Snakes on a Plain

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Tanek's ship touched down. It wasn't anything special, just another freighter. It had guns, shields and enough space to carry some cargo. All he required of it was to allow him to make it from A to B. He had borrowed from the authorities back on Glee Anselm. The planet had fallen under the control of One Sith, but there was still so much work to be done. He would return before long.

The ramp opened, and out stepped the Sith Knight. He had finally arrived on Selvaris. It was a Vongformed planet. Flora and fauna from the Vong's home galaxy enveloped the entire planet. The planet was under One Sith control. How many of the Vong soldiers that served in the Sith army, or how much of their armour and weapons that came from here, Tanek didn't know, but he assumed it was a considerable amount. Or perhaps manufacture was taken off planet? It didn't matter, really. He was here for something else entirely.

The fierce Togruta finally set his feet down on Selvaris soil. Dark robes covered him, the hood was drawn back. Underneath those he wore a standard set of black tunic and undertunics, all of course typical Sith fashion. A lightsaber dangled from his belt. It wasn't one of his own making, he had taken it from a dead Acolyte's body on Ruusan.

Ruusan. A lot had happened since then. All in all, it had been a good day for him and the Sith. The planet had felt their terror, and the Academy had been ransacked. How the battle ended, and the overall damage done was not something he had cared to pay attention to. His mind had been distracted by his own duel. While, technically, his opponent had fallen, it did not feel like victory. In the end, she had escaped. He thought about her now, wondering if the seeds planted had been nurtured or if they had died out completely.

After a quick scan of his immediate surroundings, he went back in to fetch a speeder. There was just no way he could be bothered to walk all this way. With a scanner in hand, scanning the area for life forms, the Sith sped off into the distance.

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

He didn't come here for the sights. He didn't come here to mingle with the locals. None of these things had any interest to him, so he simply sped past them. How long had he been searching now? Hours? How many? He knew what he was looking for, though he wasn't exactly sure where or how he'd find it. All he knew was that he would continue searching until he found it. Giving up was not really in the Togruta's vocabulary.

After a long trek, his scanner finally picked up something interesting. Could this be it? Had he found a nest? His speeder slowed down, entering into a lush canyon. Tanek dismounted, and continued the rest of the path on foot. The problem with Vong were that they were Force dead. It made sensing life forms a bit of a challenge. His scanner, however, confirmed that he was indeed not alone. Tanek unclipped the lightsaber from his belt...

... and he did it not one moment too soon. An amphistaff lunged up from the grass, coming at him with teeth drenched in lethal venom. Whether pure luck, or guided by the Force, his weapon was already in hand. His crimson blade hissed to life, and slapped the snake-like being to the side. He had half expected it to be torn in half, but quickly remembered that they were lightsaber resistant. This would not be so easy.

Amphistaves were genetically engineered serpentine creatures that served as the primary anti-personnel weapons of the Yuuzhan Vong. Like most of their creations, it was a living thing. Their crab armour, even their ships were alive. As such, these amphistaves were fully organic beings. They grew in trios from leathery polyps. Eventually they lengthened to around two or three meters. After reaching this length, they'd emerge from their polyp, leaving it to die as they slithered into the wilderness. If a warrior were to capture an amphistaff as it left its polyp, the two would be bound together, and the amphistaff would loyally serve its new master in battle. Tanek was here to catch one.

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

The beast came at him again, and once more Tanek raised his lightsaber to deflect. He slapped at it with his blade, but it only served to fling it away a few feet, before it came crawling back. It was resistant to his blade. He, however, was not so lucky. Togruta skin was highly susceptible to sharp things.

The amphistaff seemed determined to drive him away from its territory, and the two clashed together. The sound of lightsaber swooshing through the air, clashing upon hard skin, and the aggressive hisses from the amphistaff sounded across the valley. At one point it even wrapped itself around his blade. He knew of no other being that would willingly do such a thing, but to the amphistaff, there seemed to be no pain. Tanek was quick to deactivate his blade as he fell back, quickly reigniting it to stop it as it lunged at him. For the most part, he had been on the defensive, trying to predict how the creature would attack, and countering it. So far it wasn't really working that great. He needed to change tactics.

Instead, he switched to a more aggressive form, adapting to the preferred lightsaber form of his master, Djem So. He let hard, quick strikes rain down on the serpent. It may have been resistant to the lightsaber, but it was not immune. And when he struck it on top of its head, the being shrieked out in pain. It pleased Tanek greatly to learn that this creature also knew pain. He sought to capitalize on it.

