Private Knightfall

[Alex StormWolf]

The days blurred together into a chaotic kaleidoscope for Alex. He had no idea how long he had been wandering in a dazed state, still fighting the effects of the poisonous bite received from a Sith spawn while on a mission to Osseriton. Then there was the confused recollection of waking up in some sort of lab, the synthflesh on his prosthetic right arm peeled away, leaving the mechanical bones, muscles and sinews exposed. He had fought his way out of the lab, vaguely feeling the presence of other Jedi nearby, but in his altered state of mind, his only thoughts were to ensure his own survival, no matter the cost.

Somehow, he had managed to talk his way aboard a freighter bound for his homeworld of Yanibar, that obscure, desolate ball of dirt known throughout the galaxy for having only two extremes of climate during the year...heat or cold. The trip was mostly uneventful, except for the extremely chatty young Twi'lek crewmember who reminded him just a bit too much of Seku Bondara, openly telling him that he looked half past dead and that he probably should be in a hospital instead of a freighter bound for Yanibar.

Arriving on Yanibar, Alex was drawn as if by instinct away from the spaceport, setting out across the rocky, desolate landscape on foot. At long last, he arrived at the ruins of his family's home, the burnt husk of the dwelling silhouetted against the last lingering rays of daylight. Alex wasn't exactly sure what he was seeking here. He wasn't even sure why he was here. Nothing he was doing made much sense. Not that it mattered, he mused, he'd probably be dead soon from the poison anyway if he didn't go mad before then, with the seductive whisper of the Dark Side ever in his ears.

Staggering into the ruins, Alex dropped to his knees and pitched forward onto his face, delirious with the effects of the Sith spawn's poison coursing through his veins.

 

[Lady Venge]

Little did Alex know, during the voyage to Yanibar, that one of Venge's underworld contacts was also aboard the freighter, the Gran mercenary missing one of his three eye stalks from some long forgotten altercation. Slipping away from the rest of the crew, he contacted Venge on a secure holocom channel.

"My Lady, your Jedi is here, on a freighter bound for Yanibar."

Venge was genuinely surprised at the Gran's improved Basic.

"Your Basic is much improved since the last time we spoke. Have you been taking lessons?"

"Um...Yes, My Lady. Impossible to find competent teachers on the Smuggler's Moon. I had to travel off-world for lessons. But, that's not important right now. Your Jedi...he doesn't look too good. A Twi'lek on board told him he looked half past dead. Can't say I disagree. If you want him, My Lady, you'd better be quick about it."

"Leave him to me. We'll discuss your compensation later."

-Yanibar, sometime later-

The Dark Embrace descended out of the night sky, slowly circling in towards the ruins of House StormWolf. Venge strode down the boarding ramp, leaping to the ground before it had fully extended. At long last, Alex StormWolf was within her grasp. Walking quickly into the ruins, she spotted Alex, kneeling down next to him to check for signs of life. Feeling a faint pulse at his neck, Venge breathed a sigh of relief. Flicking on her comlink, she sent a brief message to The Parliament, informing her that it was time to put their previously discussed plan into motion.

"I've found him!"

Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

Arrived in: Tidings of Elaine

Wearing: Cultist Catsuit

Armed With: Champion's Blade (Purple Synth Crystal Lightsaber)


The Parliament, driven by a fervent need to corrupt and destroy Jedi, had all but jumped at the opportunity to get in on Lady Venge 's plan to corrupt this Alex Stormwolf, as she couldn't help but see a lot of similarities between herself and him. She had requested everything Venge knew. The experience had to be properly tailored.

She had been on standby. Some might think it odd that the head of a faction might journey alone, especially given the high price on her head. But the Parliament liked to get her hands dirty more than most leaders. Plus, staying behind friendly lines would dull her edge, which she would need when the time came to fight her own father.

A House Io Corvette had proven more than adequate for her purposes. Not many weapons, but insanely tough and durable. She had landed not far from House Stormwolf's ruins, anticipating where the Jedi would travel with the aid of The Dark.

When the Signal from Venge came in, The Parliament was on a speeder bike racing to them with a Sith Medical Kit. She had made sure to pack it with items that could help cleanse the poison in his body.

