Haunting Me (Zereth Lancer, open)

[Ashe Sieris]

Korriban



The single planet in rotation around Horuset. Desolate and deserted, very little remained to show that this planet had ever been populated. Merely ruins at this point, the sith temple and burial ground statues and pillars lay fallen and crumbled. The remains of long decayed skeletons can be seen here and there. An occasional creature flew over head or could be heard growling and snorting within the darker caverns scattered across the surface of this inhospitable world. The very look of the place was enough to cause someone to loose faith in the light side. Luckily, she was not looking for a Jedi. But why here, in this sand and rock pit? As far as records showed, nothing was left of this planet. Any artifacts that may have remained had been long pillaged out. Why would he be here?


The dark haired woman stepped off of the modified Naboo Cruiser. The reflective metal that the hull was made of was darker than normal, dully reflecting the sun back across the sky. She readjusted the black mask across her nose and mouth as she looked around the desert plane she had landed on. She was only a short distance from where the former Sith Temple had been located in the planet. It would not take her long to get there on her speeder bike. She stood on the small outcropping of rocks, looking at the horizon, thinking. This was it. She knew he was here.


She had been searching for Zereth Lancer for ages now. Many time, she had lost his trail and had to start over again. She was unsure if he knew she was looking for him and covered his tracks to avoid her, or if he was running from something else. Any time she had managed to get close to him, within a system or a planet, his signature would disappear very quickly. Did he sense her coming? Or was it coincidence? But this time, he would have no chance to run.


The woman stepped back over to her ship as the cargo hatch opened up. She walked in and a second later was speeding across the plain on her bike, headed for the ruins of the sith temple. She hid her force signature from being detected by him now. She would not risk the chance that he could sense her and run from her once more.

[Ald Sorol]

It took a unique person to make a trip to Korriban; it took an even stranger one to willingly enter the ruins.

Just over a kilometre away, Sorol watched the speeder through macrobinoculars. He didn't need them - enhancing his senses was one of the few skills he'd retained - but he didn't want to display his presence any more than necessary. Although he didn't know how to make his Force signature disappear, it wasn't as if there was much to hide. He was and always had been weak in the Force.

That, and Korriban's 'background hum' of the Dark Side should drown out his own little eddy. Or it might make it easier to sense. There were a lot of things about high-end Force use that he had never learned.

Sorol put the binoculars away and headed back down the ridge, to where his own speeder was parked. An offroad type with a high vertical limit and great inertial dampeners, it was perfect for traipsing around the unpredictable landscape of Korriban. He got in and headed for the temple, taking the long way to stay out of the woman's sight - planning to enter the opposite side of the temple. Maybe she'd sense him coming, but he might as well keep a low profile until he knew what she was there for.

[Ashe Sieris]

This was odd. Ashe had been sure that this planet was unoccupied. Why was she picking up so many life forms in the area? She frowns darkly and turns her head towards the east. There had been known to be a huge sith temple there back during the Old Republic. But that was over four thousand years ago. There was no way it could still be populated. She just shakes her head. That was not the temple she was headed to.


This one is actually much smaller, used more as private quarters rather than an actual teaching temple. There was much less chance of anyone else being there. But someone was. Her mind was getting foggy. It was hard to tell if Zereth was at the smaller temple or down at the larger one. This god forsaken planet was messing with her mind. She shakes her head to try to clear the cobwebs that the dark side was placing over her.


Very soon, she arrived at the small temple. It was very little more than a doorway in the side of a cliff. But she knew there must be something there. Perhaps a clue that would lead her to Zereth, or possibly even Zereth himself.


She climbs off of the speeder bike, taking the key card with her. She walked up to the door panel and tried it. Broken... A growl escaped her and she pushed her way through the force to the mechanisms keeping the door closed. Slowly, they sprung back to life and the doors slid open. She slides inside, leaving them open, and looks around the corridor. Nothing overly impressive about the rock walls within the temple. But she could feel something more in here.


“Where are you, Zereth?”


Her voice slides out from behind the mask. It is smooth but dark. Much had happened to the fallen jedi once she woke from the coma that Zannon's experiments had placed her in. And she was far from recovered from them. The mask remained on to keep any bacteria or airborne illness from infecting her. It had been a long time since she had seen Zereth, let alone that she remembered. Did he still think she was in a coma back in that apartment with the med droid? Or did he know she was free. She hoped to find out soon.

[Zereth Lancer]

Why was he on Korriban, the most dangerous planet in existence? He did not know. After all the debacles with various groupings of darksiders, the Last Remnant of The Sith Order found himself brought back to where it had all started. Korriban, the planet that had called to him, whispers in his mind, a tongue in his ear, calling to him, making him lust for the power it could give him. He came to it as a warrior, versed in battle and hardened in fire, but the sith took him and made him something stronger, but not necessarily better. He viewed the Sith just as backwards as the Jedi, lost in their differences. However, he had learned much, and committed great acts of chaos and destruction for a cause he had once believed in.

It was also here that his exile began, when the Sith Witch came and destroyed their entire Order in a day. There was no great war, no battle lines in the sand, no sides. Every man for himself against the sudden wave of mutated humans that attacked them with weapons devised solely for the slaying of force adepts; thick armor and weapons made of dense metals that could take a hit or three from a lightsaber before being melted through. They had numbers and surprise on their side as they burst into the Temple and slaughtered them all. Only a handful escaped, and even those had been lost to the winds, scattered when they all abandoned the cause in the name of self preservation. Zereth eventually succumbed to such and began to wander, trying to fill the void left behind when his life was stolen away from him.

Perhaps just for a moment he thought he could end this all, return to occupied Korriban, where the creatures still stood guard in the Sepulcher, the Sith Order's great temple hidden within the tomb of some forgotten Sith Monarch. The mutants seemed weaker than the ones that had attacked Zereth, as if they had grown old and frail. Perhaps they had a limited lifespan. Regardless Zereth had no intention of invading that locust nest. Even if weaker, he had little doubt that the temple was swarming with their filfth, and the Witch may still be here. He could not feel here. The scar of darkness that stained the planet made it hard to pick anything out. Everything felt touched by the darkside of the force, and it had not forgotten to leave it's mark on him as well.