Tanek kept up his barrage of strikes, now mainly seeking to target its head. Now it was the amphistaff that was retreating. It eventually realized the battle for its turf was lost, and sought to escape. However, the Togruta was calling for blood, and he denied it retreat. After barrage upon barrage, and repeated blunt trauma to the head, the Vong beast finally lay still. The amphistaff was dead.

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Sweat dripped down the Togruta's skin, the battle had been a long one. Rest would come to him later, however. For now, what mattered, was his search for even more amphistaff. The thought of venturing deep into their territory caused him to frown. However, this was simply what he had to do. No way around it.

After his battle with the amphistaff, others seemed to shy away from his path, and left the Sith be. His dark presence seethed into the valley, the power resonating from him warned the serpents not to approach. Honestly, he didn't really know how many to expect in the valley. They didn't strike him as flock animals. Regardless, he was left alone, whether because of fear, respect, or they were just not particularly interested.

Eventually, he found a polyp. Finally. He had come across a few, though none that looked suitable. Some were too small, others were already dying. He needed one that was just about to have an amphistaff hatch free. The one he found now just might do. However, he needed to wait for it to emerge. When that happened, only Force knew.

Having found his target, and with few other options remaining, Tanek did the only thing he could. He sat down, and fell into a deep meditative state. He'd allow himself to fall into an almost trance-like state. He made his other senses withdraw, his very body to falling into a near-hibernation state. Tanek needed to conserve his energy, and would expense as little of it as possible, only remaining rejuvenated through the Dark Side. And so he waited.

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Finally, something stirred within the polyp. They had at last grown too large for the polyp to support them. Now, the trio emerged. How long had it been? A day? Three? A week? He had lost track of time. His cold, dead eyes opened, slowly. Time didn't matter. They were here now. And so was he. Tanek would not let them escape into the wilderness.

One slithered away as the Togruta rose, his bones aching after having remained in the same position for so long. Another snaked its way towards him, but he ignited his lightsaber, and lifted it from the ground and flung it far away. His eyes were set on the third. He wasn't sure what about this particular amphistaff that had caught his eye. All he had to go on was a hunch. Since being introduced to the Force, however, he had learned to trust his hunch. This one would become his pet, and it would serve him well.

Quickly, he crouched down beside it, and lay his hand on its form. It stopped, turning its face at him, hissing, threatening to release its venomous and blinding spit at him. "Virt'ne byloti, mielis" he cooed in the ancient tongue of the Sith. "Virt'ne byloti" He was still but an initiate in the language, but he was studying it in his spare time. Sith history fascinated him greatly, but many of the ancient scrolls were inaccessible to him because of the language barrier. However, he sought to enlighten himself, as he often did, in the library of his master, Darth Vornskr. One day, he would build a library on Glee Anselm that would rival it. But for now, Coruscant was where he had to turn for such knowledge.

Even as the amphistaff hissed at him, treating him as an unknown enemy, the Togruta didn't show fear or any signs of aggression. Gently, he wrapped his red fingers around the serpent's belly, and lifted it. "J'us aras manosi" he said softly, holding up the amphistaff's face to his. "Vi nu aras tu'iea" the beast stared at him, swaying its head from side to side, calculating its next move. Tanek rose to his feet, still holding the amphistaff in a firm, but gentle grip. "Sanara, mielis. Sanara" his other hand rose to pet the snake's head, stroking down its hard, scaly back. The gesture appeared to be appreciated, and the amphistaff had calmed, slowly realizing it was not staring at an enemy. It was staring at its new master.

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

With the amphistaff, freshly emerged from its polyp, resting on his upper back and shoulders, Tanek emerged from the valley. He had found what he had been looking for. His escape from the valley was unopposed. The corpse of a the amphistaff he had encountered earlier reminded him, as well as anyone else, why that was the case.

The Togruta Knight seated himself on the speeder he had arrived in. He still had a long way to go, but the hard part was over. All that remained now was for him to reach his ship, and finally leave this planet. It pleased him greatly that he would not be leaving the planet alone.

With his dark robes flowing in the wind behind him, a long amphistaff coiling itself around his form, Tanek began the journey home.

[member=Setzi Lunelle]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Every now and then, the Jedi Agricultural Corps contacted Setzi Lunelle to go with them on a peacekeeping mission to help struggling farmers and peasants tend to their ailing crops by using the Living Force. The padawan herself had no knowledge of Consitor Sato or any other Force nature skills to aid in husbandry or seeding. But she had been raised on a farm, and the advanced knowledge she had of farming methods, especially in a desert clime, along with the Jedi powers from the AgriCorp members would make this a quick and easy assignment.

