DJ hummed and purred and clicked all about me, speaking to herself in that language indecipherable to organics yet telling herself things those selfsame organics trusted and depended upon so highly. So dearly... with their life, in fact. For by the directives sent from one system to the next, those frail organisms charged unto them were thus maintained and kept safe, to in turn maintenance the mechanicals and keep them alive and healthy in a never-ending cycle of giving and assistance with each other. Or least, that's how the mechanicals looked at it.

I frowned, standing there, hooked to the ship's systems as I waited for the incoming transmission due to come, the one my sister would be sending to let me know where we were going, to meet up and regroup to plan our strategies against this creature from Hell who seemed to think he too held the ultimate power of life in his foul hands. Only in his case, it was not in the spirit of mutual assistance and support.

Now I trembled, my eyes blackening as my brows lowered with the effort to not let my raging emotions out via any physical action. Khaandon alone knew where that would send us; DJ being the wonderful -- if at times somewhat annoying -- type of ship that she was. Hooked to her, my merest movement provoked a response in her; thus I forced myself into absolute immobility as I waited for those coordinates, only my mind rampaging and battling against the silken whispers of madness that whispered with such seduction just beyond my conscious realization.

A display came to quiet life, blinking suddenly, and a monitor came alive with supplemental information. I leaned my interest forward, reading. Then a small gasp erupted from my throat.

I recognized the signature of that in-coming ship.

I began the slight movement of my chin, to open a connection with the warship and inform them of this, but paused. Chances were pretty good that they were already aware of Ransacker's progress as she slipped so easily into Sullustan atmosphere, there to no doubt find an absolutely unimpeded landing.

Perks of working for the Top Gun in the galaxy, ey Sorben my "love?" I snorted darkly to myself. Then my dark thoughts turned in another direction, and my eyes widened.

Why would Sorben be bothering to come to Sullust, a tourist world? Didn't he have better things to do with his time? This certainly seemed to be a frivolous visit on his part, considering all the brouhaha going on in the galaxy at the moment; there must be something pretty monumental for him to be sent here from Coruscant....

I stopped with that, the words literally clipping themselves off in mid-thought. I had no proof, but I suddenly just knew why he was here.

Actar had somehow discovered the murder in the spa...

And Sorben was coming to see why in Hell's Seven Circles his daughter was dead.

Again.

Not to mention why I was still alive.

I couldn't repress the slight shudder that now came to rack my frame; completing my truncated movement of moments before, I toggled the switch in my helmet and opened a private and coded channel into the warship.

"Ummm... guys...." I said guardedly, gulping a little. "Sullust has new company; you might want to hurry up and decide where the hell we're going. 'Cuz I don't think we want to be hanging around here for much longer, shields and light-bending devices or no."

No matter what duties I had to perform.

I let an imperceptible sigh escape me, and returned my gaze back to the data sheet.

"You say they claimed that an 'Ankrist Roan' was the perpetrator, who kidnapped the girl, and who possibly then killed her after leading them here?" I questioned, more of an affirmation to myself than really seeking answers. Any indication of the feelings still warring within me was thankfully hidden beneath the enigmatic visor of my helmet, and I had long ago learned the art of keeping the tone of my voice neutral.

The officer was pretty good in that department himself.

"Yessir," he confirmed. "That was the name they gave me. That, and since the only evidence I had in regard to the group was circumstantial-- in particular reference to the young lady, a Ms. 'Shayla Petrolu Kartan,' it was -- was what led me to release them and seek your... assistance in the matter.

"I trust this was not an error on my part?"

Although he remained stolid before me, it was nothing to sense the sudden air of anxiety now radiating from him. My lips lifted in a slight smile, and I leaned back.

"You performed your duties flawlessly," I purred to the little Sullustan, whose broad lips broadened further in a smile of his own. I leaned forward.

"Did you happen to determine where they were going?" I asked him, suddenly serious.

The light in the detective's eyes dimmed, as anxiety descended upon him in a fresh rush. "Ah-hh-hhh... no," he admitted reluctantly, slipping his eyes from my visor momentarily to glance at the images. "But they did state their planet of origin as one being called..."

Now he ruffled through his own papers, finally finding what he was searching for. "Koris'ian," he finished smugly, then added, "although I've not heard of this place.

"Perhaps they went there." He glanced back up to me in silent question, a question I wasn't about to respond to.

You probably haven't heard of it because it's got something to do with the Sith, I thought to myself darkly, getting to my feet with a creak of armor.

