Dark Tranquility

[Lady Frygt]

Rikke lay motionless on the floor in the cabin of her ship, in her hands was her birth mother's lightsaber. What began as a crippling depression was rapidly turning into an unconquerable rage. With a yowl she threw the hilt at the cabin door, rose and began to throw things to the floor. First her books, then papers, then she saw the collection of lightsabers stolen from force users that she'd killed. She balled her hand and began knocking them from their hooks, She saw the last one remaining, it used to belong to Sanja Lux, a Jedi monk that she had maimed. The realization of its former owner only enraged her further. She grasped the hilt tightly and then threw it as hard as she could at the wall.

Panting, with tears in her eyes she growled a last time before letting the rage die inside.

---

Maybe this will help. Rikke Frygt thought as she pushed through the crowds of Coruscant. What I need is- A large four armed alien crashed into her, knocking her over. The alien stopped and helped her up.

"Terribly sorry miss."

The rage returned to her heart, "Stupid Oaf! Watch where you're going, moron!"

"Again, I'm very sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush."

"Well I hope it's important."

"It is! My child was in a speeder accident, I'm on my way to make sure he's alright at Sector 12 Metro."

Rikke growled, "Well don't stand there, get out of my way!" With a stiff left arm she pushed the alien out of the way and resumed her walk.

I gotta get off these streets, I'm losing my mind. Without thinking she entered a cafe.

"What'll it be?"

"Vine coffee, double strong."

With her drink in hand Rikke sat down and unwrapped a manuscript she found in the Sith Library on Corellia., Natures of the Darkside. It looked unfinished, but the author had trained and manipulated her birth mother. Rikke wanted as much information
about that man as possible. She read

"Long has it been believed that the nature of the darkside is singular. In ancient times, it was also believed the same of the Force as a whole, but as we know, the Force can be both light and dark. What I propose is that the dark., and possibly the light have further subdivisions within themselves. In these pages I will explore what we can know about the subdivisions within the darkside as well as explore what we don't know and question what we might not know that we don't know."

Hmm, Rikke thought, Smarter than I expected, I was anticipating a lucky brute.

Then, it felt like cold water dumped beneath her skin, some sort of new presence in the Force.

[Razadi Syfa]

Coruscant.

Weren't the VRT, but it was close. Had more law, rules, an' order. Back home was nothin' but the game an' gettin' ahead. Gettin' the cash an' makin' sure you stayed alive long enough to spend it. For Razadi Syfa, that meant leavin' altogether. Leavin' an' never goin' back. She left her little kingdom an' didn'a look back. Went an' spent some time out an' about, but her travels eventually took her to that beating heart of the Imperial giant - Coruscant. A little excitement here an' there, but eventually she figured it was time to head for the big prize; head for the Empire's shining jewel that spouted order an' might an' all sorts of stuff.

Her transport had come in the night before, an' 'Zadi wandered her way through the megalopolis with a sort of wide-eyed expectancy. Lotta rubes 'round here. Lotta folks in the know, but still... lotta marks, ripe for the taking.

She was still walking when the sun rose over the never-ending skyrise horizon. Just like the VRT, Coruscant never slept. Was kinda nice; felt almost like bein' home. A few more hours were spent wandering, but eventually she stopped in front of a cafe. A look up at the sign above the doorway, an' she shrugged to no one in particular before stepping forward an' through the doorway. The barista looked up, gave a funny look, then leaned on the counter in anticipation of her order.

'Zadi glanced over the menu with disinterest in her eyes.

"I want a fancy caf, yeh?"

"... Fancy?"

"Yah, fancy. Like wit' da whip cream an' sugar crystals on da top."

The barista sighed, pushed away from the counter, and went about to fulfill her order.

[Lady Frygt]

The hell is that? Rikke thought to herself while staring directly at Razadi, Alien, yes, but there's tremors in the Darkside with every step she takes. Rikke decided that she'd have to keep an eye on the person, it was far better than wasting the day reading what some dead Darksider thought. Her accent was atrocious, there were moments when the person was talking that Rikke wasn't sure she had heard Basic at all.

