Curious as to the strange workings of what his companions referred to as a Portal, the Verpine watched closely as Shayla, Aaron and Panthar stepped into the strange, black rift and disappeared from sight. Thus it was that he was able to observe what happened when Lord Aelvedaar followed suit.

The spacetime rip, rather than remaining black and writhing, suddenly seemed to freeze. This strange state of affairs was immediately followed by a burst of color which flared forth, casting a weird, chromatic shadow on the floor of Aelvedaar's sanctum sanctorum. The colors had scarcely faded, when the Portal simply disappeared.

The insectoid engineer cocked his head, and chattered his mandibles for a moment. Then he turned to Aeylmaar, who was off studying images in the Crystal Octahedron.

"Usual, is this?" he asked, his manner nonchalant due to the tough carapace which prevented him from any emotional displays. Giving another clack of his mouth-parts, he approached the young Heir Apparent, who had turned round in surprise to face him.

"Strange colors, from the Portal came," K'kihl elaborated, pointing to the ominously empty spot formerly occupied by the rip. "After the sorcerer, departed he had."

He allowed his mandibles to clatter a final time as he let his arm drop, then fell silent.

[ 10-18-2007 11:47 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by K'kihl ]

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"I hope nothing untoward has happened to them," he then went on, as the very real possibility of such a thing happening raised its face. He shot the insectoid a worried look, then turned back to the Octahedron.

"Show me the whereabouts of Shayla, Aaron and Panthar," he stated, then stood in silence while after much writhing and roiling the greeny-goldness resolved into the three, standing amidst rich and thick greenery. Another command to the device that it show him the system occupied by this planet revealed that they had ended up on Dagobah, as intended.

But Lord Aelvedaar was nowhere to be seen.

Aeylmaar gulped slightly, then issued another command, this time that the Octahedron show him where his adopted father was located. In much less time than before, the image developed of the Dark Lord dangling unceremoniously from a tree branch. It did not take long for the young Sith to determine upon what celestial body that tree was planted.

"Endor," he burst out, momentarily overwhelmed.

"My father has somehow been ported to Endor!"

After allowing himself a few seconds to get himself back under control, he turned to the Verpine.

"I cannot open a Portal there to retrieve him; indeed, as it is obvious that something has disturbed the normal workings of portals this would more than likely be an unwise thing to do. I am certain my father would not risk opening another, else he would have done so by now."

He swallowed, eyeing the Verpine with rising anxiety.

"I-- I do not know what to do," he finished, his voice becoming more worried and forlorn by the minute.

[ 10-18-2007 06:22 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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"More usual, there are, methods of travel," he asserted, giving his head an emphatic nod to take the sting out of his words. For either the young Sith had forgotten what the others had discussed mere moments ago, or he had not paid any attention to them at the time.

He was certainly paying attention now; the Verpine nodded again, and continued.

"These ships, they are where?" he queried. "Know I how to navigate; to Endor can I travel, Lord Aelvedaar there to rescue," he finished.

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

But now--

"You are right, my good friend," he finally said as he raised his head. Going then to a bell-pull, he summoned a servant who was quick to arrive. He then instructed the sith to guide K'kihl to the private hangar once utilized by Darth Wicked, where a few ancient TIE fighters and interceptors were yet berthed. The servant bowed, and took a step back, holding out a hand toward the door to indicate the direction in which K'kihl might move.

Aeylmaar watched as the Verpine first nodded to him, then headed out.

"Go with speed and safety, my friend," he called out to the departing insectoid. "May the gods watch over you; I promise that I shall."

As good as his word, he turned back to the Octahedron, commanding it to continually present him with the image of K'kihl's whereabouts. Thus it was that he watched as the Verpine was taken to a small patch of heavy undergrowth, interspersed by moss-dripping trees. The servant seemed to speak to him a moment, then stepped far back as K'kihl disappeared into the dense greenery. After a moment or two, the Verpine reappeared and approached the servant. He held something out to him, which the Sith accepted before stepping even farther back from where he had first positioned himself in the surrounding greenery. From that vantage point he watched as the Verpine disappeared for a second and final time.

