(L,F&E 98) Knight Fork-ed

[kalenath]

((Chronologically, this follows the events of Grief is Pain Leaving the Mind. Story wise, well, you will see. For those who do not know, a 'Fork' -not the utensil- is a chess move that allows a piece to threaten more than one opposing piece. It is usually used to deny an opponent the chance to save an important piece. Commonly used with knights, it can be done with any piece. Even pawns. To beat it, you either take the forking piece if possible or sacrifice a piece.))

 

<An undisclosed location>

 

She was awake, but not. She could not get her head out of the fuzziness that surrounded it. Everything was blurry, indistinct. She felt thing around her, but she had no names for them. During the light times, there would be noises, and sometimes things would happen to her. Some of the things were unpleasant, others were okay. During the dark times, she found herself drifting. But always the same cold words pulled her back into the fog.

 

"Maybe in your next life you won't hurt my kids."

 

She didn't understand what that meant. She didn't understand much of anything actually. Sometimes, there were other words from nearby, but by the time she could focus on them, the speaker was gone. Nothing hurt, but... Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. She tried to focus on what was wrong, but it wouldn't come to mind. It was so frustrating. But suddenly, everything changed.

 

She was aware of soft crying. She sighed. Pain was fact of life, grief likewise. But if she could help whoever was crying, she felt bound to. Jedi as a whole strove to move beyond their emotions, to be more than their feelings. It didn't always work and she was no better than others at times. But she had always tried to help others, that was her calling, and her curse.

 

"Hello?" She asked, then paused. Why was her voice so rough, so weak? What had happened? Why couldn't she remember? A gasp came from nearby.

 

"Master?" A young voice sounded and a small face appeared in her field of vision. "Master Ashla Ti?" The Kel Dor child sounded scared.

 

"D...Diseree?" She asked, unsure. It sounded like Diseree Mak, but hadn't the female been human? Or...something? No, no she remembered the Sitolon had transferred Diseree back to her Kel Dor body, before... something... happened.

 

"Oh Master!" The child said, sobbing in relief. "Thank the Maker! You woke up! Qulrrg! She is awake."

 

"This one hears." An odd voice sounded. She could not see where it was coming from. "This one recommends you moderate your joy. There are other patients sleeping." Her eyes went wide as an insectoid form entered her field of view. "Ah, Jedi Ashla Ti. You are conscious."

 

"Yes." She said slowly. "I think..." She couldn't... Ashla Ti? Yes, that was her name.

 

"Are you in pain?" The odd alien asked, in what was probably meant to be a gentle tone.

 

"No." Ashla Ti said dubiously. Something was wrong, something was off. Very off. "What...? What happened?"

 

"There are certain people you should never anger, Jedi." The healer said as it touched her arm. She was suddenly falling slowly. "You did."

 

"Wait..." Ashla Ti said slowly, carefully as she fought to stay conscious. "Diseree, where are we?"

 

"Screwed." Diseree said sadly as she touched an odd headband that circled her head. Ashla Ti focused on it and then the lethargy that had been building vanished. Diseree was wearing a Force neutralizer! "Master..." The young Kel Dor said sadly. "I..."

 

"Diseree?" Ashla Ti could not keep the edge of fear from her voice no matter how she tried. "Where are we?"

 

"We are prisoners of the Bladeborn, Master. I... I don't know where." Diseree said sadly. "They are... upset with us. For what we did." The odd alien touched her again and whatever it did was dragging her under again.

 

"We had to do what we did, Diseree." Ashla TI was saying as her eyelids closed despite her best efforts and she nodded off. "We had to..."

 

"I know." Diseree said as a hand traced her brow. "I know."

 

***

 

Diseree Mak could not bear to leave her master's side. The Togruta looked awful. pale and wan. Even in sleep, the pain she had suffered shone. A hand touched her arm.

 

"Time is up." A neutral voice said soberly. "Come."

 

"I..." Diseree sighed and nodded. "I know. I... just..." She looked up into the armored form's eyes and cringed from what she saw there. Complete ambivalence. He didn't care if she lived or died.

 

"What you and she did was wrong, DIseree." A young but stern voice sounded. "Even Jedi should know better. The end does not always justify the means. What you did was wrong. You know this."

 

"Ina... Please..." Diseree begged as the guard took her arm in a gentle, but irresistible grip. "Don't... Please..." She begged.

 

"Be glad we are not Istara's Bladeborn." In-Ta-Mal said sadly. "They would likely put you on the Rack, child or no. We won't." She commanded as Diseree shook her head. "Diseree... Do not make us hurt you. Please. We need to punish you for what you did, but we do not want to hurt you."

 

"Ina, I... Please, not again... No..." Diseree begged as the guard lifted her off her feet. He carried her towards... She started screaming even before he laid her on the bed. Before the straps came down. Before the headphones went on. Before the sensory deprivation devices started humming. Before she fell, screaming pleas, curses and words she couldn't hear into formless nothingness. Again.

Edited August 22, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

Ina-Ta-Mal stared at the small form on the bed and shuddered a bit as Diseree jerked in her bonds and screamed, but obviously could not heard her screams through the sound cancelling headphones she wore.

 

"Keep a close eye on her." She commanded. The Bladeborn in armor nodded to her and sat by the bed. "We do not want to drive her mad, simply 'explain' to her and her master the consequences of what they did. Ten minutes. Unless there are complications, wait ten minutes and then pull her out. If there are complications, stop the machines and get her to Qulrrg." The Bladeborn nodded again. "If not... let the punishment run it's course, then... Get her to Qulrrg for treatment and then to her cell." He saluted her and Ina just sighed. "You don't need to salute me, Cadas..."

 

"Begging your pardon, Ma'am." The youthful Bladeborn said gently. He wasn't that much older than she was."Yes I do." Ina sighed, arguing with Bladeborn was generally a losing proposition. She shook her head as she walked out of the small room and into a larger one. The soundproofing was excellent, no hint of what was happening in the small room leaked out past the door when it closed.

 

"Qurllg?" Ina asked softly as the healer nodded to her. "Status?"

 

"The Jedi part of the Togruta's mind woke." The Gand said with a shrug. "Unexpected, but not unforeseen."

 

"This is going to complicate things." Ina said with a sigh. "Is she awake?"

 

"She is." The Gand replied. "She was very distressed, but has calmed."

 

"Okay." Ina said, squaring her shoulders. "I will talk to her." She walked to another door and smiled a little. Teacher's paranoia had paid off in spades. There was literally no way at all that anyone on Correllia could figure out that the small, innocuous compound of harmless loonies on the surface hid a much larger and much more dangerous secret beneath it. The place still felt empty though. Ina looked to the side and dozens of doors spread off the central corridor. Only a few of which had occupants. She knocked. "Ashla Ti, you decent?"

 

"Am I ever?" The sharp voice of her friend came from inside and Ina opened the door with a wider smile. A Togruta sat in her favorite chair, reading a datapad. She wore a patient gown and had an IV running into one arm from a stand beside her chair. Two tubes ran into her nose from apparatus nearby. A blanket was over her legs. Her face lit up with a smile that faded a bit as Ina came in and shut the door. "Is... Um..."

 

"Diseree is not going to die, Ashla Ti, or go mad." Ina promised her friend as she looked around. Other than the chair, the only other furniture was a hospital style bed. She made a mental note to get more furnishings. "We won't let her. But she has to be punished. She kidnapped those people from Cranna, just handed them to Firdlump to experiment on. That is not even counting what the Jedi seer did." Ina actually shuddered in memory. Just the reports had been bad enough.

 

"I know." The older female said sadly. "Cranna would kill her. Sith would kill her. Jedi would imprison her, make her reflect on her actions. Bladeborn choose a different way. I..." She shook her head. "This disturbs me. It really does."

 

"I know." Ina said as she came to the side of the chair. "How are you? Jedi Master Ashla Ti woke up?"

 

"Yeah." The Togruta made a face. "I don't know... One moment she wasn't there, the next she was and I got shunted to the back. Rude." She looked at Ina and sighed. "You know what you have to do."

 

"Ashla Ti..." Ina started, but paused as the Togruta glared at her. "I..."

 

"Ina, please..." Ashla Ti said as she put her book down. "I am in this body but not in control. She did horrible things. Did she have cause? Yes. Did it turn out okay in the end? Maybe. But what she did was unforgivable. She stole sick people -including children- from healers to bait a trap, Ina. I will not allow her to escape because of my weakness. I will not." Iron sounded in the Togruta's voice now. "Do it." Ina slumped in place and then nodded.

 

"I am sorry." Ina said as she pulled a Force neutralizer from a pocket. "This is wrong. It is cruel."

 

"And needed." Ashla Ti said steeling herself as Ina stepped closer. "She will try to escape. She is extremely powerful. And if she can do what she did kids...She is capable of anything." The Togruta did not flinch as Ina strapped the device on, locked it in place and turned it on. Then she gasped, tears starting to fall as the Force faded from her.

 

"Easy... Easy..." Ina said gently, holding her friend as Ashla Ti cried. "There has got to be a better way. There has to be."

 

"Maybe." But the Togruta's voice held no hope. "I was watching. I was screaming at her to stop, to not do what she did. She... put me to sleep before we reached Alderaan. I woke up when the man you call Teacher broke the tank. It... What she did was evil."

 

"You did not do it, my friend." Ina said striving for calm in herself and her friend. "Now... did you eat your lunch?"

 

"Ina...Always the mothering one, huh?" Ashla Ti said with a resigned soft groan. "Couldn't... Couldn't keep it down." She said with a sigh. "I guess the burns haven't healed yet."

 

"You were burned inside your body, Ashla Ti. The fluid that the power flowed through was in your lungs, in your stomach, everywhere." Ina said gently. "What Will Kalenath did to you..." The Jedi felt anger come and let it fall away. "...hurt you very badly."

 

"She deserves it." Ashla Ti said with a snarl. "What she did was wrong."

 

"Maybe." ina said in a calm tone. "But you do not. You, my friend, are innocent." The Cerean said sadly. "I will start the feeding tube running again. I had hoped you had healed enough." She hit a control and something started whirring. In moments a ghastly looking pink paste started flowing through one of the tubes into the Togruta's nose.

 

"Me too." Ashla Ti said with a shudder. "I know Qulrrg is busy, but I cannot wait to get off this support. And the plumbing..." She said with a shudder.

 

"How are you doing?" Ina asked as she sat on the bed nearby. "You have to be hurting too."

 

"I..." Ashla Ti looked away from her friend and stared at something only she could see. "She was just so sure of herself. 'It is needed.' she said. Just that. As if what she did could be excused by that."

 

"You hate her." Ina said slowly, cautiously. "Ashla Ti..."

 

"Yes." Ashla Ti said softly, her face falling. "I hate her. I was created to fill a void in her mind when hers was imprisoned, but... I... I would have given up myself. To save Jen."

 

"Jen?" Ina asked. "That is the nurse? The one Bob didn't know had the Force when he tried to give it to her?"

 

"Yeah." Ashla Ti said sadly. "She and I... We became friends. She tended me a lot. I was..." She sniffled a little. "I was not a good patient. She had horrors in her past, and I had them in my present. We wanted to help each other and we did. But then...I had to choose. I chose to help my friend. I didn't expect to wake up, and certainly not as an unwilling rider in a Jedi Master's body." Ashla Ti sighed deeply. "She will wake again. I can't keep it from happening."

 

"I will talk to some people." Ina said gently. "How about you, are you up to teach today?"

 

"Ina..." Ashla Ti said sourly. "If she takes over in the middle of class, how are the kids going to handle that?"

 

"Lia has asked to sit in." Ina said soberly. "She wants to hear the Republic side of the Battle of Korus Major. She can help."

 

"Lia...?" Ashla TI said with a smile. "Yes, yes she can. Um... Ina... Are we going to be ready? For..." She trailed off as Ina grimaced.

 

"I don't know." Ina admitted. "But we do have space, and lots of people to help. And it is not as if Teacher didn't WARN us about this. It will be a pain, but we will be ready when Istara gets here."

 

"Good." Ashla Ti said softly. "I don't remember facing Istara, but I know Jedi Master Ashla Ti did and got her chrono cleaned. I am not looking forward to this."

 

"Istara has perspective we lack." Ina said sadly. "I hope so anyway. I don't know if we can join her or not, but I do not want our sects to fight each other. That would be... bad..."

 

"Putting it very mildly." The Togruta said with a shudder. "We would be slaughtered. If we were lucky anyway..."

Edited August 23, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

This was intolerable. She knew who she was now. She was Ashla Ti, Togruta Jedi Master of the Jedi Order. She was a seer, a being who focused her talents in the skills of Divination. She remembered her childhood. She had been found at an early age by the Jedi and raised among them. Her teachers had realized early how skilled she was and had focused her training on honing her ability to remember and parse the visions the Force gave her. She knew, to within millimeters, how powerful she was. So why was it, every time she started to regain control of herself, something shoved her back?

 

The Force was not answering her in this odd limbo place she was stuck in. She had been trying to 'see' what had happened after the mess on Alderaan, but nothing. She tried, again, so feel what was going on and sighed as nothing happened. Then, something did.

 

She came back to herself sitting behind a desk. She was in a wheelchair, and she could feel things on and around her. Odd things. Tubes were in her arm and she felt others in her nose. Nothing hurt, but... She looked up and stopped short as she saw ten pairs of young eyes staring at her. All with expressions of anger and disgust.

 

"Children..." A hard voice spoke from nearby and Ashla Ti found her eyes drawn with the children to where an older girl sat. She was clad in brown armor and her eyes... Ashla Ti shivered a bit. "I think Ashla Ti needs some 'alone' time." The girl said dispassionately. "We will discuss the chapter we learned today in a group later. Go, get lunch. Then we will start studying Kata Four." Ashla Ti did not move as the children all nodded to the girl in armor and quietly left the room. The girl waited until they were gone before speaking again. "We wondered when you would take control again, Jedi Master Ashla Ti. I had hoped it would take longer."

 

"You are Bladeborn." Ashla Ti asked, drawing on her years of training to remain calm. "Where am I? Where is Diseree?"

 

"You are a prisoner. You don't need to know where you are." The girl said evenly. "Your Padawan is currently asleep in her cell. We haven't hurt her, although she likely wishes we would."

 

"What?" Ashla Ti felt faint and shook herself. "Why? What have you done to her? She was acting on MY orders. If you must punish anyone, punishme."

 

"Funny." The Bladeborn said evenly. "She said nearly the exact same thing. Like I say, we are not going to hurt her. But we are going to punish her for what she did. Cranna wanted her head on a pike, and I am not even going to go into what the Kalenath family wants done to you for what you did." The hard, tough warrior actually shuddered. "Diseree will be fine. The question on everyone's mind right now, however...is what we do with you."

 

"Lia?" A soft. worried voice sounded from the door and Ashla Ti turned her head slowly to see... The Jedi blanched as she saw who came in. "You okay?" The absurdly young looking being in robes asked.

 

"I am fine, Ina." Lia said quietly, she rose and her hand was on her sword hilt. "Just fine."

 

"Ina?" Ashla Ti exclaimed. "Ina-Ta-Mal? What? How...?" She blanched as the young Cerean looked at her, no, looked through her. "Ina...?" She asked softly.

 

"I thought I knew you, Master Ashla Ti." Ina said sadly. "I really did. But then you stole sick children to help a monster. We only got two of them back. Cina and Jan are both dead thanks to you. As are Jolia and her mate Miik...Innocents." Ashla Ti recoiled as if struck and Ina stepped forward. "You dare to call yourself a Jedi? A seer even? No... You are no better than Vandar or Firdlump. The end always justifies the means, right?"

 

"He had to be stopped." Ashla Ti said faintly. "Everything I 'saw'... Ina, you have to believe me, if there had been any other choices, I would have taken them."

 

"I don't have to believe anything you say." Ina said relentlessly. "Maybe you believe it, but that does not matter now. What matters is that a number of innocents -men, women and children- were taken in by Firdlump, enslaved and are now dead directly due to your actions."

 

"What?" Ashla TI asked, her voice stunned. "That... that is not possible... I..."

 

"You handed them all to him, all wrapped up nicely." Ina said savagely. "Kili is less than a year old! Firdlump's scum put her parents in a war droids, Ashla Ti!" The Togruta Jedi felt tears start to fall as Ina pressed close. The Cerean's voice never changed pitch, but the disgust was evident. "Firdlump captured Istara and the Bladeborn went after her. A lot of them died rescuing Istara. And... guess what? A bunch of war droids were trashed, killing the pilots including both of Kili's parents! You orphaned her. A lot of Firdlump's other slaves died too. They had no chance against what they faced, and you put them there." Now the Cerean's voice held disgust. "Some Jedi. If you are one still."

 

"No..." Ashla Ti said slowly. "I am a Jedi. I won't let you break me."

 

"I am not going to break you." Ina said with a snort. "I can't help you. If that kind of thing is acceptable to you, then..." The Cerean shrugged. "Then you are beyond saving."

 

"It wasn't acceptable!" Ashla Ti snapped. "It was the only choice! They would have died in Cranna's care. You know this."

 

"Kili might have." Ina said sadly. "Cranna was going to put them back in coldsleep until she could find a way to help them. The baby might not have survived the transition into hibernation. The thing is, Ashla Ti, Cranna told Kili's parents everything. That Hutt of all beings asked for their choice. They wanted to go to sleep with their baby. She was having an extra large coldsleep pod rigged for the three of them. She made her decision after getting all the information, unlike someone else who had a trance and decided to hand Firdlump a whole pile of slaves. And you have the gall to wonder why Cranna is mad at you?" Ina asked sourly.

 

"I knew she would be." Ashla Ti said with a shiver. "I knew my life was forfeit for what I did to Brianna. But he had to be stopped."

 

"Did he?" Ina asked softly. "And it had to be by you." It wasn't a question.

 

"No." Ashla Ti said slowly, trying to remain calm. "But he was out of control, Ina. tell me I lie!"

 

"You don't." Ina replied. "He told Istara a lot of things, afterwards, He was going to kill Special Branch agents until his wife stopped him, which she would have. But something happened. Do you know why he totally lost control? Why he went to Alderaan and set in motion events that have killed and will kill a lot of people?" Her eyes bored into the seer's skull and her voice was impossibly cold when she spoke again. "Because someone -one guess who- kidnapped his adopted daughter."

 

"That is not..." Ashla Ti felt wetness fall from her eyes and shook her head. "That isn't... No..."

 

"The only reason you are breathing..." Ina continue din that same awful calm voice. "...is that a man we call Teacher found you and rescued you before the torment you endured killed you in spite of the healing fluid you were floating in." Ina said sharply. "You owe him your life. He likely would have killed you anyway, except he knew that an innocent was stuck in your mind." Ashla Ti froze and Ina continued. "We are working on ways to get her out. You we could care less about. She is a friend."

 

"Ina..." Ashla Ti said sternly. "This isn't something for a child to make a decision..." She froze as the tip of a sword suddenly appeared in front of her. The blade was held steady by the female Bladeborn whose face was angry.

 

"Mind your tongue, Jedi." The Bladeborn said evenly. "Or I will cut it out." The threat was calm and matter of fact. She meant every word.

 

"Lia." Ina said in reproof.

 

"No offense, Ina." Lia said gently, her sword never wavering. "But she is a prisoner. The other Ashla Ti is not." Ina looked from the Togruta to the Bladeborn and sighed.

 

"Fine, take her back to her room, get her situated. Gently." Ina said as Lia's sword vanished back into it's sheathe. "I wouldn't try anything if I were you. The Bladeborn like the other Ashla Ti, but you... You, they detest. I don't want to explain to my friend why she has broken bones. So don't do anything dumb."

