Crusade: Sanctuary

[Jedah Lynch]

They had come from Byss where the Sith Lordess named Sorsha had been learning the Sith ways, she had been granted several days of rest as her Master worked in his lab. Then one day without any notice he reappeared to her and spoke of a trip to a planet, the trip was to investigate a Church called the Shilllelagh. A group who had sprung up in recent years proclaiming their way to be the one true way of the universe much like many other religions aiming to get a hold of a populace and often the funds that would provide, they had denounced force users as a cultist society of fanatics or devil worshippers. Claims that the abilites of force users were often tricks to fool worlds and the various cultures upon them were not uncommon.

During one of their broadcast something had caught the Siths attention as transmissions were scanned. When they had arrived he had sent her off to scan the area. The building the group had constructed was a large temple, several stories high with underground tunnels running to various sections of underground lairs. The area outside was lush filled with trees with fruits growing upon them, flowers with sweet scents bloomed all around. Were they trying to duplicate an Eden planet he pondered, fool themselves in a make shift paradise.

An hour had come and gone, he saw the disciples of the church march in and out of the building on their daily duties. It seemed they did not have much in the way of security save for some bald headed robed men who carried staves. Not having moved for the hour as he waited for Sorsha to return he did not fear for her safety, he knew her to be a capable fighter and skilled in the mystic arts of the Sith.

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Jedah senses the approach of two robed figures behind him, the smaller one shoving the fat one to the ground at her Master's feet ::

"Look what I've caught, Master."

:: a familiar grin flashes beneath the priest's hood as she bows to Jedah ::

[Jedah Lynch]

Giving a nod to Sorsha he then stares at her prisoner.

"Well well well, seems my little viper has caught herself a piggie."

Taking his two fingers and sticking them up the mans nose he stares down into the mans eyes as he pulls the mans face up from the dirt.

"Hello little piggy, how are you today? I know how...compassionate you religious types are and how you want to help your fellow offworlders so guess what. You getting that chance."

Putting his fingers to the mans temple the Sith smiles and chants softly the mans mouth opens as if to scream, his eyes rolling up into the back of his head until the priest slumps into unconsciousness.

Removing the mans robe, the Sith Master fits it around himself, the extra room of the mans robe to fit the priests girth was well suited to helping to hide the siths leather like wings that were folded around himself.

"Did you see anything on you patrol?"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

"I found a place where children are gathered like sheep. A school of some kind. It appears to be part of the temple, Master."

[Jedah Lynch]

Crouching down and peering through the bushes the Sith scanned the perimeter towards the temple.

"Yes to the side, the mans thoughts said as much. The planet has no nature predators for them to post guards there only an attendent or two to oversee the small ones"

Letting several of the branches from the bushes fall back in place the Sith smiled at his apprentice.

"Strange thing about predators. They move about and the smart ones know when to strike, lets go."

The two Sith left the priest body high in the tree hidden from view with a broken neck, a trickle of blood ran from his mouth down the birch. Stealthly they sneaked from the view of any worshippers from the church including one priest and his follower rolling around naked in an isolated green grass patch moaning and grunting, their feet tread upon the ground with nary a sound being made as they made haste to the far side unnoticed by the common masses that shifted about nearby.

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: follows her Master closely, keeping her face shrouded beneath the large hood ::

[Jedah Lynch]

For several minutes they moved in careful secrecy to the side of the temple where the children were playing with carefree abandon, most were running around chasing each other or tossing balls back and forth.

Kneeling down and looking out from behind a tree the two Sith saw three score of kids running back and forth with only two supervisors to make sure they stayed out of trouble.

"Tell me sorsha, when you look at them what do you see?"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Her eyes dilate as she watches the children laugh and play. She remembers her life as a young girl, before she became one of the taken. She was little more than a stray animal, surviving on whatever she could scrounge or steal ::

"I see prey, Master."

:: a low growl rises in her throat, and Jedah can see her eyes darting back and forth at every tiny movement. Her features become more feral as she speaks ::

"Bless all the precious little children. Nothing is more sweet upon the lips than innocent blood."

[Jedah Lynch]

"Yes"

One of the children as he plays running from one of his friends sees the Sith dressed in the holy robes of the Shilllelagh move out from behind the tree and signal for him to come over.

"After it is done, make your way to the side entrance directly behind them. I have the access codes from the priest you had caught earlier."

The child walks towards them not knowing what he is about to happpen. The young boy stares at the two Sith in robes unable to understand the danger, his attention is diverted to the soft melodic chanting of the robed male who then runs a hand over the childs face as he speaks several words.

One of the two supervising adults playing catch with one of the children notices the child walking towards her, thinking he has something to say she stops waiting for him to make his way to her. When he reaches her she smiles and puts a hand to the side of his face as he looks up at her and opens his mouth revealing a small metallic object to which the boy reaches in at and pulls out a pin.

Two seconds later the plasma gernade goes off in the young boys mouth, the woman does not even have time to scream as the blueish blames dart out enveloping her body and that of several children nearby.

