Jharmeen leaned back against the cushions of her seat, toying a bit with the goblet as her son approached her and sent a tendril of respectful inquiry into her mind. Then, as if unsure as to whether he should have entered into the ring of his elders, he left, leaving the link clearly open between them.

Thus it was that she in turn clearly read the message coming in from Elresar concerning...

A being from a higher plane? Curiouser and curiouser....

She sent a whisper along the link into Jharu's mind.

"I shall come to you soon, my child, that you might divulge to me that which has sent you to me this morning. Or perhaps... a question, was it not? I will wait until later in the day for this; there is much happening here in Phrinnchatka which unfortunately at the moment must take full command of my attention. I will contact you later, son."

With that she quieted, leaving that tendril linked silently into her son, and returned her focus to that which the somewhat nervous Panthar was about to reveal. Her calm aspect began to deteriorate somewhat as, very carefully, he began explaining his experience at the site he had uncovered.

A sealed chamber in solid rock. A skeleton... and a crystal. A white flash in response to human touch....

She couldn't help the frown which now came to her face, nor the shudder which coursed through her slender body.

A flash of light....

One hand raised to the Glyph on her forehead, which unconsciously was beginning to escalate a bit up the spectrum, now shining in a brilliant blue-white frequency becoming extremely difficult to look upon.

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

“What happened after that was like a dream, a very vivid one that I couldn’t wake up from. It was like I was doing all sorts of things, but I had no control over it. And a pair of voices were always there, one babbling all sorts of nonsense and the other always prying me for information. What words to use for different things, how to book passage on a ship, that sort of thing. I figured out eventually that the prying one was in charge of my body, and I couldn’t figure out how to take it back. I resented that and fed it as much false information as I could, but it just reached in and took most of what it needed.”

Panthar leaned back in his chair.

“And eventually we ended up meeting these people and landed here. It seemed to relax a bit, did some discovery, and we came to an understanding of sorts. It even gave me back control. Although, early this morning when it thought I was sleeping, the two of them talked. Oh, and before that he pulled out this Eye of Roose thing... And now it gets even weirder…”

Panthar looked up and stopped. More people were approaching the table, and these were folks he had not seen before.

“Um, we have company.” Panthar looked to Shayla. “Do you know these people?”

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

...and seeing; it had not escaped her keen eyes that something about Panthar's words seemed to chip away at Lady Jharmeen's calmness.

And all this talk about sealed chambers and possession and light...

...glowing, red light?

Shayla frowned, jerking herself into reality. At this point, the Lady had seemed to regain her former coolness...

...yet that strange thing upon her forehead still shone brightly...

...so brightly, in fact, that Shayla couldn't even look directly at it. So instead she turned her gaze towards the newcomers...

...and immediately recognized Jasyn Lancaster, Dash Kelderon, and their other companion.

"Yes, I know them," she said, nodding slightly. "These are the people I referred to on Sullust, whom I was helping. They too are looking for Galen Danner and have, at least by all appearances, been misinformed concerning her last known whereabouts as well..."

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

"Misinformed? What the kriffing hell do you mean, misinformed...?!"

For a long moment he stood stone quiet then, sending a brown-eyed glare in Shayla's direction. Then he looked around a bit and took a look at the other parties in the room...

...including a woman with long red hair...

...which he could barely make out for the brightness of some glowing whatchamacallit on her forehead.

He squinted his eyes reflexively.

Ok, could be a sister of Galen's; she had red hair anyway, and Stargazer sure seemed to have found her and latched on rather quickly. And aside from that, she certainly appeared to be a human in control of an otherwise Sith joint, so...

"I'm Jasyn Lancaster, and I'm here looking for a woman named Galen Danner...

...and since you sure fit the description of a woman named Graysith who was said to be her sister and someone she might have sought out for help after coming here...

...I'd sure love to know how I've been misinformed..."