Hmm... Darksider, like me. Unless the goodie goods could be felt in the Darkside too. I've seen stranger things. Rikke visualized possible situations in her mind. Since I'm here, let's shake things up a bit.

Rikke searched the minds of the people in the room. The task proved to be tedious so she decided to narrow it down to people who had also noticed the pale customer. Found one The subject was an overweight banker still longing for the Empire's species purity laws. I bet he's just loving the addition of the latest freak. She thought.

As a primer, she looked slowly towards him and once he noticed her she smiled, exposing her extended rows of sharpened teeth, while she was born human, she had some gene mods done when she was still an apprentice. The mods had two purposes, the first was that inspiring fear was useful in invoking the Darkside. Secondly, her adoptive mother had the same modifications done, before taking Rikke on as apprentice, Rikke hsad them done as a gesture of loyalty and strange affection. The man looked mortified, she looked very alien despite being as human as the fat banker.

She felt the man's disgust at the the aliens populating his space. with a slight nudge through the force, almost imperceptible, the man turned to anger, hatred and everything else that made the Darkside horrifically beautiful.

The man gathered his things and as he motioned to leave the cafe he looked the white woman in the eye and said, "Aliens go home."

Bold. Rikke expected him to do something foolish, but not confront the woman outright. She leaned back, slid the wrapped manuscript into her bag and sipped her vine coffee in hopes of seeing something worthwhile.

[Razadi Syfa]

"Aliens go home."

The words hit her ears as the barista handed her her caf, and 'Zadi blinked. She made an odd face, turning slightly to regard the man who'd spoken. Head tilting at a slight angle, the Nar Shaddaan finally gave him a lurid sneer while in the same motion sipping from her cup. She swallowed, and raised the drink up as if to toast his ugly sentiment.

"Ease yor words, shiffa."

'Zadi leaned to the side a little bit, casting her eyes over the smattering of patrons that sat in the cafe, and her gaze finally settled on a woman who sipped at her own caf while watching the exchange. 'Zadi looked back to the man while gesturing to the woman with her free hand.

"You git gone all smoov-like an' I keep from settin' yor dagga ass on de groun' in front of yor lady frien' over dere, seh?"

[Lady Frygt]

Rikke smiled as the man made a fool of himself but quickly she realized the Force-sensitive saw her ploy clear as day. Better than I was expecting, most forcers are untrained and clueless So the question on Rikke's mind was: What exactly did this person know and where did they learn it.
To Rikke's knowledge, there were less than 50 trained Darksiders in the Galaxy and most of them weren't exactly nice people. Nobody wanted to take on an apprentice because apprentices killed their masters. Nobody wanted to train anyone in a technique because everyone was afraid that technique would be used against them.

"Where'd you learn your skills?" Rikke asked openly, the man long gone. She glanced around with her eyes at the patrons, and felt the room. Nobody was interested anymore, if the pale lady and the fat guy weren't going to fight, no reason to keep watching. Plus either nobody believed in or cared about the Force anymore. Maybe during the High Empire, people might have believed the Force existed and had an opinion about two Forcers that were openly present in public space. In the Late Republic, people might have even walked away had two Jedi turned up in a place. But now, nobody cared. The Galactic population was apathetic. What if the Presence of the Force in the Galaxy was dependent on the population's sentiments? Late republic, people wanted power, darkside, they got palpatine. By Yavin, the people wanted the lightside, they got Skywalker and whatever the hell government we have now a days. Nobody cares now, so we have fractured Sith and virtually non-existent Jedi. Remember this for later, I might have a book coming out. Rikke focused back into reality.

"Who's your master?" She asked Razadi.

[Razadi Syfa]

There was a moment when she said nothing, simply giving a blink of her eyes an' a blank stare.

"Ain't got no masta, luv."

'Zadi took another sip of her fancy caf, taking note of the rich flavors and cinnamon aftertaste. Was good, yeh.

