Operation Double-Edged Sword (SJO/CIS Mission)

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh's movements were like a dance, mixing the Ataru lightsaber style with uses of the Current and Force Speed, dazzling and taking foes by surprise. As these villagers were not wholly combat trained, he did not dally long between each one. There was precision in his blows though, each blow was aimed for a disabling portion. Something that made the most of the searing pain that came with it. Blows to the head hurt, but it was better to use the lightsaber at low power to go for the lower limbs. The legs, the knees, crumple your opponent and disable them as quickly as possible before moving onto the next - that had been his strategy.

As the two fought off the dominated villagers on opposing sides of the field, Josh would end his side by drawing a second lightsaber. Taking a style similar to the one that he had taught Scherezade earlier, he would begin cleaving through foes at a quick rate aided by Force Speed, as he danced a dance of pain across the field, slash after slash. It would have been a dance of death that left many corpses behind him, had he not powered down. Finally, he would begin to float upwards, crossing his legs and closing his eyes once he realized he was surrounded by the remaining forces. His lightsabers would float out of his hands, and begin spinning at high speeds that would be difficult to follow. Guided by the Force, the sabers would spin about and strike all in their path, and yet still had an incredible sense of precision, aiming for the same areas he had been aiming for when he had been fighting on foot.

As all fell before them, Josh would allow his lightsabers to return to his hands, as Force Levitation would end. Taking a deep breath, he walked toward Scherezade, though didn't put the lightsabers away.

"Keep your guard up. There's something here" The Jedi would warn as he would look around. He closed his eyes, fidgeting as he seemed to sense something near. The Jedi would suddenly shove Scherezade down, as a red lightsaber would activate from Josh's back, going through his back and through his chest. The Jedi's eyes widened, as he fell forward. Scherezade would not be able to sense any life from him anymore as his breathing stopped.

All that was there was a man in a black cloak, grinning down at their kill. And in the distance, she might hear, far away, the sound of lightsabers clashing somewhere.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Josh was walking towards her. Scherezade met his movements by walking as well, though the unhappy expression was still on her face. In the past she had worked a battlefield with exactly one partner. They had moved together as though they were one, their movements bouncing off each other in perfect fluidity. This... This had been different. Like two people who happened to be on the same ship but weren't really fighting together, even if they had been taking the same enemies down. Still, she would not hold it against him. But she still hated the fact that after such a good battle there was not a drop of blood on her. It almost felt like a waste.

He was standing in front of her now, telling her to keep her guard up because something was there. Scherezade didn't have time to ask what it was he was sensing as suddenly she was shoved down, and a red lightsaber went through Josh.

She didn't scream. She had expected to scream. Josh's body was in her arms now, she had caught him before he hit the ground. There was no life in him. No breathing. Even when she checked with the Force, there was no sign of any sort of life at all. Josh was dead.

Scherezade stared blankly as the pain ripped through her. Her arms held tightly onto his corpse, holding it closer to her as she began to violently shake. Josh was dead. Josh, that guy she'd sat on on Zeltros because she'd been so drunk, and he'd tried to keep her company. Josh, who'd calmed her down on Nelvaan. Josh, who'd spent entire days trying to talk to her, trying to help her. Josh, who had, despite her wishes and attempts at resisting, become her friend. And now he was dead. Because she had let her guard down. Because she had thought the battle was over, even though he had warned her a moment before that. Because even though all those she cared about were under her protection, she'd never actually put him under it although she was supposed to, and now he was dead.

There was no sound. There were no tears. Just waves of pain that threatened to break her even further than she was. It was her fault, all over again. And now Jason would have to grow up alone, after his whore of a mother had abandoned him, and his father had died because she failed to protect him.

The Darkness was right. She would always be alone. But not because of what the Darkness said, but because it was always her that caused it.

Scherezade looked up at the man who was standing there, looking all smug in his black cloak and his red saber. She didn't even check to see who and what he was. All her eyes saw was blood.

Carefully, she set Josh's body down on the ground. She would come back for it when she'd avenge his murder. For now, she had a butthole to take care of.