[ 07-01-2003 07:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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“Hey, I’m in the middle of a story here? Pleased to meet you, I’m Panthar Dantares. Now, hold your tongues and let me talk… Now where was I…? Ah, nevermind, the mood’s ruined.”

Panthar leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, sighing heavily.

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

“What does history say of the original Eye of R’lous?” he sent.

The Revealer immediately displayed the reply: The Eye was stolen by the traitor Telanicus and destroyed in a rescue attempt.

“And what of the Sith magick? Did it not dwindle?”
The Magick survived in the blood, strengthened by a new Eye.

“But then, could the original eye not have survived?”
The Magick may channel through one eye only

“Yet the original Eye DID survive,” Phalomir thought to himself. “It is in my possession. What changes then did my father bestow upon the Eye?” He then sent to the Revealer “What accomplishments was Trelanicus known for, before his treachery?”
Research and discovery of possible ways to harness the mythical All force as an eternal source of energy and Magick

“And did he succeed?”
Undocumented

“And what was his treason?”
Trelanicus refused to share his findings with the other Dark Lords and threatened to destroy all traces of his work. He fled with many sorcerers to Blesphmar, now known as Agamar, and was killed by warriors many months later.

Phalomir cut the link. “All history is written by the victors,” he thought. He felt a sudden pull, as if someone was trying to magically link to him. The sword?

“It is time now to return,” he thought. “The sword must wait.”

Phalomir snapped back to Panthar. He opened his eyes and took in his surroundings, and helped himself to some of the meat on the plate set before him. Panthar had been busy, and Phalomir immediately set to discovering the morning’s memories, growing slightly pale as Panthar allowed Phalomir to instantly access the memories related the young day’s events. He glanced up to Lady Jharmeen and regarded the glyph on her forehead.

[ 07-01-2003 10:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by patternghost ]

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I shall have to find time alone with this one, to discover the rest, she thought to herself as she now turned to the glowering Jasyn Lancaster, letting her gaze sweep over him and on to where Shayla stood with something of a puzzled look upon her face. She let a small smile grace her features and rose to her feet, spreading her hands out to either side of herself as she did so.

"I am sorry to hear you have been misdirected, good Sir," she now said, directing her words to Jasyn. "Perhaps we can help you in some manner before you must leave us? For indeed, there is no one here by the name of Galen Danner... and...."

She allowed her words to trail off as she now turned to Shayla and Erik. Though she spoke directly to them, it was evident her next statement was meant for other ears.

"I am the Lady Jharmeen Q'utaro," she said simply. "I have no sister... nor do I know who or what this Graysith is."

She paused then, returning to Panthar. By now he seemed to be a bit distant, withdrawn, yet incongruously enough seemed to be contemplating the Glyph on her forehead, his eyes oddly intense. Almost as if....

Almost as if he recognized it somehow.

She drew in an quick breath and just tilted her head to one side, watching him watching her, aware of the growing discomfort of those present, remaining silent as she let a tendril of her essence begin to creep silkily into his mind.

That look....

She had to know.

[ 07-01-2003 11:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

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

A ripple coursed through Graysith as Phalomir introduced himself. It was not a reflexive action toward this surprising turn, for Panthar's strange behavior and stranger dissertation had been leading her to believe that something of this nature was the root cause of it. Nor was it surprise at the ease with which she did find Phalomir.

But Trelanicus....

She frowned, the name unknown to her, yet somehow evoking that instinctive ripple.

As does mention of the Eye, she thought to herself, now bringing her focus back to the patiently waiting spirit. In her mind, she bowed her head in greeting.

"I too desire a meeting with you, when the time is right," she thought to him. "Indeed, there is much to learn from this."

With that she withdrew the tendril and turned her attention to the group at large. Shayla remained with her husband, looking somewhat doubtful and Jasyn appeared to be the epitome of a towering stormcloud, his companion somewhat calmer. The blue-skinned Ch'iss was cheerfully helping himself to breakfast... while Panthar looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Graysith's lips flickered into the briefest of smiles.

