Belle Reve

[Je'gan Olra'en]

OOC/ Completely open and open-ended.

IC/ The ‘Belle’ glided out of hyperspace with nary a bump, transitioning into a curving sublight course that would take the starliner through the periphery of a nebula over the next few days. Brilliant blue and dotted with huge stars, the nebula was the third stop on a tour with eight destinations.

Strictly speaking, of course, Je’gan wasn’t supposed to know that. Certainly not as an assistant engineer: nobody but the captain and the navigator knew the liner’s itinerary. Two hundred wealthy passengers were equally clueless, and all thanks to a brush with pirates a few months back, just before Je’gan had signed on. Security protocols, of course, had never been designed to keep information – any information – from someone like him, and as soon as he wanted to, he got it. So the fantastically beautiful nebula didn’t surprise him, no matter how much he appreciated it.
<O:p</O:p
With his post-reversion checks done, the Warden of the Sky headed for the promenade, a huge open mall with a transparisteel ceiling. Exceedingly rich beings from a hundred worlds crowded the place after a jump to a new vista, and Je’gan always took the opportunity to walk among them. You could learn a great deal by watching people – almost more than you could by picking up background thoughts.
<O:p</O:p
The nebula filled the artificial sky to both horizons, giving the promenade a blue caste. Je’gan let out a contented sigh as he felt the relaxation flow around and through him. Every voyage the ‘Belle’ made went like this: a miasma of tension gradually ebbed into a slower emotional current.
<O:p</O:p
He bought a sandwich and continued strolling, feeling the Force in the dozens and dozens of life-forms around him. He did so, at least, until he felt something that didn’t quite fit in.

[Rayna Eclipse]

If you've seen one nebula, you've seen them all. But that never stops you from staring in awe. As she tilted her head back to stare a little longer, the crowd's oos and ahs faded into the general background noise and the display of azure captivated her mind.

"Mom, mom! Pick me up!" A young, human voice called out next to her, breaking the wanderings of her mind.

She turned her head as a young mother, apparently over burdened with three children, set one girl down and picked up the boy. She watched from a meter away as the young boy pointed up to the marvels of the galaxy and smiled, his mother returning the smile between watchful eyes over the other two children.

She could feel their connection, mother and child, and it brought a slight smile to her face. And then happiness tumbled down inside her, wrapped itself in envy and formed a seed of anger and jealousy. She turned her head away from the family and began to walk away. No longer interested in either the nebula or the people she made her way down the promenade staring at the ground and wrapped in her own thoughts.

Alright, I've had enough. She thought to herself, I better to go back to the cabin and find something to kill my time. This whole cruise is a ridiculous endeavor, especially considering I've got a single objective. I really ought to- She stopped.

Thinking unguarded around force users is like speaking at the center of an amphitheater; everyone can hear you and the crowd is quite obviously there. This was unusual, another force user was there in the same ship. Questions rose in her mind, she had more enemies than friends. Was he there for her? Could it be a coincidence?

She decided it was best to hide and withered her force presence within herself. Caution was now her ally as she was no longer alone.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Similar thoughts ran through Je'gan's head. It didn't feel like an Inquisitor - probably the most likely people to hunt him down - and that was a blessing. He felt the presence disappear, and years' of using that same technique told him the difference between its use and death. Most Force-users, in his experience, couldn't distinguish one sensation from the other.

Once upon a time, someone had taught him how to find Force-masked people in a crowd. He didn't get a chance to use the technique much, and didn't especially relish doing so now, but with a Darksider onboard he didn't have a choice.

Leaving his own presence unmasked, he reached out in the Force and grabbed the power cells of a nearby droid. The droid's casing contained most of the explosion, but the ceiling amplified the noise. Shock rippled through the crowd, assaulting his open mind with chaos. He was ready, looking in the direction he'd last sensed the Forcewielder, searching with his mind for someone who didn't radiate shock - or whose 'radiation' was sufficiently odd to betray a partial masking.

He started walking briskly in that direction as his mind caught hold of something...

[Rayna Eclipse]

She swore as the power cells inside the metal shell of the droid fizzled and crackled, signaling an overload, and milliseconds later detonating. Instinctively she craned her head and caught sight of the astromech's dome sailing through the air and landing with a thud atop a food stall's roof.

The crowd roared into a panicked cacophony of screams and shouting. The mother of three picked up her child and made a hasty dash for the exit, one child in tow by hand and the other gripping her dress in fear, being dragged along with tears in his eyes. No one seemed hurt, though everyone's mind raced with fear that raised the background thoughts from dim to excessively confusing and loud.

