A Different Corner

[Connor Harrison]

About to speak, her last statement clicked and stopped him. A frown formed.

"Are you serious? That cost me a fair bit and my E-wing was part exchanged. It’s a fantastic ship I’ll have you know. You need to quit insulting me so much."

Again…a little slip. That was something “old” Connor would say, with a bit of front. Here, he was a mortal man before a Goddess. But the freighter was a decent craft, and it irked him she put his possessions down again.

Looking up, he sighed.

"Fine. I’ll sort it out. I guess it is a flying homing beacon for the Silver scum. And, as I keep saying, I value you both and I’m not going to turn you against the other or betray you or whatever."

He glared at Taeli for a few moments.

"What’s your problem with me. Can we get it out now, without any mumbo-jumbo. Did I do anything to hurt you or break your trust? I get the feeling me turning up doesn’t sit with your plan, or I’m some annoying womp rat that won’t go away. What did I do wrong, hm? If you don’t want me here, I’ll go, you don’t need to put up with me if you don’t want to."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"I, personally, do not have a problem with you Connor," she said, giving him an amused smile. "Bashing your ship just comes from the point that it's a competitor, and yes it is a bright flashing flare for the Silver Jedi to track your movements. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a tracking device of some sort on the ship after what occurred between you and Coci on Voss. Is this a slight inconvenience to me? Sure. I was expecting to find a Connor fully empowered in the dark side. Do I mind reigniting your full power? No, I don't mind at all."

She supposed since he asked, she might as well answer part of the unasked question as the ship began to go through start-up sequences and prepared to launch. A short answer anyways.

"You know the old adage, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," she said. "Is there some broken trust there? I will admit there is some. But I'm adult enough to move on from that and focus on the task at hand. I've never been one to indulge in petty revenge."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor actually recoiled slightly, face showing some shock.

"What? A woman scorned? What happened between us? That wasn't just MY doing. We both were torn apart on different paths as soon as things started to get interesting, so don't say you're scorned, that's rubbish. You never contacted me or anything."

He shook his head and walked away from the holocrons, looking at her, getting some of that old Connor confidence - or arrogance - back.

"I'm sure you've had many others since me, Taeli, so don't act like I broke your heart or anything. I was probably just a passing fancy on your dark path. A Sith toying with a broken Jedi for fun, and now look where we are. You've nothing to be all high and mighty about. You won. I'm here, asking for help, and can't even read you to give some smart-ass reply."

Blowing out a mild puff of air, he walked to the window and looked out.

"Let's just get going. Hopefully you'll talk to me a little less frostier."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"No, Connor, I haven't had anyone since then," she replied, eyeing him with some amusement as he tried to use bravado and arrogance. Not so easily used in his current condition. "Twice, it almost became something and then the next I see you... you would be with your next girl of the year. Both of those Lunelle sisters, that Zeltron, panting after my sister, even I suspect that Aria girl you mentioned. You can try and deny it, but you're a butterfly. You flit from one woman to another, charming them and drawing them in."

She gave a laugh as she started the ship up.

"I'm actually not angry with you for it," she continued. "In thought now, it actually is a useful trait for you. You can charm your way into the hearts of others, gain information, and then bring their world crashing down around them. And you've never needed to be able to read me to give a smart-ass reply. Your arrogance does that just fine by itself. But yes, we should be going. After you, Mister Harrison."

 

[Connor Harrison]

His fingers rubbed together in frustration, and he tried to laugh at her sounding like a jealous fool. He didn't move to her ship.

"Are you serious? My god, you're twisted. Chastity, yes, I had feelings for her. Setzi? No, she was a liability from the start. That...Zeltron...you mean Joza Perl? Again, I liked her but as a friend. Yes, she was there to help me....hang on, what the hell am I explaining myself to YOU for? You don't know what I did, or the circumstances? Aria Vale? Please. I have my limits."

Connor glared at her, and pointed.

"Don't you dare say I bring them pain. I never have. NEVER. Not intentionally, and even then from their pain I suffer too, more than you'll know. You watch what you say to me, and treat me with some respect."

He looked away. It was true, however, especially recently. Toying with those unaware of the darkness and planting the seed of doubt with the brush of his confidence and charm. Fat lot of luck that would bring now in his situation.

"Your sister. Well, didn't I get left with the rotten apple from the Raaf bunch. I loved Corvus like a fool. You did too. So don't go there."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

She couldn't help herself but laugh when he demanded her respect, when he said he never caused people intentional pain. It wasn't a pleasant type of laugh; there was a darkness behind it.