After a moment or two, the plants which hid the secreted hangar shriveled in the heat of exhaust as a sleek interceptor burst forth, heading upward. The servant appeared to watch it's departure for a moment or two before then turning about to trek back to the temple, the object K'kihl had given him clutched tightly in his hand.

Aeylmaar nodded to himself, and laid a clawed hand against the cool crystalline surface of the magickal device.

"Thank you, my friend, for reminding me who and what I am," he whispered, closing his eyes a moment to think, then opening them as after a bit K'kihl's escort glided up behind him and placed a portable communications device upon the stones at his feet.

Aeylmaar only smiled, and then settled himself down to watch attentively over the Verpine's interstellar flight.

((OOC: K'kihl departs for Endor in If You Go Out in the Woods Today in the "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

[ 10-18-2007 01:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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But nothing. The magickal device remained ominiously black.

No, he amended to himself with growing consternation.

Not black.

BLANK.

He shivered then, wrapping his arms about himself as the realization that he was quite cut off from everybody slammed home to him, before the thought struck him that there were other, simpler magicks which perhaps would prove useful. Going to where his adopted Father kept his potions and wards and strange machines and bits and pieces of the natural world, he quickly mixed up a scrying potion. This he took to the fireplace, and tossed it into the flame.

The flames turned a magnificent shade of cyan, but otherwise did nothing but snap, crackle and pop.

The chill coursing through Aeylmaar's veins grew glacial in proportions and he staggered back, falling onto a nearby couch as heavily as the descending acceptance that all he could effectively do at this time was just...

Wait.

And hope K'kihl would find his father and bring him safely back to Khar Delba. Perhaps then they could begin to figure out exactly what had gone so terribly, terribly wrong with the Universe...

((OOC: To see what happened to cause this, see page 7 this date, in Out of the Unknown in the "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

[ 11-16-2007 02:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aeylmaar ]

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With a start he realized it was the incubator... and it wasn't empty.

"Healers!" he shrieked as with a leaping bound he went to where the device stood in mocking silence. His clawed hands went to its crystalline surface, seeking purchase as if by dint of will he could bring it back to life once more. But the wonderful machine stood silent, and deep within its shadowy depths he could see a tiny, suspended form.

"Hea-" he began again, only to be jostled roughly aside by three or four Sith who appeared as if what little magick that might yet remain bound itself together to make this so. He staggered back, his head turning from side to side as he sought something, anything he could use to help, but when his wide-eyed glance came full circle it was to the realization that someone had somehow broken the delicate and magickal device. Strange waters flowed about his feet, wetting the hem of his robes; the stamp of rushing footsteps filled his ears as en masse the Healers who had come to his panicky cry departed. In their comforting arms they bore a tiny form off to the nether regions of the temple, there to seek archaic forms by which they could yet sustain this young human's life.

One remained behind.

"Fear not, young Lord," he said softly. Then whirling, he followed his companions, and soon Aeylmaar found himself, blinking in shock, quite alone in the shadowy rooms of his father's great Inner Sanctum.

The majority of which was now completely useless.

[ 12-27-2007 04:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aeylmaar ]

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As they drifted off into hyperspace and Shayla was satisfied the navboard was set properly, she turned to the others.

"Well, I guess we're all squared away," Shayla said evenly. "Our ETA is approximately 5 standard hours...

...and I'm assuming someone is making some caf, because I don't recall seeing anyone with it when I entered the Red Level lounge on the Hornett...

She trailed then, first eyeing Erik,then Panthar, and finally Jasyn and Matt.

[ 03-07-2008 10:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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"Harrrier this is Eagle II. I copy that frequency of 789.231; will commence search planet-wide for locator signal concurrent to search for human and Ryn life sigs. Tell the Big Guy not to worry; if that's the planet he's hunting for, and the stuff he's talking about is there, I'll find it.

