Revisiting the Past

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Impatient and sweaty, Lilaena De'Ville walked quickly through the jungle towards the ruins that were her meeting spot with her master, Darth Callidus. Often the ruins were home to a family of boma, so it paid to be early and alert so one could clear the nest before Salem arrived.

She was surprised, then, to find out that he had shown up early and scared off the creatures himself. Lilaena rearranged her attitude into something properly submissive, and knelt before him, removing her helmet. "You wanted to talk to me, Master?"

[Darth Callidus]

In the solitude of the ruins, Callidus wore his hood down though his mask remained in place, the whites of his eyes smothered by the darkness of the death heads eye sockets. He spent a moment just watching the woman knelt before him then, apparently satisfied by what he saw, he nodded.

“I have need of you, Malleus... for a task that only you can accomplish.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She stood up, eyes narrowing a little bit as she tried to discern as much as she could from Callidus' voice. "I am ready for whatever it is, my master."

De'Ville was curious. What task could it be that only she could do?

[Darth Callidus]

“I have sensed a growing number of Jedi, gathering themselves in the Outer Rim Territories,” Callidus said, his tone surprisingly even for a revelation of such importance. Then he paused, allowing his apprentice time to consider the implications of such a discovery.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville felt her heart beat faster. Jedi in the Outer Rim? Her eyes glittered with excitement, forgetting for a moment how A'na Eldhil had lied to her and used her. "They are gathering from exile finally?"

She looked down and then back up. "How does the Empire not know about them?"

[Darth Callidus]

“They are... few in number, and in almost constant motion.”

The look in her eyes had not gone unnoticed. There was, Callidus suspected, a part of the woman stood before him that, however small, still wanted to believe in the Jedi, in the purity of their cause - or rather the cause that her master had impressed upon her. A'na Eldhil had also taught the Sith Lord himself, or at least the boy he had once been, though he had always believed himself to be above her indoctrination.

A hint of a smile touched Salem's lips, the skeletal jaw of his mask rippling away to reveal his true face for an instant, and he moved forward a casual step.

“But I have felt them, and I know where they are... I feel familiar presences amongst them, Lilaena.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She cocked her head slightly to one side, meeting his egg white eyes as the mask melted away. Then the death's head visage shimmered back into place, concealing Salem Ave's pleasant features as the man took a step towards her.

De'Ville wondered about that - was it on purpose or a break in the man's concentration? "You have associates among the exiles?" Her brow furrowed a bit, wary of jumping to conclusions.

[Darth Callidus]

Callidus folded his arms loosely across his chest and nodded slightly, thinking what an apt choice of words associate was. The life-forces he had sensed had barely even been his allies during the days of the Republic.

“Former associates, though I suspect most of these Jedi began their training long after the fall of the Jedi Order.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"You were a part of the Jedi Order?" De'Ville felt a bit like the ground was falling out from underneath her, and hoped that she was able to keep it out of her expression. "Why..."

She shook her head slightly as if to clear out all the questions. It hadn't mattered before what he had been in the past. She believed in him before, and she still did. His past as a Jedi, or as whatever, didn't change what she was. What she had done. He hadn't lied to her.

Not yet, anyway.

"Forgive me my questions, Master."

[Darth Callidus]

When she asked forgiveness of him, Callidus inclined his head towards his apprentice in a gesture of small benediction. Perhaps it was because she had been so young then, or perhaps because there had been so many of them at the temple. Like her, his name had not gone down in history with the martyred Jedi of the Clone Wars. If there was any record of Salemescro Avesca, Jedi Padawan, it would say that he had died in the Purge with the rest of his traitorous kind.

“Let us focus on the present, for now... It is the first time that I have felt the Jedi so near to Onderon, since I became aware of their existence. It would be wise if you were to leave and meet with them as soon as possible.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

It would be wise...to leave...

Her immediate thought was to protest. Leave? She was Mandalore. She couldn't just leave. Besides, what of her plans to...

Best not to think of it.

"Leave and meet with them?" Lilaena repeated, one eyebrow raised a tad incredulously. "How do you propose that I -"

Wait. The Dark Jedi thought for a moment, and started over. "I can call my contacts in the Rebellion. If the Jedi are gathering, then the Alliance is probably harboring them, like they did Skywalker." A bitterness crept into her voice at the name. Skywalker did what she failed to do - destroyed Palpatine and his pet Vader. At least, that was the rumor that had come out of Endor.

