Jayda’s boots thumped heavily the metal grates. Each step was weighed down by anger, confusion and more. The sound clicked repeatedly in her sharp ears as she was relieved she managed to avoid Corr, distrusting the Sith not to exploit it. On impulse her feet increased the rate she moved to gain more distance from her quarters. Her breath was shallow and rapid as she ignored the pain her weakness caused. Each emotion was tossed into a swirling void she hadn’t gotten under control. It spin faster and threatened to overwhelm her control, a fact she needed to change soon.

Resisting the emotions throbbing in her once calm center, Jayda kept her relentless pace up until she reached the upper decks. It was more on instinct than actual planning that her feet led her here. If there hadn’t been walls confining her then she was certain she would’ve merely kept onward and never stopped, even when she collapsed. The one thing she missed on Iridonia was the open desert caverns and shorelines. Whenever her emotions failed to obey her, there was always somewhere she could work off it off.

That wasn’t the case here and even if there was, she wa in no condition to do it.

Unwillingly, her mind brought her father to surface in her mind’s focus causing her to pause abruptly in her next step. Everything seemed to still around her as if the world had been put on pause. However, her storm raged on more violently without notice and felt like she would shatter to pieces. Sish’s laughter and his mention of her father being a Jedi lingered in her mind.

Was it true?

She thought bitterly, unable to shake the distinct sensation the shit eating lizard hadn’t been fully wrong. Her hands tightened into fists causing her nails to draw her own blood. The red, much like humans, dripped down the skin’s surface and fell to the floor in a steady rhythm that her sharp ears seemed deaf to. She didn’t understand why he would’ve kept something like that from her. Or worse, that Sish, the very definition of filth and venom, would have figured it out before herself. In the end, Jayda wasn’t sure who she was more pissed at. Herself, Sish, or her father.

The anger stayed for only a few moments before it started to fade behind another strong emotion. Her guilt slithered and coiled around her, tightening its grip while she thought back to the earlier scene. She let her back press against the nearby wall just outside the training room’s entrance and slid down into a sitting position. Idly, she reached for her lightsaber and tugged it free from her belt. It slide in her hand easily where she stared at it hard. Deep inside, the purple Hurrikaine crystal that powered her weapon was actually her father’s. Dismantled from his old one and her own rehashed with suitable parts, it was purely designed for elegance and dangerous efficiency at defending herself. Or even killing now.

Her other hand reached to trace the black, flora design upon the handle as she let memories flood her mind. Some as early as her childhood to present, making her wonder if her decision to follow Sish was fully the correct one.

She was easily easily reminded her of her condition when she slouched too far to one side. She scrunched her nose in dislike and hissed softly, her head turned to the source and tilted to straighten her back. To ease her discomfort she used her free hand to push herself up and breathed slowly, letting the pain fade some. It surprisingly calmed and draw her attention to something other than herself.

Inhaling, Jayda spoke out loud to the empty space imaging her father before her. She didn’t expect any real solutions to come from it. In her worse moments it gave her more strength and helped her to survive the world’s horrors. “I wonder, Father. What would you think of me if you could see me now? What I’ve become? Would you be disappointed or proud I chose my own path?”

No answer as expected, her head lowering in depression. So many questions pounded in her mind that it was hard to imagine they would end, her thoughts drifting into an absence of thought for a moment. Jayda sighed then leaned her head back against the hardened metal, letting the rough surface dig into her skull. She was starting to wonder if she had made the right choice in the end while she started to move upward. Her hand braced against as she raised, getting to her feet as she clipped her weapon back onto her belt. Feeling confident enough, she began to walk. Mentally she was considering her options to help her avoid her quarters for at least another hour or more.

While Kennith and Melloch engaged in conversation with a contact Avix was outside making sure that nobody was watching them. He much didn’t care for conversation with criminals as his patience often would wane and gave way to more liberal ways of extracting information. He had observed a few enter but didn’t feel the need to raise the alarm as they appeared to be allies or not a threat to his comrades. All of this waiting is putting me a little on edge… Something doesn’t feel right and this mission feels like a waste… Why divert resources to rescue a few, I know times are desperate but this just seems a little desperate and the chances are that most will fall if we don’t get to them in a timely manner. Then this will turn more into containment rather than a rescue. he reflected as he awaited for his comrades to finish and hoped they found some sort of lead as time was of the essence.

Inside the shop, Fa and Vebra were ushered indoors by the oversized Jedi. Once the massive sentient was not blocking her view, Fa noticed a veritable sea of droid and other machine parts haphazardly arranged in a way that would likely only make sense to the one who placed them. All-in-all, it was a shop that seemed right at home on this planet. Immediately, they were berated by one who Fa assumed to be the shopkeeper. While Lyric had indeed informed his Jedi that they were coming, it seemed that they had neglected to actually inform their contact. Nevertheless, Fa decided to do what she could to placate whatever fears he had.

Fa held up her hands non-threateningly. “Easy, easy, we were careful that we weren’t followed. You’re not dealing with amateurs here, I assure you. Though, I did catch the scent of someone close outside on the way in, if that concerns you.” She explained.

While Fa elected to play peace keeper Vebra decided to try and glean information about the trader off of what he was selling. Seeing as it was mostly junk and that the Jedi had decided to come to this place meant the owner had either dealt with the Jedi before or happened to be selling something a little more up to their standards. Sometimes he wished he could just simply reach out with the force and take what information he needed, but alas his abilities didn’t get anything close to that level of power. He supposed the Jedi should be the ones to handle the talking for the time being considering they seemed to have a rapport already. Vebra then turned his gaze back to the strewn about parts looking for escape routes in the chance they were in fact followed.

Karlie’s face was becoming redder by the moment as he struggled to calm down. He was fidgeting and irritated while he tried to ease this tension away, realizing they weren’t supposed to be here this long. “Amateurs or not, you’re wearing out your welcome in my shop. I didn’t know aiding Jedi would be so troublesome!”

Melloch turned around, holding his hands up placatingly. “If I recall correctly, we aided you. The thugs weren’t going to leave without causing you some harm, and you know it.” He spoke gently. “Regardless, we only have a few questions that need answered and we’ll be out of your shop and stop causing you trouble. We’ll even take our two companions with us.”

“So far, you’ve not asked many questions. Instead, your presence put my family in danger the longer you stay. If you want to know where to find Janglor, seek out Jiek or another messenger. They deliver directly to him and would know his location.” Karlie went on, his body pressing into hustling out his unwanted guests. “Now please, I’m expecting someone to arrive for package. Seeing you here will only result in more questions.”

Melloch didn’t budge, concern evident on his scarred face. They needed to move quickly, but they couldn’t leave without information. “From what you said earlier, it sounds like Jiek isn’t around. You gave her money and she never delivered. Where would we find her or another messenger of Janglor’s? Preferably one closeby.”

Not seeing a sign of the behemoth moving or seeing any possible way he could haul the alien out, Karlie scowled then submitted for the moment. “I only know of three places.”

He turned his back around, his hand scratching his head back as he thought carefully about what he knew. Trying not to deliver false information at last, he started to relay what he was positive about. “A local bar called the Fel’kaw, a local desert hole where anyone from bounty hunters to messagers wet their whistles. Her favorite hunting ground is the docking area, namely in sector five where the wealthier merchants and street urchins tend to roam. And finally, there’s Gjallor. A pawnshop where she barter her goods for credits and the shopkeeper sells them off on the blackmarket.”

Fa had found a spot near the wall to lean against as the Jedi had been questioning the shopkeeper. From what she gathered, the Jedi had some reason to find someone named Janglor, and one of his messengers was the key to finding him. She still had no clue why Janglor was important, or how he related to rescuing Jedi from the Sith, but this shopkeeper did not need to know of her ignorance. It just happened to be that the very first task she would be undertaking with this group of Jedi was actually her speciality: tracking. She waited until there was a break in the conversation before she chimed in. “So we need to find this Jiek, then? You said she’s a messenger, and gave us a few places to look, but do you have any other details? Identifying information. Height, weight, appearance, style of dress, that sort of thing. Personality too. About how would you say she acts?”

“She’s a green Twi’lek and about five foot and ten or nine inches. It’s not an exact science. She often wears dark clothing which is rather simple, trying to blend in. Over top is a ragged and patched cloak over it.” He paused a moment, Karlie’s mind ticking over his thoughts. Quickly he moved toward where Vebra was standing and stopped long enough to wave the Zabrak away before he took hold of a droid head. “I didn’t have this on when she arrived, but it will likely have an image of her past visits. That is if you can splice into it.”

He turned back to the ancient looking alien, his figure reminding him of some sort of reptile and predator mix. “Unless you need me to? Then it might take some time. As for personality, she was raised from the streets around here so she’s smart. Puzzler, greedy, and rather selfish. The dock urchins might know to be honest. She only collected from me this week and this is the first time I’ve had an issue with her.”

Vebra paused for a moment as the human motioned for him to move. While the revelation of the droid’s head was a good one it didn’t do them much good for the time being. “You wouldn’t happen to have something that she’s had on her or been in contact with her for a decent amount of time would you? If I can get a good smell of her it would make this a lot faster.” Vebra made a quick gesture of tapping his nose.

“I might have a towel she wiped her hands off but any belongings she kept a pretty close grip on. Even that choker she wore around her neck. Interesting design, through hard to describe. It had several floral and delicate markings, each woven into each other with a bright blue gem at the neck front.” Karlie stated simply as he placed down the droid for the Jedi to examine then headed toward the back. There was sounds of shuffling and rummaging around, his body moving through the piled up junk out of sight and hearing overwhelmed by his task. “It’s in here somewhere…”

While the shopkeeper was searching through his mess of a store, Fa approached the oversized Jedi. Context clues had given her some understanding of the situation, but she felt it would be best to be filled in properly before they actually started to do anything important. She subtly motioned for Vebra to join her, mostly so she wouldn’t have to repeat back to him everything the Jedi said. “So while we have a chance, we should probably get introduced. My name is Fa-Val-Kuul, and this is my CO, Vebra Mirthios. What’s the situation here?” She asked quietly.

Melloch glanced down at the raptor, a smile in greeting on his face. “I’m Melloch. Jedi Knight. Healer of this expedition. The one with the hood outside is Kennith Rhan. The angry looking large human is Avix. Lyric, as I assume you know, is on the ship. We need to find out what the Sith did on this planet. Janglor, the local criminal lord, is our best bet. We just stopped three of his thugs from roughing up our contact. Apparently this Twi’lek, Jiek, didn’t deliver Karlie’s money. We have to find her and she’ll take us to Janglor, as apparently every other messenger is gone.”

“Hmm, makes sense.” Fa answered. “Well, as it happens, one of my best talents lies in tracking. Once we have her scent, we may be able to start helping you all out right away. It would probably be best to try to get her without a fight, but the situation doesn’t sound good. If every other messenger is suddenly gone, then what’s this one going to be thinking? It might end up being a challenge.” She reasoned. Tracking down a single person in a city tended to be difficult, but it wasn’t as if she had not done so before. Given that they had a few leads, finding her might not actually be difficult, but keeping her around could be more difficult.”

An abrupt curse followed by a shout of “HERE!”, Karlie suddenly was pulling himself out of the massive junkyard he called his shop. His feet moved carefully as he held his opposite hand to his body, staining his tunic with red. It was clear he had cut himself pretty well after shoving the broken parts aside though he dared not use the towel to staunch the bleeding. As he closed the gap between him and the Jedi, he held out a dirty, oily towel that had seen better days. He passed it to Vebra, the one who made the request recently. When the Zabrak took it, they would notice a vivid gash running from his thumb down his first finger which curled in. Among the fresh injury were several burn scars, none which were recent or seemed born from his work.

“Does that help?” He asked, trying to stop his tone from showing his emotions. He was clearly wanting them to be on their way even if the answer wasn’t no.

Vebra took the towel from the man but noticed something strange about his hands. It looked like they were almost blaster burns on his hands. Nothing in this place looked like it would have done that recently. They looked like the burns he had on his own body actually, which meant they weren't new. “Thank you, looks like you banged up your hand pretty bad getting this thing. Even looks like you burned it a little. I can wrap that up for you if you want.” In reality Vebra was a horrible medic but he knew how to stop bleeding. But he did want to get a closer look at the scarring on his hands, something just didn’t feel right about it.

Karlie’s spine straightened immediately as he noted Vebra’s comment. His hand jerked back, shoving it behind his back and out of sight, and stepped back a moment. His eyes sized the Zabrak up, mentally debating, before finally sighing. “I just cut myself over a spare droid part as for the burns, old wounds. I’m not perfect after all when it comes to my work. Besides, don’t you need to be going before you lose the trail? I’ll have Hellia patch me up when you’re gone.”

It was true, he was lying and if the Jedi pressed, he would submit, through it would be grudgingly.

Fa had taken a moment to observe the scent on the towel as well. The only scents she could detect were Vebra’s, the shopkeeper’s, and a third, unknown scent, so it was obvious which one they would need to track. However, the shopkeeper’s behavior couldn’t have been more suspicious. He hid the wound on reflex, hesitated long enough in his answer to be awkward, and was acting like he wanted to rush them out of the door. “A scent trail can last for weeks. We just need to make sure we have all the information we can get right now. Personally, I just find it strange that you say those burns are from your work, since there’s nothing around here that could burn you like that. Electrocute, maybe, and while a fusioncutter can burn, those are always a lot thinner.” She observed.

The shopkeeper sighed. “I never knew Jedi were so nosy. Since you’re so observant, you’re correct. Janglor doesn’t take kindly to being cheated of his cash so when I first tried to postpone a payment, he had a few thugs come and correct my behavior.”

Karlie gently adjusted to a chair where he sat, his mind drifted to the memory and continued. It was clear he was suffering the ache from the past but he swallowed it, his words stumbling onward. “They gave me a choice: me or my wife. I choose myself, through they were given strict orders not to damage my fingers. Else I couldn’t work. When they were done, they left with their money.”

Holding his wounded hand out, it was clear it had gotten sliced on loose scraps. “So you now understand why I’m not too fond of cross him for a third time? Janglor discovers I helped you, it won’t be my hands he damages this time. So, I hope when you do find the bastard… he doesn’t breathe when you leave.”