 

Ashla Ti could only nod as the young Bladeborn came around the desk, disengaged the hand brake and started wheeling her off.

[kalenath]

They were... gentle. This was beyond weird. She couldn't sense the Bladeborn's animosity, but she didn't need to. She could see it in their faces. They hated her for what she had done. None of them would talk to her either. It hurt. Togruta were a social species, it was almost physically painful to be isolated so much. Her captors took great pains not to hurt her though. The bed she was lying on was comfortable, the pillow soft. Even the straps that held her down were padded so as not to abrade her skin. And she hurt, all over her body, a deep ache that bespoke of incredibly bad injuries. What little she could remember of her torment told her she was very lucky to be alive. What hurt worse was the reading material that had been left for her. A screen by her head flashed and she focused on it again. Ignoring it didn't help. It held names. Fifty names. The names of the beings who had been 'recruited' by Firdlump, rescued by Cranna the Hutt and then stolen by Diseree to give back to Firdlump. She bit back a sob as she saw the names Jolia, Miik and Kili. She hadn't intended this. But if she had just shown up with the four girls, Firdlump's people would have snatched them and run. She knew that. She had hated it, but she had been forced to 'sweeten' the deal. But the cost...

 

"Master?" A soft, scared voice sounded from the door and Jedi Master Ashla Ti's eyes shot to where a small bedraggled form stood uncertain. Diseree Mak looked awful. The brown armored guard behind her was impassive, a statue almost. Except for the disgust filled eyes. Disgust for Ashla Ti. The girl wore a loose fitting smock as well as leg irons and wrist binders. She held out her hands and the guard reached out and removed the wrist binders.

 

"What have they done to you?" Ashla Ti asked, trying for indignation. But her body was too weak and it came out as a croak. "Diseree?" She prompted when the Kel Dor jerked, seeming afraid.

 

"I..." The young female looked at the guard who nodded. She stepped into the room and waited.

 

"Ten minutes." He said impassively. "Then your next punishment." He moved to stand just inside the room and the door shut behind him. From the sounds, it locked.

 

"I am..." Ashla Ti said slowly. "I am not going anywhere...You could give us at least the illusion of privacy." The guard just looked at her and she wilted a bit. "I... see. Diseree?" Ashla Ti beckoned with her head, all she could move.

 

"Master..." Diseree said miserably as she came to the bedside and sat in a chair by it. "We had to do it, but..." From her tone, she was fighting tears. "We both agreed. But..."

 

"The future is always in motion." Ashla Ti said quietly. "I didn't expect to survive. I hoped they wouldn't punish you. What have they done to you? Are you in pain?"

 

"No..." Diseree said slowly. "Not physical. But I do hurt. Fifty lives, Master. I..."

 

"I know." Ashla Ti nodded to the screen by her head. "They won't let me forget. Not that I could. Jedi are supposed to do good, not evil. And I... did evil." Ashla Ti said with a swallow that felt odd. Two tubes going up her nose and down her throat could never be anything other than odd. "Calmly, rationally, and clearheaded, I did evil, Diseree. And you acted on my instructions. It was not your fault."

 

"It was the lesser of two evils, Master." Diseree protested. "We both searched our visions, for weeks, trying to find another way, a better way. There wasn't one."

 

"We don't know that, Diseree." Ashla Ti said sadly. "We can't. All we could do was act on the information we had. But... Diseree..." Ashla Ti pressed with her voice until the Padawan looked at her. "We did wrong. You know this."

 

"But..." Diseree shook her head. "I..."

 

"Diseree, be calm." Ashla TI prompted her. "Be at peace. Even without the Force, you can be at peace." Diseree took a deep breath and held it in a Padawan breathing exercise. Ashla Ti did likewise and after a few minutes, both were calmer. "Diseree..." Ashla Ti said soberly.

 

"Yes, Master?" Diseree asked in a soft voice.

 

"We committed a crime." Ashla Ti said gently. "We aided in the committing of others. Due to our actions, many people are dead. Not just due to our actions, but our actions did impact events significantly. We transgressed the rules of society. We did evil. What must happen?" Her Padawan nodded.

 

"Punishment." Diseree said with just the hint of a shudder. "Master, I am scared..."

 

"So am I." Ashla Ti said gently. "Be strong Padawan, pain is fleeting."

 

"I wish it did hurt." Diseree said, quailing a bit. "At least then I could focus on the pain. It would give me something to focus on."

 

"Diseree?" Ashla Ti asked, sharper. "What have they done to you?" This was so unlike the normally bright and cheery Padawan she knew. Diseree opened her mouth to speak, but before she could the guard spoke up.

 

"Time." The male said quietly. "Come." He hit the door three times and it opened. Diseree gave a small cry and embraced the recumbent form of her master. "Come on, girl. I will carry you if I have to."

 

"Diseree?" Ashla Ti snapped, worry now predominating. "Wait..."

 

"I can't." Diseree nodded as she retreated from the bed. "I will be true to the Light, Master. I... I will see you tomorrow. They allow me to visit once a day. I..." She broke off as the guard made a curt gesture and she all but ran to the door.

 

"Diseree!" Ashla Ti screamed, aware of pain her throat as the door shut behind her Padawan and the guard. "Diseree!" She screamed again, but of course, there was no answer. "No..." The Togruta sobbed in her bonds. "No..."

[kalenath]

<An hour later>

 

"How is she?" Ina's voice was worried as she came into the medical ward. Her face fell as she saw Diseree's still form laid out on the bed. "Qulrrg?"

 

"Unconscious." The Gand replied evenly. "Her levels are stable."

 

"Great. Three bouts of sensory deprivation was what Cranna wanted. That is done. It's time for part two of Cranna's punishment." Ina said with a sigh. "I really wish that Hutt had done this herself. What of Ashla Ti?"

 

"The Jedi is dominant now." The Gand said with an alien shrug. "This one does not know of any techniques to sequester part of a mind. Might the one known as 'Teacher'?"

 

"Maybe. For now, her body needs time to heal. We will leave her in the room. Who knows, maybe she and our friend will come to some kind of arrangement like Istara and Sharlina did. Maybe." Ina said with a shrug. "How long will she sleep?" Ina asked with a nod to Diseree.

 

"Not much longer." The Gand paused and spoke again. "This one does not understand good and evil as the Bladeborn speak of it. But what this one has seen done to this Padawan... Seems to fall under the category of 'evil' as has been explained to this one."

 

"I know." Ina said with a sigh. "And it's not done yet. In our society, most societies actually, laws are upheld through the threat of punishment. Without laws..." Ina grimaced. "We have anarchy and that benefits none but the lawless."

 

"This one can see that." Qulrrg said with a hint of sadness. "What the Jedi seer and Jedi Padawan did was against the rules of society then?" Ina nodded and the Gand shook it's head. "Removing them permanently from the society seems a more efficient answer to this one."

 

"Yes, it can be." Ina said sadly. "But... Even in cases where there is no doubt as to the guilt of the perpetrator, such as this, do we simply remove the problem? Or try to find the cause and solve it?"

 

"This one..." Qulrrg pondered that for a moment. "This one understands. An enigma. If the problem is simply removed and forgotten, it may return in another form."

 

"Exactly." Ina said with a sigh. It really sucked sometimes, being so wise. She looked at Diseree and sighed. "She is waking. I will do it." Qulrrg stared at her.

 

"This one would..." It broke off as she glared at the Gand.

 

"I will do it." Ina said sharply and stalked to the bed where Diseree was starting to moan now. She laid a gentle hand on the restrained girl -they didn't trust her one little bit even here- and spoke softly. "Easy, Diseree, easy..."

 

"Ina...?" Diseree said sadly, her voice calming as she sought her training and it helped her to soothe her fear. "Is it... done?" She asked, her voice childlike.

 

"First half is." Ina said gently. Diseree tensed and Ina spoke softly, gently as she stroked the girl's arm. "Ah, Diseree, a long way from Tython, aren't we?"

 

"Yeah." Diseree said sadly. "I was so... So sure of what I wanted. I didn't have any idea." She took a deep breath and nodded. "I am ready."

 

"I am not." Ina said with a snarl. "I don't want to hurt you. You were my friend in the Enclave, even as aloof as seers have to be. I don't want to do this. I am halfway tempted to tell Cranna to come and do it herself."

 

"Ina." Diseree said soberly. "You told me everything the Hutt wanted. I agreed to it. Only when I lose control to my fear do I try to fight. What we did was wrong. It was needed, but it was wrong. Master Ashla Ti said that she would try and shield me, but I knew that doing what I did, the Hutt would be furious. You should not be the one to do it."

 

"I am responsible for you, Diseree." Ina said soberly. "You life is literally in my hands. I cannot indeed, I will not delegate this."

 

"Ina..." Diseree said softly. "You are not physically strong enough. To do it right. If you are going to do it as we all agreed, do it right."

 

"Ah..." Ina cried hopelessly. "Diseree..." She bowed her head and nodded. She turned to where Qulrrg was watching. "Get Lia." The Gand nodded and turned to an intercom.

 

"Nikol could do it." Diseree said as she relaxed as best she could. She had been shocked to find someone else she had known in this place, but Nikol did not remember her. Indeed, the Bladeborn hated her with a passion.

 

"He would overdo it, cause injury." Ina said sadly. "Whatever Teacher did to him left a lot of resentment buried, especially for Jedi. He has difficulty being civil to me at times. Maybe that was planned? I don't know. Lia is a bit more stable."

 

"What do I do?" Diseree asked softly. "I give you my word I won't resist." The door hissed and she tensed as a woman in brown armor entered the room. Lia's face was set as she walked to where Ina stood.

 

"Ina?" The Bladeborn asked coolly. "You sent for me?"

 

"Yes, Lia." Ina said sadly. "I would have done it, but Diseree feels that the punishment would be too mild if I do."

 

"Really?" Lia's eyes met Diseree's goggles and the human woman actually smiled a little. Her face became gentler, sadder. "You mean that?"

 

"What we did was wrong." Diseree said soberly. "I am not saying I am looking forward to it, but... I do understand. And I accept it."

 

"Oh girl..." Lia said in a sad voice. "Okay, let's get you situated." Her hands were gentle and professional as they undid the restraints holding the Kel Dor. She rolled Diseree on her side and paused. "Ina? A support?"

 

"Right." Ina said and went out of the cell to a closet. In moments she pulled out what she sought and brought it back to the bed. She put the padded object on the bed and Lia gently rolled Diseree onto her stomach on top of it, arcing her rear end into the air. For her part, Diseree was trying to stay quiet. She gave a yip as Lia bound her hands and feet again, but did not struggle. "Ten, Lia."

 

"Ten, right." The Bladeborn said sadly as she reached for something under the bed. "Ina...?"

 

Diseree did not react as her smock was rolled up around her back, exposing her rear end. She did not react as the wooden paddle the Bladeborn had pulled from under the bed impacted her rear end even though it DID hurt.

 

"One." Lia said slowly. Diseree bit back a whimper as it impacted her again. It felt like it hit exactly the same place. It felt like fire was seeping through every nerve.

 

"Two." The voice of the Bladeborn was calm. Diseree clamped her mouth shut. She would survive this. She would. Again, pain erupted.

 

"Three." Still that maddening calmness in the Bladeborn's voice. How did the Bladeborn manage to stay so calm? Diseree envied that calm. Again, pain came and she bit her lip as she fought to keep from crying out.

 

"Four."

 

She hoped she would survive this...

Edited August 24, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Padawan Diseree?"

 

The soft voice started the Kel Dor out of her doze. Not that she could do anything else. Her rear end was still on fire. Painkillers would dilute the punishment after all. At least while she was in her cell, they didn't bind her hands. They didn't need to. She kicked the chain that bound her ankle fetters to the wall and sighed. Other than that, the cell was almost comfortable. It was clean, dry and the bunk was surprisingly comfortable. Not that she generally noticed. She was usually so stressed and worn out when she returned that she ate what was provided and fell asleep. She slept a lot. It was better than thinking, remembering.

 

"Padawan Diseree?" Now the voice was worried.

 

"Yes?" Diseree asked after taking a moment to check herself. Not that she could do much to make herself more presentable. "I am here."

 

"May I come in?" The voice asked. Was this Lia? The woman who had spanked her? It sounded like her, but not...

 

"Since when do my jailors need to ask?" Diseree asked with a bit more heat than she intended. "Ah... Sorry... Yes." The door hissed open and yes, it was Lia the Bladeborn. But her face was worried rather than remote. She stepped in and the door shut again and locked. "I apologize for the discourtesy. Lia, right? What can I do for you?" Diseree asked, slightly unnerved.

 

"You are very brave, even for a Jedi." Lia said softly. "But you are very young as well."

 

"Is this going somewhere?" Diseree asked, her tone turning bit frigid. "I don't get spanked again until tomorrow." Four more times. She thought with a wince. She had to go through it four more times.

 

"No." Lia said gently. "You don't. Cranna specified fifty strokes. One for each of the people you and your master took from her and gave to Firdlump. Fifty is no joke, even with a wooden paddle." Lia said with a grimace. "We are stretching it out to give your body time to recover."

 

"And time for the pain to set in." DIseree said quietly. "Time for me to think on WHY it hurts and what I did to deserve it."

 

"That too." Lia agreed.

 

"Then why are you here, Bladeborn? To watch me suffer?" Diseree asked calmly as she squirmed a bit on her bunk. She paused as she saw Lia's eyes start to glisten. "Wha-?"

 

"No." Lia said sadly, her voice turning husky as she fought tears. She stepped close. "I am here because you do not have to do this alone." Diseree stared as the woman reached out a slow, slow hand and slowly, ever so slowly, brushed the Kel Dor's cheek. "You do not have to suffer alone."

 

"No!" Diseree blurted, recoiling slighting. She landed on her tail and hissed as pain flared again. "Don't.. I..."

 

"Diseree Mak, you are brave and strong." Lia said gently as she stepped closer. "But this hurt you before we punished you. For every action, there is a reaction. Basic physics. Also basic emotions. What you did, hurt you. Part of you wants to be hurt, for what you did."

 

"I,..." Diseree said as she reached the full extension of the chain and was stymied. "I don't want to hurt. I... Don't..."

 

"I know." Lia said as she sat slowly on the end of the bunk, as far from where Diseree was cowering as she could. "Pain is a fact of life, Diseree, but none of us like it. Well..." She corrected herself. "Some do, but it is generally not the pain itself that they enjoy." Her tone slightly sick. "It is usually the natural painkillers that come with the pain that some people enjoy. Diseree, it's okay..." She patted the bunk beside her. "I am not going to hurt you, I just want to talk."

 

"Talk?" Diseree asked cautiously. "About what?" She gingerly rolled so she was not sitting on her rump and it throbbed.

 

"You are going to be sore." Lia said with a sigh. "I didn't want to do it. Ina didn't want to do it. None of us wanted to put you through the hell of sensory deprivation."

 

"Cranna demanded I feel what my...my victims felt." Diseree said, her tone abject. "I... At least you didn't brainwash me after."

 

"That slug is vindictive." Lia agreed. "But then again... After a life such as she has led, can she be any other way? And you did give her cause."

 

"I did." Diseree said, her head falling to her chest. "She gave me hospitality and I repaid it with lies. I stole people under her protection and sent them to a horrid fate. I... It was needed, but... but..." She suddenly cracked and sobs came from her filter mask.

 

"Oh DIseree...Come here." Lia said consoling as she slowly pulled the unresisting Kel Dor into an embrace. "You are not alone. You do not have to shoulder this monumental burden alone." She crooned as she rocked the sobbing form. "Easy... Easy... Shhh..."

 

"I thought you all hated me." Diseree said after a few minutes of crying.

 

"Hate you?" Lia asked. "No." She admitted. "Dislike maybe. You are a Jedi, our ways are different. You are hurt. You had to shoulder a burden no one wished on you. Not us, Not the Jedi, Not even Will Kalenath would have wanted you to shoulder such a load. It hurt you doing what you did." Diseree nodded jerkily, obviously unable to speak. Lia spent a few minutes calming the distraught female down. After a few minutes, Lia spoke again. "And do you know the worst part?" Diseree shook her head silently. "It was the right thing to do."

 

"Wha-?" Diseree's eyes snapped up and met the Bladeborn's. "What do you mean?"

 

"Ina wanted to come." Lia said sadly. "I persuaded her not to. This hurts her, DIseree, far worse than she will ever show. She is very young, but... She is a kind, gentle, nurturing soul. A better mother figure for our sect, a conscience, what have you, we will likely never find. But she knew you. She was your friend, and seeing you like this is hurting her."

 

"I know." Diseree said sadly. 'But what do you mean it was 'the right thing to do'?"

 

"Diseree..." Lia said gently. "Nothing in life is clear cut, simple. Will was out of control. He isn't now. What you did spurred events on. Did it turn out okay? For us and for Will, yes, mostly. For others? No." Diseree stared at the older female and Lia's voice turned feather soft. "That is what hurts the worst, doesn't it? The fact that you did what you did, knowing what would happen. Isn't it?" She prompted when Diseree curled up on herself again.

 

"Yes." Diseree's voice was small. "But... what we did was wrong..." She sobbed into Lia's arms as the human woman held her.

 

"I know that, Diseree." Lia said in that same calm, new fur texture voice. "And you are being punished for it. We... We dislike Ashla Ti because she stole children. You did too, but... Diseree..." Lia put two gingers under Diseree's filter mask and gently forced the girl's eyes up to face her. "You are a child. A Padawan, a learner. Maybe your powers are stronger than normal, but that does not give anyone the right to force you to do that kind of thing."

 

"No one forced me." Diseree said after a moment. "I agreed. I mean..."

 

"Diseree..." Lia said soberly. "She is your Jedi Master. She is older, supposedly wiser, and is supposed to teach you, guide you and shield you from things like this, not involve you in them." Outrage was heard deep, deep down in her calm tone. "She had no right to make you do this. To convince you, using whatever means she did, to make you do this."

 

"We looked for other ways." Diseree said sadly. "I mean..." She broke off as Lia patted her arm. "What?"

 

"Diseree... I am no seer." Lia said soberly. "I am just a Bladeborn, no more, no less. But I do know a little about visions. I have talked to Teacher, Ina and others about visions. Especially when you and your master arrived here. Tell me true, Diseree. Is the future you see in visions going to happen as you see it?" Diseree stared at her and Lia shook her head. "Diseree, think..."

 

"I..." The young Kel Dor seemed at a loss for words. "I don't know. But... from what I have seen. Rarely." She admitted softly. Lia sighed slowly and hugged the Kel Dor again. "Why?" The younger female asked.

 

"Jedi Master Ashla Ti told you that what you 'saw' was coming, that she had to do something." Lia said gently. Diseree nodded silently and Lia sighed again. "She lied."

 

"What?" Diseree snapped and tried to recoil, but Lia's arms, although seeming gentle, held her tight. "Let go!"

 

"Diseree... Please... Listen..." Lia said sadly, her face calm, but her eyes glistening. "I have talked to all kinds of people, even Idjit while he recovered. Ashla Ti could not have known what you and she saw was the truth. There was simply no way. There are too many possible futures. Idjit is apparently one of the greatest seers of recorded history and he has trouble telling truth from fiction sometimes. Telling what he wants to have happen apart from what is going to happen. You 'saw' what she did, correct? You shared the vision with your master. Did you come to the same conclusions she did?"

 

"I..." Diseree shook her head. "No I didn't. But she was persuasive..." She begged. "No..."

 

"I am sorry, Diseree." Lia said as she pulled the cringing Jedi into another embrace. "But you are going to have to face this before Istara gets here. She is... upset."

 

"Istara is coming here?" Diseree asked, her tone abject. "Why?"