Perhaps a part of him, even for a moment, wanted to charge the great stone gates and end it now, either the Witch or himself.

But he had more sense than that. Instead he piloted his ship, the Star of Oblivion to the other side of the small planet, where even more burial grounds marred the sandy floor and decadent temples spiraled into the heavens. There was a temple here, a more of safe house in case anything happened to the Temple, but they had not run here after the attack. No. They knew this was worse than anything they had prepared for. Instead they had flown in Zereth's ship to the safe house on nearby Corellia, where they had some sway and control, but not anymore. Without a presence the Corellians had forgotten about their secret overlords. Zereth hid his ship in a mighty crag, a split in the earth that allowed him to hide his ship from any view except from directly above. Stepping out he headed for the temple.

The structured was empty inside, clearly ransacked by the genetic mutant soldiers, but there were no traps and no guards. Clearly this place had no value with all the supplies plundered. Garbage and ruined equipment littered the floor and build up in the corners. Refuse that looked like it had been lived in and then abandoned. Perhaps some of the survivors had come here, only to leave or be dragged off to the slaughter. Regardless there was nothing here. Zereth left, breaking the door from the inside as he left, so that this place could not be used by anyone who could not reach inside and fix it.

He had made it all the way up the tallest nearby cliff, in order to get a better view, when he heard the wine of an engine. He moved behind a boulder, pulling his blood red cloak around him to keep it from billowing into view. Peeking over the rock his red eyes peered out from under his hood, watching the woman on the speeder heading for the safe house. He knew who she was, but he did not want her to be here. Ashe had been following him, almost catching him time to time when he was not paying attention. He had not thought her foolish enough to follow him here, but then again, she did not know the dangers that lurked in the shadows of these crags. Not the way he knew them.

She was getting closer to him, probably following his residual signature, which would be all over the place and hard to pin down on this planet. Rather then lead her to him on the cliff, he projected an illusion of himself into the safe house, not an image, but a sensation that would fool her mind and make her head inside. There would be two prickles of him, but the one in the safe house would be closer and easier to pick out in all this background force noise the planet threw off. However, at the same time from his vantage point he saw another speeder heading in from the opposite side. This mind he did not know. Rather then confront this newcomer himself he brushed Ashe's mind, not with words, but with a sensation, making her see blood all over the walls of the safehouse for a moment before it disappeared, a metaphor for danger.

[Ashe Sieris]

This was it. This was the sign she had been looking for. He was nearby. But it was strange. It was like he was in here with her, but a distance outside as well. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the dark. Thats when she saw it. Blood on the walls. She yelps and turns her head away quickly, surprised to see it. A second later, she turns slowly back to the blood stained wall... it was gone... just an illusion. Something was no right. She shouldn't be here.


Her eyes dodge around the entrance way quickly. There was nothing here. She could feel Zereth further inside but the distinct feeling of danger was too strong. She had to get out of the building. If it was him in there, she knew he could take care of himself. If it wasn't him and just the planet playing tricks on her, then who knows what could be waiting for her.


She quickly dodges outside and sees a dust cloud headed towards the small temple. It was time to get out of here. She quickly dodged to her speeder and reached out with the force to try to find a crevice to hide the bike and herself within. It did not take long to find a suitable place for hiding. She drove there quickly, pulling her bike into the twisted crevice. It was not easily seen from outside and it would take a force user to truly find the pathway.


She turned and glanced around the open plain before turning to walk further into the crevice. Thats when she spotted it. A ship she was all too familiar with. The Star of Oblivion. So he was nearby. She slowly walked up to the ship and ran her hand along the underbelly of it. She could feel the force in the ship emanating with his signature. She turns quickly and reaches out with the force, trying to touch his mind.


“Zereth...”

[Ald Sorol]

Sorol pulled the speeder up in a cloud of all-too-visible dust. The temple, it turned out, didn't have a back door, and he didn't have a lightsabre with which to make a new one. And though he could have ascension-gunned his way through one of the higher windows, he didn't feel like it, not right now.

No, the best thing to do was try to keep a low profile.

Gun in hand, Sorol walked the perimeter of the temple, only to find the door closed and locked from the inside. So she had gone inside...or been repulsed. He didn't see her speeder bike, or anyplace close she might have hidden it.

The Force Hunter was old, but it could still move quiet and fast. Sorol dive-rolled under the Hunter's sword. The ultradense blade bit into the speeder's hull.

Sorol came up from the roll just out of sword range and drew his ascension gun. The antique blaster barked five times.

He picked up the semi-lightsabre-proof sword. The thing had already taken a couple of weak lightsabre blows. Although the sword was moderately valuable on the black market, it would slow him down. He discarded it.

It was at this point he tried to turn the speeder back on, and discovered just how loud an ulterior repressor could be once a maniac hit it with a sword. Cursing the affected part, the speeder and the mutant, Sorol got his pack out of the back seat and started walking around the temple, looking for a really good place to use his ascension gun.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth watched from his vantage point, peeking over the top of the cliff to watch Ashe hustle off into the cliff to the side, finding a narrow crag to slip in that, to his disgust, led her into the crag his ship was hiding within. Gorram. Why did nothing ever go like he wanted. The last thing he wanted was for anyone, even Ashe, to find his ship. She could tamper it in a vain attempt to get him to stay and talk to her, which he did not desire. She would have trouble gaining access since the ship was locked down and rigged with stun mines on all points of entry that would detonate if not disarmed before the door opened. They could be disarmed with the force, of course, but you would have to know that they are there. He had a remote with him that would disable them, but Ashe did not know that. There was enough power in those stun mines to kill a human or knock out a Trandoshan. Dangerous for someone with a fragile human body like Ashe.

However, before he could slip down into the crag and intercept her before she did anything stupid, he heard blaster fire ring off the cliff. Peering off the cliff he could not see the other person, who had moved to the other side of the temple. There was a loud noise that he could not placed ,that was silenced. Something was up. Slipping off his cliff, Zereth let himself fall down one portion of the cliff at a time until his boots hit the desert floor again. In addition to his red cloak he wore black clothing that covered his entire body but left his arms naked except for the black leather gauntlets he wore. He had his pair of lightsabres hanging from the back of his belt, hidden underneath his cloak, and in addition he carried a long barreled blaster at his side. The blaster was something special he had found in a gun shop on Corellia some time ago. It cycled slow but was fairly accurate. With his eye for detail he needed little more than a single shot to kill most people. It was used more to give him the illusion of being normal than as an actual weapon.

