Hunger and Darkness

[Nine Lives]

A large merchant vessel of Corellian desing, similar to their YT models in shape, inhabite by a large tick and a slightly confused crew that had been having minor memory lapses for a day or so, landed on Kashyykk in the middle of the night. The crew knew it wasn't natural, but it wasn't until someone had spotted bite marks that had not been fully healed by what looked like a bacta patch that a search had been conducted.

They had never found the parasite. She was a clever tick, always staying just out of their sight, always finding a nook to hide. But it had been tiresome hunt, and eventually as they had neared the system she grew tired of hiding and silently rendered them uncomscious one by one, acting quickly to oncapacitate the fifteen man crew. She had gorged herself on minor memories, mundsne tasks, the sensation of paranoia and fear in the hunt for their parasite, their tick, horrifyingly delicious looking, so delicious she was too scared to eat it, worried what that would say about her. She stuck to the boring, two or three minute stuff. Good thing there were so many relatively boring memories. She took collectively two months worth of mundane stuff from them.

Kashyykk held secrets for her, particularly its shadowlands. She was here for something.

In her youth, during her training as both Jedi and Vampire Hunter, she had been trained by one of the few Wookie Jedi in the order. A female wookie at that. AND a Vampire Hunter. Back then that was quite the thing to put on a business card.

Frryyeen had been her name, and she had been a dear friend and mentor. So when she found out second hand from one of the Mandragora that some two-bit wookiee Sith Lord was killing people searching for her ancient warblade, which now supposedly had gained some sort of Force Blessing during her time away from the galaxy, her first thought was she was going to disembowel a Sith Lord, and then she would make sure her friends sword remained at rest.

It was no doubt very old now. She knew the Wookiee was close to getting it. She would not let him.

She had left the cockpit, the men laid out respectfully in their unconscious state in the cargo hold, their bite wounds treated. She had steadfastly avoided taking anything that looked even remotely important. Small blessings like that occasionally helped her fall asleep.

She wasn't always so lucky during feeding, sometimes in her hunger she would take and eat something like a wedding. Weddings were very sweet. Almost as sweet as birthdays. She ate memories of consuming food, when she wanted to remember the taste of a particular food she once had been able to enjoy. She ate many ice-cream related memories as a result.

Sometimes though, she would bite someone, and immediately snap their neck, their memories simply too horrifying too touch. Or tolerate the 'victim' remaining alive another moment. She was surprised she didn't get that result often...especially considering how utterly chock full the galaxy seemed to be of psychos, psychos with lightsabers, and psychos with deadly starships, and the Hutts.

But as Nine Lives exited the boarding ramp of the vessel, crossing the landing platform, she sensed danger behind her too late.

A sudden, hoorible seizure of pain hit her, striking at the very core of her and she stumbled, feeling the violent spasming as she weakly turned, just in time to see an angered, frightened crewman who had woken up early.

Nine stumbled backward, clad in her ceremonial hooded kimono with white flower prints, her swords secured to her side, but her muscles were locking up too badly to draw it.

She stumbled...and fell, hitting multiple branches for about two stories and a half stories, weak branches she crashed through slowing her fall, desperately trying to grab something, flailing in panic as she hit small branches, before finally impacting hard on a relatively large one, feeling two, no, three, ribs snap. She felt a small branch get slightly jammed into her thigh and she screamed in pain. She felt her hunger increase rapidly before she blacked out on the branch, pulling the small stick out of her thigh as she did so.

When she woke, four hours had passed. The wounds had closed. She surmised she had not been found because her shooter did not see where she landed.

But her hunger was ravenous. She needed something. Needed it bad.

Nine snarled, using the special form of telekinesis she had to start climbing down the tree, snarling in pain and almost mindless hunger, she grabbed a small mynock resting on the bark and bit it, draining it all before throwing the now completely mentally drained animal way, now dead, having forgotten everything, including how to keep breathing. The primitive food she had just eaten would barely last an hour. If she was lucky, which she had not been since arriving here.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Three levels down from Rwookrrorro and eighteen kilometres northeast along the Rryatt Trail, the Well of the Dead appeared as a solid green wall ahead of Lilla.

This deep in the wroshyr jungle of Kashyyyk, the tangled web of trunks and branches was ordinarily almost barren. So little light penetrated the dense canopies overhead that any leaves that sprouted quickly withered. Only the grey bridal-veil sucker and the paddle-leafed mock shyr, both parasites, and the ubiquitous kshyy vines decorated the runs and paths.

Despite this, Lilla moved at a pedestrian pace. She was no Wookiee, able to move freely over the top of the tangled maze.

On the plus side, despite the dim light, the lack of foliage gave sightlines of up to five hundred metres were typical, with only the trunks of the wroshyr trees providing a break in her vision.

It was the Shadow Forest – also known as the Shadowlands – and the realm of the nimble rkkrrkkrl, or trap-spinner, and the slow-moving rroshm, which helped keep the paths clear by grazing on bridal-veil.

The most dangerous inhabitants here were the elusive kkekkrrg rro, the five-limbed Shadow Keepers, which preferred to roam the underside and even more strongly preferred the taste of meat. The Shadow Keepers would not attack an adult Wookiee, but an average sized human? She was probably fair game.