She gave the other woman a shrug, supplemented with a look of helpless apathy. Talk of skills an' masta's was beyond her unnerstandin', and she didn'a give it much thought beyond the here an' now. She was on Coruscant to make a bit o' creds, after all. Ain't needin' to get caught up in someone else's little issues.

So she raised her cup in mock salute as she passed by on her way to her own table, giving a nod to the woman.

"Jus' here for a fancy caf an' a bit o' quiet, yeh."

[Lady Frygt]

Rikke sensed the woman's intended goals of collecting credits for... Rikke wasn't sure. What did people gather income for?

"What do you want credits for?" She asked but as the last words left her mouth she realized Razadi hadn't actually said she was on planet for credits.
Like it matters... the lady knows I've got the same darkside intuition as her.No point hiding it, she ought to learn to hide her feelings better though. Rikke thought about her intentions on Coruscant. It would be helpful to have a partner, the under levels of Coruscant were... unpleasant.

"I got credits, they're yours if you want them." She said.

[Razadi Syfa]

She blinked, givin' the other woman a strange look.

"Say wha... ?"

Well, it was really more filler than anything. 'Zadi pursed her lips, rocking back on her heels while takin' another sip. Weren't everyday some strange kessy offered ta give ya credits; Not less'n she was wantin' somethin'.

Razadi gave a rueful laugh then, shaking her head while ignoring the obvious question of how the other woman knew what was goin' through her head. Prolly got herself snorted up with glit.

"Sorry gally, ain't swing dat way."

[Lady Frygt]

"No, no, nothing like that!" Rikke backpeddled. "What I mean is, I think you likely know the under levels of the planet fairly well and I have to deal with some fairly shady gangsters tonight, I could use the support of another Darksider. Rikke waited and tried to sense the woman's feelings or at least read her face.

"You'd be paid very well."

[Razadi Syfa]

'Zadi looked at the woman with a critical eye, unsure of exactly she should say. There was a bit of confusion, as she weren't sure 'bout whatever 'darksider' b usiness the other woman was goin' on 'bout, but she s'pposed it didn'a really matter all too much.

She gave a shrug.

"Can't say as I know da underbits o' dis place."

It seemed as though she'd be hardpressed to find an empty table, so 'Zadi opted to simply sit across from the woman.

"Only jus' got 'ere m'self."

[Lady Frygt]

"But," Rikke hesitated a second, "You are familiar with the Force, right?" Then it occurred to her that the woman might know what she was talking about but have different names for it.

"I ca sense you can do things like move stuff without touching it, or at the least be capable of such things even if you can't do it just yet.. Regard."

Rikke nudged her ceramic cup with her mind. She wiggled her bony finger as she nudged it closer to the edge of the table. Finally it fell, stopping just short of the floor and hovering in place. She reached and picked it up with her hand and took a sip.
"
That's just a simple example, the Force enables us to do much more. For instance, I influenced the mind of the man earlier to lead him to cause a scene with you. Not using words, just mind to mind interaction. You can do similar things, yes?"

[Razadi Syfa]

"Dat's a neat parlor trick, seh."

Leanin' back in the cushioned seat, 'Zadi made a semi-impressed face, but any reaction beyond that was minimal. She gave a sniff, and took another sip of her caf.

"An' I know wot da Force is. Ain't growed up deaf an' blind. Comin' from da Vertical City, a person sorta sees everyt'ing."

A long look was sent over the table then, and she let out a protracted breath through tersely thin lips.

"I ain't got it though; I'm just good at my job s'all."

[Lady Frygt]

Rikke thought for a moment and then said, "Do you want to? To have the the ability to use the Force or at least the Darkside."

She'd been toying with an idea lately, that just about any thing already connected to the Force could manipulate the Force to their will. At least manipulate the Darkside as it would take the will of a Darksider to perform such a feat. Though she was sure this person was already connected to the Force.

[Razadi Syfa]

'Zadi sent a look across the table from over the tops of her eyes. Paused in the middle of bringing her cup to her lips, the Nar Shaddaan pursed her lips. She stared at the other woman, picking her apart as best as she could and doing her best to suss out this woman's motives. Seemed true on the surface, and seemed true beneath. 'Zadi blinked and slowly returned to her fancy caf. She sipped carefully, never taking her eyes away from the woman sitting before her.