Lightsabers re-ignited in her hands as a dozen Czerka knives flew from underneath her clothes and into the air, following a perfect circular pattern. Her chin moved, instructing them forward. She would turn this man into a pin cushion. She would kill him. She would bring Jason his head and teach him how to take a leak into it.

Scherezade launched forward.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The figure would turn when Scherezade would suddenly send knives soaring toward them, holding out a hand and causing the knives to fall and crash into the ground in front of him, one by one. With that, they managed to get their lightsaber up just in time for Scherezade to lunge forward for the strike. With the sabers clashing, the heat and pressure from the clash would knock the figure's hood off. Scherezade would recognize the face as long hair fell down their shoulders, she would recognize the scent that came through as exactly the one she remembered from their last encounter, unchanged despite the circumstances in front of her. In front of her stood a man that looked, smelled and sounded like Gerwald. Wielding a red lightsaber, his expression of complete disbelief and pain. Deep, deep pain. Heartbreak was written all over his face as he would push back against her.

"Scherezade, what are you doing?" The man would ask as he studied her, as if unsure that she had meant to attack him. "Scherezade, what's going on? Don't you recognize me?"

The sound of lightsabers clashing in the background, as distant as it had been, would disappear entirely. But why? Who had been fighting? Who had been the victor, and what had been the cause?

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Her knives had been disposed of, but it didn't matter. She could call them again from the ground if she needed to. But she launched, and sabers clashed against saber, her attack blocked. But she had known that would happen. Her body was ready to launch at other parts. Hands were only a part of the game. People often discounted kneecaps, groins, necks, faces. She intended on attacking everything all at once, her knives rising again, ready to strike different parts of the cloaked figure's body. The rage inside Scherezade was boiling and screaming and she used it to build a new momentum up, read to strike him down.

And then the scent hit her. Much before the face, much before the hair, it was the scent.

Scherezade froze. Gerwald's scent had always protected her, kept her safe from the Darkness, calmed her down when she...

And now... He looked... What...

Her attack froze with her, knives freezing in the air for a moment before they dropped to the ground, along with the lightsabers that slid from her hands, turning off before they finished their fall.

"Gerwald," she breathed. It was so easy to hear in her voice. The pain. The love. "Gerwald..." she breathed again. He was still holding that red lightsaber. When did he get a lightsaber? "I thought..."

She looked around, seeing Josh's body on the ground again.

"Why?!" she screamed, turning around, "wasn't using me and breaking me enough for you? Did you have to kill my friend too?" she demanded, her voice shaking. She was crying. Rage had given way to pain and grief and it thundered through her body. She didn't even notice that she wasn't sensing Gerwald as she always did. She was only smelling him, seeing him, seeing him through her tears. Whatever sounds were happening or not happening in the background were unnoticed as well.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The figure would stop when Scherezade would drop her weapons, staring at her, perplexed as she spoke the man's name. Staring at her and studying her a few moments as she would turn around, the man would speak again.

"Scherezade, wake up!" He called out to her. "You have to wake up!"

The man's tone would change as he would brandish his saber again, as Scherezade's head would buzz a bit. And not the sort of buzz that came from alcohol. A different kind of buzz. "Wake up and realize that this was never about you. It was always about - and always was Katrine. Now you're just in the way of our happiness" The figure spoke coldly as he would thrust the saber in a stab toward her back.

While she had not been able to sense their force signature, she would have been able to sense all their movements since the battle had started at least. This time, she would not be able to sense the movement. She would only be able to hear the saber humming and pulsing as it headed toward her.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Wake up? Wake up from what? This was not the Darkness. She had nothing to wake up from. There were no smells or scents in the Darkness, and here she was, Gerwald's scent wrapped around her like a comforting blanket. She blinked in confusion again, her mouth opening to say something, but no sound came out. Her throat was dry. There was nothing she could bring herself to say.

And then... Scherezade shook her head. No. That was wrong. He was lying. She wasn't standing between their happiness. She'd left them after what they had done to her, she was not a part of their lives. She was broken, but she was gone from them, there was nothing she could do to come in the way of their happiness together, even while it was actively destroying and killing her. And now Gerwald had killed Josh.