Vebra looked to Fa for a moment with a look of amusement “I suppose I never did teach you much tact did I?” Vebra then turned back to the shopkeeper “Well if the situation calls for it, you can expect him to leave you alone… forever.” Vebra took in the smells of the rag much the same as Fa had done before him and it gave him a bad taste in his mouth. The oil was quick enough to sort through in the cocktail of odors inhabiting the rag but getting such a direct smell of something usually put the taste in his throat. He quickly found the smell in question, or at least the smell he hoped that was the girl’s. Turning back to Fa and Melloch “Me and Fa might wanna split up for this one. Seeing as we’re the ones that will be able to pick her up the furthest away.”

Melloch, his eyes narrowed at Karlie’s wounds, turned back to the two people next to him. “I’d suggest one of you go to the Bar and the other head to the docks then. I’ll head to the shop, as my bulk will prevent her from bolting out the door.” He gave the two of them a toothy grin. “You two will be able to sniff her out in those open places, whereas we won’t need your noses in the shop. It’s small enough and I’ve got enough of a description that I can spot and attempt to stop her. Sound like a plan?”

Fa nodded to Melloch. “Agreed. I’ll head to the docks; it’s more open, and if she isn’t there, I’ll have a better chance of at least finding a scent trail. If anyone wants to come with me, let’s go.”

Corr exited the dormitories and turned the corner, coming face to face with his Mother. Lieutenant Commander Isla Halcord. Her yellow eyes widened at Corr and she quickly embraced him, saying joyfully "I didn't know you were assigned to The Kaggath!" Corr smiled and returned the hug. I just got in today. I'm apprentice to Lord Sish." he said. Her face darkened at this. "Be careful around that alien, son. I don't trust him." Corr nodded and began to walk with her. "Neither do I, he seems to be goading his other ward into attacking him, they apparently have some history." His mother stopped a young officer and signed a form briefly before they continued to walk. "Everyone on this ship knows that the Zabrak wants to kill Lord Sish. He's a nasty one alright."

Corr looked around suspiciously before stopping and turning to his mother. "I beg you to keep your voice down, who knows where his ears might be. I have no doubt he would treat such talk from soldiers very harshly." She looked at him with defiance, but nodded and they continued to walk. There was silence between them as they entered the common room and she asked quietly "Have you been talking with your father?". Corr's head snapped in her direction. "No." he replied firmly as he sat down with her at a table in the room. She sighed and started to say "Corr, he's the only other fami-" "He thinks me weak and a fool and he knows I owe him." he snapped vehemently, leaning back in his seat. Her eyes narrowed at him as she stated firmly "He's still your father, you can't just ignore him all your life."

Corr looked at her when she said this and replied "Oh I know, Mother. When I surpass him in power, he'll be forced to acknowledge me. One way or another." With that he got to his feet and walked past his mother, gripping her shoulder as he went, leaving her alone in the common room.

The dust in the crowded little shop was only outmatched by the amount of sand the room boasted, though on Tatooine sand was the only constant on the warm and desolate planet. His fur had long since become coarse since coming to this world, it used to be quite an impressive and well looked after coat. The benefits of being raised in the Jedi Temple and having what many would class as a well off upbringing. Now his skin was as dry as some of the relics he worked with in this old and cluttered shop.

He chuckled at that slightly. He owned a shop. He doubted his parents whoever they were had pictured that in his future as a Jedi. Though it served a purpose, there was some form of income and a roof over his head. It also gave him good reason to go hunting all forms of artifacts and a location to store them without raising suspicion. Nobody cared about some old collector, however if he went around brandishing a lightsaber while on the hunt for goods… that would raise considerable suspicion.

Egren would be the first to admit, it wasn’t the most time effective method of hunting down what he was looking for but then he had partially moved on from the original mission he had been given long ago. The council were so short sighted, blinded by the war. There was so much more to be discovered, so much more that needed to be discovered. Even on a world such as this!

Which came to the final reason for owning a little antique shop. While it did not happen often, there was the odd occasion someone came with an item to sell. While being on a world full of outlaws meant that there were those who would try to pawn off fakes when a genuine article came along it was quite often truly fascinating. Even a little item passed from one trooper to the next held a story, it was all piece of the puzzle.

Though then again, most the locals didn’t get the significance anyway. More often than not he found his shop referred to as a Pawn Shop. While at first he had been reluctant to accept the brand name he eventually relented and just went with the times. That didn’t mean that he would still buy any old junk, no. He still had standards to uphold, besides the local attention had attracted a much larger market through legal back channels. While he knew many Jedi would likely frown upon him using the black market he felt it was entirely justified.

Besides, it’s not like it is illegal to use the black market on Tatooine anyway. Not really, it is only illegal if it is against the local laws and Tatooine is a lawless place.

Denso had looked at Kara once more, waiting to see what she was going to do. The Sith wasn’t very imposing, but they did have a lightsaber and guards nearby. He could also feel the power she had flowing off of her, this was no weakling Sith.

Kara was about to respond to Denso when they were interrupted by a Sith. The Sith didn't look that tough, but Kara could feel the Dark Side radiating from her, as well as the trademark Sith arrogance. The Sith raised her hand towards Denso and Kara, which made the later almost sigh out of frustration of having the luck to be singled out.

Unsurprisingly the Sith wanted them to follow her and have a ‘talk’ with them. Kara stepped forward towards the Sith. “It’s not like we have a choice, do we?” Kara said to the Sith. “But I was thinking about getting some fresh air anyway, so I guess it can't hurt.” She said with a smile on her face as she stopped right in front of the Sith, fighting back the urge to try and attack the Sith. Instead she looked down at the Sith and said; “So, what do you have in store for us?”

“You will see soon enough. I can only promise that it will be more exciting than these dirty cells.” Vivithe said, a smirk on her face. That was the correct word for it, ‘exciting’, it would be for her, them as well. The female Jedi was bold, when she stepped close to Vivithe the guards behind had perked right up. Her eyes fell upon another Jedi, another human male, she had noticed him watch as she had entered, then as she picked out the two prisoners. A brief thought of forcing him to come along with the duo came into her mind, but two was enough, for now. She had seeked out these newcomers for a reason.

“I think by her definition of exciting it will mean something very terrible for us.” Denso pitched in as he glared at the Sith who returned the look with a smile. Cocky bitch. All of them were like that, they were never short on arrogance.

“You will see. Let’s depart from these cells, shall we?” Vivithe suggested, then stepped back into the lift. There was enough room for the Jedi to squeeze right in with her.

Denso nearly sighed out loud as he realized he had to go along with the mysterious Sith. There wasn’t a way out of it, if he declined then she would have probably had her guards snap his legs and drag him out. It did offer an opportunity for reconnaissance. He was planning to escape the ship, perhaps the Sith would inadvertently reveal some information to him while he was Kara and him were her plaything.

Kara joined the Denso and the Sith in the elevator. She wanted to say something to the Sith, a quick snip or something like that, but she figured that she had already pushed her luck with her previous comments. So to be on the safe side she kept her remark to herself as she tried to squeeze in between some of the Sith’s guards.

When the turbolift closed and the group being closely huddled together, Kara wondered what the Sith was going to do to them. Was it going to be torture? If that was the case then Kara wondered what kind of techniques the Sith would use. If it was anything physical then Kara didn't really have any fear for it. She’s trained against that sort of thing. The psychological torture on the other hand… She didn't deal too well with that.

With a faint sound of anxiety in her voice, Kara asked: “So, where are you taking us Sith?”

“To the arena, my dear. I don’t want to spoil the surprise beyond that.” Vivithe said, as she turned her face to Kara. A smile on her lipsticked lips, the reasoning behind that smile not known to anyone but the Sith lord herself. Then the lift stopped in motion, the doors opening to a long steel hallway near identical to many on the ship. The arena was a short distance away from the group.

Vivithe started to walk, the guards responding to this as they followed, forcing the Jedi caught in the middle to go along too whether they wanted to or not. They did not resist, which did not surprise the Sith. All of the Jedi she had interacted with had gone along with her willingly.

“Arena? What could be in there for us, Sith? Are you gonna make us fight?” Denso interjected, unsure what was planned. He had at one point been forced to fight bare handed against another Jedi at his previous Sith facility. Let the other Jedi give him a good beating, the Sith wanted to see them try to strike each other.

“You shall see, and please, call me Lady Lansha.” Vivithe replied with a glance to Denso. They were curious, or scared of what she had planned for them. Either one satisfied her thoughts.

Kara actually became rather curious at this point as to what the Sith, who was apparently going by the name of Lady Lansha, had planned for Denso and her. If they were heading it was probably not a torture session. Denso had an interesting idea to which Kara would, in different circumstances, not really see an issue with. It was a common practice for prisons to have the inmates fight each other in some sort of tournament. However, Kara was not about to fight against a fellow Jedi just because some Sith wanted her to. Besides, this Sith didn't really seem like the kind of person who would arrange a prison brawl.

So as they were walking down the corridor Kara kept thinking about what they were going to do there. Was this Lady Lansha going to make them fight against other inmates? Or maybe against a pack of savage Kath Hounds? To be perfectly honest, Kara was rather excited for this. It had been way too long since she’d been in a good scrap. Indeed, this isn't really the best Jedi mentality, but it beats having to sit isolated in a room for weeks.

As the group was closing in on the arena Kara cracked her knuckles and turned to Denso. “Well, whatever it is we have to do for this Sith, I guess its better than doing nothing, don't you?” She said with a mischievous smirk on her face.

“I suppose that is one way to think about it.” Denso said as he returned the glance and smirk. He hoped she was right with the positivity and they weren’t going to be thrown in unarmed to take on a rancor or something monstrous.

“You Jedi are so positive all the time,” Lady Lansha commented as they reached the arena. They stopped in front of a doorway, to the right another. She turned towards both of them and smiled. “Denso, you will find a more suitable change of clothing, Jedi robes. Figured you would be more comfortable in that than your current garb.”

“Since when do Sith care about the comfort of a Jedi?” Denso asked, surprised at what she had told him. It had to be a mind game of some kind, the Sith wanted him to appreciate the gesture, she was trying to get him to like her. He nearly rolled his eyes.

“I just felt robes would feel more natural.” Vivithe said, then glanced at the guards who nudged the Jedi through the doorway in front of them as it came open. Inside was another, darker room, a few chairs scattered around, on one of set of greyish robes. The door locked shut behind the Jedi as they were forced inside, Vivithe going in a different direction.

Xid was breathing hard. His lungs brushed his ribs and made him flinch, his fingers digging into the side of the wall as he tried not to scream. The Knight pressed his tongue deeper into his cheek to stifle the sound farther, not willing to give the Sith the satisfaction of hearing him, while his eyes tightened into determination. His foot pressed on and hasten his pace, but soon, far too late, he realized what a mistake he had made. The sole skirted forward with a slight squeak, knocking him off balance. His arm braced and expected to hit the floor before something, or rather someone, stopped him.

It was a young Echani prisoner, a boy who was no older than his early teens, who had slipped under his small frame and was now currently propping him upright. It had to be someone’s padawan Xid thought. His gut twisted at the thought of someone so young going through this nightmare as he huffed a bit, his breath still rasping. It was hard not to flinch when his ribs touched the boy’s side, more pain tingling at his focus and threatening to make him pass out. Xid hated himself for not being able to tolerate the physical pain. It was a weakness, one he knew nearly stopped him from becoming a Knight, and he couldn’t change. At least, not naturally.

Inhaling slowly to clear his mind, Xid gave a weak smile despite his skin being rather pale. Thankfully, the Echani was very good at keeping step, likely due to their culture, as both of them were moving toward the showers. When the child popped off several questions, Xid blinked while he tried to absorb all the Padawan’s questions. Slowly, the Knight’s smile widened and he spoke in hushed tones. “First off: Thank you. To answer your questions: No, I’m not aiming to escape and yes I already took a shower. However the shower are least watched and I want to show everyone how to escape the prison without needing to slice the controls. This way we can explore and maybe discover a way out before we do.”

He took a breath then continued, his voice was a little concerned over the fact the boy found a convenient lightsaber. Even if it was a training one and right in reach, his mind was hoping it was one of the Jedi who has managed to get it and not a Sith trap. “How did you find, and do you know where it came from? And yes, it would help but only during the escape. I can likely modify it enough to be more effective at least.”

The thoughts about what had been done to Nazca occupied Lea’s mind for a good half-hour, without any signs of clarity. She hated not knowing such. In some ways, she viewed Nazca as her patient. Not knowing anything about her patient’s condition was frustrating. She finally abandoned all thought of meditation, choosing instead to find something to eat.

She didn’t know who provided the food, but she didn’t really care. If Darth Nyiss wanted them dead, nothing could change that fact. If the other Sith tried to kill her or any of the others in the prison, they’d answer to Darth Nyiss. Thus the food ought to be safe. For now, at least.

It wasn’t particularly delicious, but it was nourishing. Certainly better than what her uncle had told her years ago was commonly served in Hutt dungeons. She didn’t know how he knew that, but had her theories. From her understanding, dungeons in the Republic or the Empire weren’t much better.

She did not have any particular plans yet for what to do next. She knew there was a planet down below, but not which planet or whether it would be safe to escape to. Nor, for that matter, had she discovered any reliable means of escape. Though there were flaws aplenty, none seemed serious enough to serve in an escape. There had to be something more. She still recalled her master's final words… “find a way to escape.”

Musing about the past could no doubt have gone on for hours, but of course the turbolift door hissed open once again. As the men marching out were troopers, all wearing their helmets, Lea had no way of determining who they were, whether she had encountered them before. Chances were that she had sometime, as one of them looked directly at her. “You. Prisoner Rahn. You will follow me now.”

It would have been easy enough to ignore the man, but there wasn’t much point. She had her theories about just who had sent them to fetch her, and that one brooked no delays. She jumped down from the bed she sat upon, then moved to follow the five troopers. “Fine. I’ll come. It’s not as if I really have any choice in the matter. . . Better to walk than to be dragged unconscious.”

~| Five minutes and two turbolift rides later |~

The troopers led Lea into the Crimson-walled chambers of Darth Nyiss. The corridor from the turbolift was more than twice her height and wide enough for two troopers to march abreast comfortably. The floor was covered in a lush, crimson carpet. In the first chamber, a vast hexagonal room, the carpet covered virtually all of the floor, and the carpet had the sigil for the Sith Empire upon it. Just that sigil was easily 20m across. She couldn’t help but be impressed by the sight of it.

Of course, before she could look about more, she saw the Darth emerging from one of the other chambers.

“Hello Lea.”

