Graveyard Shift

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam felt it.

A surge here. The great power of the darkness swirling about in the very air. She basked in it privately for a moment taking in the Graveyard's nature. She felt stronger here, more powerful.

Her advanced senses told her [member="Lady Kay"] did not share her sentiments. Amalgam could only chuckle at it as she rose from her pilot seat and headed to Kay's vessel after finally landing in the pre-arranged coordinates. The Shapeshifter had enjoyed the challenge of finding a place on this world where if she even tried to breathe without The Amalgam knowing, there would be a very low chance someone would not know.

She had chosen a recently cleared out fortress that had used to be a meeting place for a witch coven. The situation on the planet had hilariously degenerated, especially near what was left of the colonies. The old fort was situated on an isolated hill, surrounded by a moat. The trek would be through areas the mutated gammoreans were known to roam. The Luquabra were said to have a colony nearby and the inbreds were in raiding season. What modern vehicles or tech was still working was rusted and decayed like her spirit. There might be some of the ancient tech from the first inhabitants still working but it was highly unlikely they would come across any of it. It still had just enough of a dark side aura that while Kay would no doubt easily fight off its influence, it was meant to be a subtle, constant pressure to deny it, which might make her emotionally volatile over a long enough period. The room Kay would be staying in was also white, and the Amalgam had burned through some of her credit supply to have it furnished in such a way. (Savagely killing the teams that had worked to excavate it and sacrificing the corpses to The Brain Demon afterward) Unless of course she had other plans.

The Amalgam knew to be as accomodating as possible. Sometimes it was better to give no resistance at all, and make the opponent think they had more control than they actually did. Then close in at the wrong moment and pull the rug out from under them.

The Amalgam entered Kay's room, ever with the polite expression, mildly noting how beautiful Kay looked. It was not as organized, not as sensual as the Amalgam's own appearance, which was so petite and eye catching that it almost threatened to go into uncanny valley territory.

"Your Majesty." The Amalgam said with a smile as she entered, carrying her lightsaber "We have landed. Is there somewhere you would like to go first?" she asked, pausing as she blinked back Uri's smile from her thoughts. The dark aura of this planet helped but even here, even now, Uri's gaze haunted her.

Managing to refocus, she calmly waited for the Queen to direct how this would next play out, and she had settled on a sure fire method of mucking around in her skull...

She just needed a little bit of the queens hair.

The empty-eyed Shi'ido kept a pleasant smile, but she knew the game between them had just gotten serious.

"It really is a lovely planet. The mushroom forests alone probably have a few poisons worth researching. And I am just dying to cut up one of the locals if they mess with us, which is highly likely. Coming to this place was an inspired choice, your majesty." The Shi'ido uttered, grinning.

 

[Kay-Larr]

The Graveyard. Kay had forgotten what it had felt like to be here. The whole planet seemed to breathe on it's own, as though it was a gigantic creature of Darkness. If one was there for too long, they could go mad if their will wasn't strong enough. Perhaps that was what happened to [member="James Justice"] . Although, he had gifted the planet to [member="Thraxis"] whom was the craziest person that she ever knew. Perhaps the Jackal's already questionable mental state made him immune to the planet's effects. Either way, being here made her uncomfortable.

Yet she had to come. It was a personal mission to do so and one that she held regret in not doing so sooner. Would there ever be another chance? That wasn't entirely certain. Who knows how long she'd be given some freedom of movement such as this?

Kay listened to [member="The Amalgam"] while she spoke, her behaviour of mock concern giving the Queen a clear indication that she was testing the waters and just waiting for her to slip up and divulge the truth. "The mushroom forests....we should visit there soon. But first we'll need to gather supplies. Are you a good climber, Amy?" She exited her quarters, thankful to get out of the white room and to get out of that ship. Only Amy knew which hotel they were staying at and in which room, so Kay let her lead the way.

"Your skills will come in handy if there is trouble. So...thank you for coming with me." Kay was being genuine, no matter how uncomfortable she was, it was far better to have Amy on her side than to not. This was no walk in a park. It had been some time since she had been to The Graveyard. And with [member="Thraxis"] left in charge of it, who knows how much more horrible the planet had become. The man was psychotic in every sense of the word. And if she was to find another insane asylum placed there, well, it was safe to say that she'd want to leave that planet as soon as humanly possible.

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam smiled at [member="Lady Kay"] and her expression of gratitude but privately it made her instantly suspicious. Just what was Kay's endgame. Scheming little Ashla lover...

Still though, Amalgam dared not break decorum by voicing her own suspicions.

Plus, it felt really uncomfortable, being complimented by her. Kay had this strange...Amalgam didn't want to say charisma...it seemed to be more unconscious than a genuine effort on Kay's part. But the way it could just make the Amalgam feel even a ghost of true affability to another living soul deeply disturbed the shapeshifter.

The Amalgam bowed. "Thank you, Kay. A pleasure, surely...and I am an excellent climber. Had to be where I grew" The Amalgam quickly turned to lead Kay out, stopping by her own room, quickly summoning her pistol to her with a telekinetic tug, and walking back out before continuing to lead Kay off the vessel and into the open wilds of the Graveyard. One important part to lowering the defenses of someone whose head you are trying to get into was to occasionally let slip something about yourself. Something that would make you just slightly more...relatable. That would make it possibly harder for them to outright reject your attempts to poke holes in their faith in goodness. And the more doubt in them you can create, the weaker their defenses became.

Still though...she had not planned on telling even that much about herself so early...was that because of that strange magnetism she had not anticipated Kay possessing? The file she read made no mention of it. The Amalgam wasn't surprised...it wasn't something that could exactly be recorded or measured. But it was damn subtle, whatever it was.

She saw great overgrowth and wreckage as she stepped off the vessel, the carnage feeding the darkness as the struggle for power played out across the landscape. She saw a clearing leading into the mushroom forests, and the petitie Saaraishash agent felt the intensity of the planet at a greater level than on the ship.

It was wonderful. It was the Darkness in its uninhibited, natural state, and was the perfect playground to challenge oneself.

"So Kay...about these supplies...where exactly--"

A spear landed at her feet, tossed from afar by a group of inbreds fast approaching. The Amalgam, without looking, it should be noted, drew her pistol, and, using nothing but her masterfully honed Force Sense, targeted each and with a devastatingly fast trigger pull shot all eight in the head before they could throw any more spears or get closer.

"Now, you mentioned climbing and supplies..." the Shi'ido continued, not missing a beat, but smiling already at the scant bloodshed.

