Private Enlightenment [Valery]

[Darth Carnifex]

"You may yet regret your haste, Master Jedi."

Again, the Dark Lord snapped His fingers and the Jedi Padawan from yesterday was led into the room and made to sit opposite Valery. His skin was noticeably paler, his face gaunt with sunken eyes that looked frightfully on the Jedi Master. Only a stump remained where his arm had once been, sewn up and treated so that no infection could take root. More of his clothing had been removed so that his torso was bare, a webwork of scars running over his chest and back from where his gaelors had inflicted injury upon him.

This time, however, the Dark Lord did not repeat the same cruelty as yesterday. Instead, He produced two syringes of dark purple liquid tipped with a hypodermic needle. As the guards held the Padawan in place, the Dark Lord handed off one of the syringes to Sochi and approached Valery with the other. His strength over Valery was unquestioned, and He injected her with the entire concoction without difficulty, at the same time that Sochi injected the Padawan.

"What you were just injected with is known as Anxynth," explained the Dark Lord as he released Valery. "Soon you will suffer vivid nightmarish hallucinations, incapable of separating friend from foe." He curtly gestured to the Padawan, who had been thrown to the ground by the guards and left to wallow there as the drug began to take hold. "As will he." Carnifex removed a dagger from His belt, walking over to a spot between the two of them and dropping it tip-first into the floor, where it became embedded.

He walked away, standing on the elevated platform and waited.

Valery Noble ​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Janara III​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory Link!​

Tag: Darth Carnifex ​

​

She knew that in order to have any chance at escaping that she'd need to save her strength and energy as much as possible. So unlike the day before, she didn't resist Carnifex at all when he approached with the syringe and inserted the substance into her body. The fact they continued to torture the Padawan bothered her a lot more, and hearing him struggle against the guards was a painful thing to the caring woman.​

​

But then the Dark Lord explained the nature of the poison.​

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"No..."​

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The dagger fell between the two and she immediately knew what Carnifex's intentions were. With widened eyes, she stared at the Padawan, whose resistance against the invasive hallucinogenic poison was far weaker than her own. He reached for his face with the hand he still had, and soon began to thrash his head around as nightmare-inducing hallucinations struck him. There was no way for him to resist it, and slowly his gaze lingered between Valery and the dagger.​

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"Don't do it..." she said as her own body continued to fight the poison. If she was completely fit and at her best, she may have been able to flush it out of her system entirely, as she was trained for this during her Shadow days. But now... it was slowly beginning to take control of her as well.​

​

With a sudden dash, the Padawan reached for the dagger and lunged for Valery, hoping to drive it straight into her chest. But in a quick response, Valery caught his wrist and looked him in the eyes. But while she had wanted to dissuade him and keep him from attacking, she only saw a great threat. Her jaw clenched and gradually, the grip on his wrist tightened until the pain forced him to drop the weapon.​

​

Valery then tossed him aside like he was nothing and crumbled down to her knees, as pain shot up through her body. "No... stay away!" she called out with a hint of fear in her tone. A fear produced by what she was seeing, as well as the prospect that she was put in a position where she could end up killing this young boy.​

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[Darth Carnifex]

What the Dark Lord didn't tell Valery was that while she had received a typical dose of the hallucinogenic poison, the Padawan had been given a rather virulent cocktail of the hallucinogen mixed with compounds that expounded aggression, confusion, and induced in its subject a state of mania. So while Valery might only suffer vivid hallucinations in her weakened state, the Padawan was suffering a myriad of afflictions that took hold of his mind and didn't let go.

Even more insidiously, the cocktail was infused with mutagens that would irrevocably alter and scramble the Padawan's genetic structure. Courtesy of Taeli Raaf , these mutagens were of a particularly vicious strain and coded with biological instructions that would ensure a predetermined outcome for the rate of mutation and what mutation occurred. In due time, the Padawan would be unrecognizable, permanently transformed into a hideous amalgamation; a chimaera.

The Padawan's skin rippled like water, changing from shades of blue to purple in random, uncoordinated sequences. His head elongated into a snout, bones cracking and resetting as new collagen and calcium was created. Another head began to sprout from his neck, which had elongated to several feet in length. His remaining arm began to lose all fingers on its hands, replaced by a spindly arachnid limb covered in fine hairs and chitinous plate. A similar limb began to sprout from his the stump of his severed hand as well, with many smaller limbs protruding from his torso. His stomach burst open, a great gaping maw surrounded by rows and rows of sharp teeth pushing through the opening.