Stepping around the temple he came upon the sight of the dead Force Hunter, the normally pale white and faint green skin was a mottle brown. It's sword lay on the ground. Zereth did not dare touch it. The Force Hunters weapons were made like normal swords, but were made of denser than necessary metals so that they could withstand the blows of a lightsabre. This made the weapons very heavy. The hunters had great bulging muscles that allowed them to carry the weapons. Their armor was usually made of leather with plates of the dense metal inlaid into it, but this hunter was practically naked, probably too weak with age to wear it anymore. Amazing it could carry the sword still. The wrist dart launchers were gone as well, but it still wore the face mask with the multi-spectrum scopes that allowed them to see heat and infra-red, in addition to other spectrums. Zereth pulled the mask back, which took flesh with it as it had become baked to the creature's face. The face underneath was horrifying. Apparently the Hunters believed in self mutilation, fore this hunter had no eyelids and his face was covered in nasty scars and his nose was nowhere to be seen. The long dreadlocks of his hair were frail and unhealthy looking. Maybe the creatures would die out and they would be able to retake Korriban. That would be great news if he could prove it.

Laying the body aside, Zereth moved on, drawing his blaster in his right hand in case there were anymore hunters around. He completely missed the blinking green light on the inside of the hunter's mask, an open comm link. Unknown to the force adepts, trouble was right around the corner and closing fast.

Zereth turned the corner and there was the man, Zereth raised his blaster, his hood still shadowing his face and hiding his features. "Hold it." He said, quite clearly in a voice of authority. "You tread on sacred ground. What are you intentions here?"

[Ald Sorol]

He'd thought he'd been paying attention - and truth be told, if another Force Hunter tried to sneak up on him, Sorol would have noticed long before it became a problem. This man, though...

Sorol turned around slowly, with his own gun pointed at the ground between them. "I was sent by a collector," he said, choosing his words with deadly care, "who values the history and legacy of the Sith. He asked me to recover any relics I might find. Apparently he has strong feelings for the Valley of the Dark Lords - and the temples as well. I intend no sacrelige or desecration."

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe turned quickly as she felt a disturbance echo across the force towards her from the temple. That was it. The sign she was looking for. The sudden influx in activity around the small temple alerted her that something was amiss. She quickly ran back to her speed bike and jumped on, leaving the Star of Oblivion where it is.


She raced across the short plane, back to the temple entrance. There was a single force hunter standing there, looking over the body of its dead companion. As she raced towards it, she allowed her speeder to fly past it and flipped off, activating her light saber and slicing through the head of the unsuspected hunter. She landed on her feet as the ugly thing dropped to the ground. She edged towards it, looking over the two fallen corpses. The first seemed to have been killed with blaster shots.


Ashe had never seen creatures like this before. They were rather foreign to her. She slowly inspects the bodies, trying to figure out the anatomy of them quickly, unsure of what exactly they are or why they are here. Probably not her smartest course of action, standing around two dead force hunters. But she did not know any better...


Luckily, though, the force does. In an instant, she was alerted to danger and spun around, bringing her light saber up to block the blades of two more of these creatures. Now she was bothered. The dark purple blade of her saber should have been able to cut through their blades. But they stuck, stead fast against the energy of the light saber. She frowns as the three begin to dance around each other, taking blows from the two of them and waiting for her moment to strike back.

[Zereth Lancer]

A treasure hunter. Zereth doubted there was anything left to plunder, but he would not stop the man from wasting his time. He knew there was nothing left in the safe house tomb, and the man was likely to get killed by the Witch's minions, one way or another, so Zereth raised his weapon, pointing the barrel skyward in a non-threatening manner before lowering it to his side. He was about to dismiss the man when he heard the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsabre beam weapon becoming activated. That meant one of two things, either the Witch was around the corner, or Ashe was, which meant she was in danger, or angry with Zereth. Too many possibilities, it made it hard to judge anything.

"Korriban is a dangerous place. I would suggest moving on," Zereth said, before turning and slipping around the corner again, running down the length of the outside wall of the temple, his boots skipping over loose rocks and over cracks of the uneven terrain. He turned the second corner and there was Ashe, fending off a pair of the sickly hunters, a corpse already at her feet. Clearly distracted by her glowing sabre, the hunters had not noticed Zereth as he raised his blaster and slipped his finger over the trigger, squeezing off a single round, which struck the closest hunter in the side of it's neck, causing it to fall to the ground holding its wound and gasping for a breath its burnt out throat could not find.

The second shot hit the second hunter in it's unprotected knee, letting it fall to the ground for Ashe to finish off. Striding toward her, Zereth holstered his weapon, letting the long barrel firearm slip into the leg holster that he had specially made to hold it's longer frame. More hunters. That was bad. It meant it was time to leave, because these things had the uncanny ability to summon more of them. Old ones now, but there was bound to be more youthful ones somewhere. It would take time to dispatch them from the sith's temple, but they were fast buggers.

"Time to leave," Zereth said, not even bothering to say hello. He grabbed Ashe with his gloved hand and pulled her forcibly toward the crag that hid his ship. It did not matter what she said, he kept pulling, until they were at the ship, and even then he did not let go of her arm. The ship was opened, the mines disables, and Zereth pulled her on board, only pausing long enough to check the underbelly very quickly for tracking devices with just a glance before boarding. He closed it behind him and released Ashe.

"Forgive me but we are in danger, and I would much prefer not to be stuck on this god forsaken planet," this was said on his way up through the corridor to the front of the ship, walking past the four crew quarters, two on each side, and to the front where the cockpit sat. He powered up the ship, disabling the stealth systems so he could get the reactor going faster.

For the briefest moment Zereth wondered if the treasure hunter would make it off the planet in one piece. He was not concerned in any way, he just liked weighing the possibilities of survival in cases like this.

[Ald Sorol]

Sorol let out a quiet breath as the Sith ran towards the source of the lightsabre sound on the other side of the temple. He'd have far preferred not to get in a gunfight with someone like that - and guns would be the least deadly weapons in such a duel.

