Wake Up

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]


The heavy weight of Devin’s large hand carefully enveloped Kira’s delicate shoulder. His fingers gently pressed in, prompting her to swing her attention over to her husband. The expression, combined with what she felt pour through the ring made the Lorrdian’s face twist with a measure of helplessness that perhaps was heart wrenching.

“But..” it was a quiet protest, but there was a limit to what one could do. It was one of the hardest lessons Kira had difficulty reminding herself of. All she wanted to do was help.

“Best be on your way now.” Amos’ thick growl cut through the silence again, drawing the attention of the Talith’s.

It was heartbreaking to nod in acceptance, but the Jedi Master did it anyways.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

He knew this wife's disappointment, even understood it, but there was nothing that they could do here. These people didn't want the kind of help that he and Kira were offering, they didn't want to move. The only way to solve the problem was to get rid of the pirates, so as Amos bid them a farewell Soliael gently nudged Kira along.

"It's alright." He told her quietly.

In truth he didn't really like this anymore than she did, but he knew the solution was elsewhere to be found.

"We'll help them another one." He assured Kira. "Lets go see whats going on in those canyons, see if the Pirates have a base there...or something that we can actually take care of."

Soliael glanced back towards the small village. In truth there was really no telling what had happened here. They had some of the facts, the pirates attacked, they had a Sith Lord with them, but beyond that? There was nothing but mystery. For all they knew the villagers had been complicit in some way. The thought was a dark one, but out here...not entirely wrong.

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

"Alright." Kira said, chancing a small cafune of the child's head before taking a step back.

"Take care of yourself." the Lorrdian Jedi Master insisted, rising up to her feet. Straightening, the blonde followed with a small nod towards Amos. At the encouragement of her husband, the woman followed, moving away from the pair. All the while, her mind was racing with thoughts and processing plans. Just what would they be able to do?

"So go to the canyons?" well she didn't dally long, then again, Kira rarely ever did. Once she set her mind to action there was little to sway her. Soliael was much the same.

"We could sent one of the probes... or go ourselves undercover..."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

He looked at her. ”Undercover?”

Strange word for it

”As rocks?” He teased Kira, trying to interject some light into their current rather dismal situation. They had no idea what was happening down by the canyons save that the pirates came from that direction. The mystery of what they would find was still sort of there, but it would likely be best if they sent a probe first.

He put an arm around Kira as they headed back to the ship.

”Probs first.” He told her. ”Do we have some idea of what were walking into.

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

That prompted a solid punch from Kira onto her husband's upper arm. A brief moment of humor amidst the sobering seriousness of their situation. As they kept their quiet amble back towards the ship, Kira gave another sigh. Her blue eyes kept turning back, looking at the small town. All those people were suffering, but a few were too damn stubborn to go out looking for help or leaving.

"No, we don't." the Lorrdian Jedi Master admitted, exhaling out of her mouth with a puff of hot air. Both cheeks blew out, her shoulders sinking. It would be a few minutes before they made it back to the ship.

"Which is why I'm trying to think the best plan of figuring out just what we are walking into." that is why she mentioned the probes.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

"Probes first." He told her again with a smile.

The ones that Kaili had constructed were probably a bit too large for the task, and in truth he would have preferred to send something smaller, but beggers couldn't be choosers. He smiled and gently squeezed his wife, hoping to cheer her up a bit.

"It's probably just infested with Krayt Dragons." Soliael assured her. "Nothing to worry about."

The idea that there were Krayt Dragons here was unlikely, but the thought was amusing. "We'll figure it out."

They always did in the end. He and Kira could probably be dropped in the middle of Hoth without any underwea-Well they practically had been before, and they had made it out of that situation just fine. The memory swam around in his mind for a moment as they walked back to the ship, a small goofy smile sitting on his face.

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

"Okay," probes first. Kaili made the exploration probes, and they were a little less inconspicuous than she'd prefer. Perhaps there would be other probes they could utilize. The main hanger bay would have them.

"Were there any other probes than the ones Nohei made? The all white design likely isn't the best in staying out of sight." that was when she felt the small bit of humor sweep over from Devin's ring over to her. Which, of course, in turned had it's way of cheering her up. His emotions had an ability of swaying hers as long as he had that ring on his finger.

Catching his goofy grin, she lifted an eyebrow, shaking her head a bit, "What is so funny?"

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

"Nothing." He told her with a smile.

