Graysith sighed, and sat back against her chair. "I have been pondering matters," she broke the silence filling the little ship. "And have come to the conclusion that even amidst the strangeness of what we just experienced, I have learned something."

She paused as Shayla turned curious eyes in her direction. "And what is that, Sister?" she asked simply.

Graysith folded her hands in her lap. "I have learned that while there is nothing in the universe stronger than the All, for it truly makes all that is... I have learned of my own weaknesses I yet hold regarding its usage. I believe some of Veren Mechanica's beliefs in his own abilities may be synonymous with some I hold myself."

She rose to her feet, motioning M'wonBo'o to remain laying where he was, and approached the odd Sith viewport ahead of her. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "Perhaps I am unable to use this wondrous gift sufficiently to find where my daughter is because somehow I feel I am incapable of it. I did manage to sense her at an extreme distance before something arose within me crying out, 'too far!'"

She turned from the viewport to look at Shayla. "I-- I seem to have become plagued more and more with this ever since I discovered who-- ever since I found the knowledge within myself of who I really am, and that is Jharmeen Jhin'Dar. The wonderful balance I had achieved, taught to me by my Sire seems oddly...tilted within me now.

"I find myself able to utilize the All for the simplest of matters, tasks I have undertaken many times in the past and now find almost second-nature to me. But this..."

Once again she turned to the viewport, waving her hand to indicate the ravening non-ness of hyperspace. "Somehow this is too far for me alone. My Sire, I feel, would be able to deduce her presence easily, but... but I am not yet ready to face him. I must find my daughter first, and I must have some assistance in doing so."

She turned back to Shayla again. "And, my dear Adept, although you are most eager and willing, your skills are simply not enough this early in your training."

She blinked her violet eyes, thinking. The odd realms of distorted spacetime screamed without as Graysith stood there chewing her lip for a moment. Then she nodded to herself, coming now to the navigational control board and tapping her fingers lightly across the strange and eerily green glyphs which glowed there. Then she got to her seat.

"Follow this course, my Adept," she spoke softly. "Make certain that none take note of our arrival there. I have erected the chronotic shield about our ship; no one can sense us as long as it remains there. But take care when arriving at our destination; enter with honor yet humbly.

"We go to the Valley of the Lords, to seek the ancient powers of the Sith which still haunt the passageways and temples there. Here we will find the means of augmenting our abilities to use the All... perhaps enough to find and bring my daughter home. Remember, all for the Greater Good, my sister, always remember. For this place is heavily of the Dark, and it is into that mystery that we must tap.

"We go to Korriban."

Then she fell silent, turning her gaze away from Shayla's and once again staring out the forward viewport. Beside her, the tuk'ata let out a somehow tense yet happy whine.

"Hooome...."

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

"He has lost faith in himself, and with that, in existence altogether, my Adept," her musical voice sighed sadly. "Help him we could not, only his own beliefs could either come to his aid... or to his end.

"He has chosen the latter path... and a dismal one it is indeed. Pitiful to see how he viewed the All as nothing more than imaginary bits of dream, when it is the very alpha and omega of everything in existence as we know it. The force which holds matter to itself, over distances both great and small. The force which gives life to all, and joyous color to an otherwise black Universe. The force which creates everything that exists, which brings into being the very particles of their design.

"I almost wish--" She paused, then continued on an apparent sidetrack.

"It is a shame this one had to die before seeing the wonder of all that is, and all that he could have been...."

She spoke no more, but turned back to the viewport, putting thoughts of Veren aside for the moment and concentrating once again on their destination... and what it was she hoped to achieve there.

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

One of the ancient and powerful Sith had "reached" back in darkness to touch the soul of a young warrior of the named Kun. That experiment failed, for pure Darkness cannot prevail as neither can pure Light. Both must exist so that each other may exist... it is the balancing of these which was the key, a key known well to the other two who managed by the very powers they had discovered to escape certain death the actions of one of their own had triggered over four thousand years ago. There was well as a third who, incredibly, had been snatched from death even as its jaws had begun to enclose him, his release brought about by his reaching out into the future....