It sounded interesting, but she wasn't about to jump headlong into something without assurances of some sort of payment.

"What sorta credits we lookin' at, then."

[Lady Frygt]

Rikke nodded her head slightly, "Ten Thousand to start, five thousand for each..." She trailed off intentionally. Imperial Spies were everywhere.

She pushed her mind into Razadi's and without using words planted the idea that she'd pay 5,000 credits for each sentient person retrieved from the under-city of Corscant.

"Experiments, you see." She said outside of the woman's mind. "I operate a university on Taanab, one of the Galaxy's leading biologists, Ezra Na'chtion does his research there. I, of course, head the political science as well as philosophy department, but we both instruct in Force training, The captives will be used to our ends."

"It can prove quite lucretive. Assuming you evade the police."

[Razadi Syfa]

It certainly felt strange to say the least, and Razadi screwed her features into a grimace that bordered on discomfort as the idea formed into her mind's eye. Not so much due to the subject, but the entirely knew sensation of someone literally poking a finger inter her head.

Her grimace settled into a frown, and she leaned back, looking to the side.

"Easy on de braindippin', seh," she grumbled out before any other acknowledgement of the woman's other words.

Finally, she looked back.

"I ain't neva done anyt'in' like... " a few moments of thought followed before she went on with an almost idle wave of her hand to the air around them.

"... liberatin' folk from deir terrible situations."

A smirk.

"Seems right noble-like, seh."

'Zadi stared at the other woman, giving her a last once over before pursing her lips and taking a final sip from her caf.

"Aight den. You gots yourselfs a deal."

[Lady Frygt]

"Perfect." she said and looked into her empty cup. "I'll be venturing into the undercity now, you can follow if you want the company, otherwise bring the captives here.."

She pushed a data chip towards Razadi and smiled her rows of razor teeth. It has all the location data you need." The data would take whatever ship Razadi could pilot to an offloading station in Taanab's orbit. Once there, Rikke Frygt and her associates could take what they needed when they needed it.

Rikke stood and began to leave, she'd dump her bag with her droid and go into the lower levels herself in search of the ideal slave-apprentice.

[Razadi Syfa]

Palming the chip, 'Zadi lifted it up between two fingers, staring at it as the other woman rose. A few moments of contemplation followed before she too rose to stand, her cup left where she'd set it atop the formica table-top.

"'Ang on, gally," The Nar Shaddaan gave a random gesture to the air as she fell into step beside the woman, slipping the chip into the front pocket of her trousers.

"Ain't even know yer name, seh?"

On Nar Shaaddaa it was usually for the best that names were left out, but something told her now was not one of those times.

"Hard ta do bus'ness if'n I don' know yer name."

What went unspoken was the fact that she would indeed be following the woman down into the undercity.

Razadi's curiosity had gotten the better of her on this planet.

[Lady Frygt]

Rikke stopped in her tracks at Razadi's insistence. She looked over her shoulder with her back still facing the pale woman and said, "Rikke Frygt." And then she went on her way, she had an experiment to find.

---
It surprised her that there was any light at all deep in the undercity of Coruscant. Sunlight didn't penetrate this far and artificially lighting the lower levels seemed an unlikely waste of money for the energy companies of Coruscant. She suspected the denizens of the undercity were stealing the energy and attaching it to fixtures, none of the energy companies bothered to correct it because that would mean sending workers into very inhospitable territory. It was far from bright, however, she could feel eyes staring at her from within the shadows, and there were probably more where she couldn't see. Maybe even some that were masking themselves from her force sensititivity. A rumor, an urban legend, came to mind. During the Jedi purges that ended the Clone Wars, a group of young apprectices, children, escaped into the lower city. They eventually formed a self-sustaining community of Force-users lasting until the present day, surviving off what food they could grow with UV lamps and the undercity animals. They trained each successive generation in the Force and used those talents to remain hidden from the upper city. All the survivor of Darth Vader's rampage in the temple were long dead,m but their decendents thrived.