Indeed, or is hosting one. Or more.

At length she spoke.

"I would be more than compliant with assisting you in your search for this Galen," she began smoothly, now moving to finally select some food for herself. She turned back to the group, plate in hand.

"However, it is a rather large galaxy; we have been removed from it here for millennia, and I'm afraid we might be a touch behind in our knowledge of things current. I really feel we would be more of a hindrance than a help to you; you must accept my apologies that I do not see how I can assist you further other than by revealing this person you seek is simply not here."

With that she glided to the richly glowing dining table and sat down at one end. Daintily she began to eat.

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

"It was a trial by error. The original clone had failed..."

"It was disposed of, correct?"

"Y-yes, they've been terminated. Now lets see the Skywalker blood cells..."

Romanus blinked back into reality. For a moment, he thought he was outside...whatever this place is. Then he realized his hand was resting on a window, and that he had been staring out of it before more memories appeared.

But these visions were entirely new. He had never seen them before.

Romanus stepped back from the window and touched his forehead.

This planet's having a weird effect on me... he thought, trying to sense any distinct change in his ability to use the Force.

And there's still the Imperial fleet to take care of.

Romanus had almost forgotten about them during his stay here, and its probably the main reason why he's still alive. He quickly pushed the thought out of his head and began walking down the hallway, heading back to the lounge.

See if I can finally get some sleep around here...

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

"I do not see how I can assist you further other than by revealing this person you seek is simply not here."

Jasyn scowled, really wishing he could kick something...

...or drink something...

...about then.

Kriffing Hell, what is the matter with the Universe...?

"If you cannot help us any further, then I think it would be best we take our leave now, before more time is wasted."

With nothing more than that Jasyn fell silent, his brown eyes intense as he simply waited.

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

"My warriors are at your disposal to escort you back to where you ship remains, safe and sound," she purred in a pleasant tone of voice.

"Again, I regret being unable to help you in your search for this woman, and I wish you good fortune in finding her."

With that she nodded to the nearby Salandaar, who clamped his fist across his chest in turn, bowing to her before departing to summon up the escort of which Graysith had spoken.

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

"Fire her up, and let's get to the skies."

Without a word Matt nodded, quickly warming up the engines of the ship as everyone else strapped in, Jasyn in the copilot's seat and Jebbua and Dash right behind. After a few minutes of warming the ship properly, Matt turned, quirking a brow at Jasyn.

He merely nodded, and Matt turned, his hands dancing across the navboard as he took them to orbit around the planet of K'eel Doba.

Only then did Jasyn turn back towards Dash, barely paying Jebbua any heed. "Something just doesn't gel here," he said simply. "I don't know where else to go from here, and I just don't see how Aaron could be so wrong. I just can't help but remember how Aaron said Galen and her sister weren't always on good terms...

...and how he mentioned that Terrin--

--who is oh-so-conveniently not with us anymore--

--had a blood oath with her so Galen could be protected. The story is just to gradiose to be fiction..."

For a moment Jasyn trailed, then, "Are you certain you can't sense Galen here?"

But before Dash could answer that question, Matt suddenly cleared his throat, breaking into the discussion with one damning question.

"Ummm...what do the words Imperial blockade mean to you?"

Then he turned intense green eyes to the readout on the screen of the highly spruced-up ship, looking dead at a mass of ships just out of the normal sensor range...

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

He gave his head a short nod, and flipped open a comm to the officer on deck to let him know that this one wasn't going to get away.

Not again....

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

“That was… interesting,” he said.

As are certain things you have been saying about the nature of the Sith’s position in the galaxy. I should certainly like to catch up on my history.

He turned to Shayla. “I appear to have caught the oratory mood once more, should I continue with my story or must you attend to other matters?”

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

I'd rather be dead.