"I have not presented myself to them as a former padawan, however. They only know me for my activities against the Empire. It could draw suspicion if I suddenly asked about their connections to the Jedi exiles. If I were to," and she resisted looking around, "bring my apprentice I could drop her off as an adept I found in my travels."

Lilaena smiled slightly, "Which is, of course, true. Akasha would be sent to wherever the Jedi are, for training. They are probably desperate to grow their numbers." Her smile grew a little more cunning, "And I could join the Rebels as I wait to hear from her."

[Darth Callidus]

Callidus hesitated before speaking. In Onderon, they had cultivated an isolated and secretive society, a cabal capable of flawlessly concealing the dark machinations at work beneath the surface. With each step into the wider galaxy, however, they opened themselves up to greater scrutiny. Thus far, their forays into diplomacy had always been with those who were blind to the presence of the Dark Side of the Force.

Could they, Callidus wondered, trust the girl Akasha not to reveal her true nature – and by extension, the presence and nature of her masters – to the Jedi? She was, after all, not his creature – but perhaps the same could not be said of Lilaena. In thoughtful silence, he studied the sly smile that curved her lips and wondered whether the great distance he was about to put between them would strain the ties of loyalty that bound master and apprentice together.

It was, however, a fleeting thought at best. He didn't doubt her for a second.

“Very good, Malleus.”

There was a proud smile in his voice.

“Now, unless you have any other questions...?”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"No, my master." It chafed a bit to be so subservient after being on her own for so many years. Getting away from Onderon would probably do her good.

Her thoughts flicked to Grime as Callidus took his leave, wondering what her mysterious apprentice was up to. He had taken a hold of the seedy underworld in Iziz, and spent most of his time off planet. He returned every few months for more training. She knew he hated her, but she also knew how much potential he had. Potential for destruction.

Akasha was completely different. Strong willed and sensitive, her anger stemmed from a completely different source than Hawkins'. Walking away from the meeting place, Lilaena looked up into the trees, casting about for her apprentice's presence.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha had scarcely dared to breathe since the moment she had seen the death's mask haunting the ruins. Master De'Ville had only told her follow along and keep herself from being seen. She hadn't known it was Lord Callidus her master was going to see, and she didn't want to know how the ruler of the Circle would respond to a spy in a private meeting.

It was only well after the Sith lord had disappeared that the Orryxian girl dropped from branch where she had shrouded herself in a cloud of Force confusion - a trick she had learned from some of the native wildlife on Onderon. Nothing survived in these jungles unless it was preternaturally good at killing or good at hiding.

"Jedi?" she whispered, eyes wide and blazing. "You're sending me to the Jedi?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Am I wrong to think you are ready for the assignment?" De'Ville kept walking, ignoring the heat of Akasha's gaze. That the girl had gotten close enough to the meeting with Darth Callidus to hear their words, and without being detected, was pleasing. It meant that something had actually gotten into her thick skull without Granoi having to beat it into her for once.

"You did well to hear us." She stopped walking, listening to the sudden silence of the jungle around them. Usually not a good sign. She put her hand to her lightsaber.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha was ready to snap off something to the effect that she thought the whole point of being an apprentice was to actually learn from her master at some point, but then the jungle intervened. It hadn't taken Akasha long to learn how to read the warning signs.

Her nose twitched at the mold-and-rot stink of boma slinking all around them. On their own, the reptilian predators were a danger only to the careless, but they were bolder in packs. The Orryxian felt for the handle of the Echani staff hanging from her belt.

"Of course I'm ready," she whispered back. "But what can the Jedi teach me that you can't?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"You aren't being sent there simply for them to teach you, child," Lilaena replied, her voice low as her head tracked to the left. A boma was silently circling them, sometimes visible through the leafy undergrowth of the jungle.

"You are to play an important role in discovering their base of operations. And their plans for the future." She spared a moment and looked back to her apprentice. De'Ville held out a hand, palm up, demonstrating a small ball of fire that she had previously taught to Akasha during a bit of the girl's downtime from Granoi's tutelage. Hopefully the girl had been practicing.

A boma screeched from the trees overshadowing them, and then three of the creatures rushed them at once - from the sides and from above. It was the work of an instant for De'Ville to infuse her ball of fiery energy with her anger, the fire dulling to a roiling mass of dark energy called Destruction. The energy sphere flew up to meet the dropping boma as Lilaena ignited her saber to deal with the one charging at her.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha was transfixed by the raw display of power. So transfixed she nearly forgot about the crunching claws of the beast charging her from behind.

