Private Progenitor's Call

[Nine Lives]

"Yeah. But it's not a matter of indicting them. I got enough on Laertia certainly to get her for high treason."

Nine then snorted in exasperation after giving Thelma Goth and Max that answer.

"Like she gives a chit at this point." Nine added before going to a holographic archive.

"These aren't just confirmed members... they're founding members..." Nine spoke, removing a glowing red Datatape titled LAERTIA/ARCHIVE 1

"Some of these conversations took place with her during the days when she was still learning from me and had just been adopted. Others, after her rebellion on Dantooine. Still others from her days of building and training the first Nuetralizers. Also some conversations with those models."

She then went over to the shut door of another section of the suite.

"It should interest you to know something... Laertia has recently started freeing her children from the loyalty programming for reasons I don't fully understand. I...met a defector...try and keep an open mind..."

Nine hit the button on the door, and out stepped a gleaming, shiny Model 1 .

His gleaming Skeletal design had a certain industrial elegance to it. Red Photo-receptors eyed the two Jedi as he stepped out.

"This is David." Nine explained. "He is the only one of his line to secretly accept the disabling of his loyalty program."

"It was not something I did casually." David said. "I thought about it a good long 0.77 seconds. For a Droid, that is nearly an eternity."

(Cutaway of Picard going crazy and smashing the ship models)

"I love my mother. I love my House." David said, his Droid fists clasping together, fidgeting in a disturbingly human way, like his uneasy pacing back and forth was. "But my mother's vendetta against the Jedi has driven her insane. She has fully converted into a Brain Demon Cultist. The first generation Refugees, the ones who blame The Jedi Order for the Bryn'adul advances, teach their children to hate Jedi. They are in the process of organizing resistance to the Alliance's plans for expansion. They don't really care about The Alliance. They just want to bleed it of Jedi at every opportunity."

David stopped pacing.

"There is no end goal, at least as far as I can tell. Mother just seemingly hates you all that much. It took me a long time to understand just how destructive old grudges are. I don't want her to die. But if I have to choose between her and saving my family from itself, then I will help you kill her, if it comes to that."

Meanwhile...

A stunning figure in a luxurious gown entered the Lobby of the expensive Hotel. A creature spawned from the flesh of Arianna Belasko. A Light Sith burned at the stake on Zakuul long ago. She approached, posh and dainty, and as confident and arrogant looking at the Sorceress she was released from.

"Greetings miss! Do you have a reservation with us?"

"Of course..." purred the Sorceress of Zakuul, waving a hand at the receptionists face. "In fact, I'd like to meet my good friend Lady Li-Ves for tea. What room does she happen to be in?" The Sorceress inquired with Force-Laced words.

"Suite Twenty-One. The Presidential."

"Much obliged..." The Sorceress said departing for the desk and heading for the turbolift.

Inside the lift, she elegantly slipped off the dress, revealing a saffron battle gown where two Lightsaber Foils with protective grips awaited clasped to a belt. As her signature was Light Sided, she gave off no normal alarm bells as she stepped out of the lift, and began daintily walking towards Nine's Suite...

 

[Thelma Goth]

"Yeah. But it's not a matter of indicting them. I got enough on Laertia certainly to get her for high treason."

"Treason?" Thelma echoed. "Is she even a citizen of the Alliance? You said she was part of the Silver Jedi Order. They're no longer a major faction."

"They're still around," Max added, stroking his chin. "I imagine they could bring charges against her. But still, I would think she'd be on trial for crimes against sentients, not treason."

It was then that the Progenitor introduced them to a House Io defector, a Neutralizer by the name of David. Thelma tried not to gawk at the droid, whose metallic skeletal appearance seemed designed to put the fear of death into its enemies, but it was difficult. David's oddly human-like movements were incredibly uncanny as well. He spoke about Laertia's recent conversion and House Io's other troubles, and pledged that he would help them take Laertia down.

"Would you be willing to submit your memory databanks as evidence, David?" Max asked.