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="The Amalgam"] was a great climber. Well that was good. Kay didn't want to have to pull all of her weight on her own. And there were certain monsters in that Mushroom forest that it was far better to be above ground than to not. Depending on the time of day.

"Where did you grow up?" She was curious as most probably would be. A habit of Kay and her husband was to learn about people. It had given them the upper hand in a lot of situations, turning potential enemies into allies. If it weren't for all of their connections, both of them would certainly be dead right now.

She followed Amy out of her vessel, and while the woman might have enjoyed the Darkness that shrouded the planet, Kay on the other hand felt weighted by it. Part of her wanted to throw up, yet part of her felt almost welcomed by it. She told herself that it was all to do with her real purpose here and nothing more. Accomplishing her goal was what was needed. Then they could high-tail it out of here.

The spear landing inches from her feet caught them both by surprise. As Kay was about to draw her own weapon, Amy had already taken care of them, the inbreds were killed within seconds. It wasn't a slaughter. It was death with precision. And it displayed exactly why Kay needed her on this journey.

"Right. Thanks.....We'll need some rope, climbing spikes to attach to our feet, as well as some food and water. Extra meat would be handy too. Oh, and a couple of daggers as well." If she knew that she could have gotten away with packing all of those things before she left home, she'd of done so. But in this case she didn't. So they'd have to get it while they were here.

 

[The Amalgam]

An unexpected question from [member="Lady Kay"] caught her again by surprise. One because she hadn't thought the Queen would express such an interest. Two...because she was actually considering answering...

Well...she herself had set the precedent...

"Coruscant...The Underworks..." the vile creature answered, empty, dead purple eyes staring at the Queen in amusement. She didn't specify the years, as it would tip off the Queen that she was older than she looked and thus, not human. She tried to not give away the fact she was a Shi'ido unless necessary...not just because it preserved a tactical advantage that the enemy didn't know about, but because shapeshifters were feared in some parts still. Or exploited.

Leaving the Underworks had been the best thing that ever happened to her.

At Kay's answer, the Amalgam smiled again. She had intel on what supplies were still functioning... daring smugglers were starting to use this place as a supply stop. There were a few outposts that still had something akin to a functioning market.

"There's a place I got intel on two kilometers from here. Well supplied outpost, should have everything you need...and its on the route to our secured shelter depending on how long we have to stay...this way, please..." the shapeshifter gestured to some cold looking, snow covered land north, where the outline of a small, heavily walled village awaited, and beyond that, the small fort overlooking it where Amalgam had secured Kay's room, in case they had a chance to stop. There was no place that was any closer. The outpost had no landing pads, and the fort itself could not quite handle a ship as large as her yacht. Truthfully, it would have been safer to stay on the yacht. But the Amalgam didn't go to this type of place to be safe. She came here to live.

The Amalgam began walking.

"You really are missing out, milady. The power of this place perfects...as well as destroys...harnessing the ability to be and do both would make one such as you powerful beyond words...of course, this is an argument coming from a dark worshipper, so obviously its part of my evil plan. Muahahahaha..." she joked, though on some level it was very clear she believed that bit she had said about the Dark Side.

The Amalgam could see the wonders of this place as they walked. She sensed the inbreds in the woods. They feared her now...

But they also wanted vengeance. Let them try...it had occured to her that perhaps she had killed the inbreds to quickly. She wanted to see how Kay fought...

"So Kay...since we are getting to know each other...when did you first feel the Force?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

"Coruscant? I've been there a few times. It's...far too busy for my liking." And far too populated. She prefered quieter planets with wide open spaces. Sure Commenor had it's cities, but there was plenty of landscapes as well. It was a near perfect balance.

Kay's eyes were drawn to where they were headed. The fort itself looked as though it had seen better days. The inbreds really must have fought a bunch there. Not to mention the various monsters that lived and hunted nearby.

She gripped the strap of her satchel and started to follow beside [member="The Amalgam"] , nodding as the woman remarked on the outpost that could house their supplies. And then Amy touched on the subject of the Darkside and of it's potential.
Even while spoken as a joke,
Kay just wasn't so sure if it was right for her. The overall tension that The Graveyard had within the air was surely enough to drive people mad. "Evil plan indeed...Perhaps it is my evil plan to have you come here in order to sacrifice yourself for...the Greater Good." She smirked at her own obvious sarcasm. Of course it wasn't without a ring of truth. Amy was putting her life on the line on this venture.

Kay raised a brow as Amy questioned her past. Their walk wouldn't take them too long. Perhaps just about twenty minutes, so there was time for a bit of a chit chat, provided they weren't attacked again. "I was young, perhaps four or five standard years. I wanted something that was out of reach and got it to fall into my hands. My parents were very much against Force Users. So when they saw that...they had me tested and then sent me away.
My parents were of the belief that Force Users were nothing but lying cheaters that don't know the meaning of an honest and hardworking living. So I was more or less disowned.
That hit me pretty hard. I was such a disappointment to them, most especially to my Father. Decades later I ran into him again. It took him a little bit of time for him to realize who I was. By that time I was the President of Commenor. And he figured that such a position was only gained by cheating. I tried to explain how wrong he was, but he just refused to listen. Instead he'd just prefer it if I didn't exist." She frowned at the memories. Her Father's reactions and mistrust of Force Users was a big reason as to why she prefered to hide her abilities. "I just can't pretend that he doesn't.
Anymore so than I can be able to pretend that Prazutis doesn't exist. The marks that they have left are just too deep."

 

[The Amalgam]

Kay's answer hit Amalgam unexpectedly hard.

And she did not like it. Not at all...

Ugh, if Uri could only have just fallen to the Dark Side on her own from all the trauma it would have saved the witch time. But no, she had to set things in motion to break her just right--

Uri Udinia drove the creature back in the darkness. The hammer blows of her sabercane crashing against the monsters red blade. Udinia attacked with fury and aggression, and while the monster would have ordinarily tried to feed off that and get stronger, in this case...something was making her hold back...

Uri's Ataru struck from all sides as her training dictated, speed adding to the force of her blows. The monster in the dark tried to rally but The Golden Eye wanted her dead.

And worse yet, it had taken such strength to break through her false persona...now the persona was coming back...

The monster unwillingly felt the beginnings of a forced slumber and screamed...

The Amalgam snapped out of the memory, feeling fury at herself. It had been only a second's recall...but it still hurt.

This talk of parenting was bringing up all sorts of unpleasant notions the Amalgam generally regarded as weak.

"I've encountered such people as you describe your parents to be, Kay..." the Shi'ido said slowly, as they walked through plains of mushroom stumps, leaking unpleasant fluids as they broke down. She sensed threats, though they were difficult to define. Everywhere was a threat on this planet.

