Taken

[Calix Loragwyn]

Calix sat with his bodyguard in a popular tea house and slowly broke up the slice of cake he had ordered. He was too nervous to enjoy it. Today was his day of liberation with his months of careful planning coming to a head. He was going to be kidnapped.

Taking a sip of his tea, the boy struggled to maintain a calm countenance as his heart raced. Even though he knew when it was to happen, he could not anticipate his kidnapper's tactics nor recognize their face. After all, their only communication was over the HoloNet with his selected criminal hidden behind a screen name that told him little.

I'm sorry, he thought as he shot a look at his bodyguard. She was probably going to die today.

No. He stopped himself before he could allow himself to regret his decision.

"I'm feeling unwell, let's go home," Calix said and picked up his backpack. The beat of his heart sped up as put his arms through its loops.

That was the signal for his assailant to strike.

[member="Darth Amortarus"]​

 

[Darth Amortarus]

Time was an odd idea. But it was only that— an idea, a concept, a myth. And so it was with such speed that Darth Amortarus, the Immutable Sith Lord, cut down those ahead of him that time seemed to be nonexistent. Every civilian in his way as he rushed towards his target felt the sting of his resonant blade as the Sith Lord stormed forward purposefully.

The doors of the tea house exploded, showering the customers with broken glass. An enormous armored being, thrumming orange lightsaber in hand, stepped through the twisted doorframe, stooping to avoid hitting his head. He scanned the place, trying to locate his target. His eyes fell upon the young boy wearing a backpack. The Sith has simply struck when the Force had said to, but now he recognized the pack as his signal.

Breathing heavily through his respirator, the Gen'Dai made a beeline for the boy. A few people stepped away, not wanting to be hit by the abnormally large lightsaber as it swung past them, crackling abnormally as it drifted through debris in its path. The Sith held out his hand, and a nearby table flew at the bodyguard from behind her with incredible speed and force. She’d better be able to use the Force, he thought with a split-second mental smirk. If she doesn’t use it now, she never will.

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

It was one thing to plan his kidnapping but another thing entirely to actually experience it.

Calix filled with fear as the Sith made his presence known and a table was sent flying toward his bodyguard.

"Elise!" he yelled as he rushed toward the fallen woman. The back of her head had been split open by the heavy metal table and blood gushed out of the wound, dying her light hair a bright crimson.

I'm sorry, he mentally apologized to the woman again. From the looks of it, her chances of surviving her nasty head wound weren't great and decreased with each passing minute.

Ready to be freed, Calix remained by his bodyguard's side, desperately calling out her name as tears welled up in his eyes. Though most of his reaction were an act, the tears that now flowed freely down his cheeks were real. While he had never been too fond of the woman - someone who had made him feel as if he was suffocating at times, it did not change the fact that her current situation was partly his fault.

Nervous about what was to come, Calix trembled as he awaited the Sith's approach.

[member="Darth Amortarus"]​

 

[Darth Amortarus]

Glass crunched underfoot as the massive armored Sith approached his prey. Grabbing the boy round his waist, making sure to be convincingly rough but not too harmful, Amortarus sent a surge of Force rushing through his legs. They burst out of the wall of the tea house, shielded by a blast of kinetic Force from the Gen'Dai's outstretched hand. As they fled into the street, the child jostled about in Amortarus's matallic grasp, a shot sounded. The Sith grunted in pain as a red blaster bolt tore through a chink in his armor, running straight through the back of his neck and shooting out the front.

Merely annoyed and in a bit of pain, the Sith Lord turned to see a squadron of law enforcement officers, all pointing blasters at him. The sniper, visible to Amortarus only thanks to his Force-Enhanced vision, looked absolutely stunned that the huge being was still standing after a bolt through the neck.

“Sir, stand down in the name of the Galactic Law,” the commander blared, his mouth to an amplifier receiver. “We are authorized to apprehend you on charges of murder and suspected association with the Trade Underground.”
Chuckling through his voice distorter, the Gen'Dai's only answer was to throw his outsize lightsaber at the squad. Alarmed and surprised, they all fired at it, resulting in several deafening cracks as the blade flared, deflecting the seemingly more powerful bolts back at their origin. Using the distraction to his advantage, Amortarus Force Dashed away, his lightsaber deactivating and following suit. Though there were no fatalities, the squad was badly hurt by their reflected fire, unconscious and unable to call for backup.

