“A plan, yes,” he said. “But what? Help me understand, what has happened? How can I help you?”

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

...and then things were just somehow different," she continued, not really having to lie in the slightest regarding this. "We can't let something happen to her again."

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

Phalomir frowned and glanced at the others, Thea in particular.

“But all I have seen from you since your return has been violence, deception, and mistrust.” Phalomir looked back to Shayla. “Why? And how can we trust each other now that matters have come to this point?”

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

The Revealer...

"And how can I trust you after what the Revealer has shown regarding Graysith's untimely death while you stood idly by, gloating over an entire race of Sith in regal robes? I know you wish for me to dismiss this as merely a possibility...

...but, considering I have heard you speak of her death since the time that was shown to me, what else am I to believe? You know I would not betray her by trusting another, whether a friend from the past or not. Do you hold me prisoner for taking care in this? As for what I have done to the others here..."

She trailed a moment, first looking at Thea and then regarding the entire group, "I perceived a threat, and reacted hastily. Such things do occur, and I regret that. But of your being taken somewhere other than Degobah..."

She trailed a moment, debating just what she should reveal. "I did not know until I arrived either," she admitted, this time honestly. "I only sought to bring you all to somewhere familiar..."

That much was true as well, though towards what familiarity she had been taking them all towards, she did not know.

And even if she did, she would never openly admit it. For if it had not been the Temple that she had been leading them all to, as she thought, then there were few other places she knew well enough to take them...

[ 03-10-2007 01:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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"Threatened! We threatened you? We were trying to save you and you attacked us! You tried to kill me! I was six - SIX! How could I have threatened you? You are a traitor, and you've become everything the Jedi stand against - even I can see that."

She threw the rock as hard as she could at Shayla, not caring where it hit her. Thea turned to Yaoksi and the rest of thier group.

"Let's get out of here - we don't need or want them."

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

"Isn't there something about hurting unarmed people in there? Furthermore, isn't it past your bedtime to be playing with toys?" I looked over at Phalomir, and nodded my head just slightly. "Seems you came to get me, or is that just me being far too hopeful?"

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

I surveyed my surroundings and saw that no one was obviously injured. I watched as the debate continued and Thea's fiery comments, and the stone. Seing that the attention was being drawn away from me I approached the spot where Yaoksi had landed and crouched down next to him, carefully whispering to avoid others hearing in on our conversation and hoping K'kihl would catch on and cover us like before.

"I'm getting the feeling that Phalomir doesn't know much about whats going on here. Maybe he doesn't know much about the imperial guest back at the other planet. For the moment I think that we need to stick together, those sith maybe the only way off this planet. And I'm getting the feeling that one of us need to convince Thea of that fact, and I have no experience with her past, also my methods of dealing with people I hate is probably not what those jedi wizards would approve of."

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"She attacked us first - just a minute ago. And she doesn't need a physical weapon to hurt any of us either - she has the Force and I have seen how well she can use it. Me I can throw a rock or try to get her with this but there is not much else I can even think of doing to her. I didn't use the Force at all to throw the rock - though I could have and I don't have a bedtime."

If only to prove her point she reached out and pulled the rock back to her with the Force before heading over to Yaoksi.

"Let's find another way out of here, Dad. I don't like this. Aaron can radio a ship or something, let's just go."

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

“Stop!” he called out. “Everyone, please.”

He looked down again at the faces all now looking at him.

“First, there is no ship that will answer a call. This entire planet, and its system, is removed from reality. And I am very surprised to see you here, Rykounagin, perhaps as surprised as I was to find myself here. But is you would please give me a moment, or more, I must attend to Shayla.”

Phalomir, not knowing the hostile act Rykounagin had performed on K’eel Doba that left Shayla dying, turned back to the blonde woman.

“Shayla,” he said. “I do not know why the Revealer showed you this. But you must believe me, when I saw this vision it was the Eye of R’lous warning me to not accept the Channeler, it was showing me what would become of choosing power over love. Don’t you see? This is the choice I have made, love is a greater thing. Love for my friends, love for my race, and love for my lady. What you have heard is out of context.”

Phalomir reached behind Shayla and pulled on the knot, releasing the rope that bound her.

“We need to be together, all of us.”