Nyiss’ rich soprano voice echoed slightly in the empty entrance hall. There was a slightly familiar tone to her speech. A quick flick of her hand had the soldiers salute and leave the room quickly and smartly. “How have the other Sith been treating you? I hope you haven’t had to suffer the lizards presence.”

“Darth Nyiss.” Lea answered, her voice pitched lower than the Darth’s, perhaps a contralto. “It could have been better. It could have been worse. Why did you have me fetched?”

“I want to know what you have learned, and what you have observed, now that you have seen your fellow prisoners and some of the Sith.” Nyiss stated. Though still familiar in tone, it was clearly also a command.

“I am sure you do, Darth.”

Nyiss’ hand shot out, striking the upstart girls cheek in a stinging backhanded slap. “You should know better than to speak to me like that.”

Her cheek stinging, Lea nodded once. “I am sorry. But a mere command is not sufficient to make me betray the Jedi.”

“Ha!” A half incredulous, half disgusted sound escaped Nyiss. She reached and grabbed Leas wrist, holding it in a vise-like grip, considerably stronger than her slender fingers would suggest she was capable of. She then turned and walked swiftly towards the lab.

Lea didn’t have much choice when the Darth grabbed her wrist. In fact, she had no choice at all. The earlier slap had been a kindness compared to some of what the Darth had done to her earlier in her captivity. The second door on the left hissed open, revealing a short corridor, maybe three meters long, before a second door just like the first. Both the doors had some vicious-looking ‘teeth’ on one half, with sockets on the other. There was no doubt in Lea’s mind that the motors powering said doors were more than sufficient for chewing through a person’s limbs if they were to close on someone.

The room they entered next was only a little smaller than the first, but with a very different shape, like that of six hexagons placed in a circle around a seventh. There were numerous machines of all shapes and sizes spread throughout the chamber, as well as several medical tables. In other places, tables and shelves were filled with various bottles of fluids with a wide array of colors. Though Lea had never seen the place before, she knew it had to be the Darth’s personal lab.

“Since you don’t want to make this easy on yourself.” Nyiss began, picking up a syringe from a shelf on the wall. “I will have to give you a truth serum. I don't have time for torture.” She quickly prepared Leas arm and carried out the injection. “Now, what have you learned?”

Whatever was in the syringe, it stung. Lea had long ago given up on struggling whenever the Darth chose to inject her with anything. The internal bleeding that resulted was inevitably much more painful than it was worth. She could already feel it being absorbed by her body, quickly making her light-headed.

Ever so slowly, her will to resist the Darth’s questions started to erode. Suddenly answering her didn’t seem like such a bad idea. In fact, she couldn’t figure out why it had been a bad idea to begin with. She thought for a few moments on what the Darth might want to know. She probably didn’t want to know about her burgeoning and fumbling romance with the Jedi Knight, Xid Terrik. Lea had her doubts that would put her in a bad light. Or would it? Yes it would.

On the other hand, Xid’s unusual skill with machines would be of interest. So she spoke of that. Then she spoke of the methods of Lords Jewel and Vivithe. Of how the latter had had suspicions about Lea’s actions, yet had done nothing about them. But of course she saved the best for last, as instinct told her this would be of particular interest to Darth Nyiss. The foul-mouthed Nazca. Of how her condition had been after her session with Darth Nyiss. Though she had years of medical experience at her back, Lea had not been able to determine anything about what was happening to the woman. Which obviously meant it was no disease or accident.

At the end, she asked, “Just out of curiosity… What is it you are doing to her?”

“An experiment.” The Darth answered, before adding cryptically “It will make her… better. Superior.” She casually strolled to the edge of the room and picked up a holocron from a shelf, looking at it as if it were a mere trinket, not a priceless and irreplaceable archive of knowledge. “Or, it will kill her, and she will be added to the pile of useless failures behind her.” Nyiss’ tone was callous, showing not even a hint of concern for the young girl's life.

“It is too early to say which result it will be.”

Lea looked about at the screens near her. She didn’t need to keep an eye on the Darth. Nothing she could do would be sufficient to keep her alive if Nyiss wanted her dead. As there was no active subject then and there, the readouts were limited in scope. But even as limited as they were, Lea could easily see the medical nature of some parts. Of course, more than half the text was in some language she did not understand. She guessed it was the language of the Sith. No doubt some of that again was encrypted using some sort of cipher known only to the Darth.

In her captivity, she had caught hints of Nyiss having layers upon layers upon layers. She had no doubts the same was true for her lab. “From what I’ve seen, she is weak, untrained. Is she worth your effort? Are none of your Sith more deserving of such?”

“Have you been practicing the skills your master taught you Lea? I would very much like to see your progress. Perhaps you will learn that these skills are meaningless by mastering them.” She held up a series of small, fist sized objects with the Force, in the space between her and Lea. In some ways they resembled Jedi teaching drones, but it was clear they were designed to absorb attacks rather than buzz around shooting low powered lasers for deflection practice.

“You’ve left me alone quite a bit, as have the Sith you brought on board. Of course I have had time to practice my skills.” With that, she reached out with the Force towards one of the hovering spheres. The moment she caught hold of it, it jerked sideways, slipping out of her ‘grasp’. “Slippery thing…”

She focused again, making her ‘grasp’ larger, then quickly shrinking it so that the sphere could not slip away. Once more, it jerked, only to stop short. It kept jerking in various directions, but her grasp was firm. It held. The sphere continued jerking, harder and harder. Ever so carefully, Lea tightened her grasp. The jerking halted. Or rather, each time it tried to jerk, it got dented instead. As she tightened her grasp even further, the sphere slowly jerked less and less, then stopped completely.

Its sides were dented in numerous spots, making it anything but spherical. She released her hold, and it clattered to the floor.

“As I said. I have practiced what my master taught me.”

“So I see. But your lack of emotion continues to harm your execution.” Nyiss stated coldly. “You continue to hold back. Why? Have I not given you ample reason to hate me?”

Lea looked once more at Darth Nyiss, having given up on deciphering whatever it was she was doing in this lab. “If you truly wish to quell me, you will have to do more than you have done so far. I am stronger than anything you’ve done to me yet. You have not broken me yet, and I will stand firm against whatever you do next. I have no doubts about that. I trust the Force will be with me.”

“The force will set you free.” Nyiss quoted the final line of the Sith code sternly, as if to correct Lea. “One way or another...” She added with an almost playful note, looking, for just a moment, like a predator playing with prey it knows can never escape it.

With a swift motion, Nyiss grasped Lea with the Force, lifting her bodily from the ground to place her on the harsh metal operating table. The moment her body was in place, the restraints clamped shut over her limbs. Nyiss looked Lea over, appraising her as if she were a thing in a market, not a person. In a moment, she had decided that this girl would indeed make a good candidate for the tests.

“Curiosity can be quite a dangerous thing Lea. The art of it is making sure that danger applies to others, and not yourself. Now you shall sate my curiosity, and you shall bear all the danger that comes with it.”

Though she had on some level been prepared, it was all Lea could do to raise her telekinetic barriers sufficiently to avoid being crushed, such was the raw strength of the Darth. Lea had no doubts that Nyiss could have squashed her like a bug had she wanted to, but it was equally clear to her that that was, fortunately, not the intent. Lea had no deathwish. Nothing the Sith had done to her these past two months had ever made her hate her life on such a level. In fact, it had made her wish more to live than ever before. Not that she would have believed that possible three months ago.

She knew deep down that she would never sink to a level where she merely wanted to die. No good would ever come of such. When the cold metal of the restraints snapped shut over her limbs, she shivered momentarily. Though she was curious about what the Darth was up to, she truly had no idea.

Cold logic told her that the Darth did not intend to make it kill her, as she could have done that a thousand other ways before. Thus she resolved even before it truly started to embrace whatever Darth Nyiss was about to do. If something did not kill her, it would make her stronger. Her master had taught her that.

“Two months ago, I had hatred for you. It was wild, uncontrolled. You had after all killed Jedi Master Shodon right before my eyes. Now it has evolved. It has become something else.” Lea did not say what it was, but if the Darth knew what to look for, she might know what it was. Under the influence of what Nyiss had done to her, it was not far beneath the surface.

“You will need to use every drop of hatred and fear to survive what comes next.” Nyiss stated, force pulling a nearby needle to her hand. Like those she had used before, it was heavy and thick, this one filled with a dark red liquid that almost seemed to absorb light around it.

“We shall see…” was what Lea had to say in response. The determination was clear upon her face. She looked at the vial, curious about what it contained. She did not ask, though.

As irritating as Lea was, her determination would serve her well in the future Nyiss mused as she prepared to stab the needle into Lea’s heart. She was without remorse as she did so, plunging the needle into the girl's chest without so much as a warning, compressing the syringe quickly. The liquid would be pumped to her every extremity in moments.

Words could not fully describe the feeling of someone stabbing a stout needle at an angle between your ribs. It is beyond agony. When the point of the needle punched through into Lea’s heart, she screamed. It was instinctive. No matter how prepared she was to accept whatever Darth Nyiss was doing, she had not truly been prepared.

When the Darth compressed the syringe, it felt to Lea like ice was being pumped directly into her heart. She involuntarily arched her back. She had no idea what it was, but she could feel it spreading with each beat of her heart. She did not feel it when the needle was pulled back out.

Whether it was luck or something else she did not know, but hole left behind barely bled at all. Lea was far too busy with uncontrolled squirming to notice the hole mending itself unusually fast, though. Any control she had over her mind seemed to be ripped apart as the dark fluid spread throughout her body. Her scream of pain turned into one of rage. Unbridled, raw rage. She summoned forth the full power of the Force, instinctively pouring it out through her hands.

Nyiss looked on with glee as the girl screamed, eager to see the effects of the injection. This was her latest version, and she expected it to have much accelerated effects compared to the previous one. When Lea began to summon lightning in her hands, Nyiss reacted quickly. Rather than let all that energy go to waste, or worse, damage equipment in the lab, she focused her own energies to redirect the lightning - straight back into Lea’s own body. It would catalyse the liquid nicely.

The lightning that Lea’s unbridled rage unleashed should have gone out in two roughly conal direction, jumping between various machines, damaging several of them. But it did not. Instead, the lightning turned around in the air, curving over and instead impacting her in the torso. Because it was essentially just electricity, albeit summoned from the dark side of the Force, it had to obey most of the same rules as regular electricity.

At first, the lightning seemed to cause Lea’s skin to blacken and smoke wherever it hit, but soon it was apparent that whatever Nyiss had injected Lea with absorbed the lightning. The damage was absorbed, but not the raw agony. She felt all of that. Which of course only caused her to instinctively unleash more.

For several minutes, this pain loop continued. Pain causing lightning causing pain that created more lightning. Lea was helpless against it, for although the lightning sprang from her connection to the Force, control over it was no longer in her hands. The energy of the lightning appeared to be absorbed by the dark fluid the Darth had injected Lea with, for after the first moments of damage, no more damage appeared to form, not even to fade moments later.

It seemed that nothing would end this loop, but as suddenly as it began, it stopped with Lea falling into unconsciousness. How or why was impossible to say, but the lightning simply stopped flowing from Lea’s hands. Somewhere deep within, she felt relief when it happened.

“Fascinating!” Nyiss stated, the enthusiasm clearly evident in her voice. Redirecting so much lightning had been tiring, but that weariness was immediately forgotten as she pulled a variety of biometric scanners over to analyse Lea. She also prepared to take a blood sample to be analysed. If her suspicions were correct, what had just occurred would be the fastest, and possibly most effective, treatment yet.

The analysis of Lea’s condition went on for a few minutes. When it was complete, a smile covered Nyiss’ face. “You might just make it after all…” She said quietly, injecting Lea again, this time with a much more normal looking syringe. The contents of this were fairly benign, designed only to wake her up quickly. She would wake to Nyiss standing over her, looking down expectantly.

Being unconscious, Lea felt nothing as Nyiss injected her with the drug that would wake her back up. When she woke, she was more than a little confused, her head quite fuzzy. “Master?” she muttered upon opening her eyes. “I don’t feel too good…”

Whatever rage had fueled Lea’s recent use of the force was now utterly spent. Emotionally, she was effectively the perfect Jedi - She felt nothing at all. She tried to shift a little, but the restraints still held her firmly in place. She had managed to clear some of the fuzz by then, so she realized there was no point trying to break free.

“That does not surprise me.” Nyiss stated matter of factly. As she looked down at the girl, she felt a faint sense of disappointment that there were no immediate observable external changes. It was an unfounded disappointment, the chances that things could still be going well with an immediate change were near zero… but the feeling was present all the same.

“Can you be more specific about how you feel?” Nyiss asked, activating an audio recorder. “It will be useful in the future to know, and you are the first to remain coherent enough to describe it.” A keen observer, had there been one, might have noticed that, in stark contrast to the other subjects, the Darth was treating Lea less like an object and more like a person, albeit only a little.

Due to the current setting, Lea had stopped thinking of herself as a prisoner in the presence of her captor. Instead, it had become a classic patient/healer setting. She was the patient, Darth Nyiss the healer. “I ache all over, as if I’ve been practicing with a lightsaber all day yesterday.”

Unable to free her wrists, she nonetheless strained one arm, pressing it against the restraint so that she could measure her own pulse. It wasn’t precise, but it gave an idea. “My pulse and breathing appears accelerated and I feel somewhat nauseous. I think I have a fever, but that is quite difficult to measure without instruments.”

“While it would be nice to have an idea of your end goal, I assume you have no intention of telling me?” She asked, basing her words on past experiences with the Darth. There had been more than a few such incidents in the past.

Nyiss ignored the comment about her goals. It wasn’t even subtle fishing for information, it was blatant. Not even worthy of the thought to ignore it.

She gave Lea a withering look then - “I did not ask you for a clinical evaluation. I have machines to measure these things… I asked how you felt.”

“I do believe I had no control over my rage there.” she answered, still somewhat clinically. “Is that what you wanted to know? I dislike losing control over myself like that.” Lea had not really thought the Darth would tell her exactly what her goal was.

“Is there anything else you wish for me to observe?”

“Yes.” Nyiss stated, slightly harshly. “I want you to look beyond the loss of control, and see the power that your rage brought. That is the dark side of the Force. A well you can tap without losing control. A well any Sith should be able to tap at will.” Nyiss began to pace a little then, taking on a scholarly tone. “For many, it is rage. Rage comes easily to the sentient mind, with little regard for species. Many view the Sith as fueled by rage, but they see only part of the truth. Fear is just as common as rage, and just as powerful. The things an individual can do out of fear are no less potent than rage. Some have more refined feelings from which they draw their power. Jealousy, passion, lust. Not always as powerful, but often insidious. Or my own favorite… Ambition. These are the things a Sith can draw their power from.”

