Something strange in the Sand (Dark Jedi Training/Open)

[RC 212]

Tatooine

Beyond the dune sea.

OOC: A training/meet n' greet for Dark Jedi who need a mentor.


The sled was full of junk, much like his memories of the past. From Clan Raxis leader, fallen from the true path of the light and then to exile. That was Jack Raxis in a nutshell. He'd been here and there, fought toe to toe with evil and good alike.

But now he was in a state of flux.

There was no Clan right now to call family, no greater cause he was serving. There was only Jack, alone with the tuskens in the desert, and a whole lot of scorching sand.

Dak his copilot had left to go back to the core, leaving him The Rogue and a bucket full of good memories.

Foot after foot he trudged through the wastes, armor dulled and pitted, draggin behind him wires, and capacitors, thrusters and scrap on a makeshift sled tethered to his waist. Moments later he arrived at his camp. It was a simple one, nothing but Bantha tusks with leather stretched over them to make a teepee.

The rope dropped to the sand and he stumbled in, ripping off his helmet and tipping the last of his canteen over into his parched throat. Night was falling soon. He'd heard the rumors of other Dark Jedi visiting this part of Tatooine. Seeking to test themselves in the desert. His test was already compete now, all he could do was pass on what he learned.

"Damn sand people," Jack grumbled.

The shotgun hung on a rusty hook in the centre and he removed his boots and armor, piece by piece. He ran his hands over the Wolf Emblem and the fur lining, remembering the glory of battle for the Clans of Mandalore.

And then he sat crosslegged.



Meditation took hold as the force flowed through him and the tent Every pore opened, and every pathway was made anew. His vigor was returning, his darkness and the light in an uneasy balance. Dark energy swirled around him, rowing in an ever larger and larger ring, pushing out farther and farther.

The time of the forgotten Dark Jedi was at hand.

He was calling his brethren to roost....

 

[Xzara Vox]

Xzara, much to her own surprise, had a successful day. After spending almost two months researching the geographical nature of the vast desserts in Tatooine, she discovered where to find ancient artifacts dating back thousands of years.

Now with her HWK-290, The Korendum, loaded up she headed back to the market she came across earlier in the day. She set her ship to auto-pilot and propped her feet up on the control panel.

She started to doze off when the startling chime of the emergency alarm sounded.

"What?" Xzara jumped up to see what the problem was. "Oh crap! Crap crap crap! How did this happen? I just had the engines inspected..or was that last year?

After trying to salvage her engines in some way she realized she was running out of time and braced for impact.

"Oh my head" She groaned and brought her hand to her forehead to discover a gash running from her temple to her hairline. "Great, one more thing to deal wit-" She paused. Xzara felt something she had tried to suppress for almost five years. That familiar feeling of power, the push and pull of dark and light.

Leaving the wreckage of her precious Korendum she started to walk through the Tatooine dessert with no real sense of where she was going. All she knew was that with every step that familiar feeling of power grew stronger and stronger.

After some time she started to see something out in the distance, what started as a black blur, turned out to be a camp.

Warily, she approached it.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Xzara Vox"]

Smoke and flames. Pain. All these feeling were conveyed to Jack through his web. As it expanded the eye of his mind stretched to incredible lengths to encompass everything. The subtle change in the winds, the feel of the sand, the sound of sand crunching underfoot.

Someone was approaching.

And it was then his eyes snapped open and he growled, reaching up from the ground to snatch his old lever action shotgun from its rusty hook. The flames crackled and spat embers, wavering in the dull darkness of the tent, bathing him in the smell of musky wood smoke. Yes someone was coming, and approaching at a medium rate of speed.

One hand gripped the sand, palm splayed and pushed him to his feet. With the muzzle he ripped back the tent flap and took one step forwards into the night. The barrell levelled, making a straight plane with his arm.

"Who goes there?"

 

[Xzara Vox]

"What are you doing Xzara?" She muttered to herself, "You said this life was behind you..."

As she approached the camp she surveyed her surroundings. It was simple, a single tepee. Then a man came out, she gripped the handle of her gun.

He was tall, maybe a little under six foot, and human. She eyed a shotgun in his hand.

Xzara put her hands up, "I don't mean to cause any trouble, my ship crashed..sort of near here you could say.."

She took a step closer, the feeling surged more powerful than ever. Her pulse quickened. She cleared her throat and held out her hand,

"I'm Xzara, I can't explain it but I feel something brought me here."

 

[RC 212]

[member="Xzara Vox"]

Jack could feel her fledgling power even now as she approached. The dark ripples were dissipating as his focus was broken, but her own darkness answered back in the depths of the force. It was like waves from one pond, leaping to another. With a grin he nodded and lowered the shotgun, letting the muzzle point to the sand.

"I brought you here." It was a flat tone with which he spoke, simple and quick vowels.

"Come in. I saw your crash, I'm sure you have wounds or at least something that’s broken."

Then he disappeared back into the tent. The shotgun resumed its place on the hook and he resumed his place by the fire...

 

[Xzara Vox]

This sparked Xzara's interest, she ducked her head under the opening of the tepee. Inside was a fire, the man sat next to it cross legged. She sat across from him and warmed up her hands.

"I did get this gash on my head, but no need."

