[AoC] Peace I Give You

[Baiko no Kaho]

The cycle of the Dark washed through the desert, functioning in an expanding waveform between [member="Adara Raxis"] and [member="Darth Carnifex"]. It shredded Baiko’s resolve, how could this child be saved? Was this the true curse of the Mantis Family, to fall completely into paralyzing darkness?

Had Baiko stayed hidden far too long?

“Kill me and the Mandalorians will cry for war. You will never keep Yasha. Adara will never be yours.” The Jorbe Kar’ta snapped from its’ holster behind Baiko’s back. The pole arm blades shunted into their fully expressed position and she swept into an Ataru guard, feet apart, bladed pole arm forward and out.

“What I have cannot be lost. Ancius won't be the only of your whipping boys killed to give you Mand'alor's heart. What, you think you can turn Adara into a Sith cudgel? Some soul-less weapon? A baptized member of your diseased planet's elite!? I would rather she died than come to you for comfort!” Baiko kept her eyes on the Dark Lord, hearing the screams peppering from Adara’s mouth as she clawed at [member="Chiara Viren"], attempting to get away from the beautiful jedi.

“Glomkhoduil!!” Adara bellowed, her voice hoarse. A wave of the chaotic energy smacked against Baiko’s back. The sickening froth of Adara’s energy wrung through Baiko’s soul and twisted.

This child…. this Infernal child… Baiko wanted to grab Adara and run, but they would never make it. They would never make it.

“Get away from my granddaughter!” Baiko lunged, slicing at Darth Carnifex’s legs in an upward diagonal from right ankle to left hip.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Emperor of the Sith said nothing in response, merely grunting as he sprung into action. His blade met Baiko's polearm, bloodshine plasma grinding against shimmering songsteel as the Sith Lord used his immense strength to keep the woman's blade from gutting him. He then pushed, shoving Baiko with considerable force as he flung himself into the offensive; his weapon a whirl of crimson as he struck at Baiko from multiple angles, fierce staccato blows that relentlessly rained down.

Because of the difference in height between the two masters, the Emperor relied on quick and heavy overhanded strikes that benefited from his lightsaber's curved handle and his incomparable physical strength, further enhanced by the Dark Side of the Force. Yet this posed a problem as well, Baiko was significantly shorter than the Emperor and was most likely agiler as well. To mitigate his enemy's advantage the Emperor extended the setting on his weapon, lengthening his blade to its full length of three meters. With this, he could swing downward and protect his more vulnerable legs with a twist of his wrist, but he primarily focused on keeping hold of the aggressive initiative in pushing Baiko back, attempting to direct their duel into a more advantageous position for himself.

All the while part of his mind watched over Adara, gently fanning the flames of the Dark Side that seethed beneath her pale skin. Words briefly whispered across the periphery of her mind; Run, flee. They will take you away from your mother. Hide and wait for me.

[member="Baiko no Kaho"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Beth Australis-Mantis"] | [member="Adara Raxis"] | [member="Chiara Viren"] | [member="Yuca Najwa-Keth"] | [member="Hajrah Marjanah"]​

 

[Adara Raxis]

The Dark Lord’s voice echoed in the mind of a terrified child and gave the fear within a focus. Incapable of sense or speech, the overwhelmed Adara scratched and struggled as only a petulant child could.

Her voice exhausted, pain lashing into her ability to function, black dots worked across Adara’s vision, stinging her eyes coincidentally with the blood from her forehead.

Panic won. Adara’s quickly fading subconscious grabbed hold of the only true fount she knew: [member="Darth Carnifex"].

A gasping inhale began it: Adara leeching energy from the source of all Darkness in her life. From the most direct source that existed anywhere near Sabarene. The self preservation instinct resides unnaturally strong in Yasha Mantis’ firstborn.

All the pain and frustration over not getting what she wanted, the needle-pricks of the Lightness of being which claimed the other females, the panic of being yanked away from the only safe place she knew built up...

... and with the energy she seeped from the Dark Lord of the Sith...

Adara screamed.

Sand flung in vast shales away from [member="Chiara Viren"] and Adara’s position. Rocks jostled and flew outward, striking friend and foe alike in their chaotic outpouring.

The scream was uncontrollable for the child, whose panic found its’ power conduit in her svelte saviour. The crackle of energy coursed through the air, sending pock-marks of shadow and light across the billowing, sight-restricting clouds of sand.

Away. She had to run away. Grandfather told her to... and just as she had never been taught to call Kaine Zambrano such titles, nor had she been taught to drain the life force of another, the scream was a guttural weapon of the Dark inside her soul. The echo of a Sith Lord whose last act in the universe had been the resurrection of an infant at his son’s desperate behest.

She struggled against Chiara. Away. Run away and hide. If possible, Adara tried to struggle free, and if successful, would bolt in the first direction she saw, trip on an outcropping rock and cut a gash in her left knee.

Hide and wait for me.

 

[Hajrah Marjanah]

Faster little eopie, faster...

From New Ambaril to Abha, the miles had been crossed in what had seemed like minutes leaving only a trail of desert dust in their wake. With Abha in sight, Hajrah pushed the animal harder, driving it forward with the strength of her own will knowing it had lost all desire to continue some distance back.

Not much further my friend..

With a groan, it flew off it's feet towards the chaos ahead. A sky of fire and falling molten metal raining death on the city below was before them. Each life snuffed fueled the riders resolve which in turn was fed to the animal via their bond in the force.

Faster. The people needs us...

Hooves beat Sabarene's surface with rythmic cadence propelling them into the destruction. Each gait took more and more from the creature. Foaming sweat poured from it's snout, it's heart beat like drums and muscles burned with fire. For it's master it ran, for her people she pushed it.

Everything has it's limits, even with the force. Once into the city, the animal's task done, body and soul gave out collapsing mid stride. Hajrah was sent forward into the sand, only her athleticism and reflexes to save her.

Risen to her feet, the Socorran only had a moment to give to the creature who sacrificed itself for her sake. Knelt at it's side, the Jedi offered a regret filled apology through the force, each snort and wheeze pulling at heart strings.

As much as she would loved to comfort the animal, the darkness permeating her home only grew stronger with each passing moment. The light of the Aberashi temple had in an instant been swallowed and the peace of Sabarene replaced with mass hysteria.

Hajrah had felt darkness like this once before, but it had in her opinion derived from sorrow. This was...an anger like none had ever experienced and it seemed to be everywhere.

Moving through the streets, almost panicked herself, she shoved her way through the masses seeking shelter or escape altogether. Through the cacophony she heard words like Carnifex, Dark Lord....Sith.

The Socorran had no knowledge of Carnifex's or Dark Lords....but she was well aware of Sith. It was what her tribe had run from near 800 years ago. Destroyers of Worlds...but not this one.

Grabbing a passer by, her brown eyes held the panicked gaze of her captive. "Where are they!?"

A finger pointