The Night is Full of Terrors

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

She silently followed the Jedi, stopping every so often in case she heard something moving. They were almost to the city limits when she stopped him from going further. Silently, she made a small gesture upwards to where one of the beasts was clinging to the wall above them. It had apparently been tracking them since they started leaving, but it had remained silent and not alerted anything else.

Looking past the rakghoul that was slowly descending, curious why its meal had disappeared, she could see more were jumping to the rooftop. Making as little movement as possible, she looked at the Jedi with questioning eyes if now was the time to run. She wasn't in any danger, but the Jedi didn't know that. Her comlink vibrated gently at her side, her probes alerting her they were in position near the Jedi's ship.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Stopping at her touch, he glanced up and saw the beast above, and for a second thought that was it – it would drop on them, jaws open and tear his head off. But it didn’t. He swallowed, slowly lowering his head to see their options, which were limited.

Connor could take on a number of them, possibly, but for the doctor? Well, she was capable of more than she was letting on but it didn’t warrant a stand-off. As she looked at him, knowing what they had to do, Connor nodded.

"Go,” he whispered.

Taking her arm and pulling her with him, he broke into a run; a run that was strong and fast without Force amplification but as light as he could over the ground. He couldn’t look back because he didn’t want to think what had seen them and started to give chase.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

Taking off in a run with a Jedi, she could immediately hear the screech of the rakghouls behind them. Glancing back over her shoulder, she could see several of the monsters jumping from the ground to the wall and racing after them in a haphazard way. Using the blaster pistol she had, she fired off a few rounds as they sprinted as fast as they could down the streets in the direction of the ship.

They were almost out of the city limit, when several rakghouls that had been following the pursuit silently leapt down in their path. The biggest one gave a shrieking roar as it stood to its full height, large claws ready to shred them. They were surrounded...

"So we take as many of them down as we can right?" she asked, pointing her pistol at one monster after another as they jostled around the two. "I don't see anyway out of this, do you?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor blew a steady breath – this was just one big mess and it was getting worse. He rolled the lightsaber hilt in his palm, thumb hovering over the ignition button.

"Aim for the head. Shoot and run – I’ll cover you. Get to that clearing by those trees up ahead.”

This should be simple enough – keep alert, keep moving and aim for the underbelly where it seemed their skin was thin. Or take the head. Either way, don’t stop moving.

Connor ignited the blade and side-stepped a couple of yards and swung at the closest beast, straight up and slicing it open from the front, and then turning to impale another on the return swing.

"GO!”

He pushed out with his hand and sent a Force blast into the ground to send a shockwave up and crack the earth, acting as nothing but distraction to buy them seconds to move back. The good doctor began to move and shoot, and the way she held herself was somehow far better than he expected from a simple doctor.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

Taking off for the trees, shooting over her shoulder at the rakghouls following them, she smiled internally as they neared the Jedi's ship. Two vibrations of her comlink let her know everything was in place. Excellent, it was time to end the little charade that she had been doing for the past efw hours.

Tapping her comlink once while she ducked behind a tree, she felt a response vibration from her probes. A rakghoul dropped out of the tree she was leaning against, giving a shriek and eating a blaster bolt for its trouble. Taking off again, breathing hard, she saw her chance and took it as she pretended to trip and fall on a root, right at the edge of the clearing where the Jedi's ship sat waiting for them.

With a long drawn out scream she hit the ground, and the rakghouls landed around her, poised to tear her apart... but the scream slowly started to turn to laughter as she got to her feet, the monsters not attacking her and standing by her docile for now.

"This was all great fun, don't you think?" she asked, one of her small probe droids landing on her shoulder... her lightsaber falling into her open hand. "My field test subjects won't attack you. They have to follow my commands after all."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Vaulting over a large tree trunk, Connor saw the ship’s clearing and turned to the doctor, only to see her take a fall near the amassing creatures. Holding his blade forward, he started back amidst the scream…which turned to laughter, and everything seemed peaceful as the baying beasts stopped, and the good doctor stood among them.

Connor slowed to a stop, and killed the blade at the revelation and lolled his head back with a sigh.

"Considering it was all rather obvious you weren’t a doctor at all. No identification, lanyard or tag. No perspiration during a time everyone else was riddled with fear, and the one target the creatures didn’t attack. Oh, yes, great fun. Well done.”

He rubbed his hands together, standing a little to the side, making a note of where everyone stood.

"Well, if you’ve quite finished playing the part, care to tell me just what it is you want, not that I can’t work it out for myself.”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"You kept assuming I was a doctor when I was just an assistant," she said, reaching into her pocket and tossing her id badge into the dirt at the Jedi's feet to dispel part of his theory. "As for what I wanted, it was exactly this. I needed a lovely location to test my creations, and having Doctor Morlin here was just a bonus. See, he wasn't some run of the mil, backrocket planet's doctor. He was originally from the Ralltiir Medical Institute and one of the foremost experts on mutagenic virology. If he couldn't figure out how to develop a vaccine for my test subjects, then no one would be able to."

Gesturing around at all the rakghouls that surrounded the pair, she kept a sort of cruel smile on her face.

"Clearly, he failed and now I can safely say that this test was quite successful," she said. "To have a Jedi Master of your caliber here to witness and experience it is just an added bonus. I'm sure you figured out that the datachip I handed you is empty?"

With that she handed the real datachip to the second probe that floated down next to her and it zoomed off to her own ship.