I nodded to the officer.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," I said, now reaching out to gather all the data he had into my gloved hands. "You've been most helpful, and your investigation has been nothing if not a thorough one. I believe the Empire can handle matters from here."

With that I gave him another nod, turned, and strode out into the labyrinthine tunnels outside police headquarters. I paused a moment to secure the data in one of my pouches, then strode off to a spa I had named. I had another person to interview here, before I continued on with a private investigation of my own.

She took another sip of her drink, basking in the falsity of power and means at her fingertips. For she had been informed by the smiling maitre d' as he bowed her into his establishment that everything was On-The-House, for her, and her companion when he arrived here within this private and most elite of Sullustan clubs.

The Blue Asteroid.

She wiggled a little in sudden anxiety, wondering how long it would take for Tarnus to come to her here.

Maybe I'd better watch the drink, she thought to herself, setting the rock crystal glass down upon the stone table where she sat. It made a musical ping even though the contact was light, revealing the quality of the establishment and amenities to be found therein. Yet her hand had scarcely drawn away from that glass when a shadow fell upon her; she gasped a little, and jerked her eyes up to see Sorben Tarnus standing there.

Damn that man is quick, and silent as a ghost! she admonished herself for her momentary startlement, then stood respectfully as he in turn slid into the chair across from her. She then retook her seat, and patiently waited for him to speak.

"So what do you know of the Sith, Ms. Manth?" I asked smoothly, lifting a finger to the bartender who immediately went to work on the order he knew I wanted. "As well as your interest in them? Indeed, they are but a speck in the wheel of galactic time, are they not? If they ever truly existed at all, that is."

I fell into a companionable silence then as a buxom lass came up with my customary Walkn'Fall. I lifted the ornately shaped glass, directed my gaze into the ruby depths thereof. Then taking the profferred straw from the waitress, I nodded her on her way, stuck it in the drink, and took a slow sip. My armor creaked as I settled myself more comfortably against the soft cushions I had come to rest in.

Across the table, the little spy seemed to hesitate a touch, staring into her own glass as if seeking an answer there. Then she turned her eyes up into my visor.

"Gray-ssssith," she hissed softly, but with great meaning. She fell silent herself then, and took a drink.

I kept myself still with great effort.

Where--? the thought brushed my mind, the obvious answer galloping closely behind.

Oh, the little snoop!

For a moment my eyes darkened, then I paused in consideration.

She must be a very good spy indeed, to have been able to sneak out and find that word blasted so surprisingly... not to mention for all eternity; try what we would, nothing would remove that signature from the cell. We had even tried durasteel plating over it... in the cell once holding Captain Terrin Danner and his chum. The Detention Center in the bowels of Imperial HQ on Coruscant was not that easily breached.

Perhaps such ability deserves a little reward.

"Who is asking of the Sith, Minna?"

The question dropped from my lips almost as an afterthought. You'd have thought I'd just announced her own execution.

Her eyes darkened further, growing into black holes in her face. It was all she could do to refrain from gasping aloud; that I could tell as plainly as I could see the ruby lights dancing in the depths of my drink. She tilted her head down, stuttering, for the first time acting in a manner almost alien to her for its utter evasiveness to my question.

I frowned behind my visor.

Now what... or who?

She finally quieted, her mouth working a little as her mind obviously raced to come up with a reply. I sighed, deciding to put her out of her misery, knowing fully that she knew I was being condescendingly lenient to her, and in that, holding her in the palm of my hand.

"What do you need from me, Ms. Manth?" I finally asked, taking another sip of my Walkn'Fall. I almost choked when the whispered reply came quietly into my ears, so quiet that if I hadn't been wearing my helmet I wouldn't have heard it at all.

Now, why in all the universe would she need the coordinates to Korriban-- a planet of myth? Was this the answer behind her reference to the Sith... or was there something else, something deeper?

Unbeknownst to her, I toggled a device hidden in my helmet, sent a directive to Ransacker. A tiny light glowed green in response, as my ship sensed out to where Minna's lay docked next to her, affirmed its signature, and zapped a tiny and extremely well-hidden tracer on her hull. I then turned my attention back to Minna, who was once again staring into her drink with a look on her face indicating that she'd probably rather be anywhere than here...

...and mixed up in whatever it was she was.

I gave a mental shrug. I'd find out about it, sooner or later. The tracer would affirm that in the long run; they hadn't let me down yet.

As had not Actar's wonderfully trained and unbreakably loyal troops... such as the fleet of the best which I now sent orders to deploy to a particularly remote spot in the Galaxy....

