Private Forsaken

[Abishai Jade]

D'rinba IV
Jedi Training Mission​

His hand hurt and blood stained the snow. The pilot from the Jedi Corps did not need the fourth punch to his face. Nor did he need the tenth. As Abishai rubbed the back of his hand, he found it hard to find time for regrets.

His heart raced as he climbed the ladder of the starfighter. How he had managed to slip away from the wilderness survival training had been surprisingly easy. Most of that was aided by no one on this training mission really knowing him. He had worked for months on Jakku to cultivate the guise of an obedient student. The first lesson about the Force he had learned was how to disguise his hatred for his captors, and show them only what they wanted to see. Fools.

He took a rag out off the dash of the fighter, and whipped the back of his hand. Thankfully, most of the blood was not his. Frustratingly, he may have broken something. He winced. The pain was something he found he could tap into though, so he did not favour the hand but rather use it more.

Earlier that day, Abishai had been with the squad of Padawan and their Weequay instructor. The berries they had said to watch out for had been easily found, and pocketed. Once he started complaining of stomach cramps, he was asked to empty his pockets. The instructor was not to impressed and upon much deliberation decided to leave Abishai back at base camp for the day. That had left only the squad's escort pilot to deal with. The trail of blood across the ground was testament to how that had transpired.

He had learned how to start these ships purely from observing and asking questions in the garage. The Jedi had encouraged the engineers to engage with Abishai in the hopes that it would be the thing to mellow him out. They made it all far too easy.

As the ship whirred to life, and Abishai grappled with the controls, his confidence faded. He knew all along this would be the hardest part. He had never actually flown before, but the flight simulators at the Enclave had supposedly been pretty accurate.

The ship lurched into life, and he pulled the stick to the side. He was barely off the ground while the vessel strafed right. If the pilot on the ground had not been dead from the assault, the accidental crushing under the forward landing gear would have finished the job.

Abishai gritted his teeth, and pulled back on the stick. The ship hurtled into the sky. The G-forces pushed the young runaway back into his seat. "HA! Yeaaaah!" He yelled to no one.

And he was gone, leaving his captors...his kidnappers...his...liars...behind.

---

Lorta
Just inside Sith space​

Lorta was not the place that Abishai had hoped it to be. It was far more brutal. Even as he took the knee to his gut, he found himself wondering why he had thought coming to Sith space would be a good idea. They were just Jedi, but angrier!

"And stay down you little mutt," said the leader of the Danubian Gang. He was a tall, broad shouldered young man of about 19 years of age. He already had half a sleeve of tattoos on his right arm, and a scar across his left eye. They called him, Crag.

Abishai could feel things closing in on himself, his vision fading. He was struggling to breathe, and was pretty sure he had cracked ribs. He gasped, feeling his fear turn to anger. He...hated these thugs.

He growled loudly.

"Oh look at the little mutt...thinks he can..."

"SHUT UP."

Crag scowled. His foot pulled back to kick Abishai in the chest. Through the hazy vision, Abishai yelled, extended a hand and pushed him as hard as he can. His hand never touched Crag, but the muscular thug went flying backward through the air and hit the back of his head against a protruding grate. Crag's body hit the ground, hard, and it flopped lifelessly to the permacrete alleyway floor.

As Abishai passed out, he could hear people saying something about him being 'one of them'. No more kicks or punches came. Abishai embraced the dark.

---

Revna

 

[Revna]

Tag: Abishai Jade
​

Revna had taken an extreme liberty with herself and her current situation, having decided to slip away from Korriban without telling anyone that she was leaving. No doubt the Sith King, Darth Caedes, would know she was gone and would have his ways of tracking her movements, but she simply didn’t care in the moment.

She was a Sith - she didn’t need permission from anyone to do the things she desired to do.

She had learned from an outside source not too long ago, that the Malsheem itself had been pulled out of the Holy Worlds and was now in orbit over Jutrand, the capital world of the Sith Empire, and the ruling seat of the current Sith Emperor. Its reason for being there brought deep unease to the young Sith woman, but the news also brought a revelation to her: both her Kainite overlords would be there, and with both of them distracted…she could slip in and out of the Holy Worlds as she pleased. Or, so she hoped.

This would be her first true test of that theory.

It had been fairly easy for her to commandeer a ship from the Korriban spaceport, for no one really wanted to test the patience of a Sith - and since she already knew how to fly, she didn't need anyone else with her. So she departed and began to make her way back towards Sith space.

