"Nobody move," Alpha-Quarto said calmly, his eyes never leaving ShaRhylla. His head dipped in her direction, the movement seeming to be one that was strangely genteel, save for the fact that he wasn't trying to keep her calm. The motion came when he toggled a switch inside the neckrim of his helmet, this time opening a connection back to his mother ship.

Quickly, the words sharp and concise, he related what he and his men had found; after a few moments had passed, he once more dipped his head.

This time it was to acknowledge an incoming communique from his commanding officer.

"Very well, ladies," he said, keeping his voice steady and stern without allowing a lick of warmth to enter into it.

"If you would please come with us, there is someone who would like to...

"Meet you."

The tip of his blaster moved the slightest bit off to one side, indicating the direction he wished them all to proceed. Then it returned to roost once again in the middle of ShaRhylla's eyes.

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

Her eyes cut to ShaRhylla, widened in momentary surprise to see her standing silent as well; then slid sideways to take in Shayla's profile as the young woman calmly confronted the Imperials.

Her face hidden beneath her tendrils, Graysith allowed herself to smile. Then she cut a look once more to Shayla, nodded. Shot her gaze back to her daughter, and when she had made eye contact simply pursed her lips and dipped her head but once.

Then, uttering a little sigh, she let herself fall limply upon the floor once more, apparently unconscious.

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

How dare they demand! This was much more than enough...

Stretching out then with her abilities, Shayla errected the All shield she had already been capable of errecting in the past...

...and dug more deeply, the anger boiling within her.

They needed to get out...

...and now...

[ 12-06-2006 10:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Three seconds later, Alpha Quarto waved his hand in disgust, signalling his men to cease fire. Before them, the odd blanketing nothingness only shimmered, as if laughing at them.

But then again, perhaps that shimmer was the wave upon wave of electromagnetic force which encapsulated it, raced about its surface, and then finally dissipated in a final dwindling glare.

Alpha-Quarto and his men stood motionless, defeated by the oddness of the situation. Then, the snikk amplified by that overwhelming silence, Alpha-Quarto once more toggled a switch, once more sent communique to his mother ship.

"Relentless, we have a situation here...

[ 12-06-2006 10:56 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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"Blackwing, this is Lt. General Tarnus. Belay any aggression against the anomaly; search the premises and gather all computer data you can find regarding it. I am sending a Star Galleon with a full complement of men to back-up and take control of this apparent base you have found. ETA, twenty standard cycles.

"Once again, I say you are to take no aggressive action at this time against the anomaly; observe and report anything unusual happening if such circumstances should arise.

"This is Lt. General Tarnus, out."

[ 12-06-2006 11:37 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Sorben Tarnus ]

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ShaRhylla still stood near the doorway where she had come in from the corridor, her eyes wide with surprise and mounting distrust, a strange object grasped in her hand. Graysith had to smile to herself for the image projected by her halfling daughter: strong in turn, silent, suspicious yes, but neither was she being overly aggressive.

Good, she thought to herself as she slowly raised one hand toward ShaRhylla.

She may have learned something...

Now she let her inner smile break softly upon her face.

"Daughter, I know what it is that you have done in Phrinnchatka, as well as do I know what... a certain Cult Assassin--"

She spit the title from her lips as if it was nothing more than dirt to her; indeed, associating herself now as she did totally and unequivocably with the Sith, such a personage was nothing more to her than a tool to be used by the royalty.

"--has done to you. I forgive you your unthinking transgressions, my child; can you accept me in turn now, or do you yet cling futilely to that which you certainly must see you will never have?

"There is other love, truer love, to be found amongst those of your own race, ShaRhylla, and of the greatest importance of all there is the undying love of a mother.

"Come with us, daughter; come and accept not merely the destiny you tried to wrench away on your own... but one more glorious than you can ever imagine."

Something black and oily briefly flickered through her eyes, but her smile held. A pregnant silence ensued, one in which there was no movement other than the brief shadows of antagonzing emotions that now flitted transparently across ShaRhylla's face.

Indeed she is yet young, the Chosen Daughter thought to herself.

I shall allow her a means to save her dignity.

"What is that strange thing that you grasp, my young one, as if it is worth more than all the precious metals and jewels in the galaxy?"

The pair of eyes now dropping to stare meaningfully at that which ShaRhylla yet held were bright and violet now, without any hint of shadow or oil anywhere within them.

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

Alpha-Quarto closed the connection with a little flip of his chin, holstering his blaster as he now motioned to two of his men.

"You two, remain here and watch this-- this-- thing. I expect an immediate report should anything unusual happen in regard to it; keep your weapon at hand, but don't waste any more ammo on it. It seems impervious to blaster fire.

"But--"

He paused a moment, reflecting at the ease with which he had downed the first redhead.