Once in a less populated part of town, Darth Amortarus released his grip on Calix as the airlock of his Vanguard-class gunship sealed itself with a hiss. Sitting down in a well-furnished chair fixed to the floor, the armored monstrosity gestured for Calix to take a seat as well.

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

Filled with fear, Calix had no difficulty in playing the role of a victim in a convincing manner. Twisting and turning, the boy struggled to free himself to no avail until a shot rung out. A blaster had been fired.

Finally, an excuse to stop struggling, the boy thought, relieved. The adrenaline that rushed through his body had since worn off and he was beginning to feel a little tired. If I ever pay for my own kidnapping again, I need to request that I be knocked out. Playing the role of the victim really sucked.

Bored, Calix watched as the Sith dealt with the law enforcement. Looks like I've chosen my kidnapper well, he noted as the Sith moved him to a quieter part of the town and brought him aboard a ship.

The boy sat at the Sith's gesture and removed his backpack from his shoulders. "Here's your payment," he said, handing a credit chip to the armored man. "I've loaded your fee on to it so let's leave this place as soon as possible."

Small and frail, Calix knew he safety could no longer be guaranteed once the Sith was paid what little control he may have had of the the behemoth of a man relinquished, however, his desire to escape had been so great he no longer cared about his personal safety so long as he was anywhere else but Tygara.

"Let's get going," he ordered. While he knew he had no place giving out commands, he knew needed to act the part of an employer plus, more importantly, he could not allow the Sith to catch on to his lack of confidence.

[member="Darth Amortarus"]​

 

[Darth Amortarus]

The Sith Lord took the credits from the boy, looking Calix up and down with the Force. Not much to look at. Just basic nobility after all, no real potential. Time to have some fun. Even as he thought it, the boy told him to leave. Though his voice sounded commanding, Amortarus sensed that Calix knew that control was in the Sith's hands.

A laugh, its rolling thunder butchered by the crackle of Amortarus's vocal synthesizer, was the Sith's response to the order. “My ship, my rules, little man,” he said, standing up and examining the credit chip before storing it in a nearby container. “I’ll drop you off wherever you like, but until then, you’re mine.”

Returning to the table as a pilot droid came through to guide the ship, the Sith sat down again and pulled out a lightsaber hilt. Then another, then another. Soon, twelve different hilts sat in front of Calix. “The saber test is one I have administered many times,” Amortarus said, leaning in closer towards the boy. “Choose the one that suits you best... and that will decide your role in the little game we’re going to play before I set you free.”

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

Calix scowled when the Sith called him little man. Like many children, he liked to think himself mature beyond his years.

"As long as wherever I like is far from the place you took me from," the boy retorted as [member="Darth Amortarus"] pulled out and placed twelve lightsabers before him.

“Choose the one that suits you best... and that will decide your role in the little game we’re going to play before I set you free,” the Sith said.

This piqued the boy's interest. Also like other children, Calix liked to pass time by playing games. "Ok, I'll indulge you," he smirked, maintaining his act. "I chose this one," he said pointing to the ninth lightsaber which looked to be carved from wood with metal components as it looked to be the lightest and most fashionable.

"What comes next?"

[member="Darth Amortarus"]​

 

[Darth Amortarus]

Gathering up the other lightsabers, Darth Amortarus handed the chosen hilt to Calix. “Next... we have some fun.” A chuckle rumbled through the synth of the vocal disguise that the Sith wore. “I’ll go speak with our captain. We have a few stops to make before your final destination.” Grinning underneath his helmet, the Sith walked into the cockpit. “Are we on course for Circarpous V?” The FA-4 pilot droid nodded. The Sith gestured at the console. “Punch it then.”

The droid nodded, reaching out to pull down the hyperdrive lever. The stars around them turned into streaks as their speed transcended realspace, propelling the ship through the fabric of reality into the higher plane of hyperspace. Warped time and space twisted around them, speeding the Force Phantom across the galaxy through the tesseract they had created.

Returning to Calix, the Sith said in split tones, “You will need to adjust to using your chosen weapon. It has a yellow-green dahgee focus crystal, so its blade will be a bit... peculiar. Best figure out how to control it before you start using it.”