It didn't make any sort of sense.

But she heard the saber coming at her, and she ducked, the beam missing the hair on her head by a single millimeter.

Scherezade spun around, looking at Gerwald with disbelief. First he had killed Josh, and now he was trying to kill her.

"If you're going to kill me, have the balls to face me while you do it," she said. It was meant to sound tough. It didn't. "You krakking coward," she said and her voice broke. Standing up again, she held her arms at the sides of her body. She was open for a killing blow. "Do it," Scherezade said, unable to keep the love and the pain out of her voice, "finish what you started that night, Gerwald."

I'm sorry, Josh, she thought, I couldn't do it. I couldn't protect you or avenge you. I'm so sorry...

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The man would back up when Scherezade would duck and spun around, letting her talk. He watched her as she would hold her arms out, telling him to finish what he had started. The man would shake his head. "Pathetic" He chided as he would brandish his saber. "Katrine will be pleased to know she won't have to fear you'll come back anymore."

As the man would raise his saber, he would then suddenly double over in pain, clutching his chest. The sound of a second lightsaber humming could be heard in the back of her mind as the buzzing in Scherezade's head would stop. The man that resembled Gerwald would stand up straight then, looking toward somewhere to his left. "Karking hell. Hopefully that buys us a bit of time" He remarked as he would step forward, shaking his head when he saw Scherezade's arms out. All he would say as he would bring his hands to her cheeks would be: "Focus."

And then he kissed her.

There was a bit of hesitation in his movements, which may tip off Scherezade further to there being something off if the whole display from before hadn't already. But the touch, the taste, it would not be what Scherezade remembered. Instead, if she remembered, it was instead just like the night she spent on Zeltros, on a particular ship. He then wrapped his arms around her, and she would find herself enveloped in the equivalent to an electric blanket in warmth. It was broken quickly, as he would lean down to look her in the face.

"You know on second thought, I could have gone with a headbutt... Lessons for later. Don't take all that too personal when we get out of this, did what came to mind."

With that, their expression hardened as they would get down to business.

"Scher. Calm yourself and focus. I don't think they can influence feeling and I'm guessing that even if they could, they didn't prepare for that. Come on now, focus, see me for who I am. Odds are I've only bought us a few more seconds."

If she focused enough, she may begin to grasp the sight of a familiar face... And a familiar smirk. His movements could be sensed again. Whatever he was claiming had a hold on her appeared to have weakened for the time being, but it was clear that it would not be for long.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Gerwald said that Katrine would be pleased, would not be in fear anymore. Scherezade's heart cracked and broke at hearing that, almost as badly as it had that night when she'd first heard him say that it had always been Katrine. She was crying, her face puffy, her body language showing the depths of the pain she was feeling. But she still held her arms out, was still ready for it, was still looking at Gerwald. She wouldn't look away. Gerwald raised his saber to kill her off, to deliver not just the blow he had that night, that had broken her insides, but the one that would end her life. She was ready.

And then...

Scherezade screamed and jumped back as a lightsaber went through him. He was dead. Gerwald was dead. How could he die?! She'd sworn to protect him too, but she'd never seen anyone coming, she didn't, she couldn't, she-

He was standing up straight again.

The emotional turmoil and confusion inside Scherezade was enough to make her want to vomit. She couldn't understand any of this. She didn't understand what was happening. She had questions, so many questions, but then Gerwald stepped forward and kissed her.

Her mind was singing. Maybe it was all just a test. Maybe Gerwald wasn't dead. Maybe... Maybe he'd realized he'd made the wrong choice, that he did want the raven and not the dove, maybe now-

But no. Her mind was singing, but her body was protesting. It was the wrong smell. It was the wrong movements. It was the wrong taste. Half of her wanted to shove Gerwald away, while the other half wanted to stay in that moment, to have it transform into what it was supposed to be.

Her mind caught up. These movements and scent and everything didn't belong to Gerwald. They belonged to Josh. As did the sensation of being wrapped in an electric blanket.

Scherezade froze now, her mind threatening to snap.

Gerwald was talking again. Calling her... Force, she hated being called Scher. And he wasn't making any sense. Nothing was.