This area was often used by the Wookiees as part of their coming-of-age. Unarmed but for a single ryyyk blade, foolish and somewhat brave young Wookiees would venture down here, risking their lives to prepare themselves for the unknown. Most simply scared themselves half to death.

Courage typically faded with the failing light, and Lilla could resonate with that.

Which did not explain why the young Jedi was here. She was not on some test – she’d passed her Knight’s trials and given she had yet to take a Padawan, was nowhere near ready to be considered for Master initiation. No, she was present due to rumours that a Sith was wreaking havoc here. Lilla believed that the average Sith would be something the Wookiees would be keen to deal with themselves – their natural abilities close to a match for the dark sider. But the rumours talked of a native of the planet that used the Force. That was a formidable foe for anyone.

But the Republic were sceptical – as the tales also talked of some ancient warblade – so Lilla was dispatched, rather than some seasoned Master. Or even a veteran Knight. No…her first assignment after her Knighting ceremony was here.

And she was less dismissive of the rumours. Most had a semblance of truth and even so, Sith Wookiee or no Sith Wookiee, there were katarn here. And things she’d never even heard of no doubt.

But she was a Jedi – dutiful and if their old friends the Wookiees needed a hand, she was more than willing to offer hers.

As she edged forwards, her senses alert to the slightest danger, she felt a flash of a warning. It was gone as soon as it came. A false alarm? Lilla doubted it. The Force was the one thing in the galaxy she trusted.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

She thought the mynock had been enough to hold her. She had been wrong.

Just ten feet, her physical energy gave out and she could not maintain her grasp on the tree. She had fallen off the bark ten feet from the grass and dead branches. She hit the ground coughing, giving out a dry heave as she felt something crack in her leg.

She cupped a hand over her mouth to stop from screaming. Any predator down here heard that they would all here it. The Shadowlands was no place for the weak. The wounded did not last long alone. Much less if they screamed and let every major predator down here know that someone was tired of living.

Nine Lives was not tired of living, much as she might want to die sometimes.

Nine controlled her breathing, she grabbed a fallen branch about her size and just strong enough to hold her weight. She was desperately hungry though. She needed food. She could barely think. She hoped there was a wookiee down here doing some rite of passage. She was in no condition to face that Sith otherwise. She REALLY hoped there would be a poacher down here. But there wasn't. There just wasn't. In fact, it was quite silent.

As Nine walked she caught reflection of herself in a puddle.

She had aged considerably, looking well into her seventies. By tomorrow its be like she was in her late eighties. She'd barely survived the first and only time she had gone full ninety. She needed to find a weak meal.

But it was so hard to focus. She hurt everywhere. The grave was clawing at her from afar.

She stumbled through the dark, fighting to maintain control. She pulled her hood back over her face, into much pain to move totally silently. She desperately tried to ignore her hunger, even as the pain increased and she began to fear for her life.

In her pain she neither sensed nor noticed that she had walked directly in the Jedi Knight's path, starting to lose her sense of direction and equilibrium, the pain from her leg and her own terrible hunger making everymoment she wasn't screaming in agony a miracle.

[member="Lilla Syrin"]

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Half a dozen wroshyr leaves moved where there was no breath of air to move them, lifting the width of a hand and then falling again. The movement betrayed someone’s position some thirty metres west of Lilla.

She had stopped walking, the Force warning returning so strongly that she felt compelled to halt and listen. But not with her ears – with the Force. She sent out her Senses as far as she could. Here, on the forest floor, the only things to hinder the radius of her Force-related search were the giant tree trunks. She may be a Knight now, but she could not see through them directly. But by moving a few metres every minute or so, she was able to build up a mental map in her head of her surroundings.

Which was when she noted the only thing moving within that circumference. Or rather, the lead thing – as whoever it was (and Lilla was now sure it was a person and not an animal) it was attracting predators. A katarn no doubt amongst them – if not two.

And Lilla also kept an eye to her other flank – just in case her attention created a blind spot from which a creature could approach and strike without warning.

Lilla knew the newcomer was in far more danger than they realised, and the Jedi needed to help, without becoming so distracted that she made herself a ready target.

So, Lilla moved to cover the distance between them, travelling in an irregular arc that had the newcomer as its anchor. And now Lilla saw that when, and only when, she moved, so did something else. And yet somehow managed to draw ever closer. It stayed low in the thick overgrowth and melted into the shadows. When Lilla turned to face it, she saw nothing. But she sensed it.

Time was now of the essence. She was close enough now to sense the newcomer. It was a human and was low on life-force. Old or frail – or both? Lilla could not tell, but she made her mind up, based on this information. The newcomer would pose little threat to Lilla and be no adversary for the katarn.

Finally, Lilla was close enough to communicate with the woman, that she could now see as well as sense, and not scare her off.

“You are being followed,” she explained, her voice low and calm – as she drew the hood of her brown Jedi cloak away from her face and offered a warm smile, by way of reassurance. “But we can prevail. Tell me, have you ever seen a katarn?”

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

In near delerium, wandering through the woods, desperately looking for food, her hunger growing worse by the minute, she almost didn't see the woman. And when she did, saw the soft purple eyes, like a benign parody of her own disfigured, hideous ones, she almost attacked, but the robes stopped her.