"I've had a little bit of experience in this kind of thing, you know.

"Eagle II, out."

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

Panthar closed his eyes and leaned his head back into his seat.

“Or maybe just try to remember what we’ve all been doing lately? I mean, Phal and Gray are supposed to be getting Thoran and Tarnus and coming back to Khar Delba. Aelvedaar was taking us to go get Galen and help with Erik and Shawn. At least we’re all here now, but for whatever reason Aelvedaar didn’t end up here with us. Yaoksi and Cel are hopefully getting rescued. The cricket guy is back on the ship with Aaron and crew… did I leave anyone out? Well, anyway, if all goes well we’ll all be laughing about this tomorrow morning in the grand dining hall and begin making our plans to stage a united front against the Vong.”

Panthar let a scoffing laugh escape.

“If all goes well… yeah, right.”

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

Pausing with that, Jasyn's brown eyes became impossibly broodier. He ignored Matt Stanza's reprimanding look. "You all keep worrying about how the Sith are managing the possibility of losing their magickal technology...

...but what about everybody else? With the Vong incoming we've got to stop nursing everyone's wounds and start figuring out what the kriffing hell we're all going to do to stay alive."

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

“Well,” he said at length, “the reason we’re going there is to meet up with the rest of the team, and figure out if they’ve managed to bring back this Sorben guy. One reason this is important is because the Empire and the Sith cannot afford to be at war with each other, which is exactly where things are heading. If we’re going to fight the Vong, we need to do it together. And a Sith without magick is really not going to be as powerful.”

Panthar felt an ire rising in him, and puzzled for a moment. Then he realized why.

“And yes, I am concerned for the Sith,” he continued, pointing at the horns on his forehead. “In case you haven’t noticed lately, I have sort of a kinship building here. But maybe the real thing we should be talking about is what do we do if the rest of the gang isn’t there?”

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

Pausing then, she puzzled further and further in her mind, actually pained at the possibility which presented itself. "We're going to have to face the possiblity that we may need to move on further without the others if they are not there when we get there."

She chewed her lip. "Without All capabilities finding missing parties in our crew would have to occur in one of two ways. Eventually, perhaps they will turn up and meet us at the stated rendezvous. Or we may need allies with big ships, and good scanners."

Falling silent for a moment, Shayla's eyes turned extremely dark. "We've got Eagle Enterprises..."

She hesitated a moment, looking back at Jasyn and Matt, "...but even that won't be enough. We need to remember that the ultimate goal we should all have is dealing with the incoming Vong invasion. I mean, what if all this has happened to us to focus back on the reality of things? We're so caught up in using this magick and that ability to help ourselves...

...when we really need to be looking at the big picture."

Suddenly, the depth and breadth of what was happening slammed into Shayla. In her training with Graysith, the need to look at the larger Whole had been reiterated time and time again. "If we spend time looking for them without addressing the need to let the Empire..." she hesitated, inwardly cringing, "...know what is going on and try to make alliances, we may be committing the very evil which caused us all to lose our powers and abilities to begin with."

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

He paused then, shaking his head. "How will you explain how you know that? And what will you tell them about Tarnus and the destroyed ships around the Sith worlds? They have to know your connection with the Sith...

...so why would they trust you in light of the destruction of their fleet? You'll be in the prisons in Coruscant before you can blink."

He shook his head again for emphasis. "I don't like this. The only way we'll convince the Empire of anything is if we can manage to reason with Tarnus. If the others aren't back with him then, well...

...I don't know. But I do know there will have to be some sort of evidence we could bring to the Empire before we could even consider talking with them about what may be about to happen."

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

Panthar shrugged his shoulders before anyone else had a chance. “All right, I know there’s not much we can do about finding that out, but I can still wonder.”