Now fully transformed into a horrifying monster ripped straight from a nightmare, the chimaera rushed forward towards Valery. Despite having been changed beyond recognition, the creature was still filled to the brim with the manic cocktail that had driven the Padawan into madness and violence. Small observation devices situated throughout the room monitored the creature, sending back valuable data to hidden servers.

Carnifex and Sochi watched from the platform, protected now by an invisible energy barrier that had activated once the Dark Lord had passed through from the lower level to the raised platform. They watched the struggle in absolute silence, neither speaking to the other. This was just as much of a scientific test as it was a means of torturing their captive Jedi Master, and neither were terribly predisposed to the juvenile taunting of their victims as other Sith were.

Valery Noble ​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Janara III​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory Link!​

Tag: Darth Carnifex ​

​

After tossing the Padawan aside, Valery had crumbled to her knees but what she witnessed next quickly made it clear that she couldn't sit still — she had to do something. The young boy had started to transform into something she could hardly recognize anymore, and the pain she felt through the Force as his life twisted into something darker was beyond any physical pain she had endured herself.​

​

Her face contorted from the echo of agony, and a tear ran down her cheek as the realization that this Padawan's life was over really struck her at her core. The worst part of it all was the feeling that she was right there to watch it happen, and she had been completely unable to stop it.​

​

"No..." she muttered as the transformation finished and a Chimaera was left staring at her. The look in his eyes, its intent in the Force; Valery knew it was going to attack, and as far as she knew, there was no saving the young boy anymore. She no longer felt his presence, his cries for help, or his desire to get out alive.​

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Just pain, hatred, and darkness.​

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Without any further hesitation, Valery pushed herself towards the dagger right as the beast began to charge her, and snatched it just in time. She rolled out of the way to avoid one of its heads snapping at her and got back up to her feet with the dagger pointing at the beast. But as she looked at it, she started to believe that taking it down without being able to really use the Force was not going to be easy.​

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So the plan she decided on was a difficult one to accept.​

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Again the beast charged towards her but this time, Valery moved to meet it head-on. With a brief explosive burst of Force-augmented speed, she moved between the two outer heads, which immediately bit down into her legs, but she pushed herself through the pain. With a loud scream, the dagger came up in both hands, and in the blink of an eye, she used her remaining strength in the Force to jam the dagger down into the center head, which was more closely attached to its torso.​

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The sheer force behind her strike was enough to slam the beast into the ground, which she hoped would be able to kill it. Because the two larger serpentine heads had each attached themselves to her thighs with their teeth, and the pain was quite overwhelming, especially in combination with the parasite now being able to bring her down again.​

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[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord's eyes briefly looked from Valery's struggle to a nearly unperceivable security node hidden in the chamber's vaunted ceiling, a look that was reserved for the eyes of Taeli Raaf whenever she would review the collected footage. The dosage had been enough to trigger a rapid transformation, but it still proved to be highly unstable. Within moments of the dagger being plunged into one of the beast's center head, an action that would have only agitated a Chimaera in the wild, the creature began to rapidly destabilize on the molecular level. Flesh sloughed off from brittle bones, sinews snapping like taut leather bands as the body unraveled from the inside-out.

When all was said and done, all that remained was a bubbling puddle of organic goo with vague clumps of bone rising up like islands in the sea. The shield separating Valery and the two Sith disappeared with a shimmer, the Dark Lord slowly levitating down to the edge of the goo puddle. A path through the remains was paved as the Dark Lord reached out with the Force, parting the slime so that He could walk unabated right up to where Valery was resting from her encounter. The dagger, now laying in the goo itself, flew into His outstretched hand with each of His fingers slowly curling around the hilt.

He knelt down next to Valery, who was just now coming down from the hallucinogenic effects of the poison. To get Valery to look at Him in the eyes, He pressed the pointed tip of the dagger against the underside of her chin so that she would instinctively raise her head as the sharp point pricked the skin and drew a meager amount of blood. "That was wonderfully done, Master Jedi. We have gleamed much from this display. But this isn't a time to rest on your laurels, we have much more work to do."

