from the machine by placing her in another cot that amazingly lived through Riebe's rage two thousand years before.

 

He quietly stumbled back to the computer he was at afterwards, returning his focus to the data being collected, as well as old, previous data, regarding himself.

[Writer]

Upon being told they were free to do whatever they wished, Charna and Kaoin went to the old temple as Tepe had told them to.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

The two former Jedi men also went through the procedure. Then, Riebe turned to Cylia.

 

"I'd offer this treatment to you, but as you're something around 4000 years old already, I scarcely think you need it," she said. Turning to Strider, she asked, "Are you finished with that computer?"

[Flamehart]

Just as she said that, he'd discovered exactly what he was looking for. She saw his eyes narrow as he read the documents left on his experiment. He pulled up documents, video feed, simulated graphics - everything, they had gone quite a step in trying to figure out why his body had rejected the genetic alterations. He played one of the video files from the actual experiment. As Strider watched it, he was able to remember the whole thing vividly. He waved Riebe over to examine if she wished.

 

He was strapped to the machine, tightly. As the experiment proceeded, he jerked around, shouting in pain. As the experiment. He skipped forward in the video - everything seemed to be the same until about halfway through. Suddenly a burst of energy knocked the experimenters back, like a shockwave. They scrambled to their feet, only to be knocked down again. The video showed the progress on the computer of the genetic alterations. They were attempting to take root and become permanent, yet as they did, another shockwave burst from Strider's body, a high Force energy reading was emitted each time, and the genetic alterations, one by one, were erased from his system.

 

Strider played another video - his body was motionless throughout the entire half hour experimentation. However, the video's focus was on the data - The violent waves of Force Energy had vanished from the experiments, and were replaced now with just instant removal of genetic alterations. It was as if the Force was shielding him from any outside interference.

 

The idea of this left a shiver down Strider's spine. Just the thought reminded him of Tanith Vessa, and how because she had practically become one with the Dark Side, it had healed her from every wound.

 

Finally, realizing this was wasting valuable time, he shut down the computer and removed the hard drive once more. "I'm taking this with me," he said shortly, and the others knew that it would be impossible to talk him out of it otherwise. "Let's go," he said finally.

[Black Knight of Keno]

As everyone left, Tepe stood by the door and waved his hand across the room, destroying everything inside but the now working machine and the computer, making it seem like he destroyed the room. The Sith Order might need them some more now that they were fixed again. He then left and sealed the door before they would make their way.

'Make sure we are ahead of you and then leave the control room. I want you slowaly tailing us out so we can have a little confrontation outside' Tepe sent out to the Colonel, took the small earpiece and destroyed it inside his fist before dropping it onto the ground.

 

"So, it seems you got all you need. Are you satisfied enought to now stop bugging me for a while?" he asked with a slight smirk on his face. He knew the answer would be negative, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"You know, the Jedi broke in two. It seems I have ended up protecting Ossus from the Jedi on Coruscant. It would be a shame if the planet and the legacy of the Skywalkers would fall, huh?" he asked anf without a break for them to answer, he added yet another report of his activities.

"Charna has become powerful. She exceeds Kaoin, who I have trained for the last fifteen years. You should be proud of her. You made her into what she is, Riebe. she used to have great respect towards you and wanted to be just like you. But to think it only took a few words towards the other direction and she fell. It just shows you how influencable ambitious people are" he noted and winked towards their ambitious side as they planned to overthrow the Dominion. He knew it. He would be the same if he was in their position. By now there were four sides in the inter-force war. True and False Jedi, the Sith Hunters and the Sith Order. It was getting crowded

[Writer]

"Do not thank Riebe for Danni's fall," Jahara said quietly, slowly beginning to regain her strength. "The actions of a person fall only on that person. Danni became Charna because she already had that inclination, not for any efforts you may have put out. You were the means, not the cause."

[Black Knight of Keno]

"Such a nasty mouth your new pet has, doesn't she? She's young and does not yet know the facts of life. Words bring ideas before you can form ideas on your own. When you cry in your childhood, it is because you have no other way of expressing yourself, but when you grow up and hear people talk, you get the idea to start blabbering yourself. You see people climb stairs, you try to climb stairs. Something must lead to the inevitable causality. Arrogance helped me, but she did not think in any way that she would ever betray the Jedi Order. But the arrogance itself is due to causality. Because she wanted to become like Riebe, she did her all and became what she invisioned, becoming arrogant towards others. So I do have Riebe to thank to, Young Hunter" he said and look up ahead at the hole that was starting to get closer.

[Writer]

Riebe laughed softly. "My dear Tepe, please don't confuse my apprentice's mind with concepts above her understanding. She's been through quite enough today, don't you think?"

[Black Knight of Keno]

Tepe chcukled softly and patted Riebe's shoulder. He really didn't have anything personal against Riebe or Strider, but when you have to do something, you have to do it. They got to the hole and started climbing or jumping up one at a time. After making sure everyone was there, they left for the final trip to the entrance. As they got there, the guards came from behind them, marching past them and outsidem setting themselves down for a rest. They had nothing to do with what was going to happen next. The Sith apprentices were there also and Tepe walked to them.

 

"You did well on your tests, I believe. Very well then. Meet the new Sith Hunters, the fourth party to our inter-force war, as I call it" he said to the apprentices before looking back at the Hunters with a smirk.

"Isn't it ironic that a Sith is protecting the only line of True Jedi left?" he said and chuckled before withdrawing from the entrance. He would let them out if they so wanted, but a confrontation was what they were going to get.

"So, how about a rematch now that we're even?" he asked and drew out his swords

[Flamehart]

Strider raised an eyebrow, and grabbed his hilt from his blade. He would have smirked, and found this a challenege, but something was up, he knew it. He could sense it. The dark blue blade ignited, and he waited for the rest of the Hunters to do so as well. He began to establish their familiar mind connection that they had always done, as it would lead to their advantage. Katherine and Cylia stepped forward next to Strider, Cyla ignited her red blade, and Katherine activated hers. Strider looked around his fellow Hunters and sent a thought message to all of them.

 

"Do not break the bond. Keep focused on the fight. Keep your guard up, something isn't right, and I don't like it."

 

With that, he turned back to face Tepe. Strider reached up to his forehead and pulled his red headband down, over both of his eyes, and smirked. He only waited for Riebe to accept the challenge.