Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow (Johbi)

[Zereth Lancer]

It was all so familiar. The streets, the buildings, the people. Once upon a time they had been his people. The Sith Order had been based on Korriban but they had once boasted delusions of grandeur and hopes to be more than a cult living on a lifeless rock. Coronet was perhaps not as crooked as Nar Shaddaa, but they had just the right amount of cruelty and desperation in them to make them susceptible to fear. Not so well off that they could hide behind each other and not so desperate to fight back. Zereth had personally orchestrated the last project for control here in Coronet. His so called "pool of fear" had involved scaring local property owners, civil leaders, and politicians into doing what the Sith had wanted. Doing so had given them near unparalleled access around the city, as well as supplies for their base on Korriban and a safe house here on Corellia. That safe house, along with all their other assets, had fallen through their fingers once the Sith Order fell apart. An invasion from an unknown enemy had rooted them from Korriban, and from there the survivors all fled in different directions. Zereth had been the last to leave, finally giving up the dream once his closest ally Baralai Lotus had left the safe house for other ambitions, along with his apprentice Ezra. Zereth had returned to the safe house a year prior to discover it had been taken over by their former spy network, a group of nefarious non-force adepts he had labeled the Shades. He had left a rather gruesome message, in the blood of their former head spy, and the safe house seemed deserted again. The land owner they had forced it from originally was probably watching his back now.

However, Zereth was not here to cause unrest. Not just yet. His new master Saevitia had other plans. Together they were to build a new order of sorts. An order of shadow and terror. But they were just two people. There was only so much the two of them could accomplish, and with Saevitia preferring to stand in the shadows and not involve herself it came down to Zereth to push their current agenda. Recruitment. The galaxy was rife with potential force adepts. Many of which had no idea they were such, and the rest hunted down by the Empire and it's Inquisition. Rather than scout around the entire galaxy on a wild goose chase, Zereth came first to Corellia. Not only to once again scout the city, but also to find a potential candidate for him to recruit. Long had he gone without an apprentice of his own, and it was a void he would have filled.

[Johbi Kenseih]

The man lunged, vibroblade in hand, aimed at his victim's guts. The young man sidestepped the attack with ease, catching the man's wrist, pulling the man with the knife forward beyond his center of balance. The victim plunged his elbow downwards and hit the man's forearm so hard that his bone split from beneath his skin. That same elbow turned upon impact and collided with the attacker's face, cramming right into his nose.

Johbi Kenseih let the unfortunate man fall limp to the ground, blood spurting from his nose against the floor. The young man's body was lithe but solid. He wore a flight jacket over a simple white, silk shirt. His pants were a simple style, favored by many of the young people of Coronet. Johbi wore a white head band on his forehead. His breathing showed no sign of his recent exertion.

The three men standing behind their fallen comrade only considered that last observation for another moment before they too launched themselves forward to ruin Kenseih, who was so far a seemingly easy mugging gone wrong.

Johbi focused as they came upon him. His mind went blank, as his former master had always taught him, and then they came. One meaty fist came at him in what might've been a vicious hook. Johbi stepped into the punch, turning slightly and performed a Gundark Slap that was an aggressive back hand, so vicious that sent the attacker back against the wall. Johbi followed the turning momentum into his block as he became like a wall of steel against the next attacker's, a Rodian, kick. The Rodian had a metal pipe in his hands that would've have followed into Johbi's head however the young man, a journeyman in the ways of Teras Kasi was already performing Rancor Rising. The uppercut that followed made a satisfying crack as his fist connected with the Rodian's throat.

The third and last man standing was smart enough that by the time his peers had sunk to the ground, he was standing almost point blank with a blaster aimed straight at Johbi. It was an alleyway and there wasn't any cover readily available. Kenseih knew his chances and had been waiting for this exact moment. The coming of the True Void, where death would free him from his exile. He almost sighed in relief as the grungy man spoke.

"You got fancy moves, boy, but I reckon you came to the wrong gun fight here..."

[Zereth Lancer]

Memories fell around his shoulders like snow as he walked. He had not many fond memories of Coronet, as it had been a place of work, but his memories of Korriban were far more personal. The order had lived within one of the temples carved into the surface cliffs of the planet. Far in the back they hit from sight of the galaxy. Learning, biding their time for a return that would never happen. So many faces, comrades in arms. They had defied the sith code and bonded as brothers rather than fight at each other's throats. It ultimately made them weak in the end, but they were weak to begin with. He was the last of a legacy, the final remnant. By his hand he would see the work the Sith Order had started fulfilled, but not in the name of the Sith Order. That era had passed. There was a new order now and he would not have it slandered by the failures of the Sith.