"And you know what I was always noticed hidden behind that resentment? Jealousy. You think if they had been given the Force they would have remained "virtuous" and not use it? No. I don't think so. They wanted what they couldn't have. Honestly if they think the Force makes you a liar and a cheater, they never met a Politician, a Hutt, or a common cutthroat from the underworks..."

That was twice she had mentioned the underworks. At least [member="Lady Kay"] knew who her parents were. The Amalgam's earliest memories were of dark streets and filthy shacks and apartments she would hide her valuebles in, barely able to feed herself.

"Oh, I could tell you stories about deep marks. You ever get buried alive in a mass grave? I can tell you, first time it happened to me was an absolute ball..." she trailed, but then stopped, face twisting in concern as she felt something out of place ahead of them, in addition to the threats from the inbreds. She signalled Kay to stop, keeping far from it herself.

She saw a spherical distortion in the air, surrounded by a series of green runes in concentric circles on raised stones. The Amalgam spotted a small, rusted metal bolt on the ground, picked it up and tossed into the distortion. The bolt didn't come back, but a large amount of blood and random body parts from 'somewhere' flowed out of the distortion.

The Amalgam looked ahead. More distortions. These hadn't been here before...that scout she had paid generously had said it was clear. They appeared to be stationary.

"Well...we're obviously not going through that...closer to the mushroom tree line."

The reason for this was two-fold. One, if the inbreds and other local flavors made a move, they would at least not have to fight them and keep track of obviously deadly local disruptions. Two: The Amalgam had realized Kay was sneaky and didn't put it past her to try shoving the Amalgam in with some trick of the force and insta-gibbing her.

Just then, arrows and blaster fire erupted from one and a pack of mutated gammoreans and inbreds by the dozens started to pour out of some of them.

"New plan: Fry them..." the Shi'ido snarled.

Both hands shot upward and purple lightning bolts erupted, traveling in an accurized narrow cone that flash fried some of the inbreds...

 

[Kay-Larr]

Jealousy. That could certainly be true. What Kay's Father didn't know or want to believe was that she had worked very hard to get where she was in life. The only really bad thing that she did was the act that turned her from an elected President of Commenor to it's Queen. It wasn't entirely her fault though. She was broken and driven towards it by Prazutis. Of course she spent many waking moments trying to make up for that, much in the same way that [member="Veiere Arenais"] did in response to hus acts on Deneba.

Being a politician and a Force User was even worse though. There tended to be an instant mistrust. It was banned in the General Republic. When she was discovered, the Jedi Master [member="Mantic Dorn"] arrested her and brought her into custody where she was nearly executed. However the Prime Minister at the time had chosen to blackmail her instead.

So in the end Kay had been quite torn. Was she to give up her trustworthiness and embrace being a Force User? Or wss she to continue to hide it and use the gifts only during emergencies? It was a very tough call.

[member="The Amalgam"] started to explain about deep physical scars, which instantly brought to mind Kay's capture and imprisonment by Prazutis. The physical scars took a long time to heal while the emotional ones took even longer. Veiere and the others helped her recover. But there were some things that only vengeance might cure. Both Veiere and her husband longed for the Sith Lord's death; payback for all the harm he had caused. Kay was close to doing just that while in the tunnels beneath the old Senate Hall. She could feel his heart crushing in her Force grip. But his Sith Sorcery saved him unfortunately...

The distortion broke her from her thoughts. Kay had never seen anything like it. She stopped as Amy suggested. "What in the Force..." Both of them studied the distortions before them.

And when they started being attacked, Kay retaliated. Maybe it was the Darkness that breathed all over the Graveyard that made it all the easier, made the tactics come quicker to mind. But mere seconds after Amy produced the Force Lightning, Kay used her skills in Force Push and shoved some of the inbreds directly into the path of the lightning. Others were sent flying towards the mushroom trees head first so that their necks would break on impact.

How many would be coming out of there? She had no idea. Could the distortions be closed? She didn't know that either. But surely they'd both find out soon enough.

 

[The Amalgam]

What were these things? Enemies just kept pouring out of them. Not that the shapeshifter particularly minded.

Uninhibited in her embrace of the Force's power, purple electricity arced off the Amalgam's body, channeled through both arms as the bolts erupted out and hit a gammorean covered in boils across his face, blackening and melting it.

She fed off the planet, fed off its darkness, its power singing in her body, and she found inspiration in that darkness, gripping onto it, letting its wisdom fill her brain. Whisper its secrets.

Purple electricity continued to arc inbetween the fingers of her left hand as it reached into the sky. The right continuing to unleash narrow, accurate streaks of electricity that hit multiple inbreds that started coming out of other distortions.

The clouds gathered quickly, the Amalgam's eyes turning sulfur, purple bursts of light flickered in increasingly darkening clouds. She had witnessed her Master, The Congregation, do this more than once. She had finally understood how to do it in the past, but her long slumber had put much of her knowledge in a dormant state. But being on this planet was wondrous.

It fed her, invisibly, even in its madness. The Amalgam was insane herself so she had nothing to fear.

The series of heavy bolts came down continuously from the sky for five seconds, blasting the ground it hit and striking people in a row as the barrage from above traveled in a straight line forward, making mutants and inbreds and mutant inbreds scramble out of the way for safety.

The Shi'ido gasped from the exertion, and the staff popped into her hand, and she grinned, spinning the staff as dozens of tiny arcs of purple lightning erupted across her entire body and she sprinted forward into the fray going for the thickest crowd of enemies, and twirling her staff into the torsos and limbs, splitting through the weapons and tiny minute arcs of lightning off a body already generating it like an electrical coil flickering and occasionally hitting someone who got too close with a shock about a quarter the strength of a taser.

Had Kay ever cut loose like this? Given free reign to the dark and its savagery? The Amalgam gripped and directed the dark, and in turn it whispered when to attack and how.

She twirled and spun through their ranks, the purple blades hissing through face and arm feeding off the slaughter, her primary reliance on Niman allowing her to integrate the Force into her attacks, primarily with lightning, her superhuman reflexes making the primarily defensive spinning of her saber a circular fan of light and her petite frame a blur.

In the midst of all this The Amalgam hoped it was sinking into [member="Lady Kay"] just how wonderful life was when one lived unconstrained by the approval of others, as she manuvered the staff around her body, constantly moving through the crowds of foes that increasingly, unceasingly, poured through the distortions in the Force. But no matter how many she killed, no matter how expertly she dispatched her foes, they kept coming.