"I don't have the information you seek, Minna," I finally stated, then held up a gloved hand to stay off her ensuing protest. She snapped her jaws shut before a peep came from them, but her eyes remained big and black, full of hope to see my hand there.

"I can give you the coordinates to a couple other planets, which have roots in Sith history," I said softly. Toggling another switch, I accessed the memory navigation banks of my ship; soon those coordinates were being scribbled upon a napkin and pushed across the table to her.

"I trust this relieves the Empire of any and all promises as to the further refurbishing of your ship," I said smoothly, rising to my feet. Giving her a dismissing nod, I turned and left, leaving her sitting there staring at the napkin upon which I had written the coordinates to two planets likewise shrouded in myth, if not entirely unknown to the galaxy at large.

K'har Delba... and K'eel Doba.

I then left, to continue into the investigation of what on earth the woman I still loved had gotten herself mixed up into now.

Khar Delba... and K'eel Doba???

She blinked, wondering if she should follow this up, finally decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valor at this point. Reaching into her pouch, she withdrew a portable transmitter, and quickly coded in the frequencies to the private channel provided to her by the enigmatic -- and utterly frightening -- SerKe. Opening the line, she didn't wait for any confirmation but quickly keyed in the coordinates Lt. General Tarnus had just provided her with.

"This is the closest to what you wish to receive that I can find," she typed in carefully. "Should my services please you, then please place the remainder of my fee in the account I have given you.

"And should they prove unsatisfactory..."

She paused a moment, shivering a little as she considered the portent those mere words carried inherently in them.

"Then please leave me in peace."

With that she snapped off the connection, and fidgeted a bit in her seat. Before finally rising, she raised a finger to the bartender, signalling for a bottle or two of the blue liquid she loved so well.

Then, weighted down with her final reward from the Empire, she hurried to her ship, that she could depart this volcanic rock and find a hole in which to hide from the Sith Lord she knew was out there.

She wondered if there was such a place in the entire Galaxy where she could indeed find such a sanctuary....

((OOC: Please go to Shattered Green in this forum to discover Serke's response to Minna's transmission, and see what happens to her there... for back to Tatooine she goes! Thank you.))

That would be much more difficult than it was even before. Before, Rhylla had been "given" to them by Roan; now, however...

...that wouldn't be very likely.

Not to mention the little fact that Rhylla obviously had much more control over her All-abilities, especially considering how she had acted her final time in Prinnchatka, as well as what she had done to Terrin. This time she had much more to fight back with should she...

...not "prefer" to stay, which undoubtedly would be the case. After all, ShaRhylla had chosen to stay with her Father to begin with, and had done everything in her power to return to him when she had been in Prinn’chatka before.

But then, she had been rather prideful of the fact that she was a Roan, and of her destiny as his Heiress...at that time, anyway. Shayla wondered if Rhylla knew Roan was taking measures to prevent her from becoming entangled in the rebirth of the Sith. And she wondered if this could be used to their advantage...

Shayla stated these thoughts and was waiting for a reply when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a sigil blinking on the navboard. She crooked a brow and nodded in that direction, knowing the sigil indicated an incoming message.

Perhaps it was Galen wondering what was going on. Or the Sullustan officials...

“Perhaps we should regroup on Kori’san so we may proceed from there?” she queried then fell silent, not knowing of anything else to say than that.

Before entering hyperspace, he sent a breif message to Galen, and the coordinates so she might meet them there...

With the ship in hyperspace, recinis returned to his seat, and considered shayla's thoughts of the possibility that ShaRhylla could be angered through revelation that her father might wish to keep her from such a task...

She did indeed take great pride in her heritage, and the fact that she was her fathers daughter... but she was so quick to forgive him for all he had done to her...

recinis shook his head slowly, "i do not know... Indeed Shayla, she might react in such a way, it is hard to say... Though i do not think she would be diverted from her bond for very long if it did occure... He had already abandoned her, and yet she continied to desire only to make him happy...

Though i would not rule any idea out at this moment in time, we need all we can think of..."

He smiled to himself as he washed his face, and stretched, alowing himself to become fully awakened before turning away and walking down the hall, and stopped as his stomach rumbled...

Quietly nodding to himself, he turned down another hall, allowing his instincts to guide him...

Returning to their home with the intention to consider further action seemed like a step backward to her, a slap in the face. She shook her head from where she was sitting, her frown growing.