The little Sith ship and its three occupants continued to howl through hyperspace on a bull's-eye course to that ancient and uncharted hidden home world of the Sith. Strange events began to occur aboard her as she came nearer and nearer to Sith space; odd Glyphs began flashing into life, and a russet light arose from the very walls to illuminate the little ship's interior.

Graysith ignored the automatic responses the ship was making... concentrating instead on the task ahead of her. How well she remembered a particularly hidden portion of this world, a place of small ruin buried deeply within its equatorial band of jungle. For a moment she wished she was going to that one of the only two places in the Galaxy where for some reason she felt "at home," but realized what she really needed could not be found there.

They had to go to the Valley of the Lords... into the dusty and highly dangerous region of great canyon walls encrypted with beautiful and indecipherable carvings, musty mausoleums, ghosts of ancient times...

...and the source of the greatest Darkside focusing power in reality.

She leaned lightly against Shayla's shoulder and spoke as much, her hand reaching out to draw up a digital and three-dimensional topographic map of Korriban. Her deft fingers manipulated certain controls, making the image whirl about in fifteen-degree increments until a certain longitudinal band was presented dead-center to them. Now she used the controls to zoom in upon a spot at about 54 degrees south of the planet's equator. It loomed larger and larger before them until a 50 x 50 kilometer grid was laid out before them.

At its center a golden glyph flashed patiently, wondering at the absence of its creators.

Graysith hit another key, and the coordinates of that spot flashed in mid-air before Shayla's somewhat startled eyes.

"This is our destination, my sister," the Chosen Daughter said in a rather solemn tone of voice. "Please let me know when we come into its space.

"Now, I am weary from recent events, and would like to nap a bit to regain my strength."

With that she pressed a button and the back of her seat leaned comfortably back. Soon, in spite of her tuk'ata's rising whines of eagerness, she was asleep, leaving the ship and its navigation in the talented and sure hands of her Adept.

[ 05-19-2002 01:57 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

A safety which, unfortunately and darkly enough, they could not share with Graysith's own daughter. They simply had to find her. Dark mischief was afoot. The kind of darkness that cared nothing of balance nor the light. The kind of darkness that was extremely powerful...and could only be squelched with Darkness itself.

A glyph on the navboard began to come to life, and the little Sith ship, which Shayla had come to thinking of as the Retribution, glided safely out of hyperspace, yet with uncanny speed. In mere nanoseconds the ship had gone from barreling lightyears in a second to standing almost completely still in the space just in front of their destination.

Shayla reached over and placed her hand on Graysith's shoulder. "We have arrived, my Sister."

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

One such a canyon was beginning to grow larger even as she gazed upon it.

She sat up and stared diligently at the viewport, now tapping another control and inducing another mid-air digital readout to pop up before her and the screen. A golden glyph continued to flash impatiently at the far north-eastern end of the approaching canyon.

She pointed to a place on the plateau above that flashing glyph, and then sat back in her seat. "That is where we must make landfall, my sister," she said smoothly, turning now to look into Shayla's eyes. "I'm afraid that after that we will find ourselves faced with some hiking; the dark powers there do not respond to anything but one's own skill and determination."

She smiled a little, petting her tuk'ata who was bit by bit becoming beside himself with the joy this homecoming was provoking within him, then turned back to the viewport to watch as they continued their descent onto the deserted surface of the desert planet below.

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

And face whatever must be faced, a voice in her head added.

Dusting off her solid black flightsuit, Shayla stood and indicated Graysith should lead the way.

Onward.

[ 05-19-2002 03:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

She tilted her head thoughtfully, then shrugged her signature cloak from her shoulders. Beneath that she still wore her form-fitting black practice doba, the one she had donned to strengthen her swordplay skills against Dark Lord Roan, seeming a lifetime ago. She eyed herself silently, then turned to Shayla.