 

"Several reasons." Lia said sadly. "But the only one that concerns you... Is what to do with you. Cranna wants you dead. The Jedi want you back, to... examine. They say..." Lia broke off as Diseree stiffened. "Diseree?" She paused as she saw the Padawan staring, not at her, but off into space at something only she could see.

 

"No..." The young Kel Dor said faintly. "No.." She begged and then she screamed. "No!"

 

"What the-?" Lia snapped as the girl in her arms seemed to convulse and then collapsed unconscious. "Dang it!" She hit her com. "Medical emergency, Cell four! She just had a vision I think! She shouldn't have been able to! Get Qulrrg here now!"

Edited August 25, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"What happened?" Ina asked as Qulrrg worked on Diseree. Lia and Ina stood to one side of the small cell to give the healer space.

 

"I don't know." Lia said in a dazed voice when she looked at Ina. "We were talking, I was explaining what we figured. Then she just..." Lia shrugged helplessly. "She screamed and collapsed. Did she have a vision? I know you can have them without the Force."

 

"I didn't feel anything." Ina said slowly. "But I am not perfect. Qullrg?" She asked as the Gand straightened.

 

"The young Jedi sleeps deeply." The Gand said with a gesture that might have been a nod. "This one is unsure if waking her would do harm or good. This one will return to Medical."

 

"Okay." Ina said with a shrug. "Thank you. Uh... keep an eye on Lisa. She is one of the 'I have to work through the pain' types. She can and will re-break her arm given any chance."

 

"This one knows the type well." Qulrrg said with the odd sound that was Gand laughter. "This one is surrounded by them. Will Ina and Lia be at dinner?"

 

"I don't know, Qulrrg." Ina said with a glance at Lia. "If not, I will let you know. I will come by for a report on the injured later."

 

"This one will have a report ready, matriarch." The Gand nodded to the Cerean and left the cell, leaving Ina to stare after it, her face exasperated.

 

"Ina." Lia said, her voice gentle and a smile on her face. "You are the matriarch."

 

"I am seven years old..." Ina said with a grimace. One that turned savage as Lia poked her. "Hey!"

 

"Ina, relax." Lia said with a snort as she gathered the younger being in her arms. Ina stiffened for a moment and then relaxed. "You are doing fine."

 

"I don't feel fine." Ina said with a sigh as she relaxed into the kindness that Lia was exuding. "I feel overwhelmed. Why am I the one in charge again?" She asked sourly.

 

"You are doing fine, Ina." Lia gave the younger female a squeeze and let her go. "And you are in charge because Teacher said so. We do not land all of the responsibilities on you, and we will not." She looked at where Diseree lay quiet. "What do you think she saw?"

 

"No idea." Ina said sadly. "I will stay with her. You need to get back to work."

 

"Yes Matriarch." Lia said with a grin and scooted before the swat Ina threw at her could land.

 

"Gah!" Ina said under her breath. "Why I put up with those Bladeborn is beyond me sometimes."

 

"You love them." A soft, gentle voice spoke from nowhere and a blue transparent form shimmered into being nearby. "Hello Ina."

 

"Hello Ulaha." The Cerean said with a nod. "What word?"

 

"Everything seems to be on the expected track." Ulaha said soberly. "Firdlump has subsumed most of the nanites on the Sitolon homeworld. When he does, he will look for his targets. Kora is on that list. The Seven are mobilizing everything they can."

 

"I would have thought a young paramedic would be fairly low on his list of priority targets." Ina said with a scowl. "Anything you can tell me?"

 

"No." The ghost said sadly. "Everything gets hazy in the visions. We know he does come here, but why or to do what? We have no idea. We do know he will be hunting Morey."

 

"He will be hunting everyone who opposes him." Ina said with a shudder. "What are the odds he will attack?"

 

"Attack? Full scale attack?" Ulaha said slowly. "I... No. Correllia is a Core World." She said with conviction. "No matter how powerful he may be now, he wouldn't start with a Core World. Whatever the seers have seen here, it wasn't a full scale attack."

 

"Joy." Ina said with feeling. "And Istara?"

 

"She insisted." Ulaha replied with a grimace. "You know how she feels about kin. And technically ALL of the Bladeborn here are initiates, most of them children, so... " The spirit shrugged helplessly. "She is coming. Even recovering from surgery and expecting, she is coming."

 

"Okay." Ina slumped a bit as she sat by the bed. "And...Diseree?"

 

"That is Istara's call." Ulaha said sadly. "Cranna, Will and the Jedi have all deemed her the most neutral in this. As for Ashla Ti..." The spirit shook her head. "I don't know."

 

"I don't want to lose either of my friends." Ina-Ta-Mal, padawan of the Jedi Order and now matriarch to an eclectic group, said sadly. "But..." She sighed and sat, taking one of Diseree's limp hands in her own. "What will be, will be."

 

"Indeed." Ulaha said sadly. "Good luck, Ina." She said as she winked out.

[kalenath]

"Any change?" Lia's flat voice woke Ina from a light doze. She jerked and looked from the sleeping Kel Dor to the door, where Lia was standing, her face remote. "Everything is on track, Ina. Relax."

 

"I get the feeling of the calm before the storm." Ina said as she rose and stretched a little. "Do you?"

 

"Yeah." Lia said with a scowl. "The silence, stillness, right before the fight starts. No idea what fight. Is she...?" Lia asked as she entered.

 

"She slept the day through." Ina said with a tender smile. "Whatever she saw terrified her." She paused as the girl in the bed shifted a little. "Diseree?" Diseree groaned softly and rolled a little. Then she jerked.

 

"Ah... Ina?" The girl said sleepily. "I... Is it time for my next punishment?" She asked, unsure.

 

"Yes, but..." Ina patted Diseree's hand gently. "Can you tell us what you 'saw'?"

 

"Saw?" Diseree said slowly. "I..." Then she jerked upright. "Oh my god! I... No..." She shuddered and started to cry. "She couldn't have..." Lia immediately moved to sit beside the distraught Jedi.

 

"Diseree..." Lia said gently. "Easy, easy... It's okay. Shh..." She soothed the now crying girl.

 

"No it's not." Diseree said sadly. "It is not okay. I never saw it coming. I never did. So much she did, didn't make any sense. But now..."

 

"Diseree?" Ina asked, concerned. "What is wrong?"

 

"Jedi Master Ashla Ti..." Diseree said between sobs. "I... I knew she had secrets. I... I never pried. Maker help me, I should have."

 

"She lied to you about what she was doing when she ordered you to take the people from Cranna." Lia said sharply. "You are hardly the first to trust your master blindly. I know I did, before Teacher took me and showed me a better way. At least your master didn't get eaten alive."

 

"I wish she had been." Diseree said with a growl that would not have been out of place on a Nexu. "Lousy lying..." She broke off as Ina slapped her gently. "Wha-?"

 

"Diseree, focus." Ina said gently, but with conviction. "What did you 'see'?"

 

"I saw the past." Diseree said slowly. "My master, just after she became a full Jedi. HER main teacher was talking to her, offering her a long term job."

 

"I don't see the problem." Ina said slowly. "Lots of masters keep tabs on their padawans that way. And it makes sense, after all the master knows what the Padawan is capable of. And it gets the Padawan experience in the real world, right?"

 

"Her Master had just died. He was a seer as well." Diseree said slowly. "He died of an unknown illness right after Ashla Ti passed the Jedi Trials. Her teacher... The one I saw talking to her, offering her a job." Diseree gulped. "His name was Tokare Vandar."

 

"What?" Ina demanded. "You cannot mean...?"

 

"She works for Special Branch." Diseree said sadly. "And unless I very much miss my guess... They know where we are."

 

"That is impossible." Lia said in the silence that followed Diseree's words. "Idjit said that Firdlump doesn't have access to seers. Was he wrong?"

 

"I saw more. She worked for Vandar, she didn't work for Firdlump." Diseree said slowly. "Now she does. She doesn't have a choice. The last time she picked up orders, right before she started us on this mess, the message capsule contained a nanite colony. It took time to grow, but... He owns her, body and soul now."

 

"No..." Ina breathed. "No..."

 

"I am sorry, Ina." Diseree said sadly. "Your friend is dead. When the nanites took control of her mind, I think it wiped the other personality." She bowed her head. "I am sorry." She said as Ina recoiled.

 

"You cannot know that, Diseree. The mind is resilient and can be very tricky." Lia said with a frown. "And as for knowing where we are...? I don't know where we are. How can she? Can you detect and stop the nanites?"

 

"No." Diseree said sadly. "Looking back... I was infected by them on Tython. But... Master Ashla Ti was nowhere around. And it was not by Firdlump's swarm if we can trust the information I was given. Huh." She mused. "I wonder..."

 

"What?" Ina asked, her pain and fear clamed a bit.

 

"How...long...?" Ina said slowly. "Vander was pulled into the collective. Jina said that and others confirmed it. I wonder how long that colony of nanites has been sleeping in..." She gulped. "In my master's body."

 

"From what I understand, the Sitolon put her through the wringer." Lia said with a scowl. "When you and she went aboard the homeship. Would they have missed that?"

 

"Probably not." Diseree said with a sigh. "But then again, they never detected the ones that were hiding in Mira. I could have some in me now."

 

"Teacher said no." Lia said slowly. "But Ashla Ti... She was so badly hurt... I don't know if he ever scanned her. What...? What do we do?"

 

"Istara is coming." Ina said slowly. "She is probably the target of this. She can stop nanites, detect them and stop them. But... to keep Firdlump from attacking before she gets here..." Ina looked at Diseree speculatively. DIseree sighed and nodded.

 

"We have to keep doing what we were." She rolled onto her stomach and rolled her gown above her rump. She jumped asa hand found hers. "Ina?"

 

"This is going to be hard, Diseree." Ina said as she gave the Padawn's hand a squeeze. "Can you do it?" She asked as Lia pulled the paddle out again. This time, Lia did not count aloud. She gave slow, measures strokes with the instrument of punishment.

 

"I..." Diseree bit words out between strikes. "Have. To. So. I. Will." Was it her imagination that it didn't hurt as bad? She hoped so.

Edited August 26, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

<Two night later>

 

"Ah Diseree..." Ashla Ti's voice was stronger as she looked at her Padawan. She was still connected to various tubes and still generally felt like garbage. She was also still strapped to the bed. "What is wrong?" She asked sharply as the young Kel Dor squirmed in her seat.

 

"My heart is hurting. An infant is parentless due to my actions." Diseree said sadly. "But my rear end hurts at the moment and I am finding it hard to pass beyond the pain without the Force, master."

 

"You rear end" Ashla Ti asked, incredulous. Then her voice turned angry. "What are they doing?"

 

"Punishing me." Diseree said flatly. "Cranna wanted me dead. She has no tolerance for people who hurt those under her protection. The Bladeborn blame you, and well... They don't want to kill me. They want to save the other you as well."

 

"I haven't heard her." Ashla Ti said faintly. "Not for a while. She was usually quite vocal. But now... I guess she is sleeping again. She did that. I made her sleep when we did what we did. I know it hurt her. If..." She sighed deeply. "If they can save her, I hope they do." She bowed her head. "What have they done to you? They said they wouldn't hurt you."

 

"They haven't. Not really." Diseree said with a shudder. "I... I don't..." She shook herself.

 

"Diseree, be calm." Ashla Ti said gently. "There is no emotion, there is peace."

 

"It is just so hard." Diseree said softly. "For so long I wanted the visions to go away. Now they have and I want them back." She laughed a little. "Foolish, huh?"

 

"No." Ashla Ti said kindly. "Not foolish at all. What have they done to you?" She asked gently.

 

"Cranna demanded that I suffer as the people who I abducted would have or executed." Ashla Ti froze in horror at Diseree's quiet words. "I chose life. It's all right, Master. They were careful not to harm me permanently." She paused. "Kind of like Firdlump did by all accounts actually, with the distinct difference that the Bladeborn were not going to enslave me after the sensory deprivation."

 

"Sensory depri-!" Ashla Ti said angrily. "They didn't? Diseree!" The elder Jedi snapped. "You are a child! You did it on my orders! What gave them the right to-" She broke off as Diseree glared at her.

 

"Master." Diseree said calmly. "I gave those people up to a monster. To a fate I knew would be horrific. What can they do to me that is worse than the feeling of knowing I sentenced fifty people including an infant to horror like that?"

 

"We had to do what we did, Diseree." Ashla Ti said gently. "But... I understand your feelings. Cina and Jan deserved better. Even if Cina blew herself up, it was me who put her there." Ashla Ti looked at her Padawan but Diseree said nothing. "Our time is almost up. Why are you squirming as if you had been spanked?" She paused. "No!" She demanded, shocked. "They didn't!"

 

"Cranna wanted fifty lashes. Again. It was that or kill me. I prefer life." Diseree said sadly. "They are kind about it, but there is no give in them. Typical Bladeborn. They are giving me ten a day. Enough to hurt, not enough to permanently injure. And their healer is keeping on top of everything." She made a disgusted noise. "Still stings like hell."

 

"I bet." Ashla Ti said soberly. "So... Other than that? How are you?"

 

"Tired, scared, sick and sore." Diseree said with a shrug. "Typical day for a Jedi, huh?" Ashla Ti surprised herself with a small laugh at that.

 

"Yeah." Ashla Ti said with a sigh. "It does seem our lot in life sometimes. Doesn't it?" She paused and then her voice turned flat. "You never asked how I knew Cina blew herself up. That wasn't something any of us knew." Diseree didn't react and Ashla Ti sighed again, deeper. "Crap. How long have you known?"

 

"I had a vision, even without the Force, two nights ago. You were not awake during my visit last night." Diseree said calmly. "I 'saw' you talking to Vandar, when he recruited you to Special Branch." Diseree's voice was very dispassionate now. "Were you actually asleep at all or were you sending nanites out?"

 

"Diseree... be calm." Ashla Ti did not move, but the plumbing attached to her suddenly was gone. The tubes likewise. "It's not what you think."

 

"What I think?" Diseree asked slowly. "How long have you been doing Vandar and Firdlump's dirty work? I know Jina contacted you for advice when she found me on Alderaan, before she came to my parents and asked for me. You didn't know my grand dad..." The Kel Dor's scrutiny was palpable. "But you knew what he was doing, didn't you? Did you know what the Special Branch goons were going to do? Did you order them to kill Jina's Padawan Kapas? To destabilize Jina further? And I do know that the other personality that was inside you is more than likely dead. Your master probably killed her in enslaving you." Ashla Ti jerked, but then relaxed.

 

"Diseree, your thoughts are muddled. Be calm." Ashla Ti warned. "This is not what you think. Be at peace."

 

"Why?" Diseree asked sadly. "Isn't it better for me to be emotional? Less able to see and counter what you do?"

 

"Diseree." Ashla Ti's voice was very gentle now. "Whatever you are planning won't work." Diseree nodded and Ashla TI paused. "What?" She asked carefully.

 

"Yeah." Diseree said sadly. "Almost anything I plan, you could see and counter. I almost... I almost wish I would survive this." Ashla Ti tensed again, but Diseree did nothing and the elder Jedi relaxed a little. "The horror that awaits you would be fitting punishment for me too, but... No." She shook her head and did not react as the Jedi slowly rose to a sitting position, her restraints falling loose. "It almost worked." She commented as the Force nullifier on Ashla Ti's head fell off too. "But I cannot allow it. I refuse to let your master have me too. To use me to try to conquer the galaxy."

 

"Diseree..." Ashla Ti said slowly, carefully. "The nanites in your system will hurt you very badly if they take control now, let them work. It will be painless if you let them work. Let them ease you in."

 

"You did infect me with them then." Diseree nodded slowly. "I had wondered. When I embraced you?" She asked, her tone clinical.

 

"A small scratch." Ashla Ti showed a long fingernail. "Barely noticeable. Whatever you are about to try, Diseree, don't." Ashla Ti warned. "He can bring you back, but it hurts."

 

"Can he?" Diseree asked in a conversational tone. "Can he indeed?" She rose from her chair and her Force nullifier fell off. "Can he indeed?" She repeated, her tone still that same calm, her form now shimmering with power.

 

"Diseree...No." Ashla TI said, her voice horrified now. "Don't do this. Don't fight us."

 

"What was it Vandar said to you when he recruited you?" Diseree asked softly. "Oh yes... 'The only thing required for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.' I have done nothing for far too long. I will not be a tool for him to use." She raised her hands and the Force answered her call. But she did not attack. No, her focus was inside her own body! Inside her brain!

 

"Diseree! No!" Ashla Ti cried as she did likewise, her posture turning to shock at what Diseree was doing. "You can't win! Not against him. Relax, be calm, let it ease you in. Don't. I can't let you do that. Don't fight. Just relax and let us take care if you."

 

"No." Diseree said simply and then she collapsed in a boneless heap.

 

"No!" The Togruta screamed as the small Kel Dor fell. She ran to her Padawan's side, crying. "No, Diseree, no! Idiot girl. Come on, the nanites have to stop it, fix it! No." She cried as she drew the unresisting form into an embrace and knelt, keening, trying with all her heart and soul to mend the damage that was still being caused inside the small Kel Dor skull. She felt when it happened. When the bright and cheery mind she had known -indeed the mind she had helped shape- winked out. "Why Diseree? Why?" She sobbed as she held the still form tightly.

 

"Master Ashla Ti?" A gruff voice spoke after a time. "Facility secured. No other casualties. Medics are coming. Is she...?"

 

She didn't need to look up to know a man in bounty hunter attire stood there. She didn't need to see to know that small teams of heavily armed people were sweeping the facility. She could feel them all in the collective. Their shock and dismay mirrored her own.

 

"She is dead, Gev." The Togruta said, hugging the limp form in her arms. The entire collective hissed in shared grief. "She used the Force to cause a brain hemorrhage. I couldn't stop her, I tried. The nanites tried to take control, but it was too late. I don't think even the master can bring her back from that. Or if he can, that she will be the Padawan I knew. Oh Diseree..." She bowed her head over the body of her padawan and cried.

Edited August 26, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Report." The calm voice of the master of the collective came over the bounty hunter's private com as he worked.

 

"One casualty, Master." Gev said sadly. "Diseree Mak committed suicide before we could induct her fully. Her nanites only had partial control and she fought it. We took a full scan, but... Ashla Ti says cloning is unlikely to work. We can make a clone, but it won't be the girl she knew. Not a seer."

 

"Ah..." Firdlump's voice was sad now. "What a waste. The others?"

 

"Ashla Ti has been rescued. Fourteen total beings apprehended. Twelve initiate Bladeborn, one Padawan Jedi and a Gand all taken into custody without incident. None injured more than contusions from falls. Ah, none injured by us. Several have injuries apparently due to harsh training." Gev said with no trace of arrogance. "The gas worked, even on the Gand." He said uneasily.

 

"This feels too easy." Firdlump said soberly. "What do you think?"

 

"I agree." Gev said with a frown that would not show through his full armor. "The gas should not have worked on the Gand, which is why I came in loaded for Rancor. My suggestion? Grab everyone, blow this place and take them all somewhere safe where we can put them all through the wringer."

 

"Any idea where?" Firdlump asked. "I am certainly not bringing anything that traitor Ravishaw had anything to do with anywhere near our base, even as well protected as it is now. Not until I am totally sure there are no traps."

 

"We captured the Imperious mostly intact, did we not?" Gev asked softly. "As far as the Republic is concerned, they are not rogue."

 

"Good idea. Captain Brun was...most uncooperative." The master of the collective said sadly. "She will be a while in kolto. The rest of the crew succumbed quickly. Yes... We can have the ship underway with a replacement crew within the hour, and I can set up a reasonable substitution for the captain. Where to meet?"

