Night Divides the Day

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Darth Adekos was not intimately familiar with Neville Haunsenfaufer, but that never stopped the Darth from using the man's name before. This was just another repercussion of failing to set a wi-fi password. Now poor Neville, a shipyard laborer, owed some maniacal little trollop named Spark Finn a million bajillion killer droid ponies. It was a good think Adekos was unaware it had just synced to the Holo-cloud, otherwise he would have cursed Spark for the unspeakable evil she had just saddled poor, poor Neville with.

Oh well. Not his problem. Apparently she was going to be here for a few days, which Adekos hadn't heard about until now. What was Carach doing that he had to ship his apprentices off to the corners of the galaxy? Maybe he didn't want them to find out about his sudden reduction in power. What a laugh. Be that as it was, Adekos may as well just make use of the time he'd been given with the prodigal Spark Fin and her techno-force-magicka.

"Continue to coordinate the droids." He requested. "You'll notice that there are an assortment of crates over there."

He gestured to the pile of crates, all jumbled up against the wall on the far end of the hangar. There were three colors visible: red, green, and yellow.

"Organize them by color, though do be careful with the blue crate if you happen to find it."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

She blinked and looked from the sith master to the assortment of crates across the room. And suddenly she was craving jelly-beans. Gray-blue eyes locked back onto Darth Adekos as if sizing him up for this being some sort of trick or trap just so he could wave around some lightning toward her and some more invisible head-bangs.

She dropped the invisible shield, momentarily foregoing her suspicions in favor of her greater desire to nerd-out with technology.

"Okay."

She parked her rear on the floor once again, this time not sitting so close to the supercomputer or anything that could...hurt. Closing her eyes, the droids moved as a mass and trundled over to the crates. Eyes cracked open so she could better direct them with the colors. They, of course, organized by order of the rainbow - ROYGBIV. The technopath was curious about one thing, though.

Without glitching in her concentration, she asked, "Why? What's in the blue box?"

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you intend to handle it haphazardly, in which case I worry very dearly for our safety." Darth Adekos said, shrugging dispassionately. "It may not even be here. Focus, please."

It was, surprisingly, difficult to tell if Adekos was being serious here. This was all very likely some sort of facet in his plan of deriving information from the prototype H1. The Umbaran watched for a few moments as the droids shifted through the pile of crates, organizing them in accordance of a rainbow. How adorable. His gaze peeled off them so he could touch base with the two gentlemen technicians in the booth, the second of which had since completely regained his composure. Mostly. Adekos noticed the man continued to sniffle and chuckle, wiping the odd stray tear from his eye.

All Adekos had to do was scowl for a few moments before the technician saw him, and whatever amusement he felt turned into a rock in his stomach.

The second technician, the more stoic one, gave an affirmative nod to Darth Adekos. Information was flowing, data was being received. This was all going swimmingly. And it would continue to do so, as long as the threat of the Ominous Blue Box was heeded appropriately by Spark Finn. Which probably wouldn't be the case, but no one ever gathered meaningful information when things went correctly.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

A small frown tugged her lips into a pout. He was acting very phlegmatic about something that sounded very dangerous. She huffed a wayward strand of blond hair away from the lense of her glasses.

A frustrated puff of air left her mouth and fingers clenched at her sides as she continued the exercise. One of the droids moved a middle box while a second went in for a box, behind. The box behind had a larger box teetering on top. The technopath didn't see the color of the box until the droid jerked around at the waist. It teetered on the edge for a precious second until gravity won the battle.

Whoops.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Darth Adekos looked on passively. He already knew what was going to happen next. The crate shook gently before whatever was inside started punching the sides of it. Dents exploded all along the sides before eventually an entire wall of the crate was torn off. A bedraggled Yuuzhan-Vong warrior lunged out, landing on his hands and knees. Its alien eyes darted over Spark and Adekos, before locking on to the technophile Dark Jedi. It snarled like some sort of feral animal before taking off towards Adekos. No doubt it would make him pay for imprisoning the poor Yuuzhan-Vong warrior in such a small crate for who-knows how long. Frankly, Adekos did not identify Vong as anything more than brute beasts, so treating this one like a person was nothing more than an amusing thought.

"Spark, if you could coordinate the droids in attacking that creature running towards us," Adekos requested, "I'd greatly appreciate it."

