Private A Broken Relic

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The senior sister let her exasperation show through the slow drop of her form atop the wall. Hand signals quick and concise as she informed Phalsi of her impending encounter.

Grimacing behind the Mask, she let out a breath before remembering that she could in fact do something about this. She was a fething jedi after all.

Focusing through the force, the wind whipped up further ahead of the assorted goons, a dangerous game given the lack of sense with them being so far down the way. Guesswork and luck managed to tip something from its pedestal from what was now behind the goons. The sister titling her head slightly with a small nod to Phalsi at the action.

She was thankful that she'd still worn her Mistryl Underarmor, producing the dual electro-whips as she opened her limited senses to the approaching goons. She only needed a second. The electricity hadn't yet poured into the whips as she willed another gust of wind to whip up down another access hall off to the goon right side.

She just needed a second.

 

[Acaadi]

More commotion. Acaadi had his hands held up. He could sense the Force at play, but he knew his time was limited.

He considered letting them subdue him and placing his faith in Phalsi. There had been plenty of instances of a poorly maintained stun blaster killing outright. It would be a big risk.

Sensing a threat behind him, Acaadi reacted with the Force. Several blasters were yanked from their owners. In the small space, it was suddenly chaos. His lightsaber was lit but flung upwards.

Acaadi dove for the ground as his lightsaber cut through the light strips above. Darkness was his protection but a stun ring clipped his left shoulder as he went down.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The chaos she was sewing seemed to be working as the audible pause in steps came down the hallway. But then chaos not of her making erupted down the hallway. And a particular sound caught her attention. Made the fine hairs on her body rise and gooseflesh chase the zing of lightning through her.

The senior sister could see the sudden shift in demeanor from her position. Nearly finished with her silent sign language as the wind erupted through the hallway like a gale torn from a turbulent gas giant. The clothing clung to her body as the dual electro whips snapped open and crackled to life.

The Lightsaber hiss and the sudden darkness in the corridor.

The Force sang with life as she kept herself in check through its presence. Pushing against the limits of her senses to feel for Acaadi. For the reassurance that he was alive.

The waspy hiss of a Stun bolt reaching out for the body.

She'd seen them first hand. Heard them dance as a scampering brat through the alleys and hidden places on Emberlene. Had watched kids drop as though suddenly asleep. Some not waking till much later and the consequences of such. Her focus had shattered and reformed. A splintered pattern of what had been a hope of as little excitement as possible.

The right whip went high, dancing across the light strip and shorting out the whole of the corridor further. She spun across the floor where she had hid, coming out low to the ground as she squinted and nearly closed her right eye. Subtle body gestures to engage the night vision in her mask. The crackling electrical whips bright against the green she now viewed everything through.

The first body around the corner aimed for the whips in their surprise. A bolt flying as she snapped her left hand back and forth. The very tip glancing across both arms before she leaned forward into a dash. The first had yet to come out of the sudden attack. Their stuttering form between them and their backup as the right whip danced along the corner of the walkway.

Showering sparks of lingering electricity in its trail before bowing forward and around the first form that slowly fell backwards like a great tree freshly felled. The whip cracked and crackled, lashing out against the next as she picked up speed forward and let her gaze fall to the group ahead of her.

The mask she wore didn't silence the sound of her anger. Throwing even more sound down the way as her banshee scream was marred by static as the vocalizer struggled to produce the sound. The dual whips the only light besides the soft glow of her mask. Each whip dancing in concert with one another as she ran forward.

Something between rage and anxiety driving her.

 

[Acaadi]

Jedi control took concentration. Acaadi didn't have much left to spare in the chaos. He was down on the ground, trying to filter out the pain down his left side and remain silent.

His left arm was numb, useless. His plan to scrabble to safety along the ground like a worm defeated. Acaadi rolled and dragged himself along the ground.

Enforcers turned on torches. Turning the beams through the dusky air as they pointed blasters at one another in panic.

"Where is he?"

"Damnit!"

"Up?"

One of them tripped and fell. They tripped over Acaadi's ankle and fell on top of him.

"Hey!" She yelled out. Realising what she had landed on, she struck out at his head.

Acaadi shielded himself from the blows with one arm. He tried to find some purchase to get back to his feet and rush for a door.

The cry from outside grew in volume and Acaadi knew, without any doubt, that Phalsi was coming back for him.

Light stole his vision. A torch and blaster pointed down at him. Acaadi had to accept a few punches so he could focus on reaching out with the Force, grabbing that blaster and tossing it into the shadows.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The lights ahead flickered on. Concentrated things that partially blinded her in their panicked searching. One flickered over a body on the ground and promptly she witnessed the actions that made her blood boil. The already fractured control over her feelings thinning to the point she could almost hear the strain of that cord.

