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Star Wars: The Darkness Within


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Hord just stood there, and watched as the blaster bolt entered his chest. He sank to the ground - but not entirely unconscious. He was using all of his remaining strength to ignore the tranquilizer and not slip into unconsciousness - leaving him in a very weakened state.

 

"Stopp...himm...while....he's...weakened...", Varik was able to sputter, breaking out of Hord's hold for a few seconds.

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"You" Light said pointing at the female "I need your help. We are going to bring Varik back, but we have to help him fight off Horde. We should use this time wisely, because he has exausted his physical vessel, thus weakening himself mentally. We have to journey into Varik's mind using the Force. The rest of you need to stand watch. If any of us come back and anything seems off, do not hesitate. Either knock us out swiftly, or kill us."

 

Light looked to the others for confirmation that he had been heard and that they would comply. He recognized a couple of the individuals, roughly. He had always been better with faces than names.

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The female Jedi Knight nodded. "My name is Per'dra Yllari," she said matter-of-factly, "and as for journeying into someone's mind, I've never done it. I've tried, but not succeeded." She remembered the attempt as clearly as if it were yesterday, and also her victim. Master Lenina Karos had fought her off almost immediately, however, which made her wonder: If I couldn't venture into a Jedi Master's consciousness, what makes me think I'll be able to infiltrate the mind of someone possessed by a Sith Lord? Then she became fully aware of how weak Varik/Tulak Hord was. I'll have to try, along with our new ally...

 

"On three, shall we?" Per'dra asked him gently. "One...two..."

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"On three, shall we?" Per'dra asked him gently. "One...two..."

 

"Three" Light murmered quietly in time with Per'dra.

His eyes closed, but he reached out to Varik's mind which, like the market place of most worlds, was noisy and obviously conflicted. Light noticed another presence with him, and recognized it from his brief contact before. It was Per'dra.

 

While Light had never done this before, there would be little time before Horde was back to full strength and killing him would be the only way out. This was not what he wanted, as he and Varik were friends. Light surged into Varik's mind. It was split into two, with a small part fighting off the larger part.

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  • 1 month later...

The battle for Varik's mind was brief but fierce. Hord's influence, albeit in its weakened state, still controlled most of Varik's mind. However, the combined power of the three force-users destroyed what remained of Hord's defenses.

 

The surroundings of Varik's mind changed. What was once a vast, gray void, were now the sands of the Valley of the Dark Lords. Light and Per'dra were standing in the center of the Valley, with Varik's comatose body about fifteen meters away. Standing directly behind it was a dark specter, with black robes, and an even blacker, featureless mask. In it's hand was an ancient serrated warblade, and on his belt - the hilt of a lightsaber.

 

"The Valley of the Dark Lords." Hord said in a didactically tone. "The final resting place for some of the greatest Sith in history. A Force Nexus of dark power. It was here where I led my successful campaigns of Yn and Chabosh." Several tuk'ata appeared behind him. "And here was where I created the tuk'ata, learning from the ancient tomes of Karness Muur."

 

"This place has been a catalyst for all four of our lives, a shame that you never put it to much use beyond.", he said, berating the three.

 

"This isn't the last you've seen of me. I guarantee it.", he stated, and both he and the several tuk'ata disappeared in a swirl of black mist.

 

***

 

Varik, physically battered and worn, struggled to stand. He felt like death - utterly exhausted. He fell to the ground again, and spit blood out of his mouth. He pushed himself up with a groan, clutched his side, and looked at the others with a look of shame clearly evident in his eyes. He limped quickly out of the building, and moved swiftly towards the ship. Unwilling, or unable, to glimpse at Kif's broken body, he shut himself in his quarters, locking the door. He laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

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((Adding a new character.))

 

Vlalkor watched with his blaster pistol pointed at Varik as he rose to his feet and simply let the building with a look of shame in his eyes. Vlalkor knew that he wasn't force sensative but he couldn't help but feel that something about him was different.

 

"Well...thats that I guess. We should probably regroup on the ship and discuss what happened here." He said quietly to Per'dra and the others as he turned and left the building. He was carefully following Varik just in case and he boarded the ship and watched as he ran to his bunk and shut the door behind him.

 

Something is wrong here, he couldn't help but think.

 

 

 

Dune sea

Tatooine

 

The sounds of lightsaber combat could be heard throughout the dune sea as two figures battled it out. One was wearing the armored robes of a sith warrior and was smiling a dark smile as he toyed with his opponet who was wearing the robes of the sith assassin and was using a double bladed lightsaber. The one wearing the assasin robes was quickly losing ground and was struggling to hold her own as she attempted to counter the lightsaber strikes from her foe

 

"Your life was over the moment your master died." The warrior chuckled. "You should have known that acts of mercy would result in your death."

