Save Me: Coming Back Into the Universe (Alwine Lechner)

[Sandrius Draclau]

The Gulag Virus had changed everything. There had been death everywhere and it didn't seem to matter where you were. Even deep in the unknown regions of space, when they had taken every measure possible; they were decimated. Sandrius Draclau, Master of the Force and Prince of Lao-mon had spent many years studying biogenetic engineering and attempted to find a cure for it. He was certain that the shifting abilities of the Shi'ido were the key to stopping the virus. Surely a species capable of becoming plants and rocks could hold the key to the virus that was decimating every species it touched. Having learned previously how to transfer his life force into a willing host, he had already lived several years in a cloned body that had been designed to further the natural abilities of his species. Now, he created a new host body he was sure would be able to withstand the virus. This body was not just one that had been created by science but had been imbued with the force as well through his father's spells.

There was only one problem. When he transferred his consciousness to the new body, he became trapped. His father's spells had been more than he had expected, separating the mind from the body. It left him waiting for another to reach out and jump-start the connection. Since those that had been working under him in this project were not particularly force sensitive themselves, when they found his previous body dead and his new one unresponsive they assumed incorrectly that he'd died. In a futile effort to slow the virus on his planet, the living began dumping the dead into space. In this case, they dumped their own prince trapped to float in darkness until the end of time.

Or rather.... Until now.

Sandrius had drifted close to a registered hyperlane and had been passing the time passing his mind through the various hulls that passed by. Usually, the brief glimpses he caught of the ships left the passengers with no knowledge of his presence. Today however, the passenger aboard the passing ship was different. It seemed she was a wolf, but he could see the force emanating from her. Reaching out, he slipped into her mind as she slept. It was not something that he had intended but soon he was enveloped in her dreams.

The wolf was there, slipping in and out of his vision, seemingly running from him. Chasing after her he wasn't sure where they were or what they were running through but soon it seemed to be just the wolf her and except it was no longer a wolf. It was now a young woman, the force emanating off of her the same way it had the wolf in the ship. Stepping forward and reaching out a hand he had time to get one word out before their connection faded.

"Save me."

 

[Alwine Daye]

Aboard the Scimitar​

En Route to Geonosis​

[member="Sandrius Draclau"]​

There were few things that could still instill a sense of child-like joy within Alwine Lechner, and leading the list of those things was traveling through space. The Lupine, young as she still was, had been denied the option to do so throughout most of her life. It was not until her brother came to save her from the clutches of Stewjon not a year ago that she was able to travel off-planet for the first time in her life, and now, as any time, she enjoyed it immensely, running freely around the ship in her wolf form, and most of the time sitting in the very same form in front of one of the windows that let her look at the galaxies and star systems passing by, her tail wagging lazily at the grand sight of it all.

It was not long before she put her head down on her front paws, and her eyes closed. Sleep had come on swift wings.

In her dreams, Alwine was still on Stewjon. Yet as time progressed, the nightmares had become regular dreams, dreams of what home should have been like; running freely with her brothers through the forests behind the house, the caste system annihilated completely, respect granted to her family for having sprouted three powerful Warriors who fought for the planet and kept it safe. In her dreams, her parents behaved like normal parents and not like the abusive ones that they had been, and they were still alive, for their children had not torn apart limb from limb before their escape. Her oldest brother had the freedom to chase after those his heart desired, regardless of their sex, and her middle brother held no shame in being a Lupine, his freedom used to make good choices, supported by the entire family.

In this dream, she was running through the trees, barking happily every now and then. There was someone putting chase behind her, but she did not feel threatened. This was her forest. These were her trees. The Lupines stood at the top of the food chain and the only way to end her was to catch her unawares, while she was sleeping or under the effect of too much mead. She led her chaser through the forest, not coming to a stop until she reached the river, where she shifted into her human form.

Standing stark naked as on the day of her birth, Alwine took a sip of water before turning around, chocolate brown eyes falling on a tall man with long white hair.

Save me.