"No," she finally breathed, her voice soft but determined. "This would gain us naught; we can debate our moves from here. To return to Koris'ian... what would that gain?"

She paused now, rising to her feet and approaching the others, still frowning her disapproval.

"We twiddle our thumbs and he knows it! Even now he laughs at our impotence!

"We must not back down in any manner, or show the slightest movement to denote our confusion, or wonderment as what to do. Now is the time to strike, and we know where the bait to the Beast lies!

"I will go with you," she stated calmly and assuredly, turning only once to send a look to silence even one protest from her husband. As if sensing that he shouldn't do this, Erik didn't peep so much as a word, but she could clearly feel his worries.

Her look towards him softened as she sent a tendril of understanding and love out to him, appreciating his support of her decision.

Then she turned her greeny-blue eyes towards Graysith. "I am ready," she said calmly and quietly.

With but a moment more of obvservation he stood nodding, "Very well, If this is what the Lady of Warriors deems done, Then there is no room for disputing it... We go!"
It was at that moment shayla rose to speak her words, Recinis nodded in her direction before going about his tasks.

He then quickly stopped there project and sent another message to galen, turning back to Jharmeen he gave her a curt nod.

A dark and oily voice purred as from the shadows a dark blot uncoiled itself from darker shadows, reaching out from elseness and blocking any attempt which might be made to creating a portal, flinging them all from their feet into the seats of the bridge before then stepping forth himself in confrontation. Ankrist Roan's turquoise eyes flashed like the fires of an exotic sun as, with an offhanded motion of one hand he froze everyone in their seats, preventing them with his All-strength from moving, even momentarily putting in abeyance that same and considerable strength wielded by the Chosen Daughter herself.

"Stop me? Take my child and turn her against me? Think you that this pitiful attempt on your parts should have me quaking in my boots, cowering and pleading for you to return her to me?

"Bah! You are more foolish than even I have thought; indeed the might of the Sith civilization does not deserve to be led by the likes of such weaklings as you! And besides...."

He trailed off, stalking about them now like a predator stalking its prey. He came to a halt in front of Graysith, pausing there in front of her, his fangs exposed as he smiled broadly at her inability to move. His tongue snaked out then, first to lick his lips...

...and then to do the same to her throat as he leaned down to perform this hideous caress upon her pale flesh. He smiled against her throat, sensing her trembling, his hot breath tickling the tiny hairs there as he whispered just loud enough for her and Recinis to hear,

"You seemed to enjoy that the last time you... experienced it," he purred, now taking the tender flesh of her throat between his teeth and nipping her lightly. His eyes flashed pure darkness then as, rising up, he strode beyond her then to where Jharu was sitting, his eyes wide.

One clawed hand reached out to lay lightly upon the halfling's head, finding the horns and running sensuous fingers along them in approval.

"A fine lad," he purred to the boy, pinning his bi-colored eyes with his own. "Would you like to come live with your Uncle Roan when the Sith return, and take your place at his side as heir apparent?"

He then threw his head back, letting a loud and disdainful guffaw escape his lips. It echoed about the bridge, bounding and rebounding in deafening proportions. And when those hideous echoes faded somewhat, he leveled a clear and absolutely omnipotent gaze upon them all.

"You are too late, my friends," he purred maliciously.

"It has already begun."

He seeks, seeks things which might help those he cares for... feeling his heart, it beats with life...

While the boy is unsure of himself, i sense clearly that he seeks assistance in something...

But upon the siths leaning beside his mother, and then actauly bitting her, jharu couldnt help but shudder in anger...
I heard them... He's the one... He... He's going to hurt them...

Jharu's head shook in denial... were they going to die? he had heard such horrible things about this one...

His heart pounded in a slightly rising speed within his chest, and Jharu could help but scream in reply to the mans words "leave her alone! LEAVE MY MOTHER ALONE!"

As he struggled against the invisible bounds that seemed to hold him he couldnt help but wondering.

Can i help? can i? i have to try! i have to!

he took a deep breath, continuing to glare at roan in an icy fashion, looking within himself for that certain...somethingthat had rissen to help him before...
He could feel it deep inside of him, waiting... But would it help him?

I have to try... What if he hurts them? He would do it, i can see it.. They are in danger! ive got to help them!

The Glyph flashed as within her breast the Beast raged and yowled, it too scrabbling and clawing against the chains which bound it, its flat pewter eyes snapping out through that portal upon her forehead as though in the attempt to rip Roan's lungs out through his throat. That demonic being merely laughed, giving the Lady Q'utaro a departing nibble before turning to go to her son.