The mission itself was dangerous due to its location: Selvaris. The twin-sunned planet in Wild Space was Sith-controlled and also home to the Yuuzhan Vong and their vong-formed creations. The AgriCorp would need to swiftly impart their knowledge to the farmers, and then head out in a few days before Vong or Sith noticed their presence.

The planet itself was beautiful and tropical, so on the last day of her assignment, Setzi decided to take a walk through some of the lush jungle near one of the farms where they were stationed. The jungle climate was slightly oppressive, but the flora was colorful and picturesque. Instead of her padawan robes - which would have attracted the wrong kind of attention anyway - she wore a sleeveless suit of light armor. Hiking boots adorned her feet. She also brought along a tracking device in case she got lost, as well as her lightsaber which she was never without.

After about thirty minutes of sight-seeing, she turned to go back to the farm because the AgriCorps were scheduled to depart in a couple hours. However, she stumbled over a large tree root and tumbled face first into a thick, jungle mud hole. Cursing aloud, Setzi climbed out after a few minutes of flailing around in the sticky mud, and once she recovered and turned to go back the way she came, the brunette padawan realized she didn't remember the way. She patted her belt for the tracking device.

The tracking device?!? Where was it?!?

She looked down, and her heart sank as the small electronic device lay stuck in the mud that she had just climbed out of. She fished it out with a stick and tapped on it, but it was fried, damaged by the mud and moisture. Rolling her eyes and pushing her hair out of her eyes with dirty hands, she decided to take the path that looked the most familiar.

And sure enough after an hour she was... incredibly, karking lost.

But no need to panic yet.

The jungle brush began to thin, the sun streaming in brighter from the canopy of trees overhead. Finally, she came out into a wide valley. With her hand, she shielded her eyes from the twin suns and looked for a settlement maybe or even a city where she could regroup and call someone from the AgriCorp to pick her up.


A lone figure on a speeder was adjacent to her but not close enough to really tell what or who this individual was.

[member="Tanek Santii"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

What was supposed to have been a quick and easy in-and-out mission for Miss Lunelle, grew more challenging and tense due to its location. On Selvaris, she was surrounded by enemies, and potential individuals who could give her up to the Sith. Most likely due to the humanitarian nature of her mission, her help had been well-received. Yet something was coming. Was it the will of the Force, or simply poor luck? Regardless, The Dark Side was approaching.

Tanek spotted someone in the distance. He couldn't make out who, or what it was. Getting closer didn't help much either, as the figure was covered in mud. What was dawning on him, was that it was not a Vong, but appeared to be a Human female. He felt an oddly familiar feeling in the Force...

With the valley behind him and a jungle in the distance, his speeder slowed down. By now, Setzi would be able to make out more details of the figure approaching her, from the red skin to the four lekku and two montrals. He was indeed a Togruta, clad in the dark robes of the Sith. Did she know anyone of the kind?

At this point, escaping through running away was unlikely. This encounter was happening. She was on foot, and lost, while he was on a speeder. There was something about this situation that prodded him to investigate. He had his eyes on her now, and his speeder was heading straight for her. There was something about the air that made him feel his anger swell. Was it the presence of a light side user?

The speeder would slow, and stop, not too far from the girl. If she was running, he would attempt to cut her off. If she stood still, he'd simply stop in front of her, and dismount. "Who are you?" the familiar voice of the Togruta asked her. "State your business." his tone was cold and demanding. He was walking towards her, slowly, much like she would have seen him walk towards her on Ruusan.

Tanek froze. Unlike on Ruusan, he did not keep walking until he was right in her face. Well, technically that had been an illusion, but still. "Wait..." his eyes narrowed, his facial expression turning suspicious. "I... I know you" he concluded finally. All the mud aside, he did recognize the girl. Last time he had seen her, she had been running away from him, jumping onto a Jedi transport ship, taking her away to safety. Back then he had been but an Acolyte, now he stood before her, a Sith Knight.

The look on his face was one of genuine surprise. She was the least person he had expected to see her. What was she doing here? "Jedi" he said, the term always ringing with a venomous tone when spoken by him. He really ought to find out what her name was. "We meet again" Would he finally get answers to his questions, what had become of her? He had not stopped wondering. Had she finally seen the wisdom of the dark? Or did she still naively cling to the light? One noticeable improvement was that she was not wearing her Jedi robes.

