A Shade Of Your Former Self [Aellin]

[Lief]

It felt wrong, all of it. She wanted to take back the word she had spoken, to voice her refusal. To live by the consequences. But she couldn't. It wasn't even just a matter of weakness anymore, or even so much fear, the fact of the matter was that she could not. Even though her mind rolled over the word incessently, even though it was on the very tip of her tongue.

All of the light she had exhibited back on Thule, the skip in her step, the rose tinted view of the Galaxy, had gone. She had waned into a lesser version of who she could be. She knew she was better than this. She knew that she was stronger. She was Asha Hex! Child to a Je'daii Master, named after another.

So how had she fallen so low?

The man seemed pleased with her answer, even if she wasn't. As his thumb removed itself from her chin the girl had to stave off a whimper. It had been the one point of focus she had during this whole situation, she felt certain it had left an imprint upon her skin it had burned so much. And now it was gone.

And all at once they grazed her cheek. The same seering sensation ran through her, and Asha physically recoiled at the touch. He spoke to her, but for a time her mind could not focus enough on the words. Instead she stared, neither at his eyes or at his feet, but at his torso. Her gaze fixated dead ahead. Almost glazed over.

As his hand continued to brush her cheek, fingers delicately dancing along the skin without any real purpose, the girl exhaled a shuddered breath. Where were they?

"This is hell" she breathed, "a giant metal graveyard, only its corpses are unearthed." It was horrible. Asha shook herself from her thoughts, before blinking. "It's a ship" she finally replied, "old... Very old." She had been born on a ship, raised on many others, she could tell that the technology and design was not up to date.

"Who are you?" she asked again, hazarding a glance up at him. She needed something to go by, a name - an alias at the very least. While she doubted she would be out of his sights any time soon, she still needed something to call him by. Or maybe that was the point, maybe she was to be kept under his thumb without even the slightest bit of knowledge.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

His hand left her cheek, his finger slowly sliding from supple skin as he turned away from her and moved back towards the console. The dim lights that illuminated the bridge seemed to follow him, casting a shadow on the ground where he walked. The corpses all around them seemed to stare, watching with interest as the Sith Lord made his way towards the small computer.

"Yes." Aellin answered her.

His fingers sprawled out above the holographic controls, his eyes dashing up towards her again. He observed her for a moment, as though he were trying to take her in. His stance made it obvious that he did not want her to move, his eyes fixed on her for a moment more until he finally cast another glance towards the interface before him. His fingers danced for a moment, and then suddenly a creak could be heard down the hall of the vessel, and ancient door sliding open.

"This ship is ancient." He ignored her question for the time being. "Older than the Empire, older than the Gulag Plague. This vessel was first created by an Empire now lost. Valkorion. That was the name of the man who commissioned this ship."

Aellin's voice drifted slightly, floating into the ethos of history. "The ship was meant to be special. It was smaller than most vessels of the time, but well armed and capable of rendering itself wholly invisible. At the time many did not even know that was possible. It is an innovation that I greatly require."

That was why he wanted this ship, not any other wreck.

The Reaver as it had been so unoriginally called was a ship that had been meant for great things, unfortunately before it could ever reach that greatness things had all gone down hill. Aellin supposed that such a thing was of benefit to him, since now the vessel would be his, and no one else's. Of course, that was provided that he could raise the ship from the depths of Raxus Prime. It would take time, power, and of course concentration.

His eyes settled on Asha.

"You may call me Master." He told her simply, his voice remaining the same even growl.

 

[Lief]

The urge to step away from him rose within her; thankfully she was spared any fallout from that decision as the man himself turned away, fingers leaving goosebumps across her skin as he did so. Her gaze trailed after him as he made his way back toward his beloved consoles. For a moment her instinct was to follow. Then her head caught up with her and she remained in place.

It seemed to be a good thing she chose to do so, too, given the way he looked at her.

Her hands found her pockets, and she stuffed them inside in order to refrain from fidgeting too much. Her gaze dropped as he glanced over her, she really could not stand the sight of him. His presence, too, was offputting. Dangerous.

Asha jumped.

Her head span to the left, looking down the hall toward where the sound had come from. Then she shifted her gaze back to the console and scowled. Stop being such a wimp, Ash.

But with so much death and decay, so much darkness surrounding her, it was impossible for her to not be on edge. In fact it would have been downright stupid of her to ease up even a fraction.