Zereth was so deep in thought that he almost missed the melee all together. He passed by the alley way and had to take a step back to peer down it. Invisible to those around him, his powerful illusions hiding him from the sight of anything but those who might be looking. A bending of light caused him to hide in the background. Not truly invisible but so removed that he did not catch people's eyes and no one would remember him after he had passed. Dressed in all black with his red cloak buckled up around his shoulders, he watched the fight through the wayward hairs from his long black hair. It was one against three, and the man alone was doing quite well. Zereth found his fighting applaudible and a rare sight among a galaxy full of thugs. With two down the third thug pulled a blaster, and so would end the life of the plucky warrior. Zereth was not one to interfere with the events of those he considered below him, but today, for reasons he could not explain, he felt compelled to intervene.

Reaching down to his belt he pulled a knife. Streamlined and weighted for throwing, the knife was simple in appearance and was plucked from alongside a row of identical knives. Gauging the distance and other factors, His hand pulled back and then released, letting fly the knife. The throw was flawless, the result of years of practice and use. The knife hit the man in the hand, driving the blade into his wrist just below his palm. The impact knocked the gun aside and away from the plucky fighter's face. A follow up knife cleaved into the gunman's throat, leaving him to gurgle and scratch at the blade before keeling over. Dead.

His illusion dropped as Zereth stepped out from the alley mouth and moved toward the circle of bodies, clapping his hands lightly. "You fight well, sir. I do not often see Teras Kasi performed in the streets of Coronet. I felt you keen display required a reward, and so I have returned to you your life." Standing next to the man, Zereth's pale skin and red eyes were on full display now. "A commendable performance, to be sure."

[Johbi Kenseih]

Johbi reflexively fell into a defensive stance, attempting to clear his mind once more but caught off guard nonetheless. The man who stood before him was a Force adept, no doubt.

Teras Kasi is the Steel Fist, meant to crush the Jedi and Sith. You must be wary of the Force, for it is their ally, and our enemy.

Those words had come from the Master's mouth all too often. And then it had been discovered that fateful day that Johbi Kenseih, an honored pupil and peer within the dojo, gave into his own rage and wielded the Force before the Master. And for that he had been exiled.

Needless to say, the pale faced, red eyed man had just saved Johbi from the True Void and being face to face with another force adept drew mixed feelings of a lifetime of wariness and prejudice mixed with the loneliness and sense of belonging that had been so recently ripped from his life. But to hesitate could draw out a worse fate. Johbi relaxed as much as his instincts might let him, rendering the salute one might give to a superior opponent, one fist in his palm, bending at the waist.

"I... am nothing, surrah. I am glad my performance warranted such a reward but I fear my Teras Kasi is... tainted..."

It was hard to admit to this stranger, much less himself that he was a castaway of what he had been training his whole life for. This man seemed to appreciate his knowledge of the martial arts. Did not the Force adepts hate those who practiced Teras Kasi as much as Teras Kasi did them? Johbi again refused to hesitate. This was a blind leap, Johbi knew, but in his lonely desperation, it was worth not going alone like he had the last two years.

"Tainted... by the Force."

[Zereth Lancer]

There it was, a revelation to the mystery. Zereth had always been drawn to other force users. His master, Drexel Kane, had used this wayward talent to collect, or kill, other force adepts. Zereth had thrown his master's broken body from the cliff upon which they dueled and since had not put to mind much this talent. However, once again, he found himself wandering toward sources of the force. This man, this adept, claimed to be tainted by the force. It was such a strange thing to call it. A taint. He had heard it referred to as a curse or a gift, but never a taint.

"Perhaps I can suggest a solution. By combining the force with your Teras Kasi you might wield an even stronger discipline made stronger by the joining of the two. I myself have practiced many martial arts and found them all strengthened by my own mastery of the force. The force is a tool to be used, but never exploited."

Perhaps saving this plucky warrior would pay off in the end after all. Maybe it was not simply praise that he could lay upon this young man's shoulders, but something more. He seemed lost in what he considered a personal defeat, his so called taint of the force. There were only two solutions for him, either to die in his shame or learn to accept it.

[Johbi Kenseih]

It was true, many Force users had used the teachings of Teras Kasi to enhance their own abilities in combat but that was not the true path of the Steel Fist. The Steel Fist had been created for the sole purpose of bringing the Force to its knees. To blend them was an abomination by the old ways in which Johbi had been raised. But then again, that day, Johbi, in his rage, had known a fury behind his fists that they had never known before. Such power had been undisciplined and Johbi's brother in arms, Myrd'gun, was left in ruins, never to fight with Steel Fists again. Could Johbi do such a thing again? He had laid waste to these three men and many more with no remorse, Teras Kasi had no room for compassion or mercy against those that challenged it, for the Jedi and Sith granted none in return.