Revna wanted to get eyes or ears on the situation unfolding in the Empire for herself, while keeping to the shadows and staying unseen, despite the fact that she had a somewhat reliable source of information. She just knew from her training that getting a feel for the situation with her own eyes and ears would be far better than relying only on a secondhand source. The journey would be a somewhat long one, for she had to cross from one side of the galaxy to the other, only stopping to fuel at planets she knew to be sparsely populated. She had been tempted to go back to her former home on Formos, but she knew that would have dredged up painful memories she didn’t wish to deal with at the time.

Along the way, she decided to stop at an old Wonosa outpost that was hidden within Hutt territory, not currently in use but likely to still hold items that she could find useful, such as armor, weapons, and other gear. Luckily for her, scavengers hadn’t discovered the location and she found a set of Squire armor, as well as one of the Sith swords she had started her training with. Seeing these items brought back a flood of memories for her, but she forced them aside for the time being. The armor and sword she brought back to her ship, along with anything else that was of value, before she set off once more.

Upon entering the Sith Empire, Revna made sure to clear out her accounts of the small fortune she had hoarded away for herself. It was a risky move, as such a withdrawal could be tracked, but it was not a concern for her at the moment. This would be the last of her movements that could be tracked, for after doing this - she all but vanished.

Revna would remain hidden, keeping to the shadows and simply listening and watching and learning all that she could about the shifting alliances and political plays occurring within the Empire, and was preparing to return to the Holy Worlds before she got into too much trouble, when she felt a pull in the Force that seemed to tug at her in such way that she couldn't really ignore it. Curiosity got the better of the Sith woman, and she allowed it to guide her, and that strange tug brought her to a world that was stuck between the Galactic Alliance and the Sith Empire:

Lorta.

It was controlled by the Sith, and the Corpse Emperor’s lack of concern for the citizens of his Empire was horrifically evident in these fringe worlds. Crime, gangs, and poverty ruled its denizens. Life was difficult for the people there, and their suffering poured into the Force in such a manner that it was almost physically palpable. No doubt, such a sensation would have sickened a Jedi or Light sider…but to a Sith it was a source of power. Revna had been taught to draw from such potent energies, but she only did so if she needed too.

She stayed on Lorta for a number of days, waiting patiently to discover just why she had been brought here, and eventually her patience was rewarded when she felt the pull again - this time more directional…even urgent. Revna was drawn to follow a local Danubian gang, led by a young thug named Crag. The Force hadn’t guided her to them, but she felt an anticipation swell through the invisible currents as she tracked them from the shadows.

Revna didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t a gang beatdown on some poor soul. She watched from a perch on one of a dilapidated building nearby as the boy they had targeted fought back defiantly, though he was outnumbered and doomed to lose this fight.

Something about the boy the thugs were assaulting captured her interest, and it wasn’t something she could quite explain. A probe through the Force revealed a troubled youth: anger and hatred seethed within him, just under the surface and so close to exploding from him. There was something else in there too, buried deep, though Revna wasn’t sure what it was exactly. She considered intervening but resisted the urge to do so, simply deciding to let the situation play out further.

And not too long into her watch, she found herself to be pleasantly surprised and thankful that she did wait: for the Force exploded from the bloody blonde haired boy with such strength that he threw his assailant into a grate with such force that it cracked open the thug’s skull, killing him instantly - before collapsing and succumbing to unconsciousness himself.

Things made sense to her now: the boy was blessed with the Force. And it was in the moment of his release of power, that she felt a stirring of the Dark Side. It seemed to almost...highlight the boy to her, and that drew her attention to him even more.

The remaining thugs whispered amongst themselves, saying how the boy was one of “them”, and a dark smile tugged at her lips. The gangsters pondered on their predicament for a few moments longer, before they each scattered into the darkness, leaving the corpse of their leader behind.

Revna disengaged herself from the shadows of her perch and leapt to the permacrete below, cushioning her fall to land as lightly as possible, before she turned her attention to the unconscious boy who had been savagely beaten. She knelt down beside him, unconcerned with the muck and grime that smeared her clothes, fiery ember hued eyes tracing what wounds she could see, and knew that there would be injuries that were not apparent to her. Hesitatingly, she reached out with a gloved hand and moved a lock of blood stained hair from his face, pondering on what she was doing to do now. She couldn’t just…leave him here. There was far too much potential within him to just throw him to the wolves, and he was far too close to Alliance space for her liking. She had bacta patches and other healing salves and items back on her ship, but she had to wait for the boy to return to the waking world before offering him any aid. And that’s what she decided to do.