Oh fate was being cruel. It had to be. It had presented the only source of food that could help her. But that source came from the one type of person Nine would refuse to feed on, even under pain of death. She would not make her damnation any more unbearable by feeding on one of her former peers. It would strip her of any remaining dignity she still had. And yet...the food...it was so maddeningly close...

The girl said she was being followed. Nine in her pain had not even realized she was already being stalked. And in her current condition, she knew any chance of fighting it off on her own were slim.

The aged, wrinkled woman who hid her face nearly always out of shame tried to focus and think past the pain and hunger in order to respond properly. She twitched, head almost moving like a bird in the way she examined her. Had she heard of the Sith as well? She certainly wasn't here for her.

The Vampire responded, after a moment of struggling with its hunger.

"I've seen them before. Quadripedal. Hunts...in..."

The old woman dropped to her knees from weakness.

"...packs..." she said.

The tall woman, much taller than @Lilla Syren, even in her apparent decrepitude, pulled herself from the ground with a dry heave of air. She knew the dangerous position she was in right now. In her weakened state she would not be able to fight off the animals. And if--when the Jedi discovered what she was, she would not be able to fight her off either. Feeding required privacy and time...one she could not get with one of her former brothers and sisters present. The other of which was slipping through her fingers.

A rustle from the bushes stirred.

Nine moved, winced as she felt her rib.

"I'm...becready. Where there is one katarn, there are usually more. I don't...see...any where to...hide...do you...?"

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla knew a little about katarns. Enough to know their danger but also sufficient to understand how to face one.

“There are two – one is visibly stalking us, the other is moving along the branches of the giant wroshyr trees. I have an ability to sense these things. It’s not a perfect gift, but it is sufficient to know where they are.” She didn’t mention she was a Jedi – some people saw it as a blessing, others recoiled at the name. Right now, survival was their only priority.

“I suspect they’ve been following you for a while. It’s understandable you had not noticed them before, they are supposed to be silent. Their main strength is their ability to stalk, for as long as it takes to be sure of the kill. My arrival gives them a choice – move on for easier prey, or take us both on.”

“And their decision to subtly, but inexorably, to close the gap, suggests they’ve opted for the latter. Now, there is some good news here. Predators like the katarn are at the top of their food chain. This makes them lazy. They have a standard method of attack and have never had to deviate from it for millennia. So they have no Plan B, just a Plan A that they will repeat over and over until their prey is dead – or they are.”

“And fleeing is not an option, even if you were more spritely. A katarn cannot be outrun. And nor can we take the fight to them. They will vanish before our eyes.”

“We need to be patient. And brave. Once they think they have our measure, they will come for us. It will not be a subtle attack, they will charge. And we must stand our ground and fight back at the last possible moment – to be sure of a hit. Are you armed?”

Lilla removed her cloak as she spoke and folded it carefully before placing it on the forest floor. Then she unclipped her saber from her belt and held it softly in her fight hand.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine, fought back the urge to seize the beautiful purple eyed Jedi by the neck and bite it. It was a silent agony, barely able to focus long enough on what she was sating...no...not sating, saying.

She was saying. She wasn't sating anything, let alone Nine's hunger. But she was so close. Nine could practically taste the birthday memory infusing her flesh.

Instead, Nine desperately clung to what remained of her sanity. Not only would it be wrong, it would be futile...Nine could not possibly survive the attempt. Not with that lightsaber. Not in this state.

It felt like she hadn't eaten in days. She should have stripped and disabled their weapons. She would not make that mistake again. That is, if there was an 'again' after this.

She barely registered the info on Katarns. She knew those tactics. She always employed them. Wait until the last moment, until its perfect. Then strike.

Nine weakly showed the girl her swords, amazingly undamaged by the fall. She drew her Katana weakly, but distantly, past the hunger, she felt the tingle of darkness, close by, also observing. It had likely sent out the Katarns to investigate her presence. But the Jedi was here also. That's what was causing them to attack.

They heard a rustling of the bushes near by. Prey was cornered. They were trying to get the adrenaline up. It made the meat sweeter to such animals.

The Katarn that came charging from ground made a straight shot for Nine. Who stood her ground, painful aching in her joints. She could not move fast enough to evade it, so she stood her ground, letting it get closer. When it leapt then Nine, in as much strategy as bodily weakness, simply fell back and thrust her sword deep down the throat, exiting through its spine. She was too weak to move the heavy corpse off her as it landed, nearly lost her air from the rib breaking a little more on impact. She was struggling to take in air. Struggling to warn the purple eyed Jedi of the one that leapt from the branches above. She wanted to help, but could not get out from under the dead Katarn.

Worse. She heard more snarling. One more Katarn, charging right as her through the Bush.

The old woman in a burst of survival-frenzy finally pulled herself from under the corpse, just in time to barely scramble from the third's snapping jaws. She barely with drew her secondary sword out, a belated badge of office, warding it off. Struggling to keep conscious. But the animal seemed to know this. It backed off, waiting for her focus to lapse. It did. The short sword went limp in her wrist. The Katarn charged.

Nine screamed as it clamped into her free arm. She jammed her sword into its belly in panic, ripping upward. It held on in a death grip, lavender blood in its jaws.