"If any one of those three peeps out so much as a toe, stun them. General Tarnus doesn't want them harmed... at least not too much."

With a final snarl of disgust at the humming sphere of weirdness, he then turned away and motioned to his men. Barking orders, he set two of them about the task of infiltrating the base, seeking computer terminals that they might upload to their fighters whatever information they might find.

Satisfied that when backup arrived they would have plenty of material for them to begin analyzing, he took his remaining man and set forth, beginning to hunt for the command center he was positive this mysterious place boasted.

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

But how she had come to find her here, in a place Rykounagin swore would be the last one anyone would look for...

A thunderstorm began to form upon her brow.

Slitting her eyes slightly, she remained where she was, her eyes still cutting between the two other women as she started to quickly ponder to herself just what in all the universe she should do.

Of course she didn't believe her mother, not in the least. At least that's what she told herself; from somewhere deep within herself a tiny voice began struggling to be heard, tried to remind her that her mother had never done anything detrimental to her, that perhaps her mind wasn't quite as clear on the subject as it should be and that perhaps she was viewing the Dark Lady through an even darker miasma fomented by Entaris, and Rykounagin...

Not to mention her father.

That thought managed to wriggle through her shocked surprise, worming through her rising ire and directing it in another direction.

Father...

It was enough, for the moment, to at least listen to the women before her...

...if only for the reason that both her ex-spouse and once-beloved father hated them.

For the enemy of my enemy is at least an uneasy friend...

Forcing herself to loosen, she rose upright, staring at the object in her hand for a brief moment before holding it out to them as if it was some kind of peace offerring.

"I was told it held all the knowledge of the Cult Assassins," she said simply, and said no more.

[ 12-07-2006 07:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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"Thank you, ShaRhylla," she said simply, nodding to her before turning off at an angle and with a wave of one hand ripping open the Portal back to their ship. It shimmered and wavered, showing them the impossibility of the inside of a Sith ship yet travelling through hyperspace; with a graceful motion, Graysith indicated the rip in the fabric of space and time.

"It is time that you both return to K'eel Doba," she said, waving toward the Portal once more while her other hand busied itself with tucking the repository beneath her cloak.

"I shall be joining you shortly, but there is at first something which must be attended to. Shayla--"

Now she turned to the young woman, stared her full in the face.

"When you and ShaRhylla have returned to the ship, it is my desire that you drop the shield you have placed about us. Do not worry, my dear; there is nothing that the Imperials can do that will harm me, and this way I know that you and my daughter are safely away from them.

"Go back to Phrinnchatka, and bring ShaRhylla up to date on all that you and I have spoken of. Do this out of love and respect for me, and for the future of the Sith."

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

In fact, far from it.

However, she stepped through the Portal and seated herself at the navboard once more...

...and with a darkening look, gave a sigh and let the sield drop as Graysith had requested. Numb and concerned regarding what might then take place, she kept her mind open to her link with Graysith, paused to impossibly reorient the Sith fighter while it was still in hyperspace and reset her course for K'eel Doba.

"She will do what is best for the Sith," Shayla spoke softly then,uncertain as to whether the words were for herself or for the other party now occupying the fighter with her.

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

Shayla and ShaRhylla had no sooner disappeared through the Portal when the All shield hiding them from the Imperials' eyes did as well. A slight twist of one slender wrist was all it took for the Chosen Daughter to relinquish her hold on the Portal she had opened, letting it too slide into oblivion mere nanoseconds after the shield had dropped.

She heard rather than saw the remaining fighter pilots train their hand blasters upon her; smiling to herself, she nodded, satisfied with something as she remained steadfast in place, her back to the pair, unmoving save for slow and easy breathing. Only after the seconds had ticked off into unbearably tense minutes did she turn round to face them, a smile still planted upon her lips.

The fighters seemed to jump at her movement, then tensed, hunkering, twin blasters aimed in unison upon her heart.

"Just you stay right there, Miss!" the taller of the pair commanded as he nodded his head, this time opening up a communication with Alpha-Quarto.

Graysith laughed, easily deciphering what to some might be an enigmatic motion of his head.

"You may tell your commander that I am quite harmless, and that I look forward to seeing General Tarnus once again," she said, relishing the surpise now emanating in waves from the pilot. Still smiling, she folded her hands together; then closing her eyes, she sank to her knees on the metallic floor, to all outward appearances losing herself in a meditative trance.

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

Shayla paused, and something in the depths of her eyes darkened til their color was that of a sea before a storm. "We will be...

... taking care of him in due time..."

She paused, and shifted to look ShaRhylla straight in the face. "For all that he has done."

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

Throughout Shayla's discourse the halfling remained stone silent, digesting each word as it was spoken, as if it was a choice morsel to either savor before swallowing or merely gulp down whole. But with each word her eyes grew darker and darker, finally slitting as the pupils enlarged, ready to take on the prey every instinct wsa telling her she had.