But the fight meant more Force Hunters had arrived. He'd perused the slim file on them several times.

Now, he strongly suspected it was time to get back to his ship. He started to jog, but kept the blaster in his hand. His palms started to sweat.

The ship was over three klicks away - a decent run, with limited cover. The file had been unclear on whether or not the Hunters could actually sense Force-users. He decided the extra sensitivity the Force could provide was worth the extra risk of being detected, and reached out. Yes...there were others coming, but they were probably homing in on the temple. They'd only be a problem if their path intersected his, or they found his ship.

Sorol craned his neck as a ship took off and flew directly above him. He kept running.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe was preparing to take down these two when suddenly they were both shot dead before her eyes. Her head whips around and she is face to face with the man she had been hunting for. Her instant reaction was Kill Him. A long remaining reaction that Zanon had implanted in her. She twitched and was over it that quickly. But the shock, she was not over. Even though she had been looking for him, she was still rather shocked to see him. Why was he suddenly showing himself to her Now? And why was he dragging her?


It took her a moment to recuperate and by then, they were most of the way to the ship. She actually glared and growled at his yanking on her arm and thought about pulling out of his grasp, but figured he would probably keep moving without her if she did so and she was not willing to loose track of him again. So she aloud him to drag her along, even if she was not happy at how he was going about it.


Once they were within the ship and he had finally let go of her arm, she lifts her arm and types something into a wrist pad there. Somewhere else on the planet, her speeder bike returned to her ship and the ship took off, headed back to Yavin 4 for now. And now that business was taken care of to make sure her ship was safe, she quickly began walking after Zereth.


“You hardly sound apologetic... and I had them taken care of. I am not the pathetic little creature you dealt with in the past...” Her word were venomous as they slipped out from behind the mask across her lower face. It was clear that much had changed about Ashe sense Zereth had left her on that bed in a coma.


She waits, watching him ignore her for pushing buttons. She growls deeply and steps forward. As the ship begins warming up, she spins his chair around to face her, affectively trapping him in the pilot chair. She leans over him, glaring down at him, her eyes edging towards a deeper purple color as she tries to make eye contact with him.


“Where have you been? Why did you leave me alone on that planet?” she demanded out of him. Her hand twitched towards him but she kept it firmly planted on the back of the chair. Her hand began to clinch down tighter on it as she waited for his response...

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth swiveled at her push, being swung around to face her, her hands coming down on the back of the chair to seemingly trap him in place, his head between her arms, his body below hers. He let his gloves hands rest on the arms of the command chair, spreading his legs out and slouching down, so to make it easier for her to tower over his tall frame. His red eyes looked into her's, from this distance she could see the speckles of dark red, like drops of blood, that dotted his irises. From further away all the red just blended together. This close she could see the details, some other than his eyes, such as his flawless skin that was only marred by scars, but not by acne marks or flaws of age; or even his hair, how the follicles stood out, spiky almost.

"You no longer needed my protection. Zanon was defeated, his plan spoiled and his machinations destroyed. He had no more use for you. The physician said you may be in that coma for months to years because of the brain damage. I had no reason to stay. I followed the call of the stars. You have no reason to follow me as you have, thus I have not gifted you with my presence. I do not have time to hold your hand, nor do you have a hand that requires holding."

Zereth replied, his voice slow and steady, each word carefully pronounced so that there would be no confusion, while his eyes remained unblinking, looking into her's. "After your augmentation by Zanon you are hardly human anymore. Nothing trivial should pose danger to you, thus you do not require me at all anymore. I am not apologetic, I have nothing to apologize for, except for dragging you here, but we had little time before this entire planet would become swarming with those creatures we dispatched. I apologize. Satisfied? Now please remove your hands from my chair and leave my bridge. we can talk more once we are in hyperspace."

Zereth did not feel the need to mention that he left her to heed a call in the force, one that beckoned those with tainted souls to gather, and it had failed miserably. Zereth once again thought he could find something to believe in, but it shattered apart. The prophet was false and his message insane. Few came and Zereth was once again the last to leave. Such a waste of time, not that time meant anything to Zereth, who's own genetically re-envisioned body could sustain the traffic of time much better than the average human body. His body had been optimized, and at the rate he was going he would be around for another hundred years.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe twitched at his words. They stung her more than she would ever truly let on. His words were cold towards her. This was not the man that she remembered who left her back on Naboo. That was the last time she consciously remembered seeing him. He had never spoken to her like this. Even the first day they met, his words were kind and even the incident with Ambrose. But this... he was cold.. indifferent. She had never heard him like this before.


Her reaction gave away her emotions very clearly though. She stood, stunned for a moment before she pulled her hand back and hit him across the face with her palm. Her eyes stared down at him for a second long before she turned on her heal and stalked into the sitting area of the ship. She knew he would have the ship up off the ground in a moment so she sat down at the table and put her head in her hands.

[Zereth Lancer]

While he had expected harsh words on her part, and common sense on his, he had not expected this to come to blows. Hard fury boiled in his blood as her palm hit his face. He did not turn away, he could have, but instead he let her hit him, her hand hitting him across the cheek bone, nearly splitting the skin. Without a word between either of them she stalked out. Satisfied that this confrontation was over, Zereth spun his chair back around, hit the lift off thrusters, and let his ship rise skyward, the long, bulky transport ship heading upward slowly until it cleared the crevice it was hiding inside. Standing up, Zereth looked out the viewport, letting the port thrusters turn the ship so he could see the safehouse temple, and the dozen Force hunters that had already surrounded it.

Satisfied he made the right decision, he fired up the engines and blasted off, scattering dirt and rubble behind the ship as it rocketted forward. A pull of the control yoke navigated the ship in an upward curve that eventually brought them into and out of Korriban's orbit and back into the ruthless safety of space. Summoning the Nav computer online, Zereth plotted an autopilot route to take them away from Korriban, but he did not drop to lightspeed just yet.

Swiveling the chair around, he pushed up and off, feeling a bit lighter already from the lack of natural gravity. It made easing his tall frame around easier. Stepping from the bridge he walked again past the crew cabins to the common area just past. The square room had build in wall seats and slots in the floor for setting up tables. There were no tables set at this time, all stored in the cargo bay since Zereth had no use for them. He took all his meals in his cabin. The lighting was also dim, how he liked it, but with a word command "Brighten", the room became more lit.