The wolf's eyes snapped open aboard the ship, and within moments the shift began to take place. Alwine had always welcomed the sensation of the shift, those minutes in which bones cracked and skin stretched, fur becoming shorter and shorter until it disappeared. At her age, it still took a full five minutes, and she knew she would probably mourn the day when that time would shrink down to a handful of seconds.

Still, her mind was not on the shift as she permitted her body to take the course it only knew how to follow. Instead, her focus went back to the dream, that sensation. There was a lingering feeling there, the way that man had followed her. He had never been in her dreams before and she doubted he ever would again, but there was something there that had felt so real, even though he'd held no scent that her Lupine nose could spot.

Save him. Save him from what? She wished Gerwald was there with her to explain it, or if not him then Madalena, who would not look at her like she was mad.

But there wasn't much time to think; the loud thud rang through the ship and Alwine jumped, already in her human shape, running to where the sound had come from. From the cockpit, she could see it now; something shapeless floating in space, causing her ship to half entirely. The automated systems probably did that for protection; who knew how many more thuds like that and the glass would shatter, pulling everything from the ship into space?

She almost navigated the ship to fly around it, but something stopped her. A feeling, a sensation, deep down in her stomach. Save me.

Sighing, Alwine turned the ship so that the airlock would point at the thing, and she wiggled herself into a safety suit before allowing herself to jump out of the ship, the chord that kept her attached it firm.

It wasn't long before the petite blonde had the shape in her hands and the two of them began to get pulled back into the ship. Minutes later, they were both inside, and she removed the suit, looking at thing. It felt like it was alive but… What in the gods was it, other than something that felt like the white haired man in her dream? Was it even safe to have the ship resume its route back to Geonosis? For all she knew she was carrying biological hazard on her ship.

Perhaps picking that thing up had not been the smartest of things to do.

 

[Sandrius Draclau]

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

Sandrius' body had never actually shifted. Instead, it was an almost shapeless mass that barely resembled the natural Shi'ido. In his progress to create a better body, he had twisted it into something unrecognizable. It was easy to see why they thought he was dead. Inside, however, his consciousness had whirled. The man that had once been Sandrius Draclau, Sith Lord had been eaten away by the nothingness of space. In the end, after all the years alone only a few aspects of his old life remained latched in his mind. He had had no one but himself and what he eventually came to call the voices of the universe, though it was actually the echoes of planets carried by the force. In the end, he needed little more than a glimpse of his own identity as he needed no one to share it with.

When she had appeared it had jerked Sandrius "awake". It had been years. 'Years, right? Or was it days? Oh, hours wasn't it?!' Drifting weightless, alone. 'We aren't alone now, dummy! Wake up!' Sandrius jerked, his body giving a sudden by almost violent shake as it began to "thaw". Cracks and pops along with hisses started sounding as he woke up, reaching out, finally feeling and moving. He was cold and his body didn't want to move. 'Heat yourself up, dummy!' "Oh yeah!" he thought, "I know what to do."

Reaching out, he connected with the force. He focused and pictured fire and heat encompassing his body, filling him with heat and strength. As he did this, he slowly took control of his new body and lifted himself off the floor, rising up toward the ceiling he began to shift for the first time. This was new and slightly different than before. The shift felt different as if what he was becoming had already been there all along. "But who am I?" He thought as his frame molded into that of a bipedal human while being engulfed in flames 'Why silly, you're me of course!'

With a gasp, Sandrius' eyes flew open, the flames extinguished and he was no longer an ugly mass but rather a rather normal looking "human" male with white skin and brown hair. Looking up at his rescuer the only thing that might give him away as the man from her dream was his dazzling cyan eyes, almost glowing. 'Hey moron, you're alive. Get up and thank the girl, without her I wouldn't have been able to bring you back!'

"Thank you. I am supposed to thank you right?" Sandrius looked around, his eyes taking in his surroundings and the ship around him. "I'm very sorry, but could you perhaps tell me where I am. Oh and while you're at it, who are we?" 'You're Lord Sandrius Draclau, now act like it!' "I'm sorry, I meant who are you? I'm Sandrius Draclau? I think that's right, that's what he said anyway. But, yeah, who are you? And where are we?"

