The glyph on her forehead began to brighten ominously; shaking her head to cover it with her hair, she then turned abruptly to The Master.

"Shayla really is with this Phalomir, this Dark One?" she asked, gulping a little to keep her voice from trembling. But she knew the answer before he deigned to supply it:

After all, hadn't Shayla sent that last, cryptic message her way before the link they shared snipped off into oblivion? Oh dear Khaandon, what have you gotten yourself into, my sister...

[ 12-21-2011 11:45 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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

He paused, eyeballing the Master, shaking his head again. "I'd love to know why the Revealer would not have shown Aeylmaar and I any scenario with Shayla and this dark guy if it was really true."

[ 12-21-2011 11:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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"When was this revealed to you?" she asked him then. For if it should turn out that what he had seen had taken place after the dire scenario painted by the Master, then chances were very good that Shayla was safe on Khar Delba with her beloved Father's Heir Apparent, that she had managed to free herself from the clutches of this Dark Phalomir before he had been able to obtain the heir he suddenly wished to have.

She would not give in to this willingly; I know my Sister and Adept. But why then did she disappear? Why did she cut off the Link you shared with her?

She pushed that thought aside, refusing to give it any credence. Shayla would not have turned to the Dark, would she?

Then her eyes widened with visions of her own daughter. That the halfling was strong, she had no doubt. Yet she had easily been overwhelmed by those Realms, had given herself to it, had served it, had even died for it...

She knew that Shayla was strong, but not nearly as much so as was ShaRhylla. For the halfling had the added advantage of her Sith blood, of the All that ran through it.

And she had fallen...

[ 12-22-2011 12:02 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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He paused then, chewing his lip a bit in thought. "Aeylly and I were looking at the Revealer, saw Shayla and ShaRhylla with Phalomir..."

He trailed, trying to remember more clearly.

Dammit if he hadn't gone on that drinking binge on the way here maybe all of htis would be coming back more clearly...

He jerked away from that thought, however, remembering jusst why he'd been drinking to begin with as he returned his gaze to Graysith.

"...I think that Panthar guy might have been there at some point too; the Revealer ended with those three taking off from some forest moon with an apparently unconcious Phalomir. There was some bizarre rift then and a ship with those kriffing demonic imps popped up and last we saw was of ShaRhylla, Phalomir, and Panthar, but no Shayla onboard..."

He trailed again, frowning to himself. "Dammit, I can't remember all the details."

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

It would appear, then, that Shayla was indeed with this Dark Phalomir, one who had been given to the Realms by his own father, one who had then gone on the hunt as he/it did before, seeking a mate, a Queen. For wasn't that exactly what it had done in its former permutation as the entity Entaris?

She raised a hand to her forehead, shuddered. The warmth of a protective arm came suddenly to her shoulders as Cazun move to her, trying to comfort her even though it was quite obvious he hadn't a clue as to what all was happening here. She lifted her face to his, smiled a little, then turned back to Jasyn and the Master once again.

"Very well, then. It would appear that Shayla is indeed with this Dark Phalomir, as she has said to me. But she shall not struggle against him for long; I brought ShaRhylla back to the living, and I can do so again regarding Shayla."

Now she focused her attention solely on the sneering Master.

"Another point of concern is to find who exactly this Dark Phalomir really is. Is he indeed the true Dark Lord, or is he a clone?"

And which Phalomir this was mattered a great deal, in the Grand Scheme of things. Not only regarding each one's intentions toward the living, but their individual capabilities as well. One was good, the other the embodiment of evil, handed over to that evil on a veritable silver platter. But one was the true Dark Lord, the other a doppleganger. That would have ramifications as far as Sith society was concerned.

But more so than that, on a personal level it mattered very much to her. Was it indeed her Phalomir who had been given over? Or was he yet somewhere with her daughter and Panthar? Which of the two had she fallen in love with: the one who had gone to Endor's moon, or the one betrayed by his own father?