I finished about the eleventy-millionth circuit about the creepingly cold stone floor and had sunk down on the stone bench, my face in my hands, my fingers coiled in my hair, and was steeling myself to battle off yet another onrush of despair when the dank door opened...

...to reveal a brilliant inburst of light, in the midst of which was framed a familiar tall and slender form.

I blinked, striving to gain my vision against the light. The silhouette swayed and tilted toward me. An impossibly thin arm waved out to one side.

"If you please," the Kaminoan said politely. "You must come with me, this way."

I blinked again against the surreality of it all.

No way. This wasn't happening; it couldn't be happening... could it?

I rose to my feet, marveling at how compliant I had become to a probable hallucination, and followed the ethereal form like a lovesick puppy. We entered into a dirt-smeared hallway, dripping with water....

Cold, SEA water.

...and traversed it for a seeming eternity. My legs started cramping from being so suddenly exercised after the inactivity they had just been subjected to; it was with something close to relief that I greeted the cool metal coiling stairway which rose abruptly to meet us.

The Kaminoan halted at its base, a foot on the bottom rung.

"This way, please," she said, easy as pie, as if she were leading me to a tete-a-tete with the Prime Minister himself. What could I do? I blinked yet again, and let her lead me up those eternal stair, which after a hefty climb spilled us out into a corridor of the pristine white one usually associates with Kamino.

"Where are we--" I attempted, but swallowed the rest when I was led up to a door. My improbable guide merely stepped to one side, indicating the door with a wave of one hand.

"In there, please," she said, still impossibly polite.

I hesitated, wavering between a kind of unthinking obedience, overwhelming curiosity, and plain common sense. But the choice was taken out of my hands as that door opened, revealing two more white-coated Kaminoans, who came forth like a pair of angelic cockroaches and took me by each arm. They didn't say one word as they dragged me into that room, a kind of laboratory.

No. More of a... surgical room.

My blood iced and I froze in their grasp. Then I began kicking and yelling, struggling for all I was worth. My efforts were short-lived, however, as from nowhere there came a hiss against my neck and everything went fuzzy and black....

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

Fine. If that's the way he wants it, he can continue on his own, she thought a bit disgustedly.

Jerking from these thoughts then, Shayla tilted her head slightly towards Dantares, finally answering his question, her greeny-blue eyes intense. "No, I have nothing further to...

...attend to."

With that she said not another word more, but merely fell silent, her thoughts for a moment straying to the inescapable void in her mind.

Hard to attend to matters which you can't even remember...

[ 07-02-2003 09:40 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Or was it Phalomir's...?

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

“They were of course found, and all were killed. Except for his son, Phalomir, and one squire, Thoran; their spirits were placed inside of a crystal known as the Eye of R’lous, while their bodies turned to stone. The second squire escaped with the bodies to hide, but he too was eventually captured and the bodies taken as statues and thrown into a storage room. The cave where Trelanicus was murdered was accidentally sealed in an explosion and the crystal sat there with its prisoners until Pan… until I stumbled upon it and freed the souls. Regrettably, they are trapped inside me until they find a way to return to their own bodies. And poor Thoran has gone insane from the years of protecting his liege.”

“I do not expect you believe this, but I swear it is true. Mrs. Petrolu, I said I would pay you to bring me here, and so I shall. Lady Jharmeen, Phalomir has much he wishes to discuss with you if you would permit it.”

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

Tractor beam...

Beside him, Jasyn whirled to face the viewport, his brown eyes wide. "Kriffing hell, do something, dammit, and do it now!"

Matt spared a moment to shoot a green-eyed gaze in Jasyn's drection. "Let's see, yacht against a slew of Impy ships...

...you do the math, there's nothing we can do but power down and hope they don't want to make our visit...

...extended."

With that Matt turned to the navboard and worked to shut systems down before they could overload, not missing the dark look in Jasyn's eyes nor the way his hands were suddenly fisted.