Scherezade blinked. She was supposed to focus. Focus on what? Everything was mixing, upsy daisy, in a bad way. She squinted her eyes, suddenly overly aware about the state of her face, her weapons, and she was looking at that smirk...

"Josh?" she squeaked. What the krak. "What.. But..."

She looked to the ground. His body wasn't there anymore. "How..."


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The moment she realized it, the body had disappeared and the figure in front of her had revealed itself fully. Josh would let out a sigh in relief as he would smile warmly. "Oh thank the Force" He spoke softly. "Couldn't you have warned me before you started throwing knives at me?" He joked lightly as he would release the hug, taking her hands. "Now that you can see me, I think I see what's going on so let me try to break it down. This is an illusion. None of this has been real. Only the me standing in front of you right now is real. Now that you're aware of it, I know you're strong enough to break free of it no matter how strong they make it. You're strong, Scherezade. Very strong. I know you can do it.

And I'll be there for you every step of the way. Don't let go of me. Stick with me, I'll stick with you, vice versa, echcetera."

He looked to his left again. "Going to need one of my hands though" He observed aloud as he would take his left hand from her and hold out his palm, the hand pulsing as she could feel energy being pulsed outside of her senses, only being able to be felt vaguely. "Come on, you need to break free, Scherezade" Josh would encourage. "I know you can do it! Break free!"

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Josh was now standing in front of her, holding her. Scherezade blinked, her face looking now like someone had hurled a bantha into it without giving her a chance to duck. She kept blinking as Josh explained the situation. "You died..." she whispered, "I saw the lighsaber go through you. You were dead..." she closed her eyes, trying to shake the image away, and once it did, it only changed into images of Gerwald, "and Gerwald..." she couldn't finish saying that out loud.

A hand moved away, something was...

Scherezade blinked again in confusion. Break free. Break free from what? If she was seeing Josh again, what were the illusions?

And Gerwald...

Scherezade looked up, her face ripping with pain again. Her mouth opened.

This time, she screamed. She screamed and she screamed and she screamed and eventually it turned into a Force Scream, the ground around her and Josh trembling at it.

And only when she was done, only when there was nothing left in her, only when silence returned, was she free again.

Her knees gave up beneath her and she began to fall towards the ground.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would let out a grunt when the screaming started, and began to growl and seethe when it became a Force Scream. He would hang onto her then, deciding to hold onto her, arms wrapped around her as he would hang on with her. Through all of it, all of the expulsion of power, all that was causing his ears to ring, he stayed with her. When it finally ended, and she would break free... Josh would manage to keep her steady, letting out a range of breaths as he tried to regain his composure.

When Scherezade's eyes opened, she would see the cloaked figure again, this time steadily getting to their feet after being knocked back by the Force Scream. Josh would close his eyes. He could feel it... All the pain, all the anguish, everything she had just gone through. He didn't know the exact details, but he knew that Scherezade had just been through hell. She had suffered greatly, and with it... As his eyes opened, his expression would change. Gingerly setting Scherezade down, Josh was gone in a flash. He had activated Force Speed and had rocketed himself toward the figure. Stopping in front of them and slamming his palm into their forehead, energy would pulse and the man would let out a scream in agony... Before his head would lull to the side.

Josh had temporarily blanked his memories entirely. While powerful enough to do so, it was only temporary... And it would only be for a moment. But upon recovering them, the man would be disoriented as Josh would draw both of his lightsabers. The blue blades would be stabbed into his chest, before Josh would bring them up to his throat and slash in opposing directions, separating the man's head from his shoulders.

As their head toppled to the ground, Josh shook his head. It wasn't what he had wanted to do, but he had a moment of anger, he could admit. A moment where Scherezade's suffering had incited violence in him. That... And the logical side of his mind came through just enough to remind him that if he did not kill them quickly, then they would likely begin to use their illusions again. As the head toppled to the ground, Josh noted the black spots around the eyes, and quirked a brow.

"Blast. A thrall" Josh growled. "The skin color looks the same as the villagers too. Sodding hell..."