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

Fun? Calix thought. I'm not sure we have the same definition of fun.

The boy watched as [member="Darth Amortarus"] left for another room before pulling his revolver out of his backpack. Making sure the safety was on, he stuffed the weapon into the back of his pants and untucked his shirt in attempt to conceal the bulge in his back.

Hoping the Sith would not notice or care about the disheveled state of his shirt, Calix maintained his calm demeanor hoping the man would not notice.

Unknowledgeable in the Force or anything related to the Force, the boy did not quite understand what the Sith meant.

Peculiar? Aren't lightsabers pretty much all the same save for the colour of their blades?

"Okay..." he muttered igniting the weapon and swung it around a couple of times.

The blade that protruded from the hilt felt so weightless and the blade seemed so harmless. Curious, he gently touched the blade to the floor. Was it even the real thing? he wondered.

 

[Darth Amortarus]

As the blade ignited with a sizzling sound, Calix saw what the Sith had meant. Unlike the orange blade that Amortarus had wielded himself, this one was zigzagged and angled, its core a dark silvery sheen. As it touched the floor, the blade sparked, and the metal began to melt as the carpet caught fire. A vision of the blade's previous wielder flashed into Calix's mind.

The man who held the blade was cut down by Amortarus, and the vision ended as the Sith picked up the lightsaber and walked away.

The real Sith Lord walked back into the room to find the carpet aflame. “None of that!” he proclaimed angrily, stomping out the fire. The lightsaber blade, still close to the damaged spot on the floor, seemed to bounce off his armored leg, though the durasteel boot smoked a bit. “I said figure out how to wield it, not drill a hole in the hull! Stupid child.”

Amortarus looked the boy over again, seeing that a Force vision embedded in the lightsaber had shown itself to him. Was this a sign that the boy was Force-sensitive after all? No, the Sith thought, mentally shrugging. Probably just a quirk of the Force. It probably doesn’t like me, so it wants him to know that I’m a murderer and all that. Eh. Whatever.

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

Calix released his hold on the blade when the vision came to an end.

What was that? He had begun to wonder before he noticed what his curiosity had led to. The carpet was aflame. It seemed that the lightsaber was indeed the real thing.

Wary of the Sith, Calix carefully bent down to pick the lightsaber up again and ignited the blade. Even if he wasn't entirely sure how to wield it, at least he had another way of defending himself should the need arise.

"Didn't you know children are curious creatures?" he inquired with a smirk. "What do you expect to happen when you leave something in the hands of a child? There's a reason why certain toys have age restriction."

Calix was not liking the situation he found himself in and knew he needed to retain some semblance of control in one way or another, even if the only thing he actually had control over were his actions and reactions.

"So? What now? You surely don't want me to charge at you with this lightsaber - I'd be no challenge at all so where's the fun in that?"

[member="Darth Amortarus"]​

 

[Darth Amortarus]

The Sith stared at the boy, a bit perplexed. He hadn’t really thought about how a child would act; he generally didn’t deal with little ones, and to him, everyone was young. My mind must be going, Amortarus thought, unaware that it had gone long ago. “Age restrictions are for the foolish,” he responded to Calix, his tone annoyed. “They wouldn’t be needed if you had any sense... and were as mature as you think you are,” the Sith added, looking inside the boy's mind. Though probing caused headaches and was therefore less subtle than he would prefer, Amortarus enjoyed knowing more about others than they wanted him to.

The armored behemoth turned to walk back into his chambers, seeing as the current hyperspace jump would take another hour or so, when Calix displayed further ignorance. Turning around, Amortarus held out his hand, carelessly shoving the boy across the room. The lightsaber fell from the child's grip and deactivated. “You underestimate the power of the Dark Side, foolish boy,” the Sith sneered. “Perhaps you would like me to slaughter you in single combat, if you’re so sure of yourself? No, we are traveling to the planet Circarpous V. The Yuuzhan Vong inhabit certain areas, but... there is still native control of certain areas.”

As he turned again to leave, he paused. “And Imperial control as well...”