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine stared. She could feel the Force at work long before the blob began to shift, and while she herself belonged to one of the shifter species, it was the first time she actually saw someone who was not a Lupine do so. But if it was not a Lupine (and he was not, nothing would ever convince her otherwise), then what was it? Her mind made a quick scan of the species she knew had the ability to shift, but nothing quite fit that description. Once again she was in the dark due to her lack of knowledge.

But she didn't need specific knowledge in order to know that she had done was stupid, impulsive, and had potentially put her in great danger. If Gerwald had been there, he would have laughed at her for doing something as such. Alwine, the one always in control, being stupidly impulsive. Bah! She left the area for a mere few moments, coming back with her Obsidian Knight Sword firmly in hand, only to see the fire. With a gasp, the petite blonde called the fire extinguisher to her hands, dropping the sword.

But it appeared that there was no need for that. The fire died on its own as the man rose from it, this time drawing a rolling of the eyes from Alwine. Why did people always feel the need to make a grand entrance? Was saying Hello, thank you for saving me, let me not put your ship on fire would have been so much better.

And there it was. Dropping the fire extinguisher and picking her sword up again, Alwine sighed. "That would be the proper thing to do," she said as she looked at him, still sitting on the floor. Judging by what he had shifted into, she already knew he was going to be much taller than her, which, to be honest, was not hard. She stood at a mere 5 feet tall and had to stand up straight as to not lose a fraction of an inch.

He introduced himself. Brown eyes narrowed as Alwine looked at him, still on the ground, obviously suffering from some form of confusion.

"We are in Confederacy space," she said at last, "en-route to Geonosis, the capital planet. I am Alwine." He had given her his full name. She would not give hers; not until she knew it was safe. "What are you doing here? What are you? What is the last thing you remember before I found you? Do not doubt that I can use this sword and will use it if I come to suspect you are dangerous to me."

[member="Sandrius Draclau"]

 

[Sandrius Draclau]

"We are in Confederacy space," she said at last, "en-route to Geonosis, the capital planet. I am Alwine. What are you doing here? What are you? What is the last thing you remember before I found you? Do not doubt that I can use this sword and will use it if I come to suspect you are dangerous to me."

Sandrius took in the young girl. She was smaller than he was and quite different, though oddly similar. He could see the force emanating from her though it was quite different from the things he was used to seeing, planets and stars and the such. The closest he could remember was a starship he'd caught a glimpse of. He remembered it because it was similar to the planets, it had a certain life and energy. This energy was different though, almost chaotic.

Rising to his feet Sandrius gave her a curious look. She'd answered his questions but she had used words and phrases that meant very little to him. Furrowing his brow in thought a fuzzy picture of Geonosis came into his mind, though it didn't help him at all as he couldn't remember anything useful about it. That and he had no idea what a "Confederacy space" was or how it was different from normal space. Then she'd asked him questions that he had clearly just answered and it was apparent that he was talking to her here, so why she had to ask what he was doing he was very unsure.

He opened his mouth twice before actually making any words, still unsure of how to proceed, "To answer your questions, I'm clearly talking to you here. I would assume you knew that as you brought me here and helped the white man save me. As to who I am, I definitely answered that. I am Sandrius Draclau. The white man said it too, would you listen? I have no clue what I remember. I remember you and the white man and the stars but that's about it." Seeing as how his words were obviously not helping the situation he gave an exasperated sigh. "Maybe this will help you feel better?" As he spoke, he shrunk. His body collapsed in on itself, his features shifted, some body parts disappeared and others grew. After only a moment, he looked the spitting image of the woman in front of him, including sword in hand. With no knowledge of it being something separate from her, he simply believed it to be a part of her body and copied it as such.

"Now, maybe you could answer me," she now said with a smile on her face. "What's a Confederacy space, why's it different from normal space and why is Geonosis the capital of the universe?"