She closed her eyes, "haven't done this in a while..." She felt the familiar surge of power and concentrated on the wound. Slowly she felt it close up.

Xzara opened her eyes and smiled.

"So you say you brought me here, why?"

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Xzara Vox"]

Jack looked her over. She was rather small, and she looked like a pilot. Her spacers outfit was a dead give away, as was the sidearm holstered at her hip. Much of her spoke of struggle, but she had a spark, and some actual intelligent wit about her. That was a start. And then their was the force potential, only what way did she lean? Was she so blind as to follow but one path, or many?

"Rest easy, we'll get to that."

He shifted his weight, returning to his meditative state. He was learning to do it with his eyes open, and keep a split focus. Much of the focusing and recalling of memories occurred in the background of his mind whilst the rest processed a narrow band of what occurred around him. Reactions at this point were gut instinct.

He could feel her force presence filling the small space with his. It was like an unmolded sculpture in his minds eye, whilst Jacks was more a chaotic storm, at the edges calm bu the inner circle fire and lightning.

"You have the force. You just demonstrated that. And healing too, which is a nice touch. Something I've not even bothered to try. What the real question is, is why did you come? No doubt you can feel my presence, even if you don’t know exactly what it is you feel. Help is a distress beacon away. No you're here for something else."

He shifted again, this time raising a hand to levitate two cups full of water over the fire. They stood still as if etched in the very air while the water inside began to steam and bubble. From his belt he produced two flats of bark and tossed them in, then moved the cups opposite of one another.

One rested before him, and the other before her.

"Tell me first. What do you know of the Jedi, the Sith and those in between. And how do you see it?"

 

[Xzara Vox]

Xzara took a deep breath as she considered his question. How much should she share of her past with a complete stranger? Though, she could feel a sense of familiarity in him. It was as if he shared a bond with her, a same push and pull of light and dark. She answered him, carefully considering each word before she spoke. "I side with neither Jedi or Sith. As a child I trained as a Jedi, when I grew I worked as an archaeologist for them. I started to crave more though, so I left. I studied the ways of the Sith. My master decided one day that I had grown too strong and tried to kill me. I am a Dark Jedi." She stopped and looked over to him, "But I think you already knew that. After my master betrayed me I left and never looked back. I put the life of the force behind me. Until today, something brought me here I am sure. To answer your question, I don't feel either side is capable enough to successfully lead our galaxy in the correct direction. They both stick to their black and white way of seeing things. I think to correctly control something you need to tap into both light and dark, both good and bad. That way you can see both sides of a problem." Xzara watched as the two cups full of water seemingly heated themselves over the fire, but she knew that was the work of the man beside her. She took the cup in front of her and sipped it, the hot water felt good as it slid down her throat. She sat and toyed with her braid as she awaited the mans response.

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Xzara Vox"]

Jack nodded, taking a sip of his own cup.

"Tell me about the difference between the light and the dark. Do you know what it is to live in the light and fight in the dark?"

It was a pivotal question. Her Sith upbringing was the more disturbing part to him. Despite being a Dark Jedi, he was still a Jedi. At the base of that darkness was the light, which he still tried to serve. Some could call fighting dark with dark an abomination, Jack thought of it as a necessity. Either side offered advantages the other did not.

For Jack his advantage was rage in battle. Having been born to a warrior culture, rage was a part of battle.

"And lastly, If you received great power, how would you use it? Why?"

 

[Xzara Vox]

Xzara wondered why he was asking her all these questions. They were all things that she struggled to discover the answers to in her past. She had to master using the anger inside to her advantage without letting it consume her very being.

"To live in the light and fight in the dark, yes I suppose I do. It is being able to live your life to the best standard as possible, but still have the ability to tap into the dark when necessary."

She had to think about his question of great power for a while. That wasn't something she wanted to think about. The idea of that much control over other things scared her. She had craved more than what she had before, when she tried to pursue it she lost everything. All she gained was darkness. Sometimes she was grateful for what she now had, other times she despised it.

"To answer your question, the idea of great power is daunting. It has certainly betrayed me in the past. But I think I would use it to create some sort of peace in the galaxy, at least to the greatest extent that I could. Some sort of way for people to not have to worry about so much evil."

She stared into the fire as she answered and drifted into a daze. As she thought of such a possibility the fire blazed up. She realized what she was doing, averted her eyes from the flame, and regained focus. "Sorry, my bad."

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Xzara Vox"]

Jack was satisfied with the answer. She could think for herself, and already had a handle on both the light and the dark. That made her equally as dangerous as it made her moldable. Especially to his own ends.

With a grin he leaned back on one palm, sipping from the steel canteen. The tea was Ankarres wood, a rare species he'd purchased from Rave Merrill once upon a time. It was a combination of Jal'Shey magics and arcane long forgotten means that grew it. In question the susbtannce calmed ones nerves, and kept them centered in the lighter currents of the force.

"I'm curious to know what you want in life. I myself am a drifter, looking for a student."

Jack took another sip.

"For some time now I've wandered the desert, refining my powers in both the sun and shadow, sharpening my warriors edge. I am a Mandalorian far from his home, disgraced from the United Clans. I plan to return to my kin and fight alongside them, but for the New Mandalore. What do you think about joining me and learning on the way?"