“I dislike not having control. As a healer, control is everything. If I want to mend someone, it would not do to make mistakes. A lack of control will lead to mistakes.” Lea didn’t know exactly how to respond to many of the other things the Darth had spoken of. She had never had much training in her social skills, and many of those emotions seemed to rely on such. “Power without control feels wasted.”

“I think Lord Jewel tried to inspire jealousy in me. What do I respond with in such circumstances? How do I remain in control?” she asked, more than a bit uncertain.

Nyiss looked down at Lea with a slight sense of regret, flickering off her face as quickly as it had arrived. If this girl died to the experiment, all this potential would be wasted.

“You are correct to state that control is important. without it, we are mindless, raging animals. Lord Sish often allows his control to fail, and that is why he will never advance beyond his existing position. Control separates a strong Sith from a great Sith. But you must not confuse control with suppressing your emotions, as the Jedi do.”

She turned and examined a gently hovering stone pyramid on one of the shelves then, for just a moment, as though checking its readiness.

Turning back, she continued. “You respond with your emotions… To put it simply. But that is not what you want to hear, so I will show you how. Step back from your emotions. Acknowledge they exist. You cannot help but feel them, they are natural to every living being in the galaxy. Observe what they are, and what they make you want to do, but do not do it.”

“Respond to the jealousy with my emotions?” Lea said, speaking quizzically. “The one Lord Jewel wanted me to be jealous at is weak. Not worth such feelings.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “I did learn something from that attempt, though. I think I have feelings for another prisoner. The one with unusual skill with machines. I think I like him.”

“What you felt with Jewel was scorn. Her pathetic attempts to force feelings upon you and make you her pawn failed because of this. A useful emotion, but fleeting and providing little power.”

The next comment was an unfortunate one, disrupting Nyiss’ lesson somewhat, but one that had to be addressed. “Observe carefully this feeling you have for this man. Passion and lust are useful, but love… Love does not serve a Sith. Love straddles the line between dark and light. The Jedi do not approve of it as it can lead to all manner of other emotions… But the Sith dislike it for another reason. It involves investing your feelings in one beyond yourself. It can generate many useful feelings, but it also clouds judgement, erodes control and proves unpredictable. It is also a clear and present weakness. Striking at a targets loved one will hurt them no matter what, though again the further effects can be unreliable. Many a Dark Jedi has been created from love, but rarely a true Sith.”

“I still think I like him…” Lea muttered, not entirely willing to accept Darth Nyiss’ words as plain truth. The desire she had learned from Lord Jewel that she had for Xid would not be stifled by mere words of caution. It was much too deeply entrenched for that. But how to proceed?

“Oh by all means. Exploit him for all the joy you can. Good company is rare in this Galaxy, and I will not stop you from enjoying it. This is not a Jedi ship. But do not let him become your world. No one is more important to you than yourself. Put another’s interests before your own, and you expose weakness to the galaxy. Be assured that if you expose such a weakness, I will strike at it. The lesson you will learn from that will speak for itself.”

Lea listened carefully, knowing that the Darth had no reason to lie here. “But how? How do I begin?” She had, after all, no experience in this field. Nyiss, being older, most likely had such experience.

“You already have ample opportunity to spend time with him and enjoy any intellectual company he may provide…” Nyiss began. “If it is more intimate company you desire… You are attractive enough I suppose, even pale skinned as you are. Use your looks. And hope he is not one of those Jedi who ignores their desire. If he is too shy, I’m sure I can arrange for the two of you to spend some time in one of the guest rooms.” She turned away with that, and busied herself with the stone object from before.

To this Lea had no response. She would have to think more before deciding on how to proceed. Some part of her had decided that privacy would be preferable for such exploration, but she would not ask for Nyiss to provide it. requesting that Darth Nyiss provide such privacy before even trying would not be a sign of strength. She nodded, but did not speak.

Nyiss had already moved on. With noticeable effort, she telekinetically grasped the stone pyramid and began moving it slowly towards Lea. It was rough looking, like it had sat in the elements for a thousand years, yet it still seemed uniform in shape. On the very edge of sight, a hungry darkness could be seen around its edges - yet the object itself seemed not to want to be looked at. Without a concerted effort, one would naturally look away from the device. As it approached her, Lea would note that the sound seemed to be sucked from the room, replaced not with silence, but with a static roar that seemed almost ravenous.

Nyiss began to slide it into the air mere centimeters above Lea’s face. As it came into position, still hovering, an emptiness would strike her, the hunger of the object the only thing remaining.

Once it was in position, Nyiss stepped back, though the expression of focus still remained. One hand stretched out to the object, a particularly sensitive Force user may have noted that she was manipulating tiny mechanisms inside the device using telekinesis.

Lea had no idea of what to expect when the Nyiss placed the device above her. She had not seen anything like it before. It was shaped like a perfect tetrahedron, its surface engraved with runes in a language Lea did not recognize. It was only because it was straight above her face that she could even see it. Her eyes had not wanted to focus on it before, but now it was virtually all she could even look at. There was an… emptiness to the air that she could not quite place. She focused her eyes upon the dark gray surface. When the Darth touched it, the carven runes flared bright crimson.

There was an audible click, then the device seemed to activate. A trio of thick, dark tendrils of energy, appearing more as an absence than a presence, snaked down from the base of the thing. Two of them attached to Lea’s temples, the third going straight to her heart.

When the device activated, Lea shuddered involuntarily. The dark tendrils she could see out of the corner of her eyes were beyond cold. She dared not move, not knowing what it was doing. She could feel it drawing something out of her. Something that she knew to be dear to her, but could not quite understand what was. It left behind a feeling of loss. Had she not known that Darth Nyiss had nothing to gain from her death, she might have thought the device was meant to kill her. But she knew that, so she had no fear of dying at this time.

She did her best to relax, to let it do whatever it intended to do. With the unnatural chill and the constant draining, that was no easy feat. After a while, she sensed that something new, something somewhat unfamiliar, was replacing whatever the artifact was drawing out of her. She had no idea what it was, but it felt… right.

There was no telling how long this process went on. Lea had no thought for time as it progressed. One moment it was still ongoing, drawing and filling. The next it was simply gone, the tendrils receding back into the tetrahedron. Though the source of the cold feeling in her chest was gone, the chill did not immediately fade. Lea also knew that she was exhausted. Whatever the Darth wanted, she had some subconscious sense that it would not require further effort on the part of the Darth at this time. She was about to ask whether it was done when her exhaustion caught up with her and she fell into a deep sleep, not unlike unconsciousness.

Nyiss moved the device aside once it had completed its work, taking just as long and with just as much effort as when she first put it in place. It was a terrifying machine. It inspired fear and hatred even in her… She knew what it could do to her if she controlled it incorrectly. It was used sparingly, but every time it was used, its effects were significant and worth the risk.

Once that had been done, she turned to Lea. The girl was doing well, and hope welled up within Nyiss. She might finally have got it right. She retracted the restraints on Lea and lifted her from the table using the force, carrying her out into the entry hall. She left the girl on one of the soft recliners to rest while guards approached to carry her back to the cells. Nyiss herself retired to her quarters to rest and recuperate the energy expended operating the device.

Corr walked down the hallway, flanked by two Sith Troopers. His cloak swished with the force of speed coming from Corr's powerful walk. He reached the turbolift and briskly turned around inside, the troopers following him in. He had seen on the surveillance footage that one of the younger human prisoners was injured. Corr doubted Nyiss would allow the prisoner to die, but in case she did, he wanted to extract some information from him. One of the troopers hit the up button and the turbolift erupted to life, ascending. Corr linked his hands behind his back as they ascended. The prisoner was wounded so he would have to use passive force abilities to extract what he can. One of the Sith troopers was a medic and should be able to keep the boy alive long enough for Corr to get any useful data.

The turbolift stopped on the prison level and Corr briskly walked out with the troopers following behind. He stopped at the door that leads to the complex and lazily flicked his wrist. The door opened and he stepped inside. The prisoners were likely asleep, no need to alert them to their comrade being taken. He silently motioned to his troopers, they knew to search for him in the dark complex. After a minute or two, Corr heard the trooper address the wounded Jedi. "Hey, get up and follow me." Corr looked around as he waited for his troopers to retrieve the Jedi. Rather dismal, but better than the prison on Korriban. He wondered how long they would keep the Jedi. Corr figured that Nyiss would want to convert as many as them as possible. But he almost felt sorry for those who couldn't be turned.

"... Then she said I'm sorry, I don't speak Rodian!" Koren slapped his knee laughing slightly at the memory. His plan, so far had been working nicely. Between Him, Nazca, Xid and the others they had spent most of their time recently not training, not talking about the finer philosophies of the Force but instead trading stories. Xid knew a fair few of his already, and he knew a fair few of Xids but it was still nice. He liked to think that they were all feeling a bit more relaxed, a bit more free. It had been some time since the last prisoner had returned and since anyone had been taken.

He still wasn't terribly happy with all that was going on surrounding Xid. It was as if the boy was making life too complicated for him, being accosted by feelings for others and others feelings for him. The pressure of being recently dubbed a Knight and the undeniable hint of fear at being a prisoner, this would possibly all be bearable if not for the duty of care the young Knight felt that had resulted in his rather serious condition. He sighed, Xid would really need to learn that in this place they would all need to hold their own in order to survive, while drawing on eachothers strength. Suicide was not the Jedi way, and right now from anyone that did not know Xid that would seem to be his intent.

He shrugged off that feeling as he looked around the room. Jedi from all over the galaxy had been gathered by the Sith. They were all unlikely allies, a few he knew but many were strangers. They all shared two common bonds, one to the Jedi. A order they had devoted their lives too and one to the Force itself. A bond that could never be broken by the taint of the Dark Side. He smiled slightly at the thought of that, the road was going to be tough but he had faith in his fellow Jedi.

His mood wasn't ruined when he felt the presence of a Sith coming closer and clsoer, he heard the turbolift door open and soon enough the door to the dorm was opened. Koren refused to have his mood ruined even then, he was inconvenienced more than anything. He was enjoying telling his story. He was only disappointed when the trooper appeared to target Xid, he ignored the trooper for a moment. It wasn't the trooper he had an issue with, it was the mouth behind it.

The Sith, nearer in age to Koren than the female he had seen earlier wore an interesting assortment of clothing, between robes and armour. Whether he was a combatant or not would only be able to be discovered through combat itself. Not something he was trying to start but it was good to get to know your opponent, that and it was hard to kick his training to examine 'hostiles' and his surroundings.

Once done he winked at Nazca before standing up and placing himself between the troopers and the Sith without so much as a word, if he didn't say anything they couldn't object after all. "I'm afraid I'll need to interject in your attempts to take my fellow Jedi." Koren bowed, keeping his eyes on the Sith as he did so. It was more of a duelists bow than that of actual respect or servitude but were they not in a constant duel anyway?

"My name is Koren Omi-Ren. Jedi Watchman and prisoner aboard your vessel. This Jedi-" He nodded towards Xid. "-Is wounded and any futile attempts to remove information from him are likely going to result in him being killed. Now, while you're Sith and we're Jedi and all the holodramas indicate we should be killing eachother all the time I don't think that's your job here. You could have had us killed on Coruscant, some more easily than others. You need us alive, so my question is this: whatever small amount of information you feel you can get out of my friend here, is it worth your life? As I guarantee it probably isn't."

Koren just shrugged.

"However, If you're wanting a fresher subject who is a bit more willing. Less likely to die and get you into trouble-" Koren raised both his arms up in a large shrug what can you do gesture. "-Then I guess I volunteer."

He stared at Xid for a second, as if warning him not to jump in the middle of this. Had events not been so trying recently he may have even tried to push a feeling of calm on the young Jedi. Though while Koren had rested he wasn't yet at the point where he was willing to try and perform anything like that.

Khan was laughing just as much as Koren had been at his own jokes, finding the whole experience to be a big relief after the boredom, fear and tension that had filled his time for the most part since his arrival on the prison ship. Still, he was using as much of his training as he could to make sure that even when he would have been practically falling over laughing he was staying in a relatively fixed position. To anyone not in the know, it would probably look like he was still just making sure that Xid wasn't going to keel over dead as he fixed some medical equipment. The reality of it was the young Echani was doing his best to run interference between Xid and the cameras while the Jedi Knight modified the training saber into something more useful.

In fact, Khan had been doing a lot of 'helping' for the injured Jedi that was actually more subversive than it looked. They had spent some time along with a female he still didn't know well learning how to covertly open and operate the lifts in case the need ever arose for them to be used in speed or secrecy until Khan was sure he could do so himself if necessary. Converting the training saber into a more useful weapon was just another step in what Khan hoped would be an eventual escape from this place, not that he could manage it on his own. For now just being here with others who were not Sith-aligned, laughing and listening to entertaining stories was enough. It was a little bit of light in the darkness and as his Master might have said, all those little lights can add up.

Then, the laughter and joking changed.

Khan noticed it in Koren first, could read the sudden seriousness his posture took on, the alertness to an approaching danger the Echani did not yet feel even though the older Jedi continued with his storytelling. Nevertheless he altered his positioning slightly, to appear neutrally posed yet combat ready regardless in an attempt to prepare for whatever was coming, give himself an edge if they had to react. Xid was still too injured to fight, but many if not all of them were gathered there. If it came down to it Khan was prepared for a fight. In the next few moments he heard the turbolift engage and tried to keep his posture fluid and relaxed.

Two troopers walked in with what was obviously a Sith in tow and moved to seize Xid. Instantly every muscle in Khan's body prepared for violent action, though to an individual not skilled in body-reading it would hardly be noticeable. The scenario was already running through his mind at the speed of thought, not a Jedi's precognition but an Echani warrior's tactical training though hardly as flawless as one properly trained:

A quick hard impact to snap the helmeted head back followed by a spear-like jab into the throat to disrupt breathing and blood-flow to the brain as soon as the first trooper moved in range, spring up and maneuver the now disoriented and gasping if not unconscious first trooper between himself and the second to absorb possible retaliation, follow through by tossing them into each other, finish off the second as he tried to steady himself from the impact of the first. Two of them down in a few moments time. The Sith would be harder, Khan would have to use what little talent in Force Speed he had and the dark warrior's own arrogance and the lack of martial arts training that were both obvious from his stance to overwhelm him before he could draw his weapons or bring the Force to bear, a gamble but a necessary one to protect his new friend.