He let out a sigh as he would take their lightsaber, placing it on the body and nudging the head toward the neck best he could now that he had calmed down. A warrior's honor was a warrior's honor, to the best that he could considering the circumstances. He would ask the villagers to burn the body later. For now, he would walk over to Scherezade and kneel down to meet her eyes, taking her hands and trying to get her to look up at him.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly. "It's okay... I'm here now. For real this time."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She hit the ground face down, which was a slight mercy. Josh had moved away, but she couldn't look at what was happening, not yet.

Rolling to her side, Scherezade began to vomit, the contents of her stomach expelling themselves from her body. It came out in long and disgusting streams of dark amber, spray after spray.

When she was finally done, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand just in time to see Josh returning the head to the body... Sort of.

Josh tried to take her hands, but she slapped them away. She felt stinky and smelly and in need of a shower, and a renewal of liquor. She needed a lot of things. She wasn't going to get any of them soon enough.

"What's a thrall?" she asked, her voice raw. "And no. No. I'm not alright. I thought you died! I saw you die! And then Gerwald..."

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh thought back to what had happened to him with the thrall. For the first time in a good while, heart and mind were truly one again... Just not in the way that Josh was used to, nor how he had imagined it. When he had tried to comfort Scherezade, he was surprised and hurt when she slapped his hands away. Today she had already acted like a child when work was to be done, had suddenly attacked him with her knives, screamed at him and called him Gerwald, and now she was doing this. But considering her state, he just brushed it aside. "It looks to be someone permanently mind-dominated, to act as the will of a master. It's a dark side ability, one of the most cruel. It's very likely that we're dealing with a very, very powerful darksider here" Josh would reveal. "Fact is, this isn't over."

He would wrap his arms around her to help her to her feet, but would hitch as he would almost fall over himself, managing to catch himself and her. "But... Let's get you back to the ship. You need rest" He spoke as he would start to help her toward the ship.

He needed the rest as well. Memory tampering took a lot out of him, even if the attack was brief. On top of all that had happened today. They would likely need to revisit this tomorrow.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

So that was what a thrall was. Scherezade put the explanation of it in the back of her mind, to use when the time was right. She didn't know whether she'd ever actually create one or not... But knowledge was power. If she knew more about it, she'd be able to protect herself better from such creatures. Only time though would decree whether or not she'd actually create any of them herself. But this was not the time to think about it though.

When Josh wrapped his arms around her again, she let him. It was hard enough getting off the ground anyway, and she didn't want to fall splat into the puddle of her vomit. She was and felt dirty enough as it were.

"Is the ship safe?" she found herself asking, "maybe we need to put more distance between us and whoever is causing this. If we're both on the ship together and that person attacks again..."

Things would get worse. Much worse.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

“You might have a point there. It may be best that we have the ship ascend to orbit for now while we recover our strength. Then we can renew tomorrow and go after it before it hurts anyone else.” Josh would admit at Scherezade's suggestion. "I'll have R4 take us up once we get back on the ship."

They would be stopped though, by the appearance of the shaman from the village. Josh would give a polite bow when she approached but was focusing more on Scherezade and keeping her steady than anything else right now.

“I might be of use to you” The shaman would admit. “I could see all. What she saw… What you saw… What you both felt… And where I sensed it all from. I saw it make the girl see it cut you down… But you had parried the blow with your lightsaber. It made her see the real you as it, in a bid to use her emotions and her unstable state to turn you two against one another so you might kill each other to make its job easy. It used her moment of weakness to see into her mind and see her memories. It then used them against her, when it realized you had begun to realize it was an illusion when she began to attack you thinking that it was them. I felt her grief… I felt her despair… And I also felt your heart break when you at first thought she had turned on you. No… I felt your heart shatter just as I felt her’s shattering before. It intrigues me, that… That my hypothesis of you two proved to be correct."

