Mirrodin2nd wrote:Before either Akain or Kalja could speak, Salvatore jumped from Kalja to the table. There, he grabbed the container of cookies and got to work. His claws were still growing, as was he, and so it took him a while. As both father and aunt looked on, he pried the top off. It also unsettled the entire thing and he fell backwards, with the cover in his hand. The force also knocked the container back onto a firm setting, throwing some of the cookies into the air. Akain reacted, his hand lightly extended, stopping everything with the Force. Salvatore looked up saw a cookie hovering in the air and moved like a bullet. He grabbed it out of the sky and landed on his hind paws. Akain had noticed that Salvatore was standing on his hind paws more, but that he wasn't walking around, at least not like a human or normal being generally would. He saw the indecision that reigned in Salvatore's head as the Anuran considered how to get from point A to point B. Then the little one just gave up and extended his arms as far as they would go, offering the cookie to Kalja along with a big smile.
"I understand your reasons, I just don't think it makes any sense." He said. "Why Caitlyn wouldn't tell me, that is, not you not telling me." He added. "I just wished I knew how to get through to her to tell her that the past doesn't matter, but its the future that does. But she won't listen to me, she never does."
Last edited by Mir on Sun Feb 01, 2009 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
“Caitlyn don’t take me for a fool. I’m a Jedi,” Raven thought of something else that brought a smiled to her face, “I know when I’m being deceived. You had a dream didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question Raven knew Caitlyn had a dream she could sense the distress that was coming off of her, “Maybe our dreams are connected somehow?” Raven suggested. Raven thought maybe the suggestion would open Caitlyn up a little for her to fully understand what she was talking about.
“Please, Caitlyn tell me.” Raven moved closer and both of them were standing in front of one another. Caitlyn was a little shorter then she so Raven lower her head to meet Caitlyn’s gaze again.
"I...," Caitlyn started, staring up into her eyes unsure of what to say. "It was just a dream," she finally said, turning back to the railing, "It doesn't mean anything, does it? I mean, why would I destroy the Temple? It doesn't make any sense. Sure Akain makes me mad sometimes, but not that mad."
Raven places her hand on Caitlyn's shoulder. "The dark figure whispered something to me in my dream. It said that they were the darkness, the shadow, and that they were everywhere.” Raven paused, “The Darksider that killed my Master said something similar to that…I think our dreams have something to do with the Cult of Shadow. I believe it’s a warning.”
"I'd like to believe that," Caitlyn said quietly, "but I'm the only one in my dream."
She looked over at Raven and saw the confused look she was giving her. "In the dream I woke up in the middle of a bunch of dead bodies. I saw you, Akain, Kalja, everyone. The Temple was in ruins and I was the only one left alive. There were no messages or dark figures, just me."
Kalja patted Sal’s head as she grabbed the cookie and gave it back to him. “You really should ask for these before you take one, but since you’ve put so much effort into it, I’ll make an exception.” She smiled “This is yours only if you ask next time.”
“I will!” Sal readily agreed before grabbing the cookie and going to work on the treat.
Kalja looked back at Akain. “Love is a very powerful emotion; very complex. One bad experience with it can be enough to cause some people to shut themselves off from the galaxy so they’re never hurt again. It can take a lot of time for that hurt to heal, but the key is not to push it, because often times that’ll only make it worse. Caitlyn is trying, she just needs time.”
“But why can’t she talk about it with me, like she does with everyone else?”
“Don’t you see?” Kalja asked rhetorically. “It’s precisely because of how she feels about you that makes you the only person she feels truly vulnerable around. You’re the only one who has the power to cause her heartache and she doesn’t know if she wants to risk it. I know you only want to make her happy. I know she knows it too, but she’s afraid that… well…” Kalja hesitated. “Unfortunately I can’t go into any more detail without violating her trust.”
“I don’t know what to think right now but we need to keep this between the two of us, okay. We’ll keep it a secret until we can sort this all out. Maybe after we’ve sorted it all out we could go to the Council about this.” Raven tried to be optimistic about the whole thing, but she grew even more concerned as she thought about it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Enigma dropped out of hyperspace in the Bastion space.
“Captain, we are cleared to dock at Station 3-0-2.” The Comm specialist reported.
“Proceed. Who is this Col. Gerhard, is he a friend of yours?” Capt. Owens asked as he turned towards Sears.
“Yes, he’s a good friend and he and I go way back. He’s very good at what he does. You’ll be happy that I chose him for the job. We’re not just going against highly skilled Mercs, from my reports they spotted some lower Cultist with the group.”
“Commander Sears,” both men faced each other, “I want to make something clear, if I think my ship or my crew is in danger I’m pulling out. I’ve worked too hard and long to see my career go down the toilet. I’m not risking my neck out for some straight neck Imperial Academy jock. Understood Commander Sears?” The Captain was irritated about the whole operation, and he didn’t like the fact that he was going up against Darksider’s.
“I understand Captain but if you risk my life,” Sears leaned in so he could quietly whisper to the Captain, “I will kill you.” The Captains face went white as he heard the words. Sears turned and walked away.
"Um, yeah sure... A secret," Caitlyn replied nervously, "We should definitely keep this a secret."
Then she turned and started to head inside, not giving any indication at all that she intended to tell the Council of her dream. "Anyway, I um... I just remembered I have to be somewhere, I'll see you later, Raven."
And then she was gone before the other girl even had a chance to respond...
Sears watched the old Imperial Army Colonel walk towards him down the long connection bridge from the station to the Enigma. The imperial uniform was tight on the old imperial. With his wide shoulders and thick tree trunk arms, he looked like he could have been a world class body building. As the Colonel got closer Sears noticed that he was sporting more grey in his military style hair cut.
“Aww, Commander Sears,” the Colonel smiled had brought his hand out to greet his old friend, “It’s been a long time.” Both men braced each others hands and padded one another shoulders.
“It’s been awhile, Sir.” Both men walked shoulder to shoulder back toward the Enigma. “Have you been debriefed?” Sears asked.
“Yes, I read the report, but there is one thing that bugs me.”
“What is it?” Sears asked.
“This Captain Owens, he seems kind of shady. He doesn’t have a good record for holding his ground.” Colonel Gerhard informed.
“Yes, I know what you mean. If I think he’s not up to the job I’ll relieve him of his command and his ship.”
The Colonel chuckled. “You always have a plan don’t you…Alex.”
“Yes, Paladin Gerhard.” Both men made it across the connection bridge and entered the Victory-class Star Destroyer.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Raven was alone on the balcony left to ponder the recent events that just took place.
I should keep a close eye on Caitlyn, she might be tainted by the Darkside. Raven thought to herself as she gazed out into the large temple garden.
Before Akain could respond to Kalja’s statement, there was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Ar’I standing there. She took a few steps in, noticing that Kalja was there. They must have been talking about something and she figured that it had to have been kind of important. “Did, I come at a bad time?” She asked. Akain somewhat shrugged. “Well, I’m headed back to Torcolis and I just need to speak with you very quickly. Xagre called me, and needs me on something.” She said. She turned to Kalja. “Do you mind if I speak with him very quickly. It won’t take but a minute, I promise.”
Kalja nodded and turned to leave. Ar’i turned to Salvatore who hadn’t moved, and was attempting to chew sans teeth. It wasn’t going too well, but Salvatore refused to give up. He was either an incredibly determined person, like his father, or he was just incredibly stubborn, also, like his father. It made Akain realize that when he did start teething, he and Caitlyn were going to have a problem. “I need to speak to your father alone, Sal.” Ar’i said.