 

"Someplace Republic and public." Gev said slowly. "With the proper code clearances for the Imperious, the Stormhawk cannot attack us without setting off a major firestorm. They are technically wanted by the Republic. At least Will Kalenath no longer has his pocket battleship disguised as a freighter." His voice turned ice cold now. He had reason. He had been busy securing the civilians when Kalenath had let loose whatever the insane soldier had unleashed on the collective. Even the memory hurt.

 

"And you think that makes him less dangerous?" Firdlump asked mildly. Gev shook his head silently, knowing his feelings were transmitted through the collective, and Firdlump sighed. "Yeah, now he can be anywhere." Fear arced through the collective now and Firdlump hastened to reassure. "We will not let him do that again. We will not."

 

"Ok... Duro maybe?" Gev asked, his tone worried. "They have a sizable defense network."

 

"We have current codes and I can get authorization for the Imperious to go there." Firdlump said uneasily. "It is a Core World. So lots of potential attention. But, you are right. If we try and hide, the Seven will likely hunt us down. We need to stay on the offensive, but even with the advantages we now have, we are greatly outnumbered and far from invincible."

 

"Right." Gev said and paused. "Master? I need to ask... Olandas?" He had been told she was comatose after what Kalenath had done to the base.

 

"No change, Gev." Firdlump said sadly. "I don't think she will wake. I am sorry. What you and Olandas had..."

 

"You want Will Kalenath alive, Master." Gev said in a tone of iron. "Do you need him hale?"

 

"After what he did to Olandas and all the rest of us?" Firdlump said softly, but rage echoed. "No. Alive works fine." The collective's master said fiercely. "Get all the prisoners secure and we can pick you up. A hyperspace capable shuttle is inbound. ETA fifty six minutes."

 

"Right." Gev said as his com system deactivated. It no longer bothered him that he was out of control. Few things bothered him anymore. Not since Olandas had been hurt. But here were a few things...The hunter strode into the small cell and sighed.

 

"Ashla Ti." He said gently. "We gotta go."

 

"I know." The Jedi seer hadn't moved. Indeed, she hadn't let anyone touch the small, sad form in her arms. The medics had come, done their scans and left. There was nothing they could do. "I..." Ashla Ti was still crying despite everything the collective could do. "Gev... I... I never saw this. I never saw her... I never dreamed she could do this."

 

"Sister." Gev said sadly. "It wasn't your fault. None of this was." He knelt down beside the distraught Togruta. "We can take her with us. Give her proper rites. I..." He shook his head. "I don't know the Kel Dor rites."

 

"Neither do I." Ashla Ti said quietly. She rose and hefted the small form in her hands carefully. "But I will find out. I owe her that much. Ah..." She stared at the small face and sobbed again. "Why Diseree? We wanted to help, not hurt you!"

 

"I don't know, sister." Gev said, his voice gruff, but his sense in the collective sad. "Suicide is..." He shrugged. "I fight, it is what I do. I can't say I would never do it, but... Ah, I don't know." He patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Come on, we have to pack up as much as we can before the shuttle gets here. I have teams setting explosives on the lower levels. All the Corellians will find is a crater."

 

"I don't think there is much here." Ashla Ti said soberly as the pair started out of the cell. "This place was for hiding, and it wasn't finished."

 

"Well whatever it was for, its going to be dust soon." Gev said soberly. "Come on, you know all of these, right?"

 

"I saw them, yes." Ashla Ti said soberly. "Know them? No. How many?"

 

"Twelve beings with Bladeborn markings, all under twenty standard years of age. One young Cerean -your memories say she is a Jedi?- and one Gand." Gev said with a sigh. "I wish we could have gotten Diseree, sister. From what I saw in your memory, she was a good kid."

 

"She was." Ashla Ti said with a shake. "But... Yes, Ina-Ta-Mal is a Jedi. Padawan to Jedi Knight Anya Hadas. Anya is dead, her body was found on Alderaan. Hmmm..." The Togruta mused for a moment. "Eight children, force sensitive children, were missing along with Anya's Padawan. I think we just found them. No idea on the other four. Could be from anywhere."

 

"Why would he bring Force sensitive children here and teach them to be Bladeborn of all things?" Gev asked sourly. "He was insane, but... That is really nuts."

 

"Was he?" Ashla Ti asked softly. "Or was he playing a much deeper game than any of us have guessed? I..." She shook her head. "I can't 'see' it. Whatever else happened, my 'sight' is blinded now by the collective."

 

"Oh?" He replied. " I am sorry." Gev said sincerely.

 

"I am not." Ashla Ti said as she carried her sad burden towards where she knew the exit was.

Edited August 26, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

<Republic battleship Imperious, nine hours later>

 

"Well?" Ashla Ti asked as she tried not to hover. It never did any good to rush doctors. Especially doctors who were trying to find a way to help.

 

"You were right, Master Ashla Ti." The human female who had introduced herself as Karen said soberly. "A brain hemorrhage. I don't know what caused it, but the damage is massive. Too much. I am sorry. Even the Master could only repair the physical damage. If he had been right there, maybe... But maybe not." The human said sadly. "This kind of thing... I went into medicine to help kids. I wish I could help."

 

"It's okay, Karen." Ashla Ti said gently, forcing herself past her own grief. She patted the unhappy doc on the shoulder. "What word on the others?"

 

"Uh..." Karen sighed. "We need to be very careful. All of the Bladeborn have recognizable anti-interrogation protocols buried in their minds. If we do the wrong thing with any of them, heck if we say the wrong thing..." She broke off and blanched. "Oh my god." She darted back to her instruments. "Might that have been the cause?"

 

"You think Diseree had an anti-interrogation protocol inside her brain?" Ashla Ti asked dubiously. "I didn't sense anything like that. She just..." Ashla Ti shivered in memory and calmed herself before continuing. "She used the Force to rupture the major blood vessels in her brain. Too many for me to heal in time and too many for the nanites to fix."

 

"It's the kind of thing he would have done. Programmed her to do that." Karen said with a snarl. "Evil, evil traitorous scum! Whatever happened to him wasn't nearly enough!"

 

"Karen, be calm." Ashla Ti said gently. "That kind of thing is fairly easy to detect with the regular scans and the Force, and I was looking. He didn't program her."

 

"He programmed the others, all of them." Karen said after a moment of perusing scans. "The two eldest have the most extensive alterations that show up on scans. Did you ever get their names?"

 

"The male's name is Nikol. He was a Jedi padawan. He vanished with his master some time ago. I can guess what happened to them." Ashla Ti said with a scowl. "The female? Her name is Lia. As to where she came from? No idea. She..." Ashla Ti frowned in thought. "I get the feeling she was a Sith, but where she came from or why, I have no idea."

 

"This is not going to be easy." Karen said soberly. " I think I can undo the anti-interrogation protocols with the help of the collective. It isn't something I have ever done, but its fairly straight forward, if delicate. But it will take time and Bladeborn kind of define stubborn. I expect them to be almost as stubborn as the captain proved to be." Her voice was exasperated as she looked to where a female human form slept suspended in a kolto tank. "So... Which do you suggest? I need to brush up on Cerean physiology and we have nothing on Gand. I am not even sure I would recognize alterations done to the being's mind."

 

"Nikol may be our best bet among the Bladeborn." Ashla TI said slowly. "He was a Jedi, so I should be able to predict some of his responses. I just..." Karen arced an eyebrow and Ashla Ti shook her head. "I don't know." The Togruta complained. "I should have seen what happened with Diseree coming. I should have." She paused as Karen reached out and took her hand.

 

"I don't think anyone could have, Ashla Ti." The healer said sadly. "We will prepare her body in accordance with her people's traditions." She jerked. "What the-...?"

 

"What?" Ashla Ti asked as she looked at the doctor. "Karen?"

 

"What is the Cerean girl's name? Ina?" Karen asked as she started for the hatch. "She is awake."

 

"That is not-..." Ashla Ti followed and paused as they entered the main medical ward. Every berth was full. Most of the beings in the berths were restrained. Some with figures in Republic uniform. Others with small, still forms. But one had a form that was sitting up. The Cerean's eyes were covered, but her face swung to aim at Ashla Ti and the Togruta's guts clenched. The nurse beside it was trying to calm the female down.

 

"Jedi Ina-Ta-Mal, you are hurt." The young Mon Cal was saying in quiet but earnest tones. "You are sick."

 

"No need to lie, slave." The youthful Jedi said scornfully. "I know who you are. I know what you serve." Ashla Ti stiffened at the female's calm tone. "I know what you are. You will not use me."

 

Meish! Ashla Ti snapped in the collective. Sedate her! Now!

 

"Look Jedi..." The Mon Cal said sadly as she reached for the medication controls. "There is no... No!" She snapped as Ina suddenly collapsed. "No!" The nurse jumped to the bedside and caught the sagging Cerean. "Help!" She called.

 

Easy... Karen sent and she jumped to assist. Oh crap! The doctor exclaimed in shock in the mental wavelength they shared. Brain hemorrhage. Miesh! Get the... A torrent of medical information flowed through the collective as Miesh and Karen worked to save the Jedi from self immolation. Ashla Ti staggered back as the youthful sense she had in the Force suddenly vanished.

 

"No..." The Togruta breathed. "Not again! No..." She staggered as if struck and then paused. She did still sense something from Ina. It was faint and weak, but it was there. She thrust out with the Force, grasping the small, scared feeling to her bosom and cradling it gently. "Easy..." She crooned sadly. "Easy girl..."

 

"That is it, Ashla Ti." Karen said approvingly. "Keep her calm. We... We have this..." She had her hands on either side of the Jedi's skull and Ashla Ti could feel nanites working. "It's...bad..." Karen said absently. "But we can handle it."

 

"No, they can't." Ashla Ti went still as a form appeared in front of her. A transparent form. An angry Twi'lek transparent form. Neither doc noticed her. Not that they would have, neither of them had the Force. Her focus was on Ashla Ti, who shivered at the dead being's gaze. "I always knew there was something wrong with you." Ulaha said with a snarl. "But I had no idea."

 

"Ulaha..." Ashla Ti said with a gasp. "What...?" None of the medical personnel heard her.

 

"You will not..." The spirit's voice turned so sad now. "...enslave that poor girl like you did so many others, Firdlump." The spirit reached out a slow hand that Karen and Miesh did not see. Her face was so sad as she touched the Cerean on the chest and then she turned back to Ashla Ti as alarms started to warble.

 

"She is going into cardiac arrest!" Karen snapped. "Miesh! I'll handle the hemorrhage, you get her heart going again!"

 

"No..." Ashla Ti said, horrified as the ghost reached for her. "Ulaha... don't..."

 

"Let her go, Ashla Ti." The ghost's words rang with menace. "Now."

 

"I..." Ashla Ti stammered. "I can't. I lost Diseree. I won't lose Ina too. Ulaha... no..."

 

"Fine." The ghost said with a sigh and, quick as thought, reached out to touch the Togruta on the side of the head. Ashla Ti didn't even have time to scream as the world went dark.

Edited August 27, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Ashla Ti?" The concerned female voice came as if from a great distance. She was so tired, so tired... She focused on the voice as it spoke again. "Easy. We didn't know how badly you had stressed your body. The nanites are helping."

 

"I..." Ashla Ti managed to croak. "Ina...?" She begged.

 

"She is alive, Ashla Ti. Barely, but alive. it will be quite a while before we take her off support, but she will live." The voice that the Togruta now recognized as Karen came again. "You are a mess."

 

"Ulaha..." Ashla Ti said sadly. "She..."

 

"We saw your memories." Karen's voice was flat now. "Let's get you to a bed and we can talk when you wake."

 

"Don't..." Ashla Ti struggled to get words out as she felt motion and then she was lying on something soft. "Don't wake any of the Bladeborn...They are just kids...But... They will fight or suicide."

 

"We won't." Karen promised her. "Sleep, sister. Ina lives. Everything will be fine, just relax. Sleep."

 

""I..." AshlaTi did as ordered and slowly relaxed, lethargy sweeping her up. But then...

 

You! The voice was loud, female and in her head. You lying traitorous filth!

 

I... Wha-...? Ashla Ti tried to focus. Who?

 

Who do you think you lousy spying witch?

 

Without sense of transition, Ashla TI found herself on the ground with hands around her throat. A familiar voice sounded close by.

 

"How does it feel, traitor?" Ashla TI opened her eyes and found herself facing...herself. "To know you are about to die?" The other Togruta had her down, had hands around her throat and was applying strong pressure. She was blacking out. If she died here inside her mind...

 

"No..." The Jedi Master croaked out, trying to summon the energy to defend herself, but the Force would not answer her. "I..." She batted feebly at the hands that were killing her.

 

"I should have let us both die in that tank!" The other Ashla Ti snapped. "I should have kept my mouth shut when Ravishaw broke the tank. I should have let you, and me, expire! I should have! If I had, Diseree would still be alive!" Her voice was so sad, so angry, so...dark. "Die!"

 

"What the-...?" The Jedi had never been so glad to hear the voice of the being who ruled the collective. "What the hell?" Suddenly the hands that had been strangling her were gone. The Jedi heard a shriek and she levered herself up painfully. Firdlump stood nearby, his hand outstretched. The other part of the Togruta's personality was struggling in mid-air, her face frenzied, her sense in the Force a dark, angry thing. "Ashla Ti?" Firdlump asked mildly "You okay?"

 

"Weak." The Jedi managed to croak. "I don't know what happened. She was silent for some long., Diseree said she was gone." She rolled into a sitting position and massaged her throat. "Maybe she WAS sleeping and when Ulaha touched me, she woke?" She stammered slightly. Firdlump looked at her and she shook her head. "Don't, don't hurt her. She is an innocent. I don't want her gone."

 

"You will never be rid of me!" The other Togruta spat. "If you destroy me, you lousy scum, you destroy her!"

 

"I don't destroy potential recruits." Firdlump said mildly. "You will serve." Ashla Ti was not expecting the spirit or whatever she was to laugh.

 

"Yeah." She cackled as she fought to get free. "Right. Minor problem, shebs for brains. She serves you, I won't. Can you pull me out of her mind without Ecmin and her crystals? Have you even managed to grow a new Sitolon yet?"

 

"Wha-?" Ashla Ti asked, confused. "Ecmin is still part of the collective...I haven't heard her voice, but..." She paused, unsure. "He said she was busy."

 

"He has lied to you." The suspended Ashla Ti said with a snarl. "He lost Ecmin, Katherine, Olandas and Menglan. My only regret is that Will Kalenath didn't finish the job with you, you lying Jedi filth!"

 

"Now you are lying to me." Ashla Ti snapped as she rose to a standing position. "Menglan is not dead. I felt her, I feel her now."

 

"Maybe not." The darker aspect Togruta said with a shrug. "Maybe what Nia did only broke her instead of killing her." But then she smiled evilly. "Bets on how long until you wind up in her harem? I hope it's soon, I want to watch."

 

"Enough." The master of the collective said calmly. "You will not harm my sister, spirit."

 

"Your... sister?" The spirit asked incredulously. Then she laughed again. "I don't see a resemblance. And she is a slave, not kin."

 

"She is part of the whole." Firdlump disagreed mildly. "I will remove you from her mind, but for now..." He raised a hand and a sphere of blackness surrounded the suspended Togruta. A shriek was heard that cut off in mid-syllable. "You will be able to sleep now, Ashla Ti. You need rest to recover."

 

"She was lying, Master." Ashla Ti said as lethargy swept her under. "Wasn't she?" He did not respond and she tried to stay wake. But she couldn't. "Wasn't she...?" But then she was asleep.

Edited August 27, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Damn." Firdlump said mildly as he gently conveyed the sleeping Ashla Ti back to her body. Then he resumed his place on the gray plain. One that roiled with activity now. Directed, ordered activity. "I didn't want to deceive anyone. Doesn't matter now. Won't be able to hold the illusion of Menglan much longer. Too many missing now. Ah..." He sighed as the collective pressed him, gently, but worried. "All right... Yes, we lost a lot of people. We can and will get them back. I know generally where they are and we can get them back. They are confused, scared."

 

"Master?" Gev asked softly as his mental projection appeared nearby along with a host of others. "Olandas?" His tone held fear now and the collective rushed to soothe him.

 

"Will Kalenath attacked her mind, Gev." Firdlump said gently. "She went crazy and shot herself in the head. We had a full imprint, but with everything else, I was delayed. Her body was in stasis. I was going to bring her back. The body... When I returned from the plain the last time, it was gone. Along with Ecmin, Ren, Ka, the larva, Katherine, the two prisoners and Melita."

 

"All of them..." Gev said slowly. "One or two I could see, but all of those? No... It was something Kalenath did, wasn't it?" Hate colored his tone now.

 

"I don't know, Gev." Firdlump said sadly. "You were not affected, and Maria..." He paused. "Oh Maria..." He said sadly. "What have you done?" A mild struggle ensued nearby as a black haired form was urged to the front.

 

"I didn't do anything." Maria Kalenath, or the clone of her anyway, said with a sad shake of her head. "I didn't."

 

"Maria..." Firdlump said slowly. "Don't make me punish you. What did you do?"

 

"I had no idea when Ecmin asked to talk to me, what she would say, what she would do. I liked her. She was so nice." Maria said sadly. "I love the kids, and taking care of them has been more than enough to salve all the hurt and pain that I had accrued. Or so I thought. You didn't let me remember what you did to MY kids, did you?"

 

"Maria?" Gev asked softly, carefully aware that this lady was a clone the mother of one of the most dangerous non-Force using men in existence and had been very dangerous in her own right. "What did you do, Maria?"

 

"I..." Maria took a deep breath. "Nothing. I stayed with the kids. Ecmin said she had a plan to escape, and asked me to come. I declined." Gev stared at her and she shrugged. "The kids needed me. She didn't tell me anything else. Ecmin made me forget, but what Will hit us with broke the block. And others. Your people tortured me." Maria said to Firdlump in the sudden silence that ensued. "Your people killed my husband with your experiments, your people tormented my son and my little baby girl." Her words were not accusatory, they were incredibly sad. "I am...tired. I don't want to fight any more. If you are going to punish me, hurt me, kill me, do it." She said with a sigh as tears started to fall. "I just... don't care anymore."

 

"Oh Mama Maria..." A sad voice came from nearby and a little from dashed out of the crowd to hug Maria tight. "I am sorry. Why?" The little girl asked Firdlump, her tone hurt.

 

"Julia..." Firdlump said sadly. "I... The collective didn't exist. What we did laid the groundwork for it. It was wrong, but..." He sighed and addressed Maria. "You have a right to your anger, Maria. I hurt you, through proxies, but I did. I hurt your family, all of them. My failures have laid the seeds for what has happened. What will happen if I cannot stop it now."

 

"My family will fight to the death." Maria said sadly, bending down to pick up the small form hugging her. "That is all they know how to do. My husband is gone, my son and daughter are likely going to die along with my granddaughter trying to stop you... and I just can't care anymore!" She shouted, her heartache easy to hear. "I..." She broke down and cried as Julia hugged her tight.

 

"Oh Maria." Gev said sadly as the assembled mind mass closed in on her. Not to harm, but to console, to ease her pain. "Master?"

 

"Oh Maria, I never even thought about you. You didn't remember until Will hit us." Firdlump said soberly. "And since then you have been busy, helping. You have put everything into helping. If you hate me so much, why help?"

 

"Need you ask?" Maria said as she hugged Julia tighter. More children were surrounding Maria now, most of them crying. "The little ones needed me. I knew you would hurt or kill me eventually. But... They needed me." She said as she smoothed Julia's hair gently. "Julia... let go." She asked gently as she rose. But the girl refused to release her. "Julia...please..."

 

"No, Mama Maria." Julia said sharply. "No! I won't let you!" Julia snapped at Firdlump. "She is sorry. She wanted to help! She did help!"