Nine plunged her sword into its brain. Then she pulled its heavy jaws off her. Arm was shattered. Thankfully no severe ripping, just one very deep, clamped down bite mark. The pain and hunger nearly maddening, all Nine could do was watch and see the results of the other woman's bout.

@Lilla Syren.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

The old woman was something of a paradox. In one sense she was ancient, decrepit even. Yet she was here – in a most unsafe environment – and it wasn’t the sort of forest you chanced into for a picnic.

But the time for questions was not now and Lilla waited to see if the old woman volunteered any information before the predators struck.

Despite the danger, Lilla was calm. The reason was simple – the Force told her to be calm. And she trusted the Force, implicitly. Once it warned her, she would react accordingly, but for now she was relaxed and knew danger was not imminent – at least not when measured by Jedi reflexes that was.

“Are you OK?” Lilla asked, unsure if the woman was even listening to her. Shock affected people in different ways. The response was immediate – the old woman showing Lilla some impressive swords – but there was something about them that made her feel uneasy. But that could wait.

That would ‘have’ to wait.

They no doubt heard the rustling of the bushes at the same time. And then they came.

Lilla’s eyes closed momentarily. It was a form of Moving Meditation and Centre of Being that she employed in these situations. She trusted in the Force and it guided her movements to defend herself. It could not instruct her how to defeat anything, but it would keep her alive if she allowed it to make all of the important decisions. Which is why few Jedi employed the technique. For it relied on total trust. Not 90%. Not 99.9%. Even 0.000001% of doubt could kill you.

So her blade activated without any conscious effort and Lilla’s hands moved quickly, generating kinetic energy, to allow parries without significant movement. And given she was not deflecting a saber but a creature’s limbs and head – it doubled as a form of attack.

The smell of cauterised flesh filled Lilla’s nostrils.

She glanced around and, saw the third one advance. It was on top of the old woman before she had a chance to move. How the first was defeated, Lilla had no idea, but she added it to the list of questions for later.

But Lilla could not act quickly enough and was relieved that the old woman killed the katarn – but at what price?

“Can you move,” she asked. “This is likely to attract more and if we don’t get out of here, there will be too many – even for you to defeat.” There was a little gallows humour there, but the message was clear – they were in serious trouble.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine wanted to attack her, desperately. To sink her fangs into the purple eyed girls neck and drink until she was sated. The pain was extreme, but still not as bad as the painkiller overdose that had created her. She moaned in pain, even as she forced herself to stand and restrain herself from attacking @Lilla Syren.

But her hood had been thrown off in the melee, revealing her unsettling, now cloudy eyes.

Nine forced herself to remain calm. She could last a little longer, this forest couldn't be completely empty of people. But her strength was spent, she staggered, lavender colored blood dripping from the wound on her sleeve.

"I'll make it." she said hoarsely, the food horrifyingly close, taunting her at how her own honor was making her starve. But Nine would not give in. She would die before feeding on Jedi. Trouble was, it seemed fate wanted to do everything in its power to test that assertion.

She fixed hungered, guilty eyes over the shorter girl, hating herself for how much she wanted to bite her and relieve this horrible agony. But what was left of Ni-Ne Li-Ves the Jedi Consular stopped her. But how long could it do that?

"I...I can move...I can move..." the old woman said to her, "Listen...we are in grave danger. There is a Sith Lord in these woods. He seeks an alchemized artifact...a long katana. I...I was here...here...to..."

Nine swooned. She felt a strong, violent surge of the Dark Side. It was heading their way.

"Run!" She said, staggering forward ahead of the padawan, blood still dripping from her sleeve.

Meanwhile:

A black furred wookie with sulphur eyes, clad in bone talismans watched the pair from the trees with a rangefinder. They had passed his first test, even the old woman. He sensed threat, challenge, from them both.

Virggaada broked no challenges, not from anyone. Not from his own master, certainly not his own tribe, who he had slaughtered to prove his commitment to the Darkness. The old woman...weak but even now trying to survive. Very dangerous type of prey, that one. Cornered prey like her was the most dangerous kind. He would try to kill her first, and quickly as he force jumped down to the ground, landed, and his long red lightsaber went active as he began the long stalk towards them. He would let their fear build, advancing slowly, while a pack of Dark Side enslaved Kath hounds tracked slowly behind him.

It had been a while since he had slain a Jedi. This was going to be a great kill. Their skulls would decorate his chamber, as was only proper. He let out a bestial, dark side enhanced roar, amplified to let every part of an area in a half kilometer radius hear it. He moved slowly. He owned these woods. They were merely tourists.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Despite the danger of the forest, there was something about the woman that unsettled Lilla. She had no idea what it was — but there was some reason the Force was deliberately elbowing her to pay attention. But the imminent arrival of more predators took precedent and Lilla was forced to keep most of her attention on the surrounding forest.

The woman’s voice brought Lilla’s focus closer to home. “Glad to hear it,” she said, as the old woman indicated she was mobile.

Then the Jedi nodded as she was told about the Wookiee Sith — she had been appraised — and the corroboration made it clear it was not just some urban myth, but a real and present danger.

And despite the nature of the forest, Lilla was able to pick up changes to the balance of the Force — and so she sensed the rising presence of the dark side. “I sense it,” she said, “And I suspect the katarn will too. Hopefully it will keep them at bay.”