 

The assassin brought her lightsaber above her opponet and attempted to try and strike her opponet near the neck only to have him block the attack and his lightsaber made a medium size cut on her arm.

 

"The thing you seem to forget Velros is that I was trained by Darth Toriyas herself while you trained at the feet of a lowly overseer." She gasped as she suddenly used what was left of her strength to blast the warrior with force lighting.

 

The warrior never saw it coming.

 

As the warrior roared in pain, a small opening appeared in his movements and the assassin slammed her lightsaber into the warrior's stomach and than quickly pulled it back out and slammed the lightsaber hilt against his neck, breaking his neck.

 

The assassin smiled grimly as she looked out across the dune sea and her gaze fell on her own small wrecked ship. She had been shot down and she had no idea where the warrior had hid his ship. She couldn't sense any other lifeforms.

 

Please don't let me die out here...she thought as the smiled faded and she began walking what she thought was north. She had passed over a small town when she had been coming in for a crash landing and she hoped that she was heading in the right direction.

 

I've come too far to be stopped by a desert...I've survived assassination attempts and traps and betryals from those I trusted most. I won't die! she thought, she was so tired and out of focus that she accidently transmitted part of her message through the force. Since she wasn't at full strength the message didn't go far.

 

But it went far enough.

 

 

Shan

 

Zarev muttered quietly to himself as he tried to sit up as he heard a whisper through the force.

 

Betrayels from those I trusted...Won't die...I won't die!

 

He tried to reach out through the force and tried to locate where the whisper had come from but in his weakend state he could only tell that it was from somewhere on Tatooine...

 

"Vlalkor...he said quietly as he watched the solder walk by the door. "When Per'dra is onboard...I need to talk to her. There's something wrong...someone is in trouble here. But I can't locate them..."

 

"understood sir." Vlalkor said as he headed to the bridge.

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That was, without a doubt, the worst mission I've ever tried to undertake since... Per'dra Yllari's mind reeled with anger, disappointment and the agony of defeat. Not only were we attacked by an assassin that none of us could sense through the Force, but Varik was possessed by a long-dead Sith Lord! Unbelievable! Disgusted with herself despite her training, which had taught her to suppress emotion, the Jedi Knight boarded the ship in seething silence.

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As Vlalkor continued on his way to bridge he saw Per'dra board the ship. He could tell that she was angry But he had been assigned to assist the jedi in anyway possible and since Zarev was in too much pain to move he had to ask her for him.

 

"Excuse me, Knight Per'dra. I was just visiting with Zarev and he asked if he could speak with you. He seems to think that there is someone on Tatooine in trouble but he can't get a fix on whoever it is in the force. I'm not going to say that I know about jedi stuff but I'm going to assume that it's some sort of jedi matter."

 

With that, Vlalkor turned and headed for the bridge.

 

Zarev heard some of the conversation from the medbay but the majority of it was blocked from his mind as he heard the same voice that he had heard when he had been fighting the assassin echo through his mind again.

 

Can't stop...Can't stop...Someone stop me...

 

Who are you...?he thought to himself as he tried to get a fix on the voice through the force but he couldn't sense anything except the words echoeing through his head.

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Shan

 

"Is...anything wrong?"

 

Zarev nodded. "I think that there is some sort of force sensative here. And I think that whoever it is is in trouble. Whoever it is...I was able to recieve a message through the force although I think the message was not meant to be heard."

 

Zarev lowered his head in shame. He was still too weak after his battle with the assassin to locate whoever this was. "I can tell that whoever this person is, they're on Tatooine but I can't focus in on their exact location."

 

"I'm hoping that you might be able to get an exact fix on whoever this is and direct Vlalkor to pilot the ship to their location to see if we can help. And...there is another matter...something I'm still not sure about."

 

Zarev raised his head. "I think someone is trying to contact me through the force. Something other than this mysterious person on Tatooine. I can hear the same words echoing through my head but I can't locate whoever this person is through the force."

 

He smiled sadly. "You must think I'm crazy. Hearing these voices in my head must make you think that I've gone off the deep end. But despite the remote possibility, I think this second voice could somehow help us find Voleran."

 

"The mission was harder than I ever thought it would be. Is that how you feel, too?"

 

Zarev looked up at her and smiled weakly. "To be honest, I didn't think that I was ready for a mission like this at all. But yes...I didn't expect it to be this difficult. I assumed that there would be fighting but...not on a scale like this."