A blaster pointed down found that tenuous thread snapped as her darkened form leapt forward. Debris and flotsam rising as the gale churned harshly. Whipping loose hair and clothing up and every which way. She spun, the chaotic twirl of the force around her lending to the long forgotten bitterness and anger she had felt as a young child to those peace keepers on Emberlene.

The forms blurred between memory and reality. Acaadi was on the ground, like one of those brats that she had run with so very long ago.

She couldn't separate the two at the moment. An unknown feeling churning the anxiety into a wedge against her better senses as her feet shot forward into a body. The momentum of a force driven body through the air against a standing being a gate crashing experience as the unknown was tossed backwards violently.

Whiplash at the unexpected as she watched the helmeted peacekeeper fold into the blow. No. Gangster. Everything was trying to blur together as she followed through the motion and rolled into the fold of guards. Lights partially blinding her as she swore she felt rain pelt her skin. Which wasn't possible with the clothing she was wearing.

The whips danced again, faster than the torches could spin to find the source. To find that kid on the ground. Lance's of crackling energy needing only a few seconds to Stun the bodies beneath them. Bodies stock still as the twin tendrils left their victims drawn tight like a bowcaster string.

Muscles flexing at the sudden false signal before finally relaxing as though overworked. Bodies crumpled around her as the near senseless dance of lightning laced whips finally stilled.

She wheezed, trying desperately to catch her breath while the place between reality and memory made her body switch between fight or flight. Unable to escape the situation without condemning someone to an unknown fate, but unable to separate old from new as the senior sister dropped in to finish what the younger mistryl had started.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi kept his head down, as what felt like a primal force of nature flew past above. He rolled onto his back, drawing the Force close. With only one good arm he knew he would be vulnerable as he stood up.

Acaadi pressed his back against the wall. Cold steel was reassuring. He used it to push himself to his feet as light whips arced back and forth across the room.

Where Phalsi was a force of nature, another slipped into the room like a shadow to tidy up. Of course they had been followed.

Only the droid was left, impassive in one corner of the room. Acaadi had drawn the Force to him and he used it in one final act of defiance. The head of the droid slowed caved in upon itself.

He could hear Phalsi's breathing. Something in the maelstrom of the Force felt off.

"Hey," he said. He pushed himself off the wall, but stumbled and reached out to grab a pipe to steady himself. His head swam, but he rode it out. He just needed a few seconds to shake off the blows to the side of his head.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The elder sister checked pulses, before moving onto the droid and sinking a blade into the circuitry and tearing it apart with a frown at the crushed cranium.

Phalsi had doubled over, rasping breath making her shudder as the whips flickered into silence beneath her. Her arms unable to push her upright as she tried to reconcile the now. Tried to bring herself back from that sense of guilt that tore away the force from.her in that moment.

The words from Acaadi breaking the dam inside as she sobbed against the floor beneath her. The boys face slowly fading as she let go of the lingering guilt with each forceful sob. The maelstrom of energies around her carefully quieting as she leaned back, hugging herself.

"I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't help. Then. A kid. I was. Was." She gasped with each word, trying to exorcise the past that lingered in the now. A white knuckled grip against her arms to fend off more memories as the elder sister finished her rounds and cautiously approached them both.

Her gaze falling to Acaadi first.

"Can you walk?" The sister asked, kneeling within arms reach of them both and offering a steadying hand to him.

 

[Acaadi]

"I'll walk," Acaadi replied firmly.

He took the offered hand for just long enough to stedt himself. The room stopped moving around him.

He felt a stab in the palm of his left hand and then across his fingertips. Sensation was returning after the stun ring had clipped him. He tried to open his hand and then close it into a fist, but his fingers only flexed a small amount.

"Phalsi?" he asked, tone turning to slight distress at seeing her still down. "Are you hurt?"

He stretched out with the Force towards her. Still not fully appreciating the situation, he started to pat down her armour with his good hand, looking for a sign of injury.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The Sister nodded to him, helping him stand before moving to Phalsi as the girl slowly rocked back and forth and muttering sharp words between gasping breaths. The feeling that returned to Acaadi would be akin to an empty vessel. Missing whatever was held inside as she didn't even register his hands or words.

"I'm sorry. I'm. So. So sorry." The words coming out in a sob as she shuddered and fought the tangle of emotions that lingered behind the memories she was pushing back.

The feeling that slowly rose above the rest was guilt followed closely by shame.

The Sister knelt down beside the two as she scanned the area, sighing as her words came out like a hidden blade.

