Cor Odium: Korriban Mission (open)

[Quinn Vos]

In hot pursuit of [member="Darth Odium"]

She growled as the arrow missed and was redirected toward some other nautolan ([member="Ket Vistas"]) that her focus prevented her from seeing. But she was already running. She was a quickly moving shadow clinging to the edge of the rocks, the tips of her Nagai-daggers occasionally catching the glint of the sun.

He was almost to the shadow of the cave. He would be swallowed up. She was on the edge of joining him in the darkness, but in a much different way. The flames of anger he triggered threatened to consume the Kiffar warrior.

Lungs burned. Muscles burned. Sweat cascaded down the dried mud on her skin. Her arm whipped back, launching one of the daggers for Odim's back calf. The second dagger she gripped to be plunged into the middle of his shoulder-blades as she tore away from the edge of the rocks and leaped off the lip of a rock outcropping to tackle his back.

Fearless. And stupidly blinded by his cancerous poison from everything she touched. Everything he touched.

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Arumi Zy"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Few words captured the attention quite like "Sith Lord" and "firing arrows." Neither of them did anything to improve the unsettling feeling that pervaded his senses. An even walk turned into a swift paced jog toward the caves.

"Copy that, moving to intercept at the caves."

As he ran, he kept an eye out for arrows. Getting shot by a mysterious assassin while dealing with this mess would be exactly the sort of thing he'd come to expect from the galaxy. The Will of the Force would be small comfort if a feathered shaft jutted from his chest, just as it had been when he'd cradled the bodies of his padawan friends after the invasion of Ossus.

Zaren Bouqi could handle himself. Ryan wasn't about to jump into the middle of an unpredictable situation swinging around a lightsaber without obtaining a good handle on just what exactly was occurring. Putting himself between the Nautolan and the Nautolan's objective would work well enough, or that's what he thought until he saw a mud-caked figure drift off the rockface and run down into the valley. Scowling, Ryan put on a burst of Force enhanced speed and practically flew across the sand.

Darkness reeked off this place, off those figures near the crevasse, and off the approaching Sith Lord near the Temple. Ryan could feel it as he ran. The Dark Side seemed to be wrapping tendrils around him in a suffocating embrace. He set his teeth, nostrils flaring, and continued sprinting until he came to a spot fifty meters away from the Nautolan and a fast-approaching figure wielding knives.

Korr stood there indecisively. Why intervene in a quarrel between a Dark Sider and some other being whose presence gave off hatred like a fire did heat? Why not let them kill each other?

"WAIT!" He screamed, even as the woman hurled her dagger. No! He could not stand idly by. He would not!

He raced toward them, breath ragged from his run.

[member="Zaren Bouqi"] [member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Quinn Vos"] [member="Ket Vistas"] [member="Graxin Rade"]

 

[Placeholder 0123]

Graxin felt a knot tie in the pit of his stomach. His actions were clearly disapproved of, and that ingrained need to be praised meant that it bothered him. His lips pressed into a thine line, and he motioned with two fingers toward the direction that the Nautolan Sith had marched off too.

"I came to look over the planet. I was wondering close to the valley and that ship flew overhead." He motioned toward the mentioned vessel. "I felt something off, so I investigated. That alien came out and...was that a woman chasing him?"

The former Sith shook his head in confusion. Things had all happened so very fast, and he was too out of focus to pay perfect attention. Cautiously, he rose up from behind the rock and stare down the direction that duo had run off to. "I'm not sure if we should intervene yet."

[member="Zaren Bouqi"] [member="Ryan Korr"] [member="Quinn Vos"] [member="Darth Odium"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

The Protector of Tython frowned for a moment as he listened to the report and then eh started to think to himself as he rose to his feet. He was quite heavy within his armour, but he was still able to move quite fast without the Force, and then even faster with the Force pushing him to even greater lengths and speeds.