He looked up at the ceiling, trying to collect his thoughts.

“In either case, whether Tarnus is there or not, the Sith technology has to be assessed. I don’t know to what extent their magic has been interwoven, and if it is a lot then finding my journal, and my research, becomes a higher priority if the Sith are going to have a say in the outcome of this invasion. The last we saw, in Aelvedaar’s thingy, it was with some little blue furry guy who was walking with a bunch of other people being escorted by what seemed to be Imperial troops. Go figure.”

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

She paused then, clearly not liking having to say what she was. "And as nice as all this speculation is, it doesn't really help us decide just where to go and what to do next if the others aren't on Khar Delba as planned."

She sighed then. "Erik's right, without Tarnus, we won't really be able to approach the Imps at all without being suspected. And, as far as we know, Graysith and Phalomir went after him...

...and I've got no Force sensitivity or All ability to try to connect to her. Which we all already know."

She shook her head, feeling very redundant, not seeming to get anywhere as she thought aloud. "If only we at least had Sith techno--"

She trailed, drawing various kinds of looks from the others. "Hey, Graysith has a glyph on her forehead," she then said, her thoughts initially seeming disjointed. "I wonder if all this loss of powers affected it...

..and more importantly, even without powers and technology, I wonder if there is some way we can use it to find her and the others if they aren't on Khar Delba."

She paused, letting this soak in. Then, "But then, we don't know that they aren't there. But it's something to think about." She gave the navboard a quick once-over. "We've got approximately three standard hours til reversion," she informed all. "So if anyone wants any rest, now might be the time to do it."

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

He trailed, his look darkening. "Look, I've been in the Imperial prisons, and as far as I know the Imps don't know how the kriffing Hell Terrin and I got out. I'm not particularly anxious to alert them to our presence outside of prison walls. And I'm not particularly anxious to go marching into Sith territory if they are all in turmoil due to possible loss of technology, either."

He fell silent then, ignoring whatever looks he might be getting. He would have much, much rather been out helping to find Yaoksi than being one of the EE representatives here. Jasyn wondered why Terrin and Galen had decided to go alone. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that the two of them just wanted some time alone...

And that thought actually drew an inexplicable lopsided grin. One which was explained immediately. "At least Terrin and Galen are getting some brief but quiet quality time out of this."

Pausing again, he got to his feet. "Oh allright, I suppose I'll pass on a drink...

...and get a mug of caf." He arched an eyebrow. "Anyone who cares to join me go right ahead."

With nothing further than that, Jasyn headed aft to find a caf machine in the galley of this rather small ship, with others following him. He had full intentions to drink a whole pot of the stuff...

...since he couldn't drown his disapproval of the set-up of the mission with anything... stronger.

[ 04-03-2008 10:08 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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"Hey everyone back there," he called towards the aft. "Strap in. Reversion in 3 standard minutes."

As Erik said this, he could here people behind him shuffling to seats, belts being snapped together. Beside him Shayla roused. "Want me to take over?" he heard her ask.

"No," he replied, "I think I've got it. I need you to help me get a bearing on a good place to land so we don't scare the entire planet of possibly distraught Sith."

She nodded, leaning forward and getting to work. Erik kept his eyes and ears and hands tuned on the navboard, and the transport smoothly reverted to realspace. Erik continued on, and in a few minutes they began travelling through atmosphere.

"Shayla?" he queried, looking sidways at her. She nodded, and pointed to a series of coordinates on the central monitor she had programmed in already. Erik got to work again on the navboard, a natural pilot himself although he usually gave Shayla piloting control. In a few minutes he had the ship down and engines cooling in an unpopulated woodsey area just outside of the city.

"Allright," Erik said then, gettting to his feet, recalling his main reasons for coming here, "Let's get going," he said, hitting the controls that extended the hatch. "And let's hope we receive a warm welcome."

Without further ado, he reached down and check his blaster in its holster, nodded towards the now-yawning hatch, and waited for everyone to begin exiting the ship.