"You've no one to feel sorry for child. Except us if you don't stand and move. Locals will come to see what's happened. Stand. We need to leave." She hissed, hooking a hand beneath Phalsi's arm and trying to hoist her up.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi was left stunned, watching the sister try and get Phalsi to her feet without his help. It wasn't the injuries he had taken, but the state he found Phalsi in. She wasn't wounded and he didn't understand what was going on.

He gave a sharp shake of his head, getting himself to move before the sister could chastise him. He briefly cast a glance over the other sister as he hooked his right arm under Phalsi's.

They had been followed again, but that was a question for another time. His left hand twitched as he placed it on Phalsi's shoulder. Between them, they lifted her to her feet.

"We're all alright," he whispered soothingly.

They had chosen a corner of the industrial back corridors with only one entrance to trap the young jedi. The way forward was clear until they were approaching the busy markets.

"To our ship?" he asked, expecting an answer from the older sister.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The Sister did not chastise him.

Though it was plain that the thought has crossed her mind as he offered his help. The woman was as plain as they came to most. Someone that didn't stand out. Among the throngs of faces and bodies plying the station, just an average woman seeming to be bored with everything around her.

Phalsi meanwhile was barely responsive to either party. Her legs pedaled feebly in poor concert with Acaadi and the Sister. Her body moving only at the behest of her subconscious reaction to keep from being dragged along.

While not immediately effective, the soothing words created a small eye in the storm that rocked her.

Her legs moved in concert with them with ease after he spoke, and the Sister spied the milling bodies before glancing to Acaadi with a grimace.

"I do not enjoy the idea of being followed, but until things settle it would be easier. Lead the way." The cool words keeping the intense distrust of easy retreats from a dangerous situation. A question bubbled along the way from the Sister, unable to keep from glancing to the younger Mistryl between Acaadi and herself.

"Has this happened before?" Sudden and blunt words as the Sister noticed Phalsi staring beyond the floor that passed beneath them. The shine of wet eyes not yet releasing tears.

 

[Acaadi]

He wanted to have a suggestion for how to help Phalsi. He wanted to be able to say with confidence what they should be doing.

"No, no I haven't..." Acaadi trailed off. There was a tremble of fear in his voice. He had a layer of jedi control to keep his focus, but he wasn't very good at hiding what he felt.

There were exposed here. His left hand was still numb, sensation only returning in the form of sharp jolts of pain. It would be hard to defend Phalsi if there was an ambush.

"We're nearly there," he said in a hushed tone that was was Phalsi's benefit. No ambush came, but he knew their time was limited. There had been someone on the other end of that droid's commlink. Right now they could have been calling for reinforcements. Although it was entirely possible they had told the gang to hide whilst they tried to work out why they had a jedi problem aboard.

"Can you keel her safe?" he asked the older Sister as they approached the ramp. This was a pragmatic choice, not an emotive one. "I need to see if the docks have been told to embargo us, or if we can launch quietly."

If there was a lockdown, the launch would not be quiet.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

If she detected the fear, she said nothing of it. The Sister's face was stony on the matter and revealed nothing of her own feelings for the time being. Her face never moved from their goal, though her eyes never seemed to still as the sidelong glances seemed to keep those interested at bay.

The murmuring slowly quieted as Phalsi seemed to steady. Her breathing slowing enough to be comfortable rather than an exercise of panic. Her once limp hands gaining strength as they moved forward.

The force was still silent around her as though a container had been emptied.

The ramp was neared before Acaadi made a suggestion. The slight twitch of the Sister's eyes betraying her split second decision making. The deep exhale from Phalsi steeled the other woman however.

"Go and check. She might yet come round and make this escape easier for you both." The woman nodded, taking Phalsi to the side for the moment.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi took two quick steps towards the cockpit. He skidded to a halt. It was something in the tone of the mystral that held his attention.

He didn't understand how their organisation worked. That was the point. He wasn't comfortable with how closely they were watched, but it was the life Phalsi had chosen.

Acaadi didn't know this woman and he was rarely brave, but something in her tone made him bold. It made him think she was going to do something drastic.

"Be kind."

It was a simple message, but he squared up and made eye contact with the sister before stating it firmly. Half a beat and he turned and left, knowing that they had to get off this station quickly.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The woman narrowed her eyes briefly, and the faintest hint of a smile appeared before the blank and neutral gaze returned.

"She will not be harmed. She was far too kind to those imbeciles for my liking." The sister informed him, giving him a brief nod before watching him leave.

She did little more than sit down with Phalsi for the time being. The inner turmoil of her job against that of her instinct as she looked down to see her own daughter rather than the fresh face of their organization. Of what could become of her own daughter in their profession.

The sister softly rocking back and forth as the murmurs of a lullaby from Emberlene quietly left her lips.