"Kay! There's too many of them! Head for the Forest Line!" The Amalgam shouted, deciding to retreat letting off a burst of lightning occasionally in between defensive spins. But this display had taxed her greatly, and she would need a moment to recover from the stress--

An arrow hit her right thigh, and the sensation made her double over in pain as a sickly, diseased feeling spread through her and she got woozy as she limped into a retreat, spotting who had fired it. These arrows had a poison her body was unfortunately too familiar with. The arrows had a varnish of nullification resin applied to them.

It was a woman with silvery hair and ivory skin with silvery robes, her bow and arrows an impossible golden chrome, concealed by the dying remains of a mushroom tree, having taken advantage of the distortions to land a shot. She looked about as young as the Amalgam looked, her face concealed by a silver, stylized domino mask, that concealed the eyes behind white lenses. The Amalgam, even as she felt the poison spread, hissed and sneered at the presence, for it reeked of the light. She pulled the arrow out, wincing as black veins enflamed by poison spread across her face and neck, her skin going pale, and slick with nausea sweat as she ran, more gammoreans and inbreds coming out of the distortions, stumbling over the bodies she had torn up but giving war cries. Was the silver woman the source of the distortions? If so, why was she hunting them?

The Amalgam, beginning to feel sluggish barely managed to dodge the slashing attack of the battle ax of a mutant gammorean that had ugly scaly skin on one side and her slow, weak slash missed him as the resin corrupted her alchemized body.

Not playing she focused the full might of the dark side at three times the effort than normal, and tore a good chunk of his life force away and consumed it, somewhat slowing down the effects of bodily deterioration, but she needed more time and life to restore herself, and she could not do that being chased by hoardes of inbred freaks...still, she had been in worse spots.

And she had regained some wisdom...

(The Amalgam has leveled up!)

(New Dark Side Powers gained)

Power: Force Storm

Spoiler

When outside, can conjure super heavy lightning bolts from above, striking the surface in a long row for five seconds and doing heavy damage, but has a long wind up time and is easy to evade, as well as drains reserves quickly if used too often and being survivavble though heavy injury could occur if not well protected. Range and speed of bolt barrage travel path increases as power grows.

Power: Lightning Shield

Spoiler

Creates protective, semi-offensive electrical currents across the body, providing increased protection from energy weapons and a random chance of weak electrical bolts arcing off the body and possibly hitting and injuring those close to her in melee range. Protectiveness increases with rank.

 

[Kay-Larr]

It was...a sight to behold. At first Kay was helping, firing off some shots with her blaster and using Force Push to throw some of the Gammoreans and inbreds either into themselves or into the path of [member="The Amalgam"] 's Force Lightning. But once the dark clouds formed above them and Amy had seemed to become a part of it, Kay could only step back and watch in awe. It was brutal and viscious yet mesmerizing like some kind of dance. Her movements were fluid and graceful as though all of it had been choreographed months ago between them.

And it didn't seem to end. More enemies poured out from the distortions that popped out from nowhere. It was as though cutting one enemy down only brought three more to take it's place. Was it feeding off their aggression as Amy was feeding off the Darkside? It was difficult to say.

The call to retreat drew her out of her thoughts, out of the near trance that the fight had put her in. "OKAY!!" That was all of the answer that she gave her as she began to head into the mushroom forest, just as an arrow wizzed by her face, only to strike it's target. "AMY!!!" Her eyes turned towards the culprit, catching the flash of silver and gold that reflected the light. There was no recognition of such a woman from her last visits here.

Quickly Kay headed towards Amy. Sith or not, enemy or not; Amy was doing her duty and keeping her safe. So it was time to repay the favour. She saw her falter, saw her losing her steam, yet still Amy fought. It was admirable to say the least. Kay fired off some more shots from her blaster, getting in between Amy and the inbreds. "Can you call your ship over?! We need to get you some medical attention ASAP!" And she couldn't quite help to fix her while they continued to be on the move. Nor could they do so while being hunted on both sides.

The Graveyard it seemed was full of unexpected surprises.

 

[The Amalgam]

"No, I can't call the ship to us..." the Amalgam wheezed, as she retreated with [member="Lady Kay"], secretly impressed at how she was still standing as she staggered back from the advancing hoarde, the skin on her face going more slick sagging, eyes a moldy yellow as the resin weakened her alchemized flesh. Anything that could contain the dark was poisonous to her. Not that she would let Kay know that. No need to give her majesty any ideas. Though the shapeshifter was deeply unsettled when Kay placed herself between her and the mutants. She could never recall anyone doing that for her, ever. Not even before she had been shown the power of the darkness

The crowds of inbreds, mutants, degenerates, and light hunters continued to advance. The Amalgam concentrated, decided while she still had the strength, she would resort to the blessings of The Unholy Spirit.

And one spell in particular would be rather useful.

Dodging another few arrows, and parting her staff into to scissor a mutant gammorean in half, even as her eyes went a feral yellow and took on an unpleasant, moldy texture like the rest of the Shi'ido's current face, she tapped the black magic of The Brain Demon as she made sure Kay was out of the way.

"Unholy Spirit, pour forth my hatred..." she rasped.

It built from within, the inside of her mouth glowing for a second before purple fire erupted from her throat and she sprayed the area thickest with mutants in it. Psychic Fire did not burn but left those exposed who were weak of the mind to suffer intense, possibly suicidal depression and loss of morale. The Amalgam directed the psychic flames and spread them, like it was nothing more than regular pyrokinesis. But it would not last long...a few minutes at most. Enough for a breather. But she saw those masked hunters had already cut off the path to the ship.

The sickly, now slightly rotted-looking Shi'ido turned to Kay. "Run to the forest line! We're cut off!"

The Amalgam faintly sensed a threat behind her and just barely turned to avoid getting her head cut off by a giant axe from one really big inbred. She leapt onto him when he made another swipe and he frantically struggled while she concentrated as she strangled him from behind, her victim's flesh sagging and then mummifying as she ripped a large amount of life away from him until he exploded into dust. But she still wasn't fully repaired, just having simply bought her self more time before having to feed as she ran for her life, summoning her lightsabers to her as she cut through mushroom stalks, carving out a path for the both of them even as arrows from the masked light siders started to rain down near her and Kay...

The Amalgam still was thinking of how Kay had placed herself between her and everyone else. At least she wasn't some helpless queen like the half dozen she'd slain over the centuries. The Amalgam began to think Kay would be much harder to twist than she had thought, and The Amalgam had yet to find a chance to enact her own plan.