"Let us go now," she said, then keyed the hatch open. Before she could move so much as one foot, M'wonBo'o leapt past her, clearing the thirty feet to the open hatch in one easy bound. His massive body sent particles of sand skirling into the air as all two tons of him landed in a defensive crouch. There he remained silent, his tendrils lifting to sense the cold air which moved in a somehow...threatening manner as it sought to fall off the plateau and into the yawning canyon below.

Graysith smiled as she and Shayla left Retribution. Once gaining the grainy footing of the plateau on which they had landed, she turned and erected a chronotic shield about the ship. She then turned and walked the few paces to the lip of the plateau; indeed her Adept was such a talented and precise pilot that she had landed the ship within spitting distance of that frightening cliff.

Graysith stood on the edge looking down into the canyon. There, nearly two and a half kilometers below, faint and alien images could be seen carved directly into the rock. Here and there the walls of the inner canyon were marred by black holes, holes which undoubtedly represented openings into mysterious caverns and rooms carved directly into the sedimentary rock of which this canyon was primarily composed.

Now Graysith let her eyes rove about, seeking the means by which they would descend into this yawning abyss of rock and scree. Layers of varying shades of rust and sand and red and yellow silently offered their descriptions of ages past; she ignored those towering rock faces, concentrating instead on the gentler slopes of scree which formed great fans at the foot of each. She pointed this out to Shayla.

"If we take care, Shayla, we can zig-zag into this great canyon following those slopes of softer rock, which have eroded and formed 'ground' at an angle easier for us to navigate." She shaded her eyes, peering out over the canyon. "I believe we can gain entry all the way to the bottom in this manner, but from this height I cannot be certain. The only way to discover whether we shall be successful is simply to go--

"Let us do so."

Saying no more, she stepped out, and carefully began to navigate her way down some slippery and loosely piled scree which lay nearby.

[ 05-19-2002 04:49 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

It had gotten to the point to where he had at one time actually stopped, sat down, and yowled his frustrations, refusing to descend further but indicating frantically a growing and very strong desire to go back UP.

After a lengthy period of persuasion in which both women were put to the task he had finally hauled himself to his feet and continued on. However, the incessant sound of rocks sliding downslope was quite often accentuated by his pitiful yowls and muttering growls as he complained his ever increasing dislikes concerning this entire affair.

Hours passed. Canyons do not easily yield their secrets, even though they are quite often exposed in the erosion of Time. The party picked and slid its way as it continued down, sometimes treading with careful sideways placement of feet when they hit slickstone; at other times actually progressing forward in a sort of bounding leap where the slope gentled to allow such an action. But overall they never slowed their pace nor stopped it, and as the day progressed they drew closer and closer to the floor of the inner canyon.

At length they came to a halt on the edge of an outcrop. About 300 meters below lay the floor of the canyon, streaked with hundreds of ripples in the time-packed sands, which in turn stood in silent fossil memory of the ancient stream which once had gushed there. The three of them stood panting silently as behind them the sun came closer and closer to the lip of the canyon.

Graysith pointed to the mysterious and alien carvings in the walls below. "The Valley of the Lords," she announced, shivering a bit as a sudden black and spirit-haunted wind blew up from the depths below. Then the Glyph drew her attention to the sole little switchback carved into the face of solid rock, the only means of making the final descent. M'wonBo'o's yowls nonewithstanding, the party continued on, and after about another hour had passed finally reached their destination.

Up-canyon lay rock and scree and fossil riverbed. But down-canyon:

Graysith turned and stared in awe. The walls were lined with carvings. The canyon walls arrowed in this manner for about a kilometer, where they suddenly curved to the right. Just at the point of that curve, a strange light flickered faintly upon the walls of rock, sending strange shadows dancing about the faces of the Sith Lords who stood in stony and brooding silence, guarding their secret place and the secrets that place had protected for millennia.