It would be nice to see how the droid control computer did in coordinating droids that were engaging an enemy. This was only a small scale test and a larger one would need to be conducted later, but every bit of data helped. Provided Spark wouldn't see the near-feral warrior sprinting towards them and elect to flee.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Oh, she saw the vong.

"I--i---is, is that a vong?!" She squeaked and the droids seemed to freeze in her fear. Gray-blue eyes widened beneath dark-rimmed frames. Controlling a bunch of droids wasn't exactly easy even though it did come naturally for the technopath. Throw in a supercomputer as a middle-step? It was like making a corporate entity downgrade to operating like a state entity - more unnecessary steps and red-tape.

"You. Are. Insane!" She yelped as she gripped her thin-fingers in her lap. The droids jerked to motion. They scrambled together and launched themselves at the vong. But the warrior was quick.

Self-consciously, she inched further and further backward.

Barreling down, one of the droids acted like a defensive lineman and slammed into the creature from the side as it leaped to rip Darth Adekos' face off. The remaining droids scrambled in to hold the dazed warrior down. "What is wrong with you?" She yelped and stood, whirling around to face the stoic dark jedi.

She was starting to get a headache. Gorram supercomputer.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He mad a sort of tsking sound, stepping around the Vong as it struggled under the metal forms of the TA1s. Adekos had been prepared to sidestep and let the beast trip over his foot if Spark didn't interfere in time, but she did. Very impressive. It seemed that whatever rudimentary, basic training Carach was barely engaging in was paying off. But judging by how scared she got when she saw the Yuuzhan-Vong warrior for what it was and how she was reacting right now, he hadn't given her any real training. Carach must have really liked this one if he was so scared of injuring it. Whatever. That was largely a Carach problem.

"Oh, relax. We're both uninjured." He replied, rolling his eyes lightly. "You don't really think I would allow a colleague's apprentice to be harmed, do you? There was never any real danger."

"Come now, if you ever hope to master your latent talents, you won't do so by playing it safe at every given time. Sometimes variables need to be introduced. It tests reaction time. Builds character, if you will."

At his silent mental command, the TA1s hoisted up the Vong and started to drag him out of the room. Once the beast became aware that it was being handled by machines, it started to struggle wildly. Not that it was any match for that many TA1s. It howled profanity in its incomprehensible mongrel tongue as it left and continued to do so even after the heavy durasteel door slammed shut behind it. The then-muffled yelling slowly faded off as the Vong was dragged to an ambiguous fate. Or an airlock.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

If it wasn't for how scared she was, she probably would've noticed just how much Darth Adekos rolled his eyes and possibly had an internal snort about it. But alas, such details were lost on the slightly miffed apprentice. "Actually, yes I do. Didn't you smash my head against the supercomputer just a few minutes ago?"

Hand came up to clamp over her mouth as surprise flitted across her brow with the uncontrolled words that just left her mouth.

Gray-blue eyes panned to follow the creature being dragged away before being snapped back to the sithish lord.

"Mffait, youff thinkf iff affee talentff?" Lips moved beneath her rigid palm as sandy-brows shot up in surprise.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Adekos had almost forgotten he'd done so. Perhaps Spark wasn't the only one who had taken blows to the head recently. Nevertheless, the Umbaran made a face and waved his hand dismissively. Obviously no significant harm had come of that. Adekos had been referring to mortal danger or something more severe. Like a limb snapping or maybe a lost eye. A little reprimandation in the form of smacking a head on a prototype droid control computer wasn't that stringent of a punishment. Even if he had pulled her head back to ensure it stung as much as possible before doing so.

"Details, Ms. Finn. Minor details." He summed up his position before continuing, raising an eyebrow in response to Spark's muffled speech.

From what he could vaguely decipher, she was asking him if he thought she had talent. What a silly thing to ask. He shook his head as if to clear it after being asked a stupid question- like why droids were much more effective, efficient soldiers than, say, clone troopers. Or Yuuzhan-Vong.

"You're untrained and ill-disciplined. If you weren't inherently skilled with what you did, neither Carach nor I would have any use for you. But nobody made a difference in life through talent alone. They needed skill. If you fail to improve, Carach will dispose of you."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Ms. Finn.

