Between Ice and Fire

[Setzi Lunelle]

The dig site appeared empty, but the padawan knew that looks could be deceiving. She crept behind Malvern and nodded when he said, “let’s go.”

The fact that Khaleel did not have his lightsaber wasn’t lost on her. But she just assumed he would be killing with a normal weapon – a blaster, a vibrodagger. It didn’t occur to her that he would be using Telekinesis to pulverize bones or curb stomp heads in.

As she walked quietly behind him, senses alert for danger, Setzi tried to suppress her own Force sensitivity so they wouldn’t be detected by a fellow Force user. She put the hood of her jacket up, and now the sound around them was muffled. All she could hear was the loud thumping of her heart in her eardrums. She didn’t dare sigh or huff or even breathe right now, fearful of someone hearing them.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Muffled speech could be heard up ahead, coming from the entrance that had been concealed from the hillside. There were a few ways one could handle this, most of which were messy, loud and wholly inefficient in every way of the word.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]One would be to utilize a lightsaber.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]He hadn’t ever been good at using that thing though.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Number two would be to use a blaster or some other gun.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Those days were long gone for him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The third option was the only one that had a fairly reasonable chance of success, they wouldn’t be able to avoid detection entirely - his methods were far too… [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]loud[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] for that, but in a perfect world they would be already inside the temple when that comes around.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]So he gestured for her to stay put, that way he could handle the situation and while he was doing that she would be able to protect his back.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Wouldn’t do to get curb stomped into the ground from the back.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Silently approaching he came up to the entrance and saw the two sentries standing there, just talking and entirely not doing their jobs right. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Amateurs.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A sudden choke grabbed them by the necks, invisible kinetic energy pressing down and making it impossible for them to breathe. Soon they crumbled to the ground, not yet death… but definitely not in a healthy state of mind currently.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

When Setzi heard the low voices, she had the sudden urge to flee. She knew that some Jedi Knights were so brave they would literally stampede into danger without hesitation. But were they just as fearful? Did they ever feel like they were so scared their legs wouldn't move forward? The padawan felt like this mix of apprehension and adrenaline would never feel comfortable to her. And the only time it did was when she attacked the Togruta Sith Knight while defending the Ruusan Academy. The anger she felt then made it extremely easy to charge him. She called it being intoxicating like a fine wine, and slightly addictive. Her fury was only broken by the pain he had inflicted upon her. But what would have happened had he not attacked her back?

He would most definitely be dead, was her answer.

Setzi shook her head, dislodging those unsettling thoughts. Taking one step forward, her eyes caught his hand telling her to stay where she was. From her vantage point she could see the two sentries milling around, not paying attention. Malvern approached and abruptly they clutched at their windpipes and then fell to the ground. She winced as they writhed there and was reminded of perhaps how she had looked in the speeder taxi earlier. Helpless.

Although that type of crushing blow to the trachea would have certainly come in handy on Ruusan, she thought. But she only stayed quiet and waited for Khaleel’s signal for her to move again.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]You can only be brave when you are afraid.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]That’s what Khal would have told Setzi if she had asked, because it was the truth of the matter. Being brave didn’t mean rushing into the fray of battle with no fear - if you didn’t have fear? That was the easy part, you just… [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]ran[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] without any concern.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But being afraid… paralyzed from fear, cold sweat dripping from your back and your teeth shuddering in the anticipation, and you still go? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]That’s where one showed true guts. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khal would gesture for Setzi to follow him into the building, he passed the incapacitated guards on the way in and took a note of their faces. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Huh, Steve and Erich. No wonder they screwed up so badly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]They had to keep moving.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

At Malvern’s next signal Setzi sprang up like a juvenile squall and quickly crouch-ran to his side. Luckily she was petite, nearly a foot smaller than the blonde, unshaven Jedi Master. But this allowed her to be swift and silent on her feet.

As Khaleel also did, she examined the faces of the guards, mostly to inspect if they were dead or alive. She noticed the heaving of one of the guard’s chests, even though he was very much unconscious, and even though she cared little for these bandits, she still felt some sense of relief to know he wasn’t dead. Death should be a last resort, she told herself and for the most part, despite her brush with the darkside, she believed it.

The building at the dig site was, as one would expect, some type of structure carved out of a stone and earthen mound, much like some of the architecture in Ziost. As they crossed through the entrance way, the air around them would grow even colder, and they would begin to descend. Setzi clutched her saber tighter, her knuckles white with fear. She couldn’t see around Malvern’s tall frame and this made her even more apprehensive. The padawan felt like any loud noise right now would cause her to jump up and cling to his back like a mynock.