Graysith drew in a deep breath, then looked at Shayla as she pointed down-canyon to where that eerie light shone upon the walls. "It is there we must go, my sister, and we must gain this light before darkness strikes."

With no further ado she struck out, M'wonBo'o ever at her side, a face tendril snaking about her waist, his growl of trepidation now echoing from the walls of rock, then somehow becoming lost in the rise of unheard laughter that rang down upon them from ages past.

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

But then, maybe it wasn't fatique. Maybe it was something else entirely.

She shuddered in spite of herself, drawing closer to her sister. The loyal M'wonBo'o, who seemed just about as wary as she did, had a face tendril coiled around Graysith's waist. Shayla smiled softly a bit at that.

They continued towards the eerie light, and Shayla wondered exactly what they were truly heading for.

The truth.

But there was something else...

Something familiar???

She shrugged the strange sense of deja vu away. She'd never been here before...

...or had she?

Or was it a melding of something dark and evil within herself with what was here?

Possibly.

But there was something familiar...

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

The canyon walls seemed to close in upon them as bit by bit the day descended into night.

Their footsteps, muffled as they trod upon the ancient sands, now rang strangely against the rock even though the ground had not altered beneath their feet. It was as though the rhythmic song of warrior feet were descending upon them to take them both into their ranks and remove them from the realm of the living....

The night hunkered closer... great stone Lords seemed to turn their massive and horned heads... great unseeing eyes seemed to burst into chromatic life as they became imbued with hues of scarlet and gold, turquoise and cyan, and the most royal of violet....

An eerie wind now began gushing coldly upon them... from somewhere at their backs came a familiar sort of yowly growl, a tuk'ata which wasn't in the least little bit M'wonBo'o. He in turn raised his hackles, his massive head turning, his pupilless eyes peering backward in anxious preparation to protect his Mistress and the Other....

Now the light ahead flared up into scarlet and crimson brilliance, dancing like hellfire upon the red stone walls, leaping and wavering and spreading as they approached...

...only to gutter down into near oblivion as though being suddenly doused by pouring rain.

Graysith stopped dead in her tracks. By now the Glyph on her forehead was in full-bore, having ravened up the electromagnetic spectrum beyond the invisible brilliance of gamma, shedding its weird brand of light upon the walls in almost commanding cadence to that flame which died even as it was touched by the cold light of it.

She pointed to the flame, whispering to Shayla, "There. The Eternal Flame..." then she dropped the hand of her Adept which she had been holding the last few meters and moved ahead. Coming just around the curve, she faced the stone urn in which the fire was now seeping into, disappearing, leaving, removing itself from this stranger who dared to come upon it and view it with human eyes. As it lowered, shadows pressed closer in excitement; in the distance there came another yowl of a tuk'ata at prowl.

Graysith would have none of it. She stopped, widening her stance, her old haughty glare brightening in her eyes as they did in her early days when she had first confronted Darth Wicked. Actually snorting in disgust, she raised an imperious hand, pointed now to the flame, and spoke out in a harsh and commanding voice.

"Thou shalt not depart from this place! Thou shalt not degrade thyself nor those whom thou serve! For I am the Daughter come hither to take thee unto me; come now as I command it!"

For a moment absolutely nothing happened. Then--

Slowly, a wind as cold as death began icing the canyon, bringing tangible blackness into it before which the night itself became pale. Slowly, a moan was set up, reverberating upon the great stone walls, back and forth, back and forth, increasing in amplitude as its harmonics began to vibrate within the same frequency. It crescendoed upward until it was as if all the thunder in the universe was compressed between the stone walls of the Valley of the Lords.

She flung back her head as tendrils of all that was about her coalesced into one and sought her out. It swayed and writhed, a black and deadly serpent, like seeking like... until suddenly recognizing the darkness within her it leapt forward in a blackly electric bolt and razored into the Glyph on her forehead.