For the next several days, the Dark Lord imposed upon Valery Noble a myriad of experiments and trials during her captivity. He subjected her to various chemical concoctions to see how they would react in her body, specifically to see how they would respond to the presence of the parasite slowly eating away at her strength. He stripped her down and made her to endure extreme temperatures, electrical overstimultation, and, perhaps worst of all, conscious vivisection. By the time Valery had been returned to her cell on the sixth day, her body bore the scars of the Dark Lord's cruel and morbid scientific fascination.

While all of this was going on, the building of the tower outside the temple continued at a steady pace. By now it had been completed, all the villagers made to congregate near the tower's base while the Dark Lord and His servants were mired in preparation for something that had not yet been disclosed to their Jedi prisoner. But whatever they could be planned, it did not sit comfortably in the Jedi Master's fatigued mind. This wasn't merely the construction of a monument, there was something far more sinister at work beneath it all.

She would know, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that it would spell her doom if she did not escape.

Valery Noble ​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Janara III​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory Link!​

Tag: Darth Carnifex ​

​

Even though her attack against the beast would have normally not been enough to kill it, she watched it transform into a puddle of organic goo, which showed how unstable the experiment on the Padawan had been. But as disturbing as that was, the more painful thought was still the knowledge that the young boy was no more. Like any Padawan, he had many years of training and life ahead of him, and all of that was ripped apart now.​

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The pain all of this caused within the woman was so intense that she barely registered her bleeding legs. She sunk down to her knees with tears in her eyes, looked down at the floor, and clenched her hands into fists while the dagger lay on the floor in front of her. But even now, she remained in control — she couldn't give up on who she was and allow her emotions to control her.​

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"That was wonderfully done, Master Jedi. We have leamed much from this display. But this isn't a time to rest on your laurels, we have much more work to do."​

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With the knife forcing her chin up, her eyes met his again but the fire that had burned within them before was dimmed. She wasn't broken but it would be easy enough to tell that she was fighting hard to keep it all together. ​

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Several more days of physical and mental torture followed, leaving her covered in scars and despite her mental fortitude, she could feel that the barriers of her mind were starting to crack as well. Each time she believed that she'd finally become numb to the pain and suffering, a new experiment introduced her to something that she hadn't quite felt before. What she didn't realize, however, was that these experiments were also targeting the parasite deep within. So while her body and mind fell apart, so was the organism that had tried to kill her several times.​

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A bit of light in the darkness.​

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But it was after the sixth day when she sat alone on her knees at night within the confinements of her cell that she realized that her breaking point was near. She wasn't going to last another week and while she was willing to die to keep her family safe, her desire to return to them was stronger than anything else, even the pain and exhaustion she had been subjected to.​

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So as her eyes closed, Valery used what little strength she had in the Force to reach out across the vastness of space, and connect with the minds of her two most trusted friends. She wasn't sure where Kalie Alverez and Lyrrin were, but she hoped to invade their dreams with images of what was happening here. Of what was happening to their friend.​

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I need you guys...​

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With no strength or energy left in her body, Valery collapsed within her cell and remained unconscious until she was found and forced back up to her feet. But deep down, she hoped that help was on its way.​

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[Kalie Alverez]

AGENT: KALIE ALVEREZ
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: FIND & RESCUE VALERY NOBLE
TAGS: Lyrrin Valery Noble Darth Carnifex

​

"Force… force… force…"

Kalie's knuckles were white as she gripped tightly onto the controls of the massive Sepulcher-class Strike Carrier, the entire ship shaking rather violently as it forced its way into the atmosphere of Janara III. She had never flown anything quite this big in her life, and it was absolutely terrifying.

"Lyrrin!! I'm on approach!!" She yelled into the com link in her ear. It had been days since Lyrrin had sensed that something was wrong. He had said something about how he just knew that Valery was in danger. Being a reprogrammed android, she wasn't able to sense anything herself, but she trusted Lyrrin's instincts and had quickly assembled a team while Lyrrin had spent hours upon hours trying to track down her exact location. They weren't 100% sure that this was the place, but urgency was pressing and they had decided to go for it anyways.

Under any other circumstances, it would have been rather amusing to hear her furry friend using such force-like language… I just feel something… I can sense it…. But the circumstance was far from appropriate for such giggles.

She started to decelerate as the shaking subsided, pulling the vessel upward as it began to slow it's approach towards a large grassy field. She slammed a switch and a loud mechanical noise could be heard throughout the ship as the landing gear began to deploy.

"We're coming, Val…" She said through gritted teeth and furrowed brow.