She shivered with the sheer ecstasy of it before finally getting something of a grip on herself. Moving round the seat a bit so that she was now even with Shayla, she remained standing, one hand gripping the upholstered seatback, the other hanging slightly curled by her side.

"What are you going to do to him?" she asked rather abruptly. "To Rykounagin, I mean.

"What would you do?"

She cocked her head and pinned Shayla with a predatory and utterly forthright stare.

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

She trailed a moment at that, her eyes only growing darker. "And I'd love to watch every moment of it."

Another pause, then she drew herself away from her own dark thoughts to look at ShaRhylla once more. "You? What do you want to do to him?"

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

Her lips curled even more, exposing a delicate fang.

"I would and can bring him to the point of Death, but would not allow him release. I will tear out his own heart, Grand Betrayer that it is, and feed it to mother's tu'kata, all the while keeping him alive to suffer in that knowledge.

"I will bit by bit impale him with a thousand tiny blades, each one taking out a bit of his flesh... and yet will force him to remain alive.

"I will force his horrible eyes from his head, and make him eat them. I will remove both his hands, and keep the nerve endings raw.

"I will sink him into the very stone of the Underworld, and leave him to the demons..."

She came to an abrupt halt with that, cocking her head a little to one side as she forced herself to regain a semblance of normalcy.

"You do know this can be achieved in the Darker Realms," she ended in a deathly whisper.

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

She trailed, and her eyes defocuseed a bit. "I do believe we should inquire to the Revealer just what it is that brought Lord Phalomir to Rykounagin, as well as if the young fool remains in the predicament he was when we last requested his whereabouts."

"

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

"If he is somewhere in a tattered ship, as you say, then he must have some kind of life support, right? He must be on a planet or somewhere with air."

Plopping down in the seat next to Shayla now, ShaRhylla turned to her, toying with a tendril of her hair.

"Yes, let us discover his whereabouts, so we can go there and quickly put him out of my misery!"

Turning forward then she settled against the seat to stare stonily at the viewscreen in front of her. It remained as dark as her mood, sprinkled only with the occasional chromatic streaks of hyper-driven stars.

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

"At last, we are almost there,"Shayla said aloud, reaching for the reversion sigil as the countdown continued. When it timed out, she punched the sigil, and hyperdriven stars sequed into a planet, in closer proximity to the fighter than a normal ship would be able to withstand.

(((OCC: Follow Shayla and ShaRhylla to Destiny Uncertain in the Jedi Praxeum and Sith Temple forums, thank you.)))

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Several more hours crawled by, hours the two Imperials passed by alternately standing guard over the apparently entranced woman, or in playing a quick hand of cards. Or rather, in playing one quick hand after the other.

"Sabaac!" the younger of the pair cried out in triumph as he reached out yet again to scoop in his winning cards. "That's thirty-three thousand, eight hundred and sixty-seven credits you owe me now."

He grinned in the face of the elder's obvious chagrin, and cackled a little as the other rose to his feet to make another obligatory check on the quiet Graysith. Coming to a halt beside her, he merely stood in silence, staring down at her tumbling locks of flame. Something about that hair made him just itch to reach out and touch it...

His hand was beginning to move, seemingly of its own volition, when a squawk in his radio receiver commanded his attention. Jerking his hand away and his entire body to a stiff attention, he listened to the short message in its entirety, then nodded his head in a definite manner.

"Yessir!" he replied, moving his chin to truncate the connection. Returning to where his companion sat grinning from ear to ear, he looked down and frowned.

"Back-up's here..." he began, when a slight noise behind him made him whirl about, hand blaster ready and finger a mere millimeter from letting incomparable energies fly...

[ 12-21-2006 08:41 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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"I am ready to go with your troops," she announced to the astounded trooper, who couldn't quite figure out how in all the known universe she knew what the comm he'd just received had been about. Not to mention exactly how she had known ther was one to begin with, for in her meditative state her back had been to them, and once again her face to the floor.

Her smile broadened in the face of his obvious discomfiture; now extending her hands out to either side of herself, she went on, her voice rich and low and musical.

"I am quite harmless, I can assure you that. But I do have rather acute hearing."

Nothing followed; neither she nor either of the troopers said anything further to each other, and their demeanor toward her didn't diminish one whit. Thus they presented themselves as a strange, frozen tableau to the fresh troops who now entered the chamber, some of them coming to align themselves in a closed square about the Dark Lady of the Sith while others went to relieve her two guards.

Only after the command center had been entirely overrun by Imperial troopers, scientists and computer experts did the order come through that the squad take Jharmeen back to the blockade.

For a very special meeting with Lt. General Sorben Tarnus...

((OOC: Follow Graysith as she goes under Imperial guard back into the thread Z-Prime in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

[ 12-21-2006 08:55 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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