She shuddered at the strength of it all, fighting to remain herself, to not become lost in the pure and dark and unceasing evil of this place... yet somehow relishing the strength of it and how good it actually was beginning to feel. Her mouth flew open in a laugh of utter enjoyment, and she whirled, holding out a hand to Shayla.

"Come, my sister!" Her voice rang like another peal of thunder from the canyon walls. "I need you with me!"

She stood there, her hair staticking about her in a flaming nimbus, her eyes ablaze as was the Glyph, her hand outstretched, waiting. "Only together can we use this to find that which I seek!"

Now her head tipped back, and she lifted her face to the dark skies above, for the first time crying aloud the name of her lost child.

"ShaRhylla!"

It echoed about in the night, coming at length to rest upon Shayla... as did the gaze of the Chosen Daughter who now stood in heady silence amidst the thunder, waiting for her to reply.

[ 05-19-2002 09:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Complete and utter darkness. Death. Darkness.

But they needed this complete darkness to squelch that which had Graysith's daughter.

Dark Lord Roan.

Suddenly, a completely righteous anger flared from Shayla's inner being. He had lead her Sister to believe he had loved her. He'd mated with her to have a child to use for his own gain.

And in the process of it all, he'd most definitely intended to take Shayla's life.

Sensing a fire burning within her, Shayla reached out and placed her hand in Graysith's. Took her other hand and held it as well, the complete and overwhelming joy of completely justifiable angering seeking and gaining release from within her.

Swallowed in the ultraviolet glow of Graysith's glyph, Shayla gave herself over to that anger, and lent her strength to her sister to find that which she sought.

ShaRhylla...!!!

[ 05-19-2002 09:20 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

...and took hold of the very fabric of spacetime and stretched it flat. It lay before them like a black blanket, littered with billions of twirling entities some sentients have come to call galaxies.

And between the galaxies, a tiny brilliant light was fleeing... into another from another, it disappeared into light even as they watched.

Now pools of darkness encroached, great shadows rising up from non-ness to laugh and taunt them with an assurety so great it sickened them... the features of Dark Lord Roan swam into motion, along with another dark and wrinkled and evil-pocked being, beside whom there stood another with the eyes of a raven.

Centered within, her blood sister Galen stood defiant, a lone mote against a universe entirely too big for her to handle.

And from another swirl of stars there came another blight... which reached out to join in darkness with those beings who laughed and pointed and petted Galen as if she were a cherished sort of pet. Their evil hands reached out, a dark and drooling imp came from nowhere to slash and gnaw upon her...

...and all disappeared into utter silence as the Eternal Flame disappeared altogether, leaving Graysith and Shayla standing alone with their tuk'ata, silently overlooked by the great stone lords who brooded over this place.

Graysith fell back with a gasp, as her own unique essence slammed back into her. For a moment she remained silent, then turned her wide eyes into Shayla's equally wide ones.

"I know what they plan!" she murmured, near shock. "My daughter... they mean to use her... and my blood sister as well...

"My Sire is in danger most dire, and as we are we cannot prevent their plans from seeing completion."

She shuddered a little, sinking down upon her knees now as she thought what they needed to do. M'wonBo'o growled himself into a whine, his eyes everywhere as he sought to distinguish shadow from shadowy foe....

Graysith's head flew up. "Shayla, we need the Claw of S'slan," she whispered. "That device is the only thing that can stop this. It is the only means we can defeat He who is truly at the heart of this foul plot against his own kind."

She fell silent, pleading to the darkness, pleading to the light... pleading to the All for the sake of not only her daughter but for that of the civilization in whose ancient and mysterious valley they now had come.

For indeed was the universe in darkness... and they both had just touched the Night.

[ 05-19-2002 09:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Graysith's innocent child...

...and those hideous monsters!!!

People could think that the True Sith were evil, but when truth was finally revealed, an Evil far darker and far more devestating lurked and laughed at all those who thought they knew darkness.

Shayla tried to think. Where could the Claw possibly be?