[ 04-04-2008 12:09 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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...then paused for a brief moment. "Hey guys," she then spoke up. "I think we've got about a 3-mile hike to the Temple, and we need to take all precaution in looking overly suspicious. Fortunately for us, we have someone here who looks very much like one of the natives," she continued, indicating Panthar with a nod of her head. "And maybe some of our faces will be familiar..."

She trailed, eyeballing Jasyn in particular, "...for the better, let's hope."

Trailing again, she motioned towards the still-open hatch, actually smiling a bit. "So, we should all stick near to our resident Sith. After you boys."

Quieting then, Shayla waited as the others exited the ship, one by one. Then she too dearted, taking it upon herself to secure the vessel before they all began heading towards the Temple together.

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

He scanned the area for signs of life, aside from the jungle animals, and wasn’t sure if he should be relived or worried to find no alarming riots or fires or other signs of chaos. In all, even though he had never actually seen the land surrounding the Temple of the Sorcerers, he thought it quite like the way he imagined it.

When the party drew closer to the temple, they were met by curious gazes from the few people that wandered outside. A small crowd followed a robed figure along a cobblestone path to the left of the walkway, and Panthar could hear the robed Sith trying to speak in a calming voice, using the High Sith language.

“He’s telling the people that there will be a solution discovered soon,” said Panthar, speaking over his shoulder to the others. “Someone in the crowd there asked about the pumps to the water supply, that’s all I’ve been able to hear so far. Apparently they are indeed having problems. What do you want to do? Get more info from these folks or high-tail it to the temple and figure out if Aelvy and the gang are here?”

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

Shayla paused, recalling something, and eyeing a worried looking Erik, "--at the least Aeylmaar should still be here."

A lump formed in her throat despite her best efforts. "If the technology has been affected by the loss of powers..."

She couldn't go on. instead she locked her gaze ahead and continued on, willing herself not to think of the potentially devestawting news which might await them.

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

“Then we better keep moving,” he said. “I don’t know the exact way to the temple, but it’s a little hard to miss, and they were kind enough to put up signs.”

Panthar pointed to a small set of symbols set in the stone walkway.

“Er, down, rather.”

Panthar led the group through more of the surrounding area. While not overgrown in population like Phrinnchatka (in Panthar’s opinion), the city that had grown around this temple was certainly nothing to dismiss. They passed several groups of people, some working to alleviate one problem or another, others praying, but in all everyone seemed calm and collected about their situation. This was a far cry from the widespread panic that he expected to see. In his heart, however, he felt that the scene was far different around the Temple of Warriors.

Soon the party came upon the outer reaches of the Temple of Sorcerers. Panthar scanned the area, and saw that the only approach was guarded by a pair of Sith that looked as if they could have been on loan from K’eel Doba. He drew in a deep breath and walked towards them.

“Greetings!” he called out. “I am Panthar Dantares, special, um, emissary to the human worlds. We are here at the request of Lord Aelvedaar, with whom we are to meet. If he has not yet returned, then we are to meet with his son, Aeylmaar. Could you tell me if either of them are available? Time is of the essence.”

Panthar inhaled again and waited, looking at Shayla, who had drawn beside him.

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

"Emissary to the human worlds?" he queried, then cast a glance down his nose in Panthar's direction. But strange although that introduction might have been, it had been suffixed with a polite enough request, and there were some strange beings accompanying this Sith whom the guards took to be human.

They were at least sithoid in appearance, although their lack of delicately curving head ornaments seemed a bit discomfiting to look upon.

He leaned his head toward his companion, whispering in Sith, his own horns coming dangerously close to locking with his partner's. But they had been on this assignment together for too great a length of time, had been confronted by more than one stranger seeking admittance. Their horns knew almost as if by magick how to avoid one another...

But then, perhaps it was exactly that.

The brawny guard drew himself up to his full seven-foot height.