“Maybe I should be in front, Khaleel. I can’t… see,” she whispered in complaint.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Maybe next time, kid[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Last thing he needed was for her to catch a blaster bolt between her eyes, because she wanted to be on top that desperately. It was a matter of time before they would hit more guards, they wouldn’t be- and that was exactly the moment one of the guards chose to round the corner and walk straight into him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khal moved fast, but the guard’s mouth moved faster.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“INTRUDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Voice got cut off before he could finish the word, but his compatriots could probably enjoy the basic idea anyway and the basic idea got quickly turned into a lot of shouting down the hallways.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Underlord grunted and left his crouching position, stepping over the body of the guard. This one was definitely dead, there hadn’t been time to play soft with him - hadn’t mattered in the end, but ya had to work with your instincts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]That’s why you shouldn’t learn this quickly, kid. Last resort turns very swiftly into every resort.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“New plan, we go in and hit them hard. Don’t use the lightsaber, we are fighting close quarters here and you don’t have the training to not cut off my head while you are waving it around.” From the depths of his duster he revealed a gun, a [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]heavy [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]gun. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]His gun.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A fething beautiful Tenloss Ambassador, the first gun he had ever owned, the gun he had stolen from Jimmy’s all that time ago. The [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]same[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] gun that he had used to end that problem when he had returned to Nar Shaddaa those years ago.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Use it only if you need to.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Then he started walking.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi was just about to protest that, by the eternal core, she couldn’t see anything between Khaleel’s bulk and the darkness ahead of them until she heard a guard let out an ear-splitting cry to alert the other guards of their presence. He suddenly floundered and slumped onto the floor, neck askew. The padawan wasn’t sure how Malvern killed him, only that his eyes were as empty as the Dead Zone near the Outer Rim.

She shot the Jedi Master an angry glare when he warned her not to use her saber, but finally listened and hooked it back on her belt. Her eyes widened when he handed her this ridiculously enormous gun which apparently he had been carrying on him the whole time! She reached out her hand and held it gingerly, barrel down, a bit tentative to say the least. For Malvern, the gun would only need one hand. For Setzi, she would have to hold it with two. Her hands were only familiar with saber combat so the muscle memory of wielding this type of revolver would have to come with more training.

And should she tell him that she wasn’t even sure she could hit the broadside of a bantha with this gun?

Pressing her lips together, she decided... probably not.

She merely nodded and kept the gun pointed down with both hands as she walked along with him.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Should Khaleel have known that his new trainee didn’t know how to wield a gun, much less hit anything with it properly? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Undoubtedly. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And any other time of the day Khal would have realized this simple fact, but at this exact moment he was working off instincts and his instinct currently told him to [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]survive[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]. And his instinct had a lot of experience with guns, so for his instinct it was not exactly… [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]easy[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] to comprehend that someone else wouldn’t be as good with guns as he was.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Pesky little instincts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]In the distance the shouting only got louder with the occasional echo of boots hitting the ground, a lot of boots. This was quickly turning into a rodeo that Khal… well, he had been expecting it - just not with a girl in tow. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]How to deal… how to deal.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]That question still got asked in his mind, when two more raiders rounded a corner and started shouting their location, guns whipping up to shoot Khal and his apprentice in the face.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi heard the thumping of boots. By the sounds of it – four, five guards? It was so hard to tell that she threw off her jacket hood so she could listen better to the sounds around her.

As she spied the targets rounding the corner, her first instinct was to drop the weapon she was used to and grab her lightsaber. But Malvern was right. The way both of them were positioned in the corridor would make using the blue energy blade very dangerous. But she didn’t trust herself very much with the revolver. What if she stumbled and grazed Malvern with a bullet instead? He didn’t think of that, did he?

But Setzi did know that there was a Force power which could help improve her accuracy – Force Valor. She held the heavy revolver steady with both hands and drew upon deep concentration. She aimed and fired but the first bullet went ricocheting off of a nearby wall. One of the guards jumped out of the way instinctively. As he jumped, Setzi followed him with her sharp eyes, followed the trajectory of his body and fired again. This time she concentrated on the bullet and pulled it over towards him like a guided missile. Everything around her slowed down as though time was crawling. And then in a flash, her bullet struck him square in the chest where she had diverted the bullet. He flew backwards and hit the ground with a groan.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khal would have been very proud of her instinctive use of his own [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]signature[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] move, but he was far too busy ending the other threats that were currently looming before them. In a different time the Underlord would have shot thrice and made the bullets ricochet all across the room, killing his opponents without much of an issue.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But that was a long time ago and he had found a more [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]satisfying [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]way to use his powers. His hand jerked to the side and an invisible force blasted the two remaining guards against the wall, but Khal wasn’t done there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]His hand lashed up and they got shot into the air - crumbling against the ceiling, before being dropped to the ground.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Nice shot.” he would compliment her, before continuing their walk. They still had a lot of jobs to do, raiders to end, problems to solve.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]She was already impressing him though.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

The padawan had no time to congratulate herself as the other two guards were still rushing headlong into the two of them. With a movement of his hand, Khaleel smashed them into the wall like rag dolls. Setzi expected that to be the end of it then suddenly, and for good measure, the Jedi Master made sure the guards got a good crack at the ceiling too, and they came tumbling down again. She was pretty sure the guard she shot was dead, perhaps one of the guards who had been flung around as well. The final guard was still alive and groaning in pain.

