A Duel of Episode 3 Proportions

[Jessica Med-Beq]

To the Imperial Remnant, Jessica was a monster, even though her crimes led to the Black Tie Syndicate becoming hunted down across the galaxy, and to the ties between the Black Tie Syndicate and the Sith Order being exposed, if only narrowly. But to the Neimoidians, she was perceived as someone better than an ordinary monster because, in the process, she nearly destroyed one of the big threats to the security of Neimoidian Space. The BTS, which lingered in the shadows for five years, after Jessica's predecessor at the helm of the corporation witnessed said BTS running amok in the hex, but at a terrible cost in terms of casualties, of which 10% at most is directly due to phase 1. Phase 1 resulted in her being imprisoned but otherwise slipped under the galactic radar. Phase 2 required the BTS to come in force. Part of the plan required someone high-profile imprisoned for some reason. Her wife, [member="Summer Sovereign"], was in there somewhere on Cato Neimoidia, where some Neimoidian thug brought her beloved wife Jessica back to their mansion on a suspended bridge of that planet.

Jessica chuckled. "The Sith Order won't realize for a while that I outsmarted the Black Tie Syndicate and exposed the Sith Order's involvement in the galactic underworld: too focused they are on committing atrocities across the galaxy, they don't know that Christophsis will get the whole machine crashing down on them. But I regretted not forcing the hand of the Sith Order on top of the hand of the BTS"

"Why did you bombard Christophsis" the Neimoidian getaway pilot told her.

"The usual stuff that would get people in my position imprisoned, like corruption-related crimes, moneylaundering or defrauding, just weren't there and, even if they were, that would be a minimum-security kind of thing, because I am otherwise not someone who pose much of a threat, so I needed to come up with another crime that was big enough for maximum-security imprisonment and would force large-scale involvement from the BTS. In hindsight, I acknowledge that this plan caused more casualties than it needed to, and probably not have thrown myself in the fray"

"Who is this... blue-skinned lady?"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Inside the house Summer was going insane, she was in a corner giggling uncontrollably, the house was trashed things were turned over and ripped up. Summer's clothes were all but shredded. It looked like she had gotten into a fight with a pack of wolves and lost. She would have gone nuts and without Jessica Summer felt like she had nothing left to live for, she would have cut into the skin on her legs, the pain didnt help at all. SHe would sit there giggling and shivering.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"My wife. I hope you can understand what she went through: it often happens to the relatives of people who were gone to jail regardless of whether or not it was part of a greater plan"

While the Neimoidian getaway pilot got away as soon as Jessica dropped off the Neimoidian Yacht, Jessica returned to see that her bridge mansion on Cato Neimoidia is one big, gnarly mess. Torn drapes and blinds, damaged wardrobes, furniture being trashed; she knew that something was amiss with her blue-skinned wife. Yes, Summer was a treasure to her, just that something's not right with said treasure. But she knew that Summer's vision stabilized and that she can now pilot without problems. Jessica, which was once described as the sexiest lady in the galaxy to Summer, has retained much of her original appearance - and equipment, while she campaigned on Christophsis. Luckily there were no precious furniture or fixtures: these were luxury goods all right but nothing that can't be replaced. Eco-sensitive things, however, are fragile and must be recycled upon use if at all possible. Duraplast, metals in general can be recycled, but paper, even recycled, is a different bag of beans.

"[member="Summer Sovereign"], aren't you happy to see me after this campaign on Christophsis? I know that the casualties count is high, perhaps a little too high, but at least we defeated the Black Tie Syndicate: we no longer need to worry about that big chunk of the underworld and now it is clear to the galaxy that the Sith Order is behind these atrocities. But something is not right with you: I can feel it"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would hear her and turn to look at her and she was in disbelief this could not be Jessica. She would instantly grab her lightsaber where it lay beside her and she would ignite its white blade and driven by insanity she would attack "You are not her! You couldnt be." SHe said lashing out with her lightsaber. Her blade driven by insanity towards her lovers abdomen

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Why would you think the Black Tie Syndicate would somehow plant an impostor?" she lashed out, while also drawing her lightsaber to block her lover's blade, directed at her abdomen.

She was previously an unknown quantity to the BTS, even after the Hutt Cartel was driven out of Geonosis. And she knew the easy part of planting an impostor is the facial appearance. With the facial transformation, the procedure can be a little painful, but the complications arise when you have to account for multiple things: the morphology of the person one needed to be impersonated, the Force-power and Force-skillset, and, of course, the intellectual attributes. That being said, she knows Summer better than virtually anyone else; she knows that she's in for the long haul. But she had to protect her from herself; first move would be to use pyrokinesis on the lightsaber: the resulting flame will be making the durasteel inside the lightsaber red-hot, affording some time so that they could fight each other with the Force, rather than with a lightsaber. At their level even using the Force can hurt, just differently.