"Come this way," he intoned as he then stepped gracefully to one side, his head nodding in acquiescence as he held one clawed hand out toward the immense double doors behind him. They were not as ornately decorated, as intricately carved, as the ones adorning the Temple on the world of the Warriors, but they guarded secrets and a culture every bit as important to the Sith society.

The doors oiled silently open, exposing a high-ceilinged hallway arching off into shadows.

"Enter freely, and of your own will," he intoned with another stately nod of his head.

"Follow the hall until you can go no further. You will be met therein."

Saying nothing else, he remained statue-still, silent, standing yet to guard the Great Temple of the Sorcerers even as by habit he attempted to reach out with his magicks, to inform those within as to whom they could shortly be expecting. That he could not expressed itself upon his swarthy visage as, with a snort, he moved before the door he guarded, a door now closing behind those who he had allowed to enter into the temple.

And even more importantly, as her adopted Sister. As they continued to walk, Shayla cast an unnoticed sidelong glance at Shawn, thankful for the moment that he was without his powers to sense her glance or the direction of her thoughts.

Isn't that the crux of it all, though? some little voice within suddenly commented. When you hold powers, are those powers what make you who you are, or rather are your powers defined by YOU? And which way, indeed, should it be?

Shayla unconsciously pursed her lips, never truly having thought of things in this light. But, when she really thought about all of it, Shayla realized that this was the heart of what Graysith had been teaching her all along. The Jedi were so into goodness and darkness...

...when really what mattered was using all that you had to serve the entire Universe in the best way.

The Greater Good.

Keeping these things to herself for the moment, Shayla continued to move along, drawing a curious look here and there as the hallway they traversed seemed to go on and on but at length terminated in a set of carved, wooden doors.

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

“So…” he began. “Is this where we ‘can go no more’?”

He placed his large red hand upon one of the doors and pushed slightly to test his theory. The door gave way and opened on a well lubricated set of hinges. The room beyond was palatial, ornate carvings of Sith men and women, some of which Panthar recognized from artifacts found on his digs, lined the walls in individual alcoves. Shelves lined the upper portions of the circular room and held delicate jewels and crystals that seemed somewhat dull to Panthar, as if they lacked sparkle. A deep maroon carpet spread to the wall, and several comfortable looking chairs were placed at various positions within the room.

“Guess not,” Panthar shrugged. He stepped through and paused at the center of the room, waiting for the others to enter. Soon enough they all discovered that the only way out of the room was the doors through which they came, and everyone took to sitting or admiring the Sith artwork on the walls.

Panthar remained in the center of the room, and turned to face the opened doors in time to see a robed Sith figure turning the corner in the hall.

“Ah,” he said. “Here we are. Let's see who this is...”

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

"My friend, oh my friends, it is good to have you back, things are not all well, how fared you?" He skidded to a halt in front of them, robes a-skirl, and it was only from sheer nobility training that he didn't simply reach out to the nearest member of the returning party with a great hug.

"F-father has gone a-miss; that is to say," he hurriedly appended, seeing rising consternation starting to shadow their faces.

"That is to say, he himself is not amiss but his destination is; he has somehow traveled to the moon of Endor, but how he fares there I cannot tell for all my magicks and All-use are fled from me, I have nothing I can do; the Verpine has gone off in one of Darth Wicked's TIE fighters to fetch him, one can hope, but I cannot determine how he fares either, oh this is terrible--"

He brought himself up short as his wildly flicking gaze finally settled upon Shayla. His own eyes began filling with tears then as understanding of the implications his words carried began to cross her face.

"Your- your child, he is with the Healers--" he said at length then spoke no more but clapped his hands instead. A servant appeared magickally at this side, bowing respectfully and remaining in that position as he awaited what orders the young Lord would dictate.

That of course would depend upon the reactions of his newly arrived comrades.

[ 05-21-2008 05:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aeylmaar ]

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