Disguise Number 573 (Velok, Open)

[Tahira Solo]

@[member="Velok"]

[SIZE=10pt]Even the night air on Manaan was crisp and refreshing. Considering she grew up on Dac, she missed living by the water. This retreat to earn some credits for the Helm was more liberating than she first imagined it could be.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]It was as if she could feel the steady thrumming of water against the anchoring city of Ahto and it was grounding.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Weaving through the rows of bed sitting in a partially outdoor clinic, myrtle ellipses scanned a medical data pad. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Y’know, your nursing shift has been over for the past hour.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Gaze flickered up for a moment, before dropping back to the chart. “I’m just finishing up a few things and should be done soon.” She offered a reassuring smile that was slightly strained. Move along, move along.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Alright, Miss. We appreciate the extra help around here,” with a tip of his hat, the man left, probably too overworked to care if one nurse wanted to put in some extra hours.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Finally, he was gone. And finally, it was safe for her to use her real talents as a healer. It was amazing how the title of nurse could go relatively unnoticed and all health improvements were attributed to the Manaan Doctors.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]It was perfect, really. Pausing at the next datapad, she knelt by the bed’s edge, fingers reaching forward to check the patient’s vitals.[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Tahira Solo"]

"They say this clinic is the best. Right now, anyway. Not sure why that is."

The huge old Whiphid wore a hospital gown. Beneath the gown, a nephrostomy tube looped down from a hole in his kidney to a bag on his thigh. And he was tired. He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Bored out of his mind.

"But it's why I came here," he added, and somehow he made the choice sound both deliberate and significant, when it could have sounded inane. The doctors' machines couldn't register the significant amounts of Dark Side energy that permeated his body, both corrupting it and forcing it to stay together. A Jedi healer would sense the networks of Dark Repair that held his body together against the combined weight of age and many injuries. A deep blaster wound, poorly healed, decorated his right shoulder.

But mostly it was just age.

"I'm hoping against hope," said the unexpectedly erudite Whiphid, "that you'll be able to offer some comfort to an old man. If you could ease my pain I'd be grateful."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]@[member="Velok"][/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]With the time spent on Kashyyyk among the wookies, species size no longer fazed her. There was actually something comforting about the Whiphid…but also alarming. Eyes scanned his datapad chart as her senses in the force scanned his beastly body.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]The darkside flashed like a strong beacon in this one.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Listen….Velok,” eyes found his name on the screen. “I think we both know the kolto will do most of the pain easing.” A genuine and gentle smile crossed her lips, fingertips slipping into the old Whiphid’s giant hand and giving him a light and comforting squeeze. Her palm was dwarfed by his massive claws.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Tread lightly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Nurse-to-patient face never broke. She could walk away right now and let the other doctors care for this one. Or, she could risk everything and heal him. It would blow her cover. Unless…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Reaching over his shoulder, she tapped a few buttons to begin the release of a sedative into his IV. “This’ll help you to let go…relax a little. And I bet when you wake up, you’ll be feeling a lot better.”[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Tahira Solo"]

Something was...off. Maybe it was the slight unprofessionalism of her bedside manner, maybe it was her face, maybe it was just the...

The...

His eyes flicked to the IV bag. "Careful," he said, deadpan, his words slurring. "I talk in my sleep. If I say anything in a dead language that makes people's ears bleed, just slap me and I'll roll over..."

He passed out.

 

[Tahira Solo]

@[member="Velok"]

[SIZE=10pt]Hard amusement flashed across myrtle ellipses. As soon as his eyes completed their downward arc, any illusion of hesitation disappeared. Hand slipped from his claw and went to work on his shoulder.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“What kind of trouble follows you around, Mr. Velok…or do you make?” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Like a star in Manaan’s night sky, her force signature burst free from the shadows of concealment. A faint glow erupted from skilled hands as the lightside silently wove through his charred and putrid flesh. Cell by cell was cleansed, mended, or knit back together. The darkside licked like flames on the edges of her senses as she worked. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Gently, she began to prod his bodily ties to the darkside. His physical sense was clearly relying on something twisted and supernatural, much like the sith master Reyven. Veteran eyes flicked to the IV. She had lost track of time.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Eyes scanned his healed shoulder one last time as she began to snuff out her own force signature.[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Tahira Solo"]

His mouth tasted utterly foul. Grimacing, he glanced at Tahira, then shrugged. Across the room, a tiny flimsiplast cone cup filled with water. It levitated across to him, and he drank. The paper cup fell from his hand as he stared at the ceiling.