Surprised wasn’t the right word for how she felt about witnessing Malvern’s skills. Astonished was probably a better word. During her training with Shatterstar, and even in her duel with the Togruta Sith Lord, had she not seen Telekinesis used in this way. She was obviously aware of how powerful this Force skill was, but seeing it in action was another thing altogether.

“Thank you,” she mouthed to Malvern at his compliment. His revolver had a kick though and by hefting it around, unused muscles were getting a good work out. Before they started out again, she motioned to the wounded guard with the butt of the revolver and asked in a whisper, "Do we need to kill him too?"

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A moderate kinetic blow followed that would incapacitate the wounded guard for the remaining time.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Part of him wanted to lash out and just eliminate the threat, but Setzi was here and she wasn’t yet firmly set in her moral grounds. It could give her ideas, could influence the way she saw the world and she definitely wasn’t ready for that yet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Naw, we disable when possible.” the Underlord would reply. “Kill only when it’s us or them, do you understand the difference?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The difference was that Khal considered their lives more important than those of a few raiders that were trying to defile and sell off dangerous artifacts. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It was a key difference from how most Jedi operated, who tried to preserve the sanctity of life whenever possible, but Khal wasn’t that naief. A life on the streets had taught him that a man’s life wasn’t worth all that much in the grand scheme of things, so why act any other way? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Seemed hypocritical.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

“Yes,” she answered after Malvern sent the half-conscious guard into full unconsciousness. “That is my motto as well… but I was afraid he would get up and alert more guards," she answered a little defensively. Setzi looked around at the ceiling for cameras or an alarm system. “I suppose a dig site wouldn’t have anything state of the art in the way of security,” she whispered. “Manpower is probably all they have.”

And now the dig site was two less men.

She gave him one, slow nod, signaling him to move forward again. As they walked along the darkened corridor, Setzi, in a hushed voice, asked the Jedi Master, “What type of relics are here anyway?” Like Telekinesis, the padawan knew a little bit about Jedi artifacts, but the extent of her knowledge was from books or from the Academy. Once on her parent’s farm, when she was nine years old, she and her father thought they had dug up some kind of precious treasure, but it only turned out to be old pod racer parts. But how excited she had been to think of something valuable coming up out of the ground like that!

She supposed that was human nature to dig up the past, looking for treasure… but mostly finding old bones instead.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Don’t worry about it, kid.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]They got all overzealous about things every once in a while, it’s why she had him here to show her the way and make sure she got the boundaries that the Underlord placed on himself. Killing those who tried to harm them was one thing, but it was another when they were defenseless.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Fine line between pragmatism and murder.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Gotta learn to walk it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Sith artifacts, dangerous things.” Khal would reply. “We obviously haven’t been able to categorize any of it, but if the other temples are any indication?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A grunt. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“They can corrupt people, kill ‘em, put ‘em under spells. Nothing to fool around with.” [/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

It occurred to Setzi that as they got closer to the raiders, maybe they shouldn't even whisper. Their footsteps were loud enough in the quiet, frozen corridors. The padawan used her mind to send a telepathic message to Khaleel:

"Hey... is this thing on?" she asked, making a joke as she tapped into his brain. Setzi's voice was playful, her Force aura still untainted for the most part. If he searched deep into her mind, he could probably detect where the darkside was taking hold, even these small traces of it. But that would require them to stop and Malvern to concentrate. And right now they couldn't be distracted.

"We should probably take advantage of this type of communication," she added.

They moved deeper into the dig site and something else also occurred to Setzi. "If the raiders have these artifacts, can't they use them on us? What if the raiders themselves are Sith?"