Salvatore’s eyes narrowed and he plopped his butt on the table, refusing to leave. The look on his face was that of someone determined to win at all costs and Akain knew that Ar’i had a very, very short leash on her temper. Akain was about to speak, to tell Salvatore to go with Kalja, but Kalja beat him to it.
“Salvatore, I have a nifty thing here that I’d like you to look at. I’ve been having some problems with it and I think you can fix it.” She said, sliding her personal communicator out and shaking it slightly to grab his attention.
Her nephew made the jump onto the ground with the cookie still in his mouth and he followed her out, his eyes all lit up. Akain turned to Ar’i. “Well, what is it?” He asked.
She took a few steps until she was in front of him. “I’ve…well…I’ve acted like an ass, since I met back up with you on Nar Shaddaa, and I just want to apologize.” She saw the look on his face. “Yes, I said I want to apologize. Don’t get all surprised on me, you’re still a man and beneath me.” She saw the look go away. “I just…I don’t like her.” She said and it was obvious who she was referring to. “And I don’t think she’s good for you.”
“Yeah, well, something tells me living on Dathomir as your mate wouldn’t be good for me, either.”
She glared at him in response.
“You know what I mean.” She said and lightly pushed him in the shoulder, almost playfully. “You could come back with me to Torcolis. You know that Xagre isn’t upset with you about what happened.”
“It doesn’t matter. What happened still happened and I can’t change that. It’s the same thing with Dathomir. I just have to look to the future and try to make the best of things.” He replied.
She sighed and sat down next to him. “You’re as stubborn as ever.” She said. “Funny, how I actually like that about you.”
“Happy to oblige.” He replied, reaching out and taking the little teaching tool that he and Sal had been working on. She was about to speak, when he did. “You’re going to say that you love me and while that might be true, the odds are higher that you love what I can do and you love what I can do for you. You could go back to Dathomir with me, and take down the Imperial blockade if we really wanted to, and you could unite the tribes and your people and form a unified government.” He looked at her. “Isn’t that right?”
“That is what I want, yes. I thought you equated people wanting you for your skills to be the closest thing to love.”
“Until I met someone who I actually want to love me for me.” Akain said.
Ar’i sighed.
“Well the offer to come back to Torcolis will always stand.” She said.
“I still don’t know if being a Jedi is what’s for me.” Akain replied, his eyes on the little machine, his fingers pushing some of the parts together.
“Xagre said it was.” Ar’i said, folding her arms over her chest, letting him know that she was ready to fight him on this issue.
“He’s not infallible. He’s made mistakes before, remember?” Akain said, stubbornly.
“But that doesn’t mean he’s going to automatically be wrong, idiot.” Ar’I said. “Alright, I’m going to head out.” She rose and stood in front of him again. She cupped his chin in her hands and lifted his head up, kissing him long and hard. “Force forbid, but if it doesn’t work out with her, come to Torcolis, okay? Promise me?”
“Only if you apologize for being an ass.”
“I just did.”
“Apologize to her.”
“Sometimes, actually, many times, you remind me why its not good for men to have opinions or to even think.” She said. Ar’i leaned in and kissed him again, putting her arms around his neck. She could tell that he wasn’t kissing her back, because she’d had the experience of having him kiss her back before. She pulled apart. “Damn, she’s really worked a number on you, hasn’t she? Alright, White Ghost, I’ll see you when I see you.” She said, cuffing him on the jaw, before heading out of the room.
Salvatore was sitting in Kalja’s arms, down to the last of his cookie. He was fiddling with Kalja’s comm., attempting to do something or other to it. Ar’i gave Kalja a nod and then reached out, lightly smoothing over Sal’s fur. He licked her hand in response. “Make sure he stays out of trouble, Master Leidias. He has a weird way of making sure it finds him, and not the normal kind, either.” Ar’i said. Then she was gone, headed down the hallway towards where the transports were. She would have to charter a shuttle to Nar Shaddaa where the Whitewater still was.
”What did she want?” Salvatore asked, as soon as Kalja and he were back in the room. He had finished playing with the communicator and had put it back together for Kalja.
“Nothing. Just wanted to say goodbye, that was all.” He looked at Kalja. “As to what you’re saying before, if she told me what the problems were, I could do things to not cause her heartache. If she doesn’t talk to me, and never tells me how she feels, if I had to poke and prod for everything, I’ll cause my own problems and the ones that bother her. She never communicates unless I ask her point blank. That doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t communicate with me.” He said. “Kail saw it, and he told her, but did she listen to him, did she even try to understand what he was saying, no, she didn’t.” He added. “But at this point, I guess I just have to let her be and see what happens. If she really loves me, if she really wants me, like she keeps almost saying she does, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but hopefully….you never know…” He trailed off as Salvatore jumped into his lap, after wriggling from Kalja’s grasp.
Kalja nodded. “You’ve come a long way, Akain, and I’m proud of you. I believe you’ll make a fine Jedi.” She smiled. “No matter what happens, I want you to know that I consider you, Caitlyn, and of course Sal, to be like extended family. You’ll always have a place with me and that will never change.”
***
In the weeks that followed, business at the temple seemed to go on like usual. It was almost tempting to forget that the Cult of Shadow was still out there, actively plotting the demise of the galaxy. For Kalja, however, it was always on her mind. She spent many long hours speaking with Jana and Delth to make sure that her secret departure wouldn’t be noticed and that nothing would come up that would surprise Jana while she masqueraded as Kalja.
Jana knew now as much about Kalja, her personal life, her students, and her student’s personal lives as Kalja did. Although Kalja felt guilty about sharing so much that was told to her in confidence, she knew that Jana had to be as prepared as possible to fool any cult spies that might still be on Onderon.
Chirushk, by necessity, was also let in on the plan so that he could confirm the supposed restoration of “Kalja’s” powers when the announcement happened.
Kalja herself spent most of her remaining time helping out Chirushk to try and find a cure or poring over the Leidias family holocron to hopefully find a way to cure herself with the ancient knowledge there. She didn’t have any luck on either front, but she did begin to uncover some interesting knowledge about her family’s history that had apparently been lost to time until now; tantalizing clues that could point the way to the planet where the Leidiases had originally come from…
So, with all the careful preparations, it went unnoticed when Delth and the Ardin were eventually called away on an “urgent mission” that the ship had mysteriously picked up an additional crewmember. The only thing Kalja took with her was the family holocron, feeling that it might still provide her with some useful information.
Before she departed, Kalja also left three holorecordings with Jana in case Akain, Caitlyn, or a member of her family saw through the ruse before she got back, which explained her actions…
***
For Kail, the weeks seemed to fly by. His time each day was divided almost equally between a number of subjects.
The first, of course, was furthering his training as a Jedi. He had talked to Maji Janak about the possibility of his Master taking on Sona as an additional apprentice and was delighted to discover that Maji was open the idea. Kail was growing very fond of the Silserian, so he was quite pleased that they could train together.
Their training extended beyond the ways of the Jedi as well as Kail helped Sona hone her budding telepathic powers. He also began to teach her the ways of the Linshi Martial Arts as they sparred with each other, her sword against his bo staff. Although Kail proved himself to be the better warrior in their early matches, Sona was a fast learner and always gave him a challenging match…
They also worked together to help Kail overcome the power of Silserian pheromones, in which he felt he was starting to make progress. Sona used only small doses of her natural ability, but it was still powerful stuff to Kail. He suspected that part of his attraction to Sona stemmed from being exposed to her pheromones, but now that he had a better idea of how they affected him, Kail knew it only accounted for some of his feelings.