She bit her lip, her heart icing further. The only way to discover this, of course, would be to find the threesome Jasyn had seen, and see if that Phalomir knew her, loved her as she did him. Clone or not, if he treated her simply with the respect due the Dark Lady of the Warriors, then her Phalomir--

She refused to speculate any further.

"We must continue as planned, and seek out Phalomir and Panthar," she asserted. "For with their assistance we may be able to find and save Shayla."

She knew she had the physical prowess to do this by herself. She had traveled to the Darker Realms enough times, faced the evil incarnate in one form or another, and had emerged alive, if not victorious. But the last time it had taken everything she had to release her first, greatest love from his bondage to that hell; she didn't know if emotionally she could do the same with Phalomir. A moment's hesitation, and she would not succeed.

Simply put, she needed the others on her side in this.

"I will have my dear Sister beside me once more, and--"

Her gaze hardened, cementing upon the Master.

"--we will undo the great wrong you have committed, and bring peace to your son."

Be he clone or not.

[ 12-22-2011 11:55 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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"Endor, this was," he piped up in interjection. "On Endor. There was it, the Dark Lords Phalomir and Aelvedaar did I find, with the Lady unconscious.

"Into my care, placed her did they, to Bespin was I ordered medical assistance to seek. Now, accomplished is this; to Endor must I return, my mission success to broadcast.

"Promised, did I."

[ 12-22-2011 12:08 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by K'kihl ]

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It was not her Phalomir who had been given over to the Dark. That one was... somewhere, safe with Panthar, and hopefully not being too vilified by her headstrong daughter.

For, hadn't Jasyn seen them together: Panthar, ShaRhylla, Phalomir and Shayla? All leaving Endor in a demon-ridden ship--?

For a moment she quivered, for indeed the demons were enough to give anyone reason for concern. Then she firmed, back on her original course. For unless the Dark had two Phalomirs to embody it, the one left behind upon Shayla's absence simply had to be her love. Even the great power of the All couldn't supercede the laws of physics:

Two differing bits of matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time; neither can the same matter be in two places at once. At least not as far as any testable theories went...

Shayla was with the Dark Phalomir, who as part and parcel of the Darker Realms quite possibly had been aboard that demon-haunted ship, come to take her. The other Phalomir was with Panthar and ShaRhylla. As the one who had left Endor, now remaining with Panthar and her daughter, was the same Phalomir who along with Dark Lord Aelvedaar had placed her into the Verpine's care, directing him to take her to Bespin, he was therefore the one she fell in love with and still loved very deeply. And who loved her in turn.

She couldn't refrain from giving K'kihl a hug.

"Thank you, my friend," she said simply as she pulled away from the Verpine, whose every aspect of body language was now blaring forth the depth of his embarrassment. Smiling with him, she turned to the others again.

"Dark Lord Aelvedaar is safely on Khar Delba, which likewise harbors the Crystal Octahedron. We shall go there at once, and determine once and for all exactly what is happening in the Darker Realms, and to whom. And we shall locate my love, and bring him home.

"But we must remain vigilant, my friends. There was more than one clone made of Lord Phalomir; this I saw-- that is, Shayla told me of this, having seen them herself."

Not to mention there was also a clone, at least one, of herself, which she had seen with her own eyes.

The latter, however, she chose not to bring up at the moment. It was bad enough trying to prove which Phalomir was which; they certainly did not need the additional burden of wondering if she herself was the Real McCoy or not...

[ 12-22-2011 06:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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...but then promptly froze, Graysith's final words at last catching his attention. He turned, eyeballing the Master suspiciously. "Clones of Phalomir?" he questioned, his look growing more intense. "As in, more than one clone of him?"

Another pause. "Shucky darn, but I wonder just who might have done a thing like that?"

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

But she knew they existed, as did K'kihl, apparently, for the vigorous manner in which he was nodding his head, his mandibles clacking in affirmation.

