“Indeed, your presence by my side will not annoy me, for in my reality you simply are not there, are you?”

He smiled in turn and quickly reaching out went to slap Thoran in turn upon his shoulder. That smile crooked as his pale and long-fingered hand passed through the other’s flesh as if it was air.

“I believe that is a factor in my favor, friend,” he concluded aloud, stepping forward then with a firm resolve to not be taken unaware again.

I must always – always – keep the nature of this place in my mind, he thought as he went on, his eyes now scanning for imp or Galen, whoever might show up first.

He smiled as he walked, for yet another theory was beginning to solidify...

[ 02-10-2004 12:52 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rhua Ki ]

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

Thoran caught up with the fast walking scientist.

“…and thrown into your realm. Although, in the case of Phalomir, he was not here for long. He is from the future, you see…”

Thoran paused in his sentence, but continued to walk in stride with the Kaminoan.

“Oh, this is indeed going to take some convincing for you to believe me. Perhaps we should skip that part and move on to the reason why you are here, and why it is different from why you think you are here. You seek Galen, this I know. You will not find her, and as your despair grows, so will the darkness in your soul, until it consumes you and you become a shade as well. And yes, shades cannot pass from this realm. But as I said, Phalomir and I are anomalies, and we can pass back out…”

Thoran looked to the scientist.

“Are you listening?”

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

Timelessness passed. Then—

“Your logic escapes me, friend,” he stated flatly. “I cannot become a shade by the mere force of my own emotions. This is illogical in the extreme, and is in direct conflict with that which has just been shown to me. In fact—“

He paused a moment longer to consider carefully before continuing.

“In fact, my reality is not meaningless. For, am I not here? By my own physicality in this place, my reality holds true, has impact, and perhaps impact strong enough to continue supporting my growing theory, as bit by bit it appears to be doing."

He stopped walking and turned to Thoran.

“That shade cannot physically affect solidity. You are either shade or not; by your ability to transmorph in front of my eyes, it would appear that shade indeed you are. Thus you have no hold on me, spirit.

"It is all here.”

He tapped the side of his head with one slender finger, his lips quirking in a slight smile. Then he turned and went on, still searching for Galen in spite of Thoran’s dire disclosure.

All the while his mind busily churned, now pondering such impossibilites as Force usage and the juxtaposition of physical and nonphysical realities. Somewhere there was a tie, somewhere on the tiniest of scales, far too tiny to be found via experimentation.

The mind. The energies of the mind. That has to be the link, he thought, and simply continued on.

[ 02-10-2004 01:39 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rhua Ki ]

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

He walked a bit longer with Rhua Ki, bemusedly watching the Kaminoan formulate his ideas.

“Well, anyway,” he said at last. “Roan is here in this realm, as I said. He currently has Galen in his possession, and has possibly even traded her off to Aelvedaar by now, if that was his intention. My buddy Phalomir might be willing to help you find Galen, he’s pretty handy in this realm. He is a little confused, mind you, because all of the strange things done to him by the Master and Aelvedaar have left a few holes in his memory. But he’s pretty tough, he’ll be fine. Eventually. This last business with Jharmeen has him a little screwed up, though.”

Thoran looked off to the approaching hills, scanning the horizon for movement.

“So, you think I’m a shade, eh? Well, you’re halfway right. I mean, yeah, I’m here in spirit only. Strangely enough, though, I’m pretty solid sometimes. I really don’t belong here right now, you see, the Eye of R’lous plucked me away from the Master and showed me some things. I really don’t have a body in the ‘real’ world, that was given up about 4500 years ago, but if we can find a way to use the power in the Valley of the Dark Lords then maybe we can get—“

The soft ground before Thoran’s feet exploded into a small cloud of blackness. He stopped in mid-step and looked to the left from where the blast of red energy had come.

“Phal, old buddy!” he called out to the daunting figure standing in the distance. “I was just telling my friend here all about you!”

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

“Thoran,” he called out. “I should have known I would run into your cursed spirit here. Has the Master disposed of you so soon?”

