"Injured was he, before shot being," he allowed, now hunkering down to carefully place the tips of one pincer against the Master's eye and part his lids. The iris revealed was rolled up, displaying red-shot whites. He gave the equivalent of a snort, and withdrew his hand.

"Perhaps longer to awaken, will he be..."

He trailed as the sound of approaching footsteps quickened, now entwining with each other in an arrythmic pattern suggestive of a person or persons unknown descending a staircase. A particularly echoing sort of staircase.

For some reason he didn't think they belonged to another approaching passenger...

His fears were brought to full fruition as two uniform clad men came into sight. Stepping onto the platform, they surveyed its entirety quickly before heading over to their little party. Their own hands fell to the grips of the blasters they wore on their hips.

"Trouble?" the taller, darker one of the two inquired, even as his grip tightened. His eyes raked the group, sudden recognition flooding them as they fell upon the Verpine.

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

...and the uniforms they were wearing registered in Jasyn's memory banks. "If you want to confirm that with Delegate Zekkin, go ahead," he said then, waiting. Meanwhile he wondered if there were any developments on finding Graysith. He'd about had his fill of Bespin.

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

His eyes shot to Jasyn, again somehow emitting rays of surprise even though he couldn't so much as blink, and then turned back to the official looking pair.

"Verpine am I," he announced unnecessarily, followed by a more pertinent, "K'kihl am I."

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

"Yeah, and I am Jasyn Lancaster, the guy that was looking for him," he added. "Just ask your Boss."

Pausing then, Jasyn stepped closer to the men, and handed the one who seemed to be in charge his comm after keying in Zekkin's frequency. In a few short exchanges, all was hunky dory and the men backed off with apologies after returning the comm.

Jasyn, meanwhile, sighed in relief, and turned back to K'kihl. "Sorry about that," he said. Then, in reference to the Master. "Maybe we shoukld get something to ahhh... wake him up."

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

She whirled, dragging Cazun along for the ride, only to be confronted by a uniformed man she had never before seen.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said politely enough. "But do you go by the name of Jharmeen?"

He paused for a moment, eyeing the luxuriant fall of her flaming hair, which of course was at the moment presenting itself at the very apex of unruliness. She could only stand quiet in her tracks, blinking with utter surprise at this unexpected development.

At her side, Cazun came into manly life.

"So who wants to know?" he bristled, placing the cloak of Valiant Knight about his shoulders and waving it with all the boldness he could muster. His little puff-up didn't faze the uniformed man one iota; he merely took a small backward step, one hand moving the slightest bit toward the blaster on his hip.

"I am seeking a fem named Jharmeen. A gentleman named Jasyn is seeking her. You seem to fit her description, and this is the vicinity where she was last seen, but she was in the accompaniment of--"

"I am Jharmeen."

The Dark Lady effectively shushed Cazun, now twining her arm a bit more tightly about his own and patting it with her free hand. For a moment she frowned, trying to remember names mentioned in passing long ago. Then she brightened.

"If the gentleman of which you speak is a Mr. Jasyn Lancaster, then I am the correct Jharmeen of whom you seek."

Introductions finally having gotten past the threat of fisticuffs, or worse, blaster fire, all present relaxed. That is, the uniformed man and Jharmeed did; Cazun wasn't too certain.

"This seems awfully odd--" he began, but was cut off as the uniformed man took a step to the side and waved one hand genteelly.

"If you will follow me, please," he stated, all the while taking out his comm-link and flipping it open.

"Jasyn, this is Seth. I've found her. Where are you?"

Taking the lead, he began walking back in the direction he had come from, the footfalls of the pair he had found assuring him that they were following right along.

[ 04-25-2011 05:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

...but that anxiousness on his part quickly disappated with Seth's incoming message.

"Oh thank the Fates," he said to himself, looking to K'kihl in obvious relief. Only then did he respond to Zekkin's comm. "K'kihl and I are probably not far below you, in a transport station."

He paused, smirking a bit to himself before sending the message off, wondering if EE was going to make a credit off the ship sale that was going to take place shortly.