"How long was I out? And why, exactly, did you put me under with no operation scheduled-"

His eyes widened, then closed, as he used his own powerful Force senses to evaluate the condition of his body. The networks of Dark Repair remained, attempting to hold everything together, but his body no longer needed to be held together.

She had given him years more to live. That much was obvious. He drained the energy from the networks of Dark Repair, and faint red glow surrounded him; he never looked away from Tahira. If she was the woman from his files -- and not many skilled Force healers had cheekbones like that, almost Whiphid-worthy -- she was in disguise.

"I knew a man once," said the Koensayr boss slowly. "I'm two hundred years old. Fifty, sixty years ago, I knew a young Sith Elder, a body-trader, who went Light. I followed his career somewhat, paid close attention when his first wife fell to the Dark Side. I even helped train his granddaughter...Ashin Varanin, the Sith Empress. Your granddaughter by marriage. I think she's about your age, Master Solo." He leaned back again and stared at the ceiling. "I was never the sort to seek for a new lease on life, not like Darth Shule. I could find a new body any time I like -- I know how to do it, even if I no longer have the strength by myself. But I like being old, and you've just removed the aspects of age that I don't like. You have the thanks of Velok, last of the Blackguards, lor pelek, once jen'ari, Devourer of Souls, the Living Holocron."

 

[Tahira Solo]

@[member="Velok"]

[SIZE=10pt]“And here I thought you didn’t look a day over one-hundred forty-seven,” a lopsided grin fell on pensive features. A flicker of pain crossed myrtle ellipses when the Whiphid spoke about Je’gan and something else entirely with Ashin. Her gaze averted as she checked his vitals on the datapad.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Well, Master once jen’ari, Devourer of Souls, the Living Holocron, I think these clinic fumes must be getting to your head. Master Solo is dead and has been for some time.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]It wasn’t a lie, from a certain point of view.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“You should be released by the end of the day.” With a flick of her wrist, the datapad cover snapped closed to his chart. “I am curious, though, how someone of your…” eye flitted to the dropped flimsy cup, “skill ended up in an outer boundary clinic.”[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Tahira Solo"]

"And yet, to the well-ordered mind, death is but the next great adventure. If there's one thing I know about Master Solo, she was...an adventurer. Not always by choice, mind. Certainly not reckless." He coughed heavily, hospital gown fluttering, and pawed at the bed controls. The back rose, propping him up. "Whoever you are, then, I could ask the same. Not many could do what you just did.

"But as it happens, I'm here on Manaan for the Order of Shasa, or their memory. They were strong, once, right up until the first days of the Empire. One of the few species-centric Force traditions that matured to fullness, much like the Ithorian priests or the Lucent. I've heard rumors of their return."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]“Would you believe I’m just here to earn a living?” A single chestnut-brow lofted as she allowed herself to take a seat.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]And certainly not reckless. [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Oh, how things change.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“You speak as if you really know…knew,” she corrected gently, “Master Solo.” Though old, she recognized the element of danger in the Whiphid. She would be a fool not to. Hands gripped the edge of her seat as she leaned forward, closer to the furry giant.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“I tell you what. I’ve got a speeder part-sub, the next 72 hours off, and some fairly reliable contacts on this planet. Are you opposed to a fellow adventurer joining you?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]She healed him, therefore he was her responsibility, meaning, she had to keep him from going typical sith-happy during his stay. The sooner she helped him, the sooner he would depart and the sooner she could go back to being a credit-earning-wallflower. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Besides,” another lopsided grin lit her features, “someone’s gotta keep you from ending up back here.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]And keep others from being decapitated, force choked, or lightning fried.[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Gigantic, shaggy brows rose. "Opposed? Not at all."

And if they found something that needed killing, or the sort of people that just required a knowledge drain, well...in seventy-two hours she'd be gone from the planet.