Lastly, he also spent a lot of his time up at the Skywalker, joining Renato in learning how the wondrous vessel operated. He tended to gravitate to the starfighter hangar often though thanks to his prior skills with them as part of the Linshi…
***
Tulsar’s training of Akain and Caitlyn went smoothly. He was hard on them, only holding back what was necessary in the duels, but the rate of their improvement was remarkable. Thanks to Tulsar’s rather extreme regimen, they learned in weeks what would ordinarily take months at a normal pace.
Finally after about two weeks, he called both of them to the dueling room…
“You’ve both met and surpassed my expectations,” Tulsar told them proudly. “That’s not an easy thing to accomplish, I assure you. Today marks the last day that I’ll be teaching you technique because there’s no longer any need for it. There’s simply nothing more for me to teach. From this point onward it’ll be up to you to hone and perfect these new skills and apply them towards your own personal style.”
“After today I’ll be instructing you on how to build your own lightsaber, which is a skill every Jedi should know. It’s also not something undertaken lightly, so we’ll be spending plenty of time on it before I depart. Every Jedi’s lightsaber is a personal extension of themselves, so you should put some serious thought into its design and the crystal that you plan to use.”
“Today, however,” he added with a grin, “will be marked by something special. You two are going to square off against each other in a practice session. Akain, although you have much more experience as a warrior, I think you might be surprised to see how far Caitlyn has come in such a short amount of time. If you’re not careful, she may even beat you.”
Last edited by Halomek on Sun Feb 01, 2009 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Wait, me against Akain," Caitlyn asked with a measure of uncertainty in her voice.
"That's right," Tulsar said, giving her a reassuring smile, "I think it would make good practice for the both of you."
Caitlyn said nothing but she could feel a lump forming in her throat. Over the past two weeks she had become increasingly aloof in her relationship with Akain. She still had problems she needed to sort out, or so she claimed, but the fact of the matter was she still wasn't sure if she was ready to fall in love yet. Talking to her new friend Anastasya over the past few days had helped a little bit, but ultimately she still remained undecided on the matter. Ana had told her not to rush it unless she was sure and also that if she wasn't then it was probably never meant to be in the first place. Caitlyn just wished she could hurry up and make up her damned mind. She knew she was leading him around on a leash and she knew he expected an answer from her, but she didn't want to cause him anymore heartache than she had already. Ironically, though, by prolonging this sad state of affairs for as long as she has without deciding either way what she wanted she was perhaps doing more harm to him than good.
"A-alright," she said, taking center stage in the training room and drawing her lightsaber into her hand with the Force. She ignited the blue blade and lowered herself into the starting Ataru stance as she turned to face Akain. "I'm ready whenever you are," she said to the Nagai.
Akain nodded slowly. He lifted his lightsaber up. It was the copper bladed one. He still hadn’t really wanted to use the blue bladed one, the one from Torcolis. He had done some work with Tulsar on Jar’kai as well, though nothing too serious, as he had put all of his time and energy into Vaapad. He looked across the short distance at Caitlyn and pressed the button on his saber. He had felt over the past two weeks, how she had distanced herself from him, and he hadn’t said anything, despite how it had made him feel. Sal had been with him more than with Caitlyn. The little Anuran hadn’t properly understood what was going on, since to him, his family was already his family and well, what argument could possibly work against that.
And if you were going to sit there and argue with a creature who was less than a foot tall, had no teeth, yet could speak, and knew better than you how an X-wing worked, well, it kind of made you feel foolish. Not that Akain actually tried to argue with Salvatore, but some people had tried. Vao had come around and though the Zeltron hadn’t noticed, Salvatore had dropped into a fighting stance from an action movie that he’d seen the day before. Apparently, her kissing Akain was still a sore spot for him. Akain had just been happy that he hadn’t seen Ar’i kiss him; otherwise the little guy probably would have gone straight to Caitlyn, complained, and maybe gotten her on the warpath.
Though recently, it had appeared that Caitlyn just didn’t care about anything he did or anything connected to him, except maybe Salvatore. He stood there for a moment, thinking to himself. Maybe Ar’i had had a point when she’d spoken to him. Maybe Torcolis was the better place for him. He did feel somewhat welcome here, but that was only around certain people. Tone certainly didn’t have time for him and what time she did have was for Renato. He couldn’t blame her for that. Daria had left, with Ar’i to go to Torcolis. He didn’t know where Master Leidias was, and he assumed that she was doing something or other that needed her attention here at the Temple. All that was left was Tulsar, who Akain didn’t really talk to outside of training, Caitlyn, who didn’t really talk to him anymore, and Salvatore, who had fallen in love with that teaching tool.
He wished that Derek or Rhyana was here, because at least he’d be able to talk to them, especially Derek. He had learned what had happened, how Rhyana had left and Derek had gone after her. Tone had told him when they had managed to catch a meal together in the cafeteria area in between the classes that she taught. He didn’t properly understand why she had left, no one did, but he hoped that Derek would be able to bring her back. Knowing that Caitlyn had spoken to Master Leidias about things made him feel kind of weird speaking to her, mainly because it felt as though they were in advertently drawing her into the middle of this thing. Also, he didn’t want Master Leidias put in a situation where something she could have said or something she didn’t say caused problems between Caitlyn and himself.
“Are you going to fight or not?” Caitlyn asked after a few moments, breaking him out of his musings. She was looking at him, wondering what was going on in his head.
“Yeah, I’m going to fight.” He replied slowly, dropping into a Soresu stance as was his nature. He didn’t want to use Vaapad at all, not against Caitlyn. He could actually hurt her, despite how good her training might have been. He didn’t fully trust himself to use it against her. “I’m ready.” He said.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
She couldn’t stand it anymore. She just couldn’t stand it. Tone hadn’t told Renato about how using pheromones had an effect on the woman as well. Renato didn’t know that it made the woman want to have sex. If the woman was targeting a particular man, it would make her want to sleep with that particular man as well. It wasn’t as bad as what the man experienced, but it was still very potent. Just as Tone hadn’t told Renato that, Sona hadn’t told Kail either. It meant that every time she worked with Kail on the pheromones, she kind of wanted to jump him and well, get busy.
She was pacing back and forth in her quarters, thinking to herself about how she was making a fool out of herself for that man. Why should she have to continually make herself want to be intimate with someone just so that he could withstand her pheromones? More importantly, he had no right to try to withstand her pheromones. He was a man. It was self-explanatory. He was a man. She had reached the stage where she was thoroughly annoyed and was actually quite past it.
Maybe it was because they hadn’t been intimate. But, why hadn’t they? Kail had told her about how sex wasn’t taboo among his people and more importantly, how they kind of encouraged it. He had made it seem like he had no qualms with them sleeping together. At least, nothing that would have made Sona think he felt that way. So why hadn’t they had any? She ran a hand through her brown hair. Was it that he didn’t like her? It didn’t seem that way. It seemed like he liked her enough. Back on Silseris, she would have had him eating out of her hand. Kail would have been begging her like the many odd suitors that she’d turned down over the years had done.
Kay was in her room, watching her, the dome of his body swiveling back in forth watching her. She had been talking to herself for a while now, and he was rather concerned. Something about the man with no mouth. He was attempting to advise her, but Sona was ignoring him. Also, she had a habit of just ignoring Kay, especially when he was trying to help, particularly when what she was going to do was going to end up getting her in trouble. She hadn’t learned over the years, but that didn’t mean Kay was giving up hope. It just meant that he was going to try harder. Which meant, this time, that he was going to try something a bit more drastic than the last time. A panel on his body opened up and he produced a shocker.