He looked to the tall creature next to Thoran.

“And you, what business do you have travelling with such a scoundrel? Speak quickly, my patience grows as thin as my love of this place.”

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

Kaminoans...

The three names together made a mix that Terrin couldn't even swallow. After all, Roan was infamous-- worse than that!--for his business with Kaminoans...

...and with mothers who could birth babies who were All-inherent.

And Terrin was about to reply to all of that when low and behold, here was some human who appeared to know Phalomir...

... and a Kaminoan.

Terrin slitted his eyes, and crossed his arms even as Phalomir finished his question to the Kaminoan.

"Roan, Kaminoan..." Terrin muttered darkly under his breath, "I don't know who the hell your buddy is, but I have suspicions as to why that Kaminoan might be here..."

[ 02-11-2004 10:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Thus he kept himself as calm and soothingly quiet for as long as possible before finally answering.

“My name is Rhua Ki,” he began nicely enough, craning his head back now to address Phalomir to his face.

“And as to my business with this erstwhile scoundrel, as you call him; well… that, dear sir, I am afraid is not yours.”

He fell silent again, but not before whispering out of the side of his mouth to Thoran,

”So. This is that friend of yours, the one who would help me find Galen? It seems he would just as soon eat us as look at us….”

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

“Phalomir,” Thoran called out. “Wait, there’s some stuff you need to know! Don’t fry us just yet!”

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

“Thoran,” he called back. “I would recognize your tainted soul from a thousand leagues away. But this one… if you speak the truth as to who you are, then you are welcomed. Humor me, please, and speak me the name of the person who would have told me of your recent escape…”

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

Now Rhua's eyes slitted the merest fraction, and he studied the towering Phalomir more closely.

This was the one who would possibly assist them... this was the one of whom Thoran had spoken... this was the one whose mind had been played about with, if he was to believe what his traveling companion had spoken in regard to this matter...

He cleared his throat, coming to a conclusion based on nothing more than -- dare he think it? -- a hunch.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, especially when a commonality is shared, he thought to himself, clearly recalling his first introduction to Thoran.

"You would be speaking of Galen Jhin'Dar Danner," he said clearly, then indicated the smiling Thoran with a nod of his head.

"I believe this one would know more about her probable whereabouts than I would at this time..."

...if his word is to really be trusted... came across just as clearly, imprinted in the liquid pools of his eyes.

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

“Hey, whoa! Don’t get that look in your eyes, there, buddy!” Thoran exclaimed. “Look, I got some information for you. The Eye, it… well, it did something to me. Tore me away from the Master, remember when we were standing up there looking down at the canyon? Well, I think the Eye put me there to meet with you. When you left, I… I jumped. Into the blackness.”

[ 02-11-2004 11:57 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Thoran ]

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“Terrin,” he said, not looking away from Rhua Ki. “The human is Thoran. Until proven otherwise, he is not to be trusted. He is also very powerful. However, Galen told me of this Rhua Ki, he held her prisoner but then helped her escape from Roan. What do your feelings tell you?”

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

...after all, he was a salesman, and part of the reason he was successful stemmed from his ability to read body language and nuances.

And his ability to play his cards carefully, so to speak. He read no deception, no deceit...

...perhaps nothing more than pure scientific calm. But Terrin thought he might have caught a flash of distrust for the other human in the Kaminoan's eyes...

"If Galen trusted the Kaminoan, I think we can, especially if he helped her escape. Still, I don't know how much we can truly trust someone who worked for Roan...

...but then, that depends on what information he might give us concerning what Roan was up to..."

Terrin trailed at this, concern evident in his eyes as he turned to the Kaminoan. "I'm also curious as to why you think he might have some answers about Galen's whereabouts," he continued, pointing towards Thoran.

"And by the way," he finished with, "In case you're wondering who I am and what I have to do with any of this, my name is Terrin Danner."

[ 02-12-2004 12:23 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Thoran lifted a eyebrow and glanced up to Terrin. His eyes shifted to Phalomir, then to Rhua Ki, then back to Terrin. He lifted his hands in a heralding salute and went to his knees.