"Now"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha moves swiftly and stealthily to the entrance as Jedah instructed. Reaching into a pouch beneath her robes, she collects some small marbles in her hand and waits ::

[Jedah Lynch]

Running out towards the remaining children Jedah finished a long incantation and pointed a finger near the ground upon which they stood,slender black vapor tendrils twist out from the soil into their noses, mouths and ears causing the children to fall down one by one at where they stood and shook violently.

Glancing over his shoulder he saw several robed figures running towards them. Dropping to his knees the Sith then hunched over as he put his hands to his face and began to cry.

"It happened! It happened! Oh sorrow to the physical bodies of our lost sisters and small ones. Rejoice for their souls now for they are transcended to a higher form of existence then these meager husk we inhabit, be praised to the one true God for their deliverance."

The robed followers and priest looked at each other with unknown fright and wonder. Two of the followers upon hearing the faux priest claims of a holy deed upon their soil dropped to their knees and offered prayer to their almighty.

One of the priest looking in a bewildered state of the children shaking, the bodies of several children and two adults burnt and blinked only once before joining in on the claim due to his belief. "It is a sign, a sign of things to come! The Lord has judged those who sinned and would sin against us and rightly dispatched them into his loving hands. Be quick, the children must be recovered and looked at, if they are alived it is by his will. Do not touch the fallen, for they are diseased!"

Swiftly those who had gathered the children into their arms while whispering mistruths about those who had died saying how they had witnessed those who had perished sinning against their church to varying degrees of lies. They had all but gone telling anyone they ran into to go to the temple for an important matter leaving only one robed man trying to help the shocked priest who had witness the "miracle" to his feet.

His life came to a natural end for a knife in the back will quite naturally end ones life. Dragging the corpse along with him as Jedah moved to the entrance he punched in the code letting both Sith in and disposed of the body via a garbage chute. The Sith gave Sorsha a grin.

"Give those weak minded wanting to belive something a bit of good acting and enough motivation and they will run around as if they lost their heads."

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha peeks into the next room. It was empty. She stealths to the center of the room and looks around, waiting for Jedah to enter ::

[Jedah Lynch]

With haste he followed her into the next room, it was small and seemed to have been poorly taken care of for the last few months. The freight and random packed boxes made it a logical guess they were in some sort of storage room.

"Viper, the memories of the priest tell me that in the next room there is a passage way leading to the grand hall, for that part of our travel we shall have to play our roles well of the faith. If anyone does suspect something, then take them out....only carefully and conveniently"

The tone in his voice left no doubt to what he meant, Sith were able to manipulate a great many things with the force, in a way they could be clever tricksters if not utterly deadly. Even if questioned it was possible to fool if not disarm or kill in broad public and never get caught...if one was sneaky enough.

"Once in the hallway we'll need to visit a man called Vahn Dikit, he has a holy symbol we shall need to gain passage elsewhere."

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: pulls the hood about her face and bows to her Master ::

[Jedah Lynch]

They had proceeded to the hallway that was magnificently decorated with various gold plated symbols of the Shilllelaghs faith. Several small groups of the faithful were talking to each other thoughout the hallway about the events that had shortly occurred with the child, their hush tones frequently rose in loud shouts of arguements with their fellow robed members over what had happened and why.

Their talk ranged from that of foul demon worship to God striking down the members as a sign they were not yet ready or had failed in their daily offerings. One such debate lead to a fist fight between two who heatedly exchanged words that viewed the others opinon as blasphemous.

He had to grin at their foolish behaviour yet at the same time he had to give them a small notion of admiration for their faith, no matter how misguided it was.

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha looks around as she follows Jedah, waiting for the moment to bring these foolish zealots the gift of oblivion ::

[Jedah Lynch]

Vahn Dikit rested in his room shifting through a dozen books, a quill in his hand he penned a parchment with symbols that would need to be translated later by another, a tedious process but one that had part of their custom.

A knock on the door made the man lazily swing around to focus on the door. Getting off his stool he walked to the door arms swinging ready to shout at whomever was bothering him, more trivia matters he muttered to himself.

Swinging open the door his mouth went to speak until he looked at the two with curosity. The tall large one was the first to speak as the woman stood beside him. "Hello Avi, how is life treating you?"

Vahn Dikit otherwise formerly known as Sweet Avi aka Lazy Avi the document forger on several worlds blinked. "Who are you?"

A cold pale hand moved up covering the mans mouth while pushing him backwards into the room. Behind them the female walked in and shut the door standing guard. "Listen to my voice Avi doesnt it sound familar to you? Think back....think back to Starhiker"

All went silent as Avi sinked back into his memories of the familar name. The mans voice....it was familar, he remembered long ago of a man who had a voice like that it was..."Oh @#%$ its you!" he screamed.

The Sith grinned revealing his teeth and the fangs with them. "Yes @#%$ you. It is me. I see you moved into a new line of work Avi. Nice room but organize religion was never one of your strong suits unless you made a good profit off of it."

A beat of sweat rolled down Avis brow as he sought some sort of answer. "I swear I havent done anything....nothing!"

Jedah smiled as he pushed the man back slamming his head against the wall making him flinch. "Avi, thats no longer my line of work. I've moved on much like you. Not with the service any longer, I'm almost hurt you didnt know what I've been up too. I'll have to call my PR agent."

