He followed.

“My lady,” he called again. “This is an important topic and one we should not dismiss.”

No answer.

He quickened his pace and caught up with her.

“My lady – Jharmeen. Something seems amiss, well beyond anything we have seen. Please, tell me. You know I am always here for you.”

He stared deeply into her eyes, trying to read them for something -- anything. He also let his feelings seek out the link with her, and sent his love through it.

[ 01-25-2004 05:20 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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

Something rippled in the back of hers, quickly slick, like pooling oil.

Then she turned once again and continued, her pace increasing until without actually running she was impossibly moving through the ship at a near break-neck speed.

She reached her quarters, entered, and closed and locked the door behind her, whirled and leaned against it...

...and stood there a long, long moment, staring off into something only she could really see, a cold smile on her face.

Within, the links she held with Shayla and Phalomir snipped, severing as easily as a ruptured vein.

But only as far as they were concerned....

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

No, not empty. There was something there. Something that sent shivers down his spine.

Oily

Yes, there was something there. He suddenly stood straight, the hairs on his neck standing on end, as vivid images flashed into his mind.

He was held down, unable to move. The black river stood before him, flowing eerily from nothing. His father called strange names, and laughed as the man-thing stepped from the blackness. No, it had spring from the darkness itself, as if it were part of it. The man-thing stepped closer, its strange skin flowing like the river itself… sleek, fluid…

“Oily,” he whispered.

He shook his head slightly, almost trembling. What he thought, he could not believe. Surely he was jumping to conclusions, she was merely tired…

“Oily,” he whispered again. “It was beaten back into the blackness, but now it is back…”

Panic tried to set in. He focused and tried to remain calm.

“Jumping at ghosts, Phalomir, she is merely tired…”

Ghosts. Yes, ghosts. Set your mind at ease, surely she will understand later.

He leaned against the wall and breathed deeply. Although he had not used this talent for some time, it came to him easily. In an instant he felt his consciousness moving from his body and floating down the hall. As he reached the door the Dark Lady had entered, he paused. Gathering his determination, he passed through the wall.

[ 01-25-2004 05:52 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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Not this time, my dear Phalomir….

The smirk still planted on her face, she whirled away from the door, quick as a fleeting thought, her hand raised and poised with talon-daggered intent. From the tips of her fingers there flew a brilliantly greeny-golden something, that entwined about the Sith lord's essence until he was entirely encased within it.

Sparks of emerald, of chrysoprase and rutile ripped the air… and when they quieted, it was to reveal the Chosen Daughter of the Sith standing alone in her quarters, the Sith’s persona, his emotions and feelings and everything other than his physical body having been sent through an open portal into a particular nothing laying like a trap at in the bowels of a certain valley, an otherness that now roiled and mewed in thanks for the bounty it had just received.

Without Graysith’s door, Phalomir slumped to the floor, a empty shell still horribly alive, and one utterly ignored as Graysith now passed him by, heading back to Primary Stores like a grim, grey ghost. Upon reaching it, she peeped within without opening the door, smiled to see Shayla was still unconscious.

Perfect....

Entering, she lifted a hand with nonchalant ease; in the blink of an eye the body of the Sith Lord had been transported right back to where it had been.

Right beside the groggy Shayla, who was beginning to show signs of awakening.

Graysith smiled coldly... then planted a look of despair and horror on her face, letting crocodile tears flood into her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

"Shayla!" she cried out in agony, as if the very world had just taken the one thing she treasured more than anything away from her.

"What has happened to Lord Phalomir?

"What have you done?"

[ 01-26-2004 12:58 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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...if in fact anyone was at the time. Still, she was keenly aware of the events which had transpired and what she had done to thwart them. Concern rose up in her heart at these thoughts, so she stretched out to the first subject of those concerns...

...only to come up with absolutely nothing in that department. Shock at this realization registered even as words simultaneously registered in her ears.

"Shayla! What has happened to Lord Phalomir?

"What have you done?"

Immediately recognizing the voice of those words, Shayla sat bolt upright, her heart jumping into her throat. Her eyes fell upon the entirely lifeless form of Phalomir, and on instinct Shayla stretched out through the Force to ascertain if what she was seeing was in fact the truth.

"No..." she whispered in quiet horror, shaking her head, tears springing into her eyes even as she came up short. Even as geniune tears began to flood her eyes, Shayla looked to what at least appeared to be a despairing Graysith.