“Don don DON!” he yelled, mocking the sounds of a trumpet.

Phalomir scowled at Thoran, who stopped smiling and rose.

“Who the hell is Darrin Tanner?” Thoran called out. “Just why am I supposed to be so impressed with who this guy is?”

[ 02-12-2004 09:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Thoran ]

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"Ahhh," he said as he now turned his attention to Terrin. "Terrin Danner.

"Any relation to my lost companion?"

He cocked his head, his face remaining absolutely expressionless. Underneath his robe his hand toyed absently with his weapon.

"I'm afraid what business I had with Lord Roan is strictly confidential," he began at length, but hurried on when he saw the looks beginning to creep in both Phalomir's and Terrin's eyes.

"May I stress the key word in that statememt as being had?"

He paused then, but this time only to let his eyes slide to the chortling Thoran.

"Please try to restrain yourself," he whispered out of the side of his mouth before finally ending with, "...and I believe this one has information pertaining to the aforementioned Galen according to certain bits of data he has chosen to impart to me."

Another pause.

"Certainly he seems to know something, which is far more than I do."

With that he finally fell silent, turning back to face the others as he did so.

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

...distant, and far more than just simply concerned.

Galen had exchanged her own life for his...

...and it at least appeared that Roan still had plans for her, if not only for the fact that he had taken her alive...

Terrin jerked from those thoughts, unwilling to let them stray any further. He looked to the Kaminoan, beginning by answering his first question. "Galen is my wife," he said simply, a heart-felt agony growing in his look as he then continued with, "And the time which we have to find her is pressing, as you probably are already aware. I don't know what this Thoran knows or claims to know," he proceeded with, his blue eyes flicking to Thoran then back to Rhua Ki, "Nor do I know who he is and what part he plays in all of this. I do know for a fact that Roan has Galen again since I saw him take her with my very own eyes..."

He trailed momentarily, his look entirely pained. Then it shifted to one of utter determination. "And I am certain he still has plans for her since he took her alive, plans which you are probably at least partially aware of. If he is dead as I have been informed, however...

...that means that he is probably being assisted...

...or manipulated...

...by one who is not trapped within this very Hell which we are in, one who could complete the whatever dark plans he had. We simply have to find a way out of here and get to her before those plans are completed...

...and there aren't too many who could do that I believe...

...perhaps there is only one."

Once more Terrin paused, his eyes turning dark as they then shifted towards Thoran. "But then perhaps you, Thoran, know something of this?"

He looked then to Phalomir, whose look was skeptical, to say the least. "We may not be able to trust him," Terrin said quietly to the Sith, "But I would like to at least hear what he has to say. After all, if the one we think may have Galen indeed does and has plans for her...

...he may have plans as well for Graysith..."

[ 02-16-2004 03:08 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Thoran chuckled as Phalomir’s icy glare cut through him.

“But really,” Thoran continued. “Your late friend there has a point, Phal. Maybe I do know something of this. Maybe I was even part of this.”

Phalomir’s glare turned even colder.

“But give me a chance, old buddy,” Thoran smiled. “I might have a pleasant surprise for you. Just keep your little friend there quiet and we grown-ups can talk business.”

[ 02-16-2004 04:12 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Thoran ]

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...then he realized that in all likelyhood this guy was trying to egg him on. Besides, he knew he was alive...

...and that was enough. Besides, his state of existence mattered little in the face of what Galen was going through at this very moment...

...so Terrin simply folded his arms, waiting to see if this Thoran indeed had anything worth telling...

...or if he was before them as nothing more than merely a distraction.

[ 02-16-2004 04:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Excuse me," he began, "but I really can't see how any of this is getting us anywhere. Where Galen is, and with whom, is really moot unless we can figure out a means of getting ourselves from this place back to where she probably now is, which--"

He paused, glancing from Phalomir and Terrin to Thoran, frowning a bit at the latter.