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

I got up and walked over to Thea. Once I reached her I held out my hand before her.

"I think it would be better for the moment if I had my vibro blade back for now."

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

"Here. Sorry, I didn't hit anyone else did I?"

Thea let her hand stray up to her cheek and winced. She noticed a small stain appearing at her shoulder. She hadn't realized how hard she had hit herself.

"Um do you have a cloth or something I could put over this? It's starting to sting."

Thea kept her eyes off the three Sith. At that moment all she wanted to do was get far from them but it seemed they had trapped her - again.

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

But at the moment he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He had a feeling that he could escape here if he wanted, perhaps by opening a portal into the Darker Realms. But he had no desire to enter that land, not if the Tower was back, reconstructed by a darkness more terrible than the last. Who had done it? Someone, something, waiting in the shadows for the current ruling class to depart. The Master, steward for the darkest one, deposed in the midst of bringing back the great one, now sat in a dusty room in the Elseness, piecing together the mystery.

Then he felt it.

A small ripple in his concentration, tiny yet unmistakable. His son had entered the Elseness. Where exactly, he could not tell, but it was near.

The Master stood, an oval-shaped spot in the dusty floor marking his place. He dusted himself and walked out of the room, traversing the dark hallways as if he knew them well.

Which he did.

Reaching daylight, he paused at the great doors to the Temple. Rubble still lay strewn about where Phalomir’s first encounter with the wild tuk’ata of the planet had taken place, and where the Master himself had taken Shayla from them through a portal. He smiled to himself, knowing those days were long gone and fruitless. What lay ahead was a much more dangerous and important path to follow.

I reclined backwards, resting on my elbows, the palms of my hands flat against the ground and simply stared up at Link. Her lips were moving; with conscious effort I focused, took in what she was saying... and then little Thea as well.

Thea. Dear little Thea, who I thought was a child but who was showing a sudden ferocity no child should harbor.

I blinked as everything finally began to register, and I heard what Phalomir was saying. Pushing against the ground, I raised to an upright sitting position.

"I don't think we'll be able to raise another ship, kids, if what Phalomir is saying is true."

With the incredible luck I've been running, it simply HAD to be true...

Those words jolted a cold chill into life up and down my spine; now I turned an incredulous stare toward him and got hurriedly to my feet. There I couldn't help myself; I reached out and yanked both Thea and Link in closer to me.

"We can't go off on our own, kids," I whispered in a low voice.

"Until we get things straightened out, primarily where exactly that we are, I can't see any means of getting away on our own. Aaron is injured; I know he wouldn't want to slow us down, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to leave him behind. The ol' Cricket wouldn't let me."

I shot a glance at K'kihl, who only cocked his head and clacked his mandibles.

"Therefore," I pressed on. "We remain in a group. This way we can all... keep an eye out for each other, don't you think, Phalomir?"

Not to mention ON each other as well...

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

"Well, since "Master" Phalomir didn't bother an introduction, I'll do it for him. I would be his newly acquired pet killer, though I'm guessing he really doesn't want to use me for that. Oh, and if you already forgot, my name is Rykounagin."

I was feeling almost uncharacteristically sarcastic at the moment, since being almost ignored was a rare thing for me to deal with. "So why don't we all smooth hard feelings out with a few camp fire songs and share names? How about you go first?" I said, pointing to he who had spoken most recently.

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

I was about to growl something to that effect when something he said finally made its way into my brain.

Phalomir's pet killer. And he had just knocked Thea's missile from it's trajectory as easily as I would bat a gleeberfly.

The cold chill that had developed along my spine turned positively glacial; I swallowed and turned to the smirking lad.

"You must pardon-- us if we don't all just rush up and greet your arrival with more-- more--" I floundered, trying to pick and choose my words carefully. For it was obvious to me that this guy was walking a razor's edge of sanity; why else would he have entered into our midst as he did, speaking down his nose toward people he had never met.

Well, save for Phalomir, by his admission. At least.--

I dared shoot a quick glance at the Sith lord before returning my gaze to the newcomer.

"Politeness," I finished, if a bit weakly, drawing Thea and Link more closely to me and sidling us en masse in the direction where K'kihl and Aaron stood silently by.