"Yes, my friend. Someone has made several clones of my love; as to who would do such a thing, or to what end, I have no idea."

She shot the Master a dark look before continuing.

"But this is a fact; it would appear now that either the original Phalomir, who I have never met, has been taken by--"

She caught a look of the dumbfounded Cazun Farr, and quickly switched rontos.

"--those who would oppose us, or a clone of him has. In either case, the one I love is alive and well; we must discover his location and reunite ourselves with him and his companions. Then with the assistance of Dark Lord Aelvedaar we will be strong enough to enter the Darker--

"That is, to actively engage our enemy," she amended hastily as she directed yet another smile in the direction of Cazun Farr.

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

Again.

Then, now really not caring one whit what the Master had to say about anything, and not trusting him in the slightest, Jasyn turned and headed for the cabin, calling over his shoulder that everyone should strap in.

"We're outta here!" he finished with as he proceeded on into the cabin and worked the controls, warming the ship and prepping her for departure. In but a few minutes they were on their way, and coordinates for Khar Delba were programmed in to the sweet litte yacht.

After all, Jasyn had long since learned them by heart.

As the navcomputer counted down and finally hit zero, he pulled the lever in the center of the navboard and starlines surrounded the viewport, and indeed then entire ship, them and guided them into the depths of hyperdriven travel.

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

It wasn't even this bad when Case was murdered on Ord Mantell. In fact, as horrible as that experience was, it was at least something of the real world, of life and times, of something approaching normalcy.

But this...

"Wait a minute..." he started then, but paused. Visions of his life flashed before him: of the pain over his brother that would never go away, of the loneliness he lived in, day in and day out, finding solace only in his nightly visits to The Blue Asteroid.

He blinked, cast a glance about himself from one face to another, ended up falling once again into a pair of violet eyes that had somehow swiftly segued from being those possessed by a damsel in distress to someone who suddenly seemed to be the Empress of the Galaxy or something, judging by her change in tone of voice and bearing.

And Cazun, wouldn't you love to find out what that is?

He drew in a breath, and finally spoke up.

"Look, I don't know what the hell you are all talking about. But there's nothing holding me here; lemme toss in my towel with you, all right?

"A promise is a promise, after all," he finished, directing this final statement at the Chosen Daughter of the Sith...

...before falling against her slender frame with the initial thrust of the departing ship. He felt her stiffen against him; embarrassed, he straightened and regained his balance.

"Looks like I don't have any other choice now anyway, does it?" he grinned with utter acceptance of the hand Fate had this moment dealt him.

And how much drink he would need to even make that amount of time tolerable.

Satisfied that they were on course and checking the ETA...with a scowl...Jasyn got to his feet and headed back to where everyone else stood in an awkward sort of impasse. K'khil clicked his manibles every so often; Graysith was annoyingly unreadable; and the Master...

...well, by Jasyn's estimations he looked about as full of himself as anyone could possibly get. Which was saying alot considering all the things Jasyn had seen in the past few years. The newcomer, by contrast, stood in quiet and almost humble firmness; looking ready to take things on but not overstepping his place for the moment.

Bloody Hell, there must be a God, somewhere. Maybe this guy could help make the next three standard days a little more tolerable...

"ETA is three standard days," Jasyn then said aloud. "You all can just sit around or stand around if you like...

...but I just got this baby restocked on Bespin with food...and drink."

He paused then, a lopsided grin forming at the corners of his mouth. "The galley's open," he said, nodding in its direction, and secretly hoping the Master didn't plan on taking him up on the offer but resigning himself...rather glumly...to the fact he just might have to suck things up and deal with it.

Kriffing Hell...

Shaking himself from these thoughts, Jasyn turned to Cazun Farr. "So how about a drink, ahhh..."

He paused,frowning. "What did you say your name was again?"

[ 01-23-2012 09:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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Then Jasyn reappeared.

He grasped the offer like a life-line.