So it was that her brief insight into the ship began, and she heard the man speak the most he had since they met. A change had come over him since she sacrificed her freedom to him. She might have called it confidence, only he hadn't once seemed to be lacking in it. Superiority, perhaps? Now that he knew he had a hold on her...

It didn't matter.

She focused in on what he was saying, who knew... Perhaps he would slip up and reveal a fact she wasn't supposed to know. And in a way, he did.

He wanted this ship for his own. That was his current motivation. Of course, it wasn't a life long ambition or goal... But it fueled him currently. Asha had no idea how she could use this knowledge to her advantage, of course. She didn't even fully comprehend where they were. They certainly weren't in space.

An invisible ship would make her life so much more difficult. If he managed to get it up and running, she could say goodbye to any hopes of ever getting away from him. How would her Father find her? How would anyone find her?

For a moment he was silent, and Asha was left with her thoughts. She didn't feel very vocal, in fact she didn't really have the nerve to so much as breathe too loudly. She shifted on her feet, but remained in place, shoulders rolling back. She had barely moved in what felt like hours, though it was much shorter than that, and she was beginning to feel the physical strain.

His eyes fell upon hers, and this time the girl did her best not to look away. It was time she started to strengthen her resolve. It was time she stopped cowering like an abused pup' and face him head on.

And then he gave her a title with which to refer to him as.

And Asha legitimately scoffed.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

His response was immediate, and harsh.

The fingers that had been so busily at work at the console suddenly swept up. They curled and grasped, the force wrapping around her with the same invisible chains as they had on Thule, except this time they did not grip her body or her whip her back. Instead he seized her by the throat. The pressure would be immediate, sudden, and harsh. There would be a stinging upon her neck, a scratch within her throat, what would feel like the tearing of muscle.

It was hardly the end of it though.

Aellin had decided that he would treat Asha fairly, or, as fairly as he could allow.

An insult, a scoff, deserved an answer. She had to be taught her place, shown where she belonged. Upon this ship, the vessel that would become his home he could not chance at the idea that she would usurp him. All thought of rebellion, all idea of resistance had to be suppressed and pushed down. Aellin could not allow her to press back against his will, could not allow her even a second of freedom. That would be his downfall, his end.

"You would do well." Aellin suddenly wrenched his hand. "To mind yourself."

The grip at her neck would suddenly wrench her forward, slamming her into the deck of the bridge with a sudden and agonizing crash.

 

[Lief]

What a stupid, stupid girl.

Her little sound of indignation was over before she could even comprehend what she had done, but the aftermath would linger. All at once she felt a pressure about her neck, the same fierce intensity as whatever unseen thing had lacerated her back on Thule.

Instinctively her hands rose, grasping around her own throat as if it might somehow ease the pressure. She was wrong, of course, it felt as if it was eternal. She couldn't breathe, the inside of her neck felt ablaze - even moreso than the exterior - and an agonizing scratch-like sensation ran laps around it.

It felt as if she were being suffocated, like the very life was being squeezed from within her. Back on Thule she thought she might have died. Earlier in the hallway the same thought passed her mind. But now she couldn't even comprehend it. Her ears rang and her head swam. All she could do was focus on trying to breathe. But it was impossible.

All thoughts of defiance fled her mind. She had known he was dangerous, experienced it first hand, but the ease and swiftness at which he was able to exact his will was terrifying.

With a jerk of her body she flew forward, the unseen force still at her neck and in truth making the ordeal far more painful than it otherwise might have been. She landed front first on the durasteel floor, what little air that had remained within her lungs being knocked out of her. She gasped and gasped for air, clawing at her own throat. Her entire torso was ablaze too, having roughly impacted the metal.

No, Asha would not do anything quite so stupid again.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

He pinned her there for a moment, letting the force linger upon her throat as she squirmed on the ground. His face contorted in a mixture of rage and disgust. It was so easy to make him angry, so easy to rile him up. Aellin knew that. He realized that flaw. It was something that he would have to solve, something that he would have to fix within himself.

Rage was a good thing.

It drove him, it gave him power, but it needed to be measured. It needed to come in waves, not sudden bursts. Outrage had to be stored, savored until it was the perfect time to use it. His fingers slowly unfurled, the force loosening around her throat. Slowly Aellin came out from behind the console, taking measured steps towards Asha. A subtle press at her back, a small push of the force would keep her on the ground, pinning her in place with his will rather than force.