And thus Revna made herself comfortable, keeping a watchful eye out over him until he was ready to return to consciousness.

 

[Abishai Jade]

When Abishai slept, he dreamt the same dream. He drifted in space, hands outstretched for a dark spot in the field of stars. It was the figure of a woman, but with each off-axis rotation her silhouette became more and more distant. It was as if the stars themselves were being born on the fringes of her form.

He would try to change his momentum. But space did not work that way. There was nothing to push against. There was no propellant to push against him to provide thrust. He just grappled at the emptiness of space, and tried to reach the woman.

Then, he would reach a revolution where she was gone. Horror would grip his heart. He would feel the wound in his spirit afresh. Then he would wake up.

This time the waking was not so quick. He did not jump to alertness, looking for one that was not there. Instead, he strained to open swollen eyes. He groaned as he tried to breathe. The sharp pain through his chest where his lung had, unbeknownst to him, collapsed seared with an intensity he had not known before. He could not breathe in without shaking in pain.

Despite this, the resilience of the broken boy shown through, as he pushed himself off the ground. His vision blurred, and his head spinning, Abishai struggled to his knees. He began to crawl. He did not know if he was going in the right direction. How could he? He could not see properly yet. However, he knew, he had to move. Abishai knew he was dying.

"Mother..."

His call for the woman that he knew as his mother was barely a whisper, strained against teeth that were clenched in pain.

Abishai felt something else. Someone else. He did not know how, but he knew that he was not alone. Was it Crag come back to finish the job? Crag was dead. Was it his gang? He had been out for a moment? Now they looked to finish him off? But he had not felt their presence like this before. This was different.

Groaning, Abishai pushed himself up to his feet, using the wall to steady himself as he gained some composure. He was a bloodied mess. His eyes were swollen. His face bleeding from various cuts to his eyebrows and cheeks. He gasped for air, despite the pain. The pain fuelled him, in his last few breathes, to defy whoever it was that had come to kill him.

"Do your worst...I do not fear you," he said, lying.

---

Revna

 

[Revna]

Tag: Abishai Jade
​

Revna sat on a cluster of old and partially broken crates, waiting with the patience of a hunter for the injured youth to awaken. She kept her senses spread out to give her a heads up if anyone else seemed like they were going to stumble across the two of them, but it seemed that the gang had chosen this area for its seclusion from the eyes of the general populace in the area, or the eyes of any form of law enforcement that might have been around.

But, judging from what she had seen - there was not much in the way of law enforcement around here.

The little woman was pulled from her musings and her thoughts as the boy near to her began to stir, and her attention turned to him sharply as he released a pained groan. Her senses told her that the boy was, indeed, rather injured from his beating and the sooner she got him back to the ship, the better for him.

Tension coiled through her muscles as he began to move, her alertness heightening further as she observed him. A part of her wanted to reach out and help him but she restrained herself; some things were better left done on one’s own strength, and she could learn much by observing him and how he reacted to his circumstances.

He pulled himself up with effort to his hands and knees before he started to crawl towards the wall of a nearby building. Revna tilted her head when she heard the youth call out for his mother, and a small frown creased her forehead.

How many times had she called out for her own mother when she had been in pain?

Groaning with pain, the boy hauled himself unsteadily to his feet, blood dripping from still fresh wounds on his face as he leaned against the wall of the building near to him. Under the dim light of a nearby building, Revna could see how swollen his face had become. His eyes were nearly sealed shut, and dark blotches were already forming on his cheeks and around his eyes.

How many times had she looked like that herself, after being beaten by her slave master?

Quietly, Revna slipped off the crates that were a couple feet away from him, the soft sounds of her boots hitting the permacrete giving her presence away to him.

But there would also be no mistaking the chill that radiated from her as well, an unmistakable presence of the Dark side, like a breath of calm winter air. She had made certain to hold back much of her own potent presence, but she wanted him to feel enough of it to know that she was there.

His bloody and bruised face turned in her direction, and he challenged her to do her worst…that he did not fear her. She scoffed softly, a glint of recognition that what he said was a lie - but it was one she understood herself.

“I could very easily do my worst if I so desired to. But I’ve no interest in harming you, or killing you.” Revna said softly as she stepped a little closer to him - though she made sure to stay out of arm’s reach. It wasn’t that she feared him, but she knew what a cornered and wounded creature was capable of. She’d once upon a time been a cornered and injured soul herself.

“You're injured from the beating you received, and from what I can sense you have internal injuries that will prove fatal in time. I have things on my ship that could help you with your wounds, and you could get yourself cleaned up.” She paused for a brief moment, deciding back and forth on if she should be harshly honest with him. She chose to speak plainly - for she would have wanted the same if she had been in his place.