It was a small comfort, but Lilla would take what she could get right now. That nagging feeling of doom was not going away.

LIlla wondered how fast the old woman could run, and had no desire to beat her in a foot race, so kept at her pace, and allowed her companion to dictate the direction of travel.

The sound of the Wookiee roar was eerie — and echoed around the forest, making it difficult to ascertain how far behind the Sith was. “Where are we going,” Lilla asked, “We can’t outrun him, so I presume you have a plan?”

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

"Yeah." the old woman wheezed, sharp hunger pain almost distracting her. Running sapped what precious strength she still had. But she needed distance.

The darkness of the forest, creeping, musty smells from dead things both plant and animal filled her nostrils, increased the strength of a growing starvation-madness. She didn't want to die, even though part of her thought she should. But she had to live, could not see the work of one of her mentors be defiled so odiously by the grasping hands of the brute pursuing them.

She had one trick. Might work. Might not.

As she ran into a clearing, nearly collapsing, balancing on her sword, coughing, she spotted a Tach monkey, hanging with his pack in the trees. Nine stumbled towards it, so weak she could only drag her sword and used her sound mimcry ability to scream and roar at them like a Katarn., stirring the whole nest up. They tried to flee, but she mimicked the roar and also bounced her voices of any surface that happened to be the direction of where they fled to, until finally, dozens of tachs were not only fleeing from the imaginary Katarn they could not see or smell but they and hundreds of other smaller birds and creatures were fleeing in the direction of the wookiee. N-Ne felt bad about tricking the animals but she was literally running on empty. Something had to slow that walking carpet down.

She turned to @Lilla Syren. "There is, if I recall, a network of caves not far from us." The first Psy-Pire said to the purple eyed Jedi, having prepared to come to this very area a week prior, and starting to recognize it from the topography maps. She noticed her own vision was blurry. She felt the sting of mortal fear. Why, did it have to be a Jedi she was with? She'd have snacked on a smugglers memories of eating cake and thought little of it beyond her usual distaste and guilt at what she had to eat to survive. But no, it was a Jedi, a delicious looking one, with no doubt many tasty, peaceful thoughts to eat--

Nine forced the hunger to obey her. She swooned. She needed something in her very soon. Everything was like lead weights in her body now. And even now, at the edge of death the shame of what she was remained with her, taunting her. But she had to run.

"We have to lure him there. We won't stand a chance in the open. He owns the woods and knows the territory." she said in a wheezing contralto. She went a little faint but recovered.

"He wants us so bad, he's gonna have to leave his comfort zone..." Nine finished, stumbling off toward the direction of the caves...

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla understood how dangerous the location was and how precipitous their safety was, as a result. Not that she had a solution – or at least, not a palatable one.

Outrunning their various foes was not an option – and neither was outclimbing them. Which left two options – to outsmart them, or to outfight them. Given Lilla did not have an obvious – and either sneaky or cunning – plan, then it looked as though fighting might have to be the way to go.

But given the old woman’s state, Lilla was unsure if she’d be a help, or a hindrance – especially if their foe targeted her and forced Lilla to defend her ally, as opposed to bring down the Sith.

Lilla then wondered if she’d underestimated the woman – as her mimicry bought them not only time – but would have unsettled their opponent, given it was such an unusual tactic.

“The caves it is then,” Lilla concurred – it would be easier to defend from one direction than to have to worry about an attack from any angle – or height.

“Lead the way…”

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

The Sith snarled, sensing the rush of panicked life coming his way. He and his pack of Katarns were forced to retreat as the startled denizens of the forest rushed there way. The influx of scents confused the Wookiee and the Katarns, burying the scents of @Lilla Syren and the old woman. His lightsaber slashed through the beasts and vermin fleeing a non-existant threat, but the sheer volume of animals fleeing kept him from advancing for a few minutes.

Infuriated at the unexpected delay, he cut down one of his own mind-controlled Katarns. Before ordering the rest away. He advanced alone, realizing there was a cave the two could have fled to...and where much of his advantage would be negated.

Clever, the Sith thought. But it would not save them, because even without his forest and his animals, he was still a Sith warrior, and they were tourists, a pair of weaklings who could barely survive together, let alone seperate in the shadowlands. He would corner them, and butcher them both where they stood.

After a while of walking, he finally came across the very small clearing that led to the cave entrance. It was a jagged, irregular entrance. The smell of animal droppings was pungeant but he pressed o, stepping on a pile of leaves and twigs...

...which gave way to a small pothole, with a sharpened stick covered in animal droppings, pierced his right foot.

The Wookiee roared in pain and surprise, calling on the darkness to cut off the pain receptors after a few moments of agony. Knowing the wound was likely going to be infected if it wasn't treated soon.

He would skin them for this insult. He pulled his foot off the stick, using the lightsaber to cauterize the wound, but he knew the bacteria was in his bloodstream. They would die very slowly for this. The Sith gave a roar of war as he limped forward, heading into the cave, following their scent...

Meanwhile...

Nine stumbled, shuddering as she went through the darkness of the cave passage, having led the purple eyed Jedi in deeper. Her body screamed for food, but there wasn't any, unless she wished to break the last thread of honor she still possessed.