"Where would you prefer I drop you off?" Zereth asked, through with formality and talking, especially if she was going to resort to blows instead of a civil conversation. Now he just wanted to get away from her. His own assessment a moment ago had only been half-true. Physically she was incredibly strong from Zanon's fiddling, but mentally and emotionally she was weak. Too weak for him to ever allow to be around him. Weak people got themselves killed, or those around them killed. Zereth could not risk such a fate, not when he lived in constant danger.

[Ashe Sieris]

She had changed. Even in the brief moments it had taken him to get the ship off the ground, something had changed within her. Even as he watched her and spoke to her, he could see her changing before his eyes. Her eyes narrowed and grew colder. The red streaks that pierced her violet eyes grew as she stared at her hands. It was rare to actually watch the dark side begin to consume someone. But that was exactly what was happening. With every word that exited his mouth, her mind grew darker, angrier. The emotions that had caused her to hit him were gone, replaced with just anger. At him? Perhaps a small portion. But mostly at the universe.

The dark side is a seductive virus. Once it is within you, it grows and continues to grow within a person until it consumes them. Once you started, it was a waterfall affect. But to watch it happen to another?
Ashe's darkened eyes finally turn to look up at him. The look they gave him was cold. Her eyes narrowed as her brow twisted down into a scowl.

Her hand burned. It twisted into a fist around the ancient sith rune on her palm. The shadows beneath the bench she was seated on began to react, flickering and churning.

Finally, she spoke. Her voice was cold and emotionless and, disturbingly, reminded him of when Zannon had her under his control. “Do what you will... You always have. There is nothing I have ever been able to say or do to convince you otherwise...”

[Zereth Lancer]

It was a sad sight, to behold someone so young falling to pieces. He did not even have to open himself up to the force to feel the aura coming off her, it was like waves of gray wind that breezed off her body. Rather, Zereth closed himself off, he had learned a long time ago to remove himself from the force, to shrink the lifeline till it was but a thread. To sever that line all together ran the risk of never finding it again, but cut down this small kept Ashe's flood of darkside energies from surging into him, or corrupting him. He would not be pulled into her self destruction.

"That is because you have never had a convincing argument," Zereth replied, his red eyes not missing the churning shadows around her ankles. His hand strayed near his blaster, which was still tucked up against his hip, the safety strap still open. "I suggest you control yourself while aboard my ship. However, I doubt you will listen. You never have," he countered, then turned, heading back up toward the cockpit again. "We head for Ord Mantell," He called back down the hallway. The cockpit door swished open before him, then closed. He hit the airlock control switch, let it hiss and clunk noisily, then a green light lit. It was a precaution. Zereth was a very cautious person.

Summoning the nav computer again, Zereth plotted a course for Ord Mantell, further north along the mid-ring. It was a planet Ashe should be familiar with, it was where they had battled Zanon, where he had left her before, and where he would be leaving her again. It was far enough from Corellia, where he planned to travel next. He had some loose ends he wanted to watch up now. Then perhaps he could attempt to kill the Sith Witch once and for all, with nothing else to lose or come back to.

Grabbing for the clasp, Zereth loosened his cloak and pulled it free of his body, hanging it over the copilot's chair, leaving him dressed in all black, his long hair falling around his shoulders. Another precaution loomed in his mind, so he reached into his boot and removed the lightsabre hidden there. The obsidian black handle was extra long, to allow for easier two handed use, however the cylinder design was featureless. The activation plate was inside, activated with the force. He never wanted it to fall into the wrong hands, or be easily used by someone else. Clipping it to his belt he sat down in his command chair. The airlock while pressurized was not locked, Ashe could cycle through if she wanted, although it would be a waste of time. Apparently she had learned nothing from him, heard none of his words, his wisdom. What fueled her was unknown to him, but he wished she would just leave him alone. Wished everyone would leave him alone.

[Ashe Sieris]

'... left alone...'


The thought crossed through to Ashe's mind as she watched him turn and walk back into the cockpit. How many times had she seen that sight of him? The sight of his back walking away from her? Too many times, now. Her rage built and built until she felt like she was about to explode. The shadows reacted more and more as her anger grew. Her own darkness pushed at her, straining her. The lights in the room dimmed as her eyes drifted around the room, searching. So much aggression and pent up energy and emotions but Nothing to burn it out on. Never had she felt like this before. Never had she encountered the dark side surge up inside of her like this.

Thats when she looked up at the window of the ship. Her eyes focus first on the stars outside, the darkness surrounding them before she refocuses her vision on the actual glass of the window. Her own reflection shown back at her. She stood up and walked over to it, slowly. It had been a long time since she had just stopped and looking at her own reflection. It was before Zannon had taken her. Her eyes focused closely on themselves for a moment before shifting over the rest of her face and form. They lingered on the mask for a long moment before turning back to her eyes.

It was her eyes that scared her. This was the first time she had seen them this dark. The depth of it took the adrenaline straight out of her. The shadow's died down and returned to their places in the room. The lights brightened but only a little. She winces slightly even at the only barely brighter light before she turns away from her reflection. It had become to much for her. To see the scars left upon her by Zannon and the scars she had left on herself in her fall to the dark side overwhelmed her.

A moment later the door to the cockpit slides open. Ashe doesn't even look at him before she speaks up. “Yavin IV... leave me at Yavin IV... its closer then where you were planning to drop me...” Her look is much like the one Zereth saw a long time ago, when he and Ambrose had an interaction with her. The look she gave him as he had been leaving, a look of betrayal. But this time, it was not aimed at him. It was internal.

Without saying another word and never looking at him, she turns, allowing the door to slide shut. She walks into one of the empty crew rooms, closing the door behind her. She doesn't turn on the lights. Instead she lays down in the dark, looking up at the window above her head. She allows the darkness of space and the shadows of the room to engulf her and take her mind far from where she was.

She just wanted to be left alone...