She waved as she arrived, hopping off the bike with her Kit.

"Venge, I see his condition has worsened. We must work quickly..." The Parliament spoke, clad in a skintight white catsuit, fixing rotting yellow eyes on Alex.

"Ah, Yanibar. I visited this place once, when I was younger..." she remarked as she began setting out the ritual materials.

"What a positively dreadful place to put a stronghold. If you aren't burning up, you're freezing...hey, rockin' a Dooku!" she added as she noticed Venge's ship.

"I'm positively embarrassed, now that I think of it, not owning one..."

 

[Lady Venge]

Venge grinned as The Parliament complimented her ship.

"They're very hard to come by. I paid a pretty hefty sum of credits for The Dark Embrace years ago. The used ship dealer wouldn't budge on his price."

Kneeling down besides Alex once more, Venge rolled the unconscious Jedi onto his back, and ever so gently peeled back the tattered remains of his trench coat in order to examine his injuries. She visibly shuddered a bit as she studied the ravaged flesh on his left shoulder.

"I don't even want to imagine what bit him," she said, glancing back at The Parliament.

Laying a hand on Alex's chest, she could feel his Force signature flickering like the flame of a candle in danger of going out.

"You were right....we haven't much time."

Laertia Io

 

[Alex StormWolf]

Alex's eyes shot open as he felt the hand on his chest. His normally green eyes were tinged with the reddish orange of the Dark Side's slow corruption. His eyes finally focusing on Venge, Alex's right hand and arm, devoid of its synth flesh covering, reached for her throat as if to try and strangle her.

"I won't let you take me again," he snarled. "Not this time!"

Glancing over at The Parliament, Alex's eyes narrowed.

"You...you, I don't know. But, I'll deal with you once I've finished with Venge here..."

Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

"See reason, Warrior..." The Parliament rumbled, tone full of a dark confidence and command, at odds with the flighty, eccentric persona she projected to enemies.

"You are at death's door. You will die unless you are treated immediately." The Parliament explained like a strict schoolteacher.

"There is no Jedi coming to rescue you, Alex StormWolf . We are your best bet. Perhaps you prefer death? Dying ignobly on this rock from an animal bite? Only weaklings could accept such a fate. Are you a weakling? Or are you strong enough to want to live so that you might outsmart us later?" she asked.

Lady Venge was getting a first hand experience on the Cult's approach to turning someone. The Parliament had sensed his aggression upon his response waking up and decided to pull at that thread, appealing to that martial confidence real warriors possess...along with the subtle fear of not dying a good death...

 

[Lady Venge]

Venge glanced at Laertia Io with a newfound sense of awe. All the years she had spent trying to turn Alex using brute force, when instead she should have taken the more subtle approach. Placing a restraining hand on Alex's right arm, lest he decided to carry out his desire to strangle her, Venge turned her attention back towards him, her fiery orange eyes staring deeply into his which showed the first signs of the Dark Side's corruption.

"If you kill either of us now, you will have squandered your one change at survival. Is this really how you want the story of your life to end, Alex? Dead and forgotten on this desolate hellhole of a planet?"

 

[Alex StormWolf]

"See reason, Warrior..." The Parliament rumbled, tone full of a dark confidence and command, at odds with the flighty, eccentric persona she projected to enemies.

"You are at death's door. You will die unless you are treated immediately." The Parliament explained like a strict schoolteacher.

"There is no Jedi coming to rescue you, Alex StormWolf . We are your best bet. Perhaps you prefer death? Dying ignobly on this rock from an animal bite? Only weaklings could accept such a fate. Are you a weakling? Or are you strong enough to want to live so that you might outsmart us later?" she asked.

"If you kill either of us now, you will have squandered your one change at survival. Is this really how you want the story of your life to end, Alex? Dead and forgotten on this desolate hellhole of a planet?"

