Bowed, Bent, Broken

[Darth Carnifex]

It had been several grueling weeks since [member="Ella Nova"] was imprisoned deep within the bowels of Darth Vornskr's wicked citadel, the Black Pyramid, on Coruscant. Contact with anyone had been minimal save for two Sith knights who had sought out the imprisoned Jedi on their own accord, but had left without gaining anything they had sought to find. The Sith Lord found that amusing, and his gaze had since then trailed the both of them rather closely without their knowledge. However; events unfolding on Dromund Kaas left the Sith Lord diminished in power and unable to personally interact with those that he had captured, especially the blonde Jedi Knight. But there was another who could, one who had served him as official errand boy and emissary when he had been too preoccupied to appear in person.

His Vessel.

A being of unknown origin entirely subservient to his will through some dark practice of the malign, his entire body draped in lush crimson robes and his head concealed by an air-tight reflective helmet that hid his own features while queerly returning the gaze of those that dared to look upon him. And it was this being that appeared in the entryway of Ella Nova's prison escorted by a pair of Blackblade Guardsman wielding riot truncheons rather than their standard rifles, and their fingers tightened around their brute instruments as their cold eyes beheld her ruin, hungry to inflict more suffering.

"Jedi Knight Ella Nova."

It spoke, his voice masculine yet heavily enhanced by a synthetic tone that gave off the illusion that two voices were speaking at once. The true range of Ella's dishevelment was displayed fully in the dark material that obscured the creature's face, "My master extends his deepest apologies" as if Darth Vornskr actually cared enough to apologize for anything "at your isolation, he had been... preoccupied as of late and had not made the effort to see you after your little skirmish. And so he has sent me in his stead to hear out your plea, although by the looks of recent events your bargain may no longer hold any merit."

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vessel of Vornskr"] |

"Although by the looks of recent events your bargain may no longer hold any merit."

Ella kept her head bowed. She was defeated. When Vornskr had defeated her in their duel, she knew that she would be defeated, but hadn't felt it as she felt defeat now. No, she entered that duel knowing what Vornskr would do, as part of her plan to eventually end up in front of the eyes and ears of the Sith Lords responsible for the campaign that had defeated the Galactic Republic.

"So it has happened..." The Jedi Knight murmured, lips and voice broken by thirst. "The Republic has fallen..."

Slowly, she lifted her gaze to stare into the helmet of Vornskr's vessel. "I still want to face them. The Sith Lords responsible for the campaign that destroyed the Republic. All of them."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Vessel stood there silently for a moment, and then its body began to shudder as what could be interpreted as a hollow laugh bellowed out from behind the voice synthesizer built into the crimson helmet. He would laugh for a time, but his mockery quickly fell silent as he proceeded to address her: "You are misinformed, Jedi. If I were to bring you to the individual responsible for the ruin brought upon your precious Republic, I would have to take you to the Prime Minister herself." He allowed such a revelation to sink in, his hands rising up to wring themselves with self-satisfaction as his cold heart beheld whatever shock or horror would cross Ella's features. "The Prime Minister of the Republic has usurped power from the senate, and is enforcing her will via an army of clones. It seems that history does indeed repeat itself, Jedi, although sources claim that the Prime Minister has made one fatal blunder in her grab for power."

Pause for dramatic effect!

"She began to nationalize various corporate entities within the Republic's dwindling territory and brutally execute anyone who tried to resist, earning her the ire of [member="Danger Arceneau"] herself. There's already talks of a coalition forming from the various galactic conglomerates to combat this threat, and already my Master and his allies descend on the Republic like wolves. It is only a matter of time now until the Republic collapses not only from those that seek to combat its new tyrannical regime, but also from its internal strife that threatens to tear the Republic to ribbons." The creature laughed again, and waved both arms in a grand sweeping gesture to emphasis his next words. "But my master sympathizes with your sorrow, and he can cure you of all that ails you Jedi. All you need to do is surrender to his will, and he will show you renewed purpose... One far more righteous than that of the selectivist ravings of that madwoman you once called Prime Minister."

[member="Ella Nova"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vessel of Vornskr"] |

Ella almost betrayed an awkward laugh herself. Whoever it was behind the mask had the type of laugh that could be mocked. But Ella was a Jedi. She respected all forms of life.

"The actions of the Prime Minister only add more burden to the reasons as to why I came here. You thought you could use this betrayal of the Galactic Republic against me, but you thought wrong. It isn't the first time the Republic has been betrayed and it will not be the last; and you will find that I am not the next in line to betray it."

"I heard once that the Sith do not feel fear. They know it well enough to spread it throughout the Galaxy; and you even try and enforce it onto each other. But a true Sith never feels fear, do they? I am a realist. I only think on the moment. It was what I was taught and trained to do by my Master, Sochi Ru."

"I am a lone Jedi, deep within the bowels of your prison, on a world I assume to be in control of the Sith. You have nothing to fear from me, and if you want me to fall to the dark side, then you should give into my demands first. Otherwise how am I meant to learn from you?"

"Tell your Master to gather the Sith Lords I want to meet with. You think that you have victory in your grasp, but only I can give it to you. Please?"

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"[member="Sochi Ru"]?" the Vessel inquired, his head titling to one side in an inquisitive manner. "I know her name, I know her face... You say she was your master, but how you would weep to see her now." He let out a curt chortle, and from the billowing confines of his cloak he retrieved a small holoprojector and held it aloft in front of her. A simple click of a side button caused the display to hum into existence, displaying at first a rather mutilated boy around the age of nineteen or twenty, but the Vessel quickly began to cycle through similar images before finally stopping at a fully grown adult female Togruta garbed in dark vestments whose appearance was a near mirror image of Sochi Ru prior to her demise.

But gone were the soft lines of her visage, replaced by hard bitterness and bottled anger known only to those who dabble in the Dark Side of the Force. "The breaking of this one had been taxing for my master. The atrocities he had committed upon her soul surmount any suffering we have known or ever will know, but in the end even she broke... They all break eventually, but you will learn that soon enough. But if you are so committed to reaching out to my master's colleagues, then perhaps I will see if they will humor you."

The Vessel powered down the holoprojector and stuffed it back in an unseen pocket hidden within the folds of his robe, and proceeded to turn sharply and make his way for the guarded exit. He paused at the threshold, and without turning back he addressed the prisoner: "You play a fool's game, [member="Ella Nova"], and you will die within these walls." And then he left, leaving her to wallow in her confinement.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vessel of Vornskr"] | [member="Sochi Ru"] |

Disbelief filled the Jedi Knight. Sochi Ru had died. She was a hero of peace, democracy and of the Galactic Republic. If she had returned from the Netherworld of the Force, Ella would have felt it.

Around her, the walls of her cell shook upon the pull of the Force. The stasis field around her begun to fizzle, losing it's hold upon the woman that it had held for all this time. The bars ahead begun to bend, it's attack invisible, ethereal and powerful. Ella was the source of the commotion, as she opened herself to the Force, straining against the technologies that had stopped her from feeling and using it for such a long time.

For the briefest of moments- mere seconds- Ella felt herself reaching out. Somewhere, on whichever planet the Jedi Knight was captured, she felt her; and in the moment Ella Nova felt her Jedi Master, warped and caught in the web of the dark side of the Force, she whispered, "No..."

And then her voice grew louder, a scream that she did not think would ever escape her. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"