“You show incredible resilience, young man…but death does not care how old or young you are, nor does it care for the bonds you have with others, and it will come whether you want it to or not. You can come with me and get help, or you can stay and face your fate. It is your choice, however - I won’t force you.”

A Jedi, or perhaps even another Sith, wouldn’t have given the boy a choice or an option in the matter and it simply wasn’t something Revna wanted to take from him. Even if it did mean leaving him behind to die on his own terms, should he reject her offer of aid.

 

[Abishai Jade]

His face turned to the source of her voice, and his body grew tense. Abishai would die fighting, if that was his destiny. He would not be given over to eternity with a whimper. If there was anything his mother had taught him, it was defiance.

This woman though, whoever she was, had something different. A presence that was akin to that of the Jedi, but with a looming, soul gripping shadow. Abishai felt a chill take him, one like her had been out in the cold too long. It was bad enough that he felt is though he might never be truly warm again.

"If you try to kill me...I will fight back," he said. This was not a lie, but not a promise of any great resistance.

Then, the moment took a most unexpected tack. And it coincided with another of his mother's core lessons. Survive.

Even before she had finished speaking, Abishai had already determined to agree to her terms. She could be demanding he be her slave for life, , and he would take those terms. If it meant medical treatment, and getting off this damned planet, well, he would deal with her later. At least he would be alive.

"I accept."

They were simple words, and several loud blood filled coughs followed them. He held his chest, gasping for what little air he could take in. He leaned backwards, hoping the wall would keep him upright. It did. Barely.

He would go with this woman. And then, he would escape from her too. He would always escape. He would always live another day.

Revna

 

[Revna]

Tag: Abishai Jade ​

Another hint of a smile touched the young woman’s face as tension coiled within the youth and she sensed a rise in his fighting spirit; this boy reminded her a lot of herself, when she’d been younger.

“I’ve no doubt you’d fight back. I would expect you to.” Revna responded back to his challenge. She watched him carefully as she laid out the choices before him, and she couldn’t help her smile that grew wider briefly when he accepted her terms. It was good that he desired to live; she had no wish to leave him behind. She would have, but she knew it would have left a bitter taste in her mouth to do so.

Bloody coughs racked his body, and she was reminded once more of the urgency of his condition. Revna made a mental note to herself to learn the Dark side equivalent of healing in the Force from one of her Sith mentors, as clearly it would be useful knowledge to have on hand.

“Good. Let’s hope you survive the trip back to the ship. Come along now…” she urged, perhaps a bit more sharply than she intended to as she turned to step away, before pausing for a moment. “...feel free to grab a hold of my arm if you feel like you’re going to pass out again. I won’t presume to know you or what you feel, but I do know the pride of youth and wanting to get through your struggles on your own merit. But…the offer of aid is there, should you want it.”

Her pace was steady as she weaved through the streets, making sure the young man in her charge was still alive and able to keep up with her, though his condition no doubt would be deteriorating.

“...are you aware that you’re sensitive to the Force?” she asked of the boy as she walked, hoping to provide him a distraction from his ailments as well as keep him talking to her so she could better monitor his condition. It was also a probe for her to get to know him a little better, and understand just why he had ended up in the situation she had found him in. “Getting mixed up with gangs in Sith space is dangerous…as you’ve clearly discovered. But, they won’t bother you now. Not while you’re with me.”

 

[Abishai Jade]

He did not hesitate to take her arm for support. His pace was not even close to hers, each step was a sharp, painful reminder of his state. He could feel his chest growing heavier, as if something were filling it, beside air. With his arm wrapped around hers, and fingers clinging to the fabric on her sleeve, Abishai was able to pull himself forward, and hold her back closer to his pace.

The crowd was a loud thrum that almost drowned out the woman's words, but he picked up enough. She was asking about the Force. And she was suggesting she was more intimidating than the gang that had nearly killed him. Many thoughts, and emotions flared within the young man's mind. Questions bounced about his mind midst spikes of intense, sharp stabbing pains in his chest. With each spike of pain, he nearly folded in half, gripping her arm even more tightly.

His mind was growing foggy, save for the anger he felt rise within him. One word was the centre of his thoughts. One word around which all his emotional bile swirled. Jedi.

"They told me I was strong in the Force...but they did not show me how to use it," he said through silent gasps for air.

The one question that demanded being asked though was the next words that came out of his mouth.

"Who...what...are you?"

Revna