As he was just about to strike, Koren stepped up between the troopers and the Sith, his body radiating caution like crazy as if he was shouting at Khan to stay still along with everyone else in the room. Khan stopped almost by reflex, having been conditioned from earliest childhood to obey in these sorts of situation. So instead Khan watched everyone for signs of hostility but otherwise sat helpless and frustrated as the older Jedi volunteered in Xid's place. If he moved now Khan was confident he could still take the troopers, but with Koren in the way he couldn't get a clear path to the Sith and that would needlessly expose his comrades to danger.

It killed him almost as much as abandoning his Master had, but for now he would just have to wait.

The medical bay turbolift door hissed as it opened, but there was no Sith or imperial soldiers who emerged. All that emerged was a large droid of a thoroughly non-military nature. It did not look like much, a large 1.4m tall cylinder with a dozen arms, each ending in a different sort of tool. Its cylindrical body was covered in all sorts of protuberances, but no matter how clearly Imperial in design it was, the feeling it gave off was not ominous, but rather utilitarian.

A few bleeps and a chirp issued forth as it rolled on a set of tracked wheels over to the damaged Kolto tank. If there were anyone in the room, it completely ignored them. The moment the damaged surface was within range of its multitude of arms, it set to work. melting cracks in the transparisteel, smoothing them over, cooling, polishing and generally making it look as good as new. Within minutes, the entire surface of the tank was repaired. The cylindrical body had extended along previously unseen telescopic components to allow the arms to reach the top of the tank.

The optical sensors scanned the rest of the tank, after which the droid chirped with a hint of pleasure. Then it moved back to the turbolift and returned to whence it had come from.



The medic that Corr had brought began to move, ignoring the words of the Sith. It was blatant that the young prisoner was not up to moving anytime soon. She already pulled out a scanner when she approached Xid (who quickly tossed the lightsaber into the bed's corner) and gestured for the troopers to move with her, their blasters held tightly in their hands and eyed the Jedi present for any interference. Thankfully the knight had rose from the bed where the stress was minimal on his ribs while he sat on the far edge, leaned to one side that hurt the least. Koren had moved aside, his words offered thanks and watching the Sith closely. Xid's expression, however, was slightly concerned when the woman leaned down to examine him. Her hands prodded the wound causing him to finch and cry out in pain. The medic shook her head disapprovingly then activated her helmet comlink.

“I got a category one prisoner here that needs Kolto tank treatment or he won’t last the night. I need someone to fill up that kolto tank.” If she got an answer, it was not audible outside her helmet.

“Get him into the Kolto tank. Now!” She rose, then backed off as the first trooper holstered his weapon, then stepped forward, quickly followed by his companion. Their boots stomped soundly, moving around Koren, and hands hoisted Xid up in a neutral manner, supporting him between the two on the way to the Kolto tank.

Less than a minute later, one could hear a sloshing sound in the background as a viscous fluid flowed out of a previously unseen hole in the ceiling above the Kolto tank. It kept running for several minutes, halting only when the Kolto tank was almost completely filled. There was no doubt to anyone observing that the fluid was high-quality Kolto. Along one side of the tank, one of the transparisteel panels shifted on unseen hinges just above the surface of the Kolto, so as to make it easier to insert a patient. It would also mean that a patient would not simply be dropped to the floor of the tank, where he or she could be injured further.

For armored soldiers, they were remarkably gentle as they lowered him into the opening along the side of the tank and fitted an air mask about his face, finally pushing a button to seal the boy within. After they pressed the button, the transparisteel panel shifted back into its vertical position and more Kolto flowed out from the pipe in the ceiling, submerging Xid completely.

Corr watched as the troopers carried the Jedi away, slightly annoyed that they ignored him, but what do you expect from medics. Too humanitarian for his taste. He much preferred medical droids. The rest of the Jedi, including the blonde one that just got up, seemed extremely on edge. Corr studied his stance. He had seen it in some of the other sith, a stance used, but not the most popular. He couldn't quite place a name on it, but he held himself with confidence and experience. The echani in the back seemed ready for a fight and the others looked incredibly on edge. Calmly he responded "The Sith have ways of extracting information without even touching them, Jedi. I wasn't planning to touch your young friend, but since you so kindly offered, I have no qualms about taking you with me." He gave a grin as he finished the sentence, he had been itching to test out his ability to induce fear in people, though he figured this Jedi would be a much larger challenge the the younger one. He seemed to be only a little older than Corr, but something told him he was a handful either way. He was beginning to like the blonde one less and less has he studied him more. There was just something about him that rubbed him the wrong way. He stood to the side as a new pair of troopers entered the complex. "If you would so kindly come with us then, we can talk about all kinds of things."

The troopers moved to either side of the blonde and loaded their blasters menacingly. Though Corr doubted the move had much effect, he always enjoyed the sound. He was certain that this smug Jedi knew he was more valuable alive than dead, but he would soon have him begging by way of the force. Corr swept his hand in a motion as to say 'After you.'

For the first time in a while after the events of Nar Shadda, and if you ignored the constant pain and weakness she was in, Nazca felt content. Well, not precisely content. But happier than she had in a while. The Sith, having not taken or shown up for a while now, seemed to be occupied with other goals and weren't bothering her or those in the prison cell. She feeling minutely better and was able to actually shuffle her own way to where she, Koren, and Xid had been seated. She was beginning to understand the 'Force' and how to use it (whether or not it was how Koren would like her to use it is an entirely separate matter). They were steadily beginning to prepare the escape plan, even though Nazca had yet to tell them that she wouldn't be participating in it. She doubted she would survive without Nyiss to monitor her vitals and ensure that whatever she did wouldn't go bad or kill her. Granted, her chances of survival were slim anyways, but at least they were higher with the Red Skinned Bitch than without. Still. Things, for the moment, were peaceful.

So of course, the Sith walked in and ruined everything.

First he came for Xid. Nazca, slower than everyone else, clambered to her feet. By that time, Koren had already volunteered himself as the Medic began to have Xid put in the apparently fixed Kolto Tank. "You Sith are all the same. Hut'uuns. Cowards. Only going for the weakest. Don't have the guts to go for the strongest. Hut'uun. Piece of Gunsos. Your nothing more than Nyiss's jendoslu." She smirked at Corr. "Tell me, you red skinned whore, how does it feel spending every moment trying to get the favor of a person who doesn't even think more of you than a speck of dirt? We're more valuable to her than you."

Koren just sighed as he turned to look at Nazca. "You need to work on finesse, Nazca-" He almost did the whole 'my young Padawan' thing. Despite the fact she wasn't much younger and the fact he didn't really want to go telling the Sith that he was trying to train the most untrained of their number in a way that would contradict the Sith teachings. Though his progress so far was... questionable. She certainly had a well of untapped potential the problem was she was far too willing to tap into her emotions to fuel that. Something that was going to get people hurt down the line if she was allowed to continue down that path, and while she may fight the good fight with that power too many Jedi these days were willing to take the fast and easy option, which always had consequences. "-Though I will commend you on your vocabulary. Top marks, go to the front of the class." He gave her a wink as he turned back to the Sith.

Ignoring the troopers as the Sith gestured for him to walk forward Koren merely bowed his head slightly. "Thankyou, how courteous of you." He smiled and began walking, casting a final glance back at the room. "I'll be back later! Save me a game of Sabacc for when I get back! No cheating!"

He walked alongside the Sith all the way to the Turbolift, the door opening rapidly at their approach and stepping into the lift carriage itself. It was cramp what with the Troopers and their bulky armour, himself and the Sith. All in all he was glad it wasn't too warm, though any period of time in the lift may have gotten uncomfortable. He turned his head to face the Sith as the turbolift began to move, from his previous experience it was a short ride before a walk to wherever they were going. Whether or not he would walk back would be a completely different story. Different Jedi had different experiences, and so far he had been one of the luckier ones. Whether or not his luck would continue was yet to be seen, though he fancied his chances.

"So, where we going? I'm going to admit I'm not overly familiar with this type of vessel and I've only been to the arena so far-" He held up two fingers to emphasize his point "-two times. Though more importantly, I do believe you have me at a disadvantage. After all, you know my name and yet I do not know yours."

Corr allowed himself a smile, his eyes falling on Nazca. "My, such crude words from such a lovely face. You are quite angry for a Jedi, it's...refreshing. But let me ask you this." His eyes flashed deviously. "What do you think will happen when Darth Nyiss runs out of use for you? She will either turn YOU into one of her minions, or she will conduct various experiments on you, she has quite a reputation for that. Or, she'll just kill you. So maybe, you seem more valuable to her at the moment, but remember, all items wear down over time." And with that he turned quickly on his heel, following the blonde Jedi and the troopers out. He used the force to slam the door he exited through shut with force. If they would turn anyone to the dark side, it would be that woman. He entered the turbolift with the blonde jedi. The trooper mashed the button and the lift doors closed as the lift sprang to life. The Jedi turned to him and asked "So, where we going? I'm going to admit I'm not overly familiar with this type of vessel and I've only been to the arena so far-" He held up two fingers to emphasize his point "-two times. Though more importantly, I do believe you have me at a disadvantage. After all, you know my name and yet I do not know yours."

Corr thought for a moment and he said "Corr Halcard." He saw no reason to lie to the Jedi. It was apparent that the Jedi was cocky, as he thought not knowing Corr's name was the only disadvantage. He didn't ask the Jedi for his name because he could care less. All he needed was what useful information he had, and that was not his name. The lift came to a stop as they made it to the Sith Practice Chamber level. Now the real fun was about to begin.

Waking up due to a roaring hunger did not bring forth fond memories for Lea. In fact, they were quite the opposite. She quickly shook them off before she could delve on them further. She didn’t move much at first, merely opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling. The first thing she did was take in what her senses told her. Her ears told her that some in here were asleep. Some others were talking in the other bunk room, but she couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. Her mouth was dry, leaving her with a slightly sour aftertaste. She could smell sweat on her tunic, probably from her session with the Darth.

Of course, now that she had turned her focus away from the gnawing hunger, she could feel how her body ached. Then there was the clear evidence that implied she had a fever. She had no idea what Darth Nyiss was doing to her, but it had made her body ache all over. Something was definitely off. She couldn’t figure out what, but it was there, elusive.

It felt almost like her body was trying to fight off some sort of infection, but even with her senses guided by the Force, she could not place where in her body the infection was. It was almost as if it was… everywhere. “that can’t make sense…” she muttered quietly to herself. She would have to think more on it. Until she knows more, she certainly wouldn’t speak of it to anyone.

With that reasonably fair accounting of her body taken care of, Lea slowly sat up, doing her best to ignore how her body protested. She knew the Darth had no interest in killing her, so she resolved to make the best she could out of this situation. Thus she jumped off the bed, landing on the floor, finding herself once more a bit off-balance. Something was definitely off about her body.

The nausea that presented itself at that point certainly didn’t help at all. She fought to keep the contents of her stomach down, only to realize there wasn’t much of anything in there. She forced the small amount of acid that had gone up back down, then walked unsteadily over to the table, which she used to steady herself. If only there had been some food to stave of the hunger...

This was not the control over herself she liked having. Not even close. No doubt that was part of the Darth’s plan. She knew well how Lea preferred to have control. Perhaps it was payment for her attitude at the start of the session? Whatever the reason, Lea decided, she would not figure it out on her own, but she had just as little idea about who to trust to help her figure it out. Were any of the others both skilled enough and trustworthy? Lea decided then and here that she did not feel that was so. Therefore, she would keep quiet about it for now, if she could. Till she learned more, she would just have to cope.

Navi clicked and tapped along the ventilation shaft, his legs carrying him down the tight space toward the prison complex. It wasn’t hard for the small droid as he easily navigated the hard turns and maze like paths. He had been down this way already so recalling it up in his vast memory bank was almost an instant thing, preventing him from getting lost, while he edged back to the Jedi. Data he had collected rattled in his focus, from the information about the tractor beam being down for maintenance to the location of the escape pod, and all the time he barely had a chance to discover an unoccupied lab for Tolun. About twice, he had spotted a Red-skinned Sith bitch who had been examining at least one of them with distaste, hindering Navi’s progress. It was a nuisance and more than once the machine had considered exterminating her.

The only negative aspect of that was that her absence would be noted, it was the main reason he hadn’t made the attempt to make his existence easier.

It still irked him and his mood soured more when he was unable to reassure his own logical conclusions about Xid. The knight wasn’t the most durable and that merely decreased his survivor rate. It only made Navi fret over the extremely low percent that the boy was alright and well. With that in mind, he hoped Tolun and others were taking really good care of the Knight else Navi considered not sharing his intel.

Reaching a vent entrance, Navi grinded to a halt and stretched out its legs to touch the grate providing an annoying barrier between him and his destination. It easily moved to the side, having been loosened and his earlier entrance, as he lowered himself like a spider to the nearest bunk. He was well aware of the camera’s position and timed it well enough he avoided being caught on it. Silently he hit the post then scurried down the pole onto the ground. Hastily, he shot behind a bed to prevent another camera from seeing him then proceeded near Khan’s foot. Casually, Navi reached a cautious leg to prod the young Padawan a bit.

If the boy didn’t reply, he would likely give the Echani an unignorable hot foot.

“I don’t like this.” Denso said to Kara as he approached the robes.

“Well, it’s not like we can do a whole lot about it now can we?” Kara said as she observed the room. There was nothing special about it, it seemed like your typical dressing room. She looked at the robes which the Sith had prepared for Denso. “Nothing for me?” She said in an obviously faked disappointed tone.

Kara then walked over to Denso and stood next to him in front of the robes, quickly snagging it before he could grab it. “Kind of funny that they’re able to supply you with a Jedi robe, yet I’m stuck in this Sith tunic… What, are they going to have us compete or something? You’re representing the Jedi and I’m supposed to be team Sith?” She scoffs at the thought as she inspects the tunic.

“I’m not sure, if this is a Jedi robe then I’m sure they took it off a dead Jedi.” Denso said as he glanced at it, then placed his own hand on it. Well, there wasn’t any blood stains, it looked clean. He then proceeded to pull it out of her hand.

“Why didn’t they give you one, I do wonder.” Denso said.