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

Of course he had to rise to his feet. Now Alwine had to look up so she could continue to look at him, but she did not shy away. She had spent her entire life around those who were taller and bigger than she was, and this was no different. If the stranger thought to make her feel threatened or intimidated by his size, he was sorely mistake.

There were two ways to interpret his response to her though; one, was that he thought she was dumb. She had not asked for his name, she'd asked for who he was, and that had still gone unanswered. The second way was that he was the dumb one, or at least still confused. Now that she thought about it, how did he survive being in space without protective gear? It was a lethal thing to do and could kill a person in anywhere between seconds and minutes. Since there was no other ship in sight, it was likely that he'd spent more than minutes there.

She decided to go for the confusion explanation, and took a deep breath. He was going to try her patience. But then… He shifted. And suddenly Alwine found herself looking at… Herself. Alwine knew of only one species that could shift like that.

Species is known as Shi'ido, and they are already among the most dangerous beings in the galaxy even without the Force, [member="Maple Harte"]'s words and warnings repeated in her head, the day she had explained to her why that species was so dangerous, In addition to their natural shapeshifting abilities, have a form of telepathy that's capable of fooling people into thinking they have a completely different scent as well as cover up inconsistencies in their shifting, though it would require their full concentration unless very old or skilled.

"Shi'ido," Alwine growled, making a sound that could never come out of human vocal chords. But she was not a human. She was a Lupine, and she was now in danger.

Her fingers gripped the hilt of her sword harder, and she went into protecting her mind from telepathic or mental attacks just as [member="Caid Centurion"] had taught her, the imaginary of the spikes coming out. She would not lose her life to a Shi'ido. Not if she could help it.

[member="Sandrius Draclau"]

 

[Sandrius Draclau]

"Shi'ido," Alwine growled

Sandrius was not prepared for a mental attack, nor was he prepared to defend against a mental defense on a mind he didn't even know he was trying to probe. All he knew was the woman had suddenly become hostile. Jumping back and up he shifted back into the male form he'd taken and found himself clinging to the corner of the hangar bay's ceiling. He didn't even realize what he was doing until it happened, as if his body reacted before he did.

The other voice in his mind reacted before he did, as well. Feeling the presence of danger from deep within the confines of his mind, another consciousness lashed out, one much more in tune with the force and with the powers that dwelled within him. The same face Alwine had seen in her dreams lashed out with a growl of his own, "Enough!" This time sending out the thought through the force like a powerful sonar blast.

This startled Sandrius and caused him to drop to the ground, this time putting his hands in front of him in a gesture of peace. "Please, don't hurt me. I don't know what I've done to you!"

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

The Shi'ido jumped back and shifted as he went into the corner. This confused Alwine; was it another trick? Was her mind sufficiently protected that this creature decided to switch to manipulation instead? She would have none of that. Her sword was pointed at him now, though there were still a few feet between them, she could easily use the Force and send it straight the base of where his throat currently was if she so willed. A Shi'ido, on her ship, putting her in danger! The mere thought was unthinkable!

The scream that came through the Force caused her to take a step back. It was not a scream that went through her ears, but her body responded almost as though it was, dropping the mental defense in fear of being a moment from crumbling to the floor in pain. Lupines were not good with too loud sounds.

Before she could fully recover and calm herself down, the Shi'ido was on the ground again, holding his hands out as though he was asking… For no violence?

The petite blonde blinked in visible confusion, and it took more than several moments to collect herself, her sword pointing at him again.

"You will not attempt to trick my mind," she made clear to him, "not through the dangerous Shi'ido telepathy and not through manipulation. If I believe for an instant that you dared make the attempt, I will kill you. Now remain in that corner."

Think. She had to think. But how could she think properly with the threat of a Shi'ido a mere few feet from her?

"Why did you ask me to save you?" she demanded, sword still pointing, "what are your intentions?"