Two words that her master used all the time. Two simple words that triggered an inexplicable longing to be back in his presence. This sudden dependency on another seemed strange considering her independent past. But as soon as she thought that, a searing pain lurched through her forehead.

She winced and the lights in the room flickered.

Hand drew away from her mouth and pushed against her temple. "He would never do that! He saved me on Manaan and wanted to make me stronger until I was ready...ready to defend myself. Darth Carach would never just throw me away."

Would he?

The seed of doubt was quickly planted even though unbidden.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Glancing up only briefly at the lights that had flickered just now, Adekos then fixated Spark with a befuddled look. It was not really a look of genuine confusion, but more one that said 'are you seriously not getting this?' Had Carach really forgone teaching Spark even the most basic principles held by the Sith? Something told him that monster of a human being was trying to inspire some kind of genuine connection with Spark. Not something weird or sexual, obviously. Carach was plenty of things, but he wasn't a Padawan poker (or not at the time of this thread, anyway). That was a title reserved for Jared Ovmar, who Carach had separated from. Or something. The details were lost on Adekos because Carach's marital status with Ovmar was utterly irrelevant to the grand scheme of things.

In any event, Adekos found it amusing that Carach had been less than honest with Spark. For those who used the Dark Side, their acolytes were little more than an extension of their legacy. A new generation to inherit the fruits of their labors and continue to further their philosophy. Sort of. That was only in the event of a 100% success rate, which did not exist even in the naive idealism of Jedi.

"Has he taught you nothing? That is the way of the Sith, Spark, most of all Carach. We are businessmen, he and I. It is a basic principle that if our investments don't see any returns, we cut our losses and move on. I can assure you that there is precious little a Sith does for strangers out of the kindness of their heart. If he wishes to make you stronger, it's because he seeks to gain something from a stronger you."

He clicked his tongue.

"You realized none of this on your own?"

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Thump.

Thump. Thump.

The pounding in her head grew as she questioned anything of Darth Carach's character. Both hands came up, fingertips digging into her temples. Shoulders slouched and gray pools of blue twitched. The power-levels of the supercomputer spiked and wavered, going all over the place.

"I...I...stop. All. Your. Questions. My head," she winced but managed to keep her eyes focused on the sithish master. "But I am stronger. I will be stronger. You don't understand. He wouldn't just..." trying to imagine her master as what Darth Adekos was suggesting made her hunch over further in pain. "He's more than that. But it doesn't matter because I would do anything for....for him," she stopped.

Would it really be anything?

She hunched further over, this time no longer able to keep her eyes open as it felt like a hot-poker was searing through her frontal lobe.

Yes, anything. All he had to do was ask.

Right?

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"What sorcery is this?" Darth Adekos muttered, eyes narrowing at Spark as she doubled over in apparent pain.

Something was rotten in the state of Spark Finn, but Adekos was no doctor. He could not use the Force to detect or heal sickness. Vaguely, as if it were on the periphery of his vision, Adekos could sense- whatever it was -that it was ingrained in Spark's body. A pathogen? A disease? It was either some very complicated Sith Magic or something more mechanical. Carach did do a lot of dabbling with nanobots, yet he probably wasn't beyond the odd Sith spell ritual here or there. Whatever it was, it certainly seemed to be impeding Spark's ability to think. Since when did Carach want to brainwash his disciples? Idiot.

These statements all sounded rather forced and didn't do much to convince Adekos regardless of whether or not they were true.

"Perhaps you've managed to delude yourself about his intentions, but you can't possibly mean to tell me you're not drawing a connection between you experiencing searing pain and thinking poorly of your master."

Adekos snorted. This was a pathetic display and Carach should've been ashamed of himself for conscripting someone like this. Unwilling recruits were the worst sort of recruit.

"He's taken your ability to think. And you let him."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

She grimaced and sunk down to her knees. Hands clutched the sides of her head and she doubled over in a classic fetal position. "But there's nothing to think poorly of-of," she screamed, fingertips digging into her honey-colored hair. "You're making me question things about him that I don't want to!"

The pain filled yell ripped free from her throat and her head snapped up to find Adekos' face.

What ifs and whys churned through her poor, little head. Carach's voice rumbled on the edges of her mind as if trying to soothe the pain away and make her forget. Forget. FORGET.

She grunted. "STOP! Why does any of this even concern you!" The pain continued to build.