“Maybe she thinks I won't survive whatever she has in store for us and doesn't want to bother with finding me some new clothing?” Kara said while shrugging. “Or maybe she thinks I’ll fall to the Dark Side and she wants me to feel at home in this tunic.” She said in a mocking tone. Kara then took a few steps back and sat down on a chair, looking at Denso as he held the robes. “I can look away if you want, or are you not planning on changing your attire for the Sith?”

“I will, perhaps it will anger her if I do not change for her. I’ll be quick.” Denso said as he quickly changed into the robes. His old Sith clothing tossed to the side, he did not glance at Kara while he was in various states of disrobe. Privacy was not a huge thing for him anyone, years of serving on cramped ships alongside soldiers who did not care for privacy.

“Well, they fit.” He said with a half smile, then they both heard a door open opposite of the closed one they had entered from. A large circular area was in front of them, thick walls all around. In the middle of the room stood six guards, each of them clenching metal staffs. Were they going to fight them? Denso wondered as he stepped towards the open door.

“I am assuming that we are going to have to fight those armed soldiers. I hope you are quick with your hands.” Denso said with a smile as he waited for her to follow him out of the room. In the center of the arena the soldiers awaited them, silent and still, weapons displayed.

Kara didn't really pay too much attention to Denso as he was changing. Just like Denso, she too had gotten used to a lack of privacy and thus it wasn't really a shocker for her. Instead, she was thinking about what the Sith would have been preparing for them. Mentally preparing herself for whatever challenge would lay ahead of them, clearing her mind of anything that might hinder her.

When the doors opened up and Denso brought up the notion of a fight, a grin started to form on Kara’s face. Ooh she was ready for a fight alright. That little time she had to prepare herself was hopefully enough. So she looked at Denso, still with the grin on her face. “Don’t worry about me Denso, I think I’ll be just fine.” She said as she walked through the opening.

With her mind already gauging the possible threat of the guards, Kara stared them down as she addressed the Sith who she was sure would be watching. “So, is this supposed to be our big challenge for the day?”

“No, it is just the warmup. If you Jedi can beat these guards, which you should if you’re half as tough as you like, then you’ll see the real treat I have for you.” Vivithe said, her voice coming into the arena though she could not be seen by the Jedi. She was watching from above, curious eyes upon both the prisoners as the guards moved forward, staffs readied. All six of them taking aim at the captives.

One of them leaped forward, swinging at Denso’s legs, he just shuffled out of the way and countered with his own attack. An open palm to the chest of the soldier, he put the Force behind and sent the man flying backwards. Two more charged him, while the other three surrounded Kara, one driving the pike at from behind. Denso rose a hand, and stunned one of the guard’s through the Force, causing him to drop his staff. As the other two swung at him he dove downwards, hands on the dropped weapon.

With a roll he pushed the weapon up, blocking one of the blows as he moved back and two his feet. Denso swung one end of the staff at the stunned guard’s head, knocking him out of the battle. Another leaped at him, moving through the air as he lunged at the Jedi. Denso blocked the blow and backpaced, then used the Force to his advantage as he leaped over him and slammed the staff into the man’s head.

With one left to face him he took the offense, swinging hard at the soldier who blocked it. They locked in combat for a moment as Denso searched for an advantage.

While one half of the guards were busy with Denso, Kara had her own trio to work with. She focussed on nothing but the three individuals in front of her. It even seemed for her as if time was going slower and she could read her opponent’s attack a few moments before he made it. She dodged an overhead attack with little effort as the guard slammed his staff on the ground. As he recoiled Kara used the narrow time window to counterattack with a spinning heel kick against the guard’s jaw piece of his helmet. This made the guard stumble backwards in the path of one of his comrades.

With those two distracted for a tiny fraction of time, Kara quickly shifted her focus on the lone guardsman. He attempted to hit her with a horizontal swing which only narrowly avoided Kara. The moment it passed Kara took her chance as she stepped forward and delivered a low kick to the man’s knee joint, which wasn't protected by armour. Due to the force of the kick the man turned his back slightly towards Kara, and this was the only opening she needed. She got a hold of the man’s head and in one quick movement combined with a sickening noise snapped his neck.

The other two guards, who had just recomposed themselves, hesitated for an instant. They had probably not expect Kara to go for the kill so quickly. In her mind however, there was no other way to fight this war then to destroy the enemies of the Republic.

As the body dropped down Kara quickly swooped the staff up before it hit the ground. While it wasn't her preferred weapon of choice, it did not mean that she couldn't use it. Both of the guards charged at her and after blocking several swings she found an opening and hit on of the guards right at his codpiece. While it was of course protected, the man reacted in a reflex and dropped his guard, on which Kara capitalised with a hard underhand swing which hit him on his lower, unprotected, chin. The man fell as a sack on the group as he was knocked out by this hard swing.

Now there was only one guard left and Kara looked a smirk on her face.

Denso swung downwards with his staff, the guard reacting at seemingly the last moment to block the blow. Then the Jedi made another maneuver, he rose one leg up and kicked the his opponent in the side of the head. The blow had enough Force to send the guard down, his weapon bouncing off the floor with a loud bang. With no more enemies coming for him he turned to Kara, who was battling the one standing soldier.

He noticed the smile on her face, she enjoyed combat like he did himself. He momentarily considered letting her finish the soldier herself, but he wanted to get this over with. With a free hand raised he used the Force to push the man away from them both, as he bounded through the air his body hit the metal floor hard, knocking him out of the fight.

Kara was preparing her next strike, possibly one on the throat which would render this man incapable of anything for a certain duration of time. But just as she was about to attack the man flew to the side. As she looked over she saw Denso standing there, lowering his hand as he had just used a Force push.

“Sorry if that disappointed you, I want to see what this woman has planned for us next.” Denso said to his fellow Jedi, the words quietly said with enough volume for Kara to hear them.

Kara didn't say anything about it, though her facial expression was less than stellar. She was actually fuming but tried her best as to hide her anger at Denso interfering in her fight. Without saying a word she scanned her surroundings, looking for possible ways of escape or avenues of attacks which the Sith might try to exploit. There weren't a lot of different escape options, as this was obviously a Sith inspired arena: Fights to the Death would be more common place here then merciful ones. There was ofcourse the possibility of just jumping out of the arena using the Force, but the chances of escaping would be minimal. So, Kara just waited it out and only nodded at Denso.

As soon as Denso was about to say something, he noticed the men they had just fought rise to their feet, five of them, minus the one that Kara had executed. Those that could pick up staffs did, one was unarmed and charged right at Denso, who rose his weapon up to block the assault. Four others circled around Kara, as one moved to jab into her with their staff. The Jedi knight was surprised that the soldiers had risen up, he thought Kara and him had knocked them out for the foreseeable future, as he wrestled with one of them, Lady Lansha’s voice echoed through the arena.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to kill them all, Jedi. The girl seemed to have no issue with that, but let’s just say they each will keep getting up and attacking you until you do knock them out of the fight, permanently.” Vivithe said, a smile on her face. Shock collars were embedded around each of the men’s necks, whenever their vitals indicated they had blacked out a painful shock would bring them back up. That and they had other reasons to fight, though the Jedi would see those eventually, if all went to plan.

Kara watched as the men surrounded her, her own weapon at the ready, she felt one of the staffs connect with her back, sending a twinge of pain through her but nothing worse than that. With a look of more concentration she swung her own staff at one of the guards, striking right into his neck, she pushed it down as the sound of something cracking could be heard as the man gasped, suffocating. She then used the Force to launch herself upwards, leaping out of the way of the three left encircling her.

As she landed, one lunged towards her, Kara ducked out of the way just in time, watching as the weapon whizzed by her face. With a motion of her free hand she then pushed her attacker with the Force, sending him bounding backwards off his feet and into the other two. The collision sent them all of their feet, though they all rising back to their feet.

Denso threw a sharp kick into the guard’s gut, then another, he could see through the man’s helmet, but he could tell both of the blows impacted hard. A third kick in the same area dropped the man to the floor, he then lifted his attacker up before he could get himself up, and launched him into a wall through the Force.

He hit it with a hard smack, if not ending his life then paralyzing him at least. He didn’t enjoy having to kill, but it seemed there was not an alternative, and the men were Sith soldiers, they had chosen their sides, had probably killed Republic men before.

Kara glanced briefly over at Denso after hearing the noise, it was hard to miss, she smiled before she spoke.

“Care to join in, Denso? There’s only two left anyway.” She said with a grin then leaped up into the air, launching herself down towards them through the Force. As she landed she impacted with one, hitting the armored guard right on the head and sending him to the floor. She then engaged another in combat, swinging her staff at him, she pushed him backwards, forcing him away from the others as Denso entered the fray.

Denso briefly watched Kara move, she took one of the guards out quickly, then launched herself at another. It was an impressive sight, but he wasn’t to be upstaged. Kara would have some words for him if he let her fight off all of their opponents by herself, even more if they managed to injure her because he didn’t fight hard enough. He dashed towards the one standing guard and practically tackled him.

The two shot backwards in a struggle as Denso crouched above his enemy and pushed the staff down, into the man’s neck. There was nothing he could do as the Jedi suffocated him. He wish he had a quicker and less brutal way to do it, but he did not have his lightsaber. He waited until the soldier under him stopped struggling then rose back to his feet.

Kara fought the man, she outclassed him, even a trained Sith soldier, her reflexes were just too fast. She swung at him hard, knocking the staff out of his hands, then swung again at his neck, breaking something inside. As the guard fell, he suffocated like one before him. She blinked, then turned to look at Denso right as he finished choking out his own enemy. He had moved towards the last surviving soldier, the one Kara had concussed, the man struggled to get to his feet.

Denso glanced at the man for a moment before Kara approached from behind and quickly snapped the soldier’s neck. The Kiffar watched as the now dead man fell to the ground, then locked eyes with Kara, giving her a nod. Death in combat was not something knew to him, but the conflict the two of them had just endured was especially brutal. Then he heard footsteps against steel floor and glanced towards the source. It was the Sith lord that had forced them into the arena.

“Very well done, almost like one of the Empire’s own Sith warriors. Not even the slightest bit of hesitation at ending lives. Many of your fellow Jedi would have outright refused, but you two, you did it without an argument,” Vivithe said with a smile. “It’s too bad they weren’t even loyal soldiers of the Empire.”

Denso had a look of confusion for a moment, they had to be soldiers, that would be the most logical thing. Soldiers on a Sith ship, the Force users that commanded them had no qualms with throwing them away as cannon fodder. The doors opened behind the Sith, and more people emerged, they were not guards, instead they were dressed like civilians. Robes, rags, no armor on any of them. Amongst them children and women as they each went over the dead men and mourned them.

“What is the meaning of this? Is this some kind of trick?” Denso asked the Sith.

“I wish that it was, but it was not. Each of those men were taken from a nearby planet, forced to fight for their freedom. Their families were brought onboard as added incentive. Innocent civilians, now dead. Something your Order damns my own for doing, slaying innocents. Sometimes there is a reason behind such a thing.” Vivithe said, some of the families looked at the Jedi with glances of confusion, anger and sadness.
The words the Sith spoke did far more damage than any weapon could have done to Kara’s psyche. She had fallen for the Sith’s ploy, she had walked right into it with open eyes. At first she refused to believe it. This must have been a trick. But as Kara looked at the faces of the mourning people she saw that they were sincere and not acting. Seeing them all like this, it stunned her. This was the first time she directly encountered people grieving over something she did. And she did it with glee at the time. That was the most revolting about all of this.

Soon the grief turned to anger. A woman walked up to Kara and looked up at her, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Why?” she asked, “Why did you have to kill him?” To be honest, Kara didn't have an answer. There must have been a way to get out of here without causing fatalities. But she didn't care at the time. She had chosen the path of the least resistance and now it showed itself to be a mistake and a trap.

Avoiding eye contact Kara replied in a soft tone. “I… I’m sorr-” Before she could finish she was hit by a slap in her face. “I do not need your pity!” the woman yelled. “You murdered him without any doubt in your mind!” Kara knew that the woman was speaking the truth and that is why the words cut as much as they did. She wanted to throw up, she wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. But she couldn't.

The woman continued on hitting her, it didn't hurt Kara, at least, not physically. But then the woman uttered a phrase. “You’re a monster, no better than the Sith!” Something inside Kara snapped and before she knew, she had hit the woman in front of her with a backhand strike. When Kara realised what she had done it was already too late. While the woman was not mortally injured, Kara had just struck at an innocent woman, knowingly. Kara staggered back softly uttering “I’m sorry.” She kept repeating the phrase with tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Denso went silent at the scene, he could feel the eyes upon him. Strong emotions of agony, grief and self loathing once he realized what he had done. This couldn’t have been some Sith trick, it was too real. All of lives he had taken in combat had caused no mourners, the soldiers he struck down had been fervent supporters of the hateful Empire. Every death there was to help the right side win. He had offered mercy to many of them, and they spit it back at him.

He glanced at Kara, she was taking it worse than he was from the expressions on her face. She must have felt worse, she had killed more of them than he did, yet they both had done it each time without hesitation. It was a sick, twisted game the Sith had played them into, and they lost it on their first move.

The Kiffar noticed a woman approach Kara, then strike her, he was about to move to stop the woman when Kara did it for him, throwing her own strike. He rose a hand to cover his mouth, stunned that she had done that. As tears formed in his fellow Jedi’s eyes he glared at the Sith, who was trying her best to hide a victorious smirk. His words came out slowly, the grief evident with every letter.

“Why? Why did you make us do this?”

“I did not make you do it. There was always the option to resist, to say no. Then I would have just had the men beat you a bit, I’d give some talk about disobeying a Sith lord on a ship of the Sith Empire. But this, this was unexpected. Most of the other Jedi would have resisted. Sat down, covered their eyes and taken the beating. Not you two, no, you gave in, followed my orders like my very own apprentices.” Vivithe said, practically lecturing them while the families mourned around her. Before Denso could reply, she spoke again.

“There’s no need for tears, Kara. These men are not that different from the Sith soldiers you slayed in war, the armor is the same, they assaulted you, you fought back like anyone else would. All the soldiers you killed in the past had families too, they all enlisted out of patriotism and honor, like many of your Republic soldiers did. Those families mourned the dead you created,” She added. “You know why you both followed my order? Because you’re warriors, your places are in the heat of battle, not in some ancient temple hiding away your emotions while the galaxy burns. When attacked you fight back. Emotions are what give you strength in combat. What will you do when the war ends? You won’t be satisfied tucked away behind a veil of inaction.”