"Hey, the name's Farr, Cazun Farr!" he said as he made a bee-line to the man, all the while trying to maintain an attitude approximating something akin to aplomb. Needless to say, he failed miserably, since mere moments before his bravado had found itself drizzling down around his toes, and he had actually been trying to figure out a face-saving way to back out of this whole kit n' kaboodle...

But Jasyn looked like someone he could hang with, and that might make things a tad wee better.

Coming up to the man, he reached out a hand and shook Jasyn's. Then he planted himself in front of him, hands on hips.

"Sounds good to me, pardner!" he effused. "I could use a little, ahhh... down time."

No fooling, Cazun; was THAT ever the understatement of the year! All this talk of clones and weird places, and peeps of power, and then there was the fact that "his Lady" was suddenly turning into exactly that: some kind of Lady, or nobility, or something or other; the very thought made his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth.

...odds and ends of different species and cultures, some of which he'd never tasted in his life but simply intrigued him by the description. Along with that, he'd stocked up on quite a bit of good food...

...but at the moment, that really wasn't what he was after. As they entered the galley, Jasyn halted, motioning towards the stocked cupboard.

"Hey, I'm not sure what you like, pal. I stocked up on quite a few things so you might just want to have a look for yourself."

He paused then, waiting for Cazun to make his choice...

...and then realizing something. "Oh, and the name is Jasyn Lancaster; Technical Specialist for Eagle Enterprises."

And Sith Brandy aficiando...

What he would give for some of that...

[ 01-23-2012 10:00 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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The bottles and glassware shone like a rainbow, reflecting light from their surfaces that flashed on the bulkheads, bringing yet more color into the otherwise fairly all-white interior. For a moment he stood in apparent quandary, before his eye fell on something a vivid, neon yellow.

I don't know what's in that bottle, that's a fact, he thought to himself, but it's what she was drinking tonight.

And I aim to find out...

Not bothering to inflict Jasyn with the burden of tending bar, he simply went to the shining array and took hold of the gleaming, saffron bottle. Moving to a nearby table, he settled into the chair with a sigh of comfort.

Then he popped the top with a practiced flick of this thumb, and took a hearty swig.

"Ahhh, now there's something to warm a man on a cold, cold night," he asserted as, after taking another, smaller, drink he set the bottle on the table. He slung his elbow over the back of his chair, twisting to watch Jasyn as the man stood before the bottles, locked in his own decisions.

"Hey pal, when you make up your mind what you want to drink, c'mon over here and join me. We can drink a toast to... to... well, to whatever the hell it is we're doing, and wherever the hell it is we're going.

"And--" he finished, picking up his bottle and gesturing emphatically with it.

"You can tell me just what the hell is going on here! Clones? Dark Something-or-Other? And just who is this gal I came in with, if I might be so bold as to ask?"

He took another big swig.

Galaxy's edge, but I'd like to really find that out...!

Oh Kriffing Hell, where to begin. This guy really had NO CLUE what he was tangling with. No clue at all. And they were headed to Sith space, with the blasted Master onboard, and Graysith's daughter and Stargazer doing gods knew what while one Phalomir or another was doing this or that.

Bloody Hell.

Jasyn stepped up to the seat on Cazun's right, reaching a hand out and turning it around. Then he sat in it, throwing one arm over the back of the chair while popping the cork out of his drink in the same manner as Cazun had done a few moments before. He took a hearty guzzle, letting the contents burn down his throat completely before returning his gaze to the other man.

"The ahhh... gal you came with is known by several names...the Dark Lady, Jharmeen...and Graysith."

Jasyn paused, letting that particular bombshell settle. Then, "As to what we are doing and where we are headed....

...I don't even know where to begin, or how much I should tell you."

Jasyn paused, scowling. "Once you learn about what's going on, you're going to be tied to it, and it to you. And depending on what the Master back there has planned or is planning, the less you know is probably better."