Know that at one time, the Jedi, proposed knights of all that is good and in the light, one time wrought a horrible atrocity. It is this atrocity that led the great ancestors, your ancestors, to devise Teras Kasi. This is why we study the Force. To know our enemy. And while the Jedi are our foremost foe, know too that in the shadows wait the Sith, the Yang to the Jedi's Yin. Both have receded from the galaxy's eye, thus we train and wait...

Kenseih shifted slowly from foot to foot in slight anxiety. All he knew and this man seemed nothing like what the Master had spoke of the Jedi, false crusaders of their own perspective of what was good and right as long as they were the ones enforcing it. No, this man was cold. Cold like the knife protruding from the man's neck and hand.

"I have done so once before, melded my Steel Fists with the Force, and it resulted in great tragedy. How do I know, Surrah, that you are not merely a Sith then that might manipulate me from the shadows and bring more tragedy down upon me?"

Johbi thought that to rather be direct was the best course of action. He might be able to place his mind in the void, making him difficult to read by the Force but Johbi had never actually trained against the skills of a Force Adept. Kenseih knew, like the Master had said, a deep seated rage, focused on crushing his foes in combat, had been caged within Johbi, and now the Force had become an outlet, like a small leak in a dam.

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth stretched a hand out from the cloak and reached toward the corpse on the ground. The knives wiggled a moment and then tore free, skimming through the air and into Zereth's outstretched hand. He flicked his hand and let the blood splatter on the alley wall. A rag was produced and the blades were wiped down and replaced on his belt. "Because I am a sith, but I am not one without honor. I was a warrior before I was a sith, and before that I was lawless. My sensei taught me the value of honor. I am not a perfect man, and I was trained to be an assassin by my Sith Master, but honor dictates my life. If I had sought to bring tragedy down upon you, I would have slain you where you stood or let you fall to your assailant. I do not have much to offer you but a chance to understand what you consider a taint, and possibly teach you to accept it as tool and a gift. I will not force your hand. If you choose not to accept my offer, you are free to go. I harbor no ill will toward you nor will I cut you down from behind."

No, if they fought it would be as equals, or as equal as possible. Both men would be armed, awake, and facing each other. The contest would have a start, and a finish, and only one man leaving alive. Zereth led a conflicted life of an assassin that tried to live by a code of honor that had no place in his role. His life had always been a difficult, often conflicted thing. People had accused him of being a two faced killer, but he liked to think of himself as an honorable man who sometimes had to act the part of the assassin for the good of the group. It made it a personal sacrifice.

"I am called Zereth."

[Johbi Kenseih]

So he was a Sith then, or claimed to be. It had been an assumption at glance. Johbi looked at the man for a moment, weighing his words. This man referred to his death as a tragedy. That was no tragedy, that was a freedom. The tragedy Johbi feared was the alluring trap the Sith possibly offered, to accept the Force and become one with it as he was with Teras Kasi, and then to find out that he had only damned himself further. But then again, what purpose did his life serve now?

Since his banishment some two years ago, Johbi had done little beyond take on jobs of simple labor, all the while meditating and continuing his training in vain, seemingly. Is this what he had been waiting for then? Was this the alternative to wasting away?

"I am Johbi Kenseih, Surrah Zereth."

It was hard enough to think that the time had come at which Johbi was considering following a Force Adept, and a Sith no less. He direly wished to be able to see the end of this before making his decision but his Master would have said that he can already see the end, and there was none. But his Master was wrong. Kenseih would prove it.

"I accept your offer, Master."

[Zereth Lancer]

Zereth was displeased with how quickly Johbi signed on to this. He had expected more of a fight, more of a debate, but in the end he gave in. Zereth was afraid he had transitioned from resisting the force to rushing into it rather too quickly, or potentially hazardousr results. He may have to reign in his eager young apprentice, but he could not turn down such a eager applicant. They needed numbers more than anything, and Johbi was everything but scraping the barrel. He almost wanted to stop the man, to make him reflect on this one last time to make sure this was what he truly wanted, but in the end Zereth was a sith and potentially tricking people into their ranks was part of the job.

"Come with me, my apprentice. We have much to do. This city must be prepared for the second coming of the Sith. They have forgotten to fear us, and we must remind them. There is power in fear. Great power. You will learn. I will teach. Come now." And with a flip of his cape Zereth extended his hands toward the bodies on the alley floor and they rose, one at a time, and floated over to the nearby dumpster where each was deposited in turn. Then he turned and left, Johbi trailing behind him. They would head for his ship, The Star of Oblivion, at the nearby starport and from they could begin laying the foundation of their mission. Soon Coronet would be in their grip, but it would not happen overnight. They needed to start small and work their way up. The operation would likely take longer now, as Zereth took time to train his new apprentice, but that would be time well spent.