 

[Connor Harrison]

"Congratulations on a wonderful experiment. Typical Sith. Taking lives of innocents all to fuel your little perverse gain. It’d be too much to ask to test it on your own people, wouldn’t it. Cowards, the lot of you.”

Keeping his eye on the imposter, Connor fished in his pocket for the datachip, glanced at it, and then tossed it to join her ID in the dirt as the probe droid flew away.

"So, you can pack up and get off this world, or you can fight your way off. If you try to take me down, I just as quickly call in fleet support and you’ll never make it off here. It’s your choice.”

His hand span the hilt, as if he had all the time in the world.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

At his words, she gave a derisive laugh.

"You're in no position to make demands, Master Harrison," she said, gesturing around them were the rakghouls waited for her command. "Look around us, you're hopelessly outnumbered... but I don't mind you running back to your friends. I came here to test my virus and that test has concluded with the best results I could have hoped for."

A flick of her hand, and the rakghouls withdrew into the shadows of the trees and headed back to the city.

"The city's main power plant is rigged to explode in approximately one hour and that will kill off all my test subjects and incinerate the entire city," she explained. "We can't have them wandering off to the rest of the planet now can we? It really was the perfect testing location. So now... we're alone and I must ask you... why did you not even attempt to save anyone in that medical facility lab? You allowed all of them to suffer a fate worse than death when you could have easily killed that rakghoul that was in the containment field."

With an almost cruel ah ha moment, she answered her own question with her theory.

"You aren't the shining example of a Jedi, you've felt the dark side and the power it offers... and you realized that no one was getting out of there unless the rakghouls would let them. Your idealism, the same idealism that so many Jedi have, has been destroyed too much hmm?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

"Very good. I've seen enough horrors in my time and learnt hard lessons to know when hope is lost. Why waste time trying to prevent the inevitable. Maybe that's what I'm good at. Closing myself off. Feeling little - get the job done. Do what others can't.”

He rolled his tongue around his mouth and exhaled, looking away. Why was she bringing all this up? He didn't need to be pressed about his choices as a Jedi.

With a curious glint in his eye, Connor turned to look at the Sith.

"Toola. You were on Toola. The one in the mask. That was you, wasn't it.”

He stepped forward and waggled his finger at her.

"Why me? Why did you want me here? Is Setzi Lunelle behind this?”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Guilty as charged," she said, giving a sly smile. "You should feel honored. Not even my colleagues know what I look like under my mask, and many have been curious. As for why you are here, I didn't single you out if that is what you are wondering. It could have been any Silver Jedi that would come along, but fate just seemed to want to hand that role to you. As for Lady Azurea, you know more than I about what happened to her, but she is not currently among the One Sith."

She regarded him with a undecipherable look before answering further.

"I don't think you quite understand what is happening here," she said, that sly look returning. "This test was my own, I only answer to the Eye and that is it. I'm sure you can tell, by my ability to conceal the full extant of my powers and the fact I'm developing these monsters myself, that I am no mere acolyte like you thought I was on Toola."

 

[Connor Harrison]

This whole situation made him uncomfortable - dark arts were happening right on his doorstep, and this Sith was pulling wool over his eyes.

He pointed behind her, his voice stern like his face.

"Get in your ship, and get out of my system. If you come back again, it won't just be me you'll face, I warn you now. Your test was a success, and now you have no business here. Consider this mercy.”

The further away she could be with those...creatures, the less danger her test would pose to those closest to him.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"This isn't SSC space," she laughed. "You have no claim on this system, so to call it yours is a bit presumptive of you. I don't need your mercy or your threats, they're empty to me. But I give you a threat of my own and it is one that will be carried out... Dark days are ahead for your little Coalition. You've known peace from the greater struggle for far too long..."

With that and a flick of her blonde hair, she turned on her heel and started to leave. Before she disappeared in the shadows, she couldn't resist one final parting shot.

"I sense your fear, Connor Harrison... I would embrace that fear if you want to protect those you care about," she said. With that, she disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

 

[Connor Harrison]

The girl was right; this wasn't technically Sanctum space, but it was close enough to take a stand if anyone came knocking, especially those who brought unwanted gifts like rakghouls.

He watched the Sith, too much racing through his mind to take any action against her. She was right again about the peace that the Sanctum had known. Bar the odd Sith loony or pirate, they hadn't been dragged into the greater Sith war, but this made Connor feel their time was coming.

"You want fear? I'll show you fear.” Connor said to himself as Eldaah sauntered away through back to the city.

Biting his lip, he looked around once more in the dark of the night and moved back to his ship - the Sanctum would have to be placed on alert, for a storm was coming...

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

She watched from just within the shadows of the trees as the Jedi muttered something and turned to leave in his ship. Smiling, she continued to watch until the ship lifted off and headed back towards Sanctum space. Oh... if only he knew what was coming and the role he would play in it. There was one other reason that this city and Kulthis had been the perfect testing location for her virus. If any survivors could make it to a ship, and flee to warn others, they would unknowingly be transporting the key to spreading the virus.

For concealed on his ship, deep in the cargo hold and tucked into a small space... one of her probe droids waited with its photoreceptor turned off. She didn't need to travel to any world in Sanctum space herself, Jedi Master Connor Harrison would be the shepherd to bring her virus to Sanctum space. Once he landed, on whatever world he landed on, the probe would activate and then go to infect an individual on the world... and then... the outbreak would commence.

"Now we shall see if they are truly prepared for the storm," she whispered to herself. From the direction of the city, a massive explosion rocked the place as the main power plant detonated. Every single thing in the city was wiped out, and she went to go to her own concealed ship.