She wheeled and pulled free her Echani staff, an unassuming silver cylinder scarcely six inches long until she twisted it just so. It telescoped outward in both directions with savage force just as the boma reached her, and the leading edge of the staff punched through the back of the predator's gaping maw and into its brain.

Akasha stepped aside daintily as the beast crumpled at her feet. She lifted the staff into a defensive position and stood back-to-back with her master as two more bomas emerged from the undergrowth, snarling and slavering.

"You didn't tell me you used to be a padawan," she said. "What are the Jedi to us now? Allies or enemies?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The leaping boma met its Destruction, and the sphere of energy blew the beast to pieces that rained down noisily around the two Force users.

"Neither," Lilaena said, taking a moment to flick a bit of boma entrails from her forehead before the next rush overtook them. "They are cowards, hiding from the Empire, and to be pitied, if anything." She thrust her hand out, tossing an animal aside brutally with the Force. The boma yelped as its back broke against a thick tree trunk.

"They have the power to do something about their massacre at the hands of Palpatine and Vader. Yet they do not." De'Ville spun around, amethyst blade hissing as she bisected a final beast. The jungle fell silent around them. "So it is up to us to take revenge for the Jedi."

[Akasha Khan]

"Agh!"

Akasha swatted at the bits of slimy gore that had landed in her fur and curled her lips back in disgust. Now she'd be drawing another bath from that damned well!

"Cowards," she repeated, and obviously the idea was appealing to her as another shower of boma innards. "Wonderful."

She retracted her staff and replaced it on her belt, then turned to face her master, scrubbing at the stained fur on her arms. "You told me the Jedi use the Light Side of the Force," she said. "Is there any use in me learning that?"

She heard a wheezing, whimpering sound from one of the dismembered bomas - its side still quivered and heaved, despite the blood gushing from the gaping wound where its legs had been. Akasha raised a paw toward it and concentrated on its spine just below the neck. The vertebrae snapped, and the beast shuddered and went silent.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Yes," she replied, "I spent many years myself in training with the Jedi." De'Ville left out the part where she had thought herself a Jedi until Callidus had opened her eyes. "Their methods are not without merit, they are just... weak."

She beckoned to Akasha, and they began walking again, leaving the beasts to rot in the heat. Soon enough the carnivorous beetles and carrion birds would arrive, not to mention the plants that thrived on meat. "To maintain your cover you must keep your anger and your thoughts under control. But if you use their tactics and your emotion at the same time, you will uncover a great deal of power that the Jedi could only dream of."

[Akasha Khan]

That was enough to spark Akasha's interest. She easily matched her master's pace, one paw resting on the hilt of her staff.

"I suppose I'll just have to pretend I was dropped in the jungle to learn from wild beasts," she said airily.

She hunted her master's face for any trace of a smile. Then she remembered who her master was.

"Ah..." Akasha cleared her throat lightly. "I am honored that you chose me for this mission, Master. I swear I will not disappoint you."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"See that you do not," she replied icily. Unspoken consequences of failure hung in the air between them, and the felinoid's ears laid back a bit.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, De'Ville turned her helmeted head back towards her apprentice. "Show me your fire ball. You have been practicing, yes?"

[Akasha Khan]

"Of course," Akasha said, affronted. She held out a paw in front of her and focused on a tiny point of concentrated hatred. She'd found it helped to imagine Trakkin's head floating there.

A tiny spark flamed to life and began to grow, much more slowly than Lilaena's moments ago, and it took a visible effort for Akasha to keep it from flaring up and dissipating the way fire wanted to, but in moments she had a spinning ball of plasma a little smaller than her heart.

Akasha's ears ticked at the sound of vibrating wings, and, with a sweep of her paw, she sent the ball of Destruction crashing into a half-meter-long dragonfly. The insect exploded and fluttered back to the forest floor in a shower of gooey exoskeleton fragments.

Power. It was a paltry display compared to what her master could do, but even a small taste was enough to make Akasha's blood race. She smiled at the thought of turning that power against Trakkin, Jaarhu, and everyone else who had ever tried to make her their slave.

The fact that she was technically still a slave was only a minor obstacle. What mattered was that she finally had a chance to prove herself.