Kieran turned and walked a few steps, his thoughts racing. He stopped abruptly, then spun on a heel.

“But if Phalomir exists, “ he said, “And if what you say is true, then the Master may have been trying to deceive the Powers of the Realm. A foolish man indeed, this one. So he somehow made copies of me, and placed the best one into this Dark Lord position and called him ‘son’. And the others are inferior copies, tests along way. All of this was done obtain the power for himself, but I managed to free myself from the prison where he was holding me, and gained the power myself! Yes, that was what happened!”

He strode quickly to Rhua Ki and pressed his face close.

“And only one race knows all there is to making copies,” he said. “Correct?”

Then she stepped in mere milimeters away from Kieran, a dark and grim smile falling upon her features as Keiran eyes remained pinned on Rhua Ki. "And as to how you gained your current position, I know quite a bit about it. After all, the foolish Master was not the one who put you in it."

She paused, her look darkening even further, her voice lowering til it was almost inaudible. Almost.

"I did."

[ 12-21-2011 07:30 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

A slender hand waved, seeming of its own accord, as if to capture the attention of the ominous pair and remove it from his slight frame.

"Perhaps my services are no longer needed, then--?" he uttered, taking a few inching steps backward, aiming for the door.

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

"You did?" He asked. "The Master lied, even in his death. It makes no difference, I am the chosen son of the dark, and you are my queen. The heir here is lost, what matters now is what grows within you. But to keep you safe we must eliminate the others who would be a danger to us. We shall begin with Phalomir, and learn where these copies of me came from. If it was not him then there are others we must face."

"Actually, cloning encompasses our primary efforts here on Kamino," he opened with, striving to obtain his former detached coolness once again.

"We have many, many cloning facilities in each of our stilt cities. All of our equipment is relatively similar; I would not be able to reveal who ordered what simply by studying our equipment."

He paused a moment, pondering if to reveal any further information would cross the line of client confidentiality. Then common sense pushed through logic; it would be better to offer this horrendous creature as much as he could, the better to rid himself of him.

"Here, let me show you," he said somewhat cryptically, as if Keiran had been able to read his mind. For that matter, he just may have been able to do just that...

He moved back to the computer console, and soon columns of virtual data were scrolling from ceiling to floor. He let the words and numbers roll downward, then paused the monitor.

"Here it is, you may read it for yourself," he said, as with one slender finger he pointed to a name that was gleaming electric white in mid-air.

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

"Aelomir," she half-whispered, her eyes darkening once more.

He had always denied this. But deep inside Shayla had always known it was a lie...

She pinned Kieran with a look. "That is the..."

She trailed, momentarily sneering at the title about to come from her lips, "Master's name."

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

“That name,” he said, lowly. “That name – The Master, his very name is a joke. He is the master of nothing, a pretender.”

He paused, letting the images and characters scroll further. They shone brightly in the dimly lit section of the room. He had left the Master for dead, shoving him into oblivion, a bloody pulp. So surely he must be dead. He had to be dead.

Was he dead?

If he were dead, his spirit would be subject to the Darker Realms.

Staring at the numbers and characters, Kieran reached outward. His eyes pierced through the blanket of electrons, and sought further, deeper, until they breached the curtain that hid the Darker Realms from this one. And there he reached out, seeking, searching…

“He has survived,” he said. “He lives, after all I did to him, he lives. This mysterious beast that would deal with powers he cannot fathom. And now you tell me he used your equipment to make copies of the one he claims to be his son. To put one in place within the Sith, and another to charge over the Darker Realms. I underestimated him.”

He finally pried his eyes away from the numbers and letters, and turned them to Shayla.

...and I wouldn't be surprised if even he does not know any more. One thing I do know however; Phalomir has a golden tatoo of entitlement to the Armorer's clan..."

She trailed, eyeing those on Kieran's body. "...and yours all remain black...

...but even that does not make one of you the original and one not; it just means that one of you has earned entitlement."

Shayla paused then, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully, "Still, there may be one other who may have the answers you seek; a being named Thoran who was at least once the Master's puppet if he is not even now. He is able to use the power of the Realms and has been there on more than one ocassion...

...and he tends to side with whoever can serve him best."