Jharmeen now turned her head to the side, seeking her husband. Her eyes grew wide and meaningful as she strove out to him through the Link they shared, a great welt reddening upon her pale flesh where Roan had taken it between his teeth.

"My love," she whispered, reaching out to him, striving.

Then she turned to her equally motionless adept, who sat in seeming shock and dismay; Graysith knew better, however, clearly sensing the growing outrage in her soul.

"My Adept," she whispered, reaching out to her with her eyes and her heart.

Her gaze then fell full circle upon her son, who's shouts and cries of outrage only seemed to be amusing the dark Sith who yet held his hand upon his head.

"Jharu..." she breathed, reaching out to him through the Link shared with him, fortifying him with the only strength she could give him at the time:

A mother's love.

She then turned back to Recinis and fell silent, sending him her strength, reminding him of his own, willing him to free her from the corrupt being who stood in such apparent command of them and their ship.

Who, though taunting and snarling, remained only thus:

They roiled and churned in a chaotic tangle, the very antithesis to the logic of those arrow-straight starsmears which stretched themselves out on my forward viewscreen, pointing the way to where I was travelling next:

Kamino.

I sighed, shaking my helmeted head, and hunkered into my chair. My thoughts took hold of me and carried me to a place even more distant and endless than the one I now found myself in, that being the ponderings of the human mind in relationship to its current state of affairs, the past events which lead up to that, and the wide-open future into which all could spill.

What in the name of Hell's Seven Circles was underway on Kamino? What sneaky machinations have those cool and logical and oh-so-sly scientists taken unto themselves now?

Well. I was certain to get to the bottom of this. The last time I had come to this cold and watery world it was as a mere bounty hunter; I had only my own wits and those of Galen with which to pit against this planet's best. And come to think of it, we'd done fairly well... well, we'd gotten in, at least. And a place to stay.

But now...

Now I came with all the might and power of the Empire behind me. Behind my visor, my brow lowered and a slight sneer crept across my lips.

I hadn't a speck of evidence to prove this, but suddenly I had the strongest conviction that these Kaminoans had been sitting out here, ignored by the galaxy, indeed unknown to it for the most part; had been lurking here in the far distant reaches like a scuttling crab upon an equally distant and exotic shore...

...and had been quietly engaged in far more "science" than anyone could ever dream of.

My eyes blackened as a proximity alarm popped on, indicating my approach into Kaminoan space. I reached out, slipping us out of hyperspace as smoothly as a dianoga slips through a swamp, and soon came in for a landing on the Primary Pad of the Capital Stilt-City. There I disembarked into the howling winds of the ever-present storms, and strode to the entryway.

I didn't have to wait long before it slid open politely, revealing the tall and graceful figure of the City Greeter silhouetted in its frame. She nodded, and I entered.

Behind us, the door cut off the elements as it lowered to a close with a quiet little snick.

"You are pitiful. You disgust me, weaklings all!"

He stood there, so sure of himself, sensing out with the All and clearly finding its dawnings within the essence of the halfling child of the Pretender and his wife. A slow and terrible smile crept across his face, and his eyes darkened to the color of an ocean's abyssal depths.

"So be it."

That smile never left his lips as he now turned round and approached where Jharmeen yet lay frozen in her seat, the only part of her body able to move with relative freedom being her head, and her eyes, which followed him with the defiant terror with which a herbivore follows the stalking movements of the animal about to devour it.

Roan ignored her flaming eyes, reaching over her, taking great pains to make certain his body came into intimate contact with hers again, relishing the series of tremors this provoked within her as well as the daggers being shot into his back from her husband, son, and adept. Just for fun, he bent his neck, bringing his head close beside hers, his tongue now snaking out to lick her ear. Then, his lips moist and cruel and continuing to nibble upon her earlobe, he studied the instrumentation of the warship for a moment before reaching out and sending his sensuous fingers dancing along the communications panel.

A line abruptly opened up to the hovering DJ. True, that ship was invisible to his sensors... but its sole occupant was not beyond the All-link he had developed with her upon that terrible day in the Sullustan spas. He had been aware of her presence there for some time now, and decided that she should not miss out on the fun he promised to himself that he was soon to deliver to the occupants of this Sith ship.

I'll get to you, next, whelp.... he shot across that mental Link into her soul as he straightened, turning back once again to face those he had imprisoned in their very seats.

His head turned slowly as he cast a cruel and knowing gaze upon them all.

Then, standing tall and firm and powerful...

