In the dark (open)

[Alexia Sturkov]

Continued from here (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=708783#post708783)

Location: The Sith Order, Corellia.

Jezreal stumbled into the palace. She hadn’t checked how bad the wound was that she had received and the pain kept coming in waves. She had managed to make it to the palace but now her energy was running out. She felt her life slipping away and she knew that if she didn’t get medical attention soon she would die.

She moved down a dark hallway, too weak to call out for help. No one seemed to be around in this part of the palace. She decided to try and make it to her room, where she had an emergency medical pack which should be able to keep her alive long enough to find someone.

The pain ripped through her body until she couldn’t take it anymore. Exhaustion was also taking over and she fell to the floor, with her back resting against the wall. She lifted her hand to look at the bloody burn hole that the man’s blaster had burned into her body, on her left side of her lower torso. She pressed her hand against the wound again and felt herself fading away into unconsciousness. She looked up and thought she saw someone approaching from down the hall. Her vision was going blurry and she couldn’t make out who it was Doesn’t matter she thought as she closed her eyes Its too late.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The figure's pace quickened to a run, then a blur, and suddenly Jezreal was yanked off her feet into a fireman's carry. The Sith Knight ran as fast as Sithly possible, navigating the ensorcelled corridors with ease born of long practice.

"Hold on, Jez," he mumbled, skidding into the medbay and depositing her on one of the beds. A droid whirred over and began to treat her. Eyes hooded, Je'gan moved back to stand against the wall.

[Alexia Sturkov]

Jezreal felt herself being lifted up and then layed down, but her eyes didn't open. The droid started operating on her. Cutting away the burn't flesh and then administrating bacta to the wound. Memories flashed through her mind. She saw herself and her brother, sitting infront of a freindly fire. A tall man stood there, Lazarus. The man that had found them in the forest and turned them into his disciples. She then saw herself being instructed by Lazarus. He trained her how to use a staff as a weapon and even gave her the one that he used. She then saw herself looking over her shoulder. Seeing her village in the fading light of the setting sun. She could just make out the shape of Lazarus standing at the forest edge, he smiled at her. She then turned and boarded the ship infront of her and was off to Corascant and then to Corellia.

Several hours later Jezreal's eyes finaly opened. She was laying on a bed in the medbay. She tried to sit up but pain returned from her stomach and she laided back down. She wondered what she was doing here and then the memories of her fight with the dark haired man came back. I lost my lightsabre. I bet he has it now she thought with a sigh. She didn't notice Je'gan was in the room.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"They tell me you got hit with a blaster."

A hint of professional disapproval crept into Je'gan's voice. Slumped, arms folded over his chest, he sat off to the side. He hadn't been here the whole time - duty called - but once the monitors now hooked to Jezreal's body had begun to show something different, the droids had notified him and he had been there within minutes.

"Not the most comfortable thing in the world, is it?"

What he was really curious about, of course, was the means and circumstances through which TSO's most powerful Apprentice had been hit with a blaster bolt. That such a thing could happen in Coronet at all was a very, very bad sign. Security would have to be increased further; he would make a note of it and discuss it with LV and the other Elders. Sith could not be attacked in their own stronghold. Not now.

[Alexia Sturkov]

Jezreal's head rotated on the pillow to look to the side at Je'gan "Yes, It was a blaster" She said as her hand moved down to touch the area around the wound "I didn't think I'd live... I don't know why that man attacked me. I thought I'd be able to take him, but he showed himself to be far more skilled then he looked" She turned her head away and looked up at the ceiling. Her hand moved to the area around her waist where her lightsabre had always dangled "I lost my lightsabre also. I bet he had it now. Propobly showing it to all his buddies and boasting about how he beat a sith."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. He didn't have Southstar's facility for politics - if this got out, he had no initial idea how to proceed. That would be for the other Elders to deal with, of course. For the moment, he had a recuperating Sith Apprentice on his hands.

An Apprentice who had lost her lightsaber. Perhaps carrying her here had put him in a more merciful mood than usual, but he would leave it to Southstar to tear a strip off Jezreal.

"That wouldn't be smart of him, now would it? After all, this is our world." Je'gan blinked. "What's his description? This man who shot you?"

[Alexia Sturkov]

"He was tall. He had short cut black hair that was slicked back. He wore full body armor. He had a strange tatoo on his forehead" Jezreal said with a sigh. Describing the man just brought back more memories of the fight.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Nodding, the Sith Knight took mental notes. It took him a moment to realize that that description was a little familiar. Years ago - before he'd become a Knight - he'd encountered Kes'La Bardo in the company of a man like that. Sure, there were trillions of sentients in the galaxy, but something was tugging at him.

"Xel-Naga," he muttered absently.