The Shapeshifter felt a stillness in her as she cut through mushroom trees, a golden arrow barely missing her and hitting a fungal stalk. They were getting to where they were going, even if the Shi'ido had to cut down every dumb feth in their way from here to the mountains.

But they needed to lose their persuers first.

The Shi'ido realized as she dodged another arrow that she had genuinely developed a faint respect for Kay...she almost regretted the fact she was going to have to reward Kay's nice intentions with treachery.

Keyword: Almost.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Well that was slightly disappointing. [member="The Amalgam"] 's ship wasn't programmed to follow a beacon at all. It was the first thing that had popped into her head when she had seen the vessel. It was almost a live on it's own.

Kay continued to fire her blaster, but she knew that she couldn't keep doing so for long. It'd overheat. And it's battery pack was being depleted of energy. So she used several spats of Force Push, knocking over their enemies while she could as she continued to move back towards the mushroom tree line.

The white Archers were new. At first when she had seen one, Kay had expected that there was just the one. But no. There were several others. Why they had decided to attack her and Amy was as equal of a mystery. The two had caused no harm to anyone. They were merely walking before the attack came.

Kay glanced over her shoulder and saw the change in Amy's face. It was unexpected. "Are you okay?!" But there was no time for an answer. Another inbred came from the left, and Kay lept on him. As the two fell to the ground, she placed her blaster under his chin and pulled the trigger. His body stiffened before it went limp.

And then Amy began to speak. But it wasn't to her. Instead it was some kind of spell...

...Sith magic.

Kay hated that. It was because of Sith magic that Praz had been able to capture her twice. She had no way to combat it, no way to stop it.

Their pursuers were the same way. They moved in odd directions. Some of them just sort of sat there. Just what sort of spell Amy used, Kay wasn't entirely sure. But it was buying them precious time.

Kay grabbed Amy's left upper arm and started to urge her into the tree line; knowing that if Amy fell or staggered too much, then she'd at least be able to drag her even further to safety.

"Almost there, Amy!
Almost there!"

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam had already started to weaken again when [member="Lady Kay"] grabbed her arm, the archers still flinging golden resin covered arrows at both of them, some not as affected by the psychic flame as others.

The Amalgam could feel her body slowly coming ever closer to terminal rot, and as she was dragged into the forest she concentrated, ripping life away from mushroom stalks she grabbed but it was not enough, and she would not prove herself a hypocrite by allowing herself to be healed by Kay with the hated Ashla.

The weakening Amalgam uttered another spell normally used as a trap spell but fire was fire.

"The Bogan consumes my Foe's flesh..." she uttered as she was dragged by Kay.

A hissing pool of orange fire sprang up on a tree, slowly spreading outward as the mutants and archers tried to pursue, hut as the stalks were slimey tissue and fungal overgrowth the fire spread even faster than if the forest had been mere wood.

The Amalgam was still trying to process the fact Kay was actually trying to help her. The logical thing to do would have been to leave the Shi'ido to her doom. But Kay wasn't like that, was she? She followed the way of the Light. She didn't admit it to herself. Then again, she was outnumbered, so it wasn't purely altruism.

No one had ever helped her in the underworks.

One woman's naivete was not enough to suddenly make her rethink all her life choices, but if even this affected the otherwise brutal witch slightly it made "Amy" wonder if she would have become what she was today if even one person in the hellish underworks had cut her even the slightest break.

If she wasn't feared for her nature, she was being used to fufill others grand ambitions, or at least as grand as they got in what was, in the Shi'ido's opinion, the single worst slum in the galaxy.

It wasn't as if she hadn't tried to go straight either. The first time she had gone really crazy, taken a life not in self defense but in sheer murderous hate, she had freaked out, tried to pull herself away, to reform. But it had never worked. Something had always gone wrong, steadily worse, steadily driving her off the deep end until she had finally snapped while being arrested for the one theft she hadn't commited.

And then The Congregation had found her.

The Amalgam was and is, make no mistake, an utter monster. But even at her absolute worst she couldn't hold a candle to the Congregation's wickedness. The Congregation had the kind of presence in the Bogan that put her own rotting presence to shame.

Did she hate her? An emphatic yes. But she had also felt something else, the closest a creature such as her was capable of when it came to the question of love. Only Uri had ever stirred something more powerful than what the Amalgam had felt towards the brutal, wicked creature who had made her a slave in all but name.

After her final chance at a normal life had fallen apart, the Congregation was all she had left. In a sense, the Amalgam was trying to do to Uri what had been done to her. In the end, all Uri would have was The Amalgam, and the Shi'ido would finally know contentment, for she would have her...daughter...at last by her side.

When she was satisfied the mutants advance was cut off, she slowed, gently tugging a slowly rotting arm away from Kay's grasp.

"I need to feed..." the Amalgam hissed, staring at the vast fireline she had made, before turning to the largest mushroom tree she could find and focused.

She'd picked a grand old one, a hundred years old at least, with life for a hundred more. The Amalgam stole it and the mushroom tree slowly withered, then decomposed into a black mess as the Shi'ido, now restored looking and healthy from the decrepit rotting hag she had been moments before, finally purged the resin from her system.

"We've lost them...for the moment. Are you injured, Kay?" The shapeshifter asked, dead purple eyes having a faint glint of respect for someone who was still, ultimately, her foe.

But strangely, she was gaining less and less relish from the thought of driving her mad, and suddenly lamented she had turned away from the Bogan...

 

[Kay-Larr]

It made no sense that they were attacked like that. But then again, this was the Graveyard; a planet where nothing made sense.

[member="The Amalgam"] spouted out another spell and soon fire consumed the area between them and their attackers. Still Kay increased the distance between them, pulling Amy even further and further away.

That is until Amy spoke of feeding.

Kay let her go and watched as the tree's life was taken. She wasn't sure if she should be horrified or amazed. It certainly wasn't something that she had ever witnessed before. Were there others like her? Of course there had to be. She just didn't think that she had ever run into one before.

Her eyebrows lifted as Amy showed some concern over her well being. That was certainly a good sign. "I'm alright, I think.
Thank you. My suit helped, as did your efforts." She took in a deep breath and forced it out, wanting to say more on how much she was glad to have her here, but that could be taken in so many different ways. Kay was a politician afterall, and most people didn't trust them.

Getting her bearings, she planned their route. "I guess we'll be doing this without a stop into town first. Oh well, this will make our time on the Graveyard much shorter. Come on. It's this way." Of course what exactly 'it' was, Kay wasn't about to say just yet. Instead she redirected the conversation while she started to walk. "Who taught you to fight like that? And those spells...I'm not exactly sure of what you did before you made the fire, but it worked."