"There was a strange sort of fire burning within him," Shayla explained through tears. "I used a Force-link and heat absorption to take the fire unto myself and then heal my own body of any remaining injuries resulting from that attempt..."

She trailed, more tears. "I know I succeeded, I just know I did..."

Once more her words dropped off even as she reached inward to assess what she was saying aloud.

Do you know for a fact you saved him from his fate, Shayla Stargazer? Heat absorption was never one of your gifts, a voice taunted somewhere deeply within.

You did succeed," an angel replied the challenge. "And even if you had failed, at least you tried with your very best..."

"Nooo..." Shayla cried, getting shakily to her feet then and letting a despairing and empathetic gaze fall into Graysith's somehow accusatory one. Shayla shuddered involuntarily...

...then firmed, though tears still flooded her eyes. "I know I succeeded in saving him from the internal fire, though I can't give an explanation for what has happened," she reiterated. "Something just seems very wrong..."

Once more Shayla simply trailed, her eyes still locked to Graysith's, whose own were yet filled with tears as well. Then in one totally instinctive motion, Shayla abandoned any hesitations...

...and stepped forward in one smooth motion, wrapping her arms about Jharmeen in an empathetic hug.

There were, quite simply, no words...

[ 01-25-2004 10:00 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Only to come up empty handed.

At length Graysith pulled away. She took a step backward, and looked sorrowfully upon the limp and richly robed body that lay at her feet.

“Perhaps the Force is not the answer to everything, Shayla,” she said in a hoarse whisper, keeping her eyes pinned on Phalomir. “Perhaps this is an occasion where my abilities may be useful.”

With no other word than that she fell on her knees beside the still form, and reaching out laid her hands upon his face. She closed her eyes, tilted back her head, let the Glyph on her forehead burst into wondrous life…

…and after a few moments quietly removed her hands from Phalomir. She looked up at Shayla, a carefully orchestrated admixture of horror and denial and accusation emblazoned upon her features.

“It would appear your talents indeed proved of no avail,” she said hoarsely as she rose to her feet.

“For I find no sentient mind living within him. It is as if it has been…

”Burned away.”

Fresh tears sprang into her eyes and she swayed a bit from side to side. A quick tilt of her head to stare blankly at Phalomir, a certain squeezing of her eyelids, and two precisely selected tears fell upon him, tiny rain bringing soothing relief to blazing fires too late.

“I am afraid there is nothing we—we can do,” she said brokenly, taking another step backward and hugging herself as if in the attempt to ward off this terrible sight. Indeed, that image was fortified as she lifted a hand to cover her eyes altogether, turning away as she did.

“I can bear to be here no longer; I shall be in my quarters; please let me know when the radiation has ceased so I may drop the shield from about us that we might continue on our way.

“I- I--"

Unable to vocalize, she shook her head. Then, her head bowed, her shoulders slumped, she turned and once again left Primary Stores for her quarters, the smile upon her face growing larger and larger with every step that she took.

[ 01-26-2004 01:22 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

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

"What the kriffing hell is going on?" he asked, a curious tone in his voice. "I just saw Graysith head back the other way in tears..."

As Jasyn trailed and looked downward, Shayla looked up in surprise, blinking.

"Oh dear gods..." Jasyn said then, his eyes locked on the motionless form of Phalomir, "Is he...

... "dead?"

[ 01-26-2004 08:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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"He's not dead," she then replied softly, "At least, not in body..."

She trailed, shuddering. Then, "Graysith said it was as though his mind had been...

... burned away. If that is truly the case, then he might as well be dead..."

Once more trailing, Shayla's eyes darkened, and for a long moment she couldn't think of what to say or do...

...then she realized with a start then there was no thinking to do about it. "We should move Phalomir somewhere more suitable for a Dark Lord of the Sith than a storeroom floor," she said then, albeit a bit numbly. "Then we should get to the business of resting and preparing to get to Korriban. I'm going to keep a monitor on the ships systems...

...after all, someone is keenly interested in keeping us from getting there, and I wouldn't put it past him to somehow plant a bomb aboard this ship, though I haven't the first proof to confirm such suspicions...

...but it's just all so damned convenient that this is all happening now."

Shayla trailed at this, glancing down to the motionless Phalomir once more, her heart aching as an accusatory voice in her head tried to invade her thoughts. She forced it back. "We just have to keep fighting...

...and not let Phalomir's sacrifice be in vain..."