“That’s not true, any of it. I’m in full control of my emotions, the Light gives me strength in battle.” Denso stammered out, his words causing Lady Lansha to roll her eyes. The Sith’s words held some truth behind them, but he was not like her. He was not a Sith. Then his eyes locked with one of men’s children, a look of fear on the boy’s face at the man who just killed his father. The Jedi tensed his fist and breathed deeply, trying to keep himself composed.

Kara wanted to lash out at the Sith. Kill her right where she stood. But what would that achieve? Probably with Kara dead and the Sith still having the last laugh as she couldn't think clearly anymore. What had just transpired had paralyzed the young knight. She had difficulty to keep standing as she fought back the tears. The woman who she had just struck had been helped by another civilian and was taken away. A lot of them were glaring at Kara, their eyes filled with understandable anger.

After a short while she softly spoke out to the Sith. “Are you done now?” Kara glared at the Sith and balled her fists, her eyes filled with both sadness and anger. “Or did you not have enough fun yet?”

“I think I did, but did you? You looked like you enjoyed cutting down those men.” Vivithe replied with a not so subtle grin. It was all to her credit that she had seen what she did see, as it often did with her, the plan went off without a hitch. She could feel glares from both Kara and Denso, unusual sights on Jedi. Part of her wanted to egg them into attacking her, if they were as emotional as she guessed then it would only push them further to embracing the Dark. But, that could easily spiral out of control.

“You’re a monster.” Denso stated.

“Yet you listened to the monster.” She replied with another grin.

Then the Sith Lord summoned actual guards down into the arena, each armed with blaster rifles. They roughly pushed the Jedi towards the exit, Lady Lansha following behind. The duo was escorted back to their cells, the trip near silent as neither one wished to speak after recent events.

~|17:45-17:47 GST |~
~|Khan, in his bunk in the the Prison Complex (Aurek)|~

Khan was still fuming in a mix of sadness and frustration at being unable to prevent Koren from being taken away, even if Xid was at least no longer in danger of being killed through excessive torture. Still, it had hurt seeing a newfound friend and ally taken away to be interrogated and hurt for what had seemed as much that arrogant Sith's own enjoyment as any pressing need for actual information. Still, when he found his leg prodded by a little droid that had apparently sneaked out from somewhere he looked down at it curiously enough. He tried to make all of his movements less than obvious and mainly look with just his eyes.

"Huh? Hi little...droid thing. What do you want?"

It was sort of cute in a weird looking way, though droids were always a little odd to him because he couldn't read their stances properly or any sort of emotional content off of them. He stooped to seemingly fix his footwear and scooped the droid up to get a better look. The only Jedi prisoner he knew of who might own and make a customized droid like this, so that seemed like a good place to start.

"Are you Xid's droid?" A little leg-thing seemed to move in an affirmative along with a series of beeps, drones and whistles he didn't understand.

"Well um, I'm sure whatever you're trying to say is important but I can't understand you." He looked around cautiously and let his voice carry a little "Um..can anyone here understand droids? Like...the beeping, whistling kind?"

Hopefully, someone would be around to translate for the droid.

The ache in Jayda’s body had long since numbed, either healed or worked so much she couldn’t feel the damage her movement was doing, as she skirted along the corridors. Her boots made a light thump with each step while she aimless ambled through them. It didn’t help she lacked familiarity and so one of the paths she was currently happened to lead her back to the place she disliked the most. At least, she blamed the lacking sense of direction. Deep down, she knew there was idle and unacknowledged thoughts which only one other person could answer. A prisoner by the name of Nazca.

Jayda huffed quietly under her breath, clearing her discomfort. Why couldn’t the world be simple? A question she had asked herself over and over, without any real progress in the answer. Shortly she found herself stalled at the lift just when Corr and prisoner appeared in the opening door, her eyebrow arched in question before it dissolved. Her jawline tightened in disapproval though she didn’t say a word, fully submitting that maybe Corr and Sish had more in common than she originally assumed. It made sense after all.

“That didn’t take you long to follow Sish’s orders.” She spoke in a bland tone, empty of any hint of her current irritation.

Corr shrugged and said simply “What can I say? I’m a go-getter. Jayda this is….uh, what’s your name again?” Corr could briefly remember the jedi telling him his name, but he couldn’t seem to recall what it was. Maybe he should start listening more when prisoners speak.

“I’ve already introduced myself to you, you should take a lesson from that. It’s bad manners to need to ask for someone's name when they’ve already given it to you.” He merely shook his head in mock disappointment. He then offered his hand, in distinct kindness and politeness to the Zabrak standing in their way speaking with his current captor.

“Koren Omi-Ren, Jedi Watchman at your service. If this Sish is the trandoshan whom I fought on Coruscant, next time you see him could you kindly ask how his eye is doing?” He flashed a smile at the Zabrak.

Jayda bit her lip but didn’t take his hand, wishing he hadn’t told her his name. It things more difficult as now she had a name to the ‘object’ which no longer made the Jedi objective, but subjective in her mind and harder to swallow her disgust when she tortured them. She closed her eyes a moment to clear away the anger of her situation from her mind, trying not to think of her father, before she then spoke. “So, you took his eye and likely involved in the earlier riot within the prison?”

She kept her tone cold, putting a wall, and opened her eyes to examine the man in front of her. He was also the Jedi she noted was holding back when it came to climbing out of the pit within the arena. Mentally, it surfaced to mention this to see his reaction but she decided to wait. “You really shouldn’t be so friendly to those who currently are assigned to turn or kill you should you prove unable to be useful.”
Corr raised an eyebrow, sensing something off about the Zabrak. At this last statement, Corr smiled and put an arm around Koren “I don’t know, I find it kind of enjoyable. We need to keep our spirits up in these trying times.” He laughed cruelly and noticing Jayda was in the way, he said “If you would move, I have business to attend to. Unless of course, you would like to join?” He thought about the strange sense she had given off, and wondered if she would deny his offer.

Koren tucked below Corrs arm, moving the best he could to face him. “Actually-” He addressed this to both Corr and Jayda. “There is nothing wrong with being polite. Different ideologies are no way to hate one another. After-all we aren’t the only two organisations to utilize the Force in the Galaxy are we? We seem to get along with the others alright.” He flashed them a smile.

“However, Corr, I must say you are being awfully friendly for someone who doesn’t even remember a name. I wonder just how much you would remember if you did somehow manage to get me to spill my guts. Perhaps I could suggest some memory exercises instead?” He threw a friendly wink at Jayda. “I must say Sabacc, Pazaak or even holo-chess would be a good use of your time with me.”

“Considering the Sith blew up your temple, captured you and who knows what else the Darth is intending for you and your comrades. I think the evidence screams differently. Why else would they’ve gone through the trouble if there wasn’t any bad blood between the Sith and Jedi over the details? So your statement isn’t exactly correct.” Jayda commented, her eyes turned to Corr as she noted the mockery in the action. She then added in a slight curious tone. “Depends, are you like Sish and going to mangle the prisoners? I believe the Darth, and even Sish reminded you, that there is certain rules that aren’t allowed? Carry them too far, you could kill him…”

The mention of memory was noted, though she wasn’t keen on mentioning her knowledge of them. Even worse, it bothered her to hear about them from a Jedi and Sish’s accusation rippled in her thoughts causing a bit of anxiety to rise in her hearts. Slowly, she stepped to the side to lean against the wall and allow Corr and Koren, her mind now unable to pry the name from the man, through.

“Let’s hope you’re not as reckless as the Lizard because you two seem to show more and more in common the more I see you.”

Corr just smiled and patted Koren’s shoulder as he said “Oh trust me, my dear Jedi, I remember what counts.” He had to silently commend Koren for being so cocky in the face of pain and possible dismemberment, though it did slightly irritate Corr. No matter, he would soon change his tune. He turned to Jayda at her warnings and said “I am in the business of extracting information and investigation, so I know prisoners are more useful alive than dead, do not worry.” Corr silently wondered if she was informing for his sake or for the Jedi’s. She seemed rather reluctant to let them pass and when the Jedi revealed his name, he sensed her brief anxiety. Corr’s eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about this and he moved forward, putting his hands behind his back as he walked past Jayda. He made his way down the stairs from the lift and turned into the hall, walking towards the torture room, his footsteps echoing along with the others. He stopped in front of the torture room door and waved his hand, the force opening it. He stepped to the side, waiting for the others to enter.

There was a sense of conflict within the Zabrak, and at the mention of memory a spike of anxiety. Had he been in a better state he may have pressed to find the root of it, as it was however he was a prisoner and he also was not alone with her. Though she seemed far more willing to participate in civilized conversation than the Sith. So he would focus his attention on her for the moment, the brains of the operation and maybe even the heart… or twin heart if you wanted to be specific. Depending on her particular subspecies.

“There is bad blood, yes. Conflict in opinions is all. You know what though? This fight has went on for thousands of years. In the end the Galaxy will have lost both orders and thousands of lives. I ask, what is so worth the death of billions of innocent beings throughout the Galaxy?” He nodded as he followed Corr, leaving her to think on that as they entered the room.

“Though I suppose I’m here to answer your questions.”

Jayda had a feeling the man was likely to be killed within the first hour if his attitude and relax nature was any indications. Her intelligence screamed to leave the pair to their task, instead of getting involved. Despite this wise advice, she knew at some point Sish was going to push her into torturing the Jedi whether she wanted to or not. Submitting to her least favorite idea, she twisted around in place to follow the pair a fair few steps behind like a silent shadow.

“That might be so, but it clearly wasn’t a minor thing.” Jayda retorted, noted Corr was heading to the training area designed for the Sith. She stood at the side, a spectator to the events about to occur.

Corr watched as Koren entered the room, the troopers flanking them staying on either side of the door. There was a chair in the middle of the room, chains towards the back, and tools that would make Sish squeal in delight lining the walls. He looked at Koren and studied him, wondering how he could break a man like this. Cocky, polite, thinks his only disadvantage is not knowing a name. Corr decided it would be best to cover a physical basis, to see his tolerance to pain. He turned towards the walls, his eyes scanning the various devices silently. None of these tools, while efficient, could convey the true power of the dark side to this Jedi. Corr decided he would have to go with a favorite of his. He suddenly and viciously turned to Koren, pouring all of his anger and hate into his concentration. His father, for ignoring his presence save for one time and that time was to gloat and be disappointed. The Jedi, for spreading weakness through the galaxy and having a detestable air of smugness. And this Jedi, assuming he was better than Corr, an assumption which will soon prove false.

Corr let out a blast of electricity from his fingers, the crackling spears heading right towards Koren.

Korens touch on Tutanimis was no more than the basics in the sense of ‘this blaster bolt will not kill you but it will if you don’t receive medical attention’ and kind of regretted going on to learn to make illusions instead of advancing his study in this field more. There was a little note to self here, but in the end hindsight was a wonderful thing. Without a second thought he decided on a course of action, albeit it wasn’t the option he liked the most but he would prefer not to be hit by lightning. Having sensed and opening with, and not wanting to anger, the Zabrak he resorted to grabbing both the troopers in the Force.

He then pulled them in, as he himself took a step backwards. The two of them were hit by the lightning, their armour would prevent any permanent damage thankfully. As they fell Koren without paying any attention to the Sith kept his hold on them as he lowered them gently to the ground. No need to add insult to injury after all.

He looked down at the two troopers. “I am sorry-” He then turned to look up at Corr. “-You know. That one is on you, and with all the trouble Sith have been getting the guards into so far… I don’t think either of them are going to thank you for it later.”

Jayda held back a soft laugh in her throat. She was leaning against the wall and positioned her body comfortably, eyeing the scene unfold. Corr decided to attempt a cheap shot which didn’t work well in his favor, a fact the Jedi was able to move and use his force was an obvious obstacle. It was careless on his part as she shook her head then spoke.

“Not bad for a Jedi, through wouldn’t moving be less… harmful in general?”

Corr growled as he saw the Jedi use the troopers as a shield. He thrust out his hands, grabbing the troopers with the force and shoving them to the side, sending both of them tumbling toward the walls. “Indeed, most impressive. But those troopers have little in the way of defense against the force, as Jedi never attempt to delve into their minds as a Sith does. I wonder, if you have the same issue.” The troopers now out of the way, Corr shot his hand out into a clawed formation, forming a hand of anger with the force, it’s fingers closing towards Koren’s neck. Corr felt the boundaries of the Jedi’s mind and will and used his own to smash against them, attempting to break through and hold the jedi in his iron grip.

Koren outstretched his hands, one to either side as the troopers went tumbling towards the wall slowing them down to prevent further injury. Before Corr had a chance to make his next move Koren instead responded to Jayda. “Except I didn’t really have maneuvering room, or a way to quickly knock them out and get them out of the way. Your friend here did all the work for me-” As Corr then walked towards him and shot his hand out Koren could feel his throat begin to contract the Force to push back before moving into a roll over his left knee.

Coming out of the roll he stretched his hand to one of the troopers blasters, which then flew directly into his hand. Letting loose a couple of bolts towards the Red Sith, which he would no doubt block, he then winked at Jayda and then dropped the blaster, standing up again as he finished. “I hate to make you look bad on front of your fellow Sith here Corr, but come on. You need to bring your A-Game.”

Jayda looked to Corr, part of her not caring, as she considered getting involved. She weighed the reasons and options, feeling disappointment at Corr’s performance. In reality the Jedi was making the situation harder in the end as either Sish or the apprentice would end up tearing him up. Already less than a minute in and things had already escalated to a point she felt needed to be contained.

Casually she slid off the wall, ignoring her still healing wounds, and spoke in a firm voice. “Corr, restrain the Jedi or I will. I don’t like being forced to clean up messes.”

Thankfully none of the blaster shots came her way but that didn’t make her any less tense, expecting one shot to at least graze the stupid apprentice. She took one step toward the Jedi to make her threat more clear to the male Red Sith, hoping he would be more clever with his tactics then brazenly act like Sish. It was doable for him since physically he was more powerful but for an apprentice, namely him and her, it was less plausible without years of development.

Corr ignited his lightsaber and swiftly deflected two of the blasts, the third he tilted to the side the heat from the bolt searing the fabric of his clothing. He used the force to lift up the blasters, bringing them towards him as he sliced upward, destroying them and letting them clatter to the ground. “Faith Jayda, you must have faith. Though he is a slippery one.” Corr used the force to grab the troopers by his feet and slid him towards himself. He stepped over them and de-ignited his lightsaber. “I am becoming less patient with you, Jedi. So in order to avoid any further complications, answer me this. Where are the hidden Jedi enclaves. As I’m sure you know, we’ve destroyed a number of them in this war. But there are still a few that eludes that need...tying up.” Corr took another step forward and let his dark presence radiate off him through the force, waiting for an answer.