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The female Jedi Knight nodded. "Varik's being overtaken by Tulak Hord certainly didn't help things. How and why in the Force did that Sith Lord target him at this particular point in time? Hord has been dead for far longer than I've been alive, and I know for certain that presences like his don't just reach for random targets when they find it convenient." She voiced a suspicion that she had never dared to before. "I'm not saying that Varik wanted to be in league with Hord, but something tells me there was an uncharacteristic weakness in our comrade's mind. A fissure in his mental armor, so to speak, upon which Hord capitalized."

 

Raising an eyebrow, Per'dra turned to Zarev. "You believe that someone is trying to contact you through the Force? I don't think you're crazy--in fact, far from it. When I was on Korriban, being tortured by the Sith in the last mission upon which I was sent, my own Master tried to do the same thing. Yun Xiaolin did succeed, and perhaps I can help you find out who's trying to succeed in contacting you. In order to do that, however..." She trailed off.

 

Folding her legs into a lotus position as she sat on the floor of the ship, she told Zarev, "Please take hold of my hands. It will help me attune to your mind, and to the frequency on which this person--or people--wants to reach you."

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Traver walked up to Varik, patting him upon his shoulder. He took a cigarette and his lighter from his pocket and smoked it. He blew the smoke right into Varik's face.

 

''Well, if these things keep happening it won't be a happy ending for any of us. And they ask me why I don't like jedi.''

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"Thanks for slicing the door.", Varik said with a grin as he sat up, seeing his friend Traver walk into the room. His pat on the shoulder reassured Varik.

 

Varik coughed as smoke blew straight into his face. Under normal circumstances, he would have punched Traver in the face, but he was too weak to exert himself at the moment.

 

''Well, if these things keep happening it won't be a happy ending for any of us. And they ask me why I don't like Jedi.''

 

"I hear ya.", he said with a groan. "Anyways, I'm going to check on Kif, care to join me?"

 

He walked down the corridor into the med-bay, where he saw Light checking up on Kif's broken body.

 

"How is he?", he asked in a worried tone.

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"Please take hold of my hands. It will help me attune to your mind, and to the frequency on which this person--or people--wants to reach you."

 

Zarev was speechless for a moment. He didn't expect Per'dra to believe him honestly but he was relieved that she did. It was nice to work with someone who had also had someone communicating with them through the force.

 

"Very well...I must warn you though...since my master died, I have been having trouble centering myself. So...just be careful."

 

Zarev, with some slight hesitation took ahold of Per'dra's hand and began tryinig to clear his mind. He succeded after a few moments just as the voice that had tried contacting him earlier spoke to him once again.

 

Stop me...Stop me...I can't stop... the voice repeated over and over in a voice that had no emotion to it. Stop me...stop me...I can't stop

 

Dune sea

Tatooine

 

Her body was failing her.

 

The assassin muttered nonsense to herself as she attempted to try and find out where she had gone wrong. She should have been able to see some sign of life even if it was a mosture farmer or a tusken raider but instead she saw nothing but endless dunes of sand as far as the eye could see.

 

I either need to find help or I'm going to die out here. She thought. She now had two options: Die out in the sands of tatooine and let the sith win by having her die.

 

Or send out a call for aid through the force and hope that someone heard her plea for help.

 

She reached out through the force, using the last of her strength to search for a mind that was force sensative, that could hear her plea for aid. Someone...anyone...help she sent through the force as the last of her strength left her and she collapsed on the sand.

 

((LDR, do you think you could have Varik pick up her distress call and notify the others?))

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((Uhh...Varik doesn't use the Force very much, but alright.))

 

"Anyways, I'm sure you're expecting an explanation to...", Varik began to say, before he picked up a message through the Force.

 

Someone...anyone...help...

 

Varik never knew he was still potent enough to receive messages. He had thought that his strength in the Force had atrophied from disuse, due to only using it to boost his combat effectiveness.

 

"I just received a message through the Force. I'm going to investigate. Light, Traver, care to join me?", Varik asked.

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Light heard fragments of the message as well, but kept it to himself as he would sometimes catch thoughts of unguarded minds.

 

Light raised an eyebrow. He was still concerned about Varik's well-being. Kif had been permanently blinded and in poor shape. However, he appeared to be recovering.

 

Light gave Varik a harmless pat on the arm and said

 

"You know I've got your back, let's go."

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Traver didn't hear anything and looked at the Jedi with their ''mind messages''.

 

He rolled his eyes and then he extinguished the cigarette with his boot. He blew out one last smoke and then softly punched Varik in his back.