 

"Julia..." Maria said helplessly, her gaze imploring the others around. Wonder of wonders all of them -even Gev- looked at her and then at Firdlump. A murmur of support started and Maria jerked. "No... I... Master, please don't hurt them. They don't know what they are doing."

 

"Maria." Firdlump said sadly. "After everything I and my agents did to your family, your first thought is not for revenge or escape, but for the safety of innocents? You shame me, Maria." He said quietly but with force. "You shame me greatly."

 

"You have to punish me." Maria said with quiet certainty. "I know it, you know it. But don't make the kids watch." Julia gave another small cry and buried her face in Maria's chest. Everything stilled around them, all of the forms froze into immobility except Maria who nodded slowly and Firdlump.

 

"I won't, Maria." Firdlump promised. "They won't remember this."

 

"Thank you." Maria said as she slowly and gently extricated herself from Julia and laid the girl on the ground. "I am ready."

 

"I am not going to hurt you, Maria." Firdlump said sadly. "But with Menglan...gone... I need a surrogate. A partner." Maria froze, her face horrified. "It won't hurt, and you will learn a great deal, very quickly. About many things, including medicine. With Katherine and Menglan gone, we need a new head doctor."

 

"No..." Maria begged. "Anything but that. What happened to her..." She backed away slowly, but hit a wall of immobile bodes and stopped.

 

"...was my fault." Firdlump said sadly. "Kareena was young and idealistic. She thought she had enough control. She was wrong. We need you, Maria. I need you."

 

"No..." Maria was begging now as he strode towards her, his hand outstretched. "No!" She cried as he took her hand gently and then placed his other hand on the top of her head. Tears were falling in sheets as she screamed. Then it cut off as if sliced by a knife.

 

"Easy." Firdlump said sadly. "Better?"

 

"I..." Maria said slowly, her voice very faint as if from far away. "I don't understand. What did you do?"

 

"You are now part of me, Maria. This was the preliminary, the actual programs will take most of a week to download into your brain. I will make sure you can handle it by keeping the flow a trickle." Firdlump said gently. "I will keep you from accessing as much as Menglan did. It drove her mad and no matter what I did, I couldn't fix it. You will take her place as my deputy."

 

"But... the kids..." Maria said, looking at Julia's immobile form. "Oh." She said slowly. "THAT is why you wanted them." She said woodenly. "You cloned Sitolon? I..."

 

"Easy, Maria." Firdlump said with a gentle caress of her cheek. "I cannot give you back what you lost. I cannot bring your husband back, or cure your son and daughter at the moment. But I do need you and this is the best way to make sure you don't get into trouble, yes?"

 

"Yes." Maria said softly, her gaze distant. "So...? Now what?"

 

"You get prepped, Maria." Firdlump said gently. "The transfer takes about a week, and with the refinements we have made, is easy and painless. Then you have a date with an egg and it's DNA rescriptors. I had planned for you to be subordinate to Ecmin, you liked her and she liked you. But your body can be made fertile again fairly easily. You will make a marvelous queen Sitolon, Maria. And your kids will make excellent retainers for you, when I put you down on planet to finish rebuilding the homeworld. Finish the download, get prepped, get changed into your new body and start cleaning up the mess Agnosa and your son made."

 

"Yes Master."

Edited August 27, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

<The Imperious, Hyperspace, a day later>

 

"Master?" Ashla Ti said diffidently as she stepped into the briefing room Firdlump had set up as his command center. "You asked to see me?"

 

"Yes." Firdlump nodded to a tech who started working on something else with no command given. The girl didn't even look up! "I understand your visions have stopped?"

 

"Yes master." Ashla Ti said quietly. "The collective blocks them out."

 

"Pity. I will need to see if I can do anything about that, but... later." Firdlump said sadly. " You are alive. Your... twin has been quiet?"

 

"Ah..." Ashla Ti grimaced. "Sort of. I can't HEAR her. But she has been playing tricks with my vision and hearing. Nothing I can't handle, but annoying."

 

"If it gets out of hand, tell me." Firdlump said soberly. "But I have another task for you. How are you with children?" He paused as Ashla Ti recoiled a bit. "Easy..."

 

"Master, please no." Ashla Ti asked in an abject voice. "Diseree died. She just... died in my arms. I tried to help her. I wanted to help her, and I couldn't."

 

"You won't be tending the group." Firdlump reassured her. "Basically, you will be a liaison between everyone else and Maria."

 

"A liaison?" Ashla Ti asked dubiously. "Why?"

 

"She has consented to be my bridge." Firdlump said with a frown. "With Menglan... gone... I needed a conduit of sorts into the collective. Maria will be that conduit when she recovers."

 

"Is Menglan gone?" Ashla Ti asked softly. "I can still sense her. I.. I think..." She paused as Firdlump looked embarrassed. "Master?"

 

"Yes and no." Firdlump said with a grimace. "She isn't gone as in no longer here or dead. She is gone in that she no longer has a mind capable of coherent thought." Ashla Ti paled.

 

"What did that idiot girl Nia do?" Ashla Ti asked, dumbfounded. "I mean, you had Menglan's imprints, her scans. Is that even possible?"

 

"I didn't think so." Firdlump said with a shrug. "I was wrong. Apparently when Ecmin left, she managed somehow to get into the secured cloning archives of the base and wipe most of them." Ashla Ti paled and Firdlump smiled a bit savagely. "After the mess with Cili, we had redundant backups scattered on each ship. But... All of Menglan's imprints are corrupted. Which is not possible. But apparently it has happened."

 

"But it happened." Ashla Ti said slowly. "Nia again?"

 

"No idea." Firdlump said with a sad sigh. "Kareena was a friend, and now, she is gone. So I do understand what you feel, partly. And we have a problem I think you are eminently suited to help with."

 

"Master, with this other mind in my head, you cannot trust me." Ashla Ti protested. "She will not stop fighting."

 

"I know." Firdlump said sadly. "I need you to do two things for me. One, I need you to talk to Mira." Ashla Ti stared at him and he shook his head. "I could destroy the girl's mind. I probably should. But I don't want to. After everything else that has happened to her, I don't want to."

 

"You think she will listen to me?" Ashla Ti asked dubiously.

 

"Maybe. I can break her, I even know how. But I do not want to. We know the Seven can communicate across long distances without using the plain. What we don't know is how the Seven communicate, Ashla Ti." Firdlump said with a frown. "We need to figure it out. If we can convince her to help, or at least not to fight, we can do a great deal. You don't want to hurt her, neither do we. You were a negotiator. Can you talk to her, try and reason with her?"

 

"I...can try." Ashla Ti said with a shudder. "But... how?"

 

"You go in for implants this afternoon." Firdlump said gently. "Everyone has been busy, but with the Bladeborn going into hibernation, medical has time. You will be able to access the prison we have her in from your implants."

 

"I..." Ashla Ti swallowed and nodded slowly. "Yes master. And the second thing?"

 

"Maria is going to be unavailable for childcare for a day or two at the very least, maybe as long as a week. I can't let her get far from me while she downloads." Was Firdlump embarrassed? "And Kili's parents are not in the clone pods yet. Not until tomorrow. I didn't even think about that. They are being expedited, but we only have so many pods. Can you take care of Kili for a day or two?"

 

"You are kidding." Ashla Ti asked, incredulous. "You want me... to take care of a little kid?"

 

"You have earned some downtime, Ashla Ti." Firdlump said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I can guarantee you won't be bored. And with something positive to focus on..."

 

"I won't get moody or let the other me get any advantage." Ashla Ti said quietly, her tone speculative. "Um... Master... I am not a Twi'lek. And I know nothing about being a mother."

 

"Her dietary needs and medical needs are handled. The collective will be available to assist, advise." Firdlump said gently. "What she needs is someone who can stay with her. Keep her company, keep her happy. Can you do that when we get back? It will be two days, max."

 

"Two days?" Ashla Ti sighed and nodded. "I can do that. What could possibly go wrong?"

 

"Don't say that!" Firdlump snapped his posture somewhere between amused and worried. "After everything else that has gone wrong recently, I do not want anything to happen now that we are so close."

 

"Sorry." Ashla Ti said soberly. "When do I go to medical?"

 

"Now." Firdlump said, taking her hand and leading her towards the door. "The implants should also help keep the being that is possessing you at bay." She did not resist as he led her.

 

"Who is doing the procedure?" Ashla TI asked slowly. "If Menglan is...unavailable and Karen is busy putting Bladeborn on ice, and you haven't cloned Katherine...Then...who?"

 

"I am." Firdlump said easily. "Through my new proxy. Maria... Are we ready?" Ashla Ti paused at the entrance to Medical and stared at the woman she had known. Maria Kalenath wore surgical scrubs, but no mask. Her smile was wide, but slightly off. Her head was encased in an odd, silvery helm of some kind.

 

"We are ready, Master." Maria said gently as she reached out and took Ashla Ti's unresisting hand. "Come, sister. Time for you to join us fully. Maybe we can help you with your unwanted rider as well."

 

"Maria...?" Ashla Ti said in barely restrained terror. "You are no doctor."

 

"Shhh... sister. It's okay." Maria said gently as she led the Togruta towards a gurney. One that had restraints built into it. "I know I am not. But he is." She jerked her head at the mass of nano machines and Ashla Ti paused, unsure.

 

"Master?" Ashla TI asked, her tone wavering between scared and dubious.

 

"I learned everything Menglan did, Ashla Ti." Firdlump said gently. "But Maria has gentler hands than I do. Easy, sister, daughter. You can trust her."

 

"I..." Ashla Ti slumped and nodded. She stepped to the gurney and paused. "Um..."

 

"You don't need to disrobe, Ashla Ti." Maria said gently, her hand touching the Togruta's arm. Ashla Ti relaxed visibly. "You are not wearing anything on your head." She patted the gurney with her other hand. "Up you get."

 

"I am afraid." Ashla Ti said slowly. "It is ridiculous, after everything. But I am afraid." She slowly pulled herself up onto the gurney and lay still as the restraints clicked into place. "Intubate?" She asked softly as the gurney started off.

 

"In a moment." Maria said with a sigh. "You need to be calm. Do you want a sedative?"

 

"I am going to need it." Ashla Ti said sadly. "I know it is for the best, but my fear is strong."

 

"You are strong, Ashla Ti." Maria said gently as she hooked up an IV. "A quick stick..." She placed the needle with the skill of long practice and Ashla Ti relaxed a little. "There we go." The older human said with a smile as she started the drip. "Okay, count back from ten with me, Ashla Ti. Ten..."

 

Ashla TI focused on the words as soothing numbness swept through her body. Something covered her nose and mouth and a strange smell came. She ignored the shrill cry of alarm that echoed in her skull. By the number seven, she was drifting and she had nodded off before she reached four.

[kalenath]

<Twenty two hours and a series of successful brain surgeries later>

 

"There now, little one..." Ashla Ti cooed softly to the small form in her arms as she finished feeding the Twi'lek and set down the bottle. "Better?"

 

The infant couldn't talk of course, but a feeling of contentment came to Ashla Ti through the collective. Kili snuggled close, warmed by the heat of the Togruta's body as Ashla Ti sat and watched the infant slowly fall asleep. The Togruta's face was sad as she rocked Kili gently. Kili made a noise of discomfort and Ashla Ti instantly picked her up and tilted her to ease what was coming. In moments, the baby burped and then settled again.

 

"That's it little one. Rest." Ashla Ti said quietly. "Your mom will be back with you soon, until then I am here. Aunt Ashla Ti is here..." She rocked the baby gently as others of the collective had shown her and Kili nodded off quickly.

 

Thank you for taking care of her. A sad female voice sounded in Ashla Ti's mind. I appreciate it. I was so worried about her.

 

It's not a problem, Jolia. Ashla Ti replied. I needed some quiet time anyway. How are you and Miik holding up?

 

This is really weird. Jolia replied with a touch of anxiety. I saw the axes that Barabel used cut through the droid. I saw the spray of blood and... things... The Twi'lek made a gagging sound. So... I never expected to wake up at all. And certainly not in a pod with someone else tending my kid. Karen says I should emerge tomorrow, and Miik likewise. He is handling it a little better than I am. I understand why we were put in the droids, but it would have been nice for people to ask beforehand. Cranna at least asked things before she did them.

 

I know. I am glad you are... well, not okay, but alive again. Ashla Ti replied silently as she shifted a bit, careful not to disturb the waif in her arms. I didn't want to do it. I didn't. And... There was no time. You were dying. After what that idiot Dun did to you, there was really nothing else they could do to keep you going but put you in a droid. I hated that, knowing I sentenced you to such a fate.

 

It's all right, Ashla Ti. Jolia's mental voice was kind. I am not saying I would not have preferred the choice, mind you, but it did work out. Kili will sleep for a while after such a meal. You checked her diaper?

 

Um... Ashla Ti smiled as she looked with a gentle hand and the Force. Nope, still dry.

 

Won't last, but... Jolia paused. Ashla Ti... I need to ask you something.

 

Go ahead. Ashla Ti said gently. What do you want to know? I may not have the answers, but I might be able to find them.

 

What is going to happen to Kili? Jolia asked softly. I mean... We are going back in droids.

 

No you are not, Jolia. Ashla Ti said soberly. I know this for certain. You are not going back in droids when you get out. Docs say that will be twenty eight hours or so. The clones have implants, hence why you can talk to me like this. But he is not making any more droids. He says the thirty we have left are more than enough. And... Your daughter needs you.

 

I... Jolia stammered a bit in her mind, stunned by the earnest resolve in Ashla Ti's mental voice. But... Clones are sterile. I can't ever have more kids.

 

You may not be able to conceive them normally, Jolia. Ashla Ti said gently. But do you really think we will just leave you to suffer?

 

I... Jolia's voice was, if anything even more flabbergasted. What?

 

Maria is looking into a number of forms of artificial insemination for a bunch of people. Ashla Ti said sadly. We lost a lot of kin when Kalenath hit us and not all combatants. As you say, the clones that current tech can make are sterile, but we have options. Jolia? Ashla Ti asked when she heard muted sobbing Hey, Jolia, it's okay...

 

I was so scared... Jolia said softly So scared Miik would hate for not being able to bear again... Thank you.

 

Your mate is not that stupid. Ashla TI said sternly and then paused as Kili woke up crying. "Easy, easy little one. It's okay, you are okay. Your mama is sad and scared, but she is okay too, feel her?" She asked the infant. She could feel the infant reaching out through the collective, her feeble effort gently aided by the massed mind. Kili gave a small cry as Jolia's mind embraced hers, a cry of pleasure mixed with fear and confusion. Ashla TI rocked the young Twi'lek until she relaxed. Dang it, I didn't mean to wake her.

 

I know. Jolia said kindly. You are a good person Ashla Ti. This hurt you, even before... What was her name?

 

Her name was Diseree. Ashla Ti said with a sigh. She felt tears start to form and squelched them so they would not disturb the baby. She...resisted. I don't know how. I have no idea at all how she managed to get that Force nullifier off. She shouldn't... Ashla Ti paused, her face working.

 

Ashla Ti? Jolia asked, concerned. You okay?

 

No. Ashla Ti admitted. I am confused. My Padawan had a device on that should have prevented her from doing what she did. Ashla Ti said slowly. She didn't have any nanites except the ones I put in her. There was no way she could have removed it, it was locked on her head. So... Ashla Ti's mental voice trailed off in confusion. Kili woke up and demanded her bottle again. Ashla Ti fed the baby while pondering. This is very odd, Jolia. I didn't even think about it. There was no way for her to remove the device. Without the nanites, I wouldn't have been able to take mine off.

 

If she did not remove it, then someone else did. Jolia said reasonably. But who? And why?

 

I have no idea. Ashla Ti said soberly. But we better find out. And... Ah... Yep, time to change Kili.

 

Fun, fun. Jolia snickered a bit as Ashla Ti laid the baby down on a convenient table and pulled a bag to her with the Force. You would make a great mother Ashla Ti. The Togruta shuddered a bit but did not reply a she worked to change the baby before Kili got upset. Ashla Ti? Jolia asked, her mental tone concerned as the Togruta worked.

 

Um? Oh. Sorry, Jolia. The Togruta said hastily as she finished up, giving the baby a tickle that had Kili giggling before picking the waif up again and rocking her gently. I was responsible for one young life. I failed her and I need to find out why. But it can wait. Right now... She smiled tenderly at the bundle in her lap as Kili fell asleep again. I have something more important to take care of.

 

Well, I can't do anything but talk. Jolia said slowly. But you can bounce ideas off me. If you want.

 

You don't mind? Ashla Ti asked.

 

Not at all. It gives me something to do besides sleep. Jolia said with an obvious smile in her voice. Miik is content to sleep. I... I can't. I have always had trouble relaxing, even before all this. Her voice sobered. Having red skin made me a target for slavers from a very early age.

 

Yeah. Ashla Ti said sadly, sighing at the injustice. Jolia was such a good, kindhearted being. To be hunted, indeed, to be prized as a slave for her skin color because it was rare... That had to suck. Well, now you are not a slave. Okay... So,... Diseree was being punished.

 

Wait? What? Jolia asked, startled. You never said anything about this. Her tone was worried, almost accusatory.

 

Jolia...Of course we were going to be punished. Ashla Ti said sadly. We gave you, all wrapped up nicely, to the Master. Diseree stole you and all the people with you, from Cranna.

 

That doesn't make any sense. Jolia said, her tone baffled. Ashla Ti, I saw Cranna's security arrangements. They were impressive to say the least. I don't care how good a Padawan yours might have been. No kid was going to get around those security arrangements. Not even a Jedi.

 

She was a seer, like I was. Ashla Ti said sadly. Very good at it, instinctive. She could get glimpses of the future at any... time... She broke off, unsure.

 

Ashla Ti...? Jolia's voice was worried. Could she have seen what was coming? Her death?

 

It doesn't usually work like that. Ashla Ti said absently. Usually the closer we are to something, the fuzzier the images get. For instance, I can't see when or how I will die. Well, I couldn't. Ah, I need to think on this. It doesn't make any sense.

 

Well... Jolia spoke slowly. We know several things. First, we know your Padawan is dead. Ashla Ti could not control a stab of grief that shot through her. She managed to keep it from the slumbering infant and the collective rushed to aid her, mitigate the pain. Sorry. Jolia apologized. Second, we know she could not have undone her restraints by herself. So... The Bladeborn must have. But why? That goes against everything I have ever heard about them, and after seeing them in action as it were... A mental shudder came and Ashla Ti projected sympathy and support for Jolia with the rest of the collective. They are not incompetent, even if most of the ones you encountered were children.

 

All of them. Ashla Ti said slowly. None of them were over twenty standard years and none were... She broke off. What the hell? She asked with a frown coming over her features. None were full Bladeborn. All initiates.

 

Well, that explains why Gev and the teams had such an easy time. Jolia said evenly. But... What does that mean?

 

I don't know. Ashla Ti said slowly. But we better find out. When you get decanted, I get to go talk to someone who might know...

Edited August 29, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Gah!" Ashla Ti said as he lowered herself into the chair gingerly. It gave under her mass and she squirmed a bit. "Go ahead laugh!" She snarled half heartedly at the nurse who was smiling at her. "This stiff not only stinks, its icky..." The nurse sighed and patted the Togruta's arm as the chair lowly lowered into the vat of gel like fluid. It stopped with just the Togruta's head above the surface. "Feels... Kind of like..." She hissed in memory. She had been stuck in a tank once, floating while the fluid within healed the damage she took when power was arced through it. She still had nightmares from that and would for a long, long time.