"Asha." He said her name, a broken slur of thunder rumbling from his throat.

"I want you to remember what I am." Aellin's voice raised slightly. "Remember how easily I can undo you. Remember your place. You serve me. Every action you take, every time you open your mouth, every time you do anything it reflects upon me. If that reflection is in anyway besmirched, you will pay for it."

His hand reached out and he patted her on the head, as though she were a small pet.

"Worry not. This is a lesson that you will learn." He said, his rage slowly subsiding.

 

[Lief]

It would never end.

She kept choking, yet never would she simply pass into the Force as she wished she would. Any release would be better than this, even if it meant her having seen just fifteen short years of existence. It was tormenting her, her very existence, his existence, all of it. She flailed slightly in place, and then all at once it was gone. The pressure at her throat was alleviated, and a sharp gasp escaped her lips.

Asha dared not move, though it was difficult not to. Her chest heaved as she hungrily sucked in air, and both throat and lungs burned intensely. Overwhelmed with terror and bliss - there was nothing quite like being able to breathe again - the girl all at once began to sob, her arms covering her head protectively. She felt a pressure at her back, pinning her down, and trembled.

What was going to happen to her?

Thankfully the next thing to hit her was simply his voice. He seemed to drag out her name, and in the end it barely even sounded like it was intended to be spoken.

Oh, there was no way that Asha was going to forget this. No way she would ever forget herself, or her place. It had been a truly horrifying experience, from start to finish, a waking nightmare since the moment she stepped foot onto Thule. Who knew how long had passed since then. Was her Father still on Korriban? Was he looking for her?

No, she couldn't have such thoughts. For all she knew he could read her like a book. She could not be hopeful. She could not rebel.

She would do exactly what he asked of her, and little else. Meditate, probably. Flow through the strands of the Force. Nothing that could pose a threat to either of them. It wasn't worth the risk.

He reached toward her and instinctively the girl flinched. The patting was chiding, patronizing even, but she put up with it all the same. She would have to learn to live with his methods. One day she may even come to properly accept them. For now, however, it was purely a matter of survival.

Survival and servitude.

"I'm sorry" she managed to whisper, though her voice was extremely breathless. With another tremor which seemed to spread along her spine, the girl carefully added a short "Master" to the mix. No, it was definitely not a title to laugh at.

What had she been thinking?

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

For a time, he lingered there, crouching just above her.

Despite his power, despite the authority he held over her, this was still new to Aellin. It was something that he would never reveal to her, to anyone, but he had never quite been so...in control. Most of his life had been spent as the lesser child, as the one that stalked the shadows. He was not used to being in command, he was not used to being the one that lead. Baelid and his sister had always taken that privilege, and they had done it well. He was loathe to admit that about his siblings, but it was true.

It was their example that he tried to follow now, their way of doing things. Save for one great difference. Aellin knew what it was like, knew what it was like to be constantly and entirely pushed lower and lower. He knew what it felt like to be broken, to be beaten and snapped in half. He knew what it was like to be pressed and pressed until eventually...snap.

Asha would not be allowed to snap.

So it was that Aellin could be cruel, but also be kind.

"Don't worry, Asha." His voice was still that thunderous rumble, that roar, yet somehow there was a softness to it. "Your service will not go unrewarded. With me you will gain everything you could have ever wanted. At my side you will have everything you could ever dream of. This, I promise you."

Slowly, almost gently, Aellin slipped his fingers beneath her chin, gently caressing her cheek as he went. He tilted her head up at him, his eyes meeting her own. "Everything you desire and more will be yours."

It was a promise that he intended to keep, within reason. If she wanted power, she would have it. If she wanted knowledge, she would receive it. If she wanted her freedom? By his side she would be more free than she had ever been before. It was a guarantee, a twisted one, but a guarantee nonetheless. Aellin intended to better his siblings, intended to keep his servant, not through force, but through her own will. He would have her service, her loyalty, and perhaps even her love in time.

Whatever kept her bound and in place.

 

[Lief]

Though her face was not yet turned toward him, she could feel him there lingering. Her eyes were clenched closed, as though she could hide from the horrors which lay all around her. She was hyper aware of the corpses by now, they were close enough that she could smell the scraps of rotting skin some of them still had. Why was he sparing her such a fate? What use could he ever have for a runt such as she?