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

As the hilt of her saber heated up she would be forced to drop it. SHe would then use her own pyrokinesis to heat up Jessica's saber and then she would push her back with the force. She was ready

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Pushed back with the Force, Jessica realizes that [member="Summer Sovereign"] is edging ever closer to the dark side of the Force by doing so. Plus she landed on a duracrete wall, which hurt her somewhat. With both lightsabers being too hot for each other, she realizes that she is forced to rely on the power of the Force (and, with it, her mind) to subdue her madwoman of a wife. This time around, she tries to solve for Summer's Maxwell equations, that is, use Electric Judgment on her; that is, green electric bolts began to shoot from her right hand, aimed at Summer, not realizing that she is firing EJ from somewhere near her maximum effective range. Nevertheless, Jessica didn't rely on her primal emotions to use Electric Judgment, just a cold, hard calculation. Hopefully, hopefully, her target will be a little dazed and confused, but not killed outright. What could have been a lightsaber duel became a duel of magic instead.

"I still love you all the same, Summer, even when you are crazy!"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

The bolts would hit summer sending her flying into a wall. That hurt, she would be dazed and confused. As her wife spoke it almost broke through the haze of the insanity

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I promised to be true to you in good times and bad, in health and in sickness, and also to love and honor you until death does us part. This is the promise of our marriage: I never broke it! Even in the aftermath of the Christophsis invasion, I came back here because I still love you all the same, no matter what happens to either of us!"

For some reason Jessica still is on edge, thinking that it might be one of [member="Summer Sovereign"]'s tricks: she knew that some opponents, after taking non-lethal hits, may feign to be dazed and confused, and later come back for an additional attack, thinking that one's guard may be down. Their lightsabers are still too hot to be safely handled, so she knew that it was likely that such an attack could be based on the Force, but it's also possible, knowing her wife, that she would simply use her massive strength to shove Jessica aside. But what she doesn't know is that she will have to return to Glyss soon enough. And actually assume the responsibilities of the Princess Consort of Glyss. It also meant that she would need to resort to teleconference to run her company, using concealing clothes, and that the board also needed to do such; untraceable communications equipment was required in the meantime - she could just use mechu-deru to remove what made communications from a datapad traceable, no big deal.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summers dazed look would not be an act but soon she would snap out of it. She would not think about how hot the hilt of her saber was as she summoned it to her hand. Instantly it would sear into her hand. She would hold onto it for a few seconds before dropping it. It had seared deep into her hand leaving 3rd degree burns from where she held it. She would hold her hand and this would give Jess an opening. The more that Jess talked the less grip insanity would have on summer

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"It's over, Summer. By now you know that the power of love can redeem people from the dark side. Let me use Force-healing to cure that burned hand"

In her madness, [member="Summer Sovereign"] grabbed a searing-hot lightsaber and got third-degree burns for it. Hopefully she will realize her folly and But, while the power of love can be a catalyst for motions from and to the dark side, it's not an instant process. Yes, they fell in love with each other on first sight, yes, their relationship is, until today, pretty much an idyll where there never had any real disagreements. Until Christophsis happened, of course. For now, however, she is advancing at a snail's pace, knowing that her body isn't quite used to using the Force, but that she doesn't want to kill her wife: Summer would be of no use to her dead. She still needs to talk some sense into her, but perhaps there is an overture. Summoning a ball of ice around the hands would probably immobilize them for a while. At her level in cryokinesis, however, that would probably be a little taxing, and then the scuffle would take on another dimension.

"And the thrashed material will be replaced if damaged beyond repair, repaired if it otherwise still fits what you want for decoration"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

It was in that moment that Jessica would break through the madness. Summer would look at her in an apologetic tone. "I am so so sorry love."

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Now, I'll just remove the ice off your hands and heal the burned hands as well as the cuts on your legs. It will take a while but you will be under local anesthesia"

She made a mental checklist of exactly what [member="Summer Sovereign"] thrashed inside their Cato Neimoidia mansion, especially around the living room. And also, once Summer's hands were freed again, she would bring back the lightsabers to room temperature. Like what is common for most Neimoidians that could afford to live on that planet, the fixtures were often expensive; 30,000 credits were the bill for those things that she trashed. But clearly she wants her wife to suffer as little pain as possible while being healed from the fallout of her madness. Sure, she would understand exactly why Summer feels as if she had nothing left to live for when Jessica was imprisoned due to the Christophsis raid, but now Summer would have to deal with the aftermath of the bout of madness that was induced as a result of Jessica's actions on Christophsis. But Jessica still feels guilty about a number of things. Was that plan to defeat the Black Tie Syndicate really worth its death toll?