Holding the man still he brought a hand up across the mans face.

SNIKIT

A blade exited from a knife held in his hand, putting the tip of his knife to the mans throat the Sith stared into his eyes. "You will tell me what I want to know or I'll make sure you find out in detail what happened to your that little wimp you called a boyfriend back in the day. I'm sure you remembered him, we left half of his face on your pillow to wake up too."

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha checks the door and watches in curiosity as words are exchanged between her Master and this man ... Vahn Dikit as he called himself now. She could smell the fear in him, hear his heartbeat as her fingers reached for her kris knife. She stared into the man's eyes and waited ::

[Jedah Lynch]

In his life he had known when to play the stakes and when to fold. When danger was around the man had realized when to get out to save his own skin, it didnt matter if his associates were caught for most always died before they could be taken alive. Now he simply knew in this small room, trapped by two beings with unimaginable strength with a tie to a force that many claimed to be Gods that he was @#%$. And seriously @#%$ at that.

Vahn Dikits hands shook as the knife moved close to his skin, too close for his liking. A small line of blood trickled down his neck from the blade as it slowly pierced and sliced a small layer of skin. Eyes that darted looking for possible escape, help that would arrive to save him found only the woman and the male who he knew to be a danger.

A quick movement flashed in front of his face as Dikit felt the Siths cold hand with its long sharp finger nails covering his eyes and digging into the mans scalp. Hair and skin was torn with small pools of blood forming as Jedahs fingernails cut deep in the mans head with a grip holding him in place.

"Sorsha....the man has the knowledge for where the item we need. Get him to tell you....."

[Sorsha Kasajian]

"Not to worry, little man. I promise this won't hurt ... much."

:: Sorsha moves closer, touching Vahn Dikit's face as she merges with his mind ::

"Let me show you what <a href=http://darthogre.clanpages.com/sorsha/pics/misc/vicet02.jpg>I really am</a>."

:: lifts his chin and kisses him deeply as she invades his mind for the information her Master seeks ::

[Jedah Lynch]

Intrusion.

The search of another through ones own mind was a disorting experience, if an individual was well versed in the tatic pain and false memory implants were possible. An individual able to withstand pain could fall prey to the invasion of a mental attack taking down barriers placed to keep information secret.

Now Sorsha did so.

And more.

Fear.

The path to the dark side.

She had showed him fear, it was etched on his face. A loss of concentration and fortitude making his mind readable to her whims, his past, his present, his darkest secrets all laid before her. If she looked she would have seen Jedah, although not as he was now. Long ago, younger, an agent of darkness but not of the dark side. But only if she maintained the balance as she peered into his mind could she have caught the glimpse.

Watching, holding the small blade the Sith stood impartial waiting for her to finish and reveal if she had gotten the info they seeked.

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Images of Vahn Dikit's life rush through her mind's eyes as Sorsha scans deeper, burning away his synapes like the pages of an old book. Finally, she finds an image of the key her Master seeks. Deepening the kiss, she bites out the man's tongue and steps away as he falls limp like an empty husk.

She walks over to the hearth and spits his tongue into the fire, then scans around the room. Her eyes stop on the wall behind Jedah and she points to one of the holy symbols ::

"There."

[Jedah Lynch]

The smell of burnt flesh flowed throughout the room as the fire licked at the tongue before enveloping it within its burning flames. How unfortunate Vahn Dikit was. Again.

Green eyes turned to the symbols that lined the wall, several metallic objects of different shapes and red designs imprinted on them lay embedded within the wall. Staring at the one his apprentice had pointed to the Sith held up his arm and slowly curled his fingers inward making a fist, with a turn of his upper torso and turn of his shoulder his arm rose outward and then stroke out towards the wall. Fingers torn into the wall to the sides of the symbol crushing the material that lay in his way.

Getting a firm grip on the item the Sith tore it free as bits of the wall fell to the floor. Wiping off the bits that still stayed attached to the metallic item the Sith turned walking back to Dikit who lay on the ground hands to his mouth whimpering in pain as blood flowed from his mouth.

"This is the key correct? To place it in the proper keyhole shall gives us access is it old friend?"

Shaking his head furiously up and down while he rolled on the floor was all Dikit could do to respond next to thoughts of getting away from these two demons. Those damn Sith. The floor soaked red in the blood flowing from his mouth. The Sith glared in a warped smile.

"Good, now listen to me well..you would be well advised to go after we leave. Do not bother to inform anyone of us. Or else I shall hunt you down and kill you like a pig. You remember what was done before do you not? The fate you escaped? I shall call on you again one day....pray it is not to end your worthless life."

Satisfied the puddle that was forming between Dikits legs that the man did understand the Siths threat well enough was good enough for Lynch. Exiting the room along with that of Sorsha behind him, both replaced the hoods around their faces. It was time to get to work they knew.

Amid the faithful they walked stead fast as they made their way past men and women who chatted to each other liked crazed animals. Stupid lambs The thought was one that repeated in Lynchs mind endlessly. Walking among them he wished nothing more then to take a knife and slit each and every single one of their throats.