Post by Eliana Shan on Mar 17, 2015 17:56:42 GMT -8
Slowly, very slowly, her eyes opened. And very quickly, they shut again, her body rebelling against the sudden onslaught of light assaulting her. Instinctively, her hand came up to block the light, and she opened her eyes once more in a tight squint.. Only to be met with confusion at the realization that her hand was unarmoured. She didn't remember taking her armour off.
She remembered..
The numbers were counting down, her elevation meter providing a makeshift timer for the remainder of her life. As her ship plunged irrevocably towards the looming moon of Dac, her thoughts turned towards her friends and her Family..
She sat up quickly at the memory, trying to gain some bearing for where she was, and immediately regretted the sudden motion. Nausea twisted through her, the pain of a hundred minor injuries and bruises surfacing at every point in her body.
"Congratulations. You're dead," came a voice from nearby.
She turned to look at the source of the voice, and for a moment she didn't recognize him. He was not the Aherk Formidonis that she remembered. He was scarred, gaunt, weak-looking, but the mot prominent change was the installation of a bulky panel on his chest. She immediately recognized it for what it was: a breather unit, similar to that used by Darth Vader after he had received his more signature injuries on Mustafar. Despite her pain, despite her confusion and shock at awakening after a fatal crash, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and look down at herself.
She was clad in plain clothing, a few raw burns marking her skin, dozens of cuts trailing down her arms and, presumably, her legs. She didn't even want to know what damage her face had sustained..
"Seems like death has treated me better than you."
He started to laugh at her, responding as she was to the unknown with wit rather than trepidation, then stopped and clutched at his chest instinctively. The breather panel was a new addition, and it wouldn't do to push its limits so soon after its installation. Better for him to get accustomed to this new life before he tried to expand upon it.
"Yours was a bit easier to manage. No one actually saw you die," he said, a note of .. was that sadness? .. tingeing his voice.
Right. She looked down as she remembered... He had been killed by Na'an, in full view of everyone else.
Except that wasn't quite the truth.
The knowledge he had gleaned from their encounter with Na'an on Kamino, almost a year prior, had helped them set up this plan. It had been a bit of a hassle to pretend that the meeting had never taken place, to hide all their knowledge, but the two of them had managed it. And this was the end result: the two of them had narrowly escaped death. He, by maneuvering at the last second to turn a fatal blow into a crippling one and then using the Force to simulate his own demise. She, by exposing herself to the Force and then just as quickly taking it away again, simulating her sudden severance from the energy field. Her armour -- and, presumably, a flash clone of her person -- would be laying among the wreckage of the Hunter II on Dac's moon, waiting for scavengers to come strip it for parts. Her Master had had a plan of his own when it came to saving her, though..
As she turned her eyes up towards him again, he spoke without warrant.
"Ysalamiri." She could see the subtle pull of a smile tug at the corner of his mouth, though it seemed that he was resisting it, as he spoke again before she could even ask the next question. "And no, I'm not reading your thoughts. It's just logic. Try reaching out."
She did, and she felt.. nothing. It was as if she was locked away inside her armour again, safe and secure behind the Force-impenetrable helmet that had protected her for so long. "This was your 'solid plan,' then?"
"I can block out the Force. I can make people think I'm gone. You can't," was the typically indirect response.
She nodded, acknowledging the curse of her bloodline. "So you brought me here."
There it was. That was definitely a smile.
"Two points to girl in the front row." He paused, a smidgen of his old self shining through.. "Welcome to Myrkr, the only place in the galaxy you can't be sensed even outside your armour.
"Welcome to your grave, sweetie."
She remembered..
The numbers were counting down, her elevation meter providing a makeshift timer for the remainder of her life. As her ship plunged irrevocably towards the looming moon of Dac, her thoughts turned towards her friends and her Family..
She sat up quickly at the memory, trying to gain some bearing for where she was, and immediately regretted the sudden motion. Nausea twisted through her, the pain of a hundred minor injuries and bruises surfacing at every point in her body.
"Congratulations. You're dead," came a voice from nearby.
She turned to look at the source of the voice, and for a moment she didn't recognize him. He was not the Aherk Formidonis that she remembered. He was scarred, gaunt, weak-looking, but the mot prominent change was the installation of a bulky panel on his chest. She immediately recognized it for what it was: a breather unit, similar to that used by Darth Vader after he had received his more signature injuries on Mustafar. Despite her pain, despite her confusion and shock at awakening after a fatal crash, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and look down at herself.
She was clad in plain clothing, a few raw burns marking her skin, dozens of cuts trailing down her arms and, presumably, her legs. She didn't even want to know what damage her face had sustained..
"Seems like death has treated me better than you."
He started to laugh at her, responding as she was to the unknown with wit rather than trepidation, then stopped and clutched at his chest instinctively. The breather panel was a new addition, and it wouldn't do to push its limits so soon after its installation. Better for him to get accustomed to this new life before he tried to expand upon it.
"Yours was a bit easier to manage. No one actually saw you die," he said, a note of .. was that sadness? .. tingeing his voice.
Right. She looked down as she remembered... He had been killed by Na'an, in full view of everyone else.
Except that wasn't quite the truth.
The knowledge he had gleaned from their encounter with Na'an on Kamino, almost a year prior, had helped them set up this plan. It had been a bit of a hassle to pretend that the meeting had never taken place, to hide all their knowledge, but the two of them had managed it. And this was the end result: the two of them had narrowly escaped death. He, by maneuvering at the last second to turn a fatal blow into a crippling one and then using the Force to simulate his own demise. She, by exposing herself to the Force and then just as quickly taking it away again, simulating her sudden severance from the energy field. Her armour -- and, presumably, a flash clone of her person -- would be laying among the wreckage of the Hunter II on Dac's moon, waiting for scavengers to come strip it for parts. Her Master had had a plan of his own when it came to saving her, though..
As she turned her eyes up towards him again, he spoke without warrant.
"Ysalamiri." She could see the subtle pull of a smile tug at the corner of his mouth, though it seemed that he was resisting it, as he spoke again before she could even ask the next question. "And no, I'm not reading your thoughts. It's just logic. Try reaching out."
She did, and she felt.. nothing. It was as if she was locked away inside her armour again, safe and secure behind the Force-impenetrable helmet that had protected her for so long. "This was your 'solid plan,' then?"
"I can block out the Force. I can make people think I'm gone. You can't," was the typically indirect response.
She nodded, acknowledging the curse of her bloodline. "So you brought me here."
There it was. That was definitely a smile.
"Two points to girl in the front row." He paused, a smidgen of his old self shining through.. "Welcome to Myrkr, the only place in the galaxy you can't be sensed even outside your armour.
"Welcome to your grave, sweetie."