The Shaman would look between them, speaking to both of them now. "To explain what I saw past that... I saw on his end, the stab at the back. He had armour, under his robes that blocked it" She would point out as Josh would look down to note that there was a hole in the back of his robes where the lightsaber had indeed gone through. "I saw her turn on him, I saw his surprise, his hurt... I saw him plead for her to wake up, as when she said the name "Gerwald" he realized she was seeing illusions. The one responsible, who was controlling this thrall... Had used her memories against her to simulate this Gerwald who the girl clearly has a history with. And when neither of you were willing to play ball with what this darksider wanted... He would project the image of this Gerwald onto his thrall and use her memories to manipulate and torment her. He wanted to make a pretty little puppet out of her to kill the Jedi, and then turn her into a thrall herself, is my guess.

He almost killed her, in the guise of this Gerwald, before the Jedi intervened. The guise of Gerwald changed hands again, and I watched him implore the girl to break free of these illusions. It took much, but I can see she did. But it clearly had an effect on her... I heard what it had to say. I heard it twist the words that the Jedi being disguised as Gerwald had said to try to help her see through the illusion, the pleading to wake up, and see him for real. I watched those words of encouragement be twisted into venom, as her deepest horrors were played with like toys to manipulate her into anger, and then to manipulate her into death when it realized that she was not willing to play ball. I watched the lad, the Jedi... Hang on through the Force Scream, through the pain he felt from taking it from such close range..."

The shaman would quirk a brow. "All for you. A Sith. Quite curious...

But...

The thrall was not capable of the level of illusion that was used on the girl. Even if it was an extension of its Masters will. It had to be used by the Master itself. I could sense it... And I could sense where it had come from."

The woman would point northward. "There... There is where you will find your tormentor. Something this powerful, this cruel... This could only be the work of a powerful Sith Lord. By what I can see from what he has done here... He has been hiding here, using his illusions to mask his presence. That thrall was once one of our villagers. I knew him. Maro, a weaponsmith. It's very likely that this Sith Lord has been fostering this resentment in our village, inching us toward darkness, in hopes of making thralls of all of us. To create an army."

She then turned to Scherezade.

"I know what you are thinking. That you might use this power for your own. I can sense it, I can see it in your face... And I would warn against it. This power... It is not for you. You are not capable of it. To make a thrall... It is to take a living person, and take their free will away. Strip everything that they are... Until they are nothing but an extension of your will. That thrall you killed was a living person once. As I said, Maro... A weaponsmith. Husband to Cassandra, father to Aino and Ara. Two small children that will have to live without their father because of this Sith Lord."

Josh would wince, his grip on Scherezade tightening as the reality seemed to hit him - of what he had just done. He'd killed him!

"Now, now, don't blame yourself... The real Maro was dead the moment he became a thrall. Thralling is permanent. Once all of that is stripped from them... The person is worse than dead. They become nothing. At best... It was a mercy killing, what you did. That Sith Lord widowed young Cassandra, took a father away from those two children... Not you. The act of thralling is inhumane beyond measure, and as I said... It is worse than death. It takes a true heart of darkness to do it... True cruelty and malicious intent. And yet... It is darkness in one's hearts that is used to turn them into that thrall.

Yes... To take darkness in your heart, is to become vulnerable to becoming a thrall yourself. This Sith Lord... Has fostered darkness in the hearts of our people... And I doubt that was the only thrall. People have been disappearing from our village for some time. We had assumed it to be from the war, or people that did not come back from Balen's hunts... But this incident has added a possibility far worse than I could have ever feared.

Go, when you are ready. And be careful."

As the Shaman would walk away, Josh had to take a deep breath to contain all of this information. But several things had been made clear... First of all, that they were dealing with something far more dangerous than they had signed up for. And second... If they did not stop this, then many more people would be hurt.

He turned to Scherezade.

"I won't make you fight one of your own people" He spoke quietly. While he knew that he would be robbing her of her revenge for what had happened to her, he also had no idea about Scherezade's willingness to fight her fellow Sith. It had never been touched on before, in their conversations. He didn't know she was fully willing to do so. "You are free to wait on the ship if you wish. I will fight this Sith Lord alone."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade nodded. They needed to rest, and they needed to do so safely. It'd be no good if they continued to investigate and then end up as corpses on their own.

The two began to walk towards Josh's ship when the stupid Shaman suddenly appeared.

