...doors tightly closed and guarded by a phalanx of warrors. That they hadn't come through the chaos completely unscathed was evident by the way their robes and armor hung a bit askew upon them, by the somewhat shaken look in their eyes.

But that look hardened as she and Shayla approached, and shaking arms grew firm enough to block the doors with crossed spears.

ShaRhylla drew herself up, beside herself at this obvious insult to her station.

"I am the daughter of the Dark Lady and Heiress Apparent to the Warrior clan!" she snarled, rearing back like an adder, preparing to strike.

The guards, standing firmly, somehow managed to bow and scrape before her, but did not give their ground.

Rage flashed through the young halfling, flaming her with such intensity that she absolutely did not hear them explaining humbly that it might very well be her own execution their apparent cheekiness was preventing.

[ 01-10-2007 07:36 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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"This has not been a good day."

We all came to out feet, luckly this time none of us got hurt... or at least I didn't. We where about to continue on when I saw Yaoksi comming towards us. I turned to face Thea.

"Well that simplifed things."

I then faced the sith to direct my question to her.

"Does this planet have sudden earthquakes often?"

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"You will allow us entrance," Shayla spat, her greeny-blues locking with those of each warrior present and not wavering in the slightest.

Stretching out then, her senses keenly attuned and honed to all that surrounded her, Shayla outstretched a single arm, palm outward and fingers extended. Something dark and overwhelmingly powerful blasted forth from there, so much so that the Sith warriors were knocked aside and from their feet altogether in a heap. Shayla but merely looked at the Receiving Hall doors in that moment, and they oiled open without so much as a touch.

Seeing the crumpled form of Graysith on the floor of the Receiving Room, Shayla eyed the recovering warriors. "You would deny the Dark Lady's second entrance at her own risk?" she queried, falling silent then.

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"It was the direct order of the Dark Lady herself," he stated, his eyes unwavering, his aching body held ramrod-stiff.

"No one, and she did emphasize no one was to enter, save for one, who has come and gone."

He paused a moment.

"Upon pain of death, not only for myself and my warriors but for those who would manage to be let through as well."

Now his eyes flicked back into Shayla's, a corner of his lip curled.

"You are above the Law, then?" he asked, then snapped his mouth shut and gripped his weapon more tightly.

"I-- no, no it does not."

Her brows rose then, as the auburn-haired human who had come in the party of strangers approached them, increased his pace, came at them all in a rush to then fall on his knees and envelop the two in an enormous bear hug, one in each arm.

Her brow rose further.

...and a portion of Shayla Stargazer which was much more the Shayla everyone knew crept forth. "I gave my life for her once," she replied coolly, simply. "I would do it a thousand times more. But, if she said no one else should enter...

...then so be it. There are other ways."

Dropping her one extended hand at that, Shayla stood motionless for a moment, her greeny-blue eyes piercing those of the lead warrior. Then, without so much as a word, Shayla knelt to the ground, her hands falling into her lap as she then closed her eyes. Stretching out into the Link which connected her with Graysith, she then channeled healing energies not only of the Force but of the All itself into the crumpled form of the Dark Lady of the Warriors, without moving so much as a milimeter from her place in front of the grand Receiving Hall doors.

[ 01-10-2007 08:45 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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“I guess that means they don’t want to help us?” he asked. “I did say we wouldn’t have to kill Graysith if they helped, right?”

Thoran shook his head. “As if we could.” He looked into Phalomir’s eyes, coldly. “As if you could. I know what she means to you, but think of what she is becoming, and what she is probably going through internally right now.”

Thoran sighed.

“I could feel that power, it came right out of the Darker Realms, Phal. And that look in Shayla’s eyes, it was the same exact thing I saw in Panthar’s eyes, before the oily crap came out of him. A piece of that got into Gray’s spirit, I’m telling you, and it must have infected Shayla as well while she carried Gray inside of her. And I have a really bad feeling about who, or what, that darkness serves.”

Thoran shook his head and looked at Jharu, noticing he wasn’t just another healer.

“Oh, hey,” he said. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”

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"Coward!" she hmmphed, now stepping boldly forth, jumping lithely over Shayla to come to a nose-to chest stop in front of the head warrior.