[Zereth Lancer]

Nodding his head, he let her slip out of the cockpit while he had the NAV computer drop them out of Hyperspace the moment it became safe. Once the stars reverted from streaks to pinpoints again Zereth punched in the new coordinates. Yavin IV. The computer processed a moment, calculating the path through the star charts and then the light blinked green on his console. Satisfied, Zereth pushed the speed lever forward, and the ship slipped into hyperspace once more, the stars streaking to greet him.

Why she wanted to go to Yavin IV of all planets was beyond him. It was another ruined world, tainted by the darkside. Zereth had learned in Sith texts, and first hand from Sith Alchemist Baralai Lotus, that the planet's entire population had been mutated by a Sith Alchemist into a warrior nation called the Massassi. They were extinct now, but their ziggurats and temples remained, not entirely unlike Korriban, only Yavin IV was a jungle, not a desert. It was completely inhospitable, full of wild, dangerous creatures tainted by the darkside. Zereth doubted she could survive there for long, but it had been her request, and he would allow her that much.

Emerging from the bridge, now satisfied that she was not going to try anything crazy, he unsealed the bridge airlock and stepped out. His own quarters were one of the two located just behind the bridge. Locked, of course. The numerical keypad would not stop a hacker for long, but it guaranteed him some privacy. Punching in the numbers one digit at a time, his fingers moved quickly, a blur. The door beeped once and then slid open to reveal the tiny room beyond. It held little more than a bed and a weapon rack from which hung and lay several weapons of varying design and origin. He removed his gunbelt and hung it from one of the many bars and hooks. His lightsabre was also laid down.

Reaching behind his head to grab his shirt, he pulled it free of his head, past his shoulders and arms, and then it was just cloth in his hands. Tossing it aside he pulled of his wrist guards, leather fingerless gloves, and stood half-naked in the dim light. He fell into the long bed that took up the entire wall of his quarters, kicking off his boots and laying there, breathing in the dusty recycled air. Reaching across the bed he grabbed the satin pillow that leaned against the cold metal wall. Pulling it under his head, he let his hand reach underneath it, making sure the lightsabre was still there.

He fell asleep and was confronted with wishful dreams full of bright lights, peace, happiness, and Ashe's smiling face.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe lay within her room for an hour or more, quietly looking up at the hyperspace movement. She knew it would not take long to reach Yavin. A day at most. It had taken this long to find him... and now that she finally had, she was already loosing him. But this was what he wanted. As she had so many times before, she would have to stand back and watch him leave once again.


When Ashe's mind finally came to a rest, her dreams were not so peaceful as his. Plagued with thoughts of the past, she tossed and turned on the cot in her room.


* * *


The dream stared off strange enough. Standing there, in a pitch black void, her mask gone. Ashe looked around confused for a moment before she turned around and Zereth stood there. She asked him what was going on but all he did was smile. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her and did the last thing she ever expected. He kissed her. Her eyes closed as she leaned into him.

She opened her eyes while still in the kiss then pulled back and screamed. It was no longer Zereth standing before her. It was her worst nightmare. Zanon grinned his... disgusting grin at her before grabbing her and slamming her to the ground. Replays of some of the horrors that Zanon had put her through begin playing through her mind.

Horrors began surrounding her. Her mind went crazy. Everything around her fluctuated between scenes with Zanon and what he did with images of Ambrose and some of the horrors she encountered with him. Even she fluctuated between stages of her life. One moment, she was a child, facing all of these hardships, the next she was at the same point as she was when she first met Zereth and again, a moment later, she had her mask on as she usually does now.

Everything was chaotic. Everything kept changing. Then, as it built up to its climax, she turned around and felt pain surge through her chest. Zereth stood directly before her, his lightsaber on and piercing through her heart. She was as she had been before Zanon had taken her. She looked down at her chest and at the hilt that was pushed up against her skin. She could feel the heat from the blade piercing through her but everything else was just.. cold. She fell backwards into darkness, everything else going black around her....


* * *


She had been crying out the entire time she was asleep. An occassionaly louder scream occassionally came out as she cried out to this person or that person. Her yells could be heard through out the entire ship and through the force. As a final scream echoed out of her chambers, her eyes opened. She could still see the horrors and nothing else within her room, as if she was still asleep and yelling out.

[Ashe Sieris]

Ashe lay within her room for an hour or more, quietly looking up at the hyperspace movement. She knew it would not take long to reach Yavin. A day at most. It had taken this long to find him... and now that she finally had, she was already loosing him. But this was what he wanted. As she had so many times before, she would have to stand back and watch him leave once again.


When Ashe's mind finally came to a rest, her dreams were not so peaceful as his. Plagued with thoughts of the past, she tossed and turned on the cot in her room.


* * *


The dream stared off strange enough. Standing there, in a pitch black void, her mask gone. Ashe looked around confused for a moment before she turned around and Zereth stood there. She asked him what was going on but all he did was smile. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her and did the last thing she ever expected. He kissed her. Her eyes closed as she leaned into him.

She opened her eyes while still in the kiss then pulled back and screamed. It was no longer Zereth standing before her. It was her worst nightmare. Zanon grinned his... disgusting grin at her before grabbing her and slamming her to the ground. Replays of some of the horrors that Zanon had put her through begin playing through her mind.

Horrors began surrounding her. Her mind went crazy. Everything around her fluctuated between scenes with Zanon and what he did with images of Ambrose and some of the horrors she encountered with him. Even she fluctuated between stages of her life. One moment, she was a child, facing all of these hardships, the next she was at the same point as she was when she first met Zereth and again, a moment later, she had her mask on as she usually does now.

Everything was chaotic. Everything kept changing. Then, as it built up to its climax, she turned around and felt pain surge through her chest. Zereth stood directly before her, his lightsaber on and piercing through her heart. She was as she had been before Zanon had taken her. She looked down at her chest and at the hilt that was pushed up against her skin. She could feel the heat from the blade piercing through her but everything else was just.. cold. She fell backwards into darkness, everything else going black around her....


* * *


She had been crying out the entire time she was asleep. An occassionaly louder scream occassionally came out as she cried out to this person or that person. Her yells could be heard through out the entire ship and through the force. As a final scream echoed out of her chambers, her eyes opened. She could still see the horrors and nothing else within her room, as if she was still asleep and yelling out.