He kicked her out of his corner of the room and traded his hospital gown for battered old Jedi robes. Shoving back the curtain, he rejoined Tahira. "Now, I once had an apprentice of mine track down someone who remembered the Order of Shasa. I had his diary once, but I lost a great deal. All I remember is something about the progenitor, some sort of gigantic fish at the bottom of the sea. Something to do with the origin point of Kolto. Fortunately, I have done my research. I've got sea-suits and a submersible ready to go."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]Grabbing a jacket, she shrugged it on over her scrubs and added a backpack to her shoulder. “A sith with a type-A personality. I never thought I would see the day…” voice trailed off as she led them through the streets to her speeder. Hopping in, she reached over and kicked the passenger side open. “It’s second hand. Sometimes you have to give it a little…tough love for the door to open.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]As if she needed to tell a Whiphid that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Gunning the engine, her feet shifted the gears. Just point me in the direction of your stashed submersible and we’ll be on our way.” It was odd how at ease she felt around the beastly sith. Maybe it was because there was a certain amount of intimacy involved in healing someone or more likely, his stature and nature reminded her of a time long ago. She offered an easy-going smile in the early morning light. “And I hope you can swim, Grandpa.”[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Velok stared at her, long and direct.

"You know," he said at last. "I've traveled this galaxy a long, long time. I can't even put my life into words, and I'm lucky enough to remember most of it. I've known good Jedi, bad Jedi, Dark Jedi, Gray Jedi, fallen Jedi, rogue Jedi, old-school Jedi and liberal Jedi. I've known your order inside and out -- I mean, what's the next best thing to a good friend but a good enemy? But never once have I met someone who was staunchly on the side of the Light and was willing to give me the benefit of the doubt so completely.

"What I'm about to say may be difficult to hear. I don't know if you are Tahira Solo. I think you are, I'm relatively sure, but I could be wrong. If you are Tahira Solo, you may be the last hope for the Jedi Order.

"And even if you're not her, you're a Master of the Light Side, and there's few enough of those. What I have to say applies even if you're not Master Solo.

"The Jedi are scrambling for a direction. Darron Wraith is a warrior who seeks to become a spiritual leader, but he doesn't have that in him. He took an impressionable Padawan who had fallen in love with a Sith, and gave her a choice. Spy on her lover, your granddaughter by marriage, Ashin Varanin -- report every intimate detail of their relationship -- or be kicked out of the Order. Naturally this Padawan took the necessary moral stand and left the Order." He sighed. "At which point, Jedi Master Phylis Alince was sent to track her down and ensure, violently if necessary, that she wasn't a threat.

"Meanwhile, the number two man on the side of the Order is Kamon Vondiranach. I've worked with him before. He divides his loyalty between the Order and the Echani, to the detriment of both. He had an affair with a politician and impregnated her, he's searching for a cause to go to war with Atrisia, he almost had me invade Mandalore, and he sent me to help liberate or subjugate Ord Mantell. The man is a warmonger.

"If you're Tahira Solo, you're equal to any Jedi Master alive. Je'gan Olra'en, an old friend of mine in his Sith days, considered you his superior in the Force and in judgment. You are needed. And I want to make you Grandmaster."

In the silence, the old Whiphid gestured at an open-air dock.

"There's our submarine."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]Myrtle ellipses locked with his, unwavering even though the entire time the Whiphid stared her down she couldn’t help feel a little awkward at the drawn-out silence. Was he testing her? For a moment she felt very much a student to a lecturing professor.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Without a word, she grabbed her bag and slammed the speeder door closed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Who are you, the gardener of the galaxy’s grapevine?” There was no hostility in her tone, something more of a gentle amusement. She cast Velok a look over her shoulder as she walked through the narrow corridors of the sub. She knew Kamon from her time with the Rogues. She knew Ashin, Spencer, and Phylis by reputation. And Je’gan…well, Je’gan.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Stars, she missed him. If what Velok said was true about her many-times-now deceased husband, she couldn’t believe it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“I hate to disappoint you Velok, but I already have a job. And I’m not looking for a new one.” Grabbing a datapad from her bag, she took a seat, finger pads tapping the screen to bring up a set of coordinates. Eyes cast back to the furry giant. “And what if I wasn’t giving you the benefit of the doubt? What if I was tagging along because I felt responsible for your actions? And,” twin-chestnut brows lofted in curiosity, “why would you be so invested in the fate of the Jedi Order?”[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"All good questions. Fair, incisive, emotionless. Appropriate." The old Whiphid took the submersible's controls and eased it into the embrace of Manaan's waves. The glowing sunlight and the pale city faded away as they descended. "Let me see if I remember them in the right order.