She had made good time down the network, and still the roar of pain from the Sith had reached her. Nine slid down a wall, exhausted.

"Good old guerilla warfare, " she joked with a wheeze, having dug the trap the Sith had walked into. They were far enough down that it would be quite a while before the Sith would reach them.

Nine looked warily at the Jedi, getting harder to see.

"Whats your name?" she asked weakly, out of morbid curiosity.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla sensed much of what was going on around her. Her principle focus was on where they were headed and the safety of her companion – but she could not help but feel the aura of darkness from their pursuer.

And she felt death too – so many innocent creatures having their lives extinguished – no doubt by the Sith. She also felt the presence diminish – the woman’s approach was clever and productive – the Sith was clearly delayed in his pursuit.

But Lilla also understood that a delay was all they could hope for. Time to pick their spot and rest up for a few minutes. No more.

And inevitably, the dark-sided presence grew once more – he was advancing on their position, and would no doubt find them sooner or later.

They descended – Lilla following the woman’s lead. It was her plan, and Lilla was content for her to be in charge. With age came wisdom, or at least that was the theory – and Lilla wanted to believe that saying right now.

The calm was punctuated by a roar – the Sith was close, and angry. It was a cry of pain, but heavily overlain with anger and frustration. His injury was minor – and the result was to no doubt fuel a Force rage that would make his connection to the dark side even stronger.

“Your trap worked,” Lilla echoed. “Maybe it will impact his approach, and that could act in our favour. He’ll be bent on revenge and could make mistakes. In fact, I’d settle for just one.”

Lilla closed her eyes momentarily, connecting to the Force and entering into a form of meditation. She would use it to gain a renewed sense of calm and strengthen her bond with the Force, ready for the encounter that was coming.

“Lilla,” she said, by way of a reply to the woman’s question. “Lilla Syrin. I’m a Jedi with the Republic Remnant Order.”

“And you are?”

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

"My names is Nine Lives. You know, like a cat. I was too stupid to die the first eight." She answered, the urge to bite the purple eyed Jedi's neck deep and maddening. Nine resisted. Her jedi thoughts must be sugary and sweet. While she had sworn never to eat Jedi thoughts, she had tasted light side memories before. Healing Memories were addictively sweet. But there were always sins always these rotting little apples in brains that she would have to eat around.

Nine forced herself to focus on the real problem. She had to disable that wookiee long enough to feed off him, and somehow keep @Lilla Syren occupied, but she had to find a way to get the wookiee in a confined enough space and then bite him, and then pray Lilla didn't end up interrupting her or turning on her. But Nine wasn't sure she could come up with ANY plan to keep Lilla seperate from her long enough, not in these conditions. Not with so few resources, in an uncharted cave system. Nine rested against the wall, debating her second option. It was a gamble. But neither one of them would survive that murdering kark by themselves.

"Lilla...its time to level with you...I'm dying..." Nine croaked. "I'm...starving to death. I've been running on empty ever since you ran into me...but I cannot eat normal food..."

Nine's vision got slightly blurrier.

"I...I am an accident. I was once a Jedi Consular...a Sith Lord tried to use Sith Alchemy on me...but something was wrong. The alchemy wouldn't do anything to my body. Even though I was exposed multiple times. I managed to talk my captor in euthanising me with painkillers and...thats when I mutated. I...what I'm trying to say is...I was turned into a vampire that eats thoughts, memories, to survive. I try to limit the damage...I feed on...menial memories. Trivial stuff. Try to avoid the richer stuff. That's the short of it. Now...I refuse to feed on you, Jedi. I'll die before I let that happen. But without food...that wookiee has to be disabled so I can feed on him. And I can't do that if you are trying to kill me for being a vampire. But neither of us will survive that wookiee on our own. Here's my bargain: That sword he's after belonged to one of my old instructors. I don't care if you take it, just as long as it stays out of Sith hands. You let me feed on the Wookiee, I lead you to the sword, you take it into Jedi custody, and we go our seperate ways...or, you can just...kill me right now...and take your chances solo. And if these are to be my last moments...I want it on record: Being altered was not my choice."

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla listened. She’d heard stories of cats being created with nine lives. She resumed it was some old wive’s tale — and had never actually looked into the factual basis for the phrase. Maybe it was linked to their curiosity? Or maybe not.

Aware her thoughts were wandering she brought them back to the here and now.

And her companion managed that with her next statement. She knew the woman was old, but dying? That came as a bit of a shock. And then the conversation became curiouser and curiouser and Lilla listened intently, not wishing to interrupt and delay the telling of the story.

It was some history the woman retold. She was clearly Force sensitive, Lilla could have guessed at that. But her journey from Jedi Cosulra to now? That was something out of the ordinary — and not a tale Lilla had read about in any of the research she’d undertaken — and the Jedi Knight spent a lot of time in the archives.

Lilla had an idea — one that came unbidden into her mind as she listened. She had no recollection of her past before Tatooine. None at all. If the woman could feed on those memories, Lilla would not miss them and she might save her companion. But before she could make the suggestion, she heard Nine Lives’ plan.

“I don’t kill — unless it’s a last resort. And I don’t judge — I merely enforce and protect. I’m not aware of any laws you’ve broken, and now is not the time for a moral debate. So we’ll work together for now and discuss this again once the Sith is defeated.”