[ 01-26-2004 08:57 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

A Shayla gazed down at Phalomir, a bright glow pulsated from within his robes. Soon the glow permeated through the dark robes, creating an eerie red glow upon the motionless Dark Lord’s midsection.

Red? Glow? The Eye...

Still frozen, Shayla simply stared for a long moment.

It WAS the eye. Phalomir himself had spoken of finding it and having it...

...but then, what should you do with it, Shayla Stargazer?

Blinking at this thought, the only thing that came as a natural answer to Shayla registered. Even as Jasyn Lancaster and Matt Stanza, who the former had sought for assistance, got ready to pick up the large Sith and take him somewhere more befitting, Shayla finally managed to take her eyes off the warm glow. The two men had just entered the storeroom aisle once more when Shayla rose a halting hand.

Lancaster glanced down at Phalomir's glowing midsection. "What the---???!!!" he started out.

"Leave him where he is, for the moment," Shayla spoke up at last. "There's something Graysith needs to know about."

And with no further preamble than this, Shayla turned on her heel and began making her way towards the quarters where she believed Graysith would be, uncertain of just what to make of an Eye who seemed to be responding minus the essence of that person which it usually responded to...

[ 01-27-2004 07:31 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Just sitting there. Her hands lay quiet in her lap, her eyes blank, the Glyph a dull adamantine splotch on her brow.

A whisper traveled into her essence along the one-way link she yet maintained with Shayla.

Now her eyes narrowed, a snarl curled her lips. She rose to her feet, clenching her hands, but did not move other than that.

Far, far away, the relayed message was assayed, analyzed, scrutinized, and mentally spit upon. There was no time to intercept the human before she returned to the fallen Sith, at least not without revealing certain information for which the time was not yet…

Appropriate.

Another further weighing of pros and cons, balance sought after…

A compromise was reached.

So be it.

Graysith slowly lowered herself until once more she was sitting on the edge of her bed, hands in lap, eyes and Glyph dull and blank. Deep within her consciousness, a muttered command poured forth.

She now shall be the Bearer, the one to carry the Eye. This is good, for she is not Sith.

But trust her not, or her companions, for they seek to destroy you. You must protect yourself...

You must protect us.

This will not be difficult. I will show you the way...

In the store room, hidden amidst boxes and crates and barrels and containers, the remnants of what appeared to be an ordinary incindiary device flared unseen, lashed out with a particularly beautiful greeny-goldness...

And subsided into nothing more than myriad metallic bits and pieces, those of the sort one normally expects to find after such a device has exploded.

[ 01-27-2004 01:49 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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The Dark Lord is gone for now...and the Dark Lady has fallen too? she then thought, the frown still planted on her face, What madness is this you speak of...

...and what proof have I of any of these things which you speak...?

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

...torn between the reliability of what the Eye was telling her and what her heart was prompting her to do. In this instance Shayla knew she would have to rely on something more than her feelings on the matter; she would have to turn to the simple facts. And what were those facts?

Someone had been trying to hamper their mission to Korriban from the get-go, and that someone was most likely Aelvedaar. They'd been pushed out of hyperspace on top of a sun going supernova unnaturally, and they'd lost a life...

...or at least it appeared they had. There had been a bomb planted aboard their ship...

...a bomb which Phalomir had found and tried to stop, only to somehow have his mind seemingly "burned away" in the process while the rest of his body appeared to be fully living. And in the midst of all of this horrible madness, Graysith had retreated to her room to mourn...

...and had likewise severed the link she had been mainataining with Shayla?

Shayla's frowned darkened at this thought, a warning flag waving persistently in her mind's eye, screaming for attention.

Now, was this action something that seemed consistent with Graysith's usual persona? Has it ever happened before? Yes, once. But in that instance Graysith was under duress. So could something in fact be going on here as the Eye is trying to point out?

At this thought Shayla whirled on the spot, heading back into the storeroom and past Lancaster and Stanza. There she knelt, scratching and sorting through boxes and kegs and crates til at length she came up with exactly what she was looking for: the remnants of a typical bomb.

So then why wasn't this settling her concerns, and why did she still feel a Force tremor within? Follow your instincts, Shayla Stargazer...for if this is somehow a trap...

...how would it profit anyone? After all, the Eye has never brought harm to Graysith. In fact, it once protected her...

Shayla stood, closing her eyes a moment, trying to clear her mind. Blind loyalty is NOT always the best. Rather, loyalty with wisdom...