 

[Lyrrin]

-

Objective: Rescue Valery Noble
Allies: Valery Noble | Kalie Alverez
Foes: Darth Carnifex
Vehicle: A-A5 Speeder Truck (Armed: Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon top mount)
Minions: Spaceport Police Droid [6/6], MEV-series medical evacuation droid [1/1]

---

Lyrrin had scrambled to convince Kalie that he had 'seen' or felt Valery's distress. It was hard to put into words, and he had never experienced a dream so vivid. Luckily for him the android had agreed to entertain his want to rescue Valery with no more evidence than a 'nightmare'. Despite this the Farghul had all the conviction of a man who had seen the torment with his own eyes.

"Got it, we're ready in the hangar!" Lyrrin responded as he took a step up into the A-A5 Speeder Truck's passenger/cargo compartment. It was very roomy and the droids were neatly standing (or floating in the case of the MEV) so that they took up as little room as possible. The police droids had been painted a matte black with a white SIA emblem on their chest. There were no other identifiers. Their blaster carbines were held tightly to their chest. Lyrrin glanced over the assembly silently then with a nod moved towards the front of the interior and sat in the driver's seat. He buckled himself in with the X harness seatbelt and put a minimal headset on his ear. He moved the microphone towards his mouth then spoke through the vehicle's radio to Kalie "Just don't crash us into the ground." he said with an audible smirk.

 

[Kalie Alverez]

AGENT: KALIE ALVEREZ
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: FIND & RESCUE VALERY NOBLE
TAGS: Lyrrin Valery Noble Darth Carnifex

​

“No promises…” She uttered with an edge of anxiety clearly detectable in her tone as she steadied the craft, bringing it to a hover just a few meters from the ground. She slowly brought it down until it touched down with a significant bump.

“Chit. Whatever. We’re good to go!” She shook off the slightly bumpy landing as she opened the cargo bay doors, allowing for Lyrrin to exit the spaceship. “On my way to you!” She said over coms as she quickly shut down the main engines along with all other systems. She jumped out of the seat and ran quickly back through the hallway to her own quarters, where she quickly grabbed her heavy repeater blaster and utility bag filled with all kinds of goodies. Now that she had been reprogrammed, she had full access to all of her systems, meaning that she could wield much larger weapons than she could have done as her human self. She smirked for a moment, looking down at the massive blaster in her hands, “Damn… I could get use to this.” She muttered as she shoved in a fresh energy cell and slung it behind her as she bounded out of the ship and made her way out to Lyrrin, who had likely already pulled the transport out onto the field.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Sire, we've detected a strike carrier entering the planet's atmosphere. It's equipped with an ion-scrambler, but we've been able to visually monitor its descent." The officer was young, as were many in the Kainate; the sons and daughters of loyal families that had joined their lord in exile from their homeworlds. All their lives, they had only known the glory and magnificence of their Father, their upbringing saturated with tales of a birthright that had been tarnished by those of lesser vision. In their hearts, they yearned to rekindle the flame of empire and take their rightful place as stewards of the galaxy; forever obedient to the Dark Lords that gave them purpose.

"Aerial defenses are on stand-by and ready to scramble at your command, your Supremacy." To that, the Dark Lord held up a hand to stop the officer dead in their tracks. He never once looked at the officer, His eyes fixed on a small scattering of flimsiplast sheets inscribed with written words, a stylus held deftly in His right hand. Few had studied the old ways, for what did flimsiplast and stylus serve in an age of datapads and electronic records. Writing had long since fallen out of style in the galaxy, not when the proliferation of digital devices had rendered it obsolete.

After inscribing a few words in ancient ur-Kittât, the Dark Lord set aside His stylus and turned to look at the officer. "Allow them to land, allow them to disembark. They have come for the Jedi, and we will not impede them. The ritual is nigh upon us, and it will no longer matter if she is freed from captivity. Continue with the operation." The officer bowed low and then turned to leave, the door shutting behind them after they had passed through.

Outside the temple, the soldiers that garrisoned the village were all busy in every corner of the settlement. With all the villagers concentrated just outside the temple entrance, the soldiers were free to scour the outlying homes and sweep in towards the village center. When entering a home, they would root through every room and overturn every piece of furniture, trying to locate anything that would be considered valuable. They would even pry open electrical compartments for the wiring, the lights of the village slowly going out one-by-one. They would then collect these ill-gotten gains in crates, set them on hovercarts, and then send them off to transport vessels that were parked just beyond the perimeter of the village.