[member=Setzi Lunelle]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

As the Sith Togruta would feel her Force presence, Setzi in turn began to feel his. Before she even got a good look at him, his familiar dark imprint settled back into the grooves of her mind and seeped into fissures he had caused by using Dun Moch on her during their Ruusan duel. She was immediately filled with a sense of dread and unease.

As she watched the speeder bike approaching, she could barely move from where she stood. This most surely is a bad dream, she thought. I’m in an AgriCorp tent somewhere under the stars and moon, having a nightmare and I’m going to wake up soon. But she was very much in the real world and gazing upon the Sith Knight who wounded her with his crimson lightsaber and caused her to flee the planet with Jedi Master Taeli Raaf. For weeks, she suffered from the painful, burning cut, not to mention a broken spirit.

But Setzi had been training and unbeknownst to either of them, had been exposed to even more, powerful Sith magic. Perhaps the Togruta would sense this in her aura. Perhaps not.

The brunette padawan felt like running. Her heart sped up, adrenaline beginning to spike. But then he spoke to her in a low growl and dismounted the bike. She stayed very still. Now that he was off of the bike, he may be easier to outrun. No sudden moves, Setzi, she thought. If he attempted to kill her, it was unlikely she would be rescued in this remote location.

You are on your own.

With a deep breath, she said, “My name is Setzi.” The padawan put her hands up to show him she wasn’t going to go for the saber hanging on to her belt. “I’m here with the AgriCorp. It’s a Jedi charity of sorts which helps farming communities.”

Frankly, Setzi didn’t have much experience with the Sith at all aside from knowledge of a few relics and artifacts. And a ritual that her Master had performed which left her quite suspicious of its origins. But she imagined that even behind evil and malignant blight of the collective One Sith, most of them individually were children once or had humble upbringings.

The red-skinned Togruta was surprised at seeing her. While not overly friendly, his charismatic face did not show maliciousness. At least not yet.

[member="Tanek Santii"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Indeed, when he stood so close to her, her scent was unmistakable. This was indeed the Padawan he had faced on Ruusan. Yet she felt different, and he couldn't quite tell which Setzi it was that he was dealing with. Was it Setzi the Jedi? Setzi the Rogue? Or someone else entirely? Her true nature seemed elusive, just barely out of reach, almost as if she was teasing him. If only he had been more skilled in tearing away any defences, he might've been able to see past her shields and look deep within her.

The air had started growing thick with dread and unease as he'd approached her. Her heart was racing. Was she happy to see him? The Togruta smirked. While he didn't know exactly who she was with, and how many Jedi were on the planet, he assumed he wouldn't be seeing Taeli Raaf swinging by in a ship to pick the Padawan up this time. The girl looked a mess, clearly having taken a tumble into a pit of mud earlier. Was she lost?

Setzi. At least now, he had a name. Setzi. Seeing as she put her hands up and wasn't going for her saber, Tanek made no sudden moves either. There was no reason two people couldn't have a civil conversation, right? Before violence happened. "Do you have a last name?" The Sith asked a dangerous question. Would she give it to him, or would fear have her withhold such information?

Tanek frowned, giving her a look of disappointment. "A Jedi charity. So you are still a Jedi, then." he had hoped she had left the order, gone rogue. Without any formal attachments to the Jedi Order, any master to answer to, snatching her up would've been so much easier. He had hoped Ruusan would have her see things differently, but it would seem he still had his work cut out for him. It was hard to explain to himself exactly why this was so important to him, but it was. He wanted her to join him.

"I was hoping I would see you again." he admitted. Although he didn't admit his reasons out loud, it wouldn't surprise him if she could guess why. "Any farmer here on Selvaris chose to be one." This was more or less true, but probably more of less. Any farmer who didn't wish to be one was unlikely to have the credits to get off-world. It was a harsh planet. "If they cannot deal with the consequences, they must leave or perish. By helping them you are doing them a disservice, and leave them weaker for it, by making them dependent on others for survival" as opposed to figuring out how to do that themselves, and growing stronger for it. Again, he shared some of his philosophy with her. Would she find it more agreeable this time around?

"But I forget myself. My name is Tanek. Tanek Santii" he introduced himself. He wanted her to know his name, to know his full name. As a Sith, he refused to hide. He would leave himself out in the open, and if that had him struck down, then he was not worthy to become a true Sith.