Opening her eyes then, Shayla leaned over, quickly removed the Eye from Phalomir's robes, and hid it securely on her own person. She paused then, searching the Force for any tremors or niggles regarding this action...

...and came up with none. She turned then, her greeny-blue eyes falling into Jasyn Lancaster's quizzical ones. "Move Lord Phalomir to a more appropriate location," she restated, "Then get to the bridge. I have a feeling something unusual may be going on here, and I don't think it is wise for us to stay split up for a prolonged period of time."

Saying that, Shayla walked past him, urgency lending wings to her feet...

...when she once more suddenly halted, looking over her shoulder towards Lancaster. "And by the way...

...don't have too much of that," she finished, nodding towards the kegs on the storeroom floor before turning back and proceeding towards the bridge.

[ 01-28-2004 10:11 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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...and quite frankly he didn't like not knowing what was going on. He had a bone or two he was going to pick with the woman before she started bossing him around; after all, there were only a few people he had ever taken orders from...

...and she wasn't on the list. Even as he and Matt returned to the bridge where Shayla had already seated herself at the navboard, she turned to them.

"Have a seat," she said simply.

That was all it took. "Now, you just wait one kriffing second!" he growled. Shayla's brows shot upward in surprise.

"Just who the hell put you in charge here, and what the hell is going on? What something unusual were you referring to when you said something was going on here...

...or do you intend to keep us in the dark? And why did you take that thing from Lord Phalomir's robes? And furthermore...

just what the kriffing hell is it?"

[ 01-29-2004 09:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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These damn EE employees. They must be trained to be suspiscious...

"I was getting to all that," she then stated. "The Eye of R'lous...

...which Phalomir spoke of as a possible method to find Galen and solve some mysteries for us before we left for Korriban ...

...has spoken to me and has requested me take it into my possession, which I have done. According to it, Phalomir is elsewhere and will return to his body in time...

...and Graysith has been possessed by some dark one. I can't verify the truth of any of this aside from what the Force is guiding me to, but the Eye has always acted in Graysith's stead, so I cannot see why it would turn against her now. That, and it's just a feeling that I have..."

Shayla sighed once more and trailed a moment, her eyes turning vague. "She has severed her link with me, and that in itself is highly unusual; still, I think time will tell. In the meantime, however," she continued, turning back to the navboard, "I plan to do a little research. If there's any proof of foul play to be found...

...I'll be damned if I'm not going to find it..."

[ 01-29-2004 10:21 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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...as did he remember his final fate. Unthinking, he took a good drink of the brandy, letting it burn down his throat.

"Just when you think it simply can't get any worse...

...it does. We know all too well what can happen when someone with dark intent muddles with another's mind..."

He trailed, taking another drink, his implications well understood by the others in the cabin. Stargazer turned and sent an unreadable expression his way.

"Lay off that stuff, would you?" she then said, changing the subject quickly as she nodded towards the brandy in Jasyn's hand. "It won't help us for you to be drunk...

...and I think you know that."

Jasyn scowled, finally conceding and replacing the cap. "Yeah," he then said aloud. "It sure as kriffing hell won't help us..."

Putting the brandy bottle down with a thud then, Jasyn crossed his arms even as his eyes grew incredibly vague, as though he was lightyears away.

...just like it didn't help Terrin...

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

...she just simply wanted to rule out all possibilities. She could easily conclude that Aelvedaar may have planted the bomb aboard the ship...

...but then, Shayla wasn't entirely certain. Shoving them out of hyperspace on top of a star going supernova sounded like something the Dark Lord might do...

...but planting a bomb? And to add to that...

...the possible possession of Graysith by some other? Shayla couldn't help but recall a similiar situation to this...

...one which she had come across not so long ago. As this crossed her mind, she couldn't help but turn back to the quiet Matt Stanza and the equally quiet--

--and brooding--

--Jasyn Lancaster.

"You know," she started, "It's entirely possible that we are coming up against more than just Aelvedaar, and more than even the Yuuzhan Vong, especially if Graysith does truly have a dark entity with her. Thoran and his Master once posssessed the body of another...

...and we have proposed that perhaps Aelvedaar may be in league with both. There is no way to be certain...

...but I can't rule out the possibility at this point..."

Shayla trailed, noting both the thoughtful look in Matt's eyes...

...and the glazed over one in Jasyn Lancaster's. She turned back to the navboard. "We have about 5 standard hours til it is safe to exit the chronotic shield...

...maybe you should both get some rest while the opportunity is still present..."