Scherezade squinted her eyes. She did not like the woman. She did not appreciate her lack of willingness to actually help and do something. Being a medic on the field was underwhelming for someone who had her sort of power. If she had interfered on time, most of the current mess would not have happened at all.

And then the Shaman spoke, summarizing the events that happened. The young Sithling tried to listen, but she lost track of who wore what illusion and at what point. But the rest of the stuff... Hearts breaking, more illusions, manipulation...

In Josh's grip and support, Scherezade hardened. She wanted to throw up again, but it wasn't going to happen. Not right now. And besides, the Shaman was wrong. Josh hadn't done it for a Sith. He hadn't tried to help a Sith. He'd tried to help her, to pull her out of it, because they were friends.

Scherezade shuddered visibly, despite her attempts at hardening.

The Shaman resumed, saying that she was not capable of creating a thrall. Again the Sithling squinted her eyes. The Shaman was wrong. She was capable of it. She knew she could do it, if she had more time to learn, more time to become powerful. She was weak now, and unable, seeing as how even her attempt at dominating the minds of the villagers had failed. But in a few months? A few years? Death was an easy way out. Not everyone deserved it. There were people who'd hurt her and try to use her who deserved something much worse.

Her thoughts fizzled out though as Josh's grip strengthened on her arm and she realized he was feeling guilt for killing that thrall. She shook her head. It was a conversation they would have, but not now.

Scherezade blinked as he said he would not make her fight one of her own people. One of her own people? Did he really know this little about the Sith? She had people, but the were not automatically her people just because they were Sith. And this Sith Lord, whoever he was, had earned her hatred. He... Or she, was going to die. Brutally.

"You are coming with me to the ship, right now," she growled at Josh, only now realizing that wasn't under any sort of liquor effect. Poodoo. "We've just been through an exhausting ordeal, and we both need rest. If you go alone, and you go now, you're just going to die, and seeing I've just seen you die and I thought it was real, it's not something I want to go through again. Seriously. I'll kill you if you die so stupidly on me."

With a careful nudge, she tried to move Josh towards the direction of his ship, "so we're going to rest in orbit, and then we're going to kill this Sith Lord person. He's not one of my people. The Sith don't have an automatic solidarity thing going on, and even if we did, he'd forfeited any right of protection he might have had the second he meddled with you."


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh did not see the Shaman the way that Scherezade did. Her knowledge of what they had seen, her ability to perceive it all, told him she was far more powerful than he could have imagined. But one look at her told him that age had claimed her physically long ago. She was a mentalist, someone who used her powers to guide and heal the village's people. It would explain how they were all still alive between being in the crossfires of war and having a hidden Sith Lord as a next door neighbour. She had been their guardian angel, just not in the way that Scherezade was imagining one would be. She likely needed much rest in her age, and had little stamina, which would explain why she had not been out fighting with them. Along with why she wasn't out helping build homes. Her powers were one timers, things that she could do in a huge way, then need rest. Josh and Scherezade were asked to because the both of them were physically young, spry, they could run around and help build houses and do other things out in the field. She had her own role to play. That was why she was the Shaman.

Josh was surprised when Scherezade would stop him, and demand that not only did he go to the ship with her, but she also demanded that she fight the Sith Lord as well. While Josh knew that there was no honour amongst the Sith and not a whole lot of camaraderie either, he still didn't think that Scherezade would go out of her way to directly engage one in the company of a Jedi either.

He also noticed that she didn't look deterred about the warnings to not create thralls, and Josh guessed that Scherezade had likely missed the point. Perhaps she was more like a Sith than he had taken her for.

Though he did note her say in particular that the last straw had apparently when they meddled with him. This girl was hard to read sometimes. Okay, more like a lot of the time. Regardless, he would just let out a sigh and nod his head as he headed for the ship. The thought had crossed his mind that she might turn on him for this Sith Lord, as small a possibility as it was but... Considering what the Shaman had described him doing to her, probably not.