The bolt of electricity hit Sona, just enough to tingle and make her jump. She turned to him. “Kay, I’m in the middle of something here, and I don’t want to be bothered right now.” She said. “Go find Tone and bother her.”
Kay paused. Sona didn’t normally listen to him anyway, so maybe it was worth it this once to not try to help her. He had tried every time in the past, with no results. Maybe if he didn’t do anything, she would learn to listen to him more often. He tootled a response in the affirmative and turned, leaving her room. As he did, Sona decided that things were just going to have to change around here.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
It was a good ten minutes later when she got to Kail’s door. She knew that he was here, because well, because she just knew. She stood in front of the door and waited for a moment. The scanner had her on the list of accepted people, just because she had been coming to his room so often. It slid apart, revealing Kail sitting at the table, looking at something on a datapad. He looked up and lifted an eyebrow in response to the look on Sona’s face. She strode in.
“Is something-“
”Shut it, Monk.” She said in reply and moved quickly. The chair he was in was pushed back and she was in his lap. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on his. They were “kissing” within moments. She also began to use the pheromones, a bit more than she normally did. ”I am sick and tired of this, Monk.” She said. Sona took his hands and put them on her waist and Kail pulled her closer.
It was in that split second that she saw something that she probably shouldn’t have. It was in Kail’s mind. While he had definitely shifted some of his opinion concerning her, it was still not where she would have liked it to be. But that hadn’t been what made her stop and what made her pull back. It had been the fact that Kail still had feelings for Tone, and they were still in his mind. They seemed, to her, to be stronger than what feelings he had for her, which, whose existence she started to wonder about. Her eyes, which had been closed, opened wide. He looked at her, confused.
“You…” Sona said, the shock, making her forget to speak to him mentally. “You still like Tone. Deep down there, you...” Sona rose and backed a couple steps back. She had deaded the pheromones when she had discovered his feelings about Tone. Since his only experience with anything more potent than what she had been using before had been Tone’s initial dosage, Kail was a little disoriented. By the time he realized what was going on, Sona was gone.
Everyone knows "Pops and Junior = #Ratings"
Everyone knows "Cazzik and Mir = #Wynning"
#Valkob4Life
The past couple of weeks were unnerving with the Captain’s constant worrying about the impending battle with the Darksiders, but they finally made it to the star system. The senior Officers had planned for six days on how they were going to conduct the attack. After deliberating and going through different courses and options they finally came to an agreement on how they were going to conduct the attack.
First they were going to clear a landing zone in the middle of the forest about four miles south of the enemy bunker. After the ground troops established a formidable line of defence they’re going to drop a small artillery battery of SP-Medium Artillery walkers. As the SPMA walkers provide PPS (point precision support) for the foreword ground forces the two Tie Interceptors squadrons will provide air support from above and provide protection for the Enigma. The two Tie-bombers will provide precision bombing around the enemy perimeter. After the ground forces engage the enemy the Enigma will come up from behind the ground forces and provide cover fire for a group of Imperial Dropship transports. The dropships will be transporting a platoon of Enigma’s marines led by Commander Sears. They had to be careful, because there’s a village of Yam’rii directly north of the enemy stronghold.
“Commander Sears are you sure it’s wise to lead the marines in, shouldn’t you stay behind with the Captain?” Lt. Franklin asked.
“Franklin. You always lead your men from the front. It sets a good example for the men.” Over the past week’s Lt. Franklin had been learning a lot from Cm. Sears and Col. Gerhard. He had grown fond of them and looked up to them.
“He’s absolutely right.” The greying Army Colonel came up from behind the young Naval Officer and Cm. Sears. The Colonels muscular physique was menacing to the young officer. “I’ve lived by that philosophy all my life.”
“Your men love you for it, don’t they?” The young Lieutenant asked, eager to learn more from the battle harden Army Colonel.
“You bet they do. They would follow me to hell and back again.” Lt. Franklin chuckled and then stopped himself. Col. Gerhard smirked at the young Officer. The Colonel knew the boy was fresh out of the Academy; he probably served as a data pusher until he was promoted to Lieutenant and then he most likely requested a transfer to a ship so he could get a command of his own in a few years.
“Lt. Franklin would you excuse us, I would like to speak to Col. Gerhard alone.” Sears requested.
“Yes Cm. Sears.” The young Lieutenant excused himself from the two Officers.
“Gerhard, do you have your lightsaber?” Sears asked as he looked around to see if anyone was in earshot. Luckily no one was.
“Yes, why you ask?”
“Because, when I land at the bunker I’m going to send a dropship to pick you up. I might need your help.” Sears let out a deep breath.
“Alex,” Gerhard whispers to Sears, “Are you asking me this because you’re afraid that you might be out of practice.”
“Yes.” Sears replied.
“Don’t worry, all Sleepers have that anxiety one time or another. I’ve watched you grow up since you were a young pup to this man you are today, I have faith in you. Believe in your emotion and channel them into the Force.”
“Yes, Paladin Gerhard.” Sears still was a little cautious about going in and facing an unknown number of darksiders, but hearing what Gerhard said gave him more confidence in himself. Even though Sears or Alex was an accomplished swordsman and had proven himself time and time again he still carried the burden of always second guessing himself and his abilities before a battle. Though he never showed it on his outward appearance he always held it inside.
An alarm went off throughout the ship and a voice over the intercom spoke, “Now hear this, we are entering Abbaji atmosphere, all personnel to your battle stations. I repeat all personnel to your battle stations.”
Caitlyn raised her weapon then took a step forward. Half way through the step she faltered and turned to Tulsar. "Are you sure this is a good idea," she asked him. Tulsar gave her a stern look and she quickly raised her weapon again. "Okay, okay, I'll do it!"
She watched Akain for a moment and took a deep breath. I hope you don't get the wrong idea, you jerk. Tulsar's making me do this I'm not asking for it! Then she charged at him, pushing herself along with the help of the Force. She moved faster than Akain had expected, faster even than she had ever moved before. He managed to parry her first attack but Caitlyn never stopped moving. She was constantly twisting, leaping, flipping and cart wheeling around him trying to disorient him. His Soresu technique held up under the pressure but he quickly realized that he was going to have to step up his game in order to keep up...
As Raven was walking by the Sparring room she saw Caitlyn and Akain sparring inside so she entered the sparring room. As she entered she saw that Caitlyn and Akain were engaged in an intense lightsaber duel. Raven saw Master Tulsar standing at the edge of the training mat watching and observing his students. He didn’t look back to see who came in he kept watched every move the two Padawans made. Raven wasn’t acquainted with Tulsar but she knew of him through Caitlyn and that he was a prevalent Master throughout the temple. Raven leaned up against the wall by the entrance and watched both Padawans engage each other.
I can sense Caitlyn has gotten stronger over the past weeks. Raven said to herself. Raven couldn’t help but wonder if Caitlyn’s new found power wasn’t from Tulsar’s training but from something else. That can’t be, if she was drawing from the Darkside wouldn’t Master Tulsar have sensed it by now? Raven wasn’t for sure but she needed to stay close to Caitlyn no matter what.
“Does even Lin’La’Se understand how the female mind works?” Kail wondered after he got over his initial bewilderment. He stood, knowing he had to take care of this misunderstanding before it got out of hand. Kail was in such a rush, that he almost forgot to grab his bo staff.
He paused at the door’s threshold and reached out with the Force, calling it to his hand, before he moved into the temple proper to find Sona…
Akain shifted into his Djem So. He swung the blade down and it came down heavily. But not strong enough to knock her down or buckle her to her knees. Caitlyn gritted her teeth and pulled back, breaking the lock. Akain swung the blade around in an Ataru slash that Caitlyn blocked again. He shifted his tempo then. So far, he had been allowing her to set the speed of things. She had picked a pace and he had moved at a speed slower than her own. This was for a few reasons. One of them had been because she was just that much shorter than he was and so she needed to take two strides for every one of his. The other was that he was holding back.