Asha had never been raised to be weak. Quite the contrary, her Father had done his best to instill a certain strength within her. She was not inherently fearful of death, or even corpses, but this graveyard was like nothing she had ever before witnessed. The Inn had been extremely unexpected, it had caught her off guard. But actual death? Witnessed on a battlefield, before her very eyes? Well, that wasn't something she was quite so afraid of. Perhaps she ought to have been, perhaps she had it the wrong way round, but that was simply the way it was.

He had worked many of the traditional fears out of her.

And Aellin had brought them back with a resounding crash.

She wasn't so much Asha Hex anymore, as she was the swaddling babe who had been cast aside by her mother due to the inconvenience of it all. She was the child who clung to her Father's sleeve, and begged him not to leave every time he was called to action. The child who had seen much of the Galaxy, yet knew so little. Before he decided to train her, before he strengthened her resolve.

Right now, she was simply Asha. The fifteen year old girl, with all the same insecurities and fears as her age group. She may not have been coping well, but which teenager would when presented with such a situation?

His words drew her back, there was a softness to them now though the thunderous undertones remained. She would gain whatever she wanted? In that moment, all that Asha wanted was to be back aboard her Father's ship. She wanted the embrace and security that only he could bring, in fact she wanted it so badly that the mere thought of it brought further tears to her eyes. For a girl who had never really cried, she was doing an awful lot of it lately. Then again her emotions were at a constant intensified state.

He touched her chin, her cheek, and turned her head toward him. The gesture itself was delicate, in fact for the first time she didn't even flinch to his touch. There was a sadness in her eyes that she couldn't quite banish.

"I want to go home" she whispered, her tone twisted with sorrow, "Please, I just want my Papa."

It was probably the wrong thing to say. Definitely the wrong time to say it in. But she couldn't help herself. She felt empty, weak, drained; moreso than that she felt alone. She had never been more than three days away from her Father, three days was their cut off point for any form of communication even if they couldn't meet in person. No doubt her commlink was crushed beyond repair, she had been tossed around that much.

She wouldn't have dared try to contact Jericho, though.

She had learned her lesson.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

Aellin lingered there again, his eyes following the set of her own. He smiled slightly beneath his mask. He knew not of such things of course, demands for fathers or family. The Sith Acolyte never knew the love of his parents, their embrace, or even their touch. To his family Aellin had been a failure, he had been the lowest rung of children. Both his brother and his sister had outperformed him in every single way. Strength, power in the force, cunning, even their ability to be vile.

Baelid and Aeryl had been perfection in his parents eyes.

Aellin had been but a failure.

It was a fact that he had lived with his entire life, a fact that he had taken to heart and upon himself. He had never accepted it of course, he had never willingly taken the title of worst son. Instead he had plotted, schemed, and eventually struck. His brother had met his end eventually, his parents soon following, and his sister ending last.

Those moments had been sweeter than any treat he had ever been allowed to have, seeing the life drain from their eyes.

So when Asha requested her father, when she made a demand of seeing her most loved one, Aellin did not quite understand. The Sith knew that not everyone hated their family, knew that his experience was not the same as those held by others. It was the way of things, he understood, but it still perplexed him. There was a puzzle in family, in love, that Aellin did not have all of the pieces to solve. He supposed that it was simply something he would have to live with, something that he would never quite understand.

In the end, that was okay.

His hand came up to stroke her cheek once again, fingers slowly interlacing as the force flowed through him. The Darkside began to rush through his body, touching every muscle and surging with power. His finger began to ache and burn, tracing along her skin as though marking her once more. "In time. In time you will have him again."

His words seemed to echo as the force flowed free.

 

[Lief]

At first Asha hung on those words.

The thought of seeing him again was all that kept her going; she wasn't loyal to Aellin, she wasn't subservient, she was simply biding her time. Jericho was on her mind constantly. She called out to him in her dreams, every bit of noise which rocked the ship made her heart flutter with anticipation of his arrival... But he hadn't come.

Slowly but surely her resolve began to crumble, and a bitterness set over the maturing child.

He had forsaken her, left her for dead. Was he ever going to come? Was he ever going to save her? The more time that passed, the less likely she believed this to be. She had spent weeks locked away in the furthest reaches of the ship, seething, angry, destroying things she didn't even know the purpose of. He was her Father. He had to find her.

He had to.

With time that too subsided.