This was no accident. She thought as she shoved her way past a large reptilian and rounded a corner behind a shop. Panting, she propped her back against the wall and struggled to form a plan for a quick escape. The worst case scenario was that someone was targeting her and intended to do her harm. The best case, well, there wasn't a best case scenario. Run. Use the confusion, make for the exit and find somewhere safe.

She spotted a large opening less than a hundred meters away. It was teeming with excited people trying to run away, but still with plenty of room for her to escape into the depths of the ship.

As she ran reassuring voices spoke over the intercom asking for calm and order, stating that no one was in danger and all was well despite the noise. Through the crowds of people she reached the exit and continued her sprint down the wide hallway leading to the interior complex of restaurants and shops. She looked behind her to see if anyone was obviously following and found nothing, likewise through a quick glance through the Force. Whoever her pursuer was, they were hiding themselves well.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He'd narrowed it down to three people: a human woman with black hair, a Gotal, and a gray-furred Shistavenan. All three disappeared into the portal. Je'gan followed, slipping through the crowd. He brought down the full bore of his Force shields, hiding him from the other's senses and casting a pall of unobtrusiveness to boot. Going with the flow of the crowd, he moved after his suspects. He'd spent over a decade as an Inquisitor. Hopefully, he still had it in him to tail someone properly.

From here, there were two options: send out a massive flare in the Force, which would give away more about him than he wanted; or just watch those three. But as the Gotal ducked into a bar, Je'gan realized he'd have to go with option number one.

He dropped the unobtrusiveness and the Force-masking and used the energy to send out a pulse on the mental wavelength, a disturbance in the Force that only a user would sense. He'd positioned himself so as to have the Shistavenan and the woman in his line of sight. If neither of them twitched, it was the Gotal.

[Rayna Eclipse]

Her senses flared up as an overwhelming blaze through the Force rushed her sensitive mind. She could feel it coursing through her, forcing her bodily senses into over excitement and her mind on fire. She squinted her eyes and clenched her teeth, though tried to keep moving.

She knew what her opponent was doing, they were trying to make her stand out well enough to identify her. But if she resisted she might be able to hide yet. Or she could fight, turn around and drive the pursuer out by force. As the flare died down her mind battled against itself, hide or fight.

More children ran past her as her footsteps slowed under the duress. She looked around, so many people... no, it wasn't a fight she wanted. Not when so much could go wrong, so many get hurt or just in the way. Hiding wasn't an option anymore, the pursuer knew who she was by now. They had to.

Might as well give myself the same benefit. She reasoned as the Force welled up around her and rushed out amongst the crowd in a flare that mimicked her pursuer's own technique.

Who are you and what do you want from me? She asked silently as she scanned the crowd for the flinch of a Force user.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The pulse hit and he flinched despite himself. Why hadn’t he seen this coming?

On the other hand, now that he knew it was the human woman, he didn’t especially care if she knew which one he was, too.
<O:p
He caught her eyes and nodded, then started walking towards her through the crowd.

[Rayna Eclipse]

This was a foolish idea. She scolded herself as she scanned the crowd for a reaction to the Force flare. She had no previous leads and no idea who to look for, the attempt to deduce her pursuer was too hastily planned and, as she thought about it, probably done out of desperation. If this was an inquisitor after her, she probably wasn't going to make it out alive. If it was Sith, likewise. Perhaps a Jedi was trailing her, it would explain the limitations of the explosion, so then she might make it out alive after all.

Her mind raced with other possibilities, fluctuating between the positive and the negative potential outcomes. She began to walk again, this time down a smaller and less inhabited corridor, though it was not desolate. She glanced behind her to see if the pursuer was following her physically and yet no one was. However, she doubted they had given up. Perhaps she had time to hide, but no potential space appeared. She started pushing on the control pads of locked doors as she passed them, hoping a solution would appear.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan watched her turn down the corridor and took the one before it, then slipped through a side passage. He'd spent the last few months as an engineer on this ship; he knew his way around.

As luck would have it, Rayna tried the door to the side passage just as Je'gan opened it.

"Hi."

[Rayna Eclipse]

"Ah!" She yelped as the man surprised her and she took a step back.

At the same time the Force sensitivity of the man made itself apparent, this was her pursuer. She knew there was no sense in lying and at this point running wasn't going to do her any good. She raised her guard and alerted her mind to the possibility of an attack, watching carefully his posture and where his hands were.

"Hi." She said cautiously. "You've been following me. Why?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He'd been so busy hunting her that he hadn't decided how much to tell her. After a moment, he shrugged. "I work here. I just want some assurance that you're not going to start massacring people right and left. Last time that happened...well, you'd be amazed how difficult it is to take someone down in public without being recognized by your friends."