Caitlyn might not have been able to tell, but Tulsar was. He had been sparring against Tulsar easily three times a day for the past two weeks. Tulsar shook his head slowly. He knew that Caitlyn could take more of a beating, but Akain was still being protective. Akain ducked an attack that was going for his head, and brought his hand up quickly. A wave of Force energy pulsed out, throwing Caitlyn back a few yards. She landed on her feet, because the attack hadn’t been designed to actually hurt her or put her in a position where Akain could hurt her.
He was merely pushing her back.
Akain looked at her, dropping into a Soresu guard once more. His plan was to outlast her. He knew how Caitlyn fought. A burst of brilliant energy, but after it faded, there wasn’t much there. She didn’t have stamina to keep up her attacks, and she was going to tire much, much sooner than he did. He indicated that she should come at him, since he wasn’t going to go to her.
Caitlyn ground her teeth together, That jerks holding back! "Stop treating me like a baby, Akain! I know you're going easy on me!"
She emphasized her point by utilizing some of the power that she was holding in reserve increasing her speed even more. She charged at him again, feinting right before twisting to the left. Akain caught the change last minute and brought his saber around to block her attack. Then she was at it again, setting the pace of the battle as she attacked Akain from every possible angle.
By now the other padawans scattered throughout the training room had stopped what they were doing to watch. They were awe-struck by the two padawans battling each other at the far end of the room. Even Jonas and his crew were there and as the fight ensued he turned to his friends and said, "How long did you say she'd been training?"
The boy sitting next to him continued to watch the fight and was unable to take his eyes off the action. "I dunno, about two weeks I think."
"Are you serious," he asked incredulously, turning to look at his friend but when he heard a collective gasp he quickly turned his gaze back towards the fight.
Caitlyn was lying on her back after another Force Push from Akain. He was just trying to wear her down and that was really starting to irritate her. If he thinks I'm going to get tired he's got another thing coming, she thought angrily to herself. She quickly jumped back up to her feet then lunged at him again, maintaining the same speed and ferocity of her attacks.
Akain turned his head at an angle and paused, considering. He had taken a few steps back, literally, and was looking at the situation a little differently. He had expected her to tire by now. She should have been weary of the fight. But she wasn’t. This was something new. He couldn’t explain it, until he thought about shifting to Vaapad and discarded the idea as quickly as it had come to him. She had been training with Tulsar just as much as he had. Whereas his endurance and stamina was already at its highest now, hers wasn’t. It was definitely probable that over the past two weeks, Caitlyn’s ability to keep going had increased. That explained it. At least, it explained it until he got more information on the subject. It was possible that Tulsar would tell him something after the fight.
He had heard Caitlyn’s words and had understood what she was saying. But he wasn’t treating her like a baby. Treating her like a baby would have meant not fighting at all, refusing to spar with her in the first place. He blocked another of her attacks and then a series of combination moves that she threw his way. He was beginning to tire, more of the fight itself than anything to do with his physical ability. Tulsar had been right in saying that he had more experience than Caitlyn with this sort of thing. It was a downside for Caitlyn, though, that he had more than just experience with a lightsaber.
Akain had years of fighting under his belt. When he had gotten artillery trajectory problems wrong, his punishment had been serious. Like Tulsar’s training regimen, his parents were hard, incredibly tough on him. He had taken punches to the face from a grown man and had been forced to continue to work, to continue to train despite the pain, despite the hurt, until the pain and the hurt didn’t exist anymore, because he had worked through them. Everything his parents had done had been done to shape him into a living, breathing weapon. They had wanted to make him into a walking, thinking lightsaber. He remembered times when he had been forced into a special endurance test.
The first time it had happened had been during a hyperspace journey to Raaltiir for one of his father’s bounties. Akain had been in the motion of a pushup, but had been resting on his elbows and the balls of his feet. He had been in the position for a long period of time. That in and of itself had been an endurance test. His parents had added an interesting addendum. They had fire hardened wooden sticks, each as long as Akain’s arm was now. They had repeatedly hit him on the back with it. Over and over, they had struck him. All the while, he had been reciting the various forms of Echani. Other times, they had added weights to his back and he had been forced to remain still, while holding the weights at a certain height.
Caitlyn may have gained a large amount of experience when it came to the lightsaber, but Akain’s level of stamina was still something in which he outstripped her. It took longer to make him tire, the same way it took more damage to make him feel pain. He batted her lightsaber away once more. He had been reminiscing almost absentmindedly as the fight continued. There was no way that he was going to use more than he had to in this fight, because it didn’t make sense to actually hurt Caitlyn. He would leave that to Tulsar.
He could tell that she was getting angrier. That didn’t bother him as much, mainly because she got angry with him over a great many things. This would just be another one of those things. Her words weren’t going to bait him and her actions weren’t going to either. Still, he moved forward suddenly, his left fist lashing out. It impacted against the side of Caitlyn’s face and she staggered backwards. He took a few steps back, refusing to press the advantage. He would give her a moment to breathe and a moment to recover.
She would get angrier. While Tulsar might have worked with Caitlyn on her ability to keep fighting, Akain doubted that he had been able to work on her temper and her ability to control her temper. She would change the fight’s dynamics, at least on her end, as her anger grew. She would begin to make mistakes. The fight, continuing the way it was, could easily have lasted for a long time. Assuming that Caitlyn concentrated. If he broke her concentration by forcing her to get angrier and angrier with him, he would win.
He hit me! I can't believe he hit me! Caitlyn was still rocking slightly after the punch that sent her staggering backwards. She shook her head trying to clear it and brought her lightsaber up in a guard position. "That was low, Akain, even for you," she told him in an icy tone. Her first instinct was to get angry with him, but Tulsar had warned her about that. She must never attack out of anger, if she did she could lose focus and make mistakes or something far worse.
She breathed deeply and took a bit longer than she normally would to collect herself before attacking. Naturally, an actual opponent wouldn't have given her the time to calm herself, but this was supposed to be a friendly sparring match. She wasn't expecting Akain to use his fists against her, but now that she knew he was willing she'd be more cautious about that. She took a step towards him, then another and another and finally she pushed off her toes and lunged at him. She continued to utilize what Tulsar had taught her, focus her attention on her opponent, remember the techniques she learned and above all remain calm.
She continued to set the pace again, a task that wasn't that difficult with Akain on the defensive. Her speed and strength had not changed from before and once again she was bounding off of every surface in the room to attack Akain any way she could, even the ceiling. At one point Akain had tried to punch her again, but Caitlyn saw the blow coming and quickly ducked under it. Then she sent him flying backwards with a powerful Force Push from both hands. Akain, to his credit, was able to recover from it quickly by rolling up to his feet after landing on his back.
Caitlyn just watched him with a satisfied smirk on her face. "You're not going to get me like that a second time."
Tulsar watched the duel closely, with his arms crossed over his chest. He made no move to break up the fight or even indicate how he felt about what he was seeing. To all appearances he was the stoic instructor.
On the inside, however, he was grinning - and for more than one reason. It was a pleasure to see his two students applying all their hard work so flawlessly; and all experience was good experience. Although the spirit of the duel had been intended purely as lightsaber against lightsaber; which meant no unnecessary Force powers like push and no hand-to-hand, he said nothing when Akain resorted to them. After all, he had never specified the rules and it would be good for Caitlyn to learn how to deal with such attacks.