"We shall intervene. We shall move as fast as we can after them, lead me Graxin." He commanded, and he prepared himself for the task at hand. They were going to have to go after all those who had gone into the caves and into the Valley of the Dark Lords. He knew once he did that the Dark Side would call to [member="Graxin Rade"], that it would be extremely dangerous for the other Sith, but then, that would prove he was loyal to the Jedi and was willing to join them wholeheartedly.

He leapt over the rock and threw his head over his shoulder and said, "let's go." And followed.

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Quinn Vos"] [member="Ryan Korr"] [member="Zaren Bouqi"] [member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Graxin Rade"]

Odium could not have been more pleased with the emotions that swirled within his reach. Hate and anger were prevalent in the woman, while confusion and violent intent welled in the others. It was becoming Chaos and it was glorious. The only one that maintained emotions Odium could not use was the one that was too distant for him to feel. The darkside clouded even a darksider's senses when focus became difficult but at least in the caves iy would be hard for them to sense him.

He turned as the dagger flew and felt its razor like blade hit the top of his boot and bite his calf. Had he not moved it would have pierced it through without fail. His blood hit the rocks as he let go of the lip of the crevasse and fell 10 meters to the bottom. He used the force to land qithout further injury but he would be moving slower now and a blood trail was not what he needed behind him. He moved into the darkness and could feel it grasping for him with malicious intent as he ducked down a tunnel that could have led to anywhere and reacjed into his ever present satchel. The small goggles he produced would aid him in the darkness without using a light. He paused to check his leg it was sliced deeply and in the darkness of Korriban and the ritual he was intending it would be corrupted quickly if he did not dress it immediately.

He quickly applied the gel that would seal and disinfect it then slapped a strip of high grade adhesive over the wound. It was not perfect nor Ideal but it was fast and that was all that mattered. Odium thought as he moved into a side tunnel and pressed onward what he must have done to attact the woman's ire then grinned and nearly snorted when he thought of the things it could have been.

'I will keep that one if we live.' He thought as he drew the Sword of Ieldis from its sheath and moved at a 15 degree angle down and toward where he -hoped- the caves passed beneath or into the tombs.

 

[Not Ordo]

Ket let go of the lip of the crevasse and fell 10 meters to the ground below and limped into the darkness his green cloak trailing behind him.

 

[Arumi Zy]

Zaren Bouqi Ashin Varanin Quinn Vos Ket Vistas Graxin Rade [member="Ryan Korr"]

All around him he could feel the turmoil of this blasted planet churning, bringing out death and destruction and the darkness that was this entire place. There was something about Korriban that could turn violence into the norm, something about it that could cause all to become infected with the corruption of the darkside. Corruption, that was what the darkside was as it was power and power corrupts. Those to blinded by hubris and their own beliefs would be controlled by it as they tried to control it. That was the nature of the sith, to obtain power but to be controlled by it in all of its entirety and to never know exactly how it controlled them.

The Former sith lord continued his long trek back to the temple trying to decypher what the force was telling him about the other visitors. The jedi shone like beacons of light in the pitch black voids and the sith and dark siders like shadowed ebbs in the force. He could feel the commotion, he could see the feint flicker that was action in the force as the beings began to descend upon each other. Korriban fed on it, fed on the darkness that exhisted in all and it was hungry since the fall of the Sith.

He looked up at the temple as he remove the smoke from his lips and flicked it away into the sand unceremoniosly. He was unsure if he would be met with hostility or not, if a legion of Republic troopers waited on him so be it. He had nothing to hide and had committed no crimes, nor was he wanted by them even though he had not left on the best of terms.

 

[Quinn Vos]

She tumbled on the empty ground, a quick roll breaking her fall as her foe disappeared into the cave. A cloud of dust lifted as she stood with the brute-strength of someone who was no stranger to getting into scraps. She pointed the un-sheathed dagger at the stranger ([member="Ryan Korr"]).

“Ti-nah koot-koot,” the words clicked off her tongue and it didn’t take a translator to feel the warning behind the Kiffar tribal language. Breath continued to huff out, arm extended with the dagger pointed at the man as she knelt down and scooped up the blade with the nautolan’s blood. The pad of her thumb gingerly brushed the blade.