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam had figured herself correct beyond words (Though it should be stressed, in no uncertain terms, that this was solely because of her vanity.) when [member="Lady Kay"] suggested that all the difficulties had cut their trip short. Sneaky sneaky Ashla lover...

The Amalgam had been wondering just what it was the crafty queen had been up to...this secrecy, all to come to this graveyard planet that made the vile creature escorting her feel alive with the Darkness and risk much to the Queen's mind in the process...despite feeding off its Nature, keeping her strong and fit here, without needing to feed unless injured, the Amalgam had to maintain her self control and not be driven to irrationality by the nexus, despite her own insane, homicidal nature.

Following Kay through the muck of the mushroom forest, the Amalgam was asked another question, this in regards to her training. She saw no harm in it, and anyone asking her something personal was a rarity.

Besides...it was...flattering. Most never saw past the look she had sculpted for her primary appearance. This had been deliberate of course. The visual equivalent of a spoonful of honey over a mouthful of vinegar. She had been ignorant, once, as to the power beauty had over some. But she had had centuries to figure it out since.

But it wasn't until she had met the Congregation that she understood the doors being beautiful could open. When Kay asked about her, the Amalgam spoke in a tone that almost resembled fondness.

"I wasn't always this machine of purpose you see before you, dressed to kill..." the Amalgam answered. "A long while back, I was simply trying to survive. I didn't even like killing or torture, as much as it shames me to admit. No...I was a little nobody, with a little nobody existance trying to make it in a world full of unimaginative little nobodies who'd never really worked a day in their life and never had to scrape like I did. And if I hadn't met The Congregation, I might have remained a little nobody, or worse, The Ashla might have gotten me..." she said, shuddering openly at the thought. "But the Congregation got to me first. And I never looked back. She was the last remnant of a...ancient coven that practiced the Bogan. Don't bother asking the name, I doubt you'd have heard of them. But she knew and understood The Dark and its ways, and after one thing too many went wrong on my end...out from the shadows she stepped. I will forever hate her for the things she put me through. I will forever respect her for her wisdom and power in the Bogan...which I ripped out of her skull telepathically, but the respect is there. I never regretted what I've turned into." she spoke. "Just like you shouldn't have to apologize to a foolish father who's likely Force Sensitive himself. That or someone in his ancestry was in at least the last two generations. See what you have to put up with, as an Ashla follower?" The Amalgam asked. "A bunch of ingrates...that's who you're protecting. A bunch of short sighted ingrates who deserve getting their throat stepped on once and a while. Kay...you must know the Sith are probably planning to knock you off at some point, right?" The Shi'ido asked, in spite of the dictates of her mission. "I mean, let's cut past the red tape for a second...we both know they will never allow you to remain Queen, they can't let a known Ashla lover rule in their domain, they simply can't. They're fethin' Sith, for crying out loud. This is probably hyperbole on my part, but I genuinely believe Sidious would have hung himself rather than let a non-Dark Force Adept have any authority in the Empire. You're already a scandal waiting to happen. Do you know how much easier you could make things for yourself if you simply embraced the Bogan?" she asked as she followed the Queen. "At the very least you might buy yourself time if they thought they could make a real ally from you...it would merely require an adjustment in perspective. That's the real trick I don't think you were ever taught when they were turning you...all you got was the standard 'Pain-Pain-Pain-Until-You-Do-As-I-Say-And-Turn.' Fething Amatuer Hour is what you got. I know it might not have seemed that way at the time but trust me , there are far more effective methods of getting someone to embrace The Bogan on a meaningful level." she suggested out loud, part of her strategy still in play, but privately discomforted at just how much her words were for her own peace of mind or if they were actually to convince Kay that her side was a lost cause.

Truth was, she actually liked Kay...slightly...she considered her a weakling without the Bogan ultimately, but sticking to one's convictions was not an easy thing to do...as the Amalgam had been starting to find lately, when it came to Uri...

Uri's green eyes stared at her rotting spirit,, with warmth, and love, and so many other things the evil creature next to Kay regarded as foreign to her own nature. How she hated those eyes. How she wanted them to never leave her.

She was reminded of the small strand of hair she had obtained from the Queen in the chaos of fleeing. She hadn't just gone to the tree to feed...it had been to secure that strand of hair surreptitiously in a hidden pocket.

The Amalgam felt uncertain as to what came next...but she knew now was not the right time. She...enjoyed talking to her too much...

Besides, surely she had to have noticed the wonderful power of this place by now...what effect was it starting to have?

 

[Kay-Larr]

Ashla. Bogan. Kay was starting to catch onto what [member="The Amalgam"] was referring to. Strange terms for what was simply two sides of a vast and almost living entity that engrossed the entire Galaxy. Was Amy one of those highly religious ones devout to a certain...well, that much was clear. Even Veiere seemed that way at times. But for Kay it was different. The Force was but a tool to be used, much like a datapad or a lightsaber. And that was it. She didn't feel guided by it or helped by it, no moreso than the air helps her to breathe and stay alive.

"I'm sure that if we were around eachother growing up, we probably would have been friends." Kay was often the type to befriend the underdogs and the outcasts, for that was what she often thought herself to be. Unwanted too. But of course that was all different now. In any case she was starting to like Amy, even though they regarded everything so differently. She often liked having those with different perspectives around. It was helpful during many different scenarios.

Her brows furrowed as Amy spoke about her Father possibly being Force Sensitive, or at least having more family members that were. Wouldn't that be strange? Just what had happened to make him hate them all so much, and hate her, she would never know. But going after him would merely prove that she was the monster he claimed her to be and she didn't want that.

And then the discussion went to the Sith and what they had in store for her. Amy was right of course, and Kay knew that well. She wasn't going to pretend otherwise either. That'd be silly and stupid. "I know that my relation to Yasha is the only thing keeping them from killing me right now. They don't want to make her an enemy when she has more use for them to create more Adara's. But you're right. Soon they'll grow tired of it all and maybe send Praz after me again. He wants me dead anyways for the mere fact that I'm one of his failures. I remind him of his imperfections. And it's his sorcery that gets me every time. I can't escape it when he uses it..." She didn't know how to block it or stop it from cutting her off the Force and she hated that.