He was grinning inwardly for another reason, however, because he also had something of an ulterior motive for this as well. He knew about the increasing tension between Akain and Caitlyn - practically the whole temple did by this point - and he knew something had to be done to address it before it got completely out of hand. Hopefully this would allow them to let off a little steam and ease the strain that had come between them.
Tulsar hoped so, but he was ready to intervene if he felt that things were getting out of control...
Caitlin Roth knew she was dreaming almost as soon as she closed her eyes. She let out a resigned sigh as the ethereal world that she’d come to know so well encompassed her. It was same dream, time after time.
She stood on a bridge of stone, little more than a sliver of rock really, and watched the tall masked figure approach her as he’d done so many times before. She found herself backing off, her eyes drawn involuntarily to peer over the side of the bridge and into the misty depths below. As usual, the ethereal fog obscured the bottom of the gorge. She glanced back to the figure, man or women, it was impossible to tell beneath the rounded back mask, and archaic looking armour.
The warrior raised the slightly curved sword it had been holding, and brought the slim blade up to its mask in a salute. Then all of a sudden the blade was moving, sheering through the air with whirlwind speed, slashing for Caitlin’s throat…
Her vision blurred, and the scene shifted. The first time she’d had this dream her heart had been beating so fast it had nearly burst out of her chest, but after so long she was used to the horrors her nightmare brought.
‘Nightmare? Or vision? Not that I believe in visions, of course.’
The sprawling ovoid chamber she had expected suddenly shifted into focus, a single spotlight pinning her in place. She turned a full circle, watching the writhing, twisting shadows as they retreated from the harsh glare of the light; a light with no source as far as Caitlin could discern.
This though was the part of the dream she hated the most, the part that sent an icy dagger of fear plunging deep into her heart. She fought the urge to look down; desperately wanting to close her eyes, but the dream was unrelenting. She stared down in horror at the prone figure of her husband, tracing the line of his body all the way to the jagged wound on the side of his head, watching in fascination as the crimson droplets of blood sparkled under the light.
Dead? Or unconscious? She had no way of telling. The dream unwilling to lend her any confirmation.
‘Enough, alright! Move on, onto the next scene!’
But this time the dream was different, this time the scene didn’t shift. An icy chill suddenly ran up Caitlin’s back, and her large brown eyes were drawn to something moving out there in the darkness, beyond the tiny circle of light where she stood. She could feel a presence out there, a cold and cynical malevolence the like of which she had never encountered before.
With a snap-hiss a brilliant golden light blazed into being, and lightsaber in hand Caitlin took a step forward, moving to the edge of the spotlight, the faint light of her lightsaber illuminating the shadows beyond. She felt the presence retreat, scuttling further back into the shadows, and then all of a sudden it vanished.
Caitlin blinked.
The chamber was gone, her husband’s body too, and Caitlin found herself atop a towering building overlooking the neon hell that could only be Nar Shaddaa.
“That was… unexpected,” an unfamiliar voice belonging to a very familiar face rang out behind her.
Caitlin spun, staring into the face of the young woman who had haunted her dreams for the past several months. The woman was slim, with short brown hair, and deep brown eyes. At first she had only seen flashes of this woman each time she closed her eyes, but then the dreams came, getting longer and more detailed until finally the same dream recurred again and again. The woman though had never spoken before; normally she beckoned Caitlin to follow her until finally Caitlin woke up. This time things were indeed different.
‘Those eyes don’t belong to her, they’ve seen too much. They belong to a much older person.’
“Who are you?” Caitlin demanded, intending to take a step forward but finding herself routed in place.
“I might ask the same question?” the young woman answered, walking a slow circuit around the frozen Caitlin.
“Why are you in my dreams?” Caitlin asked.
“You’re dreams?” the woman paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side as if considering something that hadn’t occurred to her before. “And what makes you think that I’m in your dreams and not the other way around?”
“Because that’s…” Caitlin trailed off.
“Impossible?”
She wanted to say yes, but after everything Caitlin had witnessed, to do so would have been nothing more than self delusion. “Alright, you have a point,” Caitlin conceded, “So, am I in your dream, are you in mine, or are we both in each others?”
The young women broke into a genuine smile, lighting her face up and displaying her prominent cheekbones. “Are we both in each others? Now that’s something to think about!”
‘Great. I think I preferred it when she was silent.’
“Do you always speak this plainly?”
“It’s in my kind’s nature,” the woman replied almost apologetically. “But you’d know that better than anyone… or at least, you will one day.”
Now exactly what was that supposed to mean?
The woman sighed. “I’ve lingered here too long. Perhaps said too much, but then things are changing, moving faster than I would have anticipated.” Suddenly she smiled, and broke into a fit of laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Caitlin growled.
“Time,” she replied offhandedly, “Of all the people to have a problem with things happening too fast… I’m the one.”
Deciding that she didn’t even want to pursue that line of questioning, Caitlin gave it one last shot to get a straight answer. “That presence in the chamber, who, or what, was it?”
“Somebody you haven’t met yet.”
“But I will meet it?” Caitlin asked, suddenly feeling cold all over again.
The young woman dipped her head, her form seeming to dim and waver. The world around Caitlin grew more and more foggy, and she knew the dream was coming to an end. Just before she awoke she heard the woman’s voice whispering to her as if over a great distance.
“Yes…”
'Would you do it with me, heal the scars and change the stars?'
“Yes, sweetie. It’s time to call it a day.” Tone said in reply.
There was a little bit of a loud noise as gears, parts, and other tidbits went here and there. Suddenly a little furry head appeared. He looked around, and then lifted the tiny little goggles that Tone had gotten for him. Salvatore looked up at Aunt Tone.
“Awww…I want to keep making the-“
“Secret, remember?” Tone said. There were people walking near them, but no one who could tell what was happening. The benefit of being on the teaching staff was that she was able to find places that were out of the way, like this corner of the hangar that no one went into. She had gotten in touch with someone from Master Muir’s family, and once she had explained how she knew the human Bothan, they had sent her everything she had asked for and needed. The goggles had been a great find.
Since then, she and Salvatore had set to work and had made a great deal of progress. But she didn’t like keeping him long because he should be out playing and also with his parents. Akain had given permission, and she needed Sal because of how well he just knew how things worked. He sighed and jumped up onto the ground and then scrambled up to her shoulder. “You hungry, little man?” Tone asked, gently rubbing his head.
Salvatore nodded.
“Okay, let’s get you some food.” She said, taking the goggles off of his head. She tossed them back into their toolbox and the two of them exited the area, heading back into the hallways.
Akain smiled at what Caitlyn said. “Low, even for me?” He said. “I wonder what that’s supposed to mean. This is a sparring match, isn’t it? A learning experience. I don’t think the cultists who attacked us would give you the courtesy of not striking when they could.”
“Neither are you.” She said.
“Yet I’m holding back and not fighting you the way I could. Perhaps that’s why saying that something is low, even for me, makes me smile.” He said as he continued to bat at her lightsaber. He swung at her head, and she ducked, something easy considering her height. He retreated and she followed, continuing with her Ataru. Even though she was using Ataru, he hadn’t seen many leaps or jumps. Against an opponent like him, with his height, it wasn’t a smart move, and he had to commend her for that. He continued to keep his defenses up.
She was a little juggernaut and he was more like a solid wall of durasteel. Unstoppable force and immovable object. So far, the immovable object was winning. She hadn’t gotten past his defenses that many time and more importantly, he could outlast her. So maybe she wasn’t really an unstoppable force, but a powerful one for sure. Akain was keeping his defenses up no matter what though. He wasn’t going to go on the offensive, unless it was to clear her out and get her away, restarting the fight. In a way, she was setting the tempo of the fight, but Akain was manipulating the fight’s outcome regardless.