Jasyn saw the look that was rising in Cazun's eyes. He wasn't good at negotiations and talking to others like Terrin or Matt...

...hell, someday they had to get to him, if it wasn't already too late...

"But you might as well know this much. That horned fellow is a Sith, and not the Sith like those that run around blasting people with Force lightning and wacking them with lightsabers. Oh no, much more than just that. Sith is his race. And there are more of them.

And we're headed to a planet that is fully populated with them."

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

"Yeah," he finally agreed as he settled back in his chair, now flinging one muscular leg over an arm.

"That weird dude, the one you say is, ahh... well, Sith... well, he called her Dark Lady. I remember that.

"But--" he took another, longer draw on the bottle. When he set it down, it's contents had been reduced by half; a familiar warm fuzziness was beginning to settle, that same fuzziness that thankfully blanketed out the horrific memories of Case, night after night after night...

"But!" he nearly exclaimed, yanking his wandering thoughts back to the here and now.

"What exactly does this mean, this 'Dark Lady?' And who is this Shayla she's talking about?"

Pausing, Jasyn upturned the Whyrene's Reserve once more, suddenly realizing it really wasn't doing much to calm his rising concerns.

Dammitall, why hadn't he gotten some Sith brandy before he'd left Khar Delba?!?

At length he finally lowered the bottle again, the look in his eyes darkening. "This Shayla person she keeps talking about used to be an info smuggler, an owner of the company Stargazer Corporation. She is also a Force user, and has become a sort of student to Graysith and later more like a second or something. Graysith refers to her as a sister. Only she's been on the lam after losing a child, and might be up to no good."

He paused, his look only darkening more as he went for another drink, this time to completely empty the contents of the bottle.

Like Shayla being up to no good was anythinbg unusual. He never DID trust her...

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

Some sort of Big Wig with the Sith... who aren't what I'm supposed to think they are, whatever that is, but apparently some kind of important race in the galaxy. Yet this lady is a leader to them somehow? She sure doesn't look Sith, if that's what the evil-eyed fellow is; hmmm... maybe they're gender different?

He shook his head slightly, more than a bit discomfited by this. One moment, he was Knight in Shining Armor, the self-proclaimed protector of one he had been led to believe was a true damsel in distress, one who needed his help.

But it seemed that was a ruse...

He scowled, drained the bottle, slammed it down and bounced from his seat. Stalking to the bar, he hunted quickly before finding another one of the same. Popping the top then and there, he turned to go back to his seat, the bottle held to his mouth, the warming liquid gushing down his throat as recompense for his suddenly cleaved hopes and self-expectations.

Case... again...

"Ok!" he all but snarled as he threw himself back into his seat. A few moments crawled by, moments in which he was lost to everything about him, drowning in a pair of violet eyes that suddenly seemed to be laughing at him. With a start he yanked himself away from his pity-party, realizing again the predicament he was in, wondered yet what he should do...

Only to discover suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, that he was intrigued...

"Okay," he said, his voice calmer now. "So she's some kind of big leader of a race who isn't what it's thought to be. Ok. So tell me again where it is exactly that we're going...

"And why."

"We're headed to a planet hat is uncharted, one of two that is populated with these Sith. To be blunt, we are headed there for reinforcements so we can figure out how to handle this clone situation and Shayla, with the help of the Sith bigwigs there."

Leaving it at that for the moment, Jasyn vacated his seat, checked the cupboard once more for a few moments before selecting a bottle with dark blue liquid in it, and returned to his seat. He didn't know what the hell he was getting ready to drink, but the dealer had promised a serious punch, as good if not better than WalknFall.

He certainly hoped so.

Before Cazun Farr could formulate his next response, Jasyn popped the top and took a good drink, waiting to see what the other would say next as the blue stuff began to warm his insides.

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

“I suppose I should share your joy,” he said, looking away from everyone left in the cabin. “My son, my true son, is most likely alive and whole and not corrupted by the evil powers of the Darker Realms.”