The villagers whose homes were being ransacked without their knowledge were kept placated through prayer, the Preceptor Sochi Ru standing on an elevated platform at the base of the newly constructed tower delivering fiery sermon after fiery sermon. Her voice could be heard across the entire village. But she was not the only one, for though this village was the epicenter of the darkness that had lured Valery Noble to this world, dozens of other villages had been subjected to the same conditions. They each had their own towers, their own Preceptors, and their own band of looting soldiers. The air was abuzz with static electricity, like the scant minutes before the plunge into a terrible storm.

The Dark Lord rose from the desk, collecting the flimsiplast into a leather satchel that He then delivered to another officer waiting outside the room. They disappeared elsewhere in the temple, while the Dark Lord continued on towards the front entrance.

When He took His place at the base of the tower, then the ritual would begin.

And doom would follow.

Valery Noble | Kalie Alverez | Lyrrin ​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Janara III​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory Link!​

Tag: Darth Carnifex Kalie Alverez Lyrrin ​

​

No matter how difficult the night, morning would always come, and when the light of the sun on Janara III finally began to shine through the narrow window in Valery's cell, her eyes opened. She pushed herself back up to her knees and unlike the morning before, she felt a bit more strength flowing through her body. In part because of an unexpected visitor, but mostly because she could feel friends drawing near through the Force.​

​

"Kalie... Lyrrin..." she muttered to herself as she stood up and looked out through the window. Something was still happening in the village that she didn't quite understand, but even if she knew, she wasn't in a position to do anything about it. But the day where she would be able to make that difference again was getting closer.​

​

She could feel it.​

​

Valery then closed her eyes and while her two closest friends pierced through the atmosphere, she sat back down on her knees and meditated. The Force began to flow around her again, and when the time was right, she would unleash every bit of strength she could muster to give them a signal and to help them in the escape.​

​

 

[Lyrrin]

-

Objective: Rescue Valery Noble
Allies: Valery Noble | Kalie Alverez
Foes: Darth Carnifex
Vehicle: A-A5 Speeder Truck (Armed: Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon top mount)
Minions: Spaceport Police Droid [6/6], MEV-series medical evacuation droid [1/1]

---

As soon as the hangar ramp descended, Lyrrin, drove the A-A5 out into the landing zone. He left one of the doors open for her to get inside as his right hand played over various switches and dials to properly calibrate the vehicle the environment around them. It would be a real shame if the craft was riding too high or low. Lyrrin pressed a blue button and small holo-display appeared between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. It was a limited display of the surrounding area showing only so much as path traveled and topography.

Just then he felt a rippling wave, fleeting as it was, come over his mind. It sounded like a hum. The 'sound' was too deliberate to be an incidental sound from nature but yet too vague to nail down completely the origin "What was that?" he murmured to himself, unaware that it was Valery once more. The agent rubbed the side of his head with a free hand then put both onto the steering wheel as he peered over his shoulder "Kalie! Come on!" it was like waiting for her to go to dinner or something, taking her sweet time when they had an appointment with destiny "Should've left earlier...Kalie!"

Unbeknownst to the agents there was something larger afoot in these lands. Something particularly dark and disturbing. Lyrrin had not researched much about the area prior to their rush to arrive - and what little he did find was not especially helpful.

 

[Kalie Alverez]

AGENT: KALIE ALVEREZ
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: FIND & RESCUE VALERY NOBLE
TAGS: Lyrrin Valery Noble Darth Carnifex

​

She jumped into the passenger side of the vehicle, flipping the massive repeater blaster to her front as she sat down and closed the door with her other hand. “For force sake, Lyrrin!” She exclaimed as she adjusted the weapons position so as to not hit any of the controls. “I’m moving as fast as I can!” She slapped the dashboard with her free hand twice, indicating she was ready to go.

She took a peek back behind at the droids accompanying them. “Can you patch them into my systems for direct control? That would be amazing.” They were still discovering the many advantages now afforded to them by her being an actual android. Her reprogramming process had been somewhat experimental, and so she had become extremely reliant on Lyrrin to keep her systems stable as he carefully monitored the results and how her new programming was being accepted by the foreign android technology. In almost every way, she had become codependent on Lyrrin… and while some might have found it constricting, she found great solace in their new relationship. Everything she had ever known had been a reconstruction of someone else’s life, and so having someone so close to her that truly cared about her was exactly what she needed more than anything.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord stood before them, tall and triumphant.