Koren merely shrugged as he walked his way to the chair, giving Jayda a polite nod as he did so. He didn’t strap himself in but he was seated. It was strange really, being on the other side of the interrogation for once. Though he knew for a fact the Sith were more willing to resort to… more painful methods of interrogation than he had ever used it was also important that he remain in control of the conversation, be it through cockiness and quick wit or actual intellectual conversation.

The first was more fun, but not always practical. “I am a Jedi Watchman my fellow, I am given a world to watch over. I look for potential candidates to become Jedi and I help keep peace and order on said planet. Think of me like a fancy police officer, my fallback location in the event off a major attack on the world I am stationed on is Coruscant. I know a handful of other temples at best, and none of them are exactly secrets.-” He crossed his legs but then leaned forward as he had a sudden realization. “-Also in the course of my duties I do not learn any Republic military protocols or tactics, nor do I know any secret codes or secret bases.” He leaned back in the chair again.

“Sorry.”

If it wasn’t for the fact Corr and Koren could easily see her, Jayda would’ve smacked her face with her palm. This dialogue was reminding her more and more of Jakali, who was killed by Sish, causing her to mentally groan. It seemed she wouldn’t have to kill him after all as when Sish learned this, a fact she was going to make sure, Corr might end getting a lesson in how to control a Jedi and not one he would enjoy.

The Jedi’s reaction surprised her when he shrugged and willingly decided to sit in the chair, going through with the interrogation. If it could be called that. Through it saved her a lot of trouble, personally. She still wasn’t up to her best and fighting the Jedi would’ve ended up causing her more damage, slowing her recovery time. Sish would not like her being put on the sidelines for very long, something she didn’t like herself, while she merely watched Koren settle in. He began without a problem into giving the information he felt was necessary and what she suspected was harmless toward the Republic or the Jedi order.

“Surprised you actually cooperated, Jedi.” Her body trailed back to lean against the wall, relaxing as she considered calling a medical staff to retrieve the fallen troopers. At least the blasters were destroyed enough they wouldn’t fire off any unexpected shots, she mused inwardly. She turned to Corr, and added. “Maybe politeness has its perks with this one? As for Faith, show me a reason to have it and you will.”

Corr studied Koren as he sat in the chair and Corr thought about locking the restraints in, but he figured it would be too much trouble and he didn’t fancy the slippery little bastard making him seem like a fool with that too. Corr listened as he paced in front of the Jedi. He had an irritating feeling that he was telling the truth. He thought silently as the Jedi finished talking.

A watchman, assigned to a planet. No knowledge of other bases. Of course not, Corr doubted the Jedi masters would leave such an important piece of information with him. Especially if, as this watchman, he never left the planet. But then again...Corr could tell force would not win this Jedi over, which annoyed him to no end.

He went over to the wall intercom and mashed down on the button “Send some troopers to Interrogation Room 1 and a medic.”

He turned back to Koren with an irritated look. “Very well Jedi, I’ll believe you for now. Though I would love to sit here and play Pazaak with you or whatever foolish game you play, I’m afraid I simply don’t have the time.” Corr so wanted to leave Koren with a scar, but that would do nothing but prevent any further information.

Koren raised his hands in an exaggerated shrug. “We’re all sentient beings here. All just doing the work for the benefit of the Galaxy. There’s no reason to dislike eachother simply over a difference in belief. As I said, it doesn’t get us anywhere.” He turned to face Corr.

“I’ll be honest with you, Pazaak isn’t my game of choice. Now Sabacc, that’s a card game. Truly entertaining.”

Jayda spoke to Corr first, tempted to rile him up, but resisted as she decided to remind him about Sish. “What was the point of taking him at all? That will be Sish’s first question and a wrong answer will give you a ‘lesson’.”

She considered showing him what to expect, but she was sure from their last order Corr could figure it out himself. Sish was cruel and sadistic, a fact that no Jedi or Sith could deny. Her attention turned back to Koren with a simple head turn then continued the conversation. “It’s the nature of all living creatures to fear and hate what they don’t understand. So while you might believe you’re making a positive point, it doesn’t change the fact it will always happen and nothing changes that. Besides, isn’t there something in your code or teachings to prevent working with Sith?”

Her tone was a bit arrogant, her tone hard and sharp in thought over the fact her father might’ve been a Jedi like the one before her. It too much to believe or accept. Her fingers instinctively tightened when she crossed over her arms on her chest, listening for the Jedi’s answer.

“There is nothing in the code that prevents me from co-operating no. For as long as the co-operation does not endanger the lives of anyone else or their belief systems.” He eyed her with curiosity. “What many Jedi and Sith fail to understand that our roots are connected, and that several hundred if not thousands of years ago our paths separated into two. Since then the Jedi and the Sith, Empire and the Republic have fought dozens of times. Millions have died in the crossfire or for a cause they truly don’t understand.”

He leaned forward, he grabbed the front of the arms of the chairs as he leaned forward to prevent him from straining his back. “Perhaps I am being polite in the hope that this war will end, and end in such a way that will allow peace and freedom to once again become commonplace throughout the Galaxy. “ He leaned back in his chair again. “Though I may just be an idealist, but while the Republic-”

Who betrayed me, who left me abandoned and to burn and die on a world that had provided them aid through this war and all those before-

“-Is not perfect. The Empire is not much better, and so-” He pointed between him and Corr. “-The two sides end up fighting.”

Corr leaned against the wall casually as he listened to Jayda before replying “As I’m sure you’ll learn, I rarely do anything without a reason. And even though our Jedi friend had no information considering the war, he has already told me much.”

He listened to Koren speak, he thought about his words. It was true, the origins of the Sith were Jedi who rejected their weak teachings and broke off. But it was also an idealistic hope that the war would end peacefully. “I’m afraid your breath is wasted, for one side cannot peacefully exist without the destruction of the other. And from where I’m standing, that is the republic and the Jedi. So in the end, you have two options. Join or Die.” Corr stated simply.

“Whether you will cling to your weak beliefs is entirely up to you. Well, until it isn’t.” Corr allowed himself a chuckle as he heard a knock on the door and he mashed the button, the door sliding open to reveal two sith troopers and a medic, who saw the fallen troopers and exclaimed “What the hell happened!?” as he rushed in.

“I’m afraid these troopers got caught off guard, I would advise their sergeant be notified about their lack of awareness so it does not happen again.” The medic looked at Corr, though Corr could not tell his expression through the helmet, he could sense he was upset. Corr turned to the other trooper, “Soldier, help the medic take these two to the medbay.”

The trooper smartly saluted and stepped inside, grabbing the other trooper and dragging him out, the medic not far behind. Corr turned back towards Koren and said “I’ll escort you with this trooper back to the prison. Jayda, would you like to tag along?”

“I sadly don’t know much about the Jedi. Only about as much as I do about the Sith, save what Sish has manage to teach me and that was mostly pain, suffering and the strong survive. It’s the only way you can survive in this world as the weak will die eventually.” It hurt her saying those words, her mind shifting to her brother’s memory, and eyes seemed to soften by a source not stemming from the two. Her breathing inhaled while she followed up with more information.

“I can’t say the same about the Republic as I have the same basic knowledge due to being born on Iridonia. It was Republic aligned after all.” Jayda honestly replied to the Jedi, seeing little gain in being a liar. Through it bothered her greatly that her own father hid them from the Jedi, especially after what Koren said. It made little sense why now as her mind was filling up with new questions and no answers to satisfy her. No way to gain them in this situation either.

Part of the Zabrak was concern she was over analyzing everything and too desperate to fill in the blank left behind.

She turned to Corr as he replied in a soft, scoffing tone. “So far, I don’t see anything useful coming from this scene...”

...save for you looking like a fool. Jayda finished in her mind. Nevertheless, she didn’t intend to let her guard down due to her paranoid nature at being on the ship. She considered talking with the Jedi later when she wasn’t being watched like a mouse under a cat’s eye by either Sish or Corr. So far she had managed to avoid torturing the Jedi and if she was clever, she would continue until the end of this horrible trip. Sish couldn’t force her to hurt the Jedi if there no more left after all and their trip was over. Noting Corr hadn’t denied the origin story the Jedi uttered, she was slightly curious about it and mentally noted asking Zanna later over it. Maybe.

Her head jerked at the sound of the trooper’s knocking, her keen ears catching their sounds for a moment then discarded them quickly. She knew the source which made them unimportant. She wasn’t surprised at the medic’s reply naturally, holding back her correction on Corr’s account of the event and wisely kept her trap shut. Sish would likely view the tapes later and react rather violently for it. When he asked her to come along, she closed her eyes as if to ponder it a moment.

In truth she already made her decision when she watched the interrogation. “Very well.”

Starting to move, she immediately paused then looked back to Koren. Her eyes moved to study him and focused, choosing her words wisely when she spoke. She wasn’t expecting the Jedi to fully understand her. After all, he didn’t know she viewed his escape from the arena through the security cameras. “You did better than Nazca at least, but I might suggest you not hold back on this ship. It won’t help you much in surviving here. Much less your allies’ lives, and even Jedi can feel guilt for a short time.”

Koren looked at the guards as they entered, “You can apologise to them for me. Though their armour is much more attuned to protect their bodies from electrical sources than my robes. I wish them a speedy recovery.” With that he turned back to look at Corr. Eying him for a moment as he did so, weighing his words on the tip of his tongue before he bothered speaking them.

“I do not fear death, the only thing I fear is that this war continues and it pains me more than any physical damage you could do to know that you feel this war can only be won through violence. “ He bowed his head to Corr as he stood up. He then turned his attention to Jayda. She, of the two, appeared far more reasonable. At least as far as his current experience went that is the conclusion he reached in any case, from limited exposure. She could be worse than Corr for all he knew, playing the long game.

Still, risks had to be taken sometimes. “At any point, should you be interested in learning more about the Jedi I would be willing to enlighten you. Though know that this offer will only remain as long as your questions do not turn to anything that could be used to possibly turn any of my younger kin, as for Nazca-” He laughed, it wasn’t a fake laugh, but a good natural hardy laugh. “-You have to admit, while she may not be much of a Jedi yet she surely has fire in her heart and a good healthy spirit. Also-” He flashed her a coy smile. “-Who said I was holding back and it wasn’t part of the plan?”

He stood up and walked to the now open door where the trooper and Corr waited for them, saying no more. He’d let her think on that.

“War is always filled with violence, that’s why it’s so disliked.” Jayda stated calmly, her thoughts returned to the effects of the war and those she cared being thankfully not apart of it anymore. Well, most ot them she thought bitterly when she recalled Vebra’s alliance and choice. “And as kind as that offer might be, I may, merely to see if those Jedi morals remain during this trip. I’m sure you sensed the thickness of the atmosphere here and I don’t need to say anymore.”

Her thoughts lingered on Nazca as her spirit felt a respect and kindred toward her mainly since they were both survivors. Her tone held a hint of her thoughts in her reply. “She’s a survivor, what else would you expect?”

She remained at the side as Koren walked toward the door, then waited for Corr which allowed her one last comment. “Your actions speak louder than words so I thought I would give a suggestion. Remember that it could end up deciding if your friends live or not, and if you get to see them suffer while it happens. Don’t say I never made the warning clear.”

Koren turned to the Zabrak with a pensive look. “If you are going to cause pain, you will cause pain no matter what information I disclose. While you, or another Sith, may offer to stop should I disclose some valuable information is not important. Any pain inflicted will be on my conscious, for all Jedi are willing to make the sacrifice for the benefit of all other beings within the Galaxy. If a Sith is to cause pain to someone they cannot do it in my name, and even then I cannot disclose information that I do not have.”

He shrugged as he entered the turbolift to the prison and bowed at his two Sith captors. “This turbolift only goes to the prison block, I am sure you have other duties to attend to. If don’t trust me to go to the right place then by all means, wait here or come with me. However, I wouldn’t want to waste your valuable time.”

Corr entered the turbolift silently, listening to Koren and Jayda. He mashed the turbolift button and waited as it erupted to life. Whether or not Jayda realized it, the Jedi had given them information through his actions in the room. And he intended to exploit them. Lord Sish would want to hear about it, of that, Corr was sure.

“I think it’s best if one of us does, else it would be hard to explain. You likely understand how Sith work so I don’t need to explain the details.” Jayda stated as she leaned back against the turbolift, her eyes staring forward and looking inattentive. Granted her own knowledge was more lacking but even she knew an unescorted prisoner would bring her more trouble. In a bitter humor, her mind drifted to the young padawan she met earlier and wondered if he would be there. Even worse came the concern about his condition causing her to shudder visibly, shaking off the thought and press her back tighter against the wall.

When the turbolift started to open, her eyes flickered up and she started to move before Corr could. Her hand darted out to gently give Koren a slight force push with a considerable note of strength. However it wasn’t her full effort or the man would’ve likely been injured. Considering Sish’s experience, she wasn’t too eager to follow his example because of some silly assumption.

Koren leaned into the push, letting it take him forward and out of the lift. He was kind of tempted to land on his face just in pure spite of Corr. Though decided against it, using the Force and his training he managed to right himself though landed on his left leg harder than he would have liked. A sharp shot of pain travelled up his leg and he winced slightly, though he didn’t really register it until afterwards where he wasn’t really sure if he had winced or not.

He’d rather he hadn’t, or if he had that neither of the Sith had picked up on it. Though sadly if he had winced he was sure they would have picked up on it. He turned around and then offered them both a bow. “It has been my pleasure to educate you both on this occasion. I know that should you have any further questions that you will not hesitate to ask.”

Corr watched as Koren struggled to keep his footing, pushed by Jayda.

Slowly the Zabrak leaned over near the edge, her feet stepped inches from the edge and studied Koren, her body leaning over to see if her force push had been too much. Wondering if her suspicions were false about the older Jedi holding back, she felt a sudden jerk of the force which sent her sudden out of the door. Her guard was down for a moment and had given Corr an opening he needed to allow him to get a head start. Jayda hissed a curse in Ul'Zabrak as she slammed her fist against the closing gates with a harsh thump, hating herself for letting her guard down.

He made sure that Jayda and Koren were out of the lift and mashed the button, the turbolift doors sliding shut. It was time to report to Lord Sish.