The Sister sat, eyes never pausing as she rocked the young girl in her arms and thought of home for the time being. Thought of those she had not seen in some time. The tension in Phalsi slowly drained, that quiet calm amidst the storm slowly growing to more than a mere circle around her as the words flowed softly and brought her to a more pleasant place.

 

[Acaadi]

He felt a fear deep in his gut at the sight of that smile. Acaadi stood firm, knowing that he had pushed his luck with the the Mistryl. The Mistryl spoke, something Acaadi was grateful for. He turned on his heel and ran for the cockpit.

As the ship powered up there were no red lights to indicate that the station had tried to ue the slave circuit to lock them down.

"Going to beg forgiveness rather than permission," he muttered to himself.

He lifted away from the landing pad and slowly swiveled towards the open bay doors. Acaadi took a deep breath to steady his trembling hands.

It wasn't an after effect of the stun shot. He was frightened. They'd been through difficult situations before, but seeing her so distraught from no physical injury drew a line in his mind right back to the ship wreckage they had been trapped in. His heart rate was fast enough that he became aware of it.

"Strength over fear," he murmured, drawing that line back towards his training. His hands steadied.

---

"We're on the ground," Acaadi called over the intercom. "No one followed us and I don't think we've been scanned. I'm heading back there."

He didn't know what the next step was. Somewhere in this region was a secret sith prison. Right now, he didn't much care about the intrigue.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The Sister watched them go, helping Phalsi in with a touch more tenderness than she had showed the entire time she had been in their presence. A sigh escaping as she figured out her next task and wondered what her family was doing at the moment.

---

Phalsi kept her head in her hands, mostly steady now as she listened to him speak over the intercom. Leaning back, she steadied herself a bit more for the coming storm they had to deal with.

She'd been wholly unprepared for that mental trip. The sight of Acaadi on the ground from a Stun bolt shaking loose an old memory.

She'd explain later if they had the chance. If she remembered to. If she could. Looking over the duffle bag, she hadn't remembered grabbing it, pondering how many of the Mistryl Sisters were at the station as she held her hand out for Acaadi when he came back.

"I'm sorry. I...I can't explain right now but I'm steady. Let's get moving." She offered quietly, hoping he understood.

 

[Acaadi]

"Oh-okay," Acaadi replied, helping her to her feet. For now he was glad just to hear her talk, regardless of her assertion that she was steady now.

"I was worried. Don't know why I said that, you must have known," Acaadi said. He took a step back, facing Phalsi. He made no move to leave just yet. Rambling wasn't going to help, but he was still on edge. The layer of self control and calm was a thin veneer.

"To recap: we didn't get any leads, but we're both in tact. And some of your sisters are still on the station and might find something. We're planetside in the rough area where they might be a hidden sith prison, but it's a big area to search. That about it?"

"And, er, if we ever go on a holiday, they're not going to follow us there too right?" he asked, mostly joking to try and lighten the moment.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

He had agreed at least to her explanation. Even knowing she had told him that much she felt guilty about being too sore to explain it. But she didn't need to be as useless as she was then in the middle of a search for a Sith prison on an undeveloped section of the planet while being potentially hunted.

His comment about going on holiday and being followed had her laughing though.

"I don't know a planet that doesn't have a few sisters on it. They just...hopefully would leave us be." She shook her head at the thought.

Would likely have been similar event to the attempt at negotiations the Mistryl's had sent her on to the Confederacy. Which had been ridiculously short lived. Especially with their dissolution and the spread of force knew what along that stretch of space.

"I think I can put in a request for privacy though." The further mention to his joke somewhat based in reality. Stepping forward, she pulled him into a hug and spoke.

"I am sorry. For making you worry. I...it's an old memory that...I didn't expect to, I guess see...again. Ever. But that's for when we get back. I can't revisit that without another of all-" her hands vaguely waving behind him in her hug to drive home the point. "That business."

 

[Acaadi]

He squeezed her back. A tingle ran up his left arm from the tension in muscles that had been stunned before. He put that from his mind.

"You don't need to be sorry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said.

It wasn't quite what he felt. He really did want to know what had brought the attack on. Acaadi wanted to know both from curiosity and so that he would look out for it happening again. However, telling her there was no pressure felt like the right kind of boyfriend thing to do.

She felt nice in his arms. He had landed the ship in a relatively secluded trench below some hills. There was time to let their nerves settle, perhaps make love and rest for a time.

Before he could express such thoughts he felt a familiar tug at the back of his mind. Something he hadn't felt for some time. He let go of Phalsi and looked up.

It was the dark side of the Force. His hand curled into a fist at his side.

He wasn't given much of a warning. The sound of a ship's thrusters made the bulkheads vibrate. Acaadi turned and rushed from her embrace.

By the time he reached the cockpit the shuttle was already facing them. It slowly lowered itself towards the ground.