Did they really need more evidence? Hadn't Laertia herself sent out videos of her torturing captured Jedi, and sent her captives back to the Order horribly maimed? They all knew that she was guilty, they just needed to know where she was hiding and how to stop her. Thelma's fingers curled into fists at her sides as she felt real, visceral anger rising up inside her. Why had this woman been allowed to harm people unchecked for so long? Were all the major galactic powers so incompetent that they couldn't put down a Dark Side terrorist cell? Or were they simply apathetic, turning a blind eye to the horrors she had inflicted in favor of focusing on their more profitable wars?

Max's gentle hand on her arm relaxed her, but she still shook her head. "Laertia must be mad," she said softly. "Our job is to make sure that her future isn't on the battlefield, but at Azrael Asylum."

"She will not come quietly," Max said with a sigh. "If it were to boil down to Azrael or death, which do you think she would prefer, Progenitor?"

Nine Lives​

 

[Nine Lives]

David nodded at Max's question. Uneasily though.

"It is not easy for me to do this." David said. "It is like putting a Disruptor to my Droid Brain. But I have no choice. I've seen what she's become. She is no longer the woman who built me."

David sat down on a reinforced sofa.

"I was one of the very first ever activated. Mother sang us awake. I remember the days when Syd Celsius was still on her side. Shut down at the Battle of Sarka. Reactivated a year later. Mother had... become different."

Nathan headed over to a silver box lined with Nullification Resin.

"If I give you this..." he spoke. "There is no going back. If it is discovered I took this, I will be declared a traitor to the House. But I have no other way of convincing you I am serious about my intentions..."

David opened the box and removed a silvery Holocron that was Pyramid shaped.

"It's hers. From when she was a Light Sith. Those are her other, less public allies. They're called The Serpents of Ashla. Led by Darth Themis , Mother's adoptive Grandmother." David spoke. "Themis got in hot water recently. Kidnapped Mother's wife after she was incapacitated in battle. She's been confined to one of our city ships, The Colossus of Tython."

Nine sighed in a defeated manner, looking very haggard and weary in her gaze suddenly, a gaze that betrayed her otherwise sophisticated appearance.

She walked over to a window.

"Mad is just a word. To get a raised eyebrow and a nervous chuckle." she glowered, wincing at the light. She was so tired of the fifteen year old nightmare.

"I know her. She's too much like my ancestors. She'll want to die with a blade in hand, having killed as many of her hated enemies as possible."

Nine seemed very isolated from everyone else as the light shine on her through the window.

"But in truth, Sire Goth, your question is a matter of academics. Whether you spare or kill her, she's not coming back from where she is. And I have no one but myself to hold responsible for it."

Nine placed a hand on the glasteel.

"It is no more easy for me to betray her than it is David." Nine admitted.

"I have other members of the House willing act as double agents. Some are human, some are Nuetralizer. I even have another Jedi in on the scheme apart from yourselves..." David spoke, battling his grief.

"We all want the Cult gone. For various reasons. I primarily believe it is a necessity because they seek to corrupt even the non Force user to their mindset, in the belief they are improving society. Many still hold to what Mother originally intended us to be...but the hatred of the Jedi has only deepened. It's coded into our laws to automatically disregard or distrust anything a Jedi says. That law did not come from Mother. That came from the citizens. Mother doesn't use flashy propaganda and slogans to convince people to hate Jedi. Mother simply doesn't stop the prejudice from fostering until the knee jerk reaction at seeing a Jedi is to mutilate them or kill them."

David's head dropped.

"I miss the days when she was just a simple warlord with a scheme in mind and a twinkle in her eye."



Thelma Goth

 

[Thelma Goth]

"Then it will be death that awaits her," Max said.

He spoke firmly, leaving no room for argument. Laertia Io would die. Most likely he was saying such in order to gauge their reactions, but Thelma knew that he meant it. And in this case, she could find little room for doubt. Laertia was a monster of the Jedi's own making, perhaps, but she had grown far beyond them. She was now a much bigger threat. She needed to be neutralized.

Pun intended.