"How about we continue this conversation on my ship?" he said with a surprisingly charming smile. She had probably not heard of those when she had been told tales of the Sith. They weren't exactly known for their great people skills. "You are clearly not going anywhere" and he had a speeder. If she was lost, chances were she would find herself fighting Vong soon, if she managed to bump into them instead of the path back home. She could of course attempt to take the speeder from him, but he was unlikely to concede that without a fight. Similarly, he couldn't just let her walk away. "Care for a ride?" he offered her. He tried to subtly reach out with the Force, to touch her doubt, and if he found any part of her that wanted to go with him on that speeder, he would try to amplify that feeling. If he tried too hard, she would probably notice, and so he only tried with light pushes, mere suggestions through the Force.

He was hoping they could resolve this without a fight, at least for now. Unlike most Jedi he had met, she did not ignite her lightsaber the moment she spotted a Sith.

[member=Setzi Lunelle]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Since they had clashed before, Setzi still half expected the Togruta to pull out his lightsaber and charge her again as he had on Ruusan. So she was surprised when he asked for her last name. Perhaps she should give him an alias and be on the safe side? He already has your first name, she thought. Did the last name matter at this point?

“It's Lunelle," she answered.

She noted only curiosity on his face, perhaps mixed with disappointment? The padawan assessed him with especially inquisitive eyes as well. Aside from her encounter with him, and their subsequent battle, she had never been so close to his species. The montrals gave him a dignified look, and his skin tone was vibrant and striking, the lekku also an interesting feature to behold. But when the Sith Knight launched into his diatribe about the Selvaris farmers, Setzi couldn't help but disagree. She did so in a tone not to anger him, since the padawan still wasn’t sure of his motives.

“AgriCorp is only doing what they can to help these farmers in this extraordinarily bad season,” she said, squinting from the sun. “You can feel the heat here. It's oppressive and fatal. This drought is killing their animals and ruining their crop yield."

She frowned, still nervous in his presence. His name was Tanek Santii. and she had no reason to believe he was lying or using a false identity. And when he smiled, she was thoroughly confused. Stay on your guard, Setzi.

If she accepted his offer of a ride and took him to AgriCorp, would he attack and kill her fellow Jedi? Surely there were many more of them than the one Sith Lord. Unless he was with an OS contingent here on Selvaris. “Thank you for the offer of a ride,” she said. “If you could take me close to the mobile AgriCorp base I would appreciate it. Although I’m not sure where it is,” she said.

She moved closer to him but didn’t get onto the speeder bike yet. Through her own Force sensitivity she could feel him there, in her mind, reassuring her. It was a far cry from the last time he had touched her psyche with the crippling Dun Moch attack.

[member="Tanek Santii"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

Lunelle. Setzi Lunelle. Now he had her full name. He wasn't sure what would become of this encounter, how it would end. But, assuming she hadn't given her a fake name, he had something to go after, should she escape his grasp again. If necessary, he could investigate how large the Lunelle family was, and how far Setzi would be willing to go for them. But that was a sinister plot for another day.

When she argued, he wasn't offended or mad. He hadn't expected it to be easy to convert her to his way of thinking. In fact, he had never discussed matters like this with a Jedi before. It was rather interesting to hear the version coming from the other side. Not surprisingly, he was not convinced.

"This will not be the last harsh season on Selvaris. Instead of learning to survive, they are putting their fates in the hands of others. Dependency on others to accomplish ones goals can only lead to weakness and death. What happens when you leave? What happens when they are faced with another disaster? They do not have the tools to help themselves. Instead, they will be crying for help. Time is wasted on those who can barely keep themselves alive. Such individuals lend themselves to be used, to become stepping stones for others. They are insignificant life forms"

On this, the two were likely to disagree quite strongly. In his mind, if they couldn't survive on their own, they deserved to die. Helping them was a waste of ones own efforts, and in the long run did little to aid the people. He didn't necessarily need her to agree though, but he wanted to confront her thought pattern with his own.

The Sith watched her move closer to him, his lips shaping into a crooked smirk. She was rather good-looking, he couldn't deny that. Even with mud all over, sticking to the brunette's hair and certain areas of her face, she somehow appeared pleasing, even to the eyes of a Togruta. Even now, her presence held a certain level of grace to it, of elegance.