I wonder, how long would a Jedi take to turn to the darkside living in these conditions? Probably not long at all. She thought.

So, if the rumor were true there might be a community of darksiders running the show down here. That would, indeed, be a massive problem for her. Jedi were one thing, even if they were trained in the old style, but Darksiders were unpredictable and often quite powerful. It was after all a ridiculous rumor, nothing to worry about. Between Palpatine and Vader's madness, the Inquisition and now the Imperial Knights, there was no way that any Force users survived unnoticed this close to the Imperial seat of power. Shew had nothing to be concerned about but homeless and desperate men and women. And that pale woman, who was undoubtedly following her though Rikke couldn't quite pinpoint her location. The pale woman made her slightly nervous. She thought she had a sense for the woman's power levels, but she'd been wrong before.

A child lingered out from an alleyway, it's big eyes looking expectantly at her. Rikke dug in her front side pocket, she had some protein rations that she kept for emergencies. She side stepped towards the child and placed them in its hands, lastly she smiled full, exposing her face width smile of sharpened teeth. Then she carried on her way.

The hungry child would have sufficed for her experiments, at least biologically. But Rikke was looking for a youth with more initiative. Someone deprived, yet still with the will to power.

[Razadi Syfa]

It was a respectful distance that she maintained, as 'Zadi wasn't too worried about encroaching. She didn't care if Rikke Frygt knew she was being followed. There was a degree of intent and curiosity, tempered with a measure of ethics that dictated space was to be given.

For her part, 'Zadi had played down whatever insistence that Frygt had pushed, about the Nar Shaddaan having the Force. For her part, Razadi had known exactly what it was when it'd first begun manifesting itself. But - as things invariably happened on Nar Shaddaa - she'd simply turned it to her advantage.

Which was what she did now.

The maze of the undercity was much like the maze of the Vertical City; at least in spirit. It made navigation that much easier, and coupled with her own innate talents, 'Zadi moved through each level as if she was a native. Her body remained in a strange state of relaxed tension as she continued on after Frygt, and as she walked, she let her thoughts stratch out before her like some sort of many-hooked fan, raking through the distance before her to filter through the detritus and living alike.

[Lady Frygt]

Hmm. Rikke thought as she felt Razadi sifting through the Force. She might be more talented than I thought. But it was no matter, Rikke had Razadi, right where she wanted her.

"Can I have some food or money, miss?" A teenaged boy saiud from the darkness of a thin alleyway. She probed his mind, past his rudimentary Force defenses, and found the answer she was looking for. "It rains on the wicked and the just alike." She said.

"Come with me."

I'd hoped it was true, but I didn't really expect it. She thought. Force sensitives, right here on Coruscant! There was no guarantee they were the decendents of the Temple Jedi, but Sensitives at all was a miracle enough.

Shpew! The boy activated a lightsaber and led her through the darkness. She couldn't help but notice the blade was red. Probably less a case of allegiance to the darkside than an effect of synthetic lightsaber crystals being easier to produce down here than locating the crystals the Jedi use. She thought to herself. She observed the hilt in the youth's hand, she recognized it as a modified piece of natural gas pipe. It was entirely too heavy to use the lightsaber effectively as a weapon. So even with her poor lightsaber skills, she'd still have an advantage in combat, if she decided not to electrocute them.

As they entered a durasteel paneled tunnel. She started to wonder if Razadi was still on her trail. Probably is, even if I can't feel her anymore. She thought and passed through the rudimentary gate these people had made in the tunnel. I wish I could stay to see that pale woman try to sneak through that gate with it's two malnourished guards. I'm curious to know just how skilled she is. Will she fight, bribe or trick her way in?

Finally, the boy stopped at a risen circular platform. "Wait here. The Yoda will see you shortly." He said.

"I'm sorry, who?" Rikke asked wondering if she'd misheard.

"Yo. Da." The boy said slowly as if she were stupid.