Kay took out her water from her satchel and opened it, taking a sip before she replaced it. The water didn't quite have the same affect that her tea would, but it quenched her thirst at the very least. "I think that it's too late for me to try to convince them that I was on their side. They abandoned me, you know? After I was brought back from that hell hole dungeon and gained the throne, they disappeared. My communications were unanswered, I wasn't given any instruction as to what I was supposed to do. It was as though their only interest was to turn me, add me to some list of Force conquests and then wipe their hands of me to move onto the next. There was no purpose to it at all, no overall plan in place. It was only until Yasha was useful to them that they decided to use me to bring her to heel. But that won't last long. One way or another, this will all come to an end." Whether it was by her hand or with the help of others. A lot of people were going to die in the efforts to liberate Commenor. And she was beginning to feel as though she was going to have to kill as well. Just as she was trained to do.

 

[The Amalgam]

When [member="Lady Kay"] gave her answer, about how the Sith just abandoned her after going to all that trouble, the Amalgam had to stop from going slack jawed. Of all the incompetent--.

They had turned her and then just...dropped her?! The Amalgam felt nothing but disgust towards her handlers. You don't just leave an asset twisting in the wind like that! Especially when she got on the throne of a fething world you were trying to conquer! Who the hell was making these decisions?! Did they want to win this war or not?!!

The Amalgam had not been with the Sith Empire too long. For much of her career she had operated as a purely solo affair. Only recently had she decided to start aiding the Sith, and that was more on a whim and for the chance to corrupt more Adepts to the Dark under imperial aegis. The Amalgam would never have left a possible asset twisting in the wind like that. She would have spent time steeping her ever deeper into the darkness, but just...it was so irritating to the Shi'ido...how do you not have a use for a dark adept when your whole fething empire needs them to win?!

The Amalgam did something she hadn't expected of herself. Not just because of learning this but because of Kay's well meaning but naive assertion that they could have been friends in a different life.

She expressed something close to sympathy.

"Kay...you got burned. Hard." The Amalgam admitted, not understanding the strange sensation that crossed her mind in regards to Kay's tale.

"All that effort turning you just to have no use...bloody inefficient, if you ask me..." the shapeshifter grumbled. "This was why I was a solo affair for so long. You get an intelligence apparatus, you get a bloody fething collection of people who don't know which hand is holding the lightsaber. If it was deliberate instead of accidental, its even worse! You'll probably take this the wrong way, but I would have handled your turning with a little more finesse..."

For some reason, that tale had infuriated her. It was so sloppy and a waste of good talent. It reminded her uncomfortably of poor Laertia Io, still pining for her dead Master Ursula's approval. The Amalgam accorded that Jedi Shadow one respect she did not for Uri: Laertia had stuck around to the end. If only she could figure out how to turn them both...then the Bogan would have two powerful champions as opposed to just one and herself of course. What damage to the Ashla the three of them could inflict together...but Uri took priority. She was the apple of the twisted creature's eye. Laertia would be a bonus, but the Shi'ido feared she was too set in her ways. Plus, Io made the shapeshifter uncomfortable, due to the way their origins in the streets overlapped.

The Amalgam stopped, sensing danger. The presence of Ashla was close in the mushroom woods. She increased the presence of her corrupt, rotting spirit in the Force, to counteract its presence. Surely how dark the Amalgam was would register to Kay in the process.

"We should hurry. We're being stalked..." the Amalgam whispered. "And even if we get what you came for we still have to clear the way back to the ship. We might have to go our original route regardless, if only to find some breathing room and plan. Make no mistake. Those archers have not stopped hunting us--"

--a golden arrow hit a mushroom stalk next to her.

"RUN!" The Amalgam shouted as she spotted a hail of golden arrows traveling down on their location, the air so heavy with them they blotted out the sun somewhat. Her staff snapped on and cut down a fungal trunk next to her for cover, hiding in a space directly under the trunk, gesturing for her to take cover with her. There was no way they could clear that many arrows in time...

 

[Kay-Larr]

Oh yes, she got burned. Kay was well aware of that. She was picked up, tortured endlessly for months, only to be tossed aside like yesterday's garbage. Would Kay have ever done that to someone? Never.

And then there it was. [member="The Amalgam"] had said that she'd of used more finesse. It probably meant that she'd of cared more or at least had some sort of trust formed between them. Kay felt that about Amy now. She had to trust that she'd be protected. And she did. Instead of The Graveyard being dangerous towards Kay, it was actually turning to be more dangerous towards Amy. Those archers were...a new addition. Something quite unexpected.

Kay paused as Amy did. The air had changed. Around Amy it was colder, darker, yet elsewhere it was getting warmer and brighter.

The archers.

One arrow struck the ground narrowingly close to them. Too close. Kay broke out in a sprint as Amy told her to run, all the while trying to duck and cover her head. The first of the arrows were striking nearby. It'd only be seconds until the rest of them pelted them!

Amy produced a bit of cover for them, cutting one of the mushroom stalks down. Kay's light armour was great for protection against kinetic energy, but when it came to sharp objects? That was one of it's weaknesses.

The trunk wasn't going to be big enough to protect them both. So Kay did the only thing that she could think of. Years ago Lord [member="Mythos"] had taught her to create a Force shield that would surround her like a bubble. He was relentless in his training of this technique, going after her hard and fast with numerous blasters and rocks. Much like the hundreds of arrows that screamed towards them now. Drawing on those memories, connecting with the Force through them, Kay moved close to Amy and drew up the Force shield around them. The arrows that struck it fell harmlessly to the ground or were impaled in the mushroom stalk.

When there was a lull, Kay dropped the shield and pointed both of her hands into 'guns'. She moved from the cover of the mushroom stalk and pulled the 'triggers'. The bracer blasters erupted in fire. The multiple bolts had very bad aim, but she couldn't see the targets anyways. She just wanted those archers to go for cover. Her energy packs could only sustain 15 seconds of firing at a time before they needed cooling down and a recharge. Kay used the full fifteen seconds, firing wildly in the directions that the arrows came from. Then she grabbed Amy's arm with one hand and snatched a couple of the arrows with another before she broke out into another run. "This way! Just one click further and we're there!
An old crash site covered in vines. Come on!" At least the old freighter that was more or less still intact when Kay was here last could provide them with some shelter.

 

[The Amalgam]

What had they been thinking, letting [member="Lady Kay"] go?

Not only had the Queen proven far more resilient than expected, the Queen was now showing more and more that she could actually fight back. It was a travesty, doing all this work and then letting her slip through their fingers.

If she had been nothing but useless spoiled royalty, the Amalgam might have felt less ambiguity. But the more she thought about it, the more Kay's situation was so terribly familiar.

The first century of the Amalgam's life had been little but the galaxy dumping bucket after bucket of smelly bad luck on her. It wasn't until that day she had resisted arrest that things had finally picked up...



Leejun looked all around the elegant art studio, staring at the mess she made. Than the knife in her hand.