She'd had it in her hands...her own hands...

...Master REAN had taken it from her. And Terrin Danner had been with him that day...

Shayla dug deeper into her mind, into her memory, as if she would find the Claw hidden in the recesses of her mind. "Terrin Danner and the others must still have the Claw. If not, we are in even more trouble than I possibly can bear to imagine. But..." Shayla started, stretching out.

But no. "...I can't sense him. And I know Terrin Danner's force-signature."

Then, pondering these things, Shayla was suddenly struck with an idea.

You have the information right in your back pocket! You were an information smuggler...your company still exists...you STILL have access! You can find him! You can find them!

Even as this realization took hold of Shayla, she knew that, presented with how positive she was that Terrin Danner had actually fallen in love with Graysith's blood sister...

...he had to be either with Galen at the moment, or looking for her.

"I believe we need to find Terrin Danner and his crew," Shayla surmised. "And I believe they will be at the center of this dark and disturbing event which we have seen..."

Even as Shayla spoke the words, a wild tu'kata yowled into the night in affirmation of her words.

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

She who does stands with others. She who belongs with strong he who stand with them. Bares his fangs and yowls does he.

Sense she do I. Sense humaness do I.

Yet sense strength in her do I. Yowl I, yowl I.

On the hunt am I.

To meet with she who yet senses not I...

...but shall...

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

But then, logic took hold.

Shayla stepped into the darkness, further, further...

...til at length she founded herself surrounded by shadows.

And the yowling of an animal on the hunt.

Reaching out with her newly developing talents, Shayla found it no difficult task to find the signature of that tu'kata which now sought to meet with her.

The primitive mind sensed her intrusion and yowled in thirst for the hunt.

A flash of fangs...

...ten inch claws...

Shayla stood ready, inflinching, unafraid. She reached out again with her talents and touched the mind of this being.

Seek the fresh taste of my blood, do you? she queried, slipping past the creature's jump.

It...she...yowled in return. Their minds were meshing...

Again, the animal lept.

In one fluid motion, Shayla again moved, but not without her arm first being slightly sliced by that of the tu'kata.

How well you fight, she said into the mind of the animal.

The creature did not respond, but merely sprang to attack once again.

Shayla found the strength to respond to this attack, even as her arm throbbed and blood oozed.

At the flash of an eye, Shayla jumped at just the right moment...

...and landed squarely on the back of this fierce creature.

The creature fought her presence on its back at first, but she again reached into her mind, sending words of calm.

Fight me no longer, she ordered. Your skill is apparent. Take you as my own blood hunt companion, would I, at your agreement.

Slowly, oh so very slowly, the animal stopped its thrashing as Shayla clung to her back. Slowly sat back on it's massive hindquarters, then laid to the ground in complete submssion.

Find I strength. Fight not. Protect I you.

Shayla stroked the fur of the animal, as she felt her muscles slacken in submission.

Very well, Al'iya. My blood hunt companion shall you be. We must return to the others who greatly need our help.

Protect I. Obey I. Going am I.

Getting to it's feet, the massive tu'kata took on her back her new mistress.

[ 05-20-2002 06:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Beside her, M'wonBo'o leaped to an alert standstill, growling deep in his chest as he too reached out to sense this newcomer.

As Shayla brought her beast to a halt a few meters away and slid from its back, Graysith smiled. Nodding her head as though to say, we shall speak of this later, she then continued on in their former line of speculation:

"My Sister, what you say concerning Terrin Danner makes sense. Too much sense for my liking. Yet by your own admission we cannot ascertain his presence without your information smuggling skills, and that may take some time.

"I, however, in your brief absence--" Here she smiled and nodded again, her one hand going to rest on M'wonBo'o's sleek head. "I have reached out and found the signature of Galen. I find her in the presence of one who I have not dealt with for quite some time; this is disturbing in itself. Questing out from her, I have found... nothing.