"Kriffing hell..." he muttered again.

And with that, the cockpit of the yacht fell ominously silent with the approach of the SSD's hangar. Matt couldn't help but frown himself. "You know," he said as the ship touched the tarmac, "The Sith sure have seemed to grab someone's attention. I hope they aren't expecting us to know anything about the planet we just came from..."

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

Suddenly the ship lurched, throwing me 1uickly back to life. "What's going on here?" I queried, before I got a chance to evaluate the situation around me.Here we go again. Another blockade. But here?!? How do they even know about this place.

I reached out with the force again, this time focusing on the inhabitants of the ship we were currently docked in. The ship touched down in the landing bay.

"Reborn! Be on your guard. And don't bother trying to hide anything from them. They can sense if you are hiding something."

I realized that AGAIN we were weaponless. This is becoming rediculous!

"Let's just be co-operative, and be in and out ASAP. We have other more important things to attend to!"

[ 07-03-2003 08:29 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dash Kelderon ]

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Fascinating, she thought to herself, never once moving her eyes from him as he continued to speak, first to her and then turning to Shayla before finally finishing up, his hazel eyes again directed respectfully toward her. She blinked slowly, returning that gaze with an intensely interested one of her own as she leaned forward.

"Indeed," she breathed, giving her head a short nod. "I am more than willing to entertain the rest of your-- that is, Phalomir's revelations.

"But not here."

In one smooth motion she rose to her feet, placing the goblet on the table after taking a final drink from it. In a motion equally as smooth, she sent a private tendril into Panthar's mind. Now that she understood that strange sensation of multiplicity she had received the first time she touched it so, the incongruous intermingling of Sith-and-human no longer alarmed her. The tendril flowed easily into his mind, probing, sorting between the personalities until she found the unmistakable signature of Sith.

"Of course you would have us continue in more... private surroundings?" she thought directly to Phalomir. "I am not one to bandy about; it is clear to me that what you have yet to speak is for no other ears but mine."

She paused a moment, then removed the tendril. After taking a moment to compose herself, she turned to Shayla and Erik.

"It is obvious to me that there are yet questions within you, else you would have taken your leave with the others. But for now... questions enough have been answered.

"We shall continue this meeting at a later time. Please, feel free to explore the Temple; my warriors will clearly mark those places within its halls where you may not gain entry. You are free to move about the city as well, but keep in mind to take a care: the Sith do not mingle well with humans, as a whole."

She pushed back her chair, turned and moved gracefully from the table, leaving a trailing tendril into Panthar's mind in her wake.

"Contact me along this," she directed, taking care to place a block at her end of that tendril that, while allowing an alarm of sorts to trigger, would not allow mental probing of any other into her own thoughts.

"I will then join you, or direct you as to where you might join me."

She paused at the door leading into the Dining Hall, turning halfway back to the people who yet sat at the richly gleaming table.

"Enjoy your day," she said simply, then departed, now reaching forward with another tendril to discover the whereabouts of her son. She found him in a private spot of his own choosing, where he seemed to be meditating.

For a moment she simply stood in silence, watching him quietly. Then she announced her presence there.

"You had something of great importance of which to speak to me, Jharu," she said evenly. "I am quite interested to hear exactly what it is that has sent you to me in so concerned a manner."

[ 07-03-2003 10:49 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Soon they will be forced to open a hatch, or they will suffocate, he mused as he continued watching. And it seemed that no sooner had that idle thought crossed his mind than just that very thing occurred. The little yacht now gave forth every appearance of screaming its outrage at being tractored, the open hatch a darkly yawning mouth in its otherwise brilliant white exterior.

Captain Landarian nodded and set his teacup down with care. He knew exactly what was occurring within that little yacht: the rising trepidation, the shock and disbelief that Imperial forces should be encountered here, the hearts nervously beating as they awaited the march of Reborn troops entering into their craft.