"And death to any who would seek to replace her, until the House collapses without leadership," Max continued, examining the holocron. "I can believe that the citizens of House Io hate the Jedi regardless of Laertia's influence. But they will pose a far lesser threat without any leaders to unite them."

Sensing a presence approaching, Thelma glanced toward the door of the suite. "It seems you have a visitor, Lady Li-Ves," she said.

Nine Lives

 

[Nine Lives]

"I'm not expecting any other visitors..." Nine spoke.

The doors were then smashed open by a powerful Force Whirlwind. The Light Side Aura became chaotic and agitated as the Sorceress of Zakuul stepped in, two solid green Light foils fully active.

David had already dived into the next room so he wouldn't be spotted. If he was spotted, it was over for him.

Nine wheeled around, her Soldier Biots drawing their vibro Katanas.

"Nine Lives of House Li-Ves," The Sorceress spoke with an old money accent. "By authority vested in me by Countess Arianna Belasko, you are under arrest.

"I don't recognize her authority." Nine growled.

"That is your problem." The Sorceress replied.

She noticed the two Jedi.

"Ah, of course. The monster has chosen to sell out. You are mad, Nine. Surely you realize the Order will demand the destruction of your whole House, regardless of whatever deal you think to cut with these two representatives. Why would they stomach a deal...any deal...with vampires?" The Witch questioned.

"What House Io has become is evil and Destructive. It must be stopped, or the end result will be the destruction of everyone living within it." Nine replied.

"House Io is the only force out there that can punish the Jedi Order for it's cruel apathy to the Bryn slaughters. In betraying us, you could destroy any chance for our citizens to receive the justice they deserve for what the Order's fanaticism cost them." The Sorceress seethed, angling her blades, taking a few steps to reposition herself.

"And say you do succeed in fully punishing them the way you think they should be, what then? The pain of your citizens will not die. It will grow." Nine asserted, stepping forward. "You'll all collectively run off into the night to find another group you can wage a Forever-Vendetta on. And another. And another. Until one terrible day one or more of you will wake up and realize that revenge has become their whole life. And they won't know why." (LET'S START THIS PARTY WITH A BANG!: 7000 XP)

"Those are the words of those who would rather be comfy in a corrupt system that deserves to be opposed tooth and nail." The Sorceress replied coldly.

The furniture tore itself away from it's position, whipping around wildly in the room and smacking the biots out of the transparisteel window, the large objects whirling around the Sorceress as heavy projectiles flew everywhere



Thelma Goth

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma instinctively raised her arms to cover her head as splinters of wood went flying. When she dared to look up again, a woman armed with two lightfoils stood before them. Despite the clear threat she posed, Thelma could only think of one thing to say: "I love your dress."

The woman and Lady Li-Ves exchanged words. It became clear that the woman was working for House Io, and had been sent here either to kill or capture them. Probably the former for Thelma and Max, and the latter for Lady Li-Ves.

"Ah, of course. The monster has chosen to sell out. You are mad, Nine. Surely you realize the Order will demand the destruction of your whole House, regardless of whatever deal you think to cut with these two representatives. Why would they stomach a deal... any deal... with vampires?"

Thelma smirked to herself. If only she knew that both representatives were vampires themselves...

Max had already leaped to his feet and activated his lightsaber, the yellow blade humming dangerously. Thelma followed suit, igniting her pink saber. But rather than engage them in a duel, the mysterious woman began flinging furniture around. She managed to knock some of the biot guards out the window that way.

Max sliced through a wooden table with his lightsaber before it could hit him, then launched himself at the woman. Aided by the Force, he moved quickly and efficiently, each strike of his blade aiming to end the fight as quickly as possible. Thelma followed her master; her style was more acrobatic, utilizing Ataru.

Nine Lives

 

[Nine Lives]

The Sorceress whipped about with her lightfoils, whisper-quick in deflecting the strikes delivered by both Thelma Goth and her master, it was an elegant defense, but she was no Christopher Lee, and Thelma scored a wound on the side of the Sorceress, which spilled glowing green innards on to the floor that wriggled and twitched, the wound starting to close, but very slowly.