Shayla quieted one more moment, finally turning her attentions to Rhua Ki, who was possibly hoping that he could fade into the background while she and Kieran conversed regarding this new bit of information. She pinned him with a look for a moment, then turned her face to Kieran. "There is much yet to do. Are we to wait for this pregnancy to proceed in the usual manner...

...or take advantage of our current location and company?"

[ 12-27-2011 03:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Did he love her?

That was irrelevant. The clones were irrelevant. The Master was irrelevant. For now, at least. All that mattered was the heir. It was all that ever mattered. And if the Sith had stolen this one, he would spit on them all and deliver another.

But this one had to be perfect. Special.

Pure.

...as well as the dark ones clearly radiating from Kieran. Any attempt he might have made to cover them were really rather useless, for not only was she Force sensitive...

...but she, like him, was part of the Realms. Oddly enough, however, she relished this darkness, wanting to take part in it, even as a very far, very, very deeply buried portion of herself shuddered in horror.

Shayla nodded, turning a sickeningly sweet smile Rhua Ki's way. "Yeees," she purred, suddenly longing to tear into the Kamminoan...

...or at least, into someone or something, and soon. Whether this sudden craving was of her own violition or of something else entirely, Shayla couldn't be certain.

And despite a very small, very horrified fleck of existence somewhere within, she really didn't care.

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

Kieran turned and looked at the tall Kaminoan. Tall and slender, and of slight build, he was suddenly dwarfed by the presence of the Dark Sith.

“Won’t you?”

He smiled broadly, suddenly once again very sure of himself. A spark flew across his teeth as he smiled.

"As you wish," he stated simply as with a wave of his hand he indicated that Shayla should enter a nearby door. Through that door lay a pristine examination room; once he got the young lady there he would examine her.

Of course all will be well now, wouldn't it?

"If you would please go into the examination room, I will give you a brief physical," he stated as once more he began to inch toward the door.

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

...and then spared a moment to eye Kieran, her look somehow dark.

She was no fool. He wanted to be certain that what she said was true was, in fact, true.

"Very well."

Then she turned towards the door to the examination room, heading inside...

...and for the first time in quite some time, steppiing away from Kieran, athough she knew very well he would be aware of how all would proceed...

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

Once she had done so, he turned to a nearby console. Playing a rapid tune upon the variety of buttons and dials there, he brought down from the lofty ceiling a strange, glassine device with looked rather like a sausage bisected along it's length. This was lowered to cover Shayla from neck to her feet.

"Do not fear," he pre-empted what words she might have spoken, judging from the widening of her eyes. "Generally all of our work is done within cloning tubes; it is not often that we have a surrogate mother with which to work. But we do have the equipment to perform examinations upon such; this is what I am now going to use to assess your current condition."

Saying nothing further, her turned back to the console and played yet another noteless tune upon it. The glassine half-tube turned smoky, then adamantine, and finally a deep, olivine green. Through this was shot lines and speckles of pure silver, as if the light of a distant moon was trying to shine within. At length the strange light faded; Rhua Ki pressed a certain button and the tube turned transparent once again, lifting itself back into the heights above.

Shayla immediately sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the table.

He pinned her with his large, soulless eyes.

"You are healthy, and your embryos are so as well," he said. He began to turn away, but something about her aspect gave him pause, and he turned back to see the question in her tempestuous eyes.

"You are carrying twins," he said simply. "One male, one female."

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

Twins? A boy and a girl? This was certainly not what Kieran was hoping for.

On the heels of that thought, another, far deeper and self-preserving one burst forth.

To Hell with what he was hoping for. This was her body, and her children. And they would be born, both male and female.

She turned her eyes towards the Kaminoan, recalling something she had once been told, perhaps not so long ago...

...and using it to its fullest. She allowed a hint of something approximating soul-encompassing fear fall on her features. "Please, please tell him only that I am healthy, and that the baby boy is as well," she said, the look in her eyes pleading...

...and surprisingly not at all contrived...

[ 12-28-2011 10:29 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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

Who are you, lady?

He jerked back to his normal aplomb, standing coolly upright and folding his long-fingered hand together afront him.