[Zereth Lancer]

Her eyes opened to Zereth standing above her, his silhouette visible lit from behind by the dim lights from the common room down the hall. He was still shirtless, clothed only in his trousers, bare feet on the cold durosteel floor. He wore no belt, no weapons. It was probably the most naked, physically and defensively, she had ever seen him.

Zereth had been forcibly awoken, his mind flooded with dreaded nightmares that were not his own, but rather broadcast through the force like a holovid he was forced to watch, but not partake in. While awake he had squeezed off his contact with the force, protecting himself from Ashe's corruption and darkness, but he had been so exhausted when he went to sleep, his mind wandering with his own dreams that his connection he reopened and thus Ashe was able to flood his mind, even if she had no intention of doing so.

He had been forced to watch her and himself, watched the kiss that could never exist, and then watched as he turned into Zanon. Perhaps that part was the most disturbing, even more so than what Zanon did to her within the dream. He had never thought of it, the possibility of becoming that which created him. He was far from insane, but what would the toil of time do to his already fragile mind? Already he was forgetting, the oldest memories disappearing from him. How old was he? A hundred years old maybe? Zanon had taken him as a boy, manipulated him, and yet he felt so old. Maybe Zanon had made himself ageless as well. Was that all Zereth had to look forward to now, himself becoming a madman who's only thought was to pass on his legacy. Zereth lacked the gene witch's knowledge, but nothing was impossible if you had all the time in the world.

Her cries had motivated him to leave his quarters, cross the hall, and step into her room. It had been locked, but he knew all the override codes for the entire ship. Stepping inside he watched her toss and turn on the bed, projecting the dream over and over again, hot flashes in his mind that he did nothing to prevent. For the first time since he left her on Old Mantell he actually felt sorrow for what he had put her through, but only for a moment. He could not allow his emotions to come out, not now.

Her eyes opened, but she continued to thrash around. Zanon must have really fracked with her brain, either that or the darkside was pushing her into insanity, regardless of what it was, or how he felt now, he had to address this logically and unbaised with the thought: She is ruining my sleep...

Stepping forward he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, sitting down on the edge of the bed and pushing her down, to restrain her thrashing before she hurt herself.

[Ashe Sieris]

As her mind cleared, she realized it wasn't the horrors she had been facing in her dreams that was standing over her. At least, not all of them. She calmed herself, breathing slowly before she relaxes, allowing him to push her down and, almost comically, falls backwards, her head landing on the pillow. Her breathing was slow and calming as her eyes closed so that she could focus herself. The images she had faced within her subconscious continued to play across her mind, slowing fading away as consciousness took her. Suddenly her eyes flew open.


“Wait.. Where are we-”


She began as she quickly, and awkwardly, sat up. The force of her sitting up, and the awkward angle she did it at, on the small cot threw her off balance and she fell off the bed, onto the floor on her butt. She blinks, a bit confused as to how she ended up on the floor before she looks up at Zereth. It was that exact moment, that exact clumsy mistake that changed everything to her. Her eyes met his and, very quickly, the surprise and shock was gone. The fear he had seen in her when she awoke was wiped away.


In that moment, Zereth saw the old Ashe. Even through the mask, he could see her smiling as her eyes lit up. Laughter began to come from behind the mask. Her hands came up and covered her face as she continued laughing, adjusting her seating on the floor into a cross-legged position. Her entire body shook with her laughter and through the force, he could feel the joy echoing across, burning through the darkness that had been in her mind. The only thing on her mind was how silly she must have looked falling off of the bed like that, and it only made her laugh more.

[Zereth Lancer]

He tried to catch her as she tumbled, but she felt right out of his grasp, her body slick with sweat from his nightmare. To the floor she fell, Zereth leaning over from his position sitting on the bed, looking down, wondering for a moment if she was okay, the floor was made of metal, only his quarters boasting a rug to cover the otherwise cold metal floor. But before he could even begin to ask her condition she started laughing. It was strange. This whole time, since Zanon, since the android attacked them, life had been so dark, so full of horrors and the unspeakable. He could not remember the last time he had heard laughter, either his own or someone else's. It was almost shocking and disturbing, and somehow lightening and uplifting at the time.

He did not know how to react, his face blank, his mouth hanging slightly open. His eyes glowed lightly red in the dark in reaction to the force energies Ashe had shot throughout the ship during her nightmare. Reaching down, he offered her his hand, his skin turned to gooseflesh from the chill of the ship and his clear lack of a shirt. "I have not heard you laugh in a long time, Ashe." He said, probably the first time he had said her name this meeting. "Have you followed me through hell so many times that your soul cannot find joy?"

[Ashe Sieris]

Her laughter began to clear up as she lowered her hands and looks back up at him. The room just seemed brighter now. The stars outside had lit up a bit and she didn't feel so overwhelmed by everything. Her eyes drifted over his bare chest for half a second before looking into his red eyes. There was still the gleam in her eyes, shining from her smiling at him. She takes his hand and stands up, dusting herself off. She hears his words and her eyes loose a bit of the shine. She looks back at him again, still smiling and calm, but a slightly sad look as entered her eyes.

“Life has gotten much harder since I met you, Zereth. And most time, I can never tell if you actually want me around or not. But you never give me any closure, which just leaves me wondering.”

She looks away a moment then looks back at him as if she is about to say something else. Instead she just smiles at him as she looks down at his face. She brings a hand up as if to try to touch his face but her hand pauses before moving to his shoulder, resting her hand at the base of his neck.

“Perhaps you were right, Zereth. I let myself get obsessed with a childish dream. I wont chase you any more. Once we reach Yavin IV, I will leave you be...”

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth looked at her hand on his shoulder as it wrapped around his neck. The touch was strange, alien, something he had forgotten and was not used to. He had shirked intelligent contact, becoming more and more isolated as the months passed. His ship was empty except for the rare times he had people on board. Sometimes he transported people for money, but that was really just something to do to pass the time. Having Ashe on board made it less his castle of fortitude and just a ship again. He was not sure he liked the feeling.

Zereth stood, moving out of contact with her, looking down at her with his red eyes, which were diminishing slowly until they stopped glowing all together, his connection to the force being shackled down again and his senses returned. "Yes," He said, backing up to the door, "Separating would be the best, for both of us. I cannot drag you from my personal hell anymore, and you can not tease at a humanity within me that does not exist. In another life perhaps, but not this one."