His mere presence cast a wide shadow over the congregation, a darkness so absolute that it dimmed all available sources of illumination. Even the sun's brilliance appeared to wane, a chill wind slicing across the land in the absence of the light's warmth. The atmosphere grew dark and oppressive, storm clouds rapidly accumulating with a keening cacophonous dirge heralding their arrival. Wind grasped at the congregation, a tumultuous gale whose passing humbled the mightiest trees and made the grass of the fields and prairies bow low to the ground. The entire land was blanketing in a thick miasma of darkness, the light choked from every corner of the world.

But for a moment it abated as the Dark Lord raised His hands for the congregation to quiet, the world holding its breath as He spoke. "My children," His voice was heard not only by those assembled before him, but across the whole world. "Your deeds have not gone without admiration, for in my sight I have witnessed the sanctity of your faith. When my Faithful had come to you with enlightenment, you had known naught but insignificance. In that time, you have risen above the squalor of your past. The chains that bound you have been broken." The crowd was silent, gazing up at the Dark Lord with wide eyes and mouths agape. With but a word, He had stunned them into silence that none of them could rouse from.

"Now, you are on the cusp. Your feet are rooted on the precipice, and before you lies the gulf. To turn back from the gulf is to forsake all that you have strived to achieve, to regress into the light that had muzzled your potential. You must take a step forward, my children. Take this leap of faith and witness your destiny being fulfilled." By now, all the Dark Lord's soldiers had fled Janara III. The villages they had ransacked sat silent and empty, save for the assembled masses at their center and the booming voice of the Dark Lord. Even Sochi Ru had left, having departed shortly before the Dark Lord emerged to speak to the assembled crowd; as had the entirety of the temple staff, leaving Valery Noble completely unguarded.

The Dark Lord turned away from the crowd, now facing the wide edifice of the tower behind Him. The structure seemed to vibrate and hum with energy, the stone reacting to the touch of the Dark Lord as He placed one hand upon its surface.

"Now is the time of ascendance."

The runes etched onto the surface of the tower, of every tower across the glove, lit up a bright red. The air grew hazy as the Dark Lord activated the ritual locked away within the runes, bright red electricity dancing across His entire body.

And all the villagers began to scream.

In this village.

In other villages.

Across the world.

They screamed.

Valery Noble | Kalie Alverez | Lyrrin ​

 

[Lyrrin]

-

Objective: Rescue Valery Noble
Allies: Valery Noble | Kalie Alverez
Foes: Darth Carnifex
Vehicle: A-A5 Speeder Truck (Armed: Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon top mount)
Minions: Spaceport Police Droid [6/6], MEV-series medical evacuation droid [1/1]

---

Lyrrin began to drive towards the nearest location that the duo had been able to place on a short-list of evil Sith lairs that would be 'reasonable', at least as reasonable as they could and still fit within the strange dream like visions that he had. As Kalie requested that she be given direct control of the SIA flagged Spaceport Police Droids he glanced over to her quickly then back at the terrain before him - taking care to use speed but not at the expense of survival - and said in a steady tone "I can but just remember. When you do this you're going to be slower than normal. Remember that whole 'mental weight' thing I talked about? The more you take on the more you have to push. There is a reason the CIS used control ships back in the day."

The agent put his left hand under the steering column and popped open a small compartment and withdrew the device within then offered it to Kalie. It was a palm sized device with a three inch, flat, antenna extending from exterior of a form-fitting center piece attached to the swirl of cool metal that made up an ear clip "Put it on and your systems will do the rest.. the signal is lightly encrypted and you won't be able to assume control off our base inputs without it."

Once she took it from him both of his hands would go back to the wheel. As the terrain passed them by Lyrrin leaned forward and squinted "Is that a village? Strange I don't remember that on the maps..." due to the speed of the truck the group swiftly encroached on the village as Lyrrin was now able to find a proper road to float along. Just then the sky grew dim and a strange wail ever so slightly pierced the interior of the armored vehicle. Though because of his keen hearing he heard it all the same "They're screaming?" he glanced to Kalie then back to the road as they sped past the village towards what appeared to be a temple "Well I did say it was a nightmare."