"Gardener of the vine, oh yes. Yes, that's been my role since your husband was a child. The dark things of the Unknown Regions owe much of their pains and frustrations to me, or else the Core would have tasted the wrath of the Abominor, the Blazing Chain, the Ssi-Ruuvi, the Sith'ari Centrality. I'm sure it'll come as no surprise to you to know that I have a great deal of blood on my hands, but almost none of it is innocent. I arrange things. I cause things to happen. Not out of delusions of grandeur, but because sometimes I see things more clearly than the next gamesmaster." He shrugged. "And sometimes because it's fun to match wits with the Powers That Be, and prevail.

"Tagging along because you feel responsible? I'm sure you are. That doesn't mean you're not treating me as one sentient should treat another. By their fruits ye shall know them, Master Solo -- if that's who you are. If that feeling of responsibility was truly your only motivation, you'd be far more worried about what I might do in seventy hours, when you leave Manaan.

"Why do I feel responsible for the Jedi Order? Consider the Republic as a dead tree; consider the Jedi as the vines that wrap around it and hold the rotten old wood together. And I take shelter under that tree, from time to time. Allegiances are temporary things, to me. Five years here, ten there. But that old tree remains, and its shade too. And besides that, I like the Jedi. Why do you think I wear these old robes? I was born and raised in the Blackguards, a splinter group that treasured knowledge and believed power in the Force was the best way to understand the mysteries of the universe. We were exiled from the Sith for that, two thousand years ago. I'm the last Blackguard, first and foremost, whatever other titles I take. I treasure knowledge, and valuable things, for their own sake. The Jedi have such potential, such beauty. In another life, I might have been one.

"Now, of course, I'm nothing but a murderous old librarian, hunting Darksiders to slake my species' hunting urges. And hunting knowledge because someone, somewhere, should record it. I'm a poor combatant in some ways, and my power is far less than it once was, but I should tell you, in fairness...apart from a handful of truly improbable abilities, I know every Force technique in recorded history. I've given my life to become a living archive of the Force. And maybe, someday, there'll be a Grandmaster who's willing to help me change." He snorted. "I've faced and fought Darron Wraith. He's a self-righteous brute. But a healer? A healer who knows battle...that sort of Jedi is needed, far more than your current job needs you, whatever it might be."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]Swiveling in her chair, she faced Velok. “You mean when you leave Manaan in seventy hours, or rather sixty-nine hours and fifty-three minutes?” A hint of mischief and good-natured teasing flecked across myrtle ellipses. She regarded his robes thoughtfully, before swiveling her chair back to face the viewport. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]She didn’t allude anymore to her identity or deny his claims. Velok was an intuitive being and she was willing to bet no matter what she said, he would continue to believe what he thought was true.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]With a tap of her finger, the coordinates locked into the sub’s system, guiding them toward their destination. “Why do you make it sound like only a Grandmaster can help you change? With your lifetime of searching out knowledge and studies, would you agree that change has to start with you recognizing the desire for it to happen?” Her index finger pointed to his furry chest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]She couldn’t deny her own curiosity growing in the old Whiphid. But she wanted to tread cautiously.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“And you admitted to being a gamemaster. I’ve heard your successes but I’m more interested in your failures, when you could not match the…Powers that Be. Did the costs outweigh the rewards? Something clearly motivates you now, maybe something beyond the pursuit of knowledge, to keep playing the game.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Her attention turned to the viewport as the corner of her eye caught a rather large shadow approaching.[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Every successive thing you say makes me want to give an answer that supersedes the answer before it. It's like you're building half a tower and expecting me to keep up in building the other half. Because let's be frank. However little or much I desire to change, it's linked closely -- ever so closely -- with my failures.

"And it's at this point," he said, calmly watching the huge silhouette, "that I find myself wondering how cruel you are, and how much you've guessed. The two questions are inextricable. Because if you've guessed that my failures have brought enough pain to make even someone like me consider repentance -- true repentance, the kind that would make me give up the things my sins have given me -- well, then, you're cruel. Cruel to be kind, maybe.

"Yes. I've lost people I love, because of my mistakes. There was one, especially. A new-minted Master, barely thirty years old, a Mandalorian and a Prophet of the Dark Side and a blademaster. She could have done anything. And instead, she came with me, and together we destroyed a Sith academy. Then we fought its master and let him think he escaped on his own merits. And when his master came to confront us, we fought him and killed him. And my poor Arianna, my poor Ori'vod, didn't make it."