“Now, do you have enough energy to help subdue the Wookiee?”

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

"Yeah, I have enough...just barely enough..." Nine replied, forcing herself up.

"Oh gods this is gonna be a bastard to pull off..." Nine said more to herself than @Lilla Syren.

She stumbled through the cave system, and came upon a dead end with a large wide crevasse hanging overhead in the natural stone ceiling, just barely enough to climb through.

Okay...okay...how do we do we do this?" Nine said in hoarse fashion. It was so hard to think with the need for food.

She took out her short, double edged sword, and hid it under the dirt of the tunnel, pointing it at the dead end, right to the side of the path. It was barely hidden.

"Okay...here's how we do this...back when I was a Jedi, we had this trick called the Consular's Surprise. It works like this. You get that wookiee to chase you to this dead end. Then, once he advances past this sword, you manipulate it with telekinesis, and drive it into one of his legs...then Force pull him even closer to you...I'll drop down from that crevasse, latch onto his shoulders and yell, 'surprise!' I'll bite him...and hopefully, he won't throw me off before I've incapacitated him..." Nine explained, still deeply surprised by how well she had taken the news she was working with a parasite. How different was this era?

Nine crawled up the crevasse, prepared to drop down. She barely pulled herself up with failing strength, holding and balancing herself between rock faces above the dead end.

"He's a big one, I'm betting he knows either form one, five, seven, but I'm bettin' its five. Don't let him get close to you and always, always taunt him. Those types cannot stand to have their masculinity impugned. He might try to choke you, sure, but that's a sign you're getting under his skin. If he does try, Force pull him. Don't push. He'll expect the push..." Nine warned. "He's almost here. Lead him to me. I can feel him..."

Meanwhile...

Their smells were very strong here, the Wookiee thought, saber in a death grip as he went further into the cave network. The old woman it seemed, was slowly fading. She might be dead by morning, provided he was patient.

But he wasn't patient. Besides, he didn't want either of them to have a peaceful death. They would die screaming, their bones snapping apart at his bare hands. He would then claim his prize and grow only more in power, unconquered.

Sure, there was only the vague idea of what came after that, but he had learned long ago only to cross those bridges when he reached them his dark fure was not as dark as the rock of the cave as he moved, the limp making him drag an already infected foot delicately. Even with The Dark Side.

It was not long before he finalky spotted the younger, purple eyed one.

How fitting you'd pick a natural coffin for your final resting place... he telepathically growled at her. The old woman. Where is she?

It did not really matter if she told him. He'd find both eventually. But it might cut down on the searching...

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla prepared for the inevitable. Being a Jedi, or more specifically one that followed the Code – she planned for success and then for failure. It was the Jedi way of old.

Her companion had it right – this was going to be a challenge, but – as she always told her Padawans – if it was easy, anyone could do it. This thought echoed in her mind as they reached the dead-end. And given her own default position of winging it more often than not, she listened to the old woman’s plan – any idea was better than none right now, however desperate it might sound.

And it began with burying your weapon! Lilla held her counsel for now. And then she repeated the plan, to ensure she’d understood it correctly.

“Get the Sith to chase me…I lift the sword and cut his leg…Force Pull him closer…you drop down…bite him. OK.”

Lilla reserved the right to share her thoughts of the plan. But, in its favour, it was simple – and unsophisticated invariably worked best, especially with limited time to set it up or practice.

She waited until the old woman climbed up and closed her eyes for a few seconds, allowing the Force to flow through her, strengthening her connection. Yes, it would serve as a beacon to the Sith, but it would allow her to maximise her powers for the upcoming entanglement.

“Form five…" Lilla echoed…"It would be the Perseverance Form. At least the close confines will not be in his favour.”

And then she smiled. “And…” she repeated slowly, “If he Force Chokes me, that’s a good thing! Really?” She chuckled. “But I take your point.”

Lilla sensed his coming and hoped that all of her meditation would maximise her Force aura and allow the old woman’s presence to be effectively hidden in the shadows.

“If it’s s coffin,” Lilla said, stepping forward to meet the Wookiee – not wishing to appear too eager for him to come to her, in case he sensed a trap. “It is for you. Unless you wish to surrender,” she asked, no hint of sarcasm in her voice – she genuinely meant it.

She took the activation of his blade as a negative, and braced herself. “OK, then you leave me no choice.” Initially Lilla threw up a little dirt in front of the advancing Sith, hoping to hit him in the face. It would be an irritation, no more – but that’s what she wanted to do – to annoy him into becoming reckless.

He waved a hand and the dirt dropped to the floor. Lilla was impressed, but decided not to share the fact. Her own sabre activated with a snap-hiss and she took up her Soresu ready stance.

“Pathetic,” the Sith said, chuckling. “You think you’ll wear me down before killing me?”

“No,” Lilla countered, “I expect to find a fundamental flaw, which I shall exploit.”

The Sith roared in a primeval manner, the cave echoing with his anger. The blows came raining down on Lilla – and she defelcted rather than blocked them. The kinetic energy he was generating would shatter her bones if she attempted to directly block them.

And, quite naturally, she retreated. It was no feint – his power and aggression dictated she gave round, and instead of expecting he was being tricked, he would imagine he was in total control.