Although so far they had neutralized the guards without much effort - well Malvern had really - it would be more of a struggle if there were numerous raiders and bandits, wielding darkside relics which could corrode their minds or call up ancient spirits to attack them.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khaleel didn’t believe in that [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]taint[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] anyway.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]People did bad things because they were bad people or they believed that they were doing it for the right reasons, people did good things because they were [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]good[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] people or for their own ulterior motives. You didn’t become an emo, hair-brushing schutta who ate babies at night because you started to use Sith Magicks and other assorted ‘Dark side’ powers.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]That whole nonsense was too much a removal of free will and all that. It gave people excuses to do bad things: “The Force made me do it!” or “It corrupted me, sorry!”.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Naw, Khal wouldn’t have any of that crap. He would use the dark side, use the light side, use the neutral side and the only thing that would be able to corrupt him would be his own decisions. Because that’s how the real world works.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“It’s on alright.” the Underlord would reply, shivering just slightly at the touch of her mind and words said. Telepathic contact was an [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]intimate [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]affair and he still wasn’t used to people just waltzing in like that. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Naw, they don’t have a clue how, which works to our advantage.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]That’s the problem with these artifacts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It ain’t like some kind of gun that ya just pop up and start shooting, it takes more than that.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

There was something that happened when she touched Khaleel’s mind. A feeling she could neither describe nor could she shake. It was the mind after all... his mind, she thought, acknowledging the intimate nature of telepathy. But at the same time, at the Praxeum, she practiced mental communication all the time with other padawans and did not get this reaction. Her thoughts wandered again to the black blood on her stark, white handkerchief. His psyche was somehow different than the ones she had touched in the past. But she couldn’t explain how or why and was left with a vague unease.

You probably just surprised him, Setzi. Like an unexpected tap on the shoulder.

But still there was something she was curious about, and it was slightly connected to the experience she had with the Jedi Master in the speeder taxi.

This time she was gentler with her message: “Master… I mean, Walker,” she sent to him telepathically. Master Malvern just didn’t sound right anymore since she was getting to know him more. Walker sounded… well more like him.

“Why can't we just destroy the artifacts?”

As soon as the question was into his head, she immediately regretted asking it. Of course, these ancient relics were important and needed to be studied, mostly by Jedi who knew how to examine them but without causing danger. But the malaise she had felt a moment ago was still nagging at her so to divert his attention away from her naïve question she asked, “Unless you plan to take one of these for yourself?”

It was a bold accusation, and she was most likely wrong about Malvern’s intentions. But Setzi couldn’t help but wonder what Walker’s fascination was with these items, and if it had anything to do with the black blood that had streamed from his nose as he healed her wound. Along with this sense that something was amiss in his mind, the blood was evidence… physical evidence.

And a suspicion began to form in her mind. That Walker wasn’t who he appeared to be.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Only a snort came as a reply, until the realization hit that she wasn’t joking around. That it was a genuine question asked, which made him raise his eyebrow, it wasn’t raised because of the bold accusation. More so, it was an expression of surprise, that a girl that believed in strict conventions and loved to uphold the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]rules[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] would pose such a question.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]In truth? It amused him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Naw.” the Underlord would reply, before peeking around the corner and making sure that there wasn’t anyone there lurking for them. “I ain’t the smartest guy around, but I know when some shet’s above my paygrade.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]They would round the corner and keep walking down the hallway.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“I leave that stuff to the ancient and wise Jedi Council.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The one that let the Darkstaff and other dangerous artifacts be stolen by Velok all those years ago.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Very hurtful words though, miss Lunelle.” Khal would add, just a little bit jokingly.[/SIZE]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Well, there’s your answer and now you’ve hurt his feelings, way to go, Setzi, she thought.

And it was probably because Walker was so unlike other Jedi she had met that made her suspicious most of all. The peculiarity of the black blood would have to wait, but she would definitely come back to it once she was alone again. If anything she knew a place where she could get the blood analyzed. Not that she expected to find much in a forensic analysis.

“Okay, Walker,” she said, in a tone that said she was going to put her questioning to rest.

And although his answer wasn’t odd or out of place in the slightest, she felt that the more she spent time with this Jedi Master, the more the mystery around him deepened.

But now was not the time to be distracted by this, so she shook those thoughts away for later and concentrated on the task at hand, at walking quietly behind him, keeping the revolver pointed at the floor, her finger on the trigger ready to pull at a moment’s notice.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]If only she still had that piece of fabric splattered with his blood. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But there was a reason why he had offered her to teach her how to pickpocket things, it was because he was pretty damn good at it himself and if there was one thing that Khal had learned in his time in this Galaxy? If there was one defining thing that kept coming back to him, no matter how deep he reached into the occult?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It was that leaving someone some of your blood? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Ain’t exactly a good idea, it was actually a fairly [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]bad[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] idea. An idea that could leave ya killed or enslaved by some obscure ritual that no one even heard of in this time of day. Naw, the last thing he would do was leave her his blood.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Ya don’t seem convince, gal.” the Walker would mention back, as they approached two huge doors that would lead them deeper into the structure. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]She was really too suspicious for a young and naive girl.[/SIZE]