As the two would get into the ship, Josh would motion toward the cockpit. "R4, take us into orbit" He spoke as he would flop onto the couch. "I need a sodding aspirin" He muttered under his breath as he would rest back and close his eyes. "The sooner we get out of here and I can get back to my son, the better."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Finally, he relented, and the two made their way to the ship. Scherezade said nothing as they walked, her mind going over and over again the scene she had witnessed. Under the influence of the Sith Lord, she had seen Josh die, and the pain and grief had taken her over with overwhelming surprise. She had also seen Gerwald, and... And she had not been able to fight him. She had held her arms out and told him to kill her instead.

It was... A replaying of what had happened in the Darkness. She had see him, or at least visions of him, there as well. And even there, she could not kill him. Not at first. It had required her to grow stone over her heart so she'd be able to do it, and then she had to do it a thousand times, and it hurt her every time, despite the stone.

But this was not the Darkness. This was something else entirely. And she did not like it.

Glancing at Josh as he mentioned the need for aspirin, she frownd, but when he said his son...

"If you want to get back to Jason at all, you need a shower, and food, and sleep," she said, "in that order."

She herself sank onto the couch, a bottle already appearing out of nowhere, and she drank from it, long and hard.

"You also probably want to talk to him before we go down again," she added after a pause. She didn't know who the Sith Lord was or what else they were capable of. For all they knew, the odds that Josh would never get to see his son again were all too tangible.

But at least Josh had Jason. And for now, Jason had Josh as well.

She... She had one person she wanted to talk to. But she couldn't. He wanted nothing to have to do with her, and there was no one else. A CIS sponsored funeral and some fake tears was as best as she would get if things didn't go well. There would be no one left behind to even care enough to remember her within a few months at most.

With a grunt, Scherezade finished her bottle off, welcoming the sensation of a spinning head, and headed off to the refresher.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh frowned when she brought up that perhaps he should consider talking to Jason as well, just in case… Well, just in case it was the last time. They were dealing with a very, very powerful Sith Lord, clearly. Possibly stronger than the both of them, they wouldn’t know until they got there. Josh would nod his head and got to his feet, not saying a word as he would retire to the showers. At some point, he had a word with Jason, and the Jedi looked clearly somber as he would wolf a slice of buttered bread into his mouth, just kind of staring forward at the HoloTV as he noticed that the ship had gone into orbit while he was in the shower.

The reality had hit that they could be walking to their doom here. That he wouldn’t see Jason again. That as the worst of it. Not seeing Jason again. Leaving Jason alone. Who would calm Jason down when he missed his parents and started crying? That was always his job, even when he was out saving the galaxy and such. He always did it, even when he was out in space, whether in person or by HoloCall it was always his job. Who would do it now? Who would take him home where he was most comfortable? Who would take him to that amusement park again, who would take him to the zoo to see the porgs, who would take him to get ice cream? Who would sing him lullabies when he was anxious and couldn’t sleep?

It was a horrible thing to think about and yet, it was all he could think about. No, he couldn’t die here. Perhaps a long time ago, he wouldn’t have cared so much if he died here… But now Jason was in the picture. And he could not fail him. He did not mask his emotions here… He knew that Scherezade would be able to tell easily anyway.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She'd taken her bottle with her to the refresher. By the time she got out, clean and smelling like soap, the bottle had been emptied out and another one took its place. They were going to remain in orbit for at least the duration of a sleep cycle, so it wasn't like it mattered anyway. She didn't want to think about the events that had happened on the ground. Her body and mind still shook and shuddered at it, and she did not want to analyze, to think, to even say anything. What she needed was to dim her feelings, and that was what her bottles were there for.

But when Scherezade entered the area with the holoTV and saw the look on Josh's face... Well, it was enough to make her temporarily manage to put these thoughts out of her mind.

With a sigh, she removed the little holodevice she always carried with her, and sank on the couch. She recognized the look on Josh's face. She could make an educated look that hers, at the beginning of her second imprisonment in the Darkness, was more or less the same. The sheer terror or losing people you cared for. Only in her case, she'd lost them all. If Josh lived through their encounter with the butthole Sith Lord, he wouldn't lose anyone.

"Recording," she said soberly as she aimed her device at him, "I'm guessing you're going to want give Jason a holo of his favorite lullaby. And maybe say or do some other stuff."


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]