And with that he turned and left the room, crossing back to his own quarters. He felt better, knowing she would not follow him anymore, at least not for awhile. He had a feeling she would come looking again. It was in her nature apparently to seek him out. People of power usually attracted attention and followers, but he wanted nothing of that. He needed to be alone, to find his point and purpose in life again, even if that meant isolating himself atop a mountain, growing a big bushy beard, and answering people who came looking for the answer to life.

Hmm... a bushy beard...

[Ashe Sieris]

Many Hours Later...

Ashe looked out the window of the small ship at the planet and its moons below them. The Star of Oblivion was moving towards the fourth moon in orbit around the larger planet. The forest fourth moon of Yavin sat there, waiting, as it always did for Ashe. It called to her as it always had when she was near it. Her home for the majority of her life. It was like a magnet to her, always drawing her back to it. Despite its darker nature, she felt safe there. More so than anywhere else. She had witnessed the rebels with their base there years ago. She remembered the celebration they had when the first Death Star was destroyed. It was then that the first time she could remember being taken off planet happened. She had been shuttled off by the rebels to some distant planet that she does not even remember the name of now.

But now, as always, she returns. Her eyes watched as they sank below the treeline of the planet near some old ruins. She turned away from the window to gather her few belongings she had with her in preparation to leave the ship, and Zereth, once more. But this time, it was mutual in who was leaving, not just him. She paused a moment, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. She could feel the dark side pushing at her, but she swallowed it, pushing it back. She would not allow it to take her again. Once her things were all in her single satchel, she headed for the ramp of the ship.

She stopped beside the cockpit before completely leaving, looking in at Zereth's back. She placed a hand on the door frame and leaned against it a bit.

“So I suppose this is it.”

She paused in her words before slowly taking a few steps towards him. She places a hand on his shoulder gently.

“You're not as bad as you believe yourself to be. You have aloud darkness to surround you because you believe that is all you have and the only path you have to take.”

She looks down and sighs before turning her head away from him.

“I wish you could see yourself like I see you.”

She looks at him and smiles before leaning over and kisses his temple through her thin, cloth mask. She stands up once more and turns, letting her hand fall from his shoulder.

“Good bye, Zereth.”

With those final words, she walks towards the rear of the ship to her exit.

[Zereth Lancer]

The trip was painless. Zereth kept to himself, locking himself away in his chambers or on the bridge, or sometimes even hiding back in the mostly empty cargo bay; his favorite place to meditate. It took an entire day to make the trip,the stars stretching out infinitely in all directions. There really was not much direction in space. In a gravity free environment there were so many dimensions of movement available. Side to side, up and down, forward and back, but there were angles and reverse movements, hyper space that caused you to punch through space at an accelerated rate that would otherwise be impossible without engines the size of small moons and a ship that could take the stress of that speed without ripping apart from bow to stern. So many dimensions, so many directions. Thousands of planets, quadrillions of stars, and yet he had still discovered nothing among their vibrant worlds or hot cores. Wandering had done nothing for him.

He came to that conclusion while meditation alone in the cargo bay, a single incense candle set before him on the floor in a small saucer. The smell of spice and sandal wood permeated the rear chamber of the ship. Ashe offered a sort of anchor to him, but not one that he wanted, not just yet. His work was not done yet. He could not let himself live for himself. Not yet. He was responsible for so much, or had been. The Sith had risen and fallen under his watchful eye and training, but in the end they had all abandoned him. He carried a lone mantle, the kind of a mountain that had crumbled apart. There was a responsibility to rebuild what had been stolen from him, but he was afraid to build another deck of cards just to watch it fall apart again because other people have so little belief or commitment. Maybe the bushy beard was not such a bad idea.

An overhead prerecorded audio informed the passengers of the ship that they would be emerging from hyper space shortly. Zereth sighed, snuffed out he candle with a pair of moist fingers, and put the saucer and candle away in their respectable containers so that the would not be damaged in the case of space shenanigans. Moving forward, he headed for the bridge, dress plainly in his black clothing, his lightsabres left behind in his cabin. Once on the bridge he piloted the ship out of hyperspace and headed down toward the planet, the nearby gas giant casting its orange glow over the planet and the other nearby moons. There was no one to ask to land, no known population at all. Why she wanted to be left on a deserted, haunted planet was beyond him, but it was her choice. The Star of Oblivion set down in a clearing in the jungle beside one of the ancient temples that dotted this place, a location Ashe specified.

He was busy flipping switches and cycling the airlock so she could leave the ship via the main ramp when he heard the she step up behind him, and a hand on his shoulder, and a kiss on his temple. Turning his chair, he looked up at her with his red, dark speckled eyes. She wanted him to see himself the way she saw him? What did she see? All he saw in the mirror was a diseased old man with blood on his hands, not how he physically appeared, but how he viewed his spiritual being. What did she see in him? He knew he had a worldly appeal with his muscles and tall frame, dark features and mysterious eyes, but that was not enough to make her tramp all over the galaxy after him. He had saved her life, multiple times, maybe she viewed him as a hero, but he knew better. He was no hero. He had done horrific things in his life, and enjoyed most of them. He had once considered himself an agent of chaos, back before he found discipline and honor, although of of the latter he doubted he had any left.

"I am not who you think I am, Ashe." He replied, his eyes holding her gaze. "You are strong. You do not need me anymore. You need to move on, live your life. I cannot offer you what you want. However, if your need ever becomes dire, you may find me on Corellia. I have some loose ends to tie up. Running has not benefited me. I'll let fate come to me this time. It usually seems to work that way. Goodbye Ashe, I wish you success in your endeavors." And with that he let her leave the ship, possibly forever. A part of him was embittered, but the rest felt relieved. She would be out of the way now, where his troubles could not catch her in the crossfire. Perhaps she could be able to salvage her life after all.

Turning about, he fired up the ship, raised the loading ramp, and blasted off, leaving Yavin IV behind and plotted an interstellar course for Corellia, and it's capital city Coronet. There were some people he wanted to talk to, lose ends to tie up, people to terminate or terrorize. The sith may be dead and gone, but he wanted them remembered, and he would deal with the traitors and betrayers starting with their allies in the Corellian government and other sources.

There would be reckoning.