Asha learned what it was to obey, truly and unconditionally. Because what else did she have? Who else, if not this stranger she didn't even know the name of? Deep down part of her knew he was well aware of this fact. That the girl's illusions had been shattered, and she now relied upon him. She didn't care. She had long since given up that right.

He became her world. His was the only face she saw, the pair of them never left the ship; she knew he had to, supplies and ship parts didn't just magically appear, but it was never when she was around to take advantage of the alone time. Never when she could try to escape. It wasn't a small vessel, but definitely not the largest in the Galaxy. She had walked its halls hundreds of times, while her Master sought to fix it - once he could trust her enough to be out of his sight.

Sometimes Asha wondered if she trusted herself to be out of his sight.

There had never been another attempt at escaping though. Sure there had been the odd disagreement between them, a task she refused to carry out, a slip up of words, but nothing too severe. Nothing with a lasting effect. He had her heart and mind, completely at his beck and call.

It was toward him that she ventured this day. She could not tell how long it had been since she had first awoken on this vessel. At first she had marked each new day on the wall of 'her' room, etched into the durasteel with the edge of a crystal shard she still had. That had been forgotten after a few months though. She was certain at least one birthday had passed unannounced, she didn't seem older but she was exhibiting signs - her face had begun to lose the babyness it had always held.

Time was inconsequential. Time did not matter.

She left the room she mentally called her own, high up in the ship and requiring at least a little bit of physical excursion to get to, devoid of any life or colour, practically empty, and ventured down through the ship. He would be at the command deck, she presumed, he usually was. Ever vigilant in the progress of the ship.

When she finally stumbled upon him, wherever it was he had chosen to be that day, Asha stepped to one side - settling just within his peripheral so that he knew she was there, without disturbing him - and fell to her knees. She was used to it by now, the physical strain which came with holding such a position for too long. There were times where she would sit in silence for whole days. Sometimes she would push her luck, and seek to venture, but ultimately she was always led back to the same sort of spot.

She couldn't get into any trouble if he was there.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

Aellin stood upon the bridge, his eyes settled on the console before him once more, the space about him cleaner that it had once been.

The corpses that had once littered the ship had been done away with, the light, though still dim had been cleaned, the space around them had been slowly cleared of all its clutter and garbage. The task had taken weeks, perhaps a months, most done by the hand of Asha. She had worked diligently and hard, cleaning away the bits of the ship that required it. Aellin had aided her at times, allowed her some reprieve, there had been droids too, ancient machines that had been left within the cargo hold.

Eventually, after months upon months of work the ship had been moved from it's state of disrepair. Certain halls still lay broken of course, patches of the hull were entirely gone, but by and far the ship that had once been known as The Reaver had slowly returned to it's former state. The halls were now empty save for the rattle of droids and the sound of Asha's foostepts, the rooms were now bare save for the lingering stench of death.

Everything seemed improved, save for that same feeling of dread that held over the ship.

As Asha entered the bridge Aellin turned slightly, his head panning towards her in acknowledgement for half a moment before he returned his attention to the console before him. He had been found there on most days, as though he never bothered with sleep.

Indeed the halls of this very ship, simply being here had seemed to invigorate Aellin almost daily, though it's effects upon him were obvious. Whereas Asha had grown taller and more lithe, forming into herself, Aellin seemed to have come closer to death itself. His skin had paled and become a dark grey, his eyes had sunken and become even more yellow, dulling slightly and spreading farther into the whites. His hands had become more gnarled, yet the rest of him seemed to become more muscled and broad.

Day by day he changed, though it was impossible to tell if for better or for worse.

At times Asha had gazed upon his face, the mask removed or fallen after a round of sparring, his features growing more and more harsh.

The power of the darkside had found Aellin, and he had allowed it to ravage him. His strength had grown, his influence had furthered, and now, on this day he seemed more enthralled then ever. His lips turned up into a smile, his fingers flicking across the holographic display. Eventually his eyes began to fall away from the console, shifting towards Asha. His voice would boom out over the empty bridge, the slight beam of lights illuminating him. "We're ready."

The Sith said simply.

 

[Lief]

She did not look upon him during her patient waiting, there was no need to. His face had been etched into her memory, with and without the mask. His was the only one she saw. She had learned to read his expressions, the way her Father had taught her, and even his body language, but still he remained a mystery to her. Even after all this time.