[ 03-14-2007 11:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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“Enough!” he called over. “Rykounagin is bound to me, it is a long story. I am quite surprised to see you, Rykounagin, and look forward to hearing your tale. And telling ours. But right now I need help in protecting everyone as we make out way to the Temple. There are wild tuk’ata in these woods, and the safety of everyone is my top priority at the moment.”

Phalomir looked back to Shayla.

“Will you trust me enough to come with us?” he asked earnestly, and quietly.

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

Bound to Phalomir? What in all the known universe was that about? Here we go on the ol' "who trusts who" carousel once again!

My eyes then followed the Sith Lord's, dragged to Shayla by the very force of his words. That easy and unfathomable power he held gave me the willies--

But not as much as what I next noted.

It was Blondie. She was pale as a wraith, trembling, eyes deep and black and dangerous, hands fisted. Then before my very eyes torrid anger colored her features red.

I took an involuntary step backwards, bumped smack into a chitinous carapace, was brought to a halt there. I'm certain Thea and Link would be bearing bruises on the morrow from the force with which my fingers now dug into their shoulders.

All of time seemed to grind to a trembling, delicate halt as we stood, frozen in a strange tableau, danger filling the air with a scent as sharp as ozone after a summer's storm.

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

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

...and for the fact that he approached at all. Something dark and oily bubbled and oozed deep within, and she was unable to keep it fully in check.

Darkness won out, and Shayla fought with her urge to immediately lash out, to destroy this threat...

...but something, for at least the moment, gave her pause.

He calls himself Phalomir's pet killer. He is bound to Phalomir. And he...

Her blood iced further. Camp fires...?

"Are you well aware of what that one has done?" she queried then icly, her eyes locking on Rykounagin, all others fading into the background as she stared him down, longing to do to him all that he had done to her...

...and more.

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

...and that he didn't know who to trust beyond those he had come to the Sith worlds with.

"I don't knwo what is going on here," he whispered quietly to the others, althugh his eyes never left the unfolding scene, "But I wish we had some more alternatives than these guys..."

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“Do not move, Rykounagin,” he said loudly. “Be still and harm no-one.”

He moved his hand forward, around to the front of his body to face palm-forward just inches from Shayla.

“I know he deserted and stranded ShaRhylla,” he said evenly. “And he plotted with her in the attempted overthrow of Jharmeen. This is why I bound him to me, so he could do no further harm to them.”

Phalomir narrowed his eyes as the rage inside of Shayla seemed to intensify. There was definitely more to this story. “What more has he done, Shayla? What has he done to you?”

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

I raised an eyebrow at this, knowing likely what the immediate following question to such a statement would be. "She was following me, and frankly, I don't like being watched. So, I blew her up. Or, tried, anyway."

My eyes narrowed. "Seems she's either stronger than that, or that her mistress is a very, very strong healer. Either way, she seems intact."

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

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

Yaoksi's grip on my shoulder had gone from slight annoyance to sharp and painful. Wrapping my tail around his wrist I applied slight pressure and lifted it hoping to get his attention and release his grip on his own. While waiting for him to comply I returned my attention to the heated argument before me.

"Both of you should get jobs as holo drama stars this fight of yours would sell. Or it can attract one of those my friendly critters Phalomir was talking about. Either we should leave the two of you here to act as bait while the rest of us make our way to the temple of you can shut up before we get ambushed."

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The kind of errors that get you quickly killed.

I didn't realize I was shaking my head, but did manage to feel a slight tug on my wrist. With a start I further realized my fingers were digging holes into Link's shoulder, and quickly released her.

"Sorry, Link," I stated by way of apology, then extended that to Thea as well by letting her go free too.

Hell, I have a feeling she's going to be able to defend herself more than I can! I couldn't help thinking as I shot hurried glances around our little group. The centers of attention seemed to be Phalomir, Shayla and the newcomer; all three were shooting heated looks of varying degree at one another, seeming to completely ignore the rest of us.

I bit my lip and sidled back a little, motioning the remainder to follow.

"I'm beginning to get a really bad feeling about all this," I whispered as I nodded meaningfully toward the other three.

"But I'm not certain what in all the known universe we can do on our own! Any ideas?"

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