"And what exactly are you going to do, Connor, if you don't get the respect you think you deserve?" she asked, her expression showing some dark amusement. "Yes, I love both my sisters. Still do in fact. But you... you don't know what real love is. You never have, the Jedi don't train their students how to love. Throw away attachment, they say. And then when you do discover lust, you have no idea how to handle it. You don't know how to control your emotions, they dominate you. For instance..."

Her words hung for a moment, her eyes turning yellow as she wrapped the Force around Connor's throat and lifted him into the air.

"Listen here, and well, Connor Harrison," she said, deathly calm and all illusion dropped at the moment. "Stop acting like a petulant little child. I told you I wasn't angry or upset about what occurred, but you try and get a rise out of me. You demand respect, but you have done nothing to earn it. They say someone who says they are king is no king. The same is said for those who want respect. I am trying to help you reconnect with the dark side of the Force. I didn't have to do so. I could have wiped your memory and sent you on your way, to stumble through the night and terrors that await you. But no, I'm taking you to Dxun, to the tomb of Freedon Nadd, and Celestials above, maybe you finally learn to temper that arrogance and self-inflated ego of yours there."

She would let him go, dropping him back to the deck of the hanger. Without another word, she would ascend into her ship and wait for him.

 

[Connor Harrison]

About to protest at her words again, he stepped forward but was stopped by that awful feeling; one he couldn't try to counter.

The vice-like grip lifted him, the creeping fear of not being able to breath running through his body as he pushed at his throat. No Force power to fight it, he had to simply last it out. But it was unpleasant. It was scary. He looked down at her as she talked with little urgency. She was right. Of course she was.

The grip vanished, and he dropped back down, falling to one knee and gasping in air. A cold sweat clung to his brow.

Taking time to compose himself, he looked up at Taeli as she walked to her ship. Connor calmed himself and took a few deep breaths. The sooner this was over, the better. Soon, he could really begin his descent into greatness.

He stood, adjusted his collar and pushed back his cloak, sucking up his pride and slowly walking on board, to find a seat to occupy for the entire journey, and if he didn't have to speak, then that would be even better.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

As the ship took off from the station and made the jump to hyperspace, Taeli would give Connor his space to stew in his thoughts and emotions. In a way, he was lucky she was the one who had been 'teaching' him a valuable lesson about hubris and demanding respect. Most other Sith... well they wouldn't have been as restrained. She didn't see the need to humiliate him too much... unless he hadn't learnt the lesson yet. In that thought, an idea began to form in her mind. It would have to wait until after they entered the tomb and helped res-establish his full connection to the Force, but she would start giving him an education into why the Sith always seemed to have a better grasp of practical applications.

As a member of the GA's Educational Corps, she reviewed the lessons being taught to their upcoming Jedi, took care of the archives and all of that... and their was still a lack of actual practical world experience there. They still didn't teach their students how to handle their emotions, or any number of things that those who lived without the Force learned. Connor was now having a taste of how the majority of the galaxy lived... and she had lived for twenty years. If she lost the Force, she still had skills to use to make her way through the galaxy or to defend herself. She might rely on it now, as only someone who delved into the deeper secrets could, but she was not defenseless. Maybe Connor needed to learn that lesson as well. Dxun had a way of testing someone... in more ways than one.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor spent most of the time alone with his head in his heads, gently rubbing his temples. He was a mess. Not by choice, but by situation.

He was all over the place with emotions and feelings, and thinking one thing but then feeling another.

The sensation of Taeli’s Force grip around his neck had been scary, in all honesty. He had nothing to counter with or maintain his calm and strength. It was a moment when he felt most vulnerable.

And now he would either carry on the way he was and be cast out or killed for being inept, or swallow his pride and take what chance he had and become great again.

He ventured into the ship, ghostly quiet, to find her. Manually, with no Force aura to guide him. Peeking into open rooms along the passageways, he eventually found Taeli keeping herself to herself. She wasn’t facing him.

"I’m sorry for what I said before, Taeli. I didn’t set out to offend you. Or hurt you. And I apologise for that. And whatever pain I’ve caused you in the past."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

She didn't answer for a moment, her eyes closed as she listened to the currents around them. They would be arriving soon, she could feel it ahead.

"There's no need to apologize," she said, eyes still closed and still facing away from him. "As long as you learn from your experiences, that is all I ask. As for causing me pain..." she trailed off, shrugging as she turned to face him with her eyes open now. "...Xiangu is right in some respect. Pain makes us stronger in some ways, especially for Sith. It gives strength, reservoirs of power to draw on if you know how to. It would take a lot more than what you have done or said to truly offend me."

A chime sounded as the ship dropped out of hyperspace, and she rose to her feet.

"Speaking of learning from one's experiences, Dxun is such a world you have to be... aggressive or you will be a beast's next dinner. One thing you will learn about the Sith is that, for training, you're tossed to the wolves to see if you can fight them off or be torn apart."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor stood silent and still as she spoke.