"Fight me like you mean it, Akain," Caitlyn nearly shouted at him between saber swings and parries. "I can handle it!"
"Like you handled yourself on Nar Shaddaa? Or Vorzyd V?" Akain asked her plaintively. He didn't really intend to say it out loud but there it was and it achieved the desired effect. Caitlyn was practically boiling, even now he was protecting her when she didn't need it. It didn't matter to him that she had spent just as much time as he had training with Tulsar and probably more so since his comment about her lightsaber skills two weeks ago had encouraged her to train even when she wasn't working with the elder Leidias. She knew she was ready but Akain was still treating her like a kid and it infuriated her.
Her attacks came more wildly now, losing some of their speed but gaining some in power. She battered down his defenses with powerful strikes that sent jolts down Akain's arms and up into his brain. "Stop pretending like I can't take it," she said between strikes.
Akain said nothing as he focused on his defense. He had succeeded in goading her into a rage now all he had to do was wait for her to make a mistake. When an opening finally came he was ready to exploit it. He battered her lightsaber aside which broke her defenses and would have won him the fight but Caitlyn reacted to it faster than he could have imagined. She sent a large amount of Force energy shooting through her other hand and into Akain's unprotected side. He was knocked back into the wall behind him, the impact jarring him and knocking the wind out of his lungs. Then he fell flat on his face and after waiting a few seconds he slowly began to rise again.
Caitlyn watched him as he recovered, her anger and frustration still boiling inside of her. The fight had gotten out of control and Tulsar was ready to step in and intervene but he didn't have to. Caitlyn suddenly switched off her lightsaber and straightened up.
"I yield," she said, effectively ending the fight before her temper could completely run away with her.
Fighting Akain had made her realize something, it didn't matter how good she got she could never be able to truly beat him. Even if she won it wouldn't have been for real. Akain just wouldn't fight her to the best of his abilities, not while he was afraid of hurting her. How am I supposed to get stronger if you won't give me a chance, she asked herself quietly.
Then she turned to Tulsar and bowed her head slightly. "I'm sorry, I lost focus."
“No, it wasn’t her fault, it was mine.” Akain said. He had dusted himself off and was starting over to where Caitlyn and Tulsar were standing.
She turned and looked at him, a little confused. Then understanding came to her face.
“Blaming yourself for everything still?” Caitlyn asked.
“No, just admitting when it actually is mine. I didn’t want to fight you. I don't think I ever would. Since I was forced to, I wanted to end the fight as quickly as possible. I figured you’d use up too much energy in the short game and it would end. Your endurance has increased over the past two weeks.” He said with a sincere smile. “When that didn’t happen, I attempted to bait you until you lost your focus. The fact that you got me with that blast, it’s good. Means that you’re reacting instinctively more, instead of following rote fighting styles.” He said. By now he had walked over to where Caitlyn and Tulsar were.
“Why did you hold back?” She asked, and it was clear that there were still some vestiges of anger left.
“Not to treat you like a baby.” He said. “I would never do that to you. But just like you lost focus, I can lose it too. I can drop into the fight itself and ignore everything around me, including who I’m fighting. I can’t risk doing that when I’m sparring you, because I might actually hurt you, regardless of how well trained you are. I know that you can take me fighting at a higher level. What I don’t think is that I would be able to stop myself. I enjoy fighting too much. I’ve sparred against Tone before, you can ask her, I’ll hold back against everyone.” Akain said.
Tulsar nodded, because he understood. It was one of the telltale signs of a true Vaapad user. Mace Windu had enjoyed the fight, the thrill of it, and the uncertainty, everything about it. It was why Akain was so well suited to the form. The only person Akain hadn’t held back against had been Tulsar himself, which was why the older of the two Leidias masters was the best out of nearly everyone in the Order to either spar with Akain or, if the need ever arose, to actually fight him.
"Maybe that was Master Windu's downfall," Raven came up behind Master Tulsar and Caitlyn, "You have to be mind full of your surroundings and who you are fighting, because if you don't you might be surprised on the whole outcome of the battle." Raven winks at Caitlyn and then turns her gaze over to Master Tulsar.
“Unfortunately, we’ll never really know what happened in Master Windu’s last moments,” Tulsar said to them. “The only reports came firsthand from Palpatine and Vader, and I’d rather turn my blade on myself than believe a word those two said about Jedi.”
He looked at Caitlyn and Akain. “You can learn something from every duel; and that’s true even for someone as experienced as myself. I hope you’ve both discovered something useful from this encounter. As long as you learn from your mistakes, sometimes the fight you lose can be more valuable than the one you win. It’s always a good idea to seek as many different people as possible to spar against.”
Tulsar smiled. “Our session today is over. Tomorrow I will teach you about lightsaber construction. I have one or two left still in pieces from all the ones Sal took apart. We’ll be using those for practice. Until then, the rest of the day is yours.”
***
Kail dashed through the hallways of the Jedi Temple. In his rush, he just about bowled over Tone and Salvatore, managing to come to a halt just in time.
“Tone!” he said in surprise, not quite sure what else to say. He hadn’t spoken to her since they had taken the tour of the Skywalker. It wasn’t that he was avoiding her, it was that he had simply been much more occupied with Sona as of late.
“Kail,” she greeted him with a little surprise of her own.
“Tone…” he hesitated, unsure if what he was going to say was a wise idea, but he was running out of ideas. He had already checked all of their usual haunts and Sona hadn’t been at any of them. “Could I ask for your assistance? Sona ran off upset and I’m trying to find her. She misinterpreted my thoughts about you and I need to straighten things out. Would you have any idea where she might be?”
Sona had been walking the hallways of the Temple, avoiding any place she normally hung out. She had figured that if Kail came after her, that he would check for her there. She had been sure that he probably wouldn't, but she didn't want to risk it either way. She was on one of the second levels and she stopped at a place where the second level overlooked the one below it. It just so happened that she was one floor below where Tone had been teaching the padawan that one time and had been tossed off, only to be saved by the blind padawan, Renato Farani. She happened to look down and then her eyes went wide and she hid behind a convenient potted plant, though she kept her line of sight consistent with what she was seeing.
Meanwhile, down below, Tone had successfully managed to stop Salvatore from gumming her ear. Apparently, since they had met he had been intrigued by its pointy-ness and it was also his way of telling her that he was hungry. But all thoughts of a hungry nephew left her mind when Kail had spoken to her.
"Wait...what?"
"She misinterpreted my thoughts about you, and I don't know what happened, she just left." Kail said.
"What thoughts about me?" Tone said. She wasn't that concerned about Sona, at least about Sona's safety. She was a little concerned about Sona getting involved with Kail, as much as any Silserian would about another getting involved with a member of the opposite sex, which meant she wasn't concerned at all. She was mostly concerned about these thoughts that Kail said that he had about her. If he had thoughts about her, well, Sona was well within her right to get frustrated. Still the fact that Kail had thoughts about her worried her some. Especially after what she had told Renato more than a couple weeks ago.
“It’s nothing,” Kail assured her, “the result of you using your pheromones on me when we first met. From what I’ve learned about Silserians since then, I know that you didn’t mean any harm, so I don’t fault you for it. However, Sona mistakenly believes those feelings are genuine. I need to find her to explain that it’s her that I true feelings for and that I consider you as a friend and nothing more.”