Her eyes closed as she tumbled through the Force, the way she did most mornings. She did not like doing it when he was stood there, often she would find a quiet place to practice, but she did not know how long it would be before she was dismissed. Her steps into the Force were still tentative, and she refused to go forward along the strands. She did not want to raise his suspicion. She did not want to leave traces of herself in the future, because he might find them. He might realize what she was doing.

Instead the vast abyss of the past was open to her. To begin with Asha had found her way along her own path, just a few months or so until she was experiencing some of her greatest days. She had just turned fifteen, and her Father sought to treat her... He had gifted her with a ship, taught her how to pilot it. Well, how to pilot his. That old thing had been shot from the air, she had laughed when she recalled it initially, sat within her cold room aboard this corpse of a ship, though at the time it had been a terrifying ordeal.

Then she went further still, to her days with the Coalition and the friends she had made during her summer there. Joran had died on some mission to Endor, and Force knew what had become of Illis. Her present may have been dreary, it may have been lacking life or motivation, but her past still held marvels.

These days she refrained from tormenting herself so. She had not walked along her own threads for months. Perhaps even a year. And not once had she even dared to try and see the path weaved by Aellin. She didn't have the stomach or the know-how.

Instead she simply wandered. Through nothing at all, catching the occasional glimpse of some poor fool's life. The birth of a child, a promotion, house troubles, family troubles. Nobody's life was perfect, but everyone made the most of it. It was a matter of survival, and a tale Asha was beginning to realize all too well.

The feel of his gaze upon her pulled her from the thin strands and back to the present. A very slight intake of breath marked the arrival, and as she opened her eyes she heard him speak. They were ready? Ready for what?

Asha rose, slowly enough that she could sink back to her knees at the slightest hint or gesture from the Sith.

"What do you require of me, Master?" she inquired, lifting her gaze though not quite meeting his. She never knew if she should or not, even now. Would he take offense if she always did or always didn't? Did he want her eyes on him, captivated and attentive? Or did he want them set away in submission?

Sometimes, she really could not read the man before her. Even with the gift of the Lorrdian running through her.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

"Nothing." Aellin said. "At least, for now."

He had worked towards this for years now, months upon months of labor. It had taken time, work, and the carving of flesh to be get here, but finally he was prepared to receive his prize. He had not thought it possible at first, had thought the idea of it lost, yet as the weeks unfolded, as the years slowly passed by he knew that he could do it, he had known that it would happen. Now it had come, the day that he would raise his ship from the surface of Raxus Prime.

The day that he would have what he had wanted for so long.

His fingers slowly lanced out over the holographic controls, his face contorting in a twisted mirror of a smile. "The ship is ready."

If she had not yet figured that out he would tell her, not wanting his servant in the dark. Raising the vessel would still take some effort. It's shields were operational, it's engines were online, and of course it's weapons were capable of being used, but there was a hazard that he had not entirely accounted for yet. The great acid lakes above them, although kept at bay for all this time, were still a threat. If they took too much of the brunt of their flow it would become problematic, so they would have to be careful.

He motioned to Asha.

"We must move it forward before raising it." Aellin explained. "Through the mountains of rust and discarded filth."

They would use The Reavers weapons to carve a tunnel through Raxus Prime itself, turbo-lasers and what missiles remained would be utilized to blast sections of the planet away, allowing them a path through the great rust mountains.

 

[Lief]

She rose to her full height and regarded him solemnly for a moment; there was a slight madness to him, an intensity that spoke volumes, and she realized that his plans had come into fruition before he had to tell her such.

The interior of the ship was far from fixed, but it was structurally sound and stable, and all of the important parts were functioning. It had been a trial for both of them, Aellin had tended to the more technical side of things, forever labouring over the consoles, while she'd dealt with the more... menial tasks.

Perhaps she ought to have been glad it was coming to an end.

Deep down, however, she knew that this was just the beginning of his plans. The ship was a means to an end, not an end within itself.

She took a few steps forward as he motioned to her, chewing the inside of her cheek curiously. They were going to move the ship today?

"Is that safe? I mean... Can the ship sustain the weight?" And the acid which pooled around the junkyard. She wasn't trying to second guess him, or stall his plans, truly she did want the ship to rise without issue. There was just a little bit of doubt nagging at her mind.

Her eyes fell to the viewing ports, to the wonderful sight of a millennium of junk. Would this be the day she saw real light again, instead of the artificial poodoo which lingered overhead? That brought about a small amount of excitement within the girl.