She still didn't seem the Inquisitor type, but the Empire had always kept a very diverse group of Forcers on retainer. He'd met a few Prophets of the Dark Side in his time, a handful of Adepts, some assassins, Force-sensitive bounty hunters and soldiers, and plenty of others. Even the Inquisitors had their eccentrics.

"Who do you work for?"

[Rayna Eclipse]

Massacre? Who does he think I am? She thought to herself as she gauged him and decided that if he wanted, he probably could take her down by physical force alone.

"Who do you work for?" He asked.

"No one but myself." She replied sharply. "Do you do this to all the guests on this ship, or just me? I'm not here to hurt anyone."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"So you say. I had to be sure. If you were that kind of Darksider, you'd have snapped already and I'd have killed you.

"Who trained you?"

[Rayna Eclipse]

"And what makes you think I belong to the Darkside?" She asked immediately. He seemed pretty confident he knew and she began to wonder how long exactly he had been following her. Perhaps, not even him, perhaps someone he was working for. Yet, if he was sent by one of her enemies to kill her, he should have done it by now.

Maybe he likes to play first. She thought. She wasn't letting her guard down.

"I've been trained by Sith, all masters long dead for their crimes. I've been trained by Jedi as well, all masters still living, at least last I've heard." She instantly regretted answering the question, but what else should could she have done.

"And I think your story is rubbish. Who do you really work for? Who trained you?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Well, first off, I'm not sure you're a Darksider. Your mind is...unique." It was a compliment, he supposed. Certainly there were plenty of 'unique' Force-users out there who didn't quite fit the categories of 'Jedi' or 'Sith'. The Baran Do Sages, the Shapers of Kro Var, the Keetael...the Wardens of the Sky.

"And if you really must know, I was an Inquisitor for almost two decades. Then I was a Sith. Probably knew some of your Masters. Now I'm a Warden of the Sky. Ever heard of us?"

[Rayna Eclipse]

She stepped back at the sound of the word Inquisitor and didn't like where this was going.

[i]A Sith? I've never seen him before..." She thought. He could be lying or could have left before she had her own experience at the Sith Order. Perhaps he was referencing some other group of Sith. She wasn't sure of what to make of it save that she'd keep her own relations with the Sith out of mention.

"Wardens of the Sky?" She asked. "Never have. They sound like a bunch of Jedi impersonators though. Is that what you do?"

OOC: Sorry, was out of town for a few days and the place I stayed at didn't have wireless as I thought they did.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Girl, I've killed Jedi, and Wardens aren't Jedi. Sure, we've got morals and we feel responsible, but the resemblance ends there. No diplomacy, no ridiculous non-attachment policies, no robes, no 'wealth' of tradition, and generally no lightsabres. I'm an exception because I like my lightsabre and I'm good with it.

"Look, I'm not here to kill you. I'm just careful. So unless you want to start a fight, you can relax."

[Zereth Lancer]

He sat in the corner, lost in thought, hidden underneath overlapping layers of illusion and metaphor that his subconscious mind projected, making his appear to those around him as a old human male, wrinkled and tired looking, a skin disease that spread from the center of his chest reaching out toward the edges of his body. With gray eyes the facade stared empty eyed out into space, into the nebula that the entire crew was enjoying at this very moment, but he saw nothing. Just blurs of color that his brain could not comprehend while trapped within the maze of thought that consumed him. He was not a member of the crew, nor was he a paying passenger. He had slipped aboard the ship, touching minds and changing memories, allowing himself passage and then adding forgetfulness to the mix. Now he was just the old, decrepit man who sat in the corner and gazed out into the nothingness of space. He was easily forgotten. Lost under the illusion, barely causing a ripple in the mystic force. Easily lost to all.

However, he was drawn from his revelry by a sudden explosion, the sound of which jarred his mind awake, the empty eyes turning and gazing out across the observation deck of the luxury space liner. People had started and were moving in packs to safer ground, or inquiring to the crewmen nearby what had caused the sound. There were no details for his sensitive ears to decipher, but rather just confusion. It was so strange a sensation to be lost within a chaos that he had not himself created. He was content to ignore it, until he felt movement with his mind, the sensation of the force being manipulated, like ripples in a pond that grew larger as they cascaded out, till they touched him. Standing up, he pushed out of the corner, taking his illusions with him, a decaying elder shambling along the deck, appearing dressed in a simple modern tunic, his bald head mired with liver spots.