A warning light flashed in the engineer-control room just before the lights blew and enveloped all the recipients in sudden darkness.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

The cargo bay was plunged into darkness for a full thirty seconds before the eerie, orange emergency lights came on. They did not light very much, barely a foot in any direction, and made everything look very ominous. Truly it was a testament to the power of emergency lights if they were able to make a pile of cargo crates look like something from a horror movie. Adekos half-expected an alien with two mouths to crawl from the ceiling and attempt to engage them.

"Of course you don't want to question. Scared of the truth, are we? Pathetic." Said Darth Adekos, condescension rising in his voice. She was getting angry, though whether it was at him or the pain was anyone's guess.

Then again, it was probably both. Carach would have to thank him for leading his apprentice a few more steps down the path to the Dark Side when they next met.

He laughed, despite the knowing how much it was going to cost to get those lights fixed. No one manufactured Lucrehulk-grade Lightbulbs any more. "It always concerns me when squandered potential is wallowing around in their own ignorance. It's time to wake up, Spark Finn. You're no longer a Jedi whelp. The longer you entertain your naive fantasies about his benevolence, the weaker you become."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

"I am NOT pathetic!" She rose to her feet and wobbled, catching herself against the terminal of the supercomputer. The orange-lights cast an ethereal glow on her pale-skin. She straightened her glasses with a determined shove up the bridge of her nose.

"I'll prove it to you. I will go and ask him myself." She pushed off the terminal trying not to let panic set-in as she went to brush past Darth Adekos to get to the shuttle. The pounding in her head had gone down but it was still there, as present as the doubts now planted within the darkest corners of her mind.

It was unlikely that the pain would ever go away now.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

An arm swung out, barring Spark's progress as she tried to depart. "Where do you think you're going?"

Now she was in closer proximity to him, Darth Adekos could sense it more clearly. He had been around enough electronics, machines, and other such technological devices to be able to detect them. Technometry and its associated skills did not come naturally to him, but he continued to grow in power regarding its usage. It was probably nanites, though it felt more like a strain of the techno-virus. Something unique that Carach had cooked up, he suspected, because it wasn't eating away at her flesh and transforming her into a mindless, bloodthirsty technobeast.

"You're in no condition to travel. You're going to the medical bay."

There was little doubt in his mind that Spark would crash whatever mode of transportation she stole, probably killing herself in the process. Friends or not, Carach wouldn't be pleased if he came to pick up Spark and found that she had to be scraped off the floor of the Lucrehulk before going anywhere. Besides, he wanted more readings on this techno-magicka fluttering around inside young Spark. Perhaps Adekos could replicate it and use it to some ends himself. Or alter it further...

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

She stumbled to a halt, the outside edge of his barring-arm brushing against her shoulder. She blinked, seeing the shuttle just beyond his arm. Bony-shoulders went to square-off with his frame.

"Excuse me? I'm fine," face scrunched-up in an internal wince as her fingers twitched at her sides, threatening to rub at her temples again. The orange emergency lights flickered.

All a hundred-ten-whatever pounds of her mouse-like frame went to shove against the sith lord's raised arm.

"I'm not going to a medical anything!" Fear edged her rushed tone.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Adekos' arm nearly gave way to Spark, but he quickly realized she actually had the gall to push him around and redoubled his efforts. He shoved her back into place, grunting in annoyance. She dribbled out a weak claim that she was fine, then how she wasn't going to a medical bay. Really, Darth Adekos would have thought these types of people learned by now. There were no choices to be made here, just orders followed. And right now, the Darth was ordering a trip to the doctor's.

"Has no one told you what folly it is to lie to an Umbaran?" He inquired. "I'm going to find out what Carach's done to you. You should be interested to hear it, at the least."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

She hastily fixed her glasses after stumbling back. "You're Umbaran? I thought they were...taller." But that was neither here nor there. The suggestion that Carach had done some sort of foul play that was causing her headaches caused her to scrunch up in pain. The top of her blond-haired head bobbed against Darth Adekos' chest.

Eyes scrunched up as she stayed there, blinded by the pain that eventually ebbed.

Eyes opened and she saw a bunch of robed fabric pressing against her glasses. Head lifted slowly. She jolted back but not too far. "And if you're wrong, we'll find that out too, right?"

If needles were involved she was bolting.