She glared up at him, still seething.

"I am not above the Law; I AM the Law!" she spat before shooting out an arm into the Sith's sternum, fingers together like spikes, bolstered by the innate powers she possessed yet did not know fully how to control.

The guard went flying up the door, up to the arching stone ceiling overhead, sliding there to come to a halt directly overhead. Ignoring the whump which sounded behind her, she shot forth her other hand, blasting the doors into splinters.

Lifting her attire daintily, she tiptoed up to the crumpled Lady of the Sith, and fell to her knees beside her.

"Oh, poor poor Mother," she sighed as she touched her lightly upon her head. For a moment she trembled; human half fighting nightmare within her, then settled at length in a protective posture over the yet unconscious Dark Lady of the Warriors.

[ 01-10-2007 09:49 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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"Thank goodness you're alright. We have to get away from this building. She is here. Shayla, the traitor. She's the one that betrayed the Jedi and got Cella killed. The reason I was with Master Shawn instead of at the Praxeum. She's tried to kill me once already, she'll do it again." Thea leaned in to whisper in his ear, afraid of offending the mysterious lady with them. "She turned to the Dark Side. She's a Sith. And I don't mean like Thoran but like Darth Vader was. She's dangerous. She'll stop at nothing to destroy the Jedi. You can't let her find me."

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Cella...

My grip tightened to where Thea gave out a little squawk; jerking myself back to here and now, I let the arm encompassing Link now drop so the hand attached to it could attach itself on Thea's other shoulder. Half-kneeling, I stared her straight in the eye.

"I--" I paused a moment, remembering the darkness oiling in the blonde's eyes, remembering the sensation of utter cold that had pervaded my body, the feeling of complete hopelessness that had swept through my heart when she had stormed past me, luckily ignoring me as being no more than a bug to her.

My grip tightened again.

"I think you're right, hon."

Now I looked up to the elderly female Sith, who was doing a magnificent job of masking the fact that she was in obvious pain of some sort. Oh, not that her body language gave it away; it was, rather the brightness in her eyes.

"I think it's time we headed back to the Healing Chambers..." I said in an urgent voice, nodding my head back toward the direction from which I had come.

"There's something really not right here..."

I didn't even give the kids a chance to reply. I just got to my feet, grabbed a hand, warm and clammy, in one hand and another, soft and furry, in the other. Gesturing to the elderly Sith, I simply began moving swiftly down the hall again, trying to be as silent as a mouse so as to not draw any unwarranted attention our way.

[ 01-10-2007 10:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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...and thus through that Link Dark met Dark once more, and something oily danced and rejoiced in recognition. Still, beneath the this, something Else met as well...

...and through it Graysith's body began to recover from the stress it had undergone, stirring.

Come back to us, My Sister. My strength is yours... Shayla thoguht out, yet unmoving, her determination unshakable.

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...and wasn't aware of the shaking of the entire planet of K'eel Doba either. He slowly began to stir, however, coming to the awareness of several male voices nearby. Finding that he was actually feeling worlds better, despite a pain here or there, he opened one eye, then the other, and turned his head to the bed next to Thoran was not there.

Well,maybe Sith are really fast healers???

The voices started to grow clearer. Aaron could swear one of them was Thoran. Carefully, he sat up on his elbows, frowning as he noted an overturned table here and there, shifted furniture, including beds, and an unconscious healer on the floor.

What the hell...?

Frowning more deeply, Aaron swung his legs over the side of the bed, noting in shock that he was wearing some sort of robe for only a moment before focusing on far more important matters:

Three persons in the door: One Thoran, another Sith, and a very young Sith.

"Ummm...what the hell happened here?" he queried, still not fully awake.

[ 01-10-2007 10:39 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aaron Barnes ]

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"wha...what do you mean...you might have to kill my mother? I dont know whats going on here, but that can not happen! Why would you have to kill my mother?" his voice was filled with concern, his mind spinning.

He heard the voice of the previously unconcious human, and turned, eyes locking onto him, "I...I dont know whats going on...but...but...I wont let them kill her...whatever is going on...there has to be a better way...no..."

His gaze darted back to thoran and phalomir, locking upon them "explain! tell me! whats going on?"