Lyrrin flipped a switch on the the center console and a simple control stick folded out, it was the firing controller for the Z-6 on top of the speeder truck. The temple was just moments away, and the scenes out of the armored windows was not one that anyone would want to be among without such a weapon at hand.

 

[Kalie Alverez]

AGENT: KALIE ALVEREZ
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: FIND & RESCUE VALERY NOBLE
TAGS: Lyrrin Valery Noble Darth Carnifex

​

"I can handle it." She stated confidently, taking the device and clipping it onto her ear. Her system adopted the device, and suddenly she was aware and able to command the units. She laughed and shook her head, her eyes wide as she realized that she could see what they saw as well. "This is so cool." She said softly. She had struggled with overconfidence ever since the reprogramming. Now having full access to all of her potential, she felt as though she was limitless. She would need to discover her boundaries in time, as she was not necessarily as strong as she felt like she was.

As they neared the village, Kalie furrowed her brows, starting a comprehensive scan of the area. "There are some really bizarre readings going on…" Her eyes turning white as she scanned, "There is definitely some dark activity happening." She rolled the window down and protruded her rifle out the window as she pulled herself up and sat on the edge, the chilling wind sending her red curly hair up into a storm behind her. She held on tightly to the vehicle with one hand and raised the heavy repeater rifle with the other, ready for whatever they might encounter.

"I'm ready to fuck up some baddies, buddy." She stated matter-of-factly as she looked out into the distance of the city, her eyes scanning for any signs of Valery Noble .

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Janara III​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory Link!​

Tag: Darth Carnifex Lyrrin Kalie Alverez ​

​

They are close.​

​

Valery's eyes opened and slowly, she raised herself from her knees to feel the Force flowing around her. While Kalie had no presence in the Force currently, she could still feel Lyrrin and through him, she knew both her friends were on their way. But they needed a way to figure out where exactly Valery was being held captive — a sign of some kind.​

​

"Come on guys, I know you're looking and I can only do this once," she muttered to herself.​

​

After looking out the narrow window one last time, she positioned herself in the center of the room and drew in a deep breath. Thus far, she had been very careful with her use of the Force, fearing the parasite would be able to overwhelm her, but with it being weakened and this being the moment to use what energy she had left, Valery no longer held back anything.​

​

It was guaranteed to leave an echo in the Force that Carnifex and other Force-sensitives could feel as well, but she didn't care and channeled everything into her body, and out into her arms while her hands came together in front of her chest. Between the palms, all this energy was abruptly compressed, and seconds later the Force Burst was released to explode its way through the Temple walls.​

​

The first few walls it encountered were blasted through like they were nothing, but further into the Temple it finally exploded, and it did so violently. It had the desired effect of creating an explosion that anybody in a significant radius could pick up on, but it also depleted Valery of all her energy, causing her to collapse to the ground.​

​

Without any strength left to move or talk, she focused on her breathing and simply hoped. ​

​

Force be with them...​

​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The energy was building, He could feel it.

Mounting pressure, growing, and growing, and growing.

Their wail never abated, they simply grew weaker as there was no longer any air left to exhale. Few retained the strength to stand, most had collapsed to the ground and writhed in exasperated agony. Their mouths were agape in willowy screams, some having opened their mouths so wide it tore the muscles in their cheeks and dislocated tendons. None could free themselves from the affliction that assailed them, incapable of running or doing anything other than suffer.

There were a few that tried to reach in the direction of the Dark Lord, the last gasps of veneration in hope of forlorn succor. They would find no salvation from the one whom they placed their faith in, for He was the culprit of their suffering. Through His myriad of servants, their minds had been twisted and warped into foul belief. With the honey of salvation, they had built grand monuments to His glory and whispered His name in their prayers. Now their savior had come and was now delivering them to their fate, not the one promised to them, but one that served the interest of their dark master.

The Dark Lord levitated off the ground, rising up into the air with arms now outstretched to either side of Him. He could feel the gathering energy coalesce in front of Him, it was at its breaking point. All that was left was to break the seal and see free the unbearable pressure. With a deep breath, the Dark Lord slammed His hands together in front of Him.

The gathered energy was dispersed.

And all of Janara III died.