[Alexia Sturkov]

The name ment nothing to Jezreal, but now she knew his name and as soon as she recovered she was going to go after this Xel-Naga and hunt him down and reclaim her lightsabre and kill the man possible. Though by the time she was healed he might be on the other side of the galaxy.

"He will feel my rath" She said in a near wisper to herself "I will have my revenge."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Good."

His voice was sharp, hard; he approved wholeheartedly. Though Jez had had excellent training, he didn't think he'd ever seen her truly angry - something that events seemed to have rectified.

Any debt of gratitude Je'gan might have owed Xel - if it was indeed Xel - was erased by the overwhelming nature of the situation. A Sith had been beaten. On Corellia. By a non-Forcer. He couldn't get it out of his head.

"Your wrath, however, will have to wait. They say it'll take a week before you're healed enough to leave this ward, even with bacta infusions. I hope you like books."

[Alexia Sturkov]

"But he could be off world by then, and then I might never find him" Jez said with anger filling every word "And I want to catch him before he sells my lightsabre off to some pawn shop."

She turned her head to look at Je'gan again. The thought of sitting here reading books disgusted her. She almost tried sitting up again in defience of her wound and pain but new it would accomplish nothing "It doesn't matter. I'm nothing but a failure. I lost against a mere man when I had the force and a lightsabre to use against him. I'm sure anyone else here would have been able to beat the guy without much trouble" She turned her head away to hide the tears that were welling up in her eyes. She had never been so disapointed in herself before.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Good. Use that rage. Let it flow...and try to choke me."

He unfolded his arms and gestured up at his throat.

"From what I hear, you're very good at telekinesis. Force Choke is simple enough. Give it a shot. Not much can effectively shoot at you when it's undergoing asphyxiation."

[Southstar]

Southstar stood outside the medical room, listening. He had only recently taken Jezreal as his apprentice and as a mtter of fact, he hadn't done much with her yet.

And try to choke me He heard Je'gan say.

His immediate thought was to enter the room, but perhaps he would Je'gan continue his guidance. What he was going to do with Jezreal he did not know. As of recently, he had been having trouble with apprentices. The group on the whole seemed more arrogant and foolish than any of the previous sets. And then, it was his job, as well as that of the other knights and masters, to organize them and give them direction.

He reached out with the Force to detect Jezreal's usage of it. He wanted to know how her anger was being turned to use.

[Alexia Sturkov]

Jezreal turned to look at him. The anger shone clearly in her eyes. She stretched out her hand toward him and used the force to grip his neck, tightly. She could see the area of his neck being pressed inwardly and for a moment she was happy at the sight of it. She could imagine Je'gan being the man and she put even more force into the choke. She then remember that she was choking Je'gan and she released her force grip in his throat.

"Even with this ability I may not be able to defeat him. If I was unable to defeat him before then I will most likely not be able to defeat him next time we meet."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan's voice spoke in the mind of his former Master; they shared a bond of sorts, despite Je'gan's time away from Southstar's tutelage, and the younger Knight had felt when his fellow Elder arrived.

Jez will make you an excellent Apprentice.

Physically, he was choking, nodding his head as best he was able while the tendons of his throat contracted. As Jez released her grip, he gave a full nod.

"He's only a man, not a Sith. Hit him with debris, take away his weapons, he'll go down as easily as most."

Je'gan's face turned towards the door.

"Planning to come in?"

[Southstar]

"Yeah." He said in regards to both the telpathic statement and the voiced question. As he entered the room, he glanced at the wound on Jezreal's side.

"You should have been more careful." He warned. "If word of this gets out, which it probably has. It could mean problems for the Sith."

[Alexia Sturkov]

Jezreal's eyes shifted to look at Southstar "When word of the sith's revenge against this man gets out then people will fear the sith once again" Her hands turned into fists as she said this "I will bring this.. Xel-Naga down. Even if it is the last thing I do."

A strange fire burned in her eyes. A fire that none of the sith, or anyone, had seen there before. A sudden sureness of victory entered her mind. She had a feeling that she couldn't lose, wouldn't lose. She would defeat this man and take back what he stole from her

"When I get out of this bed then Xel-Naga will wish he had never set foot on Corellia."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan slapped his knees and stood. "Excellent," he said with forced cheer. Things were bad enough without people believing that Sith could be taken down at will. "I'll leave you two to talk, then."

He nodded to Southstar, then left, twitching black cloak flaring out behind him.

[Southstar]

"You have a week and a half to heal. No later." He said after Je'gan had left. "We'll do some training to get you moving again. And then go after Xel-Naga. If you can not finish him yourself, I will. You get one chance for revenge."

[Alexia Sturkov]

"Yes, Master Southstar" A sly smile crept across her face "I will not fail. I promise you that."