"Oh, Setzi. I won't be taking you back to AgriCorp. I'm afraid I'll have to escort you off planet. Your activities here are not authorized by One Sith." he said simply, not moving. "Come with me willingly, and we won't have to involve your friends at the mobile AgriCorp base" In truth, he didn't care about them. Not really. She was focal point of his interest. To have her, he would gladly let whatever farm-aid her allies were performing on the planet remain. So she was given the choice. Come quietly, or oppose him, and risk the lives of those she'd come here with. "Your lightsaber" he offered, extending an open hand. She had the Force, of course, but if they were to share a speeder, he would rather not have her keep her weapon closeby.

[member=Setzi Lunelle]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi listened to the Togruta defend his position on not providing aid to the Selvaris farmers. She felt like she was suddenly back in the University of Aduba-3 in debate class.

“This is not just nature talking,” she countered, tilting her head. “This planet has been Vongformed, so much that it’s changed the planet’s ecology. This is how native species go extinct, but the Vong only care about forcing their organic creations onto Selvaris, upsetting the balance. This is what is causing the drought and famine.”

“But the Vong do not care about that and neither do the Sith," she said, taking an indignant tone. Setzi was glad she was alone and her sister, Chastity wasn’t here to kark everything up and start a fight with the Sith Knight by saying something stupid or naïve.

“…. I won’t be taking you back to AgriCorp…”

These words sent a chill up her spine. Her hand immediately hovered over her lightsaber, but she didn’t draw it out. Not yet. If she were to ignite her weapon now, they would only have a repeat of the duel they had on Ruusan. And while the padawan was much stronger now, she was not convinced she could beat the powerful, exotically-striped darksider. He had both the physical advantage as she could see in his muscular form, but undoubtably the mental one as well. Instead, she thought back to how agonizingly painful the wound he inflicted on her was. Even though her Master, Khaleel Malvern had fully Force-healed the fresh scar, would there be another if she challenged him? Or this time would the damage be worse?

No, there had to be another way to escape without violence. Without putting her colleagues in danger. She let out a small huff of frustration and slowly handed him her saber. The padawan thought of her parents suddenly and how they always said if she was in trouble to not fight back, to give into demands… anything to stay alive. And on the other hand was her Jedi Master who, in his gruff voice would urge her fight the Sith with everything she had.

Perhaps there was a way to do both and that is currently where Setzi’s mind was. Her eyes darted to the direction of where she thought the camp was and then she fixed her serious gaze on the Togruta again.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “Let’s go.”

[member="Tanek Santii"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhxPBrxxaqc[/media]

"The Dark Side is unforgiving. You either adapt or you get destroyed." he replied with a shrug. He had no sympathy for the farmers on a Vongformed planet. "The weak will always be victims. Only the strong survive, because only the strong deserve to" he repeated that same line he had given her on Ruusan. Did she remember it? Would him bringing that up affect her in any way? She was right. The Vong did not care, and neither did the Sith. Neither did Tanek.

There was conflict in her. Should she stay or should she go? Did she choose battle, or would she comply? The lightsaber handed to him was answer enough. The Togruta smiled a sinister, crooked smirk. He was liking the way this was developing. Tanek took her lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. There didn't seem to be any ideal way of keeping it out of her reach, there came a risk with every place he put it. But at least, on his body, he could feel it if she reached for it. He didn't plan on holding on to it for long anyway.

The Sith mounted his speeder, looking up at her from his seated position. "Hop on." The best place for her would be to be seated behind him. He could've tried to work it out with her in front, though it might disturb his visual of the path ahead, which was something he needed at high paces. Regardless, this was more exciting, less predictable. "Don't try anything funny, Setzi. While my eyes may not be upon you, I am watching you." At least he had something else to call her but 'Jedi', right? He trusted she wouldn't hurt the driver. Tanek would make sure the speed was way too high for that to appear as a pleasant option.

"Don't fall." he'd say with a smirk, a very brief warning after she'd seated herself, before the speeder raced off, towards his ship.

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJe_ofKqC4o&ab_channel=LucyRoseVEVO[/youtube]

Setzi still felt that somehow she could get away from Tanek, as the Togruta was called, but she could really see no way out of her situation at this moment. First of all, she was tired and a little bit sore from the tumble into the mud. Second, she needed time to devise a plan, and this new development was moving all too fast for to formulate one on the spot.

She listened patiently to his debate on the Selvaris farmers and had to bite her tongue to engage him in a further argument. There would be time to persuade him later. She watched him straddle the speeder bike and again the instinct was there to run, to flee into the jungle, to try and evade him.