She regretted it the moment the psychometry kicked in. Eyes glowed and for a second she was taken away from the valley. She saw the ship. The prisoners. The woman. The dagger. She heard a name.

“Odium,” she growled, the basic sounded strained and she blinked, settling back into her surroundings. His darkness latched into her senses like hungry serpents. She was well on the way to becoming as much of a puppet as he was.

But was the man before her friend or foe? Plain features scowled at her own indecision and knowing that precious time was being wasted. She backed-up to the lip of the cave, dagger still ready to impale him if he made a sudden move. “Do not stop me. Follow-fine. Danger,” words were heavily accented and she spoke each one with purpose. “Danger.”

She tensed, ready for a fight, or ready to drop into the cave depending on the stranger’s actions.




[member="Darth Odium"] [member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

The Jedi Knight skidded to a halt in the sand. Wide eyes watched the Nautolan release his hold on the lip of the crevasse and fall. Brows drawing together, Ryan loomed over the mouth of the gulch, peering down into the depths. He caught a glimpse of the Nautolan slipping away. Hands balling into fists, he turned toward the knife-wielder.

Words forming on his lips suddenly lost their meaning as he caught his breath.

Grey eyes more intense than twin storms stared at the woman who held her knives with a tight grip, as if she was afraid of letting them go... as if they were her whole world. Her purpose. Her vengeance. All bundled up into two wavy lengths of edged metal. Proud, she drew herself up, back straight and face blazing with a fiery stare from two emerald flames. Undaunted. Mud caked her lithe form, broken by visible tracks of sweat. Yet he found her beautiful.

Not in the way many called Kiskla Grayson, Grandmaster of the Jedi Order beautiful. Hers was an ethereal beauty, as of an angelic being that one might stand in awe of but never approach. She was serene and radiated a calm sense of power.

The woman before him was not placid. Stained with perspiration and caked in dirt, a sense of sincerity and passion poured from her like rays of a sun. Sometimes to illumine and others to burn. She was a warrior, proud, vibrant and as untamed as a tempest... and as stunning as a feathered shaft through the heart.

Whatever he had been about to say died in his mouth. His lips pursed, features earnest, and he nodded once. "Fine." He glanced at the chasm. "But don't kill him. Capture him." Eyes of steel turned toward her and gave her an unyielding look. "Alive."

[member="Quinn Vos"] [member="Arumi Zy"] [member="Ashin Varanin"] @Odium

 

[Darth Isolda]

B̹̤̻̟l̸͍̙͙̙ơ̤̯̹̖̖̣͔o̡̞̩d͚̫̜ ͡C̡̠͙á̜͕ļl̛̯̗̩̭̗ͅs͇̯̤̦͈͔͝ ̘̻̕to̦͉̦̞͡ ̰̫̪̟̝͖̫͜B̜͇̘̩̗l͇̝̭̕o̧o̝͖͕d̝̲̟̜̱̪̤̀.̳̺͙̼͕͉ͅ​

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The longer the girl would hold onto the blade, the more vivid the images would flare within the depths of her mind.​

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Flames would arch and flicker in hues of crimson and cobalt, and words ever so distant would start to rustle at the edge of her hearing.​

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It was a keening sound that would appear at the uppermost range of her hearing and slowly moved down the scale.​

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K͉̭i̺̣͙̞̳n̗͇͔̬ ̮̬c͚͖̤͎̜͚͘a̙͇̰̣l̢̼̹̯̦͓͙ͅl͎̠̫̣s̪̪ͅ t̮̜̞o̦̱̩͠ ͚̯͖̙̤͝K̡i̪̤̻̥̜͈̲̕n̳̝̜̻ͅ.̴͉̝̤͈̱̦̝​

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That knife in her hand would start to warm, feeding on her anger. Vengeance.​

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The sensation of wanting to turn towards the direction of [member="Ryan Korr"] would flourish within the sanguine droplets that went trickling over [member="Quinn Vos"] 's fingers, smeared over the hilt of the blade she had touched.​