He squinted out the window at the onrushing shape, and his hand closed into a fist. For a moment, he smelled ozone from his own electricity.

"Just a whale. No threat at all. Funny, I was ready to rend heaven and earth." He sat back in the pilot's seat. "I don't need a Grandmaster to save me. At least, not directly. I need to make a Grandmaster to prove to myself that I care, in some sense. That I haven't entirely lost myself in the hunt. It's been a good hunt. I know there's better. But still..."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]Her hand was there, gentle but with a calming firmness on his fur-covered arm. All her earlier caution was gone. Her touch released something warm and healing but not controlling or in any way an attempt to alter the sith master’s emotions. It was just a reminder, that she was there and she was in this short adventure with him. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Even if that meant getting electrocuted. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]After Iridonia, Kashyyyk, Naboo…well, that was another story for another time.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Her opposite hand released from the weapon’s controls at the same time she released his arm. “You’re not the only one who has lost people they loved due to mistakes made. I know I’ve learned more from my failures than my successes,” a haunted look crossed her face as she thought of the witches and Christian’s hands around her neck.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Slowly, she uncurled clenched fists from her sides and shot the old Whiphid a sideways glance. “I hope you find a more qualified and less cruel candidate for the next Grandmaster opening. And I really hope,” she paused, “the fish beast guarding the entrance that we’re going to isn’t as large as a gorog.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Maybe that would settle it and the sith master would give up.[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Velok whuffled in amusement. "Come, now. You've already tamed one apex predator today; I doubt you would have trouble with another."

The submarine's sensor readouts depicted another large lifeform, whale-sized easily. Velok stretched out to the Force as he approached. "There's something special out there," he said. "It might be the Progenitor, or a Progenitor. At this point I doubt even the Selkath know what it is, whether it truly is their ancestor, whether it creates kolto or gains its immortality from kolto -- certainly no source I've consulted has the answers. But my feeling is that something so precious must have been protected. I'm virtually certain that the Order of Shasa monitors this area. Perhaps they even base themselves here.

"And there it is -- a firaxan shark the size of a starship. It may be the oldest living thing in the universe. And it may, potentially, be hungry."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[SIZE=10pt]“Beautiful,” she breathed, not sure whether she had won the round or Velok just let her win. “I knew you were a wildcard Velok, the moment I saw you on that clinic bed.” Getting up front her seat, she pointed out the viewport. “And look at that, the abandoned kolto-mining station.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Her voice deadpanned, “I hope we don’t start eating each other. Got any snacks onboard? Maybe we should eat something just to be sure,” with a wink and a curve of rosy lips, she made her way to the back of the submarine.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“I don’t know if any of those docking stations are still dry but we should suit up and try not to look like kolto.” Like Velok, she could feel the presence of the shark-like creature….and others. The mismatched pair was certainly not the only force users beneath the Manaan waters.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“I call dibs on making a fira,” her jesting voice carried down the corridor as she changed.[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Velok whuffled as he adjusted his attire to suit the underwater facility. Fresh air was plentiful, otherwise they would have been dead by now. Any leak would have flooded the compound over any length of time. Yes, someone still lived here, in this ancient place, though kolto production had moved to other facilities.

"You joke, but there was a certain Togorian Dark Master whose body I barbecued. Whiphids are like Kubaz -- slightly relaxed when it comes to consuming the flesh of other sentient beings." He chuckled. "Not that I've ever had a taste for humanoids. I hear it's a sweetish, marbled meat, but then again, I've had too many human friends."

A handful of figures, Selkath in tight blue wetsuits and dark cloaks, stepped out to intercept them. Each wore a large pendant, the sort Velok recognized as an ancient Inquisitor's taozin amulet. It muddied and scrambled the wearer's Force signature. A treasure, really -- the sort of thing they might have inherited, as object or as memory, from the ancient Order of Shasa after the Empire assimilated it.

"The Tusked Hunter," one Selkath burbled, a lightsabre unlit in its hand. "Is there anything for us now but blood?"

"I see my reputation precedes me. But no, I'm not here for violence. This one wouldn't allow it, in any case. We're here for curiosity -- to know if the ancient Order of Shasa remains."