He turned and paced again.

“But on the other hand,” he continued, “Powerful, dark forces now inhabit the soulless body of a Sith, who happens to possess the same potential for power as the real thing. More, perhaps, if the cloners did their jobs –“

He stopped. The silence in the room was deafening. He turned to the Dark Lady and sighed.

"So by your admission, you arranged for the creation of several clones of your own son, possibly having his inherent powers enhanced in the process, then offered one of them up to the Darker Realms in order to gain its assistance against the in-coming foe of which you speak. Fairly commendable if ordered by the Triad. I--"

She paused abruptly as the brush of a distant, suppressed memory tickled her subconscious. Shaking her head, she tried again.

"Very well, you plotted with the Darker Realms, a plot apparently of your own devising, but one which threatened the very life of your own son," she finally stated in an equally flat tone of voice. "What happened to the one you--"

And what of your own? an insidiously silken whisper only she could hear finally broke through. The Three, the Ones taken from you by Roan; Those Who Served to bring back the Sith... were they now even alive? Is this now any different than what happened with your own children...?

She drew in a breath to chase the ghosts away, then straightened.

"Be that as it may, the deed is done," she asserted quickly, now beginning herself to pace about the cabin a bit. "Exactly how it was that you were... enlightened as to this dire enemy now en route to us, as well as how you came into contact with the Darker Realms to begin with to create such an alliance, are matters to be addressed at some future point.

"For now..."

She stopped and turned in place, steadying her gaze upon the Master. For while she still did not trust him one iota, there now seemed to be a strange sort of connection between them, one which instigated within her a surprising surge of pity.

"For now we must find where your true son is, as well as both the clone you offered up to the Realms and the one who escaped from its pod. We must decide what to do with the remaining clones as well; if one has somehow either broken free from its pod or been loosed by another, then the same might happen to the others.

"It is this latter thought that is in fact most worrisome: if you did not release this second clone, who did? Unless--"

Her brow thundered as upon it the Glyph began to flicker ominously.

"Unless the clone you offered to the Realms is indeed the one holding my dear Sister in its thrall, which of course would mean that you freed it from its pod, and thus are lying to us still."

[ 01-25-2012 11:38 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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“I assure you,” he said at last, “I did not free anything from its pod. I stopped the program, it was futile. Only the original would do, I knew that after so many attempts. So many… you see, without real memories, the whole thing would be a failure. And in those clones the memories would not transfer. Not completely. Not without time… so, so much time.”

The Master turned to Graysith and looked her directly in the eyes. His face was solemn, stoic.

“The only way to save my son from the fate that awaited him was to give him a new life. No, a new lifetime. It was necessary for many reasons, the least of which being to provide a cover for the stolen memories. Tell me, has he ever told you the insane stories of where he comes from? How he could possibly be who and what he claims to be?”

He sat for a few seconds longer, letting his innards regulate themselves before finally setting his bottle quietly on the table.

"Has anyone considered that maybe, just maybe, these Sith might be behind all the weirdness that's going on?" he finally ventured, thoughts of his and his brother's betrayal dancing laughingly on the backs of his eyes.

"We might be heading straight into the fire..."

"Absolutely, and on more than one ocassion," he said, eyeing the bottle in his hand as though he suddenly was suspicious of its contents. "But as much as I don't trust them, I'm not sure they are all bad."

He paused. No, Jasyn, a shoulder devil snickered. You just think that of 99.9% of them, right? And that is on a good day. You've seen them flip-flop sides so many times it isn't even funny...

"Trouble is, with what we think might be incoming, and with other things I've seen, as much as I don't trust the Sith I'm operating on the assumption that the enemy of my enemy is my ally."

Stating this, Jasyn put the bottle of whatever-it-was to his lips, and took a good long swallow.

How he really wished he had some Sith bradny right now.

[ 03-20-2012 01:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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