[member="Sandrius Draclau"]

 

[Sandrius Draclau]

'Shi'ido' She had said that word before, though its meaning was lost on Sandrius. It almost seemed like some sort of threat or insult, or perhaps an expletive. Between that, the fact that she didn't seem to understand what he said and the fact that she seemed to think that he had asked her for help made him think she had him confused with someone else. Surely she would have no reason to continue treating him the way she was if that wasn't the case.

Having decided that she was, indeed, confusing him for someone else he slowly stood up while keeping his hands raised above him and began to speak, choosing his words carefully, "I apologize. I seem to have done something to wrong you or upset you in some way. I am Sandrius Draclau and I did not ask for your help. The only person that has ever told me I need help is the white man. I thought he was your friend since you were the one who took me. I know only you and the white man. You ask of my intentions, and if I understand it correctly, I have none. Why did you take me? Why did you hurt me? Where is the white man?"

[member="Alwine Lechner"]

 

[Alwine Daye]

Alwine's eyes narrowed as he attempted to say that he had not asked for her help. She knew this to be a lie; yet, there was something about the way he said it in which gave her cause to pause for a moment and wonder whether or not he was even aware that it had not been the truth. He spoke of the white man, of thinking he was her friend. She had hurt him? No, another untruth. Alwine growled unhappily.

"You are the white man," she said, plainly, simply, to the point, "and you came to me as I slept and asked me to save you. I did not harm you – I simply caught you floating in space, and I did not know you are a Shi'ido until you began to shift."

Looking at him again, the Lupine dare to lower the sword, but only a little bit. Perhaps she had been too quick to label him as a threat, but that did not mean that she was out of danger just yet.

"How did you end up floating in space?" she asked, her wolf eyes looking at him curiously.

[member="Sandrius Draclau"]

 

[Sandrius Draclau]

As Sandrius tried to answer, he found the words forced back into his throat as a the air started whipping around them in the ship. With the arrival of the wind, a strange cold seemed to creep up around them, ice forming along the joints in the metal. Suddenly the air suddenly came to a sudden stop, leaving behind a deafening silence before whipping back to one point on the floor, creating a small whirlwind that slowly turned to fire. As the ripping wind slowed and came to a stop, so too did the column of swirling fire, lowering to the floor while revealing none other than the figure that had been referred to as the "white man".

He looked taller than normal, his long silvery white hair moving with a breeze that no longer existed. He was covered in darkness except for his pale face that seemed to be hidden behind his flowing hair, only truly revealing glowing red eyes against an almost snow white complexion. Sandrius had only the time to utter, "Hello, again," before the glowing red gaze fell upon him and he only heard the word "Sleep."



So, it had come to this. The universe could not simply be content to let him slumber peacefully and let it tear itself apart. He could not be allowed to choose his time to return, no, the universe had other plans. Apparently the "child" he had created himself in his loneliness could not be allowed to grow and live peacefully, as soon as other creatures were a part of the equation, all hell had to break loose. If the universe wanted to greet him with ferocity, he would show it ferocity in turn.

Sandrius Draclau, the man who would have at one point fought for the title of Lord of the Sith, reached out. He was beyond the body that anchored him and had little need for it anymore, time in space had taught him that. Time had not let him forget his strength and nobility and power, however. As he reached out with his consciousness through the force, he decided to let his anger be known. Whipping up the air, he felt a fire roar and looked out through it, extinguishing it as he took on an almost physical form. In all sense of the term, Sandrius Draclau, Force Master now stood before the other Sandrius and the young Lupine. Looking at the flesh sack that housed his mind and that of the mind he created, he decided it had no more place in this for the moment and simply said, "Sleep," before turning his fiery gaze upon the Lupine.

"He is but a child and his crime is mine alone. It is through my hubris the the child drifts in space and through my authority that he remains protected. I was once Sandrius Draclau, Sith Master, Lord of Lao-mon, regent and ruler of the Shi'ido people. He is but a science project that I've yet to see completed. You WILL protect him," he said sternly before the image and noise of a blue lightsaber extended from his side, towards the ground, "Or you WILL answer to me."

[member="Alwine Lechner"]