His booted feet clomped along the metal decking of the observation deck as he followed the ripples, like one might follow a sound. It led him down corridors, some normally inaccessible by the passengers, but he pushed through the doors with reckless abandon. There were flares in the force, like a beacon, so strong it caused him to stumble, his mind's eye overwhelmed. Stupid fools. They could signal searching force adepts light years away with flares like that. To a man who's common weapon was subtly, whoever he was following appeared to be the sentient incarnation of the ronto in the china shop. Moving onward he came to a corner in the corridor, and beyond voices.

Falling deeper into his illusion and emptiness, he edged to the corner, still appearing as the frail human man. He listened, letting the hushed conversation beyond flow down the metal corridor to where he hid, just out of sight. No sound, his breathing in check. What was this? A secret meeting of force adepts? Where they so bold as to actually gather together? They would be cut down, like all the other force users who had banded together. His beloved Order counted among them. Destroyed and then splintered. There were no remnants to count. He was the only one.

[Rayna Eclipse]

Wardens of the Sky... She thought. Very interesting, indeed.

"I have no intention of starting a fight." She said. "And I expect not to be followed and not to see you again."

She turned from the doorway and began to walk the same way that she came. A mass of information was whirling through her mind. A former member of the Sith Order was on this ship, if he had any loyalty to the past and found out about her part in its fall, she expected there would be a fight after all. The more that she avoided this man the better.

Then there was this business about the Wardens of the Sky. The concept intrigued her, Force users operating between the lines of the dark and light... very similar to how she perceived herself. The organization could be of useful future purpose, though not now. She had her hands full dealing with the two remaining Sith on Corellia. She had her own agenda, the pursuit of her lost child to resolve. It seemed the pressure was building with no release.

As she walked briskly along the corridor the presence of an old man caught her eye. She turned her head to give him a cold glance and then eyed the next turn to take her back to her quarters.

It was strange that she hadn't felt him so near, the man was practically in earshot of herself and the man. Normally she would have noticed through the Force... but perhaps her mind was too occupied with escaping to notice. Regardless, she wasn't concerned about an old man as much as she was about this Warden of the Sky. While she hoped never to see him again, she knew this wasn't likely. She was afriad things had just become more complicated.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan watched her go, silent. The chaos had settle down quite a bit since he'd blown up the droid fifteen minutes ago. He gave her a few seconds to get away from the side passage, then followed - fully intending to turn the opposite way she'd gone. After all, he had no reason to continue their association. She was harmless, and she wouldn't draw people to him.

As he left the side passage, however, something whispered to him, the slightest hint of something familiar - whether a personality or a use of the Force, he couldn't tell. He frowned, paused, looked around. It wasn't Rayna - she wasn't doing anything. He could see her retreating back, sense the Force around her. No, it wasn't her. Maybe just his mind deceiving itself-

That was it: an illusion. No, simpler than that. The way a Jedi could make oneself appear unobtrusive. The slightest of tugs on his subconscious, and those of everyone around him...

That was when he saw the old man. Normally, with a Force manipulation like that in place, his eyes would have just skidded right past - and they tried to, but he was waiting for that.

He took the few steps necessary to place himself right in front of the old man, and quirked an eyebrow.

[Ariesa d'Veldrin]

The d'Veldrin family had decided to take a break from their Coruscant home and the politics of the Empire. The youngest member of their family, Ariesa, the teen age girl who missed her home on Naboo, was glad to get out of their. First of all, she hated the empire, even though her father completely supported it. The politics and stuck up noses irritated her. That, and she missed her friends back on Naboo. Lucky for her, though, her father decided to take them on a vacation on this cruiser to go on a tour. She had to admit, it was rather impressive, but it could also be rather boring. Looking out the hatches just showed a whole bunch of stars usually. Although this particular nebula was kinda cool, she was tired of nothing exciting happening.

And then it did.

A few passengers had run past her, claiming there was a huge commotion on another deck. Anxious for some adventure, she rushed to that deck to check out what was happen. But, it was just her luck, by the time she arrived, it was over. She growls a bit to herself as she looks around at people going back to what they were doing. She listened as they all talked about what had happened and once again she glares around.

“How lame is that... I am always late to the excitement...”

She says as she looks around at two people nearby. Some black guy standing in front of an old man as if he was something important. Looked like nothing to her. She saw more exciting people on Coruscant on the streets. They didn't seem to notice her, as did no one else. Her hair had gotten a bit tangled up in her rush to get to this level. She quickly shook her head and used what little she had figured out with the force to make her hair fall back into place. She looks at herself in the reflection of one of the mall store windows and smile. Ah the uses of the force when in the hands of an untrained teen age girl...