"Which I believe to be another reality from this one," he finished with an expansive wave of one hand, and fell silent.

[ 02-16-2004 05:56 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rhua Ki ]

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He turned back to Phalomir, who was still sending an icy glare Thoran’s direction.

“Now, here’s what I see. Whether you believe me or not, that’s up to you, but hear me out. I know you think I’ve done some pretty crappy things to a few people. The truth is, I’ve done some pretty crappy things to a whole lot of people. But that’s all behind us now, and was all done for the common good anyway. Well, it was until the Master got involved.”

Phalomir tensed.

“Now, hold your hotcake, there,” Thoran continued. “A mutual acquaintance of ours came to see me not too long ago. You might say he was keeping an EYE out for me. He showed me some things, told me some information that I found hard to swallow, but in the end he convinced me. We’re on the same side, Phal. In the long run, we should be working together.”

Phalomir cocked his head slightly.

“You met with the Eye?” Phalomir said doubtfully. “Is that what you are trying to tell me?”

“Yes,” Thoran stated flatly. “I met with the Eye. It tore me away from the Master, it brought me to the canyon that once held the Valley of the Dark Lords. It brought us together for a short time, if you recall. Then it brought me here. Here, where I could learn, where I could remember…”

Phalomir stared hard at Thoran, trying to find the deception behind the smooth words.

“Phalomir…” Thoran rasped. “I know who the Master is… and so do you… and we must stop him. Not just for Jharmeen, not just for Galen… not even just for Shayla. For the entire galaxy…”

Thoran’s eyes clouded slightly.

“I was so wrong.”

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

“I have found when working with others, whether those others are colleagues or students, that those who know the least tend very much to say the most… and in that saying say nothing at all.”

He swung from Phalomir to regard Thoran sternly.

“You imply much, my friend,” he said, his voice taking on a touch of sternness, like a professor who was beginning to lecture upon a very important topic. “But you do not clarify. Precision, man, or what you say will be overlooked as inconsequential to the subject at hand.”

For a moment he stopped to send another glance to Phalomir and Terrin, apology in that look. Then he turned back to Thoran.

“While I am quite interested to hear who this Master is of whom you speak, as well as what connections he might have to my missing companion, I still find this conversation tangential to our real problem. This is: one, to determine exactly what and where this place is, a quandary to which I have already produced some theories; and two, to establish a means of departing from it.

“Then we may apply ourselves to the problem of, er… saving the universe, which you imply with those somewhat grandiose words you have stated. Mr. Danner—“

He interrupted himself and now turned to Terrin. Shade or not, the man appeared to now be a member of their strange little party, and logic strongly suggested all cards played between any of the group must be clearly laid out, if they were to get along and keep each other alive in this place of madness.

“Earlier you hinted that I worked for Lord Roan. At that time I had not acknowledged this fact to anyone here; I only stated, in reply to a question to your fearsome-looking friend there, that I had assisted in her escape from Kamino. Clearly your comments and questions indicate a dislike of my people, if not outright distrust of them, since you do not know me well enough personally to judge me alone. Or else this statement shows a tendency toward conclusion jumping.

“Might I suggest that from now on you wait until all the data are in before trying to claim a hypothesis as being correct. While I do not know much of this place, a—a hunch informs me that it is probably very dangerous here, which in turn implies that we must rely heavily on one another.

“Might I conclude by stating my belief that all of us had better begin speaking openly now, and not circuitously or in so reactionary a manner, in order that trust might grow to support our forced reliance upon each other?

"Unless, of course, we all plan to go about our separate ways, which I believe to be a very poor choice at the very least.”

[ 02-18-2004 08:38 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rhua Ki ]

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Thoran looked back to Phalomir.

“But, yeah, it is definitely time to be open. How about this, since I know you have a lot of questions, you tell me what you think you know about things and I’ll tell you how right you are.”

Phalomir cast Thoran a dubious look.