They stepped back onto the ship a moment later, Soliael peeking around to see if they had any other kinds of probes on the shuttle. It wasn't too out of the question that they would have something, maybe sensory probes or just something...well more camouflaged for this environment.

"I was thinking about Exocron." He explained as he popped open a few cabinets. "When we got stuck in the glacier."

That had been...cold.

"I don't think we have any other kinds of probes." The former False god said as he popped open a footlocker, peering inside and finding only a few extra ration packs and some medical supplies.

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

"Exocron?" why would he be thinking about that? Not that it hadn't been the most interesting of interactions. Exocron had been the world Devin had brought her after she had collapsed during their mid-fight after years of seeing each other.

"What about it?" coming along behind him, the Jedi Master joined her husband. Her searching gaze went towards the left. Perhaps she could search in here too.

"I know you went through the bulk of these already... but I had been hoping that perhaps we missed a few."

So, no probes. Which meant they would have to come up with another way. Or simply try and wander in themselves blindly. Something that Soliael likely wasn't too keen on doing.

"Well... we could go explore ourselves..."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

"Just when we got stuck." He told her, glancing back with a smile. "How we can overcome obstacles ahead of us."

Like a giant Ice Tundra.

This all seemed rather small in comparison to that, mostly because...well they weren't tropping around freezing to death. Soliael barely remembered that day, at least the environment part of it. Yet they had been tossed out into the ice nearly naked, no clothes and miles away from the fortress. They had been able to make it back, though only through a rather horrid trial. "This shouldn't pose much of a problem in comparison to that."

Soliael said with a smile, letting the top of the foot locker drop.

"Lets take off with the ship." He suggested. "We can get a scan of the canyon, land a bit closer."

It was hardly a perfect solution, but better than going in completely blind. "See if we can spot anything from the air then go in."

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

Hearing Devin speak about that experience decades past had an effect on Kira. Not just due to the ring, but because of the memory that came along with it. From the castle, to the frozen tundra wastes, and finally through the underground caverns where they had to fight that massive red, crab like creature.

The right corner of her mouth gave a twitch. "Well, when you put it that way..." a hand went raking through her hair, blonde strands falling away from her face. "Yeah... I doubt anything else would compare to that."

Leaning forward, Kira's arms went snaking across his flank to grab him in a hug. Her forehead came to rest along his chest.

"We can figure it out just fine." and he had come up with a suggestion that would do exactly that.

"Let's do that then, and take it from there."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

Soliael nodded.

It was something that would at least let them take a peek at the canyons before just waltzing in there. The idea wasn't exactly one hundred percent safe, but a the very least they wouldn't be tromping directly to their deaths.

That was a small comfort. "Alright pilot lady."

Soliael said as he kissed the top of his wifes head.

"Get to it." Again he didn't really feel like chancing a crash landing. So he quickly maneuvered himself to the co-pilots seat once again, beginning to switch on auxiliary systems. The scanners was what he mostly focused on given that they would be the most important thing.

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]


"Okay. Let's go." Kira agreed, enjoying the sensation of feeling Devin's lips press to the crown of her head. It was as much encouragement as a comfort for her. Okay, they could do this. If they survived Exocron, they could survive this and whatever may be out there that is draining the life of those poor settlers.

Hoping away, the blonde jutted out towards the cockpit of their shuttle. They had to get back to the Freya. From there, they could use the advanced sensors to really get a read on what they could from that canyon.

Hopefully, those pesky pirates that had been a pain in the ass wouldn't come to pay them a visit.

They already had potentially a Rogue Sith to deal with.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

Soliael frowned slightly, keying in the correct sensor codes as the Shuttle lifted off of its landing struts.

He immediately began to scan the sectors ahead of them, ensuring that they focused on the canyons. Everything came back quickly of course, scans of land like this didn't take very long and being in the air helped them quite a bit. "This doesn't make any sense."

The former False God said with a frown.

"There's..." He glanced at Kira. "Nothing."

His head shook. "I mean nothing. No ships, energy traces, no life. Nothing."

Had Amos been lying?

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

Now it was Kira's turn to deepen her own frown. A dark sense of forebearing made an icy chill run down her spine. Why weren't there any life signs? This didnt make sense. Turning to lock her gaze with her husband's, the Lorrdian Jedi Master's throat gave a bob. A deep breath made her shoulders rise.

"Well maybe.. we aren't checking the right area." but that was just grasping at straws. They were looking right over the canyon that Amos had mentioned. Could they have missed something? The same sensation of doubt and peturbance came drifting across the ring that bound both Soliael and Kira.