[Baralai Lotus]

Baralai was hunched over a table in the dining room of the cruiser, his head low and close to a plate of food placed in front of him. His eyes darted back and forth over the plate, his fingers moving quickly through the mess of food. The plate had once been a beautiful display of meat and vegetables, but his nails had moved like tweezers, picking it apart.

Now it lay splayed open with long threads of cooked tissue frayed from the center, pulled and examined. Baralai had smashed the vegetables with his fork, not caring to examine any of them. But the meat, the tissue was interesting. Each thread had a different feel to it. They all had their own little notches that kept it all tightly wound together. Baralai smiled and mumbled to himself as his fingers ran over the thin strings of muscle, pleased.

His tongue still hit the roof of his mouth, straining to push out words.

"As it were," he struggled to get the words out, straining every hard consonant, every letter working its way over his tongue and through his teeth. His head would lean forward with every new word, as though he were trying to throw the words from his lungs, spitting them out.

Then he felt the pulse, like the ground had just shook beneath him. A wave of pure energy, moving his feet beneath him. His head shot up in the direction of the wave, staring off toward the epicenter.

He stood up, flipping the plate over onto the table as he got up, heading off in the direction the pulse had come from. He moved through the crowd like a heavy mist, the wave of energy coursing around him. It nearly shook his entire form.

His eye brow over the empty right socket perked up as the feeling came over him. Whoever was creating this signal was trying to make someone notice them, and they had done exactly that. He followed the energy wave through corridors, twisting and turning through the hull of the ship.

And then, out of the corner of his left eye a shadow darted along the walls. Black hair, flowing easily as the girl walked through the hallway. But her face, Baralai knew it. He had seen her before, with Tarsis, in the desert. She was a Sith, one of Jorshal's apprentices.

His tongue moved quickly, his voice booming as though the words had strained against his teeth, fighting to get through his lips.

"Rayna!"

His expression changed and he strode up to her, his scarred lips pulling back into a smile.

"It's me," his voice quivered and he felt his lips purse as they began to move again, "perhaps we can talk alone."

He stood, pulling his shoulders back and giving a wide, toothy grin to the girl. He was truly glad to see her. She had been there when they had said the Order would be revived. And now, with the help of his new master, he had the means to make the dream a reality.

"I have great news," his face tensed on the last word, his eyes squinting as his lips came together. His hands shook, almost unstably. His excitement at seeing the girl was truly visible.

[Rayna Eclipse]

"Lotus." She said and grit her teeth. "What are you doing here?"

She never truly liked the former Sith, in fact, he was outright creepy. It all revolved around his workings with flesh and organs, cloning and dissecting... it was all a bit unnerving for her.

"And how did you find me?"

Things were starting to become extremely suspicious now. First the Warden of the Sky, now Lotus was standing in front of her. Of the entire population of the galaxy, five percent were Force sensitive and fifty percent of that five knew it. For some reason unknown to her, three Force users had appeared on the same ship at the same time. Rayna understood that with the Force, there was no coincidence.

She raised her guard and tried to get a sense for Baralai's moves and feelings, but as a trained darksider he kept them reasonably well hidden. She had this nagging sense in the back of her mind that she was not safe around him, or Tarsis for that matter, and when they were near she kept in mind where her lightsaber was.

"We're not alone here." She said with the Warden in her mind. "Meet me at the upper balcony in 20 minutes." She turned and walked the opposite corridor of Baralai. On the approach to the lift, she entered and flashed a short smile to the woman with children she had seen before.

Her senses were in radiant alert now as paranoia was beginning to set in. She didn't like that this many Force sensitives were around. She didn't like that they were also a giant target for the Inquisition. What she hated even more was that the Warden was a former Inquisitor. I'm going to find out what Lotus has got first. Then I'm going to reach my objective and I'm getting the hell out of here.

The lift stopped and the woman and children left, then took her to the height of the courtyard. Two romantics stood off to the far edge and Baralai was somewhere in the shadows. She sent the impulse in the man's mind to take his girl somewhere else. As the two left she called out for Baralai.

"We should be alone up here." She said. "Now what is it you've got for me?"

[Zereth Lancer]

The old man's eyes watched the young woman walk past. She seemed familiar, but her name could not be placed nor where he had seen her. He had always been a busy man in his life, always moving, always working. A man of action seldom has time to become familiar with those around him, especially when he purposely escapes all social interaction save what he must. However, she moved past, giving him no more but a glance, incapable of seeing through his complex illusion that not only hid his true form beneath this elder guise but also made him seem unimportant, like he was part of the corridor wall. She moved on, leaving him alone in this bend of the corridor. The other person, a man by his voice, did not move for a moment, but then his foot steps echoed up the corridor toward the bend where Zereth stood, hidden underneath layers of illusion and metaphor.