Lilla judged his progress and then, with a wave of her hand, the sword lifted from the dirt and caught the Sith by his hamstring. It would impede his mobility – and he would no doubt use the pain to fuel his access to the dark-side, but it was a tactic she had to use – it was all part of the plan.

And, suitable angered, he reached out a hand and, with the Force, grabbed her by the throat, so strongly that he lifted her off her feet.

Her hands clutched at imaginary fingers at her neck and she hoped the old woman hadn’t fallen to sleep – or died waiting.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine was already woozy, and the stress of it made her hunger worse. Nine knew things could only get stranger from here. Because she knew she would not be able to control how much or which part she ate of The Wookiee's mind. She knew where this was leading. How different she would be. But it was either that or die here.

She heard the fight below felt the level of darkness and danger. Ironically, her life force was so weak now the Wookiee likely did not sense her. She heard the battle continue, barely able to stay conscious now. Her grip on the rocks nearly slipped. Through fluttering, clouded eyes, she saw The Wookiee below her in flashes of colored light attack. @Lilla Syren was giving way, but she did her job, watching the Wookiee roar in pain as her sword pierced his hamstring and he ended up directly below her, roaring in fury as he force choked Lilla.

Nine, no longer able to contain her ravenous hunger dropped down on the wookie with an animal snarl fangs forcing themselves past fur and piercing the flesh on his neck, a death grip on him as her ornamental robes fell with her, the wookie snarled, dropping Lilla as the thought-eater began to drink his memories, which tasted foreign to her in their alieness, but there was still the rot of the dark side. She drank. He was desperately trying to fling her off, even ramming himself and her against the wall, but Nine was drinking so much out of him, especially the desperate rage the Wookiee Sith summoned in a desperate attempt to fling her off. A part of her smirked at his panicked reaction as even the memory of her attacking him began to be eaten also. He dropped to his knees, still struggling but getting weaker, the vampire holding on and not able to stop drinking.

One year. Two years. Three years. Four years. Five years. She ate all his triumphs as a Sith, all his successes. She left the failures. Including his failure against Lilla. The madness in her began to lesson, the form hidden in crumpled green and white robes covering the now unconscious Wookiee, who had learned too late the depths of his own hubris.

She felt a cold but pleasurable euphoria spread over her body, as she ate the knowledge of where he believed the sword was hidden. An old military bunker deep in the shadowlands. But why there? The brute had never bothered to ask.

She felt different, strong...

The woman who rose was not the desperate and dying old woman who Lilla had encountered.

Instead, who rose in those white rose-embroidered, ceremonial green robes was a woman in her mid twenties, with delicate, smooth facial features and heart-shaped lips. Her obsidian eyes, the purple dots of glowing light at the center that served as her pupils, were no longer clouded, could make out Lilla clearly.

Her hood came down, and she fixed a stare of almost blatant lust on the purple eyed Jedi.

"I feeeel love-ly...whaaaat a-bout youuuuu...?" She asked, her voice an oily croak, words having odd stretches and emphasis on the wrong syllables. Lilla looked delicious, and not in a 'I wanna eat your mind' delicious. Lilla looked delicious to The Lovely Nine for an entirely different reason. But that sword took priority first, and Nine was very keen on reaching it inspite of an already growing list of things that would freak out the vampire in her paranoid fugue state. Like Mimes, and the color yellow.

Nine floated towards the lovely purple eyed woman, robes hiding the movement of her legs, her movement in of itself near silent.

"The sword we seeeeek is farther into the Shadowlands. What-do-we-do-with-thissssssss one?" she asked. "He sssssssstilll lives..."


@Lilla Syren

 

[Lilla Syrin]

It was an odd sensation. Clearly, the plan was working — and, obviously, the outcome where they prevailed over the Sith was the positive one — but there was a sense of unease at the ‘how’ of their current success. The end did not justify the means in Lilla’s eyes. But then, Jedi were also taught to be pragmatic. A dead Jedi was of no use to anyone.

But at what point was the Sith no longer a threat and should be spared. And, her mind began to wonder, when might the victim become the aggressor? For her misgivings were growing stronger with every lessening of the Force Choke.

She ignored the remnants of pain from the tissue of her neck as she contemplated the now prone Wookiee in front of her, and the woman on his back — no longer seeming to Lilla to be a defenceless old woman, close to death.

And Lilla’s lilac eyes confirmed the metamorphosis — as a young woman stood from the now fallen Sith and faced her. One of Lilla’s eyebrows raised. Her knowledge of what just happened was slim to non-existent. What if the personality of the Sith had transferred? Or his knowledge of the dark-side and its application?

Lilla sighed audibly. This was going to be tricky.

“I am…pleased you have recovered strength,” she responded, honestly. “Are you well enough to travel and…” she looked down at the Sith. “As for him? Does he pose a present threat? I suspect not, but he does represent a future one. We need to bind and gag him. I have cuffs,” she took them from her pocket. “We can come back and deal with him once you have your sword, OK?”

Then Lilla proceeded to bind the Wookiee’s hands and feet, as well as use some material to gag him — although all the while she kept an eye on her companion. The Force wasn’t screaming a warning — but there was a low rumble she could not ignore.

[member="Nine Lives"]