But she complied and gingerly mounted the bike. She had only ridden one a couple times in her life. Her parent's farm on Aduba-3 had one but it "wasn't a play-toy" and she and her sister were barely allowed on it for the most part.

Once the brunette padawan was on the bike, she wrapped both of her arms around his waist and laced her hands together to rest where his midsection was. His torso was muscular and sturdy.

"I'm holding on tight," Setzi remarked, as he teased her about not falling off. But as he sped away, she wondered if there was a Force power she could use on him while he was distracted by maneuvering the bike. Telepathy is always a little disarming, she thought.

Into his mind, she asked, "Where were you born, Tanek? On Shili?"

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

He felt her slender arms wrap around his waist, holding on to him as if her life depended on it. In all seriousness, it kind of did. He was driving, and fast. He felt her warmth against him, and if he didn't know better, he'd say his heart was beating a little faster. Such an unlikely sight they were, the Sith and the Jedi, riding a speeder off into the sunset. With all the mud from her fall, some of it was undoubtedly rubbing off on the back of his robe at this point. Setzi was a dirty girl.

He was surprised to find her voice within his head. It sent a quick shiver down his spine, but not necessarily the bad kind. He hadn't noticed her enter either. Was she prying into his mind? If so, what would she see? Telepathy was one of those abilities he had never really used much himself, though he'd been exposed to them plenty. The ability was similar to some he knew, as Sage Bane had trained him in the art of mentalism and the domination of others' minds. He was attempting to reverse-engineer the process now.

Hello? Is this thing on? Nope, that wasn't it. He felt her presence - more so than the physical one, of her body pressing up against his - but through the Force. He latched onto that presence, reaching out to touch her mind. The link she'd opened when she first addressed him gave him an easy path to follow. As if he was looking at countless white strings, there was one, glowing red. "Yes, I was." he said, his voice in her mind barely becoming more than a whisper. "HOW DID YOU KNOW?" His voice was calm, but it was just so loud. Untrained in telepathy, he had not quite figured out how to work the volume control. "AND WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHERE ARE FROM?" he was casually making conversation, blissfully unaware that his words were like point-blank thunders into her mind.

[member=Setzi Lunelle]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi tightened her grip around Tanek’s waist, mostly because he was going much faster than she anticipated. Neither of them had helmets either. What if we crash and our skulls are crushed? Or we smash into a boulder and the speeder bike explodes? She let her mind ponder the frightful possibilities.

Stupid girl, she thought, finally snapping out of it. Here you are worrying about a helmet and you are literally riding on the back of a speeder bike with a Sith Knight who had probably maimed and killed countless galaxians!

The padawan wasn’t particularly good at telepathy either, and at this early stage, she wouldn’t be able to read the Togruta’s thoughts. But she was able to detect the dark energy that constantly surrounded his mind. She also picked up… excitement? The thrill of the hunt?

Setzi winced as the sound of his deep voice boomed in her head. Ohhh-kay, that enough telepathy for the moment. Using her voice, she yelled over the sound of the wind and the drone of the speeder bike: “I’m from Aduba-3! It’s an agricultural planet!”

But it was difficult to make casual conversation as both of them rocketed along the landscape, through the open valley of Selvaris, which despite the Vongforming, was quite a beautiful planet. The brunette padawan was distracted by the engaging views, so much that she almost forgot she was a captive.

But only for a few minutes or so and then she was back to plotting her escape. You better do something soon, Setzi.

Her left hand tightened around his waist, stabilizing as best as she could, because with her right hand, she reached down to where his belt was and attempted to unhook her lightsaber from it.

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

He felt her grip tighten around his waist, but he didn't mind. After all, he wouldn't want her to fall off and perish. Though suppose, that if a speeder ride killed her, she would've been ill-suited to become Sith regardless. And while he, as the corrupting element, was fine with being closed to her, he wondered what it would be like for her. To be this close to the kind who her Jedi friends undoubtedly had described as monsters, how would she feel? Tanek wanted to give her a closer look at the darkness, to let her stare into the abyss, and see if what stared back was a mirror image of herself.

He felt their mental link close, and heard her voice shouting over the sound of the wind. Clearly, she didn't like having him inside of her head. He didn't blame her. Though he didn't reply. It was an interesting piece of knowledge. A farmer girl? From Aduba-3. There was usually an ulterior motive to his small-talk. Now he knew her family name, as well as her home world. A good starting point should she ever cross him to the point where he'd feel a need to exact a vengeance most severe.