The man rounded the corner, looking at the small, diseased man. His eyes slid away numerous times as his brain attempted to unfocus, but he forced his eyes back. This individual had more concentration then the woman, and his abilities of perception seemed better as well. Zereth did not know if the man realized what he was, or if he was just annoyed to find an old man within listening distance of their conversation. Whatever it was, Zereth was not going to give himself away just yet.

"Can I help ya, sonny?" He said, his voice wheezing and gravely, like the voice from the crypt.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Cut the bull," Je'gan said blandly. "Bad choice of disguise for a luxury liner, mate. You're lucky. There's always a chance there's someone I know under all that.

"Let's see. Dark Side, plenty of good work with illusions...well, you're not the only one who can do that." For a split second, he became an exact duplicate of the 'old man', complete with forced unobtrusiveness - everything that Zereth was projecting, he projected. Just for that split second.

"But not many people can do what we can do. You're a Sith."

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth said nothing, letting the young man offer his theory. He was right, in every way, but Zereth was not about to just give up and let his facade fall. However, it was not until the man reflected his own illusion did he realize just how he appeared. He had not chosen his guise, but rather had let his sub-conscious generate an image. Clearly his beliefs that he was a shriveled up, diseased old man inside had leaked into his illusion. He was old. Ancient even. Not a thousand years old kind of ancient, but a more acceptable hundred or so years old, much longer than your usual human life span. Optimized genetics did that to you. His body had shown very little signs of aging since his purification and was not going to slow down any time soon. The image of the shriveled old man was just how he pictured himself, old and diseased. He was surprised he had not projected blood all over his hands.

"Call me as you wish," He replied, his voice becoming more firm and less frail as his milky white eyes flashed red for a moment, luminous and eerie, before returning to gray again. "I do not follow your code of classification. I am my own man. I wear neither the cloak of darkness nor the mantle of light. I am... unique in my beliefs. You may use your generalized descriptions all you wish, but they lack a complexity of meaning that could describe me."

His gaze remained straight, not peering at the man, because his brain wanting him to ignore him as boring, as he used the same technique back at him. Instead he gazed at a spot just to the left of the man's left ear, but he projected the eyes of his illusion to stare at the man still, giving the appearance of him being able to see through the man's reverse technique. It was very much like him moving his bishop in position to challenge the man's pawn, a game of chess for the minds.

[Baralai Lotus]

Baralai walked out of the shadows, past the couple leaving the observation deck. They were completely unaware of his presence, their minds being controlled by Rayna.

"F-first," Baralai said, "it's a joy to see you." His fingernails had grown as he reached out and ran them through Rayna's hair. The girl drew back, but Baralai had just wanted to touch her, nothing more.

"You look even more b-beautiful than last I saw you," he smiled that same toothy grin, his lips pulling back to reveal shattered, broken teeth. His empty eye socket stared at her, his other eye moving up and down her body, gazing at the girl.

He pulled his hands closely to his chest, "We can remake the Order." His voice quivered with excitement, and his he began to bounce on his heels, the excitement slowly taking over his entire body.

"We can have students, specimens, and subjects! We can start over!" His hands reached out and grabbed Rayna by the shoulders, squeezing her tightly. His face came in close to hers, so that their eyes were level with one another.

"But," he struggled to lower his voice, "I s-still need your help." His excitement subsided as he realized where he was. A starship, covered in cameras and observation equipment, his Master could be watching everything.

His eye stared into Rayna's as his fingernails dug into her shoulders. He needed her, he needed her ability to lead. Baralai could supply the means, but he needed her to lead.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

With a shrug, Je'gan turned into the spitting image of Zereth Lancer.

At least, Lancer as he remembered him. The two Sith Knights had last seen each other on the day the Force Hunters overran the temple on Korriban. They'd never been particularly close.

But those red eyes that had just flickered, and the advanced knowledge of illusion this man displayed, and the very, very vague sense Je'gan was beginning to get of the man under the illusions...call it a guess, call it intuition. Call it an illusion specialist piercing the veil, in a very limited way. Je'gan was about seventy-five percent sure that he was talking to Zereth Lancer.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth laughed within his core. He was not sure who this man was just yet, but obviously he knew him, or of his work. Zereth preferred to keep his identity a secret as much as he could, lost within his complex illusions and under redirecting shields. However, the illusion of himself was wrong. Close, but it was missing a lot of the little details. The scar under his ear, the thickness of his eyebrows, and the hair was rather shorter than he wore it now. If this man knew him he had known him some time ago, because this version of Zereth seemed younger and more naive, outdated. He was sure his eyes did not appear so innocent anymore, despite their red hue.