She did not look as she would later in life. Here there was still a notion of trying to look regular. Cute but regular.

She'd had a much thinner profile in her youth, and had the look of a woman in her late thirties, with a pale complexion and a freckled face, covered by a elegant, tied mop of black hair. She wore very plain, simple black civilian wear with a white tie. The tie showed the blood better than the rest of the clothes.

She held a simple, double edged knife slick with human and alien blood. The Coruscant Security droids lay torn open by her vibro knife. The Special Weapons team sent to arrest her lay dead, along with their police droids. Clean cuts. Swift cuts.

The bank's agents lay dead, and all her works lay ablaze and torn asunder.

She had been about to exhibit it. All of it. Today was supposed to be the first day of the rest of her life, when she would finally be able to leave behind the shame of a life of thieving and murdering. Of always having to scrape.

Instead, all of her work...her heart, her soul, her pain, all lay burning on the walls. She hadn't stolen anything since that night she had killed Garunin The Hutt for taking her box and burying her a live in a pile of corpses he had made. She'd stolen his savings to set up somewhere nice up top, where people were still trying to get away from the memory of the Gulag Plague and could afford to forget.

But it had all gone wrong. It was as though bad luck trailed her wherever she went. Banker's came knocking. Shows wouldn't put up her work for exhibition like they promised. Rent seemed to get higher and higher.

And then, finally, accused of stealing. She hadn't thieved in three years since coming up top. It was a smear job, but as soon as her record came up, there went any chance of normal. No wonder they had sent the weapons team. An errant malfunction with a broken lamp she had used to survive had started the fire that had destroyed her paintings.

It wasn't fair. She'd been so close to starting over. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.

As the fire continued to burn her studio apartment down, her once soft blue eyes, now gone hard sulphur, looked at her burning future...and didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay, and burn with it.

She dropped to her knees, the knife dropping soon afterward. She closed her eyes, began to breath in spreading fumes...

"So willing to drop so soon?"

Leejun's sulphur eyes fell on a woman who hadn't been there a few seconds ago. She was taller than Leejun currently, platinum blond hair tied in a short, tight bun that rested on the top of her head, skin pale like morning frost with violet eyes. Her combat suit hugged her figure, a segmented gray and white thing.

"You've become beautiful through slaughter..." the pale woman hissed, fixing her eyes on the bloody Shi'ido, the future burning all around her.

Leejun fixed a blank, broken stare on her. "Leave me be, woman. Let me die..."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly do that now, Leejun..." the woman spoke, rising from the leather seat Leejun used to read books in. "Tell me...do you honestly wish to die?"

Leejun looked at the pale woman.

"No."

"Perhaps you'd like to live...deliciously..."

Leejun felt the smoke starting to go into her lungs.

"Deliciously." Leejun simply repeated.

The pale woman nodded. "I've felt you at a distance you know, your anger and power growing...I wonder what it would lead to. I have my answer. The birth of your true beauty."

Leejun was silent a moment. But she was a thug from the streets, deep down.

"What's your angle?" Leejun asked, getting sicker from the smoke.

"You have great potential, Leejun Forrwiirmeni...great potential. Your silly little civilian life would have been a dead end, I suspect..."

"Are...are you a Sith?"

"I am The Congregation." the pale woman answered, hands going to her hips..."And I make an offer...glory..."

"Glory?" Leejun repeated, genuinely this time.

The Congregation nodded. "Yes, my dear...glory. The Glory of The Bogan, through which you shall obtain true wealth and more fulfillment than you ever would have, otherwise. I shall train you, give you my wisdom, and steep you ever deeper in the Dark Side's ways...come with me, young one. Do not allow this to be your end...let your future be as it was when you started out...in the shadows..." she offered, holding out her hand.

Leejun stared at her burning future, and all the ones who had paid the price for her snapping. Despair held up her hand more than any actual enthusiasm.

"Despair. Excellent." The Congregation hissed in delight, pulling her up and leading her to the exit.

"Despair is of the Dark Side..."

Leejun was led out of civilian life by a creature of pure, malicious evil.



The Amalgam followed almost mindlessly as Kay pulled her along, wondering what it was that made Kay leave the grace of The Bogan...and wonder what had made her leave a civilian life...she wondered how similar their answer would be as she blasted Archer's on their peripheral as more an afterthought than an actual desire.

In the shadows...that was where she was best.

Finally, they came across the crash, having fled more golden arrows, the Amalgam having taken out her pistol, as her lightsaber was rather useless against the arrows, and she could get further cloaking her body with the Force and using a pistol.

"Okay, Kay, time for answers, what did I escort you here for you to get?" The Shi'ido asked Kay, waiting looking for more signs of the archers. She hated Archers. She wished she had brought a knife. She would have in the old days. She hoped Kay was ready for a shoot out...

 

[Kay-Larr]

There it was! The crash site! The old freighter looked just as she remembered it, still covered in vines and looking very much as though the Graveyard was swallowing it up whole. Soon there'd be nothing left of it as the forest vegetation was surely going to take it all over. even the table anc chairs that were outside in a make-shift patio were completely covered.

Kay let go of [member="The Amalgam"]'s arm then, pushing through the vines that now covered the doorway until she was through and inside. Silk webbings and cobwebs crisscrossed the corridors, some of which she had walked straight through. And just like normal people, she did a bit of a dance, quick movements to get the webbing off as they just gave her the heebie jeebies.

What did she come here to get? A box. Or moreso it was what was inside the box. Although with the venture being a lot more dangerous than she had intended it to be, Amy probably wouldn't think that it was worth it at all. "Something that I left behind...by accident." Kay moved through the freighter as though she knew it's design like the back of her hand. She made her way to the Captain's quarters, completely ignoring the fact that Amy was even there. She climbed over fallen furniture and then headed straight to the holoscreen. She had to see the holo diary one more time. Just one more time....

But it didn't work. Kay's heart sank as she saw the panel just below was opened, the wiring all chewed up and frayed at the edges. She stood there for a moment, staring at the blank screen. This was it. After today there'd be no coming back. Moving towards the bed, she knelt down and removed some of the items from underneath. The box that she was looking for was further in. And then she found it. A small durasteel box just 30cm's across and 20cm's high was soon cradled in her arms. "Got you." There was no need to check the contents for the box was welded shut. Kay cradled it under an arm and then got to her feet, looking to Amy. "We can go now. This was all that I needed."

The air suddenly changed. Kay felt it as much as she felt it. Smoke grenades were deployed inside, swiftly followed by concussion grenades.

BOOM!!

BOOM!!