Alex slowly lowered his arm, feeling conflicted. Here was the woman who was his sworn enemy, who represented the last of the Sith sect that had massacred his family and turned him into one of their own. Venge had haunted him for years following his rebellion against the Black Hssiss Order, ultimately leading to a climactic confrontation in which he had lost his right arm and been left with a lightsaber burn from eyebrow to chin on the right side of his face, which never really healed all that well and had left him with a permanent scar. Venge could have easily taken him then, and yet, she had let him escape to fight another day. It was mere sport for her, he had figured at the time, a game of cat and mouse that spanned years and had raged from one end of the galaxy to the other.

"You were there when your Order took my family from me, Venge! You were there when your Master wiped my mind and made me into just another one of his puppets! You are the last of that dead and forgotten Order, and every fiber of my being says that I should kill you where you stand, and go to my death knowing that I've finally avenged my family," Alex growled, as his hands dropped towards his belt to retrieve his lightsabers....only to discover that neither of them were there. His eyes widened in disbelief. To lose one's lightsaber was considered by many Jedi to be the ultimate shame, and Alex was no exception.

"No...it can't be. How did it come to this?!...Which one of you took them," he stammered, his eyes darting from Venge to The Parliament.

Laertia Io

 

[Laertia Io]

The Parliament smiled, holding up his weapons.

"One of the benefits of starting life as a thief... slight of hand..." The Parliament answered back.

"You are shamed, Warrior. First you succumb to poison, then you allow your weapons to be stripped from you as a final indignity, and worse, your pride compelled you not to seek any help until the wound was at a crisis point."

She rubbed her chin with the hilt of one of his blades.

"One could say you have a death wish..."

(Cutaway of Charles Bronson's Rocket Launcher Kill in Death Wish 3)

"Is that why you came here? To die on the ground of your family?" The Parliament asked of Alex StormWolf . It was not in a mocking way, but genuine curiosity.

"You have not acted as a Jedi would have. If the Light truly was with you, you could have used it to heal yourself. Or you would have sought out Jedi who could heal you. Coming here implies attachment. Your words imply a desire for revenge...also against Jedi beliefs."

The Parliament looked at Lady Venge .

"What does the Order he mentioned believe?"

 

[Lady Venge]

Glancing from Alex to Laertia Io , Venge gathered her thoughts before answering the inquiry into what the Black Hssiss Order had believed. Inwardly, she was becoming more and more impressed with The Parliament. She herself hadn't even seen Laertia Io deprive Alex of his weapons.

"Given that we were a sect that adhered to Sith believes, an extended version of the Sith Code was at the core of our doctrines," she said. "We also believed the weak were to be subjugated, and the strong were to be elevated."

She paused again, pacing back and forth, then recited the extended version of the Sith Code as followed by the Black Hssiss Order....

"Peace is a lie,There is only Passion,
Through Passion I gain Strength,
Through Strength I gain Power,
Through Power I gain Victory,
Through Victory My Chains are Broken,
The Force shall set me free...
There is no Peace There is Anger,
There is no Fear There is power,
There is no Death,There is immortality,
There is no Weakness,There is the Dark Side...
I am the heart of the Darkness,
I know no Fear,
I instill Fear in my Enemies,
I am the Destroyer of Worlds,
I feel the power of the Dark Side.
I am the fire of hate,
All the Universe bows before me...
I pledge Myself to the Darkness,
I have found True life In the death of the Light,
I know the true Power of the Dark Side,
I AM SITH......"

Turning to glance at Alex, Venge offered another piece of her philosophy.

"The Dark Side of the Force is not about evilness or being cruel... It's about feeling your emotions unrestricted. Make your Fear, your Rage, even your Love fill your power."

 

[Alex StormWolf]

"Is that why you came here? To die on the ground of your family?" The Parliament asked of Alex StormWolf . It was not in a mocking way, but genuine curiosity.

"You have not acted as a Jedi would have. If the Light truly was with you, you could have used it to heal yourself. Or you would have sought out Jedi who could heal you. Coming here implies attachment. Your words imply a desire for revenge...also against Jedi beliefs."

It was the truth, there was no denying it. He had come here to die, much like a wounded animal returning to its den.

Glowering at Laertia Io with eyes radiating his distrust, Alex spoke.

"Who are you, really? Why would you have any interest in saving me?"