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

"Take heart, my good friend, for all shall transpire in our favor," she said, unwittingly beginning to slip into the speech patterns of High Sith, even though she was yet speaking in Basic. If Cazum was surprised at this insidious alteration in her demeanor he didn't announce, but let himself follow along, wondering what in Fates he had gotten himself into.

Soon they came to the opening to the under-port that they passed mere moments before; without so much as an indication of it, the uniformed man headed down the steps. Jharmeen and Cazun could only follow; that the latter was a bit unnerved by being led beneath the main corridors of Tibannopolis was displayed by the tension suddenly coiling his muscles, and the slight skritch as he gritted his teeth.

Graysith merely stepped downward, pausing but for a moment a the foot of the stairs to let her eyes adapt to the dimness. Then--

"K'kihl!" she erupted with a smile of relief and rushed forward, once again dragging Cazun alongside of her. The Verpine rose to his feet, the motion dragging her eyes downward to the form that slumped there.

"At last, I have found you, my friend. And, Mr. Lancaster; how fortuitous it is that you have assisted in reuniting me with those whom I sought. Even this one."

She nodded toward the Master, who seemed to be starting to stir a bit.

At her side, the speechless Cazun could hold his tongue no longer.

"I thought you were trying to find your sister?" he blurted.

[ 04-25-2011 06:13 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

...or why she would have enlisted the aid of a stranger to find said sister. But Jasyn decided the time for such questions was not now. Smoothing over the frown with a more amiable look, Jasyn turned to Cazun. "Yeah, we know where her sister is," he then responded to the man, leaving things at that. After all, this was true enough, at least in regards to himself, although he idly wondered if Graysith had been referring to her blood-born sister, or the one she called her chosen sister, as he recalled.

Or if maybe it was all just a ruse to get some help. No matter. Not now, anyway.

"Maybe we can go somewhere--like maybe one of those eating establishments above--so that I can finish out business with Zekkin here and we can get her to her lost sister," Jasyn ended with, nodding towards Jharmeen with this final statement, and hoping like hell that this guy was going to buy what he was saying.

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

"We have just left a very comfortable place, where we had a-- a drink together," she informed Jasyn. "It is not too far from here; perhaps that would be a good place to find food. But--"

She now directed a look toward the Master. That worthy was beginning to move around a bit, one hand raising to his head in an exploratory motion. It seemed he would soon be back to full consciousness; what mood that would entail, or how dangerous he would be to them, if at all, remained to be seen.

She jutted her chin at him.

"What do you suggest we do with him?" she asked, keeping for the moment quiet regarding her concern as to why he had been traveling with the Verpine, not to mention how that little quandary had come about to begin with. She was certain that answers would be provided, but not here, not standing on a transport platform while the members of the general populace came and went about them.

And as for his intentions, well... the Verpine yet lives. There is that. Either he means him, and by that us as well, no harm, or he is playing a ruse yet again. Either way, we now appear to have an upper hand over him; our concerns shall be addressed in the very near future.

She shot an inquisitive look toward K'kihl, indicating the slowly moving Master once more with her chin, but didn't say anything more about this.

Somehow she knew the Verpine was aware of her concern, and all would soon be revealed.

[ 04-26-2011 04:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

Maybe you could stun him again! a shoulder devil chortled.

"Well, barring stunning him again, I do have a nice little yacht tucked away in a docking bay not too far from here. Maybe we should get him there? He just got out of the medical center, after all, and he's been stunned because I at least thought he posed a threat," Jasyn said, for the first time sounding a bit guilty about his premature actions.

"I hope he's not too hot when he comes around..."

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

“There is no need to shoot me again,” he forced out of his mouth. The voice he addressed was familiar, an annoying growl belonging to an even more annoying human. His memory was swift though, and an analysis of the man showed there was no real threat.

“Mr. Lancaster,” he added. He forced an eye open – an act that he found distasteful and would make a point to not let it become habit. “If I meant you harm you would be in blissful oblivion by this time. But do not think such actions will go un--”

A flash of red caught in the corner of his eye. His other eye, ready or not, was forced open to help its twin take in the wonder of what he thought he had seen.