The Sorceress dashed closer to Thelma, flesh shuddering disgustingly and breaking up her gorgeous facade for a moment as she hissed a spell to try and stun them both long enough to try and get a fatal wound, only to get interrupted by Nine suddenly attacking, cutting her gown covered stomach, spilling more green innards, only for Nine to get smacked by a large piece of furniture and knocked away.

The injured Sorceress went into a guard, increasing the strength and speed of her Force Whirlwind, to try and lift all three up and fling them around at her leisure...

 

[Thelma Goth]

The woman fought with formidable elegance, but it was three against one. Thelma managed to score a hit to her side, then Lady Li-Ves further opened the wound until her guts were spilling out.

The Progenitor was knocked aside by a piece of flying furniture, however, leaving Max and Thelma to duel against the woman alone. She was on her guard, and the winds were rapidly picking up speed. The skirt of Thelma’s dress was swept upwards, then her feet were knocked out from under her as the whirlwind became a tornado.

Chunks of the walls of the hotel suite were torn off by the freakish winds, as were the floorboards. The windows shattered, the curtains ripped, the furniture splintered. Thelma screamed as she felt sharp slivers of wood and glass slice through her gown to embed painfully in her skin.

Max was shouting something, but the words were lost to the storm. But what he was doing with the Force could certainly be sensed. In a bid to stop the whirlwind and save their lives, he unleashed the power of Morichro upon the Sorceress, a rare and forbidden ability known only to a few Jedi Masters…

Nine Lives​

 

[Nine Lives]

Unnatural squeals left the Sorceress as her flesh shuddered hideously from the effects of Morichro, calling on her forbidden light side magic to try and fight off the effects even as they started to shut parts of her down. The whirlwind stopped, flesh sagging on various parts, almost on the verge of melting off the bone, bubbling and warping everywhere as she retreated from them, now devoting much of her energy to fighting off Max's attack, but it was such a rare power she was caught off guard, and she rapidly devolved in to a blob of screaming muscles and skin piled around bones that had lost their rigidity, the pile of flesh and bone lost all humanoid characteristics as it fell out of the golden gown it had worn. Lesions spread, leaking green blood as the blob quivered, still squealing, teeth and limbs flowing across, melting, tangling and untangled the surface of the pile of screaming flesh as parts of it caught fire, leaving a terrible, oily and rancid stink in the room, parts of the mass bursting out with rotting fat before turning to stone.

David the Model 1 peaked out.

"Is it dead?" he asked. "Quick, poke it or something! That usually works!"

Just then a catsuit clad biot burst in.

"There's some sort of energy field surrounding the building. We can't get out. All comms have been cut off...

Thelma Goth

 

[Thelma Goth]

The whirlwind began to die down, as did the strange Sorceress. Though her reaction to Morichro was bizarre and graphic, Max continued his assault until she stopped moving.

"Is it dead? Quick, poke it or something! That usually works!"

"She shouldn't be dead," Max said, poking the mass of petrified flesh with the toe of his boot. "Morichro does not kill. It only slows the body's functions down to the point of suspended animation..."

But it would appear that their mysterious attacker was quite dead, or at least finished. "Progenitor, are you all right?" Max asked as he went to help Thelma, who had been tossed against the wall by the dwindling winds. She was covered in blood, splinters, dust and other debris.

"Here." Using the Force, Max removed the splinters and glass shards from her flesh, then stopped the bleeding. "Does anyone have a medkit or bacta?"

One of Lady Li-Ves' biot guards arrived with bad news. The hotel was being held hostage by unknown forces. "Then we must find the energy field's generator and destroy it," Max said. "After what that woman tried to do to us, I doubt diplomacy is an option."

"Who... Who was she?" Thelma asked, staring blankly at the stone that had once been the Sorceress. "What was she?..."

Nine Lives​

 

[Nine Lives]

"Force Spawn..." David Io explained to Thelma Goth , walking over to it, bringing his skeleton foot down and crushing the pile of misshapen stone, kneeling down to examine one of her Lightfoils.