...he dropped the chains by which he had bound them. One clawed hand immediately rushed upward then, palm out to them as he sensed their beginning stirrings from bondage. Then that hand fisted, the index finger remaining tremblingly upright, to then lower and point directly at the Claw of S'slan which glimmered in lethal beauty upon Jharmeen's hand.

"Take a care," he whispered in a sultry voice. "For that was created to unleash the All against non-All-users.

"I would think deeply before I made any... hasty misjudgements, if I were you."

Smirking like a krayt dragon, he waited.

"This is not the place to tempt battle... You claim superior strength, but you are just a coward hiding behind an ability that will defend you from attack...

I, by your words, and a weakling, with no such ability, yet i will stand against you... leave these people alone...

"Not the place to tempt battle?" he repeated, now tilting his head a bit to one side as though utterly taken aback by this assertion. "Is there indeed any place better?"

He paused then, his countenance darkening as, a smile broadening his lips he threw back his head, exposing his throat, and likewise threw his arms to either side of himself. His stance widened as he thrust out his chest toward Recinis, seemingly leaving himself open for anything.

"Strike me now, oh Lord of the Sith!" he whispered in dark seduction, letting his words oil their way into Recinis's ears, using every last remembered innuendo and vocal nuance he ever once had in the command of Sith magick -- although not the actual magick itself -- to tempt Recinis into thinking that the most wonderful thing in the world would be to leap forward now and tear out his very heart. "There is no better time; you know you will never have another chance, you know there will be no other, never again will I offer myself so freely, and if you let me go I shall track after Her again and take her to me as I did before; ahhh... yesss...."

He paused briefly, letting the sibilant trail off into an evil hiss.

"As much as I try to deny it, I have developed quite a descriminating... taste... for the Lady Q'utaro...."

"I am not as foolish as to forget what would happen were i to do what i desired to, If this is the ideal time to battle, then you may take the first step into battle..."

Then his demeanor changed abruptly, and he straightened again. His stance balanced his body, one foot slightly forward, the other slightly back, his body half-turned, his knees bent just a touch to lower his center of gravity, further stabilizing himself.

Slowly his arms came back to his sides, then rose somewhat, his hands hovering just a touch higher than waist level.

His eyes burrowed into Recinis's.

"You still remain blind, fool!" he hissed, his aquiline nostrils flaring, his lip curling, one arm shooting out as he stabbed a pointing finger at the Dark Lord. "You do not see.

"There can be no final confrontation between us! Can you not see that?

"I have won...."

...particularly those things he did to Graysith...

...she couldn't help but feel hot anger stirring within her.

But even as she sat there, pinned, something was niggling and trying to gain voice. She listened to that something, though it was difficult to hear because she so very much wanted to rush forth, her fury rising. She couldn't even hide the anger in her eyes.

Quiet your mind, Shayla Stargazer...

At length, Shayla felt the hold which Roan had upon them...

He was using the All offensively...? HOW?!

...loosen, as well as did she hear his words. With that she began to understand something, and that little niggle became even more insistent, gradually beginning to all but gnaw.

The Claw was designed so that the All could be used offensively by the wearer. Which would place any All user who would be attacked with it immediately on the defensive...

The niggle errupted into coherent thought. Beside her, Erik sensed her feelings clearly and reached out a hand, laying it atop hers as if to reassure. Shayla hesitated no longer, but opened up a Force-link to Graysith, pouring all the love she could into it. Then she dropped a thought along with that link.

Don't attack. Protect, defend. This places HIM on the offensive.

As if to underscore that final thought, Shayla stood, her husband behind her, and came over to where Graysith was, stopping there and standing firm. Beside her, her husband responded in kind.

She turned to Graysith once more, actually stating five words aloud, completely ignoring any looks she might be recieving. "Do not attack. Protect. Defend."

With that she fell silent and waited, her greeny-blue eyes alert and suddenly and strangely very calm. Yet at length she added one final thought. "This is a distraction. We should proceed onward as we were, before it is truly too late."

Roan only kept silent, pinning Recinis like a collector pins an insect upon a card. For another endless moment they remained thus, both aware of nothing but the other, each one's senses honed warrior-keen and ready, tensing, waiting for the other to make just that one false move, that one misstep...

Then Roan's head jerked to one side.

His eyes gleamed with a secret satisfaction... filled with the ultimate joy of victory won, and....

Something else.

For a moment a flash of the something else flared out from his turquoise eyes, filling the warship with its fire, its warmth, its....