"... Amos wouldn't have lied, right?" there was a crack in Kira's voice, one that said she didn't want to believe him. Not when considering how the youngling had been visibly hurt and the others on the beds suffering from the draining of their lifeforce.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

The scanners continued to look, and continued to turn up nothing.

The Former False God frowned slightly, his gaze drifting over the edge of the canyon as they hovered over it. Much as had been on the scanners, he could see nothing. There were no tracks, no open spaces, only...canyon. He frowned for a moment. "It..."

Soliael trailed off.

"It looks like he might have." There was a chance that whomever they were after was using some kind of cloaking technology, that they were hiding in plain sight, but Soliael found that highly unlikely. They weren't dealing with a government here, they weren't dealing with Rebels or an Empire.

These were pirates.

They didn't have the technological capacity to create or have something as rare as cloaking devices, and if they didn't they wouldn't use it here.

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

Kira didn't know what to think. Then again, that comes from having the sort of trusting attitude that the Lorrdian Jedi Master typically possessed. However, even then, she normally had her kinetic communication abilities to be able to discern any half truths or deception. Could she have missed something that Amos said? Did?

Had I lost my edge or was he just that could that he was able to fool the former Master of Shadows? That troubled her. It troubled her greatly. Even more so if the Freya wasn't able to pick up on any cloaking from her powerful sensors.

Biting her lower lip, Kira took a deep breath.

"Let's go back. We'll figure this out one way or another."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

"Yeah. Maybe he didn't know that he lied." The force was extremely powerful, strong beyond all belief and capable of twisting someones mind to a point where they didn't even realize they were being twisted. Soliael had seen it more than once, he'd in fact studied someone that it had happened to. There was really no name for it, advanced mind trick, compulsion, whatever one wanted to call it. The idea wasn't impossible.

Especially considering what they'd seen in the village.

"There's a force user running around." He reminded her. "It's not out of the qu-"

Soliael suddenly cut himself off as the force seemed to twist and reverberate. Pain spread across his, not his own, but that of his child. His eyes popped open, every muscle within his body seemed to flex, an in an instant his fight or flight reaction kicked into life. The force flooded into him, power that would echo all around them in an instant.

"Kira." His voice was gruff, quick, curt. She would sense it too, that horrible pain that seemed to echo through him.

 

[Kira Talith]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

A sudden sharp gasp fell from Kira's lips, the petite woman staggering at the unfolding sensation of pain that seemed to reverberate all through her body.

Draith.

The name of their only son went racing through her mind, one hand slamming down to grasp her husband's forearm, those slender fingers digging into his sinewy skin. Her knees felt weak, and they buckled, clammoring together while the Jedi Master told herself to breathe. What made it all the worse was the enhancement of the agony that went lashing back out from Devin's ring and swung over to her. Panic rose with a whirlwind of power, and there was no hesitation then.

"Draith." came her gasp, wide aquamarine eyes flickering up to meet the glowing twin suns of her husband's gaze. Something happened. Something terrible. The blood went seeping from her face, blanching her skin to parchment.

"Go." it was all she could say. Wild panic sent the woman stumbling. My necklace. Where was it? Devin would need it.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Kira Talith"]

In an instant the Force Flooded through his entire being.

His hand formed into a fist and power tore through him like a raging storm. The ring upon his finger began to sear and burn, it's strength quickly added to his own as he began to concentrate and form a picture within his mind. His lungs filled with air, his eyes wandered over to his wife. "Get your necklace."

He pointed to the small cabinet on the wall.

Kira scrambled quickly towards the door, pulling it open and offering the bejeweled necklace to Soliael to take. The former false God quickly shook his head, frowning for a brief moment as he tried to control the raging torrent of power that was flowing through him.

"You're coming with." He breathed, his voice barely a rasp. "I won't be able to fight, it's too far."

There was no telling what was happening around Draith. They couldn't say if he was being attacked, if he was in space, or anything of the sort. All they knew was that he was in trouble, nearly dead, and they knew they could save him. That was all that mattered. "You'll have to protect us."

That was all he said before he grabbed Kira and pulled her close.

The former Sith Lord took a deep breath, his lips thinning, his eyes closing for just a moment, and then reality began to twist.

Their bodies shifted, the force formed around them, and then through space itself they traveled. It happened in an instant, the world around them twisting and breaking, snapping almost as if in two. Soliael reached through the universe itself and tore them to their son.

The shuttle they had been standing upon crashed a second later, smashing into the mountainside in a fiery blaze.