The illusion of the old man shrugged his shoulder, as if admitting defeat, dropped his vision, and the illusion evaporated, turning into steam that rose into the ceiling of the corridor, once clear Zereth's true form was revealed from within, standing tall, almost filling the corridor with his tall frame, lean muscles, and piercing red eyes. His black hair fell down around his shoulders, left loose to tangle as it liked. He wore a simple black tunic and baggy pants that tucked into boots with soft soles. His arms were left bare from the sleeve to his wrist, at which point he wore fingerless padded gloves over his hands, with mattle black metal plates sown into the knuckles. Everything was black or dark gray, no shine to any of the metal, no ornamentation to be seen. He looked almost plain old human, except for the tiny details; the dark red eyes, the spiky black hair, and the sharp paleness of his skin along with his tall, thin compact body that rippled with muscle. Perhaps not entirely human.

"If you would allow me but one question: who are you that you know of me?"

[Ariesa d'Veldrin]

Arie looks back in the reflection of the store window and shakes her head. No, she had to be imagining things. She could have sworn the old man just turned into a young, albeit creepy, looking man. She shakes her head and rubs her eyes, blinking a few times. No... no she was sure that where that man had been standing, the old man had been sitting not a second before hand. Her eyes go a bit wide looking at his reflection. If it wasn't for the creep factor this guy practically emanated, she might have actually found him hot. But that factor was way too big for her.

'Its ok, Ariesa.. keep calm... just pretend like you didn't notice anything...'

The thoughts ran through her mind as she turned to walk away before either party noticed her there and suspected her of seeing anything. But, as usual, her curiosity got the better of her. As she was walking away to dodge into a store front, her eyes glanced over to the now young man that had changed in the reflection, catching his eye for a split second. She blinked, a bit wide eyed, as their eyes met and quickly dodged into the shop. She cursed herself for being too curious and tried to hide herself among the displays at the store, ducking down behind a rack of clothing in the far corner.

[Rayna Eclipse]

She swatted his hand away from her. "Do not touch me." She said forcefully but knew the man was not listening. She took a step backwards and he followed her as they turned in circles.

What is he on about? She started to wonder. Baralai was always as much a mystery to her as he was creepy. But he was good at what he did and as long as he had a purpose to her she would have to put up with it all.

"What specimens, what students?" She asked and squinted her eyes, things were already beginning to look suspicious. "What has happened since we'd last spoken?"

It's like I'm talking to a brick wall. She thought. Then he reached for her again, his nails digging in her shoulders. She grabbed him by the wrists and wanted to squeeze until they broke.

"Stop it, now." She snapped. "What do you need from me? You're supposed to be on Corellia doing you share of the work, I'm doing my own." She took a few more steps back and readied herself to prevent him from touching her again. "And what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

[Baralai Lotus]

Baralai winced at her when she pushed him away, he was excited to see her. She should be excited to see him, it meant that they could start putting their plans together.

"What has happened since we'd last spoken?"

The words cut into him. He had only done what he thought he was supposed too, he had been finding ways to build the Order. He lowered his head and mumbled under his breath, shooting mean remarks at Rayna for pushing him away.

"I have done as I needed, as it were," his bottom lip quivered and he stepped forward, reaching out to touch her again and stopping, pulling his hands back. He didn't want her to hurt him, and Rayna would not want to upset Baralai.

"What do you need from me?"

Baralai stared at her for a moment, his fingers quivering, aching to reach out and touch her. He just wanted to touch her face and feel her skin crawl underneath his fingers. It was such an interesting sensation.

He stared at her and leaned in, his fingers moving and dancing along the empty space between them.

"I found you because you were here. I'm here because I am." He smiled at her, "And the students we will bring, the specimens will come. I have found a way to make things as glorious as they once were."

He leaned in and whispered to her once again, his breathing had picked up in his excitement, and each hot breath pushed against her ear and rolled down the side of her face, almost as though he had pressed his tongue to her cheek.

"I can bring back the old Sith," his mouth moved quicker than the words would come, the metal of his tongue clicking against his teeth, "but I need you to help me find them."

He came back and clapped his hands once in excitement, his fingers interlocking and squeezing the backs of his hands. He had intentionally avoided the question of what he had been doing since their last encounter.

Master wouldn't like it if he began to share all of his secrets with just anyone. But perhaps if she met Master, perhaps he could bring her around.

"Yes," he said, the gaps between his teeth becoming more apparent as his smile widened, "yes, as it were."

[Rayna Eclipse]

Bring back the old Sith... She didn't like where this was going. A few of them had died by her hand, she preferred it stayed that way.