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C͖̝a̗̲̦s̯͖̰͎̬t̝͕̕ ̴͕t̛h̖͚͚͎̠͘e͉̲̣ ͙͢B̞͇͕̻͈̦̪l̗̞̪̭̟o̻̫̝ͅo̼̗̬̩d̙̣͜ ̻̮̺P̰͎̝̭̺r̟̦̀į͖c̗̳̫̝̲e̙͈.̼̤̩͔ ̲̦̘̟̫͇̠​

 

[Placeholder 0123]

Lead you?

Graxin found himself caught in surprise. He gave the senior Jedi a questioning look, and breathed a slight sigh. The twin hilts drifted from his waist and into the welcoming embrace of his leather bound fingers. It seemed events were escalating without them.

"I think there are a lot more involved than I expected." He mumbled as much to himself as to [member="Zaren Bouqi"]. "I wonder why they're here, exactly." Graxin didn't so much stalk as he did briskly walk toward the entrance of the cave. He had seen the odd woman jumping from the cave lip, and felt a not-so-malevolent presence following after the Nautolan, he assumed to be a Jedi. The figure had moved by so fast that he could not tell. That didn't exactly mean ally however.

The former Sith breathed in deeply, closed his eyes, and tried to extend his consciousness into the cave. Nothing returned his mental ping, save for rocks and the constant oppression that Korriban was so known for. It hit him like a speeder crashing into a tree on Endor, and he brought both hands up to his head out of instinct. The connection was cut, for the moment, and a bead of sweat trailed down his forehead. The feeling was still there, but it wasn't killing him, at least for the moment.

"I'm not going to pick up anything specific in here..maybe you ca--"

Before them stood the stranger, and the...other...stranger. Graxin blinked. thumbs teasing the identical activation switches on his twin blades.

"Hey there. I'm just going to assume neither of you are Sith right? Maybe? I hope not. Where did the green man go? The one with the..." He brought a hand up behind his head, and waved it around to try and give a semblance of a Nautolan's head tails.

[member="Ryan Korr"] [member="Quinn Vos"] [member="Darth Odium"]

 

[Quinn Vos]

Stormy-gaze met his, unyielding. She did not make promises she could not keep. The grey-eyed one would determine what her silence meant. She moved forward to the lip of the hole and hesitated.

Grip tightened around the hilt of the dagger that had pierced Odium.

Blood for blood.

Toned-arms tensed, visibly at her sides. The siren's song lingered in her head but two things broke through the trance: the face of her old master, Qae Shena, and the arrival of another. Muddy-hair snapped to the side as she jerked her head away from the blood-like color of Ryan's hair. Fiery-gaze stared at Graxin for several, long seconds, sizing him up. He was speaking more like a child than she did, even with her limited use of basic. Before the urge to stab the newcomer welled-up, she sheathed the daggers, turned, and was swallowed-up into the opening of the cave.


She was a warrior, not a committee.

Odium's blood still lingered on her skin. If they tried to stop her, it would be like stopping a nexu mid-hunt.

[member="Ryan Korr"] [member="Graxin Rade"] [member="Darth Isolda"] [member="Darth Odium"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

He didn't take his lightsaber off of his belt, but instead he continued to follow the former Sith Knight into the cave, or onto the cave lip. Ahead of them he wasn't paying attention to his senses, not as well as he should anyway, but when [member="Graxin Rade"] had shocked him out of his bored reverie, he took note of the woman ahead of them, [member="Quinn Vos"]. He saw her sheath the weapons and he was quite close to drawing his lightsaber at that point, but he didn't.

No reason to, not yet. Although he was wary of an ambush up ahead. He took note of [member="Ryan Korr"] ahead of them as well and he stopped when he recognized the familiar Jedi Knight. They had fought together upon Gratos to put down the Graug Rebellion and then he let the tension lessen in the air on his part. "Relax, Graxin." The Protector of Tython said.