"It is as though someone is blocking the All in the direction in which they travel. Nothing may block the All except he All, and this I find of great concern.

"Galen stands as some central character in the disappearance of my daughter; what say you, my Adept? In which direction shall we travel come the morning?"

She fell silent, waiting for her Adept to respond.

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

Sheesh, who the Hell was with Galen if Terrin wasn't?

But she was certain of a few things.

If Galen was with someone else it would be quite likely that this someone else was taking her to her doom. If that were the case, they might still have a chance...

"I believe we should seek out Galen and snag her before she gets to Lord Roan. I know this is risky with no Claw, but I just know Terrin Danner is right behind her. He's followed her down to unknowns deeper than this before, although I'm certain even he is not aware of the danger lurking. But Terrin is just the sort of person to not back down when he really wants something."

The sort of person you knew he could be, even though you never were the one to spark the flame...

"He won't back down til he finds her. If we rescue her first, I believe Terrin will come after her. I just have this feeling he's somehow out there, even though I can't sense him. They've gotta have the Claw. After the price Terrin paid to get the thing, and after he saw me almost successfully take it on Sullust, he'd be a fool to let it out of his eyesight. And well, if they don't have the Claw, I'm suspecting we are in a pile of bantha fodder anyway.

"We should rescue Galen, find the Claw, then take care of this matter and find your daughter."

[ 05-22-2002 02:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

"I agree, my Sister," she said at length. Then she turned and in one flowing motion took a seat upon the ground. M'wonBo'o hunkered closer to her, still standing, his own eyes never leaving those of the new tuk'ata brought to them by Shayla.

"We leave at dawn." Graysith smiled quickly. "Now, my sister: tell me of this tuk'ata and how you manage to be astride her. When all is said and done we must return to this world and complete certain rituals, if you want to cement the Blood Hunt companionship I sense beginning to grow between the two of you."

She leaned back, adjusting herself upon the hard-packed sandy soil, waiting to hear the story of this new one who had come to join them. biding her time until enough light would return to them to allow them to ascend from the canyon and gain their hidden ship once again. She did not wish to frighten this newcomer by moving her through the All; besides, she felt a small respite was in order before they set off upon the next leg of their journey.

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

His Quest for Summer's and GraySith had begun again

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

"This one linked with my mind," she explained. She was interested in the hunt, while I was intrigued by her daring. After I was able to evade her attack several times, once only by a margin, I was able to jump upon her back. She fought me, but in time yielded.

As to the rituals to solidify the blood hunt companion, yes, I desire to sement the bond. An ally of such strength and kinship would be highly valuable."

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

"My food is done..." He stood, preparing for his meal.

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

She settled herself more comfortably upon the sandy ground, nestling within the trough of a great and ancient streambed ripple.

"We are being sought, my Adept." Though the words were spoken in a whisper, they echoed loudly against the night. "I am being sought...."

She paused another moment, reaching out to still her tuk'ata's slowly crescending growls as through his mental link with her he sensed this new and unseen adversary. Then she smiled.

"It is of little concern, my Sister. But it would behoove us to keep wary.

"M'wonBo'o, take with you your new packsister and guard. We still depart at dawn."

She spoke no more but moved about a little, trying to get into as comfortable a position as she could. Her features grew pensive as they stared back out into the darkness beyond the Eternal Flame, as she reached out with her talents to determine just who or what this new and apparently rash being was. A portion of the dark night split and grew darker then, as the two tuk'atas, one massive and threatening, the other sleek and deadly, rose to their feet and proceeded to follow the orders of the Chosen Daughter of the Sith.

[ 05-24-2002 01:22 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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"AAAAGH!!!" Tylon Kincaid sat up from his bed, drenched in a cold sweat.
Another nightmare, eh? A voice in his head said.

"Shut up..." Tylon replied as he pulled his legs out of the sheets and place his feet on the floor. "I know it was you."
Always is, "Sarge", always is!