 

''I'm always in for another adventure, mate.''

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Per'dra shuddered. "I hear it--him--her," she said after a long and awkwardly tense moment. "Someone does indeed need help, but it chills me that this person's voice is utterly devoid of emotion. It's almost as if he or she were being turned into a droid, and that does a disservice to droids because most of them have more personality than their voice does. I hate to say it, but it scares me."

 

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering...

 

Shaking her head as if to clear it from these unsettling thoughts, she let go of Zarev's hands. How warm and comforting they had felt, after such a colossal and heartbreaking failure of a mission! "What's your theory on our 'contact'?"

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"Someone does indeed need help, but it chills me that this person's voice is utterly devoid of emotion. It's almost as if he or she were being turned into a droid, and that does a disservice to droids because most of them have more personality than their voice does. I hate to say it, but it scares me."

 

Zarev smiled weakly as Per'dra let go of his hand. On some level he felt disappointment but he didn't really know why. "It scares me as well. I don't know why this person has been trying to contact me but I won't let whoever it is down..."

 

"What's your theory on our 'contact'?"

 

"I don't know...All I know is that I started hearing this voice very shortly after our confrontation with the assassin on Tatooine. I can't help but think somehow the voice and the assassin are connected."

 

 

 

Vlalkor had been walking past the medbay when he heard Varik talking about soem sort of distress call being transmitted through the force.

 

"If you want to, I can pilot the ship to where the distress call is coming from. All you have to do is tell me where to go."

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"If you want to, I can pilot the ship to where the distress call is coming from. All you have to do is tell me where to go."

 

"Well, this is a big ship, and might draw some more unwanted attention. Thanks for the offer though.", Varik said to Vlalkor.

 

"You know I've got your back, let's go."

 

''I'm always in for another adventure, mate.''

 

"Alright then, let's go.", Varik said, as he walked down the boarding ramp, and back onto sand. Unsurprisingly, the bodies of their previous conflict still littered the streets. They scoured numerous buildings and alleys - searching for a way of quicker travel. After bursting into a large garage, they saw numerous speeder bikes.

 

Varik jumped onto one of the bikes, and drove into the approximate direction of where the message originated from.

 

"Say, Light, doesn't this bring back memories?", Varik asked Light, remembering all of the mercenaries that he and Light cut down shortly before he left for Onderon.

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(I hope we don't have any more problems with LF eating our posts)

 

Corsail watched as Varik left the ship. He didn't understand why they had left Varik alive, he had betrayed them and almost killed the twi'lek that was working with them. He stood up and walked to the room that Per'dra and Zarev were talking,

 

"Are you two aware of Varik leaving the ship? Because he just took off on a speeder bike."

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Light spoke back over the comm link Varik had found and left for them in the garage. "Indeed."

 

He hopped on the back of his own speeder, and followed Varik in the direction he'd left in, quickly catching up to him, before falling half a speeder behind to allow Varik to lead.

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"Are you two aware of Varik leaving the ship? Because he just took off on a speeder bike."

 

Zarev looked up at Corsail sharply as he heard his voice. The full impact of what he said hit him a moment later.

 

"...You don't think that Tulak Hord managed to take control to him again do you?" he asked Per'dra quietly but not quietly enough as Vlalkor walked past.

 

"I don't think so." Vlalkor said as he walked into the room. "I heard he and that Light fellow talking. Apparently one of them picked up a distress call through the force. As far as I could tell, it sounds like someone is in trouble on tatooine so he and light went off to investigate."

 

Zarev shook his head. "Did Varik look like he did earlier when he was under Tulak Hord's control? Was he acting odd at all?"

 

Vlalkor shook his head. "No sir. As far as I could tell he seemed to be in control of himself."

 

Zarev looked over at Per'dra. "What do you think we should do?"

 

 

 

Dune sea

Tatooine

 

The sand was covering her body as she fought to stay alive despite the best efforts of the sand and the wind. She was tired...so very tired and the heat was sapping the little strength that she had left that was keeping her alive.

 

Her body was nearly totally covered in sand. Only her arms and head were uncovered by the sand and that was quickly changing. The assassin briefly opened her eyes as she heard the sound of speeder bikes approaching.

 

I really hope that that this isn't another sith lord looking for me...she thought.

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Zarev looked over at Per'dra. "What do you think we should do?"

 

"Well I say we go after them, you can't trust Varik anymore, and what if this Light fellow is an imperial spy?" His eyes flickered with anger as he spoke, "If we had just killed him to begin with it would have saved us alot of problems."

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