“Uh, yeah,” said Thoran. “I guess you have no way to trust me. OK, let me start then. I saw some things during my little vision quest here. You are here because Gray kicked you out of bed, so to speak. Your body is probably lost somewhere in hyperspace, or more likely on its way to Khar Delba by now. You probably think she must be possessed by something to treat you so pissy. How am I doing so far? Let’s see, what else… oh, your friends are probably dead by now, unless one of them thought to take the Eye from you, in which case… well, I have no idea where they might be then. I didn’t hear that part of the plan. But anyway, let’s be open, shall we?”

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

“Very well,” said Phalomir. “I will begin from some time ago, to allow our new friends a glimpse of our past. My life is somewhat of a mystery, as my memory has been blocked and most of what I will tell you has been learned or pried from hidden stores. I am Phalomir, once the Dark Lord of the Sorcerers. I was married to Jharmeen, I had a young son. Later in my life the Sith were invaded by the Vong, I was the sole surviving member of the triad and was sent to negotiate for peace. My shuttle was attacked, I was seriously wounded, and my wife was taken by the Vong.”

Phalomir paused, Thoran smiled and nodded.

“I awoke in most strange situation,” Phalomir continued. “I was led to believe that I had spent the last 4500 years with my spirit imprisoned inside of a crystal, the Eye of R’lous, with my best friend Thoran. We had somehow been freed and were inside the body of a human, Panthar Dantares. It was a very strange experience, but eventually we were restored to our bodies – which were statues at the time, long story – and then discovered I was betrayed by my friend Thoran.”

Thoran shifted and coughed, then returned to his smile.

“Since then I have killed Roan, freed a ghost and assumed the Lordship of the Armorers, acquired the Finger of R’lous which I gave to Jharmeen, almost fought with Lord Recinis, found more of my memories, fought with Aelvedaar inside of Jharmeen’s mind, accidentally made her lose the All, accidentally helped her regain it, fought with the Master via Thoran, ate a bomb on a ship while dodging an exploding sun, had my spirit sent here, found Galen, lost her to Roan, found you all. What did I leave out?”

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

“Well,” he said, “for one, you left out the story of your father. You know, about how he sold you to the Lord of the Darker Realms, met at the black canyon and tried to trade you there? And then discovered your seriously kickin’ powers and dealt some mighty blows to your father and the tar-man, as you called him? I think they escaped by coming… hmmm… HERE.”

Thoran sat on the squishy ground.

“Might as well get comfy, people,” he said. “Phal, in case you haven’t figured it out, your father is the Master. He was here, growing his powers, a physical being trapped in a shadow realm. He made many friends here, but was still haunted by his bargain. You see, when you died on your shuttle, your spirit would have been sent here anyway, and that would do no good to your father’s cause. They wanted you whole, alive, full of power. So he made another bargain, this time with someone in the past… Aelvedaar. What he wanted was in line with what they wanted, and what did they care if they altered a few timelines? Upon your death, you were plucked away and brought to me. I arranged it all, the business with the crystal, the memory implants… all of it. What I didn’t know was that the crystal given to me was the Eye of R’lous. Even then, 4000 years ago, there was someone who knew what Aelvedaar was up to and did whatever they could to fight him. You see, the Eye was lost long before the Sith were brought forward, created by Trelanicus to keep the Sith honest in their experiments with the All.”

Thoran paused for breath.

“Any questions so far?”

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

“Interesting,” he said calmly, filing these sudden revelations away for future reference. A ghost of a smile flickered across his otherwise unflappable features.

“You have been here before, Phalomir?” he asked, cocking his head toward the Sith Lord. “And have, as our mutual acquaintance here has so obligingly stated, ‘kick-ass’ powers at your disposal?

“Perhaps powers strong enough to at lead us in the right direction while we are here… if not even being powerful enough to get us out of here altogether? For I too admit I have been here in this place… once…”

His eyes closed briefly at that remembered terror.

“…and could not have escaped from it if it hadn’t been for the Dark Lord of the Sith who had accompanied me here, via the utilization of his unproveable strengths.

"Lord Roan, that is,” he clarified, and fell silent.

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