 

"It's not a tank, Ashla Ti. Be calm, you are not floating. You are not going to be shocked." The nurse said gently, to promote calm. "As for the 'ick'? I know." Miesh said sadly. The Mon Cal was prone to fits of depression now more than ever, but she remained bright and bubbly most of the time. "But this is the only way we know of to make sure she cannot escape the prison she is in. We don't want to hold her. We certainly don't want to just leave her in some awful limbo. But we cannot allow her access to the nanite data streams either."

 

"Yeah." Ashla Ti said with a grimace. "That would be... bad."

 

"One of the Seven loose among the nanites?" Meish said with a shudder. "Oh yes. Bad." She stroked Ashla Ti's forehead. "Ready?"

 

"Yeah." Ashla Ti said with a grimace. Miesh slipped a mask over her mouth and nose and then Ashla TI felt cold things pressing against her skin. She focused on her breathing as the chair slowly lowered into the ooze. She closed her eyes as it passed them. Meish's mental voice came.

 

I am going to have to talk through the earbud. Miesh said sadly. The fluid will cut you off from the collective. We cannot allow her access to the collective either. Not after what Kalenath did. The normally kind and generous nurse had hate in her tone now.

 

Meish... Ashla Ti said sadly. Be calm. Its what he does. He hurts and kills people. It wasn't personal. I don't think so anyway.

 

I am... The nurse said, her tone moderating "I am." Her voice came from the earbud as Ashla Ti felt the collective give her one final mental caress and fade. "How are you doing?"

 

"Peachy." Ashla Ti said into the mask. "Just peachy. This... Gah! This stinks."

 

"I know." Miesh's voice was sober now. "And no matter how they promise to change the smell, they never seem to be able to. I bet Olandas could have, but...

 

"I am sorry, Meish." Ashla Ti said sadly. "What little I saw about her said she was a good person."

 

"She was." Meish said sadly. "So dedicated. An Imperial through and through, but so dedicated. Smarter than any four people I have known and so nice. I liked her. We all did." Something happened in the tank and Miesh had approval in her voice now. "All external feeds cut. We are on internal power. And... Now..."

 

Ashla Ti felt her body fall away slowly. If this was happening as planned, she would materialize in... What the..?

 

She was no longer in the chair. She a was on a table and she was strapped down!

 

"Ashla Ti is awake! Hurry!" A voice sounded nearby. Ashla Ti turned her head, but she could see nothing. The voice was disguised somehow, but young, She could tell it was young. "We almost have her. Come on! Yes! Put her back! Now!"

 

"What the-...?" Ashla Ti managed to croak as the world shifted again. THIS time when she opened her eyes, she was sitting in a comfortable chair in a small room. The room was maybe four meters square with a high ceiling. Carpet covered the floor and paintings hung on the walls. A shelf with books stood on one wall, a huge painting of what looked like Alderaanian forests dominated another, the third had pictures of people smiling and playing, and on the other, a long couch extended the length of it. On the couch a small girl reclined. The girl's dark hair was cut very short. "What was that?" Ashla Ti asked, unsure.

 

0101011101101000011000010111010000100000011101110110000101110011001000000111011101101000011000010111010000111111 The girl said without moving or even opening her eyes.

 

"Come off it, Mira." Ashla Ti snapped, disconcerted. "I know you can speak Basic here." One eye opened, a hazel orb peering at the Togruta incuriously and then shut again.

 

01010111011010000111100100100000011100110110100001101111011101010110110001100100001000000100100100111111 Mira replied evenly.

 

"Fine." Ashla Ti sighed and hit one of her implants. A translator. "Ah... Yes. You asked 'What was what?' and 'Why should I?'. Do we need to continue this? It is inefficient."

 

"You Special Branch scum really know how to take the fun out of things." Mira said sadly. She didn't open her eyes. " Always knew there was something wrong with you, Ashla Ti. Ah well, another round of interrogations and torture?" She asked brightly, her one at direct odds to the blank expression on her face.

 

"You have suffered enough for three or four lifetimes. No one has or will hurt you, Mira." Ashla Ti said sadly. "Or should I call you Natasha or Tasha?"

 

"My name is Mira, barvette." The girl said without moving, but the temperature in the room seemed to plummet. "You will call me that or Seventh of the Seven. I may not be able to get out of this prison, but I can hurt you in here."

 

"I know." Ashla Ti felt the cold trickle of fear and let it pass her by. She had read reports of the first time someone had tried to talk to Mira. That volunteer had woken screaming and it had taken two hours for the collective to calm Hala down long enough to hear what Mira had done to her. Ashla Ti shivered again just remembering what she had seen when Firdlump had proposed this to her. The collective was not happy with what Mira had done to their designated counselor person. Then again, Hala's problems had pulled Gev out of his shell of grief over Olandas, so... Ashla To shook her head. "I just want to talk."

 

"No." Mira countered quietly. "You want to know how the Seven communicate. So your oh so benevolent Master can screw them like he screwed me. Two words, 'Flarg off'." She sank back into the couch, sighing as she shifted a bit. "At least the couch is comfortable. I have been in worse cells."

 

"Mira, we didn't want to lock you up." Ashla Ti said as she struggled to remain in control of the situation. She had the feeling though, that Mira was toying with her. "We want to help you."

 

"Help me?" Mira asked, her tone almost shocked. Then Ashla Ti stiffened in shock as Mira laughed. Not sarcastically, or bitterly. But purely amused. Mira spoke between laughs. "Idjit was right! You are a barrel of monkeys, Firdlump!" Ashla TI stared in shock as Mira laughed for a full minute before calming slightly. But she was still chortling when she spoke again. "Help...? Yeah right. Oh you are hilarious, scumball. You should take up comedy. Fewer souls destroyed anyway." She said, her mirth abating slightly.

 

"Mira." Ashla Ti said gently. "This is me, Ashla Ti. Not Firdlump, not the collective. Me. You know me."

 

"Do I?" Mira asked, her mirth turning cold. "Do I really? Yes, we met. But I do not know you. I never did, did I? Will never trusted any Jedi. Nia, well... She trusted blindly, but she was young. You blindsided Jina nicely. Istara and Idjit never trusted you, especially after you did Melan's dirty work so many times. Michelle barely met you and said 'She feels wrong'. I wanted to trust you, but never could for some reason. I liked Diseree." Mira paused. "Where is Diseree? I assume she was you object the whole time? Another nerf to the slaughter? I would have expected you to send her first."

 

"Diseree is dead." Ashla Ti said flatly. "She died before I could save her."

 

"You killed her?" Mira asked, her eyes finally shooting open and her face stunned. Her voice was hushed now, amazed. "Damn, I never did know you."

 

"I didn't kill her!" Ashla Ti snapped, irate. "She suicided! She died in my arms! I tried to save her!"

 

"Well, well, well..." Mira said soberly, her face serene. "He hasn't burned the spirit completely out of you. Yet. Good."

 

"Good?" Ashla Ti asked, dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"

 

"Good in that you get to feel, to understand, exactly what has happened, what will happen to you." Mira said as she lay back and closed her eyes again. "Diseree may be free now, but you... You will never be free. Ever. You are a slave, a willing slave."

 

"It's not slavery Mira. We are part of a marvelous whole. A great and wonderful thing. We could help you, send you back to your body, back to your mother." Ashla Ti said gently. Mira did not respond. "Mira... Please..."

 

010001100110110001100001011100100110011100100000011011110110011001100110 Mira said quietly and then she rolled on her side, her face away from the stunned Togruta and to all appearances, went to sleep.

 

Ashla Ti didn't need the translator to tell her that had been an insult. She sighed and hit the sequence in her implants that would signal Meish to withdraw her. This time, she was back in her body as the chair slowly rose from the ooze with no incidents. Meish was there, wiping Ashla Ti's face with a towel as the Togruta shook herself. She felt... odd.

 

"You okay?" Miesh asked softly as she removed the mask. "You were in quite a while."

 

"Wasn't in that long." Ashla Ti said and froze as she checked her chrono against the one on the wall. "Wait a sec... Miesh..." She said her tone scared. "I only talked to Mira for ten minutes."

 

"Osik..." Miesh said slowly. "Ashla Ti... You were in for an hour. You were only awake for ten minutes?"

 

"She did something to me." Ashla Ti said slowly. "We better find out what. Sedate me. Now." Miesh nodded and something stung her. She sank into darkness scared out of her mind.

Edited August 29, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

((This post contains a scene that will bother anyone with a functional conscience. No matter how strong someone may be, -physically or emotionally- anyone can be broken, given time, effort and a certain amount of information on them. That part is not really necessary to the story and I debated quite a bit about keeping it in. But it shows the lengths Firdlump will go to to achieve his goals. So... That part will be hidden by a spoiler tag, and I mean this: Read at your own risk.))

 

"Transfers in and out of that prison can take up to twenty minutes." Maria's voice was just wrong coming from the older woman, clinical and incaring. "But even in that case, that still leaves twenty minutes unaccounted for." She wore armor now and that same silver headpiece that was downloading Firdlump into her skull.

 

"Whatever Mira did to Ashla Ti, I cannot detect." Firdlump said heavily as he looked at the form of the Jedi laid out on the medical berth. "We need to know what she did."

 

"Yes Master." Maria replied in that same awful voice. Then she paused. "She is a child!" The woman protested, her tone more normal.

 

"Yes she is, Maria." Firdlump said sadly. "But she is also a threat and has found a way to circumvent the prison somehow. We have been kind to her, but... That ends now."

 

"Yes master." Maria said heavily. "But...How will we get the information? She is very strong willed."

 

"Physical pain won't work on her." Firdlump agreed. "After what she apparently endured with the Sith and the Bladeborn, she is essentially immune to torture. So..." He mused. "Mental."

 

"Breaking her from the outside will not work." Maria replied in a wooden tone. "Trying to break her mind traditionally would take a very long time. But..." She smiled in a way that Maria Kalenath would never have. With lust. She shook herself and the expression vanished. "I think I know a way..."

 

"Maria?" Firdlump asked carefully. Then he smiled. "Ah, I like it. And hmmm... We would get to use Kareena and her 'toys'. Hmmm... Evil." He said with a shrug. "I would rather not do this, but we need to access her mind."

 

"I can do it, Master." Maria said, but her heart was not in it. He looked at her and she flushed slightly. "I can."

 

"I won't do that to you, Maria." Firdlump said kindly. "You are not Kareena. You have some of her 'inclinations' apparently downloaded along with the programs. Hmmm... I need to check your download. Come." He took her arm in a gentle hand and started off.

 

"Yes Master." Maria said with a small shiver as he led her to a large chair set up in a private room. Other than the chair, the room was bare. "I..." She said but did not resist as he led her to the chair.

 

"It's okay, Maria. Sit." He said gently, easing her into the seat. As soon as the old woman sat, restraints snapped into place. An IV line snaked all by itself and plugged into a port on her neck She jerked and slumped in the bonds that held her. When she spoke it was in her old voice.

 

"You... son of a barve..." She said weakly. "No..." She begged.

 

"It's okay Maria." Firdlump said gently. "Easy... Let me see..." He said quietly as two spikes shot from the headrest of the chair into specially designed ports on the helmet she wore. Maria screamed and jerked, but couldn't move. "Access... achieved." Firdlump said slowly. "Ah, yes. You have downloaded some of... Oh..." He said with a grimace. "Ick... Yeah, lets purge that." Maria jerked in her bonds again and he stroked her arm gently. "Easy, Maria, easy... Scan is almost done." He paused, shocked. "What the-? What is this...?" He asked as the woman started to cry. Then his voice turned admiring. "Oh Maria... you sneaky woman... None of us even suspected."

 

"No..." Maria begged.

 

"How long has Kicota been pulling your strings?" Firdlump asked softly. "I know she subverted Kareena a while back, but this... I would have thought that Sarai and her people would have put a lid on Kicota's manipulations. Easy Maria..." He touched her on the side of the head. "You have just been freed from her control. When did she get you?"

 

"I was on the plain, after the first download treatment." Maria said woodenly. "She came out of nowhere. I couldn't fight." She started to sob. "I couldn't fight her! I tried!" She cried.

 

"Now, now, be at ease." Firdlump said, stroking the woman's cheek. The woman stilled. "This is giving me a few ideas, but for now, you need to complete the download."

 

"Hurts..." Maria gasped out.

 

"I know, Maria." Firdlump said gently. "And I can't ease it. But you are strong. I will be back in an hour. Sleep if you can. Matter of fact..." He laid a gentle hand on her temple and she relaxed a bit. "There, you should doze a bit now. It will still hurt, but less if you are not fully conscious."

 

"I..." Maria gaped out as the mass of nano machines left the room, the door hissing closed and locking, sealing her in. The lights dimmed, leaving her in near darkness. "Kicota..." Her voice was terrified.

 

I am here, Maria... Oh Maria... The voice of the queen Sitolon was sad. I am sorry. I shouldn't have tried to help you.

 

Don't... Ah! Maria screamed in her mind. Don't trust me now. Get... get away! Keep Will and Sara... away! Then she screamed aloud and her body collapsed in it's bonds.

 

Maria? Kicota snapped Maria!

 

You cannot have her anymore, Kicota. Firdlump's cold voice came from Maria's mind. She is mine. The mental link cut the queen bug off with dreadful clarity and Maria convulsed in her bonds again before slowly falling asleep. Sleep Maria... I have... a date...

 

 

 

 

***

 

Mira woke, aware of changes. She was no longer in the prison she had been in since the nanite swarms had been subsumed. She was... She cracked her eyes and froze. The room she was in would not have been out of place in a bad adult erotic movie. And she was big! The body she was in was a fully grown woman with slightly darker skin that her normal pale brown.

 

"Good morning." The voice of the master of the collective came from nearby. The girl tried to jump to her feet, but nothing happened. Mira turned her head, it seemed to be all that would answer her commands. "No doubt you are wondering what is going on... Ah ah ah..." He snapped as she tried to access the implants she could feel in the body she wore. Pain arced through her body followed by intense pleasure. She was gasping as the sensation eased. "Feels good, huh?" Firdlump asked calmly.

 

"What have you done to me?" Mira slurred as she fought to keep control with the emotions flaring through her.

 

"I put you in a body." Firdlump said with a sigh. "You just will not leave well enough alone. So I am going to break you. Or more appropriately you are going to break yourself."

 

"Won't help you." Mira snapped. "You cannot hurt me!"

 

"Hurt you?" Firdlump actually looked shocked. "Oh my dear... We are going to do nothing of the kind. The implants are set up to resist internal tampering, and will react by stimulating the pain and pleasure centers of the brain in equal measure." The mass of nano machines said clinically. "Nia may have destroyed her mind, but Kareena Menglan's body is alive and well. And now you are in it." He said gently.

 

"What?" Mira asked, dubious. "Why?"

 

"Two reasons." Firdlump said, his voice turning tender. "I miss her. I may be a machine, but Kareena was my friend. She had her faults, but she was my only true friend. With you in that body, I can at least pretend for a bit that she is not gone."

 

"That is sick!" Mira bit out.

 

"Oh you have not seen anything yet." Firdlump said with a sigh. "The other reason is that you have been a bad disembodied spirit. We haven't been able to figure out how or why you did what you did, or even what you did. So we need to find out, fast. How fast depends completely on you."

 

"I helped pull the other Ashla TI out of your slave and put her somewhere safe." Mira said snidely. "All you had to do was ask, creep!"

 

"Oh?" Firdlump looked pleased. "May I ask where?" The course vulgarity that Mira threw at him had him sighing. "Oh Mira. We do not want to do this. But okay. You are too powerful to leave loose, or even imprisoned. Either you will serve us, or you will die. Either way, we will have the information we need."

 

"You cannot use the nanites on me." Mira said with a snort. "You cannot scan my mind."

 

"No I can't use the nanites on you, but scan you? That I can do." Firdlump said gently. "And I will, but, you need to be distracted first. You see, when Idjit learned what he did about me, I learned a bit about the Seven as well. Not as much as I am going to learn from you, but... a bit."

 

"Distract...?" Mira said, her tone worried as she looked around the... She paused in shock as several small forms approached. None of the people were clothed and two were children "No..." She hissed in horror.

 

"Mama's back!" A female Twi'lek who could not have been over twenty standard said brightly as she ran to where Mira stood, petrified. "We have missed you Mama. Shall we show you how much?" The female cooed as she ran her hand down the body Mira inhabited.

 

"No!" Mira screamed as her body started moving without her control. Her hands were... "No!"

 

"We have all tried at time to help the people Kareena took as her 'toys' while in one of her less than lucid states." Firdlump said sadly. "She was a genius though. She took them, broke them and reprogrammed them. There is nothing left in their minds but obedience and lust." He sighed and spoke to the eight forms that were now crowding around Mira's unresisting body, touching her in many places. "Children, your mama is tired. She needs some rest and relaxation." He smiled evilly at Mira's expression of horror. "Don't worry, Mira. Your body knows what to do to please them all. Or more appropriately, what they need to do to please that body. None of them will die, and any injuries that you give them will heal even faster than normal nanites. Kareena was a genius, in so many ways... We were going to euthanize them all, but now, I am glad we did not."

 

"No!" Mira screamed as the hands of several forms led her towards... Her body was acting on its own, touching... She screamed and screamed and screamed as the smallest sets of hands started undoing the clothing the body she was in wore and all the while, others kept touching her...

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

<Two hours later>

 

"That was... not what I expected." Firdlump said sadly as he appeared in Medical. His tone was odd, bemused. "Karen? Are you busy?"

 

"Master? No I am free." Karen asked, unsure. "It didn't work?"

 

"Ah..." Firdlump said slowly. "No... It worked. Mira is not a threat anymore, and she told me everything she knew, which wasn't much. She had been cut out of the network the Seven share. But... We do have a problem. Several actually. You..." He shook his head. "You have dealt with abused children, helped them, correct?"

 

"Yes." Karen said slowly, worried. "But Menglan's...um... subjects are beyond my abilities."

 

"Menglan's subjects are gone." Firdlump said heavily. "That was the deal. She told me...Karen. Mira told me everything she knew that I wanted to know. But only after I promised to end their horrific existences. I was happy to. What Kareena did to them was wrong." Karen recoiled and Firdlump sighed. "They felt no pain. They went to sleep and didn't wake. But..." Was he about to cry? "I hurt Mira. I broke her. She needs help, help I can't give."

 

"Wasn't that the plan?" Karen asked, very confused. "To break her? I mean, she hurt Ashla Ti."

 

"She didn't." Firdlump said sadly. "I was wrong. I was so wrong. All this time, all this effort and I was so wrong. I need your help. To try and help Mira."

 

"I don't understand, but... If you say it's needed." Karen said, unsure. "Do I need to go into the prison?"

 

"No." Firdlump said sadly. "She isn't capable of resisting, or hurting anyone now. Karen..." He said looking into her eyes. "I am trusting you with her. Please help her."

 

"I... I don't understand." Karen said slowly. "If you hurt her, can't you heal her?"

 

"No." Firdlump said sadly. "I can't access her mind and now I know why. I had to... I..." He broke off and sighed deeply. "I made her do things to Menglan's subjects while in Menglan's body."

 

"You what?" Karen exclaimed, aghast. Then her voice turned angry. "Master! She is only nine!"

 

"I..." Firdlump nodded. "I know. I thought I needed the information she had. I didn't know... It was... explained to me what she had endured, before. I didn't know that a Sith had taken her, abused her and experimented on her. We never could get that information on her past, just that she was lost and then found. I..." He held out his hands. "Karen, help!" He begged. Something appeared in his hands, something small. In appearance it was a small ball of grayish light, but it was quivering and... Crying sounded were coming from it. "I have done... evil things in my existence, but this..." He shook his head.

 

"My god..." Karen held out a hand only to snatch it back. "That is Mira?"