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

She was about to reply in turn when Jasyn blurted out in anger, causing her to bring her attention to full focus upon him. But before she could chide him, yet another interruption stabbed into the suddenly tense atmosphere.

"Listen, pal!" Having felt somewhat at odds what with the rapid change of events he had come to find himself in, the miner discovered a need to be needed by the lady once again. He took a grim step toward the recumbent form, holding out an accusatory finger in his direction.

"You'd better just lay off with the implications, and come clean about--"

He was interrupted by a velvet gloved touch upon his shoulder... but one which held within it the potential of steel.

"Dear Cazun, I thank you for your chivalry." Jharmeen gave him an equally gentle smile, even though his back was turned to her. That smile bored through him, guided by her ever so smoothly tightening grip; he tensed a moment then cocked his head sideways in acknowledgement.

Her smile broadened, but somehow conveyed no warmth.

"If we must speak on in this place, let us do so with at least some pretense of courtesy," she said in a low voice. "We do not wish to draw the attention of others to ourselves; you."

After first glancing quickly to the overly protective but simple miner, and then to Jasyn, she let her gaze fall upon the Master, where it remained.

"If you have words to say, make them brief and quiet."

And truthful, she added to herself, but did not bother to state this aloud. For when indeed had this one ever been completely forthright with any of them?

[ 11-04-2011 11:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

“My apologies,” he said. “But I am truly heartened to see you alive. Although I am sure you do not share that feeling, and I don’t blame you. I’ve done many things I am not proud of, and in retrospect I wish I could take them back. But time doesn’t quite work that way for most of us, does it?”

He coughed, the last bit of sickness now dissolving from his body as his powers finished the healing process. He made no indication to the human Jasyn of his strength, however. He had no desire to be stunned again and there were more urgent matters pressing him.

“There is something of the utmost importance I need to tell you,” he said softly. “Phalomir, my son, and your… well, whatever he is to you… “

The Master trailed off, his thoughts drifting ever so slightly. He knew there was a bond between Phalomir and the Dark Lady, a strong one. And that, he feared, would be the death of her. Of them all.

“I fulfilled my end of the bargain,” he said. “I gave him to the darkness. But it betrayed me! I meant to save us, to bring forth a power so great as to change our future. But it is using him to sway the balance of the Darker Realms…”

He could see the mixed looks upon all of their faces. Hate, confusion, mistrust. He grunted, wanting to explain and seek sympathy for his just cause. But not now, this was not the time for forgiveness.

A muscle along her slender jawline rippled as she clenched her teeth in anger with this.

The sheer impertinence...!

If it had not been for the sake of the dumbfounded Cazun Farr, who undoubtedly was growing even more dumbfounded by the minute at this sudden disclosure, she would have simply lashed out with her newly-recovered strengths, hopefully ridding herself of this thing before he could fathom what she would do. But she remained true to the words exchanged with Dark Lord Aelvedaar, and for the sake of the simple miner she merely leveled a flat gaze upon the Master.

Then the rest of his words filtered through her anger.

Phalomir... dead?

For the barest of moments an upwelling of grief so glacial it iced the blood in her veins rushed through her body, seeming to still her very heart as it sent her to stagger, but once, to the side. Cazun was there in a flash, holding onto her, keeping her upright, trying his best to do what he could in a situation that was growing stranger and stranger by the minute.

No. NO--!!

Her brilliant eyes closed, holding back tears... then reality reasserted itself, bringing with it what she could remember from her short time on Endor, as well as the warnings and dark sensations she had received from Shayla before that precious Link vanished from her being.

She drew herself regally upright, never letting her gaze move from the apparently weakened Master.

"You are wrong," she stated flatly, then spoke nothing further. Well she knew that indeed a Dark Phalomir existed, and that her own dear Chosen Sister and Adept was even now with him. The question that came to her mind, however, was which Phalomir was it who had been subjugated by the Dark, and turned into its pawn? A memory of his caring for her, his attentions given to her as they stepped forth unexpectedly onto the duff of Endor's forests flew into her head, rapidly followed by his rapid dissolution into madness.