[member="Calix Loragwyn"]

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

Calix's head hurt a little when the Sith probed his mind. Though the Sith was powerful, the boy's half Epicanthix blood resisted the man's efforts. If he was to venture any deeper than the outer layers of Calix's mind, beyond the child's thoughts and to his core, the Sith had to make a serious attempt in mentalism.

Unaware that his mind had been read, Calix scoffed at [member="Darth Amortarus"]'s words once the headache subsided.

"Ugh," the boy grunted as he hit a wall which had caused him to release his grip on the lightsaber.

Muttering something about child abuse under his breath, Calix frowned. "I know for a fact you are more powerful than me and no thanks - I enjoy breathing."

The hell did I get myself into? Calix asked himself as he watched the Sith leave the room again and made no attempt to retrieve the lightsaber the Sith had caused him to drop. After all, he saw little point in wielding a weapon he could barely use. If he needed to defend himself, he'd much prefer to use the revolver tucked into the back of his pants and hidden from view by his shirt.

Circarpous V, Yuuzhan Vong, Imperials - whatever. Those words meant nothing to him. All he wanted was to be anywhere other than Tygara and away from Eldorai society.

 

[Darth Amortarus]

Amortarus entered his meditation chamber, a bedroom he had repurposed for his own use in connecting with the Dark Side of the Force. Looking around, he admired his decor: a callback to his home planet, the room was decorated with mildly luminous plant life and minerals of all sorts. In the semi-lit darkness, the Force called to him from the shadowy corner where he had set up an isolation pod. He climbed in, taking off his helmet and sliding out of his armor, his shapeless body coiling around the armor's boots like a nest of snakes. The pod sealed shut, and the Sith was bathed in darkness.

Meanwhile, in the lounge, a rather plain-looking droid around 5 feet tall entered the room, walking over to Calix and offering a tray of food. “So sorry,” it said to him, gesturing with its free hand at the table. “Please, have a seat. My master is not the most kind individual. In fact, he’s absolutely awful. But I have to do what he says.” The droid grumbled. “Cursed Empire. I’m TC-SC, by the way. Call me whatever you like; I’m here to make you comfortable... for now.”

[member="Calix Loragwyn"]

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

"Thank you," Calix said taking the tray from the droid and placing it on the table. With everything that had happened, he had forgotten his sense of hunger.

"I can tell," he added when the droid mentioned its master not being the kindest of individuals.

Absolutely famished, Calix dug into the food. Different from what he was accustomed to, he wasn't sure whether he liked it or not, however, as he was unsure when his next meal would be now that he was on his own, he ate it anyways. He was in no position to be picky.

After he had eaten, Calix removed a DataPad from his bag. "I believe I am fine now TC-SC. Thank you, you may leave if you wish," he said casually.

Wanting to be left alone but not wanting the droid to know, the boy acted as if he was getting ready to rest and loaded up one of those mystery novels he had loved so much and began to read.

[member="Darth Amortarus"]​

 

[Darth Amortarus]

“You won’t be fine where you’re going,” the droid said cheerfully, taking the tray and leaving the room.

In the meditation chamber, Amortarus was struggling with a vision. He saw the thing he was going to face on Mimban, prowling the jungles just outside of the Imperial outposts, hiding in the tunnels that swarmed with natives who had failed to catch it. He could see the other outposts that had been destroyed by its presence, and that the natives had called for help—

The vision ended abruptly as the Sith realized what he was looking at. There was a Galactic Alliance blockade ready to send men down to the planet's surface. They would have to deal with a little more trouble than planned. Angry, frustrated and annoyed, Amortarus felt the mineral formations in the main chamber shattering outside his isolation pod. Slipping back into his armor, he left the room and walked into the lounge to talk to Calix. “We’re nearly there,” he said abruptly, the lightsaber Calix had dropped jumping to his hand. He gave it back to the boy. “You don’t want to use it, but with what we have to deal with now, your revolver isn’t going to be of any use.”

[member="Calix Loragwyn"]

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

Finally alone in the room, Calix put down the DataPad and removed the revolver from the back of his pants. Wanting to be prepared should he have to defend himself, he opened the cylinder of the weapon and counted the bullets inside. "One, two, three." Three rounds.

Pulling his bag towards him, the boy unzipped it and removed from it a box of ammunition. Opening up the box, Calix reached inside to remove a handful of bullets and inserted six into the cylinder of his weapon.