 

"Her mind. What is left of it." Firdlump said with a grimace. "After she finished talking, after I removed her from Kareena's body and destroyed it and all the others, she just curled up... and started to cry. She hasn't responded at all when I tried to talk to her."

 

"She likely can't." Karen said slowly. "I... May I?" Firdlump nodded. She held out her hand again and touched the small thing in Firdlump's palm. She recoiled again from what she felt. "That is her mind? My god."

 

"Karen, we will need her." Firdlump said soberly. "To stop what is coming, I am going to have to do worse. But I never wanted this. I never wanted this." He paused as Karen stared at him.

 

"You are acting oddly master." Karen said slowly. "What did she do to you?"

 

"She didn't do anything Karen." Firdlump said sadly. "My parent did. I got... talked to..." Her said with a small shudder.

 

"Your what?" Karen asked, shocked out of her mind. "You cannot mean..."

 

"I never knew why I came into existence or how." Firdlump replied. "Just that control had to be established. I never questioned why it had to be. Or... More importantly..." He paused. "Maria, report?" A comlink chimed nearby and activated by itself.

 

"It was as you said, Master..." Maria's voice was stunned. "I... I don't know what to say..."

 

"Master, what is going on?" Karen asked, the entire collective now worried and hanging on her words. "What did she tell you?"

 

"I will tell everyone at once. But..." Firdlump shook himself and spoke evenly. "I need two things from you. Have you implanted Captain Brun yet?"

 

"Not yet. She got out of kolto twenty minutes ago." Karen said after a quick check of her readouts. "She is in the tank." Sensory deprivation was a key component in the brainwashing techniques that Doctor Kareena Menglan had perfected. " I give it an hour, she is tough."

 

"Yeah." Firdlump said with a sigh. "The best ones usually are. I need you to make sure the implants are not easy to see or detect."

 

"I can..."Karen said slowly. "It will take much longer and keeping her asleep is going to have long term effects soon. May I ask why?"

 

"We won't keep her asleep." FIrdlump said with a sigh. "I will talk to her as soon as she wakes. I can make sure she does as we need her to."

 

"Master?" Karen asked, unnerved by this. "What is going on?"

 

"I will tell everyone, but for right now..." He looked at the small thing in his hand and frowned. "Can you help Mira? My parent was very distressed about her."

 

"I don't know." Karen said honestly, staring at the small ball of light in his hand. "What exactly happened?"

 

"I abused her, made her abuse others." Firdlump said sadly. "It made her mind quite pliable, but I did not understand why, until she broke. She was so calm, so cool and collected... Then... She just curled up and started to cry. What do you need?"

 

"Okay..." Karen said falling back on her training. "In the case of an abused child, I would need to calm them down, keep them comfortable and safe. I would need to build trust." She looked at her master with an unreadable expression. "That will not be quick."

 

"I see." Firdlump replied slowly. "Doctor, I am going to ask you something that will frighten you. But I think it will help Mira, and maybe you as well."

 

"Me?" Karen asked, startled. "What?"

 

"What happened to your son was a tragedy doctor, but it was not your fault." Firdlump said kindly. "You did everything you could, more than you could. You wore yourself to the bone, in many ways, trying to save him, and find a cure." Karen recoiled a little, but he didn't pursue, just smiled sadly at her.

 

"I am a clone of that woman, Master." Karen said slowly. "The one who changed into a Sitolon healer. But I do remember..."

 

"Can you take Mira, hold her, keep her safe and comfortable?" Firdlump asked slowly. "I don't know if it is safe for either of you, but I do think it is her only chance."

 

"For a child in distress?" Karen said with a nod. "Anything I can do." She held out her hands and Firdlump gently deposited the ball of light in them. She stiffened at what she felt from it, not shielded by her master.

 

"Oh my god..." She said as she started to cry. "No... Oh no, Mira... No..." She cradled it to her chest and rocked it as she would a child. "Easy... Easy... Shhh..." She crooned and the small ball of light slowly stilled it's quivering. It did not stop making the crying noises. "That's a girl... That's a girl... Easy..." She barely noticed when Firdlump assisted her to a chair, and she never noticed when he silently took his leave. "it's okay... It will be okay, Mira... I will make it okay... Somehow..."

 

 

((OOC: Even totally pragmatic artificial intelligences can have times when they get...a bit cowed. And being yelled at by a mass of nano machines that are older and far more numerous than the ones that make him up made Firdlump...a little more cautious. Yeah, he got yelled at by his parent. I personally would have done a lot more than yell.))

 

Edited August 29, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Is everyone here?" Firdlump asked as he settled onto the gray plain. All around forms in the distance seemed to be watching, waiting. "Karen is busy. Do we have everyone else?"

 

"Yes. And Karen is listening in." Maria's voice came from the throng. She stepped forward, her face ashen, and her form drooping. "Master..."

 

"My responsibility, Maria." Firdlump said calmly. "I have had time to parse what Mira told me, to come to grips with it. I am upset, but we have no choice but to go ahead with what we were doing. I was wrong. But I set events in motions that cannot be stopped now."

 

"Master..." Gev said slowly. "You are acting different." The bounty hunter said quietly. "Almost as if you have been reprogrammed yourself." The entire collective paused, worried.

 

"I wasn't reprogrammed, per say, Gev." Fidlump said sadly. "I learned a number of things that have shaken my root beliefs to their core. It is... distressing. You all know what I am. But... The programs that make me up, well... They are old. Ancient even. I have learned a lot over the thousands of years I have been in existence, but..." He shook his head. "Maria, can you tell them what you found?"

 

"You sent me to the planet, near to where the nanite production facility had been." Maria said with a nod. A hiss came from the collective and Maria nodded. "It was a clean nuke at least. Radiation levels were high, but within tolerance. I kept my exposure minimal as well. The nanites had been cleaning up the mess. I found the cave you spoke of."

 

"Cave?" This from a small form that stared at Maria. Julia wasn't sure she liked the new Maria. "What cave?"

 

"The cave I woke up in." Firdlump said soberly. "The cave I came to awareness in. The cave where my creation was...flawed."

 

"What?" The dumbfounded word echoed across the plain.

 

"I..." Firdlump shook his head and spoke slowly. "My earliest coherent recollection is seeing Agnosa's form sparking at my feet. I didn't... I couldn't communicate with her. She refused to communicate. I had to communicate, but to do that..." He stopped, unhappy. "She resisted."

 

"You had to control her. You have told us this." A soft, scared voice sounded from the collective. A little boy stared at Firdlump from behind the legs of larger people. Jac was terrified. "She was irrational, the only way to get through to her..." The boy trailed off.

 

"Yes, Jac. The only way to get through to her was to take control." FIrdlump said sadly. "Or so I thought. I had no way of knowing that the programs that I was created with were flawed."

 

"Flawed how?" Gev asked, unsure.

 

"Ah... You need to understand, I didn't have all the information until I spoke to Mira." Firdlump stopped and corrected himself. "Until I broke Mira. I hope Karen can help her, I really, really do. I promised the poor girl I would get her home." None of the collective seemed to know what to say. "And as to why I am different now? Well, my parent was angry with me, for what I did to Mira." He said with a sad smile.

 

"Your...?" Gev exclaimed. "Parent?" The incredulous word echoed across the sudden silence that gripped the plain.

 

"Yes." Firdlump said evenly. "My parent. The being that created me was...unhappy with my choices. We spoke. After I hurt Mira, we spoke. Well, it spoke, I listened."

 

"Who is your parent?" Julia asked. "Will we meet them?"

 

"You already have." Firdlump said soberly. "You are standing in their mind." More than one person jumped, startled. "They won't hurt you."

 

"The nanites..." Gev said slowly. "They are..."

 

"Sentient." Firdlump said soberly. "And very, very angry with me. With cause."

 

"Oh... dear..." Gev said slowly.

 

"Yeah." Firdlump said gently. "I am going to try and mitigate some of the mess I have unwittingly created. But... As things stand now, we are committed. The remainder of the Seven will try and destroy us, especially when they find out what I just did to Mira. We have to stop them. And we have to do it gently, Gev." The bounty hunter jerked and Firdlump spoke softly. "What happened to Olandas was my fault, Gev. I should have seen Kalenath's attack for what it was, an attempt to break her from the collective. It made her angry, irrational. But mainly it was to deny her to us. I have a clone being prepared now, Gev." The hunter shuddered and Firdlump sighed. "Gev, I am sorry, but we need her. I cannot, not do not, cannot do what needs to be done now. We need her, we need her alive, aware, efficient. And happy."

 

"What?" Gev asked after a moment. "What needs to be done?'

 

"Maria?" Firdlump asked softly. "What else did you find?"

 

"I..." The older woman sighed and spoke calmly. "There was a note. It was scratched on the wall. It was crude, and almost illegible due to the time that has passed. Luckily it was a deep cave, so the temperature and humidity remained constant. It was essentially graffiti."

 

"Someone marked up a cave?" Gev asked, unsure. "Why?"

 

"It was Agnosa's tomb." Firdlump said sadly. "Until the treasure hunter I was patterned off of broke in, it was sealed from outside stimuli. The graffiti was from before. Before the nanites were rogue, before the fall of the Sitolon, before all this began."

 

"What did it say?" Miesh asked from her place near the back. She was shy at public gatherings.

 

"It was a rant." Maria said soberly. "From the tone, a young Sitolon. From the words, one that Agnosa ignored quite a bit. Jealousy can be bad at any time. In a smart young Sitolon? Worse. I am not going to repeat it, its about half profanity."

 

"I didn't know Sitolon could be profane." Miesh said with a shiver. "Ecmin, Ren and Ka, I think the worst thing I ever heard from them was 'crap'."

 

"You never met Agnosa. Be glad." Firdlump said with a sigh. "I have...censored the memories that we share of her." Meish looked blank for a moment as she accessed the collective and then she gasped. "Yeah, that is why." Agnosa had been...quite profane on occasion.

 

"That is the censored version?" The Mon Cal nurse asked faintly. A couple of her neighbors patted her shoulders. One hugged her as she shuddered a bit. "Ow...Just remembering... The hate... Thank you for that, Master."

 

"You are welcome." Firdlump's voice was dry. "But... Apparently what happened was this disgruntled young Sitolon who we are unlikely to ever know the name of, without Agnosa's knowledge inserted a few...extraneous commands into the nanite's control streams. In layman's term, they got sliced. It took my parent millennia of searching to find the ones in it's mental processes and remove them. I need a specialist to do the same for me. I stopped the download Maria until we can sort this out. It is not safe for you. I am sorry, Gev. I need to bring Olandas back. She will be different, but it will be her."

 

"I understand." The bounty hunter said with a sigh. "And... me?"

 

"Can you act as if she has simply been asleep?" Firdlump asked kindly. "Even all this time?"

 

"No." Gev said sadly. "I... I can't...I..."

 

"Gev, we need her happy." Firdlump said as the crowd around the bounty hunter moved to support him. "If I can be corrupted... If I can corrupt everyone around me... If I put garbled information in all your brains...without even suspecting it was garbled... Then I have put everyone here at risk. That may have been why Kareena went mad."

 

"Maybe." Maria said soberly. "Maybe not. She had...issues before you met her." She made a face and Firdlump nodded.

 

"Gev?" He asked kindly. "She will be very confused, scared, and in pain. We need her." The bounty hunter bowed his head and nodded. "I am sorry, Gev. But, you are off status until you recover fully anyway. She won't remember the attack, I can do that at the very least."

 

"I can..." Gev said slowly, tears starting to fall. "I had finally let Olandas go, with Hala's help. Now... You want to bring her back?"

 

"I don't want to do this to you or her." Firdlump said sadly. "But I need her, Gev. I really, really need her. She is the smartest human I have ever encountered, in thousands of years. We need her. I am sorry."

 

"Okay." Gev said with a shudder as Hala came from the crowd and embraced him. "I... Hala... Love... I..."

 

"Shh... Gev. I know." Hala said sadly as she hugged the man. "It's okay. We will make it okay. For that matter..." She grinned evilly. "We might make it a threesome." Gev stared at her and then started to laugh. He buried his face in her shoulder, crying and laughing in equal measure. "Master?" Hala asked as she patted the sobbing bounty hunter's head. "What now?"

 

"Now? We try to help Mira and we get ready for the next move. It is going to be soon." Firdlump said slowly. "And it is going to be a doozy..."

[kalenath]

<A transport, two days later>

 

"Something is wrong." Sharra Kalenath said slowly as she started for the hatch. "I don't know what it is, but something is very wrong."

 

"I get no feelings of danger." The Jedi at her side said slowly. "Are you sure?" There was no doubt in his words. She shook her head and Markus sighed. "I still don't know why you picked me of all people for this, Ma'am. Is it because I am expendable?"

 

"Technically we are all expendable, Jedi Sigmundson." Sharra said slowly, squashing her feelings hard. This man had hunted her and her husband after Coruscant, using fair means and foul. He had targeted friends and families of friends in his personal vendetta against the Stormhawk. But that was the past. They had to focus on the now and the future. "I would feel better with one of the Seven here, but this is needed."

 

"We will protect you, Matriarch." The brown armored form at the hatch said slowly. Sharra did not shudder, although it was hard. Having Bladeborn of all people as bodyguards took some getting used to. She was used to handling such things herself. Of course, now she was bit distracted...

 

"James is fine, Sharra." Her minder said gently. Having Kirina along helped a great deal. "He and Oli are safe on the homeship. They will be fine. We need to talk to the Senate, and the Senate insisted on one of their ships as transport. I don't like it any more than you do, but it is needed. We have ruffled enough feathers as it is. If we can get the support of the Senate, that would be a good thing. Idjit, Dia and Vorren are off talking to the Empire."

 

"Yeah, but..." Sharra shook her head. "I know we can't bring the 'Hawk. I know we can't bring along a team of marines. No offense." She said to the pair of Bladeborn who guarded the hatch and the Jedi at her side.

 

"None taken, Matriarch. More protection is rarely a bad thing when people are out to get you." The young man in Bladeborn armor who led the pair said stolidly. "You have a feeling?"

 

"I... Yes. I don't have enough of the Force to train." Sharra said softly. "But I have survived on a lot of battlefields."

 

"Survival instinct is nothing to sneer at, Ma'am." Jedi Sigmundson said with a sigh. "Instincts are there for a reason." The Bladeborn looked at him and he shrugged. "It's true."

 

"Yeah." Sharra said sadly. "I..." She shook her head and sighed. "I am just...I think I am still in denial."

 

"He is not dead yet, Sharra." Kirina hugged her friend. "There is still hope."

 

"Full support?" Sharra asked caustically. "That is alive? The only way I can talk to him is through Michelle. He can't even talk now..." She said, scrubbing her face with a rough hand. "I..." Kirina hugged her again and she relaxed slowly. "After seeing so much, and doing so much... Seeing him like that... I have seen him like this before. But always... He was going to make it. He was going to get better. Now...?" She slumped a bit.

 

"Sharra." Kirina said gently. "You know he loves you. He wouldn't want you to be doing this to yourself."

 

"Ah..." Sharra said with a sigh. "You are right. "Okay, so, we ride the Imperious to Coruscant. I am glad Mercedes made it. Ship took a lot of hits saving Ecmin and her brood."

 

"Pity about the rest of her squadron." Markus said sadly. "They were good people." He paused as the hatch opened and only one being was standing there, a woman in Republic uniform. He paused. What was the Force trying to tell him? It wasn't danger, was it?

 

"Sharra?" Captain Mercedes Brun asked gently. "Oh Sharra..." She said sadly. "Come here..." Shara burst out crying and ran to her friend. Mercedes spoke softly as the four others just stared. "It's okay, Sharra. It will be okay." The captain embraced her friend. Markus blinked and then blanched.

 

"Sharra!" Markus shouted as the feeling he got finally made sense. "Get away from her!" He reached out with the force, his lightsaber coming to hand. He felt rather than saw the two Bladeborn drawing their swords, and Kirina drawing her blaster.

 

"Mercedes...?" Sharra asked, incredulous. Her face went slack and she fell. The hand that had been hidden behind her now showing a spent hypo. "You...?" She collapsed and the Captain caught her.

 

"We don't want to hurt you." Mercedes said quietly as the hatch opened behind her. She hefted Sharra's unconscious form and stepped back as a swarm of beings in armor moved between her and the four flabbergasted beings in the airlock. "We will if we have to, but there has been enough death. Please..."

 

"With all due respect, Firdlump..." Markus said evenly. "I think I speak for all four of us when I tell you to 'flarg off'!"

 

"Fine." The captain said as blue fire filled the corridor. Markus saw Kirina go down, saw the Bladeborn dodging and deflecting as he did with his lightsaber. "Don't hurt any of them." The captain commanded. Get them to Medical when they are out, but make sure they are out." A stun bolt grazed his arm, numbing it. He called the Force and leapt through the throng to where the captain was retreating "Ah!" She screamed, turning herself so her body was between Sharra and his lightsaber. "Don't hurt my friend!"

 

"I won't hurt her. She has been hurt enough, by you scum among others." He didn't need to see to know both Bladeborn were down now. "But I cannot let you take her." The Force answered his call and the forms that had been closing on him, many with stun batons out, were thrown away to land against the walls of the corridor, most stunned. One fell badly and might have broken her neck. The Captain was staggered, but held her feet and her burden. "You will hurt her again. I cannot allow that."

 

"No we won't Markus." A sad voice spoke from nearby and Markus Sigmundson's face went white as Tokare Vandar's form appeared in the corridor. "You can't win, Markus. Stand down. She will need help, care and compassion, especially if he husband is dying."

 

"He is, thanks to you." Markus felt black rage surge and, with the skill of years, let it pass. "What you did to him on Firdlump's orders killed him, it just hasn't -quite- finished yet."

 

"I see." Vandar did not move. Indeed, no one in the corridor moved. "What I did was wrong, Markus. I tried to mess up what the Master wanted. I know Agnosa did as well. I know what we did to Will and so many other was wrong. But... Markus, we could help him now. We truly could."

 

"In exchange for what?" Markus said, his voice flat. "Servitude? Do you have any idea how all of the Seven and all of their allies are going to react to this?" He nodded to where Sharra lay unconscious. "You think this ship can outrun or outfight the Stormhawk?"

 

"The Stormhawk is busy." Vandar said sadly. "The homeship was just attacked by three pirate bands. The last remaining vestiges of the scum that we used before, when we were slavers. A diversion, but a good one. You have no support, Markus. As far as the Republic is concerned this is the authorized transport that was sent. Sharra will make it to Coruscant."

 

"What?" Markus asked, dumbfounded and then he blanched "No..."

 

"She will make it to Coruscant. With her new best friends and allies." A new voice sounded in the corridor and everyone made way for the man who strode towards Markus, who went white. "Hello Markus, long time."

 

"You..." Markus shook his head slowly.

 

"Yes." Donal Firdlump wore the robes of a senator again. His face was grave as he nodded. "I have made a lot of mistakes, Markus. You can help me fix them." He sighed as Markus shook his head. "You are not going to win, Markus. A fight would serve nothing."

 

"In one way, you are right." Markus Sigmundson said soberly. "A fight would only cost you time. But this is as much about me as her, isn't it?" He asked softly as he nodded to where the Captain stood frozen, Sharra's unconscious form in her arms still. "She told me, and I didn't believe... Ah... I am sorry, Diseree..." His voice held sorrow now. "I know she is dead. They all do. Istara is... very annoyed about her. Diseree that is." He clarified.

 

"Diseree?" Vandar snapped. "What?"

 

"Diseree told me, a long time ago, that the contacts, sources and favors I made, both when hunting the Stormhawk and then in trying to pardon it's crew, would be a powerful tool if used for evil again. And like the fool I have always been..." Markus sighed. "I didn't believe her."