Ankrist Roan merely smiled, then turned to Graysith, his back blatantly turned to Lord Recinis. Utterly ignoring Shayla, he took Graysith's hand in his, bowed once over it, and kissed it with a strange and totally unexpected gentleness.

He shot one more look into her eyes, one more into those around the bridge of the warship.

Bowing then, he opened a portal through the All, and stepped back into his ship, orbiting a world so far away.

The portal snapped closed in his wake, leaving a silence which deafened them for its unexpected arrival.

((OOC: Follow Ankrist Roan into To Wake The Dead in "Jedi Praxeum/Sith Temple" forums, thank you.))

I had already explained the reason for this little unexpected visit. I had already asked the questions; no, demanded the answers thereof. And now I was waiting, letting time and the enigma I presented standing there, the shadowy strength of the burgeoning Empire behind me, speak loudly in the gently brilliant light of this room.

The Prime Minister actually fidgeted, and that's something one doesn't see often in a Kaminoan. He raised an impossibly slender and three-fingered hand to his tight lips.

"I- I am afraid that much of that which we do here is of a confidential nature, Sir Lieutenant General," he whispered at length. "I do not really believe I have the moral right to--"

I cut off his words with a wave of my glove. Then I shifted, leaning forward slightly.

"That does not concern me, nor does it the Empire," I growled. "What does is what mischief you have been making here, quietly, and for some length of time," I bluffed.

I straightened up. Crossed my arms again... and stood silent for an indeterminable period until finally ending with,

"You will tell me what I need to know, and you will show me what you have to show. Otherwise this entire sorry planet will be vaporized; there are other cloning facilities available."

The Prime Minister fidgeted a bit more, then sighed.

"As you wish," he finally murmured, nodding to an aide who hurried away, before bursting into a somewhat lengthy soliloquy.

My eyebrow raised behind my helmet as he went on and on about matters I had never heard of before. Something about an Entaris project, followed by an Aurora one. And clone after clone after clone, all at the none too gentle behest of a certain Dark Lord Roan.

It was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping when the Kaminoan he had nodded to returned with something in his arms.

"We had orders to destroy this when our work was done, but we are not murderers, Lieutenant General," he said, turning to that aide to take the tiny bundle from him and hold it in his arms.

Wide-set blue eyes stared up at him in complete innocence, red hair flaming against the purity of whiteness, puffing from her head in a thick yet wispy halo....

I managed by a dint of hard effort to put my jaw back in place. Then I found myself holding my own arms to the Prime Minister.

"Give her to me," I ordered in a tone that brooked no disrespect... much less disobedience. The Prime Minister turned his head up to me, then stood and crossed the short distance to where I was. The slightest bit of trembling raced through my arms as I took the bundle into them, to cradle her against my armored chest. Gingerly, I touched a gloved finger to her wee nose.

"You've just saved your planet for another day, Minister," I muttered, then turned on my heel. Utterly ignoring the ineffective attempts of the Greeter to offer any apology on behalf of Kamino, I strode quickly from that chamber and soon returned to the entryway through which I had come into this city.

Moments later, I was aboard Ransacker, settling the bundle into a seat, then settling myself. I turned my visor down to her.

"Let's go home, sweetheart," I said to her, then brought my ship into wonderful life, to make it so.

The infant only bubbled her agreement as we roared through thunder and rain, soon to exit and disappear into the beauty of hyperspace. And it wasn't until we had reached that safety that I finally sat back and allowed the emotions I had been holding within me to have full release. I don't know how long it took for the tears to cleanse the grief and anger from me; quite a while, I suspect.

But when I was finally depleted of them, it was as if a tiny sun was alive in my chest.

There must indeed be a god living somewhere, for he had given my daughter back to me.

...and in that brief flash of a moment found nothing in his heart but overwhelming love and gratitude.

It was the recognition of that which stayed her own hand, which shocked her enough to allow his genteel action to take place. In fact, she was filled with so much shock, that she remained stone-still in that position even as he departed, one hand raised where Roan had taken it up to meet his lips.

She blinked her eyes.

Her jaw worked voicelessly.

Upon her forehead the Glyph flared in sudden suspicion... a deep and terrifying suspicion echoed by the sudden, slavering yowls of the Beast within.

Slowly her eyes turned to the golden image tattooed upon her wrist... then to her husband's. At length she pulled her gaze back, to encompass them all, where they all stood immobile battling sudden shock of their own.

"What has he done?" came the whisper from her lips.

She somehow knew Roan was not bluffing. Not in the least.