How was she to take all this? On the one hand, the real Phalomir, her dear, dear love and true Master of her heart, was indeed the one who had flashed from calm into rage on that tiny moon; was this he, the one, who was being murdered by the Dark in front of her very eyes? If so, than that would preclude that Shayla had also come to that moon...

What had transpired there after her fall from the canopy?

But if Shayla had not gone to Endor at all, then the Dark Phalomir she stated she was attending would not have been there either. Which would indicate that her dear Lord was yet on that little moon, lost to a sudden madness whose source, albeit unknown, was more than likely a quite natural one.

She shook her head once, slightly, just enough to indicate the degree to which she believed in the latter scenario. Phalomir, her Phalomir, was not dead.

He couldn't be...

[ 11-18-2011 05:57 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

...and he really didn't like how the Master was speaking so openly and freely about such things in the middle of, well...

...the bloody wide open.

"Look, buster," Jasyn interjected, taking a step in closer to both the Master and Graysith even as she swayed slightly on her feet. His eyes, for the moment, were pinned on the Master. "Now is really not the time or the place to have this conversation," he pointed out, lowering his voice. "I'd like to get back to my yacht in the docking bay, before someone overhears something highly questionable, you know?"

He quieted for a moment then, eyeing Cazun, who had just overheard alot of strange things himself. And Jasyn didn't have a clue who the bloody hell he was in al of this. "Can we just get the kriffing hell out of here before we continue this conversation?" he ended with, his eyes flicking between Graysith and the Master as he awaited an answer from either one of them, but truthfully puttng a whole lot more stock in what Graysith would say than the Master.

[ 11-23-2011 10:13 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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

...but to the sudden little flock of onlookers who had gathered nearby, obviously wondering what in all the Universe was going on.

"I believe you are correct, my friend," she allowed with a nod of her head in Jasyn's direction. "Perhaps it would behoove us to move our... discussion elsewhere, to somewhere more...

"Private."

Before anyone could acknowledge or reply, she turned to the dumbfounded Cazun Farr.

"I thank you, my dear Sir, for accompanying me as far as you have. Surely your presence has kept me from harm in this place, which is really quite strange to me. But I have found my friends; with their assistance, I shall surely find my sister, and shall continue with the business that we have before us in this city."

She then turned back to Jasyn...

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

The miner couldn't stand it any longer. This night had rapidly digressed from a nice and normal one, from a scenario where he had donned the role of Knight in Shining Armor to come to the aid of a lovely -- oh so very lovely! -- damsel in distress, to help her find her sister and send her on her way, and maybe, just maybe...

To one approaching something he had watched on a fictional holovid.

He cast a somewhat flabbergasted look to all before remembering his former role; with some effort he calmed himself and stepped out to speak.

"Look, you guys," he said, emboldened by the fact that the only response to his initial outburst was one of mild interest from the others, judging by the way they all flicked their eyes his way without saying anything.

"I don't know what is going on here, but what I do know is that I promised this lady here that I would keep her safe while I helped her find what she seemed to have lost. Now there seems to be a lot of words going on right now, but in my book they hang back secondplace to actions.

"I'm not going to be dismissed like a lowly nek or something; I'm here to help this lady, and as far as I'm concerned you guys all are just talking circles and are getting her all confused."

He paused and took another step closer to Jharmeen.

"I'm not letting her go anywhere, not without me. When Cazun Farr makes a promise, he keeps it.

"You take this lady anywhere... and I'm coming along to make sure she stays ok."

He took a final step forward, now placing himself bodily in front of a personage who was perhaps the very last person in the Universe who actually needed his help. Of course he had no way of knowing that; glowering, he crossed his arms and tried to make himself look as formidable as he possibly could.

He looked around now, finally understanding their surroundings.

“I agree,” he said. “This is far too overrun by normal insignificants. Take us to your yacht, human, and we shall continue our discussion there.”

He then regarded the Dark Lady once more.

“Put all emotion behind you for the moment. It makes you weak, and weakness shall not keep you alive. I will still save the Sith, only now I am afraid we shall be fighting more than our old enemies. Keep this Cazun Farr for now.”