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Thea looked over at Yaoski and Link. They both seemed calm enough, yet she could not get rid of this overwhelming sense of fear. What have I gotten myself into? How could I just blindly walk into a Sith fortress? Why didn't I pay more attention to the final destination when we were told about this?

Trying not to panic, Thea did the only thing she could think of to steady her nerves. She began reciting her lessons. Listening to Cella's voice in her memories she began reciting the Code under her breath, concentrating on each word, letting her foster father guide her safely through the corridors.

"There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no death; there is the Force...
There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no death; there is the Force..."

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Smoothly, Shayla opened her eyes, looking down at the floor, and rose to her feet. "There is a threat to the Dark Lady's life which must be...

...addressed," Shayla then said quietly, her voice deceptively calm, her eyes not meeting those of any Sith warrior before her for the longest period of time. Finally, however, Shayla did look up, the oily other-ness now totally untraceable from her features. Nodding once then to the warriors at the doors of the Receiving Hall before moving further. "I shall return to await her," she said to them, turning on her heel and heading directly back the way she had come to begin with, drawing a Force-shield about herself to disguse herself from prying eyes and ears.

Only when she finally arrived at the entry-way to the Healing chambers where Lord Phalomir and the others stood chatting did Shayla stop in her tracks.

And there they all were, chatting about the Dark Lady's destruction as though it were the current topic on the Holonet...

"You will not destroy her!" Shayla snapped, her voice strill and yet strong at the same time as she interrupted the careless discussion. "You will not destroy us; such pale beings who sit and chat and make claims without action do not deserve to inherit the keys to the kingdom, nor the floors of its dungeons. Still..."

Rage intermingled with something that almost was akin to amusement swirled in the sea of Shayla's eyes. Before anyone in that room had a chance to react, she stretched out with one hand, palm outward and fingers extended...

...and let go. In a blinding moment, furniture began to shift across the room at an alarming rate of speed, wood began to splinter, glass to shatter...

...and all beings in the room were lifted into the air under her rather skillfull telekenetic ability.

"And rather that you all should die, I find it better that you should live, and know that your actions will always be futile, if in fact you ever deem it time to do anything at all."

Extending both hands then, both palms down, pure dark-Force shot forth from her, impacting every person in the room, slamming them against walls to then crumple to the floor.

In that moment, Shayla stretched out, darkness and rage and anger taking firm hold in her soul.

They would destroy the one in Perfect bAlance. This cannot be.

Reaching out one final time then, Shayla slammed the door of the entry-way where she stood, remaining there as the door boomed closed in finality behind her. Then she stretched out, seeking something deep within herself, something untrained yet still most certainly there.

They would destroy her unless they are stopped, and now...

[ 01-11-2007 10:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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And the Dark Lady's face abruptly rose.

Her eyes, brilliant violet, matched the Glyph now ablaze upon her forehead. Then bit by bit that electromagnetic splendor dampened, bit by bit the burning violet color of her eyes was supplanted by sickly, oily black.

A smile as dark crept slowly across her features...

"Goood, my S-sisssterr..." she hissed, a sound which would hold death itself in thrall.

"I had wondered for a time... but you redeem yourself, this time..."

Now she rose to her feet, banking the oil, adjusting her attire, calming herself until she was once again every bit the Dark Lady of the Warriors whom the Sith knew. She held out a hand to ShaRhylla, began stepping down from the dias when she stopped.

She cocked her head, concentrating.

He was back.

Her eyes slitted the tiniest bit; then she spoke, her voice as soft as spun spider's-silk.

"Come, my daughter; let us not be remiss in our duties as Ladies of the Temple and thus Hostesses to our guests."

Her lip curled in a crocodile smile, and she swept through the splintered doors, her halfling daughter in tow, heading toward the Royal Healing Chambers of the Temple.

[ 01-11-2007 09:37 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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... only to run smack into what sounded like a murder of rancors disemboweling a herd of rontos. Slowly, and with great determination.

Our momentum carried us the final meters to the Chamber, worry now lending its helpful touch in moving us along.

Oh ye ghods, I hope that doesn't bode ill for Aaron...!

We didn't lose a lick of that momentum as we skidded up to the door, which I somehow must have opened even as we moved, for I sure as hell don't remember much other than us bursting into the room...

