"Thinks you are savior of the universe, does he," he asserted with a definitive nod toward the burly Sith Lord, who was and yet somehow was not Lord Phalomir.

[ 05-31-2007 11:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by K'kihl ]

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

"These word games you play have grown tiresome, and we are past the point for me to entertain further requests from you. You are trying my patience...make your choice and follow through on your promises or begone.

"Only when you have given me your son will we determine the changes in our agreement that you require."

[ 06-01-2007 12:06 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

He raise a smug eyebrow to the woman before him.

“Not of the Universe, my friend, but nonetheless a very important figure in history. We met many years ago, at the start of the war, when you and the others convinced your Empire to join in our alliance…”

He paused, reading the stares from more than just Yaoksi.

“But I shall not bore you with adulations, I am sure you receive enough to make you long for simpler times, eh? I must admit, I am confused as to where I am and how I came to be in this place. I – I do not remember everything, just bits and pieces, but now that I see a friend I feel more at ease. Please, tell me, where are we? And why has someone created a – a clone of me?”

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

"Well..." I drawled in another attempt. "As far as I can tell, we're on a Sith world aiming for a Sith temple, one of armorers, I think is what you told me-- er, rather what he told me-- that is, somebody told me..."

I trailed again, cringing inwardly at how ridiculous this all probably sounded. Cringed further, for it was about to become even more so.

"And we're stuck in some other dimension, something called the Elseness, I think; we were tricked to coming here by the Lady Graysith, who sent her little stooge Shayla along to keep tabs on us-- we think.

"As for who would make a clone of you, or why, I haven't the slightest idea. I'm new to this, buddy; all I can tell you is that there apparently were a passel of clones, but your twin whammied 'em, and was going to whammy you-- er, he headed off to kill himself, I think; at least that's what he indicated he was going to do... unless he's you; er, you're him... ahh--"

I ground to a halt, sending Aaron a silent look which cried out for assistance, still cringing and berating myself for not sounding more believable. But then, considering what we'd all been through, who could really blame me...

Right?

[ 04-25-2011 03:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

"It is good to meet you," Aaron suddenly broke forth with, sensing Yaoksi's unease. "I'm Aaron Barnes, owner of Eagle Enterprises. Pardon me if I'm being impolite, but could you tell me where the...

...ah...

... other Phalomir went, and when he plans to join us?"

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

Shayla paused, slitting her darkening eyes at the Master. "I find this a most interesting change in your plans."

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

"Well this is proving pointless..." I muttered, continuing along the passage. "Maybe I should have... no, it'd get used against me eventually."

With a sigh I continued.

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

“My clone is incapacitated, I did not want him lurking about while I speak with you. I do not understand where it came from, or why it was made, but surely you must see my concern in this matter. Especially when you say he destroyed a number of other clones. I was hoping actually that you could explain things to me, since you have been traveling with it. How long have you known it? How does it act? Perhaps there is some clue as to who made it and why.”

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

Then, without a word, Shayla looked to the golden globe. Once again, it began to respond to that which was within her, not needing any verbal indication of what she wanted. In its center, greeny-goldness began to swirl and spin and continued doing just that as if it were seeking, searching...

...and not finding. This continued for a seeming eternity before the swirling finally stopped, and the globe revealed a multitude of Phalomirs, one unclothed and on the floor, one conversing with the others, and then an uncountable number of frozen clones. The globe at last went completely dark.

"Oh my, my," Shayla then whispered softly, darkly. "What a tangled web you have woven. I see why you care so little for him now, however. But I assure you, if you bring me anything but the true Phalomir...

...I will know."

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

"Yaoksi what was that?" I asked. "And more importantly where's Thea?"

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

"I'm not sure, kiddo," I replied as I gave her a little squeeze before letting go. A brief smile flicked about my lips.

"As for Thea, why, she's right over--"

I trailed, turning to Phalomir, my jaw erasing the little smile as it fell open with one of those awful ye ghods kind of realizations.

"Phalomir was carrying her... you were carrying her, only you're not you, and you whammied our Phalomir!

"Where's the kid?!"

I didn't care if this guy was bigger than me, stronger than me, and owner and operator of who the hell knew what kind of weird powers. All I knew was that he, or his doppleganger, was the last one to have my charge in his arms.

And the knowledge that she was gone got me fighting mad.

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

Phalomir turned and began walking back to where he had come, then paused to see if the others were following.

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

Moaning, Phalomir raised his hand to his head – partly to see if it was still attached to his body, and partly because it hurt. The clone must have attacked him from behind with an energy weapon. But wait, no, he began to remember… it was blue lightning, the ancient Sith power. It had become a lost art, stolen centuries ago by the Dark Jedi and used very rarely among modern Sith… well, Sith of this time… well, actually, the Sith here were Sith of the time of the Dark Jedi attack. He shook his head, making it hurt worse.

He felt the warm body of Thea move slightly. She was still curled up in his right arm, kept safe from his fall by the sheer luck of landing on his right side. She had been hit by the blast as well, but she was alive. He did not know what damage had been done to her, but he was thankful for the breath he felt within her. He tried to stand but felt his legs wobble as he put weight on them. With a groan he rolled over to his back and sat up, keeping Thea snuggled close.