...cause who knows when the Hell it will be present again...

[ 02-01-2004 10:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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...and even in rest, a part of her was actively keeping tabs on her environment, just in case something were to happen. Her dark propositions and thoughts troubled her even in sleep however...

...and a nightmare which she wouldn't even remember haunted her dreams. She awoke with a start, finding her forehead wet with sweat. Taking a deep breath she attuned herself to her environment and checked her wrist chrono. She took another deep breath.

It was time.

Glancing back to a sleeping Jasyn and a stirring Matt, Shayla then stood.

"I will be right back," she said, unsure if either man heard her. Then she exited the cabin of the warship and headed directly to Graysith's quarters.

She knocked three times, lightly. Then she waited til at length the door finally oiled open, revealing Graysith. Her look was entirely unreadable...

"It is safe for the shield to be dropped," Shayla said quite simply. Then she added, her voice softening, "And I have had Lord Phalomir moved from the storeroom and to some quarters."

She quieted then, her look yet soft as she thought of the Dark Lord's apparent fate.

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

“Excellent, on both accounts,” she said softly, and raised a hand. Smiling then, she pulled back into her quarters, turning sideward to let Shayla see past her toward the large viewport that dominated the outside bulkhead.

Millions upon millions of stars shone with steady light, their myriad colors sending a soft wash of light into Graysith’s cabin to chase away what shadows seemed to be lingering there.

She turned an intense gaze to Shayla.

“Your calculations were quite correct, Shayla,” she said, nodding as she walked around the young woman and entered the corridor beyond. “I shall input the correct coordinates to Korriban; we should soon be there.”

She paused a moment longer, turned and waited for Shayla to leave her quarters. Smiling then, she led onward, and soon had gained the bridge where she quickly went to the navigational board and keyed in certain strokes. Straightening up, she turned to the others, something of a shadow flicking quickly behind her eyes when she noticed the particular look Jasyn was sending her way.

“I anticipate a hyperspace journey of perhaps another twelve hours,” she said simply.

“Have you all rested or eaten? Or do you wish to use this time determining our best course of action once we arrive there?”

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

"We have rested," Shayla then replied. "Perhaps we can all eat as we discuss what our plans may be once we reach Korriban? she then queried.

Before Graysith could so much as nod in approval, Lancaster was up on his feet and strolling past them, Matt Stanza on his heels. Stanza paused briefly, letting his eyes cut to Shayla then Graysith as he shrugged as if to say: Jasyn will be Jasyn...

Then he turned and followed his commrade. Shayla then looked back to Graysith. "I suppose we should follow them," she said then, pausing for a monent and then suddenly reaching out a hand to lay on one of Graysith's shoulders, concern clearly evident in her eyes. "Know that if you need a shoulder to cry on or just some support, I'm here. I sense you pulling away...

...if only because you have closed your link with me."

Shayla trailed a moment, the concern in her eyes seeming to grow in tandem with her words. "When you are ready, know that I will be here and waiting when you feel that you can let me back in..."

[ 02-02-2004 12:01 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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“Your support is acknowledged and accepted, Shayla,” she began smoothly. “But there is really no further need that I expend the energy I must to maintain the link between us. Anything we could possibly pass along to each other through it should not remain hidden from the others.

“Are we not all in this together now? Can what I not speak to you, be therefore spoken aloud to Mr. Stanza, or to Mr. Lancaster?

“And speaking of Mr. Lancaster—“

She broke off, her upper lip quirking into a grin as she turned in the direction the two men had disappeared into.

“I do hope he knows where he is going. This is rather a large warship.”

Giving Shayla another quick look, she turned and moved off the bridge into the corridor the EE employees had hurried into, one of several intersecting the command center of the ship. Cocking her head, she could just make out the sound of their footsteps diminishing in the distance.

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

...but then, what if the Eye was somehow right? Should she dare take that risk?

And indeed, perhaps things were working out too perfectly considering all that had hampered them up this point. Graysith had, after all, just lost a Sith whom Shayla was certain she loved--

--and who appeared to love her--

--yet she seemed to be taking it very well..

Shayla snapped alert then, realizing that Graysith had managed to round up the two EE employees. She was leading them into a room with an empty table, one waiting to be filled with food and drink. Lancaster froze, scowling at the table's emptiness, his thoughts clearly readable.

Shayla couldn't help but smirk a bit. Then she turned to Graysith, letting her look sober a bit. "I think the boys would like to see what bounty might have been provided for us..."

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