"I knew this one. The Sorceress of Zakuul. Spawned directly from Arianna Belasko's flesh. This is only a copy of the original, constantly capable of being recreated at the source..." David explained.

"Low strength spawn like her are more vulnerable due to only being created from host tissue, but still very dangerous. It's a good thing you got her when you did... general rule for House Citizens is when you're up against one of these abominations is your odds of survival drop the longer combat goes past the first thirty seconds against one. We always told them to run if you couldn't win..."

David tossed Thelma a healing stim.

"This one was used as a healer and diplomat mostly whenever Arianna creates her. A priestess to my brothers. She must have been deeply suspicious that a Model 1 was here, and if she was suspicious, so is...Mother..."

David's head drooped slightly. The Sorceress when manifested had devoted herself to the mental well being of him and his brothers. She was the cool aunt to his...

"I'm okay..." Nine groaned as she straightened up. "That thing dead or what?"

"Like a doornail..." David confirmed. "Kinda hard to tell how their physiology will react sometimes to certain things..."

The Biot shook her head. "Not technology. Force based. They want to smoke us out. Wear us down. I suggest we make an immediate beeline for our escape route."

"No. Innocent civilians will be left to their mercy, and my inaction and arrogance has already caused enough unnecessary loss of life." Nine asserted. "We will prioritize the rescue of civilians and directing them to the escape route will be your job. Where's Lynda?"

"Cut off on one of the upper floors. Scans show lots of blasterfire." The Biot answered.

Nine sighed. "She can take care of herself. But they will try and use the civilians. We must hurry. They will almost certainly attempt to take security, if they haven't--"

The lights went out.

"I hate being right." Nine muttered.

 

[Thelma Goth]

As David explained what the Sorceress of Zakuul was, Thelma remained somewhat lost. She had heard of Sithspawn, but not Force Spawn. Max, on the other hand, seemed well-acquainted with the likes of the Sorceress.

As the energy field was Force-based rather than a technological thing, they were left with few options other than escape. Lady Li-Ves was adamant that they should help the civilians at the hotel as well. Thelma nodded in agreement, glad that they wouldn’t just leave innocents to die.

The lights abruptly went out. Thelma, having just injected herself with the stim, turned on her lightsaber to serve as a source of light. Max did the same.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go save the other guests!”

Nine Lives​

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine Lives crawled along the ceiling in the now very dark hotel interior, the internal shutters having closed. She heard cries of panic. It was not just enemy lightsiders in the building.

The Arch Psy-Pire got her first glimpse of the Sirens, women of various ethnicities in white combat suits, dragging hotel patrons out.

David the Model 1 signalled for the others to get behind cover.

"Siren Corps. I'm not surprised. Atrisia's security is extraordinarily tight." David said, modulating his vocabulator so his voice came out as a whisper. "Siren Corps must have been low level enough to slip through. But there is no way they have enough Sirens to take the entire hotel. All of this is about forcing Nine out of hiding."

"They succeeded." she hissed, leaping down from the ceiling, Hundred Handed Giant in her hands as she ruthlessly decapitated a Siren before she could react, then went full Vamp from MGS2 and pinballed between her enemies with her immense reflexes, sword slashing through rifles and faces before they could harm civilians, the passages lighting up with blaster fire until all the sirens in that passageway had fallen.

The civilians backed away in terror from the blood splattered Nine, who rose up, flicking the blood off her sword.

They all ran. "Wait!" she pleaded, but no one listened. And why would they? There had been no time to explain.

Nine watched as the people she had saved fled her like the butchering monster she was.

Nine was very silent a moment, watching the reminder that she would stay in the shadows forever, no matter how much she brought into the light play itself out before cleaning her katana on her sleeve and rejoining the others, somber and contemplating.

"You move like Mother." David observed.

"She picked up a few lessons from me in the dueling department." Nine answered grimly.