"What do you mean you can bring them back?" She asked and hoped that it was something meaningless as clones.

[Baralai Lotus]

He ran the back of his hand along her face and quickly withdrew it before she could snap at him.

He chuckled nervously at her reaction, "I'll have to show you."

"But I'll need you to come with me," he began to walk backwards, extending a finger, asking her to come with him, "all I'll need is your help."

He wanted her to come with him, he meant her no harm. He just wanted to show her what was possible, and all she had to do was walk with him.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan's mouth opened, then closed. Something flickered in his awareness of the Force. A girl met Zereth's eyes and ducked away. Teenager - she probably wouldn't be believed. But she'd noticed.

And she felt like a Force-user. Weak, untrained, but who knew these days?

"Je'gan Olra'en. I changed my face. You going to follow her or should I?"

[Rayna Eclipse]

She sighed as Baralai slinked away. She didn't want to follow him, she didn't want to move onto his territory. She picked the balcony because it was isolated and because it gave her an escape if she needed. Who knew where Baralai was going to go. But then if he was up to something on the ship, she needed to know.

"Alright, quit skirting around it. What have you got going on?"

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth's red eyes followed Je'gan's gaze, catching a glimpse of the face of a girl in the reflection of the shop window before it disappeared. For a moment his eyes glowed within like two hot embers, but then cooled back to dull dark red. Turning his eyes back to Je'gan he made no motion to go after the girl. "She can prove nothing. Not when I can change guises and influence memories at will. As for you Je'gan Olra'en, formerly of the Brotherhood," Zereth continued, using Brotherhood in place of saying The Sith Order, which could call unneeded attention should there be any one else listening in. "I do not know what your purpose here is, nor do I care. You are dead to me, like the rest of the deserters."

And with that Zereth turned and stepped out from the doorway they were hiding in, his body appearing to shrink back into the form of the old man, but he appeared older, balder, and more diseased then before. Zereth did not care if this was a worthy guise for this location, it was how his mind wanted to represent him. Old, rotting from the inside out. Only this time the old man's face looked very angry as opposed to the serene expression that marked the dark mask before.

He hated Je'gan. Hated all of them. When the Order had fallen apart it had been Zereth who had led them to safety, his abilities and weapons that carved the path through the invaders to his ship that took them away. His ship still had scars from blasting from that place. He had organized them on Corellia, accepted the mantle of Leadership when Jorshal could not be found, but one by one they all left him. Baralai took his apprentice and left shortly after they landed, and the rest of them. Some in pairs, some on their own, until only Zereth was left in that safe house on Corellia, alone with the ghosts of his past, filling the space with memories of great sith he had collaborated with, all whom had deserted him. Jorshal, Je'gan, Baralai, Ezra, Rivin, Darkshard, Vader, Warlock.... too many more names, more faces. He was the last true believer, the Last Remnant. Je'gan deserved to be cut down, but this was not a building of law or execution. His time would come, so would everyone else's. Zereth had time enough to see them all die of all age, then he could rest.

He did not walk far, instead he moved back into the main zone of the shopping district and leaned against an unoccupied wall, unsure whether to go back and kill the girl and Je'gan or not. It was tempting. Maybe Je'gan would come to him, beg for forgiveness. It would be a start, but Zereth doubted it would change his opinion of the man.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Snap-hiss.

[Baralai Lotus]

Baralai frowned at Rayna, she was ruining the fun of his surprise.

"I've found a way to find everyone. To rebuild. And the Massassi. . .the originals. . .we'll have it all again!" Baralai's words came out fast and mashed together.

"I've already found my old apprentice."

He reached a hand out to her again, "I need your help to find everyone. I need your help to find the Massassi." He walked toward the glass of the observation deck and looked out into the emptiness of space. Slowly, he raised a hand and placed it on the glass, fanning out all of his fingers and mumbling.

"Somewhere out there, I can hear them breathing. They want to be reborn, and I have the means." Baralai didn't bother to turn around. He straightened up. His form became tall and his shoulders were pulled back, and for a moment he looked like his former self. He looked proud and strong, truly believing in what he spoke of.

"But," the word did not stammer from his lips, "I cannot make the journey alone."

[Rayna Eclipse]

"You want my help... to bring back the Sith?" She said. She just needed to hear herself say it.

"You realize I killed both Jorshal and Southstar myself? I see only bringing back my enemies." She said and shook her head. "I have no quarrel with Tarsis and you, but to re-empower those who have... those who have destroyed my life... I can not aid you. Bringing back the Massassi, and all the former Sith, will only result in disaster."