He inclined his body ever so briefly to Ryan Korr and said, "what's the situation going on here?"

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Aran Ordo"]

Thump. Thump-thump. THUMP

If the pounding headache didn't wake her up, the bickering voices would have. "Feth this," the chestnut-haired woman groaned in a Southern Corellian accent. "Kriffin' spiced bourbo-," voice trailed off as her eyes opened. Wrists and legs were bound.

The emotions of the others swelled at the empath: hope, confusion, fear, pain.

She scrambled to a seated position, elbow accidentally jamming into Aran's ribs as she tried to leverage herself in the small space. Myrtle-ellipses swept the room as she calculated the guards and exits.

"Stars, my head and now my elbow..."

If she didn't get out of this, [member="Hannibal Oryen"] would never let her hear the end of this. Or Alen, for that matter. But for fear of not having a pint of praline icecream as therapy on hand, her thoughts didn't linger on the missing bearded-sith.

 

[Arumi Zy]

Zaren Bouqi Ashin Varanin Quinn Vos Ket Vistas Graxin Rade Ryan Korr


The Dark One stopped for a moment as he came to the temple grounds, emotions and ghost of memories past swirling through him. He could remember his first time here, to assasinate the empress. It had failed and he had garnered a new respect for the new breed of sith that day, he remember the fat one and the council and the sith that lead the sith to destruction. He scowled thinking that he should exterminate them all but he shook the darkness away trying to remember his new purpose in life, the new plots in his mind and his new goals to bring order to the galaxy.

He reached down to his trench coat and produce his pack of smokes and lit one of them, taking his first step towards the temple stairwell, shocked so much of it really still stood. He would need to hunt out the force signature and he would need to be quick, things were beginning to heat up around the planet as the others went about their wastes of time.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Though it caused frustration, he could not but admire her stubborn will. If only-

Further thoughts were silenced by the arrival of [member="Graxin Rade"] and [member="Zaren Bouqi"]. Rade he didn't know, but the 'padawan' seemed to talk a lot. The red-haired Jedi turned his gaze to Zaren, whom he knew from Gratos. He grit his teeth as the knife-wielding woman disappeared into the chasm. Eyes like flecks of flint stared hard at Zaren.

"Ashin Varanin is on overwatch, or was, I don't know what her sitrep is now. There's a Sith Lord wandering around, Arumi Zy. The woman wants to kill the Nautolan, of whom I'm unsure. I'll handle the Nautolan and the woman, you find the Sith. Bring him back for questioning if you can. He once worked for the Republic."

The Jedi then promptly turned around and vanished into the blackness of the cave system, dropping down into the nothing as he followed after the mysterious woman.

[member="Quinn Vos"] [member="Arumi Zy"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Arumi Zy"] [member="Ryan Korr"] [member="Zaren Bouqi"]
Ashin squinted through the scope at the gathering and the crevasse -- many people, mostly Jedi of one kind or another, all of them in their early twenties or younger, just plain milling around. When she'd alerted Korr that there was a genuine Master of the Dark Side not only on site, not only unopposed, but headed straight for the temple where her sniper nest was situated. She saw Korr dive into the crevasse and spat grit off the top of the temple.

"Gorram kids," she muttered, not transmitting. She contemplated tagging Arumi with the anti-materiel rifle, but he was only a few dozen metres away, more below her than across from her, almost at the base of the temple. At this range, he might be able to sense her attention, which would spike if she actually tried to take a shot. With a grunt, she rose and looped the fifty cal over her back, then clipped onto a line. She didn't have Bishop's comm number, had no desire to broadcast, and couldn't reach Korr in the caves, not with the simple comlink she was carrying. Rope hissed against her gloves as she descended the side of the temple as fast as she could control. She'd laid out three lines, one against each face she could access, and this one put her down on the broad dais off to Arumi's left as he began ascending the steps. Her knees took the impact, and she unclipped, hands empty.