He only swelled his chest a little more when she faced him. He was not going to let her down, or himself, or any of those who were giving him their time. This was the most crucial moment of his life and if he ruined it, he would never become anything great again.

Looking with his eyes at the stars as hyperspace bled away from them, he noted where they were, and looked back to Taeli.

"I will fight like my life depends on it. I told you, I don’t want to be me anymore. I want to be something greater, and whatever that takes, I’ll do it."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Then you'll get to prove that here," she stated simply, the ship traveling on autopilot towards her last landing site when she came here. It seemed so long ago and yet... it wasn't and it had been a rather profitable venture for her. With a shudder, the ship landed at the edge of a large lake and the ramp descended. Walking down it with him, she gestured towards the opposite shore.

​

"Connor Harrison, welcome to the tomb of Freedon Nadd," she said in a grandiose way. Her eyes shifted as she sensed some approaching creatures. Clearly her ship had agitated the local wildlife, oh darn. By the feel of it... a boma and its young were coming. Perfect then.

"Do you feel it? How the atmosphere of this place presses in on you? Hinting at the darkness? This entire moon is a microcosm of dark side power and philosophy. Only the strongest survive here," she said, not mentioning the approaching creatures. She could sense more coming.

 

[Connor Harrison]

He didn't say much as the ship came down, and simply stood and waited without acting arrogant or smart.

The ramp came down and dull light flooded in, along with the sound of nature in the air and water lapping on shores. Connor joined Taeli outside, faced with the mighty tomb. It was a tomb like no other, not even like ones on Korriban.

"That's a mighty looking structure," he said stepping forward, "and I feel...something. I can't place it. There's a chill. It's there...does that make sense. I know this place swells with the darkness. I can feel it but I can't...do you know what I mean?"

He turned to look at her, but she had a strange glint in her violet eyes. It was never a good sign.

"What's wrong?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"We have a welcoming committee," she responded just as a boma came into view. "Bomas must have picked up the vibrations as the ship landed. They aren't fans of electronic disturbances. Seems we have to kill a few things before we continue your rebirth."

​

"There were some maalraas coming, but I don't think they are going to make it," she continued, pressing a vibroblade into Connor's hands. "Now show me you can still deal with unpleasant obstacles, Connor." She would sit back and watch him deal the boma and the young bomas accompanying the adult.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connot followed her line of sight across the shore where they stood and noticed the beast plodding along close to where their ship had landed. It was the first time encountering one of those Bomas. As the vibroblade was pushing into his hand, Connor glanced at the weapon and gauged the weight in his hand for movement. While it was no lightsaber, that was something attuned to the Force - this blade was the weapon any man could use.

The slow speed and lumbering frame was an advantage he guessed, considering this would be a fight without the Force. The two young behind the parent were the last point to focus on; the mother, or father, was key.

Walking quickly around in a flanking tactic, Connor noted the Boma slowing to eye up the potential threat. He winced slightly at the size of the beast, but knew what he had to do. Standing still, he waited until the Boma was satisfied with the human standing a way off, and when it turned the thick hide towards the babies, Connor ran forward. The Boma snarled and turned, thick tail thrashing. And so with that Connor acted to run one way to warrant a snap from the Boma, but at the last minute stopped and changed direction to run around it the other direction.

That was all he needed to do, as the babies were snarling too in confusion. The parent turned to the babies, as Connor stepped up onto the beast form the other side and plunged the vibroblade down into the Bomba with precision at the soft base of the neck, and slice upwards cutting into the flesh and slicing numerous arteries and muscles. With a cry, the Boma roared and hunched forward, stumpy clawed feet collapsing onto the ground as it fell down dead with a last ounce of breath.

The two Boma young seemed to move together, and Connor rolled off the parent and used the blade to cut down the face and into the neck of each bast in quick succession.

One of the young beasts had a bit more life in him than the other, and slashed out to catch Connor's shin, collapsing down as he died but leaving a nice bloody cut on Connor.

By this point, he was holding his leg, wincing and kneeling down, blade in one hand, trying to counter the pain.

He glanced over to Taeli as he caught his breath.

"You just stand there, it's fine!" He was less than happy!

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"You had it sorted," she replied, shrugging as she walked past him in the direction of the tomb. She could sense him seething that she hadn't helped deal with the three bomas, and that was good. He needed to let those emotions sit, to become their master, and the pain would help too. Still, she had another reason for hanging back and that was to observe him without the Force in combat. "Plus, you needed to see for yourself that while you can't wield the Force truly, as of yet, you can still fight. Leave the bodies, the jungle will claim them soon enough. We have business to attend to."