Now her grip on him shifted. Her left hand tightened its grip, while her right removed itself, moving lower down on his body. His snake stirred... No, not that one, gutter-mind. The freshly hatched amphistaff that had so far been resting, out of sight, now came to life. It had coiled itself around his right arm, underneath his robe. Now it snaked its way down his torso, around his waist, towards that area where her hand reached for. Seeing how close their bodies were, how there wasn't much room in the way of escape, it would try to snake its way up her arm (or if she pulled back fast enough, up from her waist), coiling itself around it and her shoulder. It wouldn't apply pressure, it wouldn't behave in any hostile way. It was only there, as a lethal reminder, a serpentine warning.

Once more, he reopened that mental link that had been closed earlier, retracing the process from before. "Do you want to kill me, Setzi?" his voice was oddly calm for such a serious question. "Do you wish I was dead?" there wasn't any anger, any bitterness. His voice seemed emotionally detached. This time, it seemed volume control had been adjusted much better.

Soon, their little ride would be over, and they would reach his ship. Soon™

[member=Setzi Lunelle]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

As she patted around his dark robes with her hand, trying to grasp either her lightsaber or even his, she nearly blushed at the fact that her somewhat muddy hand was candidly groping around his torso. Suddenly, the amphistaff wriggled out and slithered up her arm. By the Eternal Core what is that??? Setzi shivered under its unsettling grip.

She withdrew her hand quickly as though she had touched an open flame. This caused her to nearly lose her balance until her hand scrambled back into place where it was before, firmly clasped to her other hand and around his waist.

The brunette padawan heard the Togruta's voice break through her thoughts again, and she answered him telepathically: “I don’t want you dead, Tanek.” It was the honest answer. She didn’t wish to kill him, but only wanted to escape. She met his emotionless tone with a more wistful one. “I just want to go back to my campsite.” Was there sensitivity inside him? Did he feel empathy or pity for her? If the conditions were right, Setzi would surely feel these emotions towards him. Did a Sith had the capacity for compassion? She was unsure of the answer.

Exhausted and with sore muscles from holding on so tight, she would gently lay her head on his back, sinking into him. If anything, she reasoned that this would help her to preserve a little bit of strength for when the speeder bike finally stopped at their destination.

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

He felt her hand quickly withdraw as his newest friend came out to play. Had she ever encountered one of those before? Probably not. With a lethal bite and venomous spit, the amphistaves weren't known for leaving people alive to regale the story of their encounters with the Vong bioengineered species. He wasn't exactly in a position to point a literal gun to her head as he drove, so instead, the amphistaff became a figurative one, watching her carefully as ordered by its master.

His question was answered. She didn't want him dead. How Jedi-like of her. What did she want with him then? Escape, most likely. There was something about the way she said she just wanted to go back to her campsite that tugged at something he didn't know was there. She was tired, and it was as if in that moment, some of it rubbed off on him. Why was he doing this? He mentally shook his head, and shrugged the question away. He knew why. This was necessary. Wasn't it? Excitement, happiness, fear, anger, hate, those were emotions he could work with. With this, he did not know what to do. He had no answer for her this time.

As if to add another challenge to his little inner debate, he felt Setzi leaning her head against his back, resting up against him. It was probably not intended as such, but it caused his breathing to pause, if only but for a moment. The speeder slowed down, but only very slightly. Though it may not have been a conscious action, it prolonged the journey if only by a minute or two.

The pair finally reached the destination. Out on a large, open field, his recently acquired Shadow-class Reconnaissance Corvette stood. It was a beautiful piece of work, Tanek thought. It had enough space for everything he might need, from comfortable lodgings to a means of transporting troops if needed be. For now though, hopefully, the ship would only carry Tanek and Setzi, should he manage to get her to come with him onto his ship.

Tanek's mind was conflicted with foreign thoughts and emotions. When the speeder bike stopped, he realized he hadn't wanted it to end. As he reluctantly dismounted, he felt... Compassion? Longing? He had first become aware of hints of it as he had slowly grown accustomed to the feel of her head against his back. He knew he shouldn't, but there it was, and there was little to be done about it. He felt... Weak. Alongside all the other, a silent wave of fury built up within him, born from a sense of contempt for himself.

"I said I would escort you off this planet. Will you come with me?" he extended a hand to her, an almost gentlemanly gesture, as she'd (hopefully) take it and step off the speeder bike. He tried to hide his internal conflict from surfacing through the tone of his voice, he tried to hide the fact that he needed her to say yes.

[member=Setzi Lunelle]