He then realized this was the first sign of movement he had felt from her since he had taken her. The shock of the Sith lightning coursing through her may have broken whatever it was that was keeping her unconscious. She was still definitely sleeping, but perhaps that condition would change.

He pushed up against the wall and brought himself to stand, then looked around. He heard a voice in the distance, faint. But he recognized it – as his own. Torn with indecision brought about by the spinning stars in his head, he began walking shakily in the other direction.

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

“Clones?” he said, looking at Shayla. “Why would there be clones of Phalomir? And so many? There must be hundreds of them, why? How….”

His eyes widened, a frightening realization coming to him. Long ago, with the power of the Darker Realms behind him and the mastery of time within him, he had pulled Phalomir and Graysith from existence, freezing them in time and space and hiding them away in a secret place in the Darker Realms. No other would have known, except for the being that knew all that took place inside the Realms… but had always pretended not to care.

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

Now it saw clearly.

And each pawn had played its part well. The Dark Lords, all of them, had served in their own way. And now the ladies as well would serve their turn. And there were others.

There were always others.

The foolish game could be played in many ways.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." he stated very softly, perhaps unnecessarily, something about this entire thing screaming that they shouldn't follow. He shifted his blaster to stun. "This is not our Phalomir, and ours had Thea..."

Before he could consciously think about it, Aaron leveled his blaster, aimed, and shot. Phalomir "number two" never knew what hit him, and crumpled to the floor, stunned.

[ 06-06-2007 10:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aaron Barnes ]

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

“It’s not the how they were made as much as the why. And you had nothing to do with this? I somehow find it hard to believe you.”

After a moment he sighed and stepped back.

“But I suppose I have little choice. If you don’t which is the real Phalomir, then I shall have to put them both to a test… assuming one of the walking ones is the real one.”

The Master shook his head as he split the air with his finger, forming a portal. The other end of the portal opened into a dimly lit hallway back in the underground passages he was taken from.

“With your leave,” he said. He stepped through the portal and paused.

“I hate clones, you know,” he said. He stepped the remainder of the way and held for a moment longer.

Hot damn, the man could act! I didn't know he had it in him!

Then I drew in a breath, a placed my hands on my hips.

"Well, I suggest we do something with this guy, because if he's got any of that magick that the other Phalomir has in him... and in fact, he does--" I amended, thinking back to the red crackling energy he had released earlier. "--I sure don't want him aiming it in our direction.

"So, what shall we do with him, anyway? And what in blazes do you propose to do next? I'm not sure exactly where our Phalomir went to, and to tell the truth--"

I paused a fraction as another thought slammed home to me.

"I'm not even sure if he is the real Phalomir at all! What if he's not? What if he's a clone, too?"

The incredulous look I was shooting at Aaron changed into one of rising trepidation, for I knew that if that indeed was the case, we were all so much bantha poo-doo, and more than likely stuck here until Blondie's mistress deigned to let us come home to reality.

For really, when you think about it, of what good is a clone anyway? And what had our Phalomir done other than lead us here, and lead us there, and slam-bang everything in sight that appeared to be a clone of him.

What if he had destroyed the true Phalomir?

I shook my head at that. It was beginning to ache like blazes.

[ 06-06-2007 10:23 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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

Aaron trailed, frowning. "And I don't know what to do with him. I don't know if we can cut and run before he wakes up...."

Aaron ground to a halt mid-sentence as a strange sort of shpplictk sound could be heard in the distance. "Oh kriffing hell, what was that?"

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

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

And the darkness.

The Master knew who had those clones made, it had to be. There was no other being who knew where he had hidden Phalomir and Jharmeen. He was dealing in unnatural things, removing bodies from their own times, but back in his younger days he was so sure that his was the ultimate knowledge. He was so sure that his meddlings in the future would have only positive consequences. But now the very timeline he was trying desperately to avoid was already upon him, and in the back of his mind he was aware of his own role in bringing it about.

He looked around, and seeing that it was indeed the very spot he had left Rykounagin, began to wander back towards the large doors and the steep staircase. That was the where the group of Yaoksi, Aaron, and the children were speaking with Phalomir.

One of them.

How was he going to know which was real? That part was easy. The real Phalomir was not a walking corpse.

After a moment he heard footsteps from far beyond, and perhaps a voice.

"I don't know, I didn't hear--"

My words were cut abruptly off as from somewhere in that distance there came a call, a cry, as if someone was lost. And the voice was awfully familiar...

"I think we're going to have company, and I think it's Phal's dear ol' daddy," I said darkly, drawing Link closer to me. I didn't care at that point how tough the little slicer was; there was no way she could stand up against all the wierdness we seemed to be surrounded with, no way.

Yeah, ya ol' pirate. As if any of us can...

I didn't mention that aloud. I just stood there with Aaron, waiting to see if the voice did indeed belong to the Sith last seen encased in greenery.

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

He looked down at the downed Phalomir then. "But maybe we can give he can handle Phalomir #2 here," he pointed out then, quriking a brow at Yaoksi. "Like explaining how he and the other Phalomir can BOTH be here at the same time," he continued, not ready to call out to the Master to indicate their presence, knowing that they were already found regardless.

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