His weapon now loaded, Calix placed it back into the waistband of his pants and pocketed the extra bullets. Ready should he need to fight, he placed the DataPad and box of ammunition back into his bag and removed a picture of his mother from the inner pocket of his blazer.

"Mother, please watched over me." the boy whispered to the albino Eldorai in the photo as the door to the room opened and the Sith reappeared.

Suprised, Calix quickly replaced the photo in the pocket of his blazer's lining and received the lightsaber the Sith had knocked out of his hand not long before.

"What do we have to deal with?"

[member="Darth Amortarus"]​

 

[The Omnirealm Sixtus]

“The Alliance. Also other things. I don’t know, I have a bad memory when it comes to things that don’t matter.” He looked down at Calix. “Well, they don’t matter to me. To you, with your fragile little body, you’d just as soon be killed as they would take you back home.” The Sith turned, watching as the Force Phantom dropped out of hyperspace into the Alliance fleet he had envisioned ringing the planet. “Wonderful,” he muttered. “Right in the thick of it.”

He turned, calling out, “TC-SC!” Seemingly having expected this, the droid wandered out from behind a corner. He seemed to have been watching Calix from the shadows, though how the boy hadn’t noticed him was questionable. “Yes, Master Amortarus?”
“I need you to keep an eye on the boy,” the Sith said, walking onto the command deck and telling his droid where to fly to avoid detection the longest. “Make sure to measure his... sensitivity to certain things.”

“Yes, sir.” TC-SC turned back to face Calix, then shimmered like a hologram, his height shifting. Suddenly, he was a duplicate of Calix, down to the clothes he was wearing. Amortarus tossed a lightsaber to the disguised droid, who activated it, examining its wide magenta blade. Turning it back off, he nodded to Calix. “I’m an infiltration droid,” TC-SC told him. “Covert operations and all that, you know. Assassinations. Probably knocked off a couple of your relatives at one point.” The copy of Calix winked.

[member="Calix Loragwyn"]

 

[Calix Loragwyn]

"Ugh," Calix groaned. He was not a fan of either outcome. Death would obviously suck and being returned home would render all his efforts until now meaningless so, for him, there was only really one option.

"In that case, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" He sighed.

"Wha-" Calix started when the droid emerged from the shadows at its master's call.

My sensitivity to things? The boy frowned, curious and watched with interest when the droid began to shimmer, its height shifting until it became a copy of Calix.

"Whoa..." he muttered, staring at his double. "In that case, I ought to thank you. The less people who are able to contest my right to the future head of House Loragwyn, the better. After all, someone like me will always be the last choice to inherit any title." Calix frowned at the thought of his family. As far as he was concerned all of them - except for his mother - were family in name only.

"In any case, let's get going. I want my freedom."

[member="The Omnirealm Sixtus"] ([member="Darth Amortarus"]?)​

 

[Darth Amortarus]

The Force Phantom flew low, as close to the planet as possible while within the Alliance's space. Almost immediately, however, they began to draw fire, a few Alliance fighters swooping in to attack the gunship. Amortarus cursed. “Of course our cloaking device isn’t working.” He turned and looked at the two Calix's. “Get strapped in; landing will be rough.” He turned, focusing his further anger at being attacked on what needed to be a covert mission, and thrust out his arm. The nearest Alliance starfighter stopped dead in its tracks, crumpling like a tin can before exploding. The noisy fire didn’t cease from the other ships, however, as Darth Amortarus rushed to each of the weapon chambers of the vehicle to tell his droids to put their backs into it.

Once back at the command deck, Amortarus took the controls from his pilot droid. It reluctantly handed them over, then toppled to the side as the Sith violently yanked the ship around to face its pursuers. He dodged one of them divebombing the Force Phantom, then fired his laser cannons at another, which swiftly met the same fate as its Force-crushed predecessor. With a bit of a distraction and metaphorical smoke in the air, Amortarus aimed for the planet, rocketing downwards at high speed. They skimmed the surface, blasting through the atmosphere only to encounter ridiculously tall trees a few miles down. Seeing an opportunity, the Sith piloted in between the trees, finally setting down in a secluded spot amongst them. “Everyone relatively intact?”

[member="Calix Loragwyn"]