She enjoyed the walk around the lake, breathing deeply as they neared the tomb itself. It was a powerful nexus of the dark side, always had been and always would be. It was, in a way, intoxicating... empowering. No other creatures came near yet, but they were there. Connor's brutal killing of those three bomas had given the other creatures in the area pause... and a free meal. She knew though that creatures in the tomb itself would not be so cowed. They would have been twisted in some ways by the dark energies that emanated from the structure.

"The ancient Jedi thought this tomb would be able to stop the spread of Nadd's influence and the dark side on the moon," she started to say as they walked. "They sealed his body and his descendants within it, using Mandalorian Iron for the door so no one could enter. They didn't count on Exar Kun or expeditious Sith, and they unleashed the dark side to stay on this moon. It was a lousy plan anyways. Jungle worlds, especially ones such as savage as this, will always be bastions for the dark. The Sith code personified in some ways in the creatures at the top of the food chain."

 

[Connor Harrison]

With a small laugh – because that’s all one could do with Taeli’s down to earth honesty – Connor pushed on the Boma as he stood, slipping the knife between his three brown belts and followed her. His legs were a little shaky, and his arms a little heavy. Either he wasn’t as fit as he’d expected, or he had relied on the Force so much as a fuel that now without it he started to really feel his bodies aches and pains, the ones that weren’t battle born.

Connor walked with her, looking at the imposing tomb as she spoke of the history.

"I’ve spent so much time trying to find relics in tombs like this, but never understood just what they really housed. It’s not just relics and tools, isn’t it. It’s the actual manifest of the Dark Side itself."

It started to make a bit more sense.

"You keep referring to the Dark Side as something more than just an alignment of the Force. The Light is empowering for those who trust it, but the Dark? To me it seems far powerful and true in what the Force stands for. As a weapon, and a tool, and a way of life."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Because the dark side of the Force is not just an alignment," Taeli replied. "The Force is in everything, as both orders teach, but they have different aspects to them. The light holds that peace and serenity are paramount, while the dark side thrives on individual strength and passions. In a way, the dark side represents that primordial need to be better, to be stronger, to control your destiny. Evolution in a sense, something that you are beginning to experience. Is it more powerful? That debate has raged for millennia and likely will outlive both you and I. However..."

She trailed off, a foot placed on the stone ramp that led up to the entrance of the tomb.

"Look around you and you can see what influences the dark side energies had on this place and the creatures that reside on this moon. A Jedi would say they were corrupted, tainted by the dark energies. They would be correct in a way, as the energies of the Force can influence how a species or society evolve. But this... this is magnificence, a true representation of how the dark side evolved these beasts into powerful creatures designed to stay on top of the food chain... just like how Sith are the very top of the pyramid. We are an apex predator, the culmination of what the dark side can create when it is harnessed and influences a people. Nothing here poses a serious challenge to a fully trained Sith."

She chuckled for a moment.

"I'm getting rather philosophical, my apologies. But you have to understand that this is what process you'll be going through. An evolution, one that through the means we are going, will be almost irrevocable."

 

[Connor Harrison]

It was starting to make much more sense as he walked, still wary of the environment around him, but feeling a bit more relaxed in general. He kept up with Taeli and set foot beside her, looking up and whistling at the tomb, giving her his attention between taking in the natural formation of the Force around them.

Her last few words make him physically shiver, and that brought him straight back down to earth.

Not that he didn’t care to be redeemed, for this WAS redemption, but because it was being teased as something that was closer in touching, and he was hungry for it.

"Do what you have to do. I trust you."

He stepped up onto the ramp of the tomb fully and indicated with his head.

"Come on," he smiled.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"I would recommend caution as we enter the tomb," she said, ascending the ramp with him up to the large doors that protected the tomb. They had been breached before, and that general feeling of darkness was now stronger than ever. Briefly, she recalled the last time she was here and being forced to work with Vaildra to obtain the holocron. The poor sap had never seen the betrayal coming, but such was the promise to a young acolyte that glory awaited them if they assassinated the man.

"If you happen to hear a chittering sound, like chitin rubbing against itself, please do mention it to me," she continued. "I would rather we avoid orbalisks, and by we, I mean me. With what happened to you, you're relatively protected from them, but I'm gonna be a beacon to them as a potential host to feed on. I really don't want to go through the lengthy removal process of an infestation."

Unlike one of her deceased rivals, she actually knew how to remove orbalisks from Darth Zannah's account of the process with her master. It would be mainly tedious to her, nothing more. Focusing her will, she unleashed a surge of dark energy, commanding the doors to open. With the groan of centuries of neglect, even after being opened just months prior, they parted to allow them entrance into the tomb. Red light flickered from the tunnel, the light fueled by the power in the tomb... in the air itself.

"It's a rather straight path to the sarcophagus luckily," she said.