"How powerful are you, then?" he queried. For although every atom of his being was for some strange reason yearning to assist her--

It could very well be some leftover remnant from the time he had assisted that other human female, the one with deep shadowed eyes and hair the color of a Tatooine sunset...

--well he knew that her companion, red of skin and armed with fang and claw and horn, was the one to truly fear.

He was a scientist. Logic lead the way, showing him what he should indeed do to keep his own pale skin alive and well.

"How powerful are you, lady?" he repeated his former query.

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

...but at the same time, she was still, somehow, who she was...

...wasn't she?

At any rate, both of these children were hers. Both of them. And she didn't necessarily truwst Kieran to see that. He only seemed interested in one, a male, "strong and handsome."

What was it with the need for the child to be male? Pfft!

Shayla finally snapped from her thoughts, turning back to the awaiting Rhua Ki.

"I..I am a Force user, but I am a part of the Darker Realms."

She paused. "He has stated he wants a son, she then said succintly, her eyes darkening then. "I am not sure how he would receive the notion that I am having twins, especially not considering one of the two is a girl."

Her eyes darkened another shade, and defocusing a bit. "He will not bring harm to her, I will not allow it..."

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

"No, how powerful are you?" he repeated before, holding up his hand to stay her comment, he went on to elaborate.

"Your companion is most powerful, this I can sense," he offered, albeit a bit tentatively. For indeed had he once before dealt with one of the same race, perhaps even of these so called Dark Realms of which this lady spoke. He was well aware of the potential dangers lurking upon the road ahead; now was he at a crossroad, only determining for his own well-being which direction would be the safest one to take.

"If you cannot supercede him, then if he asks I must indeed divulge the truth to him," he finished, still staring into her eyes. And what he saw there didn't instill much confidence in him.

For all her former strong and haughty words, she is afraid...

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

...or was she? Without her, after all, there would be no heir. And she was already dead, and had already lost a child.

What else could he really do to her?

She stood up now, her eyes hardening and darkening. "Nevermind," she growled blackly. "I have Force powers...

...and other powers that he does not even know the half of."

She paused, her eyes growing even a shade darker. "And I am the one the Realms ordained to carry these heirs; two, not just one. That is enough to supercede him."

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

"Very well then," he replied smoothly, as helping her from the table he turned about-face to return to the room they were in before. There he found the strange Sith growling darkly about to himself.

"They are both well, and vigorous," he announced in a clear voice as coming up before Keiran he folded his hands afront himself and bowed slightly, if not entirely respectfully, before him.

[ 12-28-2011 12:53 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rhua Ki ]

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He walked to Shayla, smiling. “And you are well,” he added. “And vigorous, too. That is good, we shall need your power and strength in the days ahead, to remove our enemies and make the future safe for our son.”

He paused, looking into Shayla’s eyes. She seemed worried, just ever so slightly. Why would she show any sign of trepidation? Unless…

With nothing more she fell silent, the look in her eyes hardening further as she pinned him with a look, quite nearly daring him to disapprove.

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

“A daughter?” he asked. “What do you mean, a daughter? He can’t be both… can he?”

No, that was absurd. She was speaking in riddles, perhaps. A son, and a daughter. He would be strong, yes, and… like a daughter as well? How would he be like a daughter?

A son…

And a daughter.

A son and a daughter.

“Twins?” he exclaimed. “You are carrying twins?”

He paused as the realization hit him. Two heirs – no, one heir, and one other. One to keep, to teach. To train, and to hide.

He leaned in and kissed Shayla on the forehead, then pulled her close. His expression became dark, and his voice deep.

“You must speak of this to no-one,” he said. “You shall bring us a son, and that is all anyone need ever know.”

He looked over to the Kaminoan, his eyes bearing the same message.

...but she would never let him know that. She cursed herself for having a moment of weakness herself, of doubt...

...and she would not allow it to happen again.

She turned wide, tumultuous eyes to Kieran, giving him her undivided attention.

"Yes, my Lord," she purred, "We are having a son, a strong son."

She paused. And an equally as strong daughter.

Here she looked briefly at Rhua Ki, her look unscrutable yet somehow meaningful at the same time. But then she immediately directed her eyes back to Kieran.

"What now, my Darkest?"

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

He released Shayla and stepped back, and then turned to the Kaminoan.