"We cannot let this stop us," she said at length, determination in the depths of her eyes. "He may indeed have brought the Sith back, but he will still have to fight for control of them, for as it was The Triad was in leadership; this will not give him ultimate control."

Then she looked to Lord Recinis, expanding upon her thoughts. "He denounced his Sith heritage, and in doing so lost his claim as Dark Lord of the Warrior Clan. This title now belongs to you and your Lady...

...and one among the Sith knows this very well."

She paused at that, then looked at all aboard the warship. "I believe we must somehow contact Lord Aelvedaar and confront Ankrist Roan once again. He will seek to gain control over the Sith and may try to destroy the Triad to accomplish this; the only way to stop him from any outright takeover is to challenge his rights to leading the Warrior clan. After all, was it not your family who originally held rightful claim to the Warrior Clan?" she queried, her greeny-blue eyes meeting Recinis's emrald pair, as she let the question fall into silence for a moment.

Then, "And there is another reason we must not let this stop us. For if Roan takes total control of the Sith--

--which he will do however he must--

--he will not stop at that."

That was no mere joy at having returned the sith... That was love... That was the source of his power... What else could cause him to actauly lower his guard, nothing save utter expectance, even perhaps slight impatiants... But why? he could see his daughter any time... It does not make any sense... Perhaps... Could he hold a loved one that had been lost? perhaps... But that is a question for another time...

recinis finaly nodded to shayla, "yes, we must come in contact with Lord Aelvedaar... If things have gone as we believe, then he will be returning to Khar delba..."

he then took another swig of the little liquide and shook once more, walking around quietly, "that guy really bugs me... Anyone mind telling me what it is just happened? cause i sure as hell dont got the slightest idea to go off of... Man, i wish i had decided to just stay home, no, i had to do one job... one more, just for kicks, one little thing, pretend to be a jedi, scare some guys, but NO, i got caught up on this..."

he then trailed off and mumbled to himself "then again, you did meet galen, that was kinda a good thing, nice person to hang out with N all... but then... That guy had to...."

Then she stopped in mid-movement. Her eyes widened as another question flooded them, her hand now rising to lightly touch the Glyph.

It was still there. It was still alight. Whether or not her destiny had indeed been fulfilled, and by however circuitous a route, the All had not fled in the fruition of that destiny.

It was still within her. She was still Graysith, the Chosen Daughter of the Sith....

A sigh of breath she didn't know she had been holding escaped her then, and she nodded once in agreement to all. Then she completed her truncated movement, turning now to the navigation board, reaching out and keying in the coordinates to the dim red star which shown in the K'eel Doban and Khar Delban skies. Another light touch of a sigil, and the command was executed.

Falling silent at that he began to pace, his mind spinning as thoughts of the recent past began to cloud his mind once more, as well as thoughts of what lay ahead. He really didn't know what he was doing here anymore or how he could help, and his frustration was to a level where all he wanted to do was sit and have a good, long drink. But he realized what was at the crux of his troubles.

Terrin was gone, and he was out of place. He was avoiding the reality of Terrin's death as much as he possibly could...and that meant avoiding telling anyone on the outside just what had happened as well. To add to that, he really hated to be the bearer of such devestating news any other way but in person...

He turned to Graysith, who was at the navboard making calculations; even then he could see the disturbing sight of hyperspace leap out before them. "I know this may be a bad time, but I'd like to ask you to drop me off on a planet somewhere on the way to your destination; so long as it's not one of the Sith worlds I can have someone pick me up. I have responsibilities elsewhere and feel I am of little help here. Aside from that Aaron and Matt deserve to know what happened to Terrin, and I'd hate to deliver that information to them in any way other than in person."

He quieted at that, the faintest glimmerings that could be nothing other than despair yet lurking somewhere deeply in his eyes as he waited.

An ally is an ally... yet to bring an innocent life into possible danger... Captain Danner's men should be told the truth... dare we risk denying this?

Recinis nodded to her, as if saying, The gamepiece is in your quadrant, my Lady....

Graysith nodded slightly in return, then turned round to bring up their trajectory vector onscreen. The pickings were slim, but with merely a slight course adjustment....

Jasyn pursed his lips as he considered for one final moment, then nodded. "That will be fine with me," he commented, nodding once in appreciation.

Then with no further word he returned to the corner he'd be skulking about in, his eyes defocusing as he again thought of what responsibilities laid ahead of him.

He sure hoped Fondor had a good cantina he could visit while he waited...