Caitlyn nodded then turned to leave when she caught sight of Raven. The girl looked at her expectantly and Caitlyn slapped herself mentally. "Oh right, I'm sorry," she said quickly, then she turned to Tulsar. "Tulsar, this is Raven. Raven, this is Tulsar Leidias."
All she knew was that they were talking. That was it. So why had jealously came over her? She couldn't explain it. It wasn't jealously of Tone, no it was something else. Sona couldn't put her finger on it. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was enough that they were speaking. She turned and sat down on a bench that was right there. The first thing he had done was go find Tone? He couldn't have looked for her? Had she meant that little? All those times over the past two weeks, had he merely just been putting up with her, eager to find a way to get rid of her? The questions just kept coming. Anger came next. Anger that she was allowing his opinion to matter that much.
Down below, Tone had nearly done a double take. The ease with which he'd spoken of what had happened between them had caused that. She nodded slowly, deciding to go along with things for now and figure it all out later. "Um, well, I honestly don't know where she could be." She said.
It was at that moment, that Kay came into view, beeping and whistling something about Sona telling him to annoy Tone, wondering why it was that he had to listen to Sona in the first place since Tone was here, and just what the hell was it that was on Tone's shoulder. Salvatore lost all thoughts of hunger and jumped forward, landing on Kay's dome. The droid clearly didn't like this and began to complain.
"Kay, quiet for right now?" Tone asked and immediately the droid shut up. "We need to find Sona." She said, reaching forward and taking Salvatore off of the droid. "Do you know where she is."
It was somewhat ironic that Kail didn't like droids and that a droid was going to be his salvation in his quest to find, and apologize, to Sona.
Kay, of course, didn't know this, and so he didn't bother with drawing out the fact that he knew where Sona was, since his photoreceptors were much better than lowly humans. There was also the fact that he always kept a lookout for either of the two Bol'zeri tribe members since he was sort of technically in charge of keeping them safe. He whistled.
"He...says...that she's right here." Tone said, a little confused as she started to look around her.
Kail searched around. “I don’t sense her. It seems I taught her a little too well how to hide her mind…” He suddenly looked up and noticed the window above them. Was it possible? He looked back at Tone. “The droid has my thanks, as do you. If you’ll pardon me, I’m in a rush.”
He then leapt up with the Force, angling his trajectory to land right inside the window. There he found Sona sitting on a bench. He was glad to see her, even though it looked like she was still angry at him.
{{I’ve been searching everywhere for you,}} he said telepathically. {{If not for that droid that follows you around, I’d still be turning this place upside down trying to reach you.}}
***
“A pleasure, Raven,” Tulsar replied. “I’m happy to see that Caitlyn has made some more friends around the temple, especially since Kalja has been so absorbed in her work lately.”
{{His name is Kay.}} Sona said in reply, deciding that it was time that Kay got a restraining bolt. {{Monk...if...you didn't think of me in that way, why didn't you just say so? I would have understood, we could have been just friends, it's not like...}} Sona trailed off and looked away for a moment. She turned and opened the window so that Kail could get inside and not be outside where it was possible he would fall to certain injury. She was still looking away from him, so Kail sat down on the bench next to her, in such a way that she had to look at him, unless she turned again. Sona considered it, but felt that it would be rather petty. It made more sense to just get past this and get on with things, considering. {{Besides, why would you want to find me? You'd found Tone, I'm sure her company was better than mine. Probably what you wanted anyway.}}
Last edited by Mir on Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"Yeah, Caitlyn and Akain are good people to be around. Well, you're never bored when they're around." Raven smiled at what she said, it was very suggestive on how Caitlyn and Akain act toward each other when they’re together.
Tulsar laughed at Raven's statement. "Indeed not. I think for my own peace and quiet, I'll return to the Windfall to prepare tomorrow's lesson. Akain and Caitlyn, we'll meet there at the same time tomorrow."
***
{{Dear, sweet, Sona,}} Kail said to her affectionately as he stroked the side of her face gently, {{I only think of your cousin as a friend; it’s you I have real feelings for.}}
She looked at him, unsure if she could trust what Kail was telling her.
{{You have to be careful when reading someone’s mind,}} he said, {{A fragment of a thought can be as misleading as a poorly worded sentence. It’s true that I did have feelings for Tone, but those were induced by her pheromones before I ever met you. I recognize them now as artificial and so they have no power over me. The feelings I have for you, though, are genuine and have nothing to do with Silserian powers.}}
Sona still seemed doubtful, so Kail reached down and grasped her hand with both of his. {{Have I ever lied to you?}} he asked. {{Take a deeper look inside my mind and see for yourself. You’ll see how I truly feel about the both of you.}}
OOC: Took a few liberties, hope you don't mind. I'll edit if you want.
IC:
Sona shook her head slowly. She wanted to believe him, but at the same time...She lifted her other hand, and touched his head. Her thumb was on his forehead, the rest of her fingers sliding into his hair. Their eyes were locked as she reached out telepathically just like he'd taught her. She saw things and understood them for a few brief moments the way that Kail did. First, Sona saw how he felt about Tone. His feelings for Tone were complicated. She felt like she was in a hangar and was standing in front of a Linshi Monk fighter. The fluid lines of the ship were very good looking and conducive towards flight. The fighter had prowess in every one of its categories. Her heart began to sink. Now he was just having fun by messing with her. She had been almost ready to pull herself out of Kail's head and smack him so hard that he would develop a mouth just to say ouch.
But something told her to keep looking.
She moved to see how he felt about her. Sona got thoroughly confused at that point. She was in the same hangar, with the same fighter in front of her. What was the difference? Was there any at all? She reached out and touched the ship, and it was then that she noticed different things about the ship. The lines were more fluid. They weren't just good looking, they were beautiful. The hull gleamed with a fresh coat of paint, and the engines itched to allow the passenger to go up and fly into the heavens above. This, then, was her. She was looking at the closest thing to the Blazing Talon as she could, having never physically seen the ship and having to go by what she was seeing here in Kail's mind. Tone was like a Linshi Monk fighter to Kail, in that she was beautiful and special. Sona, on the other hand, was more like the Blazing Talon, in that she was beautiful and special, and his.
She blinked, back in the real world. Kail looked at her expectantly. She smiled then.
{{Monk, you...}} She fell silent then. Her grip on his head tightened and she dragged him forward so that they were touching and kissing telepathically. She even kissed him where his mouth should have been, her happiness was that much. {{You weren't lying to me.}}
{{I told you I wasn't and that I hadn't.}}
{{All I know is, I think you and I need to discuss these things a bit more thoroughly and in private. If we go to my quarters, Kay might accidentally interrupt during this discussion and I feel that its rather important. So I suggest we go to your quarters. Now.}} She said with a smile, before mentally kissing him again.
Kail sent her warm thoughts as he stood. {{I agree completely. I think it's past time I show you how the Linshi meditate through pleasure. I guarantee it'll be unlike anything you've experienced before.}}
Sona smiled as they headed back to his quarters to practice a little "enlightenment"...
"Okay, see you tomorrow then," Caitlyn said quickly, then she turned to leave, "I'm going to go, um... Rest my eyes a bit."
She hurried away from them before any of them could respond. Being around Raven just made her nervous. The girl knew about the dream she had and ever since then Caitlyn had been wondering if she told anybody. She desperately hoped she wouldn't tell Tulsar, the last thing she needed was for him to deny her training because of the possible threat she posed. He wouldn't do that, would he? She shook her head to clear it, just forget about it, everything's going to be fine. It was just a stupid dream.
She left the training rooms and headed down the corridor towards her quarters, walking fast so neither Akain nor Raven could catch up with her.