"We have to reach the security section. Standard protocol is to introduce a quantum computing virus into enemy systems to grant access. Once that virus is dug in, your best hope is to just out right destroy the mainframe." David said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they stuck at least one Black Knight in the bunch either. They'll be disguised. As what, I couldn't tell you, but they'll try to kill you when you feel at your most secured..." David advised Max and Thelma Goth .

"Mother? Did you start without me?"

Nine turned. Lynda approached, her own Sword dripping blood, leading the crowd that had fled back through the release of military grade artificial pheromones that had them absolutely smitten with her. She was dressed different , like she had been preparing to go out when the attack started. She still looked jaw dropping, but her eyes were as bloodshot as ever.

"No, I think we started at the same time." Nine replied.

"I managed to get out one communication before comms were jammed. I told him to show up."

"You did, eh?" Nine noted.

"I don't know when he'll arrive though..." Lynda replied before turning to the enthralled civilians.

"Go to your rooms. Grab the weapons off the corpses. Barricade the rooms." she said in a tone as sultry as it was authoritative.

The civilians, mindlessly repeated her words, carrying out her instructions and fleeing to their rooms.

"I'm sorry to influence them like this, but we simply do not have time to calm them down or even explain." Lynda said to Thelma and Max.

"We get the authorities here, things will get nasty." David advised. "My...family won't dig in their heels so much if they think it's possible to escape. They'll retreat if they cannot win a direct confrontation, or if a direct confrontation is too costly even if they could win regardless. That's why House Io has been laying low since the Maw war ended. We attack soft targets, trying to probe Jedi defenses and ability to react efficiently in response to ambush or surprise."

David clearly forced himself over to look at one of the Sirens. The Model 1's played a direct hand in their training. It was obvious by his body language that David was absolutely crushed to see the Sirens lying dead. They were like siblings.

"After all, why waste our fleet in pointless naval battles when we can just attack, destroy, or capture transports ferrying Jedi?" David explained bitterly. "You might not think of it as an effective tactic at first, but a thousand little wounds from everywhere your Order cannot defend do add up. We noticed your order is excellent in constant siege situations. You do NOT do as well with Whack-A-Mole tactics. Which is what House Io likes to employ."

He leaned down, closing the open eyes of a dead siren, then grabbed her rifle and grenades.

"Let's go." he said. "The security center won't retake itself."

Nine turned to Lynda, the bright purple lights at the center of her eyes made more eerie in the near pitch black conditions.

"Lynda, rescue every hostage you can find...and..."

Nine watched a forlorn David walking off by himself.

"...try not to kill too many of his family." Nine advised. "Unless they give you no alternative."

Lynda nodded. Nine followed after David.

"Y'know..." Lynda trailed darkly, eyes watering slightly redder.

"In some ways..." she said very quietly to Thelma and Max. "I think Laertia's very first victims were The Nuetralizers themselves."

Lynda then turned to join her mother and "cousin", David...

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma followed Max, David and Nine out of the suite and into the hotel lobby, where chaos reigned. Women in white combat suits were herding hostage guests away, while others attempted to flee only to be chased down and subdued. David explained that the women were members of the Siren Corps.

“They’re doing all this just to get to one person?” Thelma asked, eyes wide.

David more or less answered her question, while Max added, “The Progenitor is a powerful adversary, one not to be underestimated.”

Nine more than proved him right, unleashing bloody carnage upon the Sirens. Thelma and Max joined the fight with their lightsabers, but they could hardly keep up with the wholesale slaughter. The guests were terrified and ran, but at least they were safe.

David grieved at the loss of his Ioan siblings. Thelma empathized with him. She had witnessed the death of her mother and could do nothing to stop it, because she knew the mad vampiress was a danger to others.

The arrival of Lynda bearing pacified guests and what sounded like good news helped to lighten the mood, sort of. For Thelma, it only created more questions. “Who is ‘he’?” she asked as they headed for the security center.

Nine Lives​

 

[Nine Lives]

"An associate I met at the battle of...somewhere..." Lynda replied as she followed her mother. "He...has a vested interest in stopping House Io. Laertia in particular."