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer was pretty sure she would be put in a nut house for this bit of madness. She knew the scars would remain and there were quite a few of them, she would put Jessica in charge of the Affairs of Glyss for the time being until she got this whole situation taken care of if one were to arise. She would look at Jessica then at her hand in horror of what she herself had done

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Perhaps I should put your hand in a bacta bucket for tonight: that ought to make the scars much less noticeable"

[member="Summer Sovereign"] knew that it was going to be a painful proposition, and that time was needed to heal all of it. Her madness, her burned hand. That was going to hurt. But Jessica knew that her wife would want the couple to be together again so that they would both have something to live for again. Now she would hear about why she even was on Christophsis to begin with, and why the name of the Black Tie Syndicate has been mentioned often to her since she came back to her wife.

"I understand that it has been a rough period for you, and for me, too. But it was all about defeating these monsters called the Black Tie Syndicate. I did what I have to do, at least these criminal monsters are much easier to hunt down, and much less able to cause damage or to commit crimes across the galaxy. It might sound crazy but I would never have been able to defeat the Black Tie Syndicate otherwise. And we also know there are Sith among the Black Tie Syndicate. However, I have to say that we couldn't have made a Neimoidian or a Geonosian commit crimes big enough to warrant busting someone out of prison and come in force for that because the BTS just wouldn't take the bait. The usual stuff that would get a princess arrested would not have sufficed either, like extortion, bribery, corruption, graft: a minimum security jail would not make the BTS come in force either - the whole plan necessitated that a crime big enough to sentence its perpetrator to a maximum-security prison sentence to first be committed and then a prison break a short while later"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would listen as her hand was still in pain

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I will be using the Force to administer painkillers on your burned hand, so you will be able to sleep with your hand in a bacta bucket. But tell me, was defeating the Black Tie Syndicate worth the 2 million deaths they caused? I'm not sure anymore. Sure they committed crimes all across the galaxy, sometimes with the help of Sith when they needed destruction done, but was my plan worth its death toll?"

Jessica would guide Summer to her bedroom, which had torn bedding disgracing their bed. And torn blinds. Must get new linen bedding and also plush bedding for this bedroom: probably the old ones were, well, contaminated, she thought, upon preparing the temporary bedding for tonight so that she could have a valet shop for the replacement items while they sleep. The protocol droid would be fetching a jar of bacta to place the burned hand in, but such a jar of bacta would require that the burned hand be off the bed, meaning that the burned hand will determine on which side of the bed [member="Summer Sovereign"] will sleep tonight.

"Just go to bed for the time being. Clearly you need some sleep to heal both your mind and your hand"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"Yes it was my love." She said before picking up a piece of broken mirror and looking at herself. She had lost a lot of weight and she looked like the walking dead. Her face was thin and her waist even smaller than it had been. She would put the mirror back down, she wouldn't be looking at herself for a while, at least for the time being. SHe would lay down

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Now, if the BTS wants to conduct raids of that nature again, they are forced to rely on the Sith, and also they are forced to make do with much more limited resources. Plus everyone else is on high alert about them by now: they would be fools to even attempt pillaging planets with anything remotely resembling a significant population center after Christophsis. Then again, because the known Sith among the BTS are senseless butchers, at least to me, they may be gearing up for one such raid as we speak. However, if I show up to fight the BTS, these Sith will be all over me, and potentially even other defenders of the target world would want my capture, too: I can't bank on the defenders not wanting to capture me even if I fought these monsters head-on"

Jessica also forced the main parties of the galaxy that want to hunt the Black Tie Syndicate down to acknowledge that there are Sith in the BTS so any defenders can call in Jedi without problem. [member="Summer Sovereign"] was a lot slimmer than she used to. Jessica knew that losing the loved ones to something of that nature would be leading to madness, anorexia and other problems that can seriously affect health, but not much more than that - that was par for the course. Then again, one of the things that made Jessica much more appealing to Summer than other women with a shred of credibility as the sexiest woman in the galaxy was that she never made much of a case of how other people looked. And she knew there were dozens of millions that could lay credible claims at being the sexiest woman in the galaxy, of various levels of fame; she was but one of them, perhaps a few hundred, a few thousands at most of those could possess similar intellectual compositions as she does. As Summer's hand in a jar was delicately placed on a small coffee table, Jessica would also go to sleep, as happy as she could be given that she told her wife about the crime, its implications, its aftermath and the rationale behind it.

"Once you wake up, you will have a meal at your bedside: half a pizza for me, half a pizza for you. Good night my love"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would lay there and as her hand was placed in the jar she would barely sense the movement of her hand. She would sleep soundly for a little bit until the nightmares hit again. She saw the scene of how she lost her eye, she thought she was over this experience but seeing it now would send her kicking and thrashing about as she tried to fight off the wolves. She then saw Jess stuck in carbonite. This wouldn't help, she would wind up kicking and thrashing herself into the floor with a thud

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]