"I said shut up! Lights!" Tylon waited for his apartment to brighten up. "I'm hungry..."
I'm sure of that. You emptied your stomach on the other side of the bed before you woke up!

"Why won't you leave me alone for at least one morning?" Tylon asked...himself.
You'll find out when the time comes. Oh, and check your computer.

"Why? For what?" No answer came to his questions. Shrugging his shoulders, Tylon walked up to his personal computer terminal and switched it on. A screen popped up: You Have (1) Messages Waiting For You.
Must be another client, Tylon thought by himself this time.

Typing a few commands on the keypad, the message came up on the screen.

To: All Available Hunters
From: The Guild

Hit a massive flow of contracts 0800 hours ago. All of them from other bounty hunter guilds. Prices are extraordinary. Free for all, ladies and gentlemen. Target is a "Graysith." Supposedly a Jedi of some sort. Has company. Possible Jedi also. Right now, the highest price is around 1,500,000 credits, and probably still rising. Wanted Alive. Will address contacts of the contract upon capture.

Tylon deleted the message. "Must be somebody important...or somebody stupid enough to have half the galaxy after her." He proceeded to enter more commands into the computer. A secret compartment opened inside the floor, and Tylon kneeled next to it. Reaching in, he pulled out a clean, blue and silver Mandalorian helmet...

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"Local data reports from planetary satellites detected strange energy emissions from the city...of Prhinnchatka?" Tylon Kincaid brought up the holo-navigation map on the control console, all the stars reflecting off his helmet.

"Phrinnchatka...I thought its people died out." Tylon said as he searched for any debris registrations in the system. "Don't bother looking for Graysith that way, Tylon. She knows how to cover her tracks."

Immediately, the Mandalorian bounty hunter drew out his blaster towards whoever was sitting next to him. "Oh...you again." The glow from the dead Jedi spirit reflected off the hunter's helmet as well as the cockpit window.

"Yeah, me again. There's no point in scanning for anything even remotely helpful here. Yavin IV was dead as soon as Admiral Actar attacked it!" The ghost said with a smirk. Tylon sighed. "Taunting me again, huh?"

The Jedi shook his head. "Not really. I'm actually gonna help you on this one!" The bounty hunter looked at him. "Help me? How?!"

"Prhinnchatka was an ancient city of the Sith. Graysith isn't a Jedi...she's something else. I don't want to get into details about that, but I'll say this: You learn a hell of a lot in the universe when you become one with the Force!" The ghost laid back in the passenger seat. "A hell of a lot..."

"You know where she is?" asked Tylon. The Jedi nodded. "The planet Korriban." The hunter laughed.

"Ha! I knew it! You are here to annoy me again. There is no planet called Korriban." The dead Jedi glared at him. "Think I'm lying? Here, scan this system." He pointed at a star on the map.

Tylon laughed a little again before he inputted the necessary commands. "Alright, fine. Let's see here...hmm.....incredible! An entire system composed of dead planets. I'm sure my target was wise enough to land on one of those..."

"You're right, Tylon. Except one of those planets is ALMOST dead." the ghost replied, his arms crossed. The hunter made a quick scan of the planet's atmosphere.

"...45% oxygen? The planet can still be inhabited." Tylon turned to the ghost. "But it isn't."

The dead Jedi shook his head. "Long story short, the planet belonged to the Sith. It was practically their homeworld. Some kind of catastrophe occured, and the entire population was wiped out."

"Hmm. It'd be the perfect place to hide out..." Tylon said. This time, it was the Jedi who laughed. "You think she's hiding out, huh?"

Before the bounty hunter could respond, the spirit faded away. The ship silent again, Tylon turned to the console and plotted a course for the system Korriban was possible in.

I have to face the Sith...as well as any other bounty hunters I will encounter. I may have to rely on my "friend" after all... Tylon thought to himself before his ship jumped into hyperspace...

[ 05-25-2002 07:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by TheKnot ]

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"Now...the hunt begins..Graysith"

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