I knew it was her before I even took a really good look, for once again I was filled with a chill as icy as space.

Oh HELL.

I released Thea's and Link's hands, and shoved them behind me.

"Get back to the nice lady Sith... NOW!" I ordered as beads of sweat sprang up on my brow and began trickling insidiously into my eyes.

[ 01-11-2007 10:19 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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What was interesting was that the rubble could have been created by weapons fire, but none of it appeared to have been caused by blasters, and even stranger still was the fact that all of it looked as if it was physically torn apart from the inside. Whatever could do that would scare me.

I grabbed Thea with my good arm and almost dragged her as I retreated out the door.

"Yaoksi is right on this one Thea, we run."

I ran back towards the direction that we came from hoping those in the room would be to busy to care about a ryn and a human running away.

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He looked around at the ruined room, and the devastation incurred within. All about the wall was strewn beds and linen and equipment, covering and supporting various bodies. Some stirred, others did not, twisted in unnatural ways, and in one case a head faced upwards when the body did not.

Phalomir felt a heat rising within him, and when his eyes came to rest on the blonde woman standing in the room, as if waiting, his magick instinctively rose to defense.

“Shayla!” he bellowed, fire in his voice. “This is not the way!”

He stopped, inhaling deeply.

“It never has been,” his voice lowered. “I will not let her die, not again. There two things most important to me, and she is the crux of both. Even in your demented state, you must see this.”

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She trailed, her eyes slitting, "But what do you intend to do?"

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Slowly his world stabalized, and the boy stood...Stood and looked around, standing still while his balanced returned.

he looked in time to see phalomirs back, and heard a ringing as perhaps someone yelled...maybe it was phalomir...he wasnt sure, everything was still fuzzy...Hold fast jharu...a Warrior soul...approach every problem. Be true...Be true...

He heard the quiet presence of the elresar at his side within his mind, and nodded...the swords words made perfect sense to him...He must approach the problem calmly and be true to himself. Though he didnt understand what was going on, he could not let the first glance of things disturb his judgement...

His senses returned and he came to view the sight of phalomir and shayla facing eachother, quietly the words rolled in an almost timid fashion, like a boy who had just learned not to stick his finger in a light socket.

"will somebody...please tell me what is going on? and why people want to kill my mother?"

[ 01-11-2007 10:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jharu ]

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“Shayla, unless you bear claim to the Clan over which I hold lordship,” he said flatly, “you will let me pass now and not attack me again. I will hold counsel with my lady and finally obtain the facts I came here to find. I know she is here.”

Phalomir stepped forward, towards the door, and continued to walk towards the gaping pale human he saw there, waiting to see what Shayla intended.

[ 01-11-2007 10:43 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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Yegods, all I wanted to do was help get Captain Danner back again, I owed him that much! And his spunky little wife, and the rest of Aaron's missing friends.

Then I wanted nothing more than to celebrate with them all in the biggest hot spring Sullust had to offer... assuming the Impys had left them in one piece, that is.

But here I was instead, right in the middle of some kind of weird nightmare from which I just couldn't seem to wake up. A fleeting image of white fur and a braid niggled then in the corner of my mind, and I firmed, clenching my jaws.

Damned if I wasn't going to give the kids as much running room as I could; I'd figure out a way to get to them later.

If there was a later.

And so I stood my ground, my eyes trying to be everywhere at once, my lips now bleeding for the way I was so furiously chewing them, suddenly conscious of the blaster in my hand.

[ 01-11-2007 10:54 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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Then turning to Yaoksi, she smiled a bit darkly at his pointed blaster. "Now that will do you little good," she commented, first pointing to his blaster and then stretching out with the Force to pluck it from his hands and draw it to her own.

"Perhaps you should instead be concerned with your friend over there," she continued, nodding to Aaron, who was down for the count on the floor once more.

Stretching out once more to her senses then, the darkness within her sensed the approach of familar darkness. "at any rate, she comes now," Shayla commented, looking down momentarily as she glared at the blaster in her grasp, recalling a day when another weapon--her own lightsaber--had dissolved from her grasp for eternity.

Indeed, such weapons were the used by the hands of those who knew little of something far Greater to be held...

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