Then another problem came to mind.

"What if it's noticed?"

Once upon a time, Asha might have hoped for exactly that. For attention to be drawn to the pair of them. While in the shadows, locked beneath the junk, there was no way for Jericho to find her. But up there, if anyone were to notice the disturbance, there was a slim chance that further attention would be drawn.

But now that thought terrified her. She had become used to this routine, to this life, even to her captor, and she was afraid for all that to change. Besides, she had long since resigned herself to the fact that Jericho was not coming for her. It left a bitter taste in her mouth. She didn't need him.

She no longer wanted him to come to her rescue.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

Aellin wandered past the console, taking careful steps to move down the length of the bridge. It seemed not yesterday that the place had been lined with corpses, the dead littering every inch of the command pits and spaced evenly along the walls. This ship had been a graveyard, truly a graveyard. They were all gone now of course, the bodies, the bits and pieces of those who had long since passed away. For Aellin, well, he had never minded the dead, but he knew that in the end they would only harm his ship.

"It doubtlessly will." The Sith finally responded.

"It is to be expected." Aellin continued on. "We will carve our way from the Surface of Raxus Prime and into the atmosphere, once there it will no longer be an issue. It does not matter if the Jedi Find us, if the other Sith find us, if anyone else finds us at all."

He wandered over towards the very front of the bridge, staring out the viewport with hazy yellow eyes. He had been hidden away for so long, stuck within this world, hiding beneath it's surface. The time that it had taken to repair this ship, to fix all of its systems and finally get them operational had been too long. Of course in the end it would probe worth it, but it would be a lie to say that he was not anxious.

Aellin frowned slightly, looking into the blackness beneath Raxus Prime as if he were trying to find something. "We'll be long gone by the time they notice us."

 

[Lief]

Her eyes sought to follow him as he made his way across the bridge; for now she did not follow, she wasn't a shadow or a pup' to heel. While the dead may have been removed, Asha could still see them there at times. Moving, squirming, it made her skin crawl with the thought of it. Where she stood now, a mound of bodies had once lay. And neither of them knew the cause of their death. What if it was the ship itself?

Okay, so that was a silly thought. But still, why would they all have just dropped dead like that. And what the kriff was the ship doing down beneath Raxus with so many corpses onboard? Somebody had to bring it there. Unless it fell.

She heard his reply and could not help but frown a little. He was expecting it to draw their attention in some way? That had her worried, but she could only trust in his judgement at this point in time. He seemed to know what he was doing, what he wanted out of the whole process, and that should be enough for her.

She stepped toward him as he stood before the viewing port, her head tilting to one side curiously. There was nothing to see out there, just junk. More junk than she had ever thought possible. She hoped he was right, that the ship would fly as well as he imagined, because right now she was dubious. The vessel had to have been down here for centuries, it had been in a sorry state of repair when they first arrived here. Just because the systems seemed to indicate that everything was okay, didn't mean that they would be in practice.

Still she gave a nod of her head, lingering toward the center of the bridge. "If you are sure, Master," was her sole response. Now was not the time for doubting. She had to quench those thoughts before they became anything greater.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

Aellin watched the darkness, waiting as though he was looking for something. He frowned beneath his mask, yellow eyes searching through the abyss that loomed ahead of them. The thousands of years that had passed since this ships crashing here, the centuries that had passed, the tons and endless tons of junk that had been piled upon the vessel all served to hamper him in his goal. Yet in the end it would not matter, in the end his new home would be free, just as he was, just as Asha now was.

Suddenly his eyes narrowed.

There was a small quake in the distance, a silent etching of junk. A split occurred within the ceiling, a crack formed within the lines of the great rust mounds that lay before them. For but a split second an echo of light faded through the great gap that lay before them, a slurry of acid and junk falling from the sky. Aellin's hand clenched into a fist, power surged through him. The darkside erupted out from him in a tidal wave.

All of the collective energy that had been stored here, the powers of the graveyard, the ebbing of the deaths that had occurred upon this world, they all pulled to him. In an instant Aellin called that power unto himself, the strength of ages long past boiling into his skin. Flesh turned white, veins blackened, his eyes sunk further into his skull. A hiss escaped his teeth, pain surging through him as the darkside of the force rushed through his entire body.