Like a rolling tide, a shockwave leached the color from the entire world. All the villagers both near the Dark Lord and in all parts of the world perished simultaneously, followed immediately by the living creatures inhabiting Janara III's woodlands, waters, and skies. The only creatures not affected by the energy dispersal were those who had not been groomed for its devastating fields, such as Valery Noble and those who had come to save her. But everything else, all across the planet, died at once. What was left was little more than ash, living tissue broken down into black soot that scattered on a stale fetid wind.

What consumed Janara III was not the perversion of light and life, it was absence in its purest form. All that was left behind was a grievous wound in the Force, a yawning chasm where there had once been vibrant life.

An Unlight.

The Unlight of Carnifex.

Valery Noble | Lyrrin | Kalie Alverez ​

 

[Lyrrin]

-

Objective: Rescue Valery Noble
Allies: Valery Noble | Kalie Alverez
Foes: Darth Carnifex
Vehicle: A-A5 Speeder Truck (Armed: Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon top mount)
Minions: Spaceport Police Droid [6/6], MEV-series medical evacuation droid [1/1]

---

The first thing that Lyrrin noticed was an explosion, a large dust cloud loomed on the near horizon. It was only obscured by trees and building tops as the rescue team drove past the town in haste "Something out there, look." he motioned towards the front windshield only to look over and see Kalie sitting on the windowsill - so of course she saw the explosion but not his gesture. Lyrrin looked back to the road as it blurred before him with their increasing speed on stable ground.

Suddenly the sky went hazy and the trees that he could not see through before blew away in smokey clouds of ash. It was such a quick transition that he wasn't sure what had happened. Though the disturbance in the Force was so great with the death of the planet that even a non-sensitive like himself could sense the change. A deep cool set into his body, one like he had never experienced before, and he gave a shiver "What the kriff was that?!" he exclaimed in shock as he looked right and left out of the windows of their armored truck. Lyrrin looked to the beverage in a couple holder he had been sipping on. He rolled down his window, picked up the drink, and tossed it out into the dusty wind and then closed the window once more "Must've been something in my drink, right?" he knew it wasn't. Though doing the gesture brought him some semblance of balance.

Lyrrin knew regardless of the atmospheric anomaly he'd need to get to the now visible temple with all the alacrity he could push out of the vehicle. And with such great speed the team arrived at the base of the temple in mere seconds. The truck lurched forward up several large steps until it reached the front of the temple. With no signs of... well anyone he pulled up as close as he could manage with the dimensions of the speeder truck "Get in there and get Val out. We're already behind schedule..." he ordered with a firm tone, looking above him to a series of switches. Flipping two of the switches the truck's doors unlatched audibly and then sped backwards on their internal tracks. The droids were visible and exited the transport along with the MEV droid meant to treat Valery.

He had a horrible feeling about this.

 

[Kalie Alverez]

AGENT: KALIE ALVEREZ
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: FIND & RESCUE VALERY NOBLE
TAGS: Lyrrin Valery Noble Darth Carnifex

​

Kalie's brow furrowed at the sudden shift of atmosphere. It was eery, and something was deeply wrong, although she did not fully understand why. "What the hell is going on…" She said softly as her gaze shifted around, trying to find any clues that might shed light onto the strange situation. She held on tightly with her one hand as Lyrrin sped up considerably, occasionally bouncing up off the window edge until they roared to a stop at the temple.

She let out and nodded at Lyrrin 's direction, "Got it." Her eyes started to glow white as she took control of the droids, all of them falling in behind her as she bounded up the steps and readied the heavy repeater blaster in front of her, expecting some sort of resistance. As they neared the temple, they're pace slowed. She subconsciously ordered two droids around either side and two continued with her as she stepped cautiously in through the main entrance. Her eyes darted back and forth, taking quiet steps, her sights moving from room to room as she searched for any signs of Valery Noble .

Then, she saw destroyed walls up ahead. She instantly knew that Valery was there, commanding the droids coming around the perimeter to converge quickly on her location as she leapt up over the ruins and landed in the midst of the rubble on the other side, her gaze fixed on Val who was laying in the middle of the floor. Her eyes widened with great concern, "Val!" She exclaimed as she deactivated her connection to the droids, her eyes returning to her natural color as she dashed to Val's side, kneeling on the ground and carefully touching the Jedi Master in various places, testing for any fractures or broken bones. "I found her, Lyrrin!" she exclaimed over coms.

Her eyes filled with tears at seeing the scars and damage that had been inflicted upon her body, "I've got you, Val." She said softly as the MEV droid hovered over and settled down next to Valery's body.