She didn't wear the same face nor body that she'd had when she fought Arumi, but she knew he'd recognize her in the Force. Diminished, certainly, and Light Side, but still her. Her straightforward manner of speech, lower middle class by all accounts, shifted back into the accent and diction of the Sith Empress.

"Master Fidelis. Welcome back to Korriban." She smiled faintly, and it almost reached her eyes, as she adjusted the strap for the massive sniper rifle on her back. "I've often wondered what it is about this world that tends to draw us, apart from the obvious."

 

[Placeholder 0123]

Graxin visibly relaxed at Zaren's urging. It was true, he was acting immature and unprofessional. He knew it. That persona had found itself shifted with the shadow of his former self. It was a lost childhood emerging in the worst of moments, and yet, Graxin was enjoying himself. Well, as much as one could with the foreboding, terrifying presence of the eternal darkness that was Korriban.

"Sith? Okay, got it." He mumbled. "Don't fall. The rocks are sharp, and its dark. Oh, and Tuk'ata too. Those are fun." Graxin gave [member="Ryan Korr"] a two finger salute. With the knowledge that he had likely given off a terrible impression to the Knight, Graxin turned on his heel, and stared at [member="Zaren Bouqi"]. "I'll need your help sensing him. You know how I am here, I'd figure. Tapping heavily into the force is just too much."

With that stated, Graxin made his way back to the ship that the Nautolan had left behind. He stared at the thing for a long moment; amber eyes narrowed partway. Clearly, he was lost in some kind of thought. "Bishop...maybe we should search the ship?" He murmured absentmindedly.

His eyes closed, and his consciousness extended outward. He was met with the same raging sea as before. It tugged at his legs and threatened to pull him under. His lungs burned as they were filled with the foul water, and the last vestiges of air were readying to explode in a grab for freedom. Suddenly, the storm calmed. The pain in his chest lightened to a degree, though it was still present, and the eye of the storm shone far off in the distance. Toward the temple. That was their destination. Just as the vision of clarity had appeared, it vanished to be replaced by the stormy sea once more.

"I...think we should head toward the temple...unless your friend might need help? The ship too. It might give a clue as to why so many people are here causing so much chaos."

[member="Arumi Zy"] [member="Ashin Varanin"][member="Darth Odium"]

 

[Zion Krayt]

Zaren turned his head momentarily to look at Graxin Rade. He shook his head and turned around to go back into the Valley of the Dark Lords. When he turned his head to look up at the temple, he didn't see anything at first until he saw someone seemingly floating above a portion of the temple and then going down. He shook his head as if he had seen a ghost and started heading in that direction.

"Did you hear Knight Korr? He said there is a Sith Lord, Graxin, and there is an Ashin Varanin here. She was most likely giving him information about who was coming and from where, and there's only one place where she could be doing that." He said and turned around to head towards the temple again, this time doubling up the speed. There was a need to hurry at this point, if it was true that there was a Sith Lord then he'd need to deal with them quickly.

He had been there on Sigma Station when Ashin Varanin had accepted being force severed. But that was some time ago, he doubted she'd remember him, and if she did, she would only recognize the armour that he had worn at that time and was wearing again. "Listen." He said, and his steps began to carry him up the steps, hopefully with Graxin in tow...

[member="Graxin Rade"], [member="Ashin Varanin"], [member="Arumi Zy"]

 

[Placeholder 0123]

Graxin opened his mouth to retort, but the words died in the back of his throat. He was still under fire for sneaking off of Ossus. It was best not to anger Zaren further for fear of a word with the Jedi Council. Graxin complied without a word, following up the steps without complaint.

He reached up and drew the gray hood up over his head. It blocked out the sun, and served to bring him some form of comfort. That would help were they to meet this other Sith. He wasn't sure if he was ready to face another of his former kind, but destiny rarely let those it threw about choose the time to acts.

It was halfway up the steps, that Graxin finally spoke. "The Emperor? The former one, I mean. Krag and the others only ever mentioned Varanin in passing. I've never met her."

[member="Zaren Bouqi"] [member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Arumi Zy"]