She was puzzled as to what the boy could possibly mean. There were various stories about a Jedi from pre-Imperial times named Yoda, he was supposedly the greatest Jedi at the time of the Emperor seized power. All stories agreed that he escaped the Purges and hid somewhere. Like a coward She thought. But the Jedi and Alliance stories said he trained Skywalker the second. Whereas the Imperials always insisted they found him in the Outer Rim right before the Battle of Yavin, working as a Jester of sorts for a Hutt gangster, Vader ultimately got him. Whatever the story, everyone agreed Yoda was long dead, so what the kid could mean was entirely beyond her.

Two lightsabers snapped on, about 50 meters from her, one green, one blue. They started to approach her, in the light she could see a severely malnourished girl of at most 20 years.

"Are you Yoda?" She asked snidely.

"Yes, I am the Yoda." the woman replied through a scratchy voice.

"I expected you to be... greener."

"You're thinking of the first Yoda."

"What do you mean?"

"In the Jedi language, Yoda means the best Jedi who is the boss." the girl said.

Rikke looked at the lightsabers, they were true Jedi lightsabers, but the hilts were corroding, the power cells were probably leaking. The girl was holding the equivilent of two bombs in her hands. "Where did you get those?" She asked nodding to the lightsabers.

"Every Yoda carries the old lightsabers handed down from our ancestors." the girl replied, "But I still wear the one I made when I was a Padawan." She nodded to her hip where a bulky lightsaber like the boy's, hung.

"How many people are you the boss of?" Rikke asked.

"There's 40 Jedi and about 50 padawans."

"Really?" Rikke asked incredulously. The rumor was that all the undercity Jedi were decendents of a handful of escaped Jedi, they must have been breeding with the other homeless to achieve such numbers. "Are all the Padawans the children of Jedi?"

"Sometimes, but usually we teach other kids from the outside communities how to use the Force and build a lightsaber."

Rikke searched the girl's mind and found that the girl didn't mean they were finding other Force sensitives down there, but were teaching kids who would otherwise be insensitive how to touch the Force. Which is exactly what I'm here to learn about.

"How did you know I was coming?" Rikke asked while simultaneous;ly trying to block the girl's intrusion in her mind and searching for Razadi."

"I just did." She said, not missing a beat. "I felt you in the Force and called you here."

This alarmed Rikke, Could she have influenced me without my knowing? I originally had no intentions to come here, I was going to send that ghost woman. This little brat might be more powerful than I guessed.

"How many other Jedi are as powerful as you?" Rikke asked.

"None." the girl responded "If there was, they would be the Yoda and not me. Even then, my training still isn't complete. Which is why I called you. I know there are more new Jedi in the above world or on other planets. Take me there so I can become a better Jedi.

Rikke quietly peered in the girl's mind. She was starving, she was diseased and despite being the Yoda of the undercity Jedi, she wasn't reaching her potential and it was driving her mad. "I have a school, on a different planet, where we train Jedi, I'm a teacher there." As she lied, Rikke couldn't resist smiling at how far from the truth her lie was.

"I knew it!" the girl exclaimed. "I knew you were a teacher! Take me with you!"

"Rikke feigned thoughtfulness for a moment and said, "I think we can fit you in at the school. You'll be coming with me, now. Gather what things you have and we'll go.

As the girl ran off, Rikke heard the voices of excited children talking as their Yoda passed them.

"Are you really going to take her to be taught?" ZThe boy that led her there said as he re-approacjhed her, still illuminated by his red lightsaber.

" I am."

"It's the prophecy." He said.

"The what?"

"One of our ancestors said that one day someone would rescue a Yoda and teach him or her and the Yoda would come back and we'd never be hungry again."

"Interesting..."

At last the girl returned, her arms filled with little trinkets and a holo projector. She said, "I'm ready."

"Then let's go." Rikke said, while dividing her attention between what was happening around her and trying to find Razadi.

As she led the girl through the tunnel she finally found Razadi with her mind, she was hiding. Rikke connected their minds and spoke directly, while blocking the girl's mind from listening in.

Whatever I promised you per captured street rat, I'll double it for every one of these children you kill. Kill them all and bring me their lightsabers.