The ship seemed to move in concert with him, power suddenly gathering.

Turrets all across the bow of the vessel slowly began to shift, eight of them rotating forwards ahead of the vessel, shaking off long begotten rust and breaking free once more.

In a great concert of fire and death the vessel suddenly erupted in a glaze of turbo-lasers. A wall of destruction reached out from the ship, blazing fire beginning to tear through the piles and piles of junk that lay before them. Explosions rang out as Raxus Prime was torn asunder before their eyes. Beneath their feet the ship began to rumble, easily at first, a slow growl that quickly erupted into a roar. The vessel shook as it began it's forward momentum, cracked reactor and broken engines pushing them forward as the turbo-lasers tore into Raxus.

 

[Lief]

Asha stood both mesmerized and horrified by what she could see and feel around her. The corruption which seeped into the air around them, always present yet never quite so intense, pressed down on her dangerously. No amount of training could prepare her for a moment like this, it was downright suffocating to experience.

Her body quivered under the strain as she fought to uphold the air of neutrality she had been raised within. The ideals of her Order flooded her mind in that moment; Darkness was not something to dismiss, it was not a bad thing to be stomped out as the Jedi believed... But it had to be taken in moderation. It was the Darkside which controlled the practitioner, not the other way around. And Asha could not afford that to be the case for her.

As a result the Je'daii Mantra ran through her mind, her breathing becoming a steady rhythm though forced. It wasn't until this moment that she realized just how horrific the Graveyard of a Ship was, the countless bodies which had been piled here she may have dragged from it and into the scrap which surrounded the vessel but that didn't wipe away the taint. She had tried to ignore it, tried to look past it, but as Aellin drew upon that very corruption it was impossible to miss.

The girl shuddered in unison with the ship as it began to push forward through the junk. She watched the viewing ports, where debris fell in and out of sight. Acid dripped down the panes of transparisteel and for a moment her heart stopped with worry. What if the ship could not hold it? Soon they could end up as congealed corpses themselves, skin and flesh eaten away at by the very acid which now covered the ship.

Her lips moved now with the mantra running silently along them.

"Immortal in the Force" she whispered, though she knew it was not a literal tenant. Should she die this day she would join the countless others who had passed into the Force. Her throat contracted and for a moment she could barely breathe with anticipation, praying that the ship would make it safely from its rusted prison.

[member="Aellin Tedronai"]

 

[Aellin Tedronai]

[member="Asha Hex"]

The ship slowly began to inch forward, dragging itself beneath the surface of Raxus Prime and slowly beginning to crawl out from beneath the massive piles of junk. Aellin did not hear Asha speak, he did not even hear the creaking of the walls and the screams of the scratching metal. He was focused, far too focused on what was happening before him. His hands clenched at his sides, the darkside rushed through him, power sailing through every piece of him. He could practically feel his skin burn away, the flames of the force licking away at his flesh. His fingers had long turned to white, his veins had become etched in pure black, his eyes sunken deep into his skull.

Slowly, ever so slowly The Bloodhaven pressed forward.

It was a crawl. A tiny scrape forward, an inch peeled away.

"Watch." Aellin said as the Ship began to move faster, the turbolasers burning and singing great holes within the metal. Great falls of acid began to pour from the surface, massive swaths of green flying to the earth below and cutting at The Bloodhaven's hull. The Sith Acolyte bit into his tongue, cutting into his own flesh as he warped the metals before them and slowly began to peel a gap within the surface of Raxus Prime. His skin began to burn, the flesh upon his face slowly peeling away.

"Watch." He commanded again. "As we escape this world."

Almost as if taking it as a verbal command the ship began to rise. It was slow at first, not even noticeable, but the rumble that began within the decks of The Bloodhaven were a clear indication. The ship slowly began to lift off from its resting place upon Raxus. It's engines shuttered and shook, the great viewports ahead of them seemed to reverberate with energy. The Turbolasers spewed forth, blasting away at the rust mounds that lay before them, tearing a gap that they could use to escape.

A heartbeat passed, and then suddenly the bow of the ship began to pass through the gap, breaching through the surface and peeling away at the atmosphere. Aellin clenched his fists, the turbolasers suddenly becoming silent and a great haze falling over the ship itself. A ray shield surrounded the vessel, scrapping against the rust mounds and slowly peeling them away as The Bloodhaven passed from within Raxus Prime and pulled itself into the sky.