He then looked to the seething Jasyn.

He paused, not really caring if the Master struck him down. "Just saying."

Without another word though, Jasyn turned on his heel, keeping his blaster in hand, and headed back towards the docking bay as quickly as he could before he decided to turn around and stun the Master for a second time, secretly hoping that Graysith would take the initiative to shut the red-skinned windbag up herself. As he worked his way through the city, they began to lose the annoying onlookers, and Jasyn finally glanced back to see that yes indeedy everyone was following, Cazun Farr included.

Jasyn didn't know who the hell he was, or if he could be trusted, but anyone had to be better than the Master.

How did he know when they started talking about a red skinned humanoid in the sickbay here that this would just be his luck?

As they finally approached the former "Pride of Yavin," Jasyn recalled that there was still some ale aboard...

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

He followed the others into the interior hall, then to the mess hall. Everyone fanned out to claim a seat or wall space.

“Yes, this will do nicely,” he said. “But now, down to business.”

He looked the new human up and down, frowning.

"Now, listen here, buster!" he seethed as he shook himself free from those around him to step directly in front of the insouciant being.

"You just mind yourself! I don't know who the hell you are, or even more so who the hell you think you are, but all I know is that for a guy who was laying all helpless-like on the ground not too long ago you have about the biggest mouth I've ever heard word fall out of!"

The Verpine brought himself forth from the shadows to lay a manipulatory appendage along the miner's shoulder, only to be roughly rebuffed.

"My bad," he stammered as in backing off, he let himself look ready for action, all the while remaining wisely silent, other than the slight warning he had tried to give Cazun.

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

He sat down and leaned back.

“My son, the great and powerful Phalomir, proved to be adept with Sith magick at a very early age. Being a master myself, I could see things. Things yet to come. And I saw the return of an old enemy, who this time came bent on destroying the Sith. Only one thing could save us, and that was to bring a greater power to our race – greater even than Sith magick. A power wielded by one of our own Dark Lords, and sourced from the very bowels of the Darker Realms.”

He paused and scratched behind his ear.

Cazun snorted disdainfully. "Nope, not a one. Just a statement: you, buddy, are crazier than a Kowakian monkey-lizard!"

He shook his head, a slight smirk pressing across his features. But truth be told he did so primarily out of surprise at himself: he, a simple miner trying to eke out a quiet existence on this lonely gas world; he, who possessed something of the eye and soul of an artist...

...and he, who for the sake of a lady with locks of flame and eyes the rich shade of a purple sunset, would so quickly and uncharacteristically step out of his normal, comfortable paradigms to take on this wild-eyed man in verbal contest, before anyone else had a chance to step in.

He shook his head again, casting a quick look downward before flipping his face up and looking the Master straight in the eye.

"Sith, pfft! Everyone knows they haven't been around since the days of Palpatine; in fact, wasn't he about the last Master Sith in the galaxy?" Actually, even though he was from Ord Mandell, where all things dark and mysterious eventually surfaced in one form or another, he was at a loss in this regard. There might have been others, here and there, but if so they sure seemed to have remained hidden away in obscurity.

Another thought struck him; he cocked his head.

"So you're talking all Sithly and so on; do I take it I'm in the presence of one? If this is so, then answer me this:

"How is it that if you're the Master, it's your son who was supposedly given over to... to... well, to whoever the hell it is you're yapping about. These Darker Realms, as you say. If this supposed enemy is so dire and terrible, why send a boy to do a Man's work?

"You're the Master, or so you say. Why not do the job yourself? But instead you supposedly toss away your son, unless of course he was more powerful than you. Then it just seems he would do this by his own choice, 'cuz you wouldn't be able to stop him.

"So, I think you're just here to try and ruffle this pretty lady's feathers. And buddy, I don't cotton much to such things."

He shook his head, crossed his arms, and stood firm.

"Or else you're just one of the lousiest fathers I've ever heard tell of. Blood always should stick with blood, ya know.

"And just who is this enemy that's out to get these non-existent Sith anyway?" he finished.