No more, he thought as he rose to his feet. Too risky; no longer will our troops, as elegantly powerful as they are, be threatened with ambush, as improbable as that might seem. Our engineers and designers have come forth with a far better solution.

He smiled, thinking about it. In the exact manner in which the inter-lacing of a blockading fleet's tractor beams were used to form an inpenetrable shield about a planet, such beams were installed within the hangars of Imperial flagships, albeit on a much smaller scale. This was fairly new, and only certain flagships sported this newly developed technology; indeed it would take years for all ships to be so outfitted. But Relentless, as well as Catalytic and Sormontato held this new defensive device; his smile widened as he recalled the demonstration vid he had been shown, not too long ago, which explained how this worked and what would happen to a ship trying to wiggle out of it.

It wasn't pretty.

A powerful electric field was set up around the captive ship, and a magnetic field was induced about it. Beneath that field, no devices -- at least none using electricity as a power source or in its systems -- could operate. Any attempt to use energy weapons simply backlashed to the offending ship, for the simple fact that it just did not have the electrical oomph to short out a Super Star Destroyer. On a good day, every circuit in the captive ship would be destroyed in that back-washing power surge. On a bad day, enough energy could be returned to actually explode the ship.

Landarian stretched luxuriously and headed to the bridge. There he met the officer on deck in an impromptu debriefing, before heading to the communications section. He leaned over the ensign who already had piggybacked an open channel into the yacht.

"State your name, planet of origin, destination... and exactly why you were found in orbit around a planet within this system."

His indifferent finger hit the transmission switch.

[ 07-03-2003 02:03 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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I paused a breif moment. "I hail from wild space, and wish to return there with my friends. If you would be so kind as to let us pass through your extraordinary looking blockade, it would be greatly appreciated. As you have probably already confirmed with your scans, we are weaponless. And mean no harm. We simply wish to leave this planet that we came to in error."

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

A frown flickered across her visage.

"Wait, child," she ordered, turning away from him to sense out with her talents.

Indeed, she had been remiss. There was another matter needing tending to before she would feel free enough to discuss with Jharu whatever it was that had been troubling him.

She nodded to herself, turning back.

"I shall return shortly, son," she whispered, then left as quietly as she had come.

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

She came upon him in his own secret spot, where he had retreated to prepare himself for his upcoming battle with Roan. He knelt within, a single candle glowing softly in front of him, lighting the strong planes of his face with its gentle light as he reached deeply within to commune with that part of him that Jharmeen knew well and good existed there.

That essence of fire and strength, over which his warrior's heart held sway... and up until recently, guided by quite another area of that great heart.

She paused in the doorway, leaning against it's frame, simply watching him, all the while aware that even in his meditations he was aware of her there. A logical part of her psyche rose up, presenting her with the oddity that she ought to be running to him instead of just standing; that she should be holding him and bestowing upon him all the love she could to further strengthen him for his upcoming battle. For although that love had been removed, the memories of it were still there.

Yet all she could do was stand there, drawn here to let him know that on the morrow, when he faced Roan, he had her permission to use every bit of strength and wile at his disposal.

Or was that all....

She jerked as his head came up, watched him as he knelt there, his broad back still presented to her. For a moment her mouth worked; then she spoke.

"I have come to grant you that which you requested, Recinis," she said smoothly. A lengthy silence followed; Recinis appeared to nod, then tilted his head back to its former aspect. Jharmeen knew his eyes were beginning to close in meditation once again; she turned in the doorway, prepared to leave, but something stopped her.

"My love for you has not disappeared, Recinis," she whispered, all the time wondering just what it was that prompted her to be saying this.

"It is simply... elsewhere."

Now she continued her turn.

"Go with strength on the morrow, Recinis," she said simply, finally ending with. "Indeed, the best warrior shall emerge victorious."

Then she left, her footfalls soft and ghostly against the stones of the temple flooring, and soon found herself back in that spot where her son was waiting for her return.

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