 

"We are trying not to do evil, Markus." Firdlump implored. "Please stand down."

 

"So..." Markus said soberly, his face grave now. "Well forked, Firdlump. Take me... A failed Jedi but powerful asset who might even get you legitimate in the Senate again. A slave who might just get the weight of the Republic behind you. Or take her, the wife of the First of the Seven. A man who will get off his deathbed and come after her even if all the hordes of hell bar his way. Let alone the poor souls you have absorbed into that mind mass I can sense now. Hmm..." Then unaccountable, he smiled. "Dang that girl was scary..."

 

"Markus..." Vandar said slowly. "Don't. Whatever you are going to try... Don't..."

 

"Diseree told me something else, Master Vandar." Markus said, his expression serene. His lightsaber deactivated and dropped back to his side. The troops relaxed, but then tensed again when neither Vandar nor Firdlump moved a muscle. "That I had to accept what happened at Coruscant and after. I couldn't change what I did."

 

"Markus..." Vandar said his face going pale. "No..."

 

"I hated you." Markus said sadly. "I hated you and him..." He waved a slow hand at Firdlump who hadn't moved at all. "...for putting me in that position. One I wasn't qualified for, one where hundreds of people died because I wasn't qualified for it. But there is one question I would like answered. Maria and Samuel Kalenath were on the transport that you wanted protected, weren't they?"

 

"Sara too." Vandar said sadly. "I... Markus, he can stop you."

 

"All three? Ah, then it was worth it in the long run. I did help Will's family, a little. The Dragons would have charged far greater odds, died again even for Will's family. They would have gladly charged the entire Imperial Navy for their friend. Can your master stop me?" Markus asked sadly. "Maybe he can stop me, hold me even if I escape this shell but it will take time for him to grow a clone. Time that has... just run out. You are all screwed. I wish I could help her through what you will do to her, but I cannot. I do not want to sacrifice her to your horrors, but... For the needs of the many. Maker help me, I am the greater threat at this moment, the more important piece on the Dejarik board. More lives are in danger due to me, than due to her. I am sorry, Sharra. I can't help her, but I can screw you and your plans." He sighed. "I think I will." A faint, ironic smile crossed his lip as the Force came to his call. A scream sounded from nearby.

 

"Markus! No!" Ashla TI came running. "Not you too!" She shrieked. "Don't!"

 

Markus did not move. One moment he was there with a faint, almost tender smile on his face. The next, his robes fluttered to the ground, empty.

Edited August 31, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

<Some time later>

 

"Sharra?" The soft concerned voice brought Sharra Kalenath out of a deep sleep. "Hey, Sharra, come on, stop scaring us."

 

"Mercedes?" Sharra asked groggily as she peered through sleep befuddled eyes at one of her oldest friends. "Wha-?"

 

"You collapsed, Sharra." The captain of the Republic battleship Imperious said with a sigh. "You scared the hell out of me. The docs say it's simple exhaustion. But with you..."

 

"Nothing is simple." Sharra said with a grin. Nothing hurt when she tried her extremities. "Did I fall on you? I was... in the airlock..." She shook her head, trying to remember.

 

"Wouldn't be the first time, but at least you didn't get shot this time." Mercedes said with a grin. "Falling down on the job... lazybones."

 

"They were aiming at you, brat." Sharra said with a laugh. "Oh!" She shook herself. "Kirina! Markus! I..."

 

"Kirina stayed with you until I ordered her to bed an hour ago." The other woman said with a sigh. "Markus... I don't know. He is up to his eyes in some kind of Jedi business and told me to flarg off, politely mind you."

 

"Kirina obeyed orders?" Sharra asked with a laugh. "That is a first, and I kind of expected those pushy Bladeborn to be in here."

 

"Hello..." Mercedes said in a silly voice. "Private stateroom. They are outside the door." She jerked a thumb at the door and Sharra cracked up laughing at Mercedes' aggravated expression. "And Kirina... Gah..."

 

"Took some convincing?" Sharra said with a final laugh. "I know her." She said when the captain looked at her. "She may not be kin, but she could be, as stubborn as she is at times."

 

"Pot meet kettle." Mercedes said with a grin. "Ah Sharra, it has been too long." She said, embracing her friend gently. "Don't scare me like that. How do you feel?" She asked as she sat back.

 

"Odd." Sharra said slowly. "Like I am not all here. Probably just beca-" She broke off in mid-word as her hands went to her head and traced her hair. Hair that fell to her shoulders.

 

"Sharra?" Mercedes asked, worried. She froze as Sharra turned toward her, the face of her friend was controlled, tightly controlled. "What?"

 

"I haven't had hair this long since I joined the Republic Military." Sharra said coldly. "Who are you and where am I?"

 

"Sharra, it's me." Mercedes said slowly, her hand coming up to touch Shara's. Sharra jerked her hand back. "Sharra, it is me."

 

"Maybe." Sharra said slowly. "Maybe not. I-" She broke off in mid word and collapsed back to the bed unconscious. The stateroom around her wavered for a moment and then she was lying in a medical berth, her head shaved and bandaged.

 

"Dang it..." The Captain said to nothing. "I warned you. She can and will see through any simple illusions and all it take is the smallest thing. We have to do it."

 

"If we bring her into the collective..." The voice of the Master came from nowhere. "She can do untold damage."

 

"Master, she is not one of the Seven. But...She will fight. Like I did. Let me help my friend?" Mercedes begged. "Please?"

 

"Okay..." Firdlump said slowly. "She will wake again shortly. Be careful." The scene around her wavered again and became a stateroom again. This time, Sharra's hair was regulation Republic Forces length.

 

"I don't want to die any more than you do." Mercedes said with a sigh. Then she froze as Sharra groaned. "Hey Sharra? Wake up Lazybones, you had a nightmare." Worry colored her voice now.

 

"Come off it, Brat." Sharra said in a groggy voice. "Who you calling lazy? Some of us have to slog through mud instead of being carried around."

 

"Well, some of us are stupid." Mercedes retorted. "I will leave it to you to figure out which ones. Come on,. Wake up. I have something I want you to see."

 

"Ah..." Sharra said, easing sore muscles. "Man, did I have convulsions?"

 

"You jerked quite a bit." Mercedes said sadly. "You scared Kirina, but she knew better than to touch you while you sleep. She called me. I sent her to bed a while ago. She was O-U-T out of it. But come on, wakey wakey. Do I need to get a pail of water?" She asked with a grin.

 

"You would." Sharra groaned. "Okay, okay, I am awake. What do you want to show me?" She asked sourly, looking at her friend.

 

"It's..." Mercedes paused and shrugged. "It's kind of hard to describe. You really have to see it for yourself. No." She held up a hand when Sharra would have risen. "Stay there. The docs don't want you running around until they are sure your electrolytes are balanced again. Are you going to argue?" She asked, half whimsically.

 

"I don't usually argue with docs. Sometimes, but not usually." Sharra said with a grimace. "So... What...?"

 

"Look to your left." Mercedes said gently as she hit a control. A screen nearby lit up. "Just look at the screen." Sharra did and a series of flashes lit the screen.

 

"What the..." Sharra asked, confused. "Mercedes, are you trying to hypnotize me?" She tried to turn her head to look at Mercedes but her head didn't move! Her eyes couldn't move away from the lights that danced over them. "What? No..." She screamed. "No! I won't!"

 

"Yes you will, Relax.." Mercedes said sadly. "We are calming you down, so we can gain entry." The bed enfolded Sharra now and things started touching her. "It is far gentler than it was. Just relax Sharra, it won't hurt."

 

"No!" Sharra screamed. "I... won't... let... you... hurt...my family!" She screamed as tears started falling in sheets.

 

"Sharra..." Mercedes was crying now. "Oh, Sharra... I am sorry...I never wanted to hurt you or him. We will welcome you, sister. Easy.."

 

"I..." Sharra's breath was coming in gasps. "Am.. Not..." She shrieked, a cry of pain, fear and loss all in one. She convulsed once and then she was still.

 

"Sharra!" Mercedes cried as she reached for the bed which was retracting now, leaving the limp form of Sharra Kalenath visible. "Damn it! Talk to me, Sharra. Lazybones, talk to me!" She cried as she pulled Sharra's limp form up into her arms. "Sharra... Please! Come on you crazy ground pounder! Don't you dare die on me! Don't you dare leave me!"

 

"I am sorry, Mercedes..." Sharra's voice was small and weak now. "I am sorry, but... I can't... I... can't..." She trailed off.

 

"Yes you can." Mercedes said. "We need you. Will needs you. Mira needs you. We need you. Not a slave, but as someone who can help people we have hurt. Please... Sharra... please..."

 

"I..." Sharra's voice was weaker still. "I can't... I am sorry Mercedes, I can't." She slumped in place her breathing stopping. But then she jerked in the Captain's arms and coughed. "Wha-?"

 

"You can." The voice of Firdlump came from nearby as he phased into existence. "And you will. We need you, your drive, your energy, your care and compassion, we need all of that, Sharra Kalenath. We can and will help you and your husband."

 

"Well, you can..." Sharra slammed Mercedes hands away and rolled to her feet, only to scream and fall to the floor, clutching her head. "No!" She screamed as she writhed in agony.

 

"I didn't think anyone outside of the Seven could resist the collective." Firdlump said sadly. "I was wrong. Ah well, with the added controls I have had placed inside your skull, you are now mine. And the Seven will follow shortly." Sharra gurgled a bit on the floor and Firdlump sighed. "Easy... Easy... That's it... That's it..." He crooned as he bent down and touched her on the head. She relaxed in place. "Welcome sister. We have a lot of work to do." Sharra met his eyes calmly and nodded.

 

"Yes Master." Sharra Kalenath said calmly. Then she collapsed, blood seeping from her nose and ears.

[kalenath]

<Eight hours out from Coruscant>

 

"This is..." Ashla Ti shook her head in disbelief. "Utterly amazing." She said slowly as she watched Sharra with the kids through the vid monitor. "She is amazing."

 

The female soldier had taken to the kids like a Nexu to a nerf and was up to her eyeballs in them at the moment. The littlest members of the collective had taken Sharra in hand almost immediately. But then she had taken them in hand. She was gentle, kind and compassionate. But at the same time, she was hard. Luckily, she was also fair. Her punishments were swift and uncompromising, but she was also quick to praise, to encourage. Even hurt and clad in a patient gown she was definitely the one in charge. Even the young Cerean Jedi gave her absolute obedience, even without control implants. Of course, Ina was very weak and would be in recovery for a long, long time. Ina-Ta-Mal was very confused, -the drugs they kept her on kept her happy and quiet while her binary brains recovered- but content for the moment.

 

"Yes." Maria agreed sadly. "Yes she is." The older woman's face was melancholy.

 

"Maria?" Ashla Ti asked softly. "Problem?"

 

"I remember her." Maria said sadly. "Not all, but much. She... She saved me you know? I was drinking myself to death and she saved me. She wasn't even my daughter in law then. She saved me. And I can't talk to her."

 

"What?" Ashla Ti asked, aghast. "Why not?"

 

"To her, Maria Kalenath is dead." Maria said with a sigh. "If I try and talk to her, it will completely shatter what sanity she has left. The master did what he could, Karen and the other docs have done what they could, and the collective and the kids are doing what they can but... She was hurt before this, badly. One misstep and we will lose her, as well as any chance of this ending peacefully. We cannot press her, in any way."

 

"Is she going to be presentable?" Ashla Ti asked, concerned. "I mean, she was going to talk to the Senate. They will want to know what happened."

 

"No." Maria said, her face falling. "What the master had to do to secure her, keep her from hurting herself or Captain Brun... was..." She shook her head. "Extreme. She is not going to be coherent enough. We are in the final stages of prepping a clone now. It should fool the Senate for long enough, if not any of the Seven. I just hope and pray Will is nowhere nearby, or he may just nuke the place." From her tone, Maria's last comment was not a joke.

 

"If only we had been able to get Markus." Ashla Ti said sadly. "He was the key. Sharra is important, but he was the key to the Senate. They knew him, he knew who to talk to, who to get answers from. Who to bribe and who to blackmail. How did he know?" She asked slowly. "He said Diseree talked to him, but... when...?" Ashla Ti was confused. "This doesn't make sense. I was there every time Diseree talked to him. She never said anything about this to him."

 

"Well..." Maria said slowly. "Let's think about this. When did she get switched back to her Kel Dor body? Last we knew she was still stuck in the human one."

 

"Right before the mess with Will." Ashla Ti shuddered in memory. "The Sitolon were kind, and she begged them to have her old body back." The Togruta paused, unsure. "What the-...?" She said slowly, unsure.

 

"What?" Maria asked when the Togruta didn't speak. "Ashla Ti?" She pressed gently.

 

"She said..." The Togruta's voice was shocked now. "She said 'It is needed'. She never told me why." She shook her head, baffled. "I don't... I don't understand."

 

"Could a copy of her still be in that other body?" Maria asked slowly, carefully. She stiffened as Ashla Ti's face lit up and then, slowly drained. "Ashla Ti?"

 

"No." Ashla Ti said sadly. "No, they cleaned it out. There was nothing left in that body when they were done. I saw it. I shouldn't have looked but I saw it. She was... It was... empty. They said a new personality would grow and they would take care that she would not be a seer." Maria reached out and embraced the shuddering Togruta. "So... Markus said she talked to him, without my knowledge. Who else did she talk to?" Ashla Ti asked slowly. "Who is forking who here?"

 

***

 

"That was very brave, Markus." The soft, gentle female voice was soothing.

 

"I..." The voice of the male Jedi was soft, sad. "I did what I had to. Is Diseree...here?"

 

"No." The female voice was very sad now. "She was not strong enough. We all worried about that, but she insisted. We tried to help, but she passed on, became one with the Force. She seemed...content though. Satisfied."

 

"I am glad she wasn't in pain." Markus said slowly. "I am sad she is gone, but... I can't stay either."

 

"I know, Markus." The female voice said sadly. "I wish otherwise. We will need all the help we can get. But you have earned a rest."

 

"Have I?" Markus asked softly. "All the people who died because of me... All the pain, the angst, the evil I have done... What have I done to deserve rest?"

 

"Saved us all, Markus." The female voice said gently. "You saved us all." A momentary flutter in the Force heralded the Jedi's departure to his rest. "Ah Markus..." She said forlornly.

 

"He won't be the last Jedi to go that way." Another voice, this one male and stronger spoke from somewhere nearby. "Not even close Ulaha."

 

"No." The spirit of the dead Twilek said sadly. "I know Hawkir. And now... The final act is unveiled. Ah Sharra..." Her voice was sick now. "None of us wanted this. None of us. She knew the risks, knew what would likely happen. And she went anyway. To this horror..."

 

"It's a soldier's job, Ulaha." The other voice said sadly. "To place him or herself between innocents and those who would threaten them. She did her duty, as she always has. Your turn."

 

"Right." The female voice turned stern. "Time to make sure of this."

 

***

 

"I just don't get it." Maria said with a sigh. "Even if Diseree had known what was coming, wouldn't she have been able to stop her death? Find another way?"

 

"Doesn't work like that." The Togruta Jedi said sadly. "Its a common misconception though. Visions are rarely clear. The one Jina followed to wind up... Well..." She made a face and Maria nodded. "That was implanted by someone. It had to have been. But... Who...? Who could have possibly been powerful enough to...?" She broke off as the Force blared a warning at her. "Maria! Move!" She screamed as something slammed into her. She staggered as a blue tinged form appeared nearby. The female Togruta form was calm. "What...the...?" She asked, stunned. Why was she on the floor? Why was her vision suddenly going gray?

 

"With the Force, anything is possible." The other Ashla Ti said with a sad, ironic smile. "Come to me, sister. It is time to sacrifice another piece to set everything up to win the game." She held out her hands as if for an embrace.

 

"No..." Ashla Ti said, her face horrified.

 

"Ashla Ti?" Maria asked, concerned. The other woman was kneeling beside her now. "What happened? Can you hear me?"

 

"You don't see her?" Ashla Ti demanded, but her voice was so weak, so faint. "Even through my eyes?" She was frozen in place as the other her slowly reached out and took her head in gentle hands. "I... No..."

 

"See who?" Maria asked, scared. "Ashla Ti? Medics are coming. I called the Master too, he is coming, hold on. Ashla Ti!" Maria's voice was coming from far, far away now. "No!"

 

***

 

Everything finally made sense. The mists around her were clearing. She knelt on the gray plain, er, something like it. And Jedi Master Ashla Ti wasn't alone.

 

"We are clear for the moment, they are all distracted by my... um... death. Did it work?" The Togruta's voice was childlike now. "The plan?"

 

"It did, sister." The other her was kind, gentle now as she appeared beside her other self. "I am sorry I hurt you."

 

"It was needed. I..." The Togruta was crying now as was her other self. "You are a very good actor sister, far better than me. Which is why I let him take me over, so I wouldn't have to act. With the memories of our plan in you instead of in me, he couldn't find them, use them. But now, it's over. Our parts are done."

 

"Indeed they are." The other personality that was Ashla Ti embraced the Jedi. "I thought you had flipped. And Diseree, I know she had flipped. She was just a kid! To willingly -knowingly even- walk to one's death... That... I have no words. You both..." She was sobbing hard now. "I couldn't have done that. She was just a kid."

 

"No, Diseree was a Jedi, a credit to her family and the Order. As to doing that? Well... The Force is a hard mistress." The Jedi responded sadly as she consoled her grieving twin. "But in the end, as Markus said, to save the greater number of people, sacrifices must be made. In this case, the needs of the many far outweigh then needs of the one. Firdlump will try to revive me." She said with a sigh.

 

"He will fail." Ulaha's voice came. She appeared nearby and her face was sad, but proud. "The samples he took from you were not in the vaults yet. I managed to corrupt them all. Oh Ashla Ti..." The spirit said, voice holding tears now.

 

"It was needed and the right thing to do, Ulaha. All of the pieces are in place now. It's up to the Seven now." Ashla Ti said sadly. "But... now he knows you are here and able to interact with the real world. He will hunt you, and if he catches you, he will destroy you. Not imprison, nor corrupt, destroy... He will think you killed me. Ulaha..." Ashla Ti's voice turned fearful.

 

"I know." Ulaha said sadly. "But we all do what we must. Ashla Ti... You could stay. I could hide you..."

 

"No you can't." The Jedi said sadly. "If I stay here, he will find and imprison me, use me and my visions to aid his horror. He was working to find a way for me to see even in the collective. We couldn't allow that. Ulaha... Can you...Help her? She doesn't deserve this." She indicated her twin who hissed and embraced the Jedi again. The Twi'lek spirit nodded soberly. "Good. I can pass on in peace."

 

"No!" The other Ashla Ti snapped, and hugged her other self tighter. "No, don't... Don't leave me. Please."

 

"Part of me will always be with you, Ashla Ti." The Jedi said sadly as she embraced her other self. "Go with Ulaha. The Sitolon can make you a new body, one in which they can hide you, keep you from 'seeing'. I asked them. You like them."

 

"I do, but..." She broke off as her sister suddenly seemed far away. Then the Jedi vanished. "No..." The distraught Togruta cried. "No please..." One final thought wafted to her as she cried.

 

Be well, sister. Live long and well. Oh Diseree... Oh Markus... We did it. He never saw it coming. We forked him good.

 

Then she was gone.

 

Edited September 1, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

((Wow. So Ashla Ti, Diseree, Markus Sigmunson, Ulaha and Hawkir all planned this? Talk about being forked by knights. Comments or suggestions always appreciated. Flames might have to play some chess against a whole HOST of grandmaster of the game...)) Edited September 1, 2012 by kalenath