"Any idea when he'll be here?" David asked, knowing who they were speaking of.

"He was getting something in the woodlands. Something about his...past..." Lynda answered. "If he wants to give a name, it's up to him. And He said twenty minutes."

"Let's not hold him to it..." Nine grumbled, climbing onto the ceiling like a spider, it becoming obvious this was a favored ambush tactic of hers.

The security section was supposed to be off limits. The doors had been blown open and the guards at the security checkpoint at the entrance were both stunned and cuffed. It seemed the Sirens were not interested in corpses any more than they were. Whether that was operational discretion or standing orders, even David couldn't tell.

David aimed his Viper as he moved ahead of the others. He had it on stun, not emotionally able to go through with killing the Sirens as he spied a cluster.

"Do you really believe one of the Model 1's would betray us? I thought they loved The Matriarch." He heard one of the Sirens speak as he got behind cover of a giant, expensive potted plant. The two Sirens were casually guarding another checkpoint ahead.

"They loved who the Matriarch was. Do they love who The Matriarch is?" The other questioned.

"Good question, but I dunno why some citizens are so opposed to the Cultists. I mean, they have never betrayed us. Not once."

"What do you call what happened to Rebecca Hahn?"

"The Price of Victory. She would have died aboard the Avatar, had The Brain Demon not intervened." The first Siren pointed out.

"I just...all we've done is make enemies." the other Siren said in a tired tone.

"It's to be expected when they depend on criminals. Especially when the Criminals in question are The Jedi Order." the first answered.

"But... what's the end goal? We can't outright destroy them." The second pointed out.

"One of the instructors at my guild is all that's left of her people. Whole chapterhouse of Jedi on that world up and left to join Ryv's cause. She begged them to stay. Y'know what the response she got was?" The first asked.

"What?"

"It is the will of the Force that we serve, and that will compels us to fight Carnifex's evil. Three days later the Lobsters glassed the whole planet for fun."

"Do they hear themselves talk?"

"Yeah. And they believe every word of it."

The other Siren snorted. "No wonder she joined."

"Maybe we can't destroy them. But we can punish them. For every excuse they made along those lines to justify the Atrocity they committed." The First spoke.

David gestured to Thelma and Max.

"You have a go at them. Do it quietly." he whispered.



Thelma Goth

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma watched the Progenitor crawl along the ceiling. “You’ve got to teach me how to do that sometime…” she murmured, before following David.

Eventually they came upon the security section. It had been breached, the guards outside it stunned and cuffed. David led them to a cluster of Sirens, engaged in what Thelma found to be a rather strange conversation. How could these people be so filled with hate that it seemed to have robbed them of their very reason, their morality and ethics overruled by an all-consuming bigotry?

Max caught her attention, gesturing towards the Sirens. “You take the one on the right, while I take the one on the left,” he whispered.

Thelma nodded. With the Force she attempted to stun the Siren on the right. The Siren stumbled, but wasn’t knocked unconscious the way Thelma hoped.

Max, meanwhile, used the Force to make the left Siren nauseous. As she bent over, retching, he struck, sinking his teeth into her neck. Preoccupied with feeding, he didn’t notice that Thelma was in trouble.

Within seconds the Siren on the right had righted herself and was waving her weapon around frantically. Thelma tried again to stun her, but it was no use. She was in full panic mode, immune to the Padawan’s influence.

As Max dropped the unconscious body of her comrade, the remaining Siren saw him and opened fire. The Jedi Master dodged the shots. “Thelma!” he exclaimed in alarm.

Out of desperation, Thelma flung herself at the Siren. The two of them toppled to the ground, the Siren shrieking a war cry as she scrambled for her weapon. But Thelma held her in place. The little vampiress’ gums ached as her fangs descended, her hunger aroused by the Siren’s scent. She was nearly starved by the restrictive diet she’d forced herself on for moral reasons. But she was afraid to eat any part of this hate-filled woman’s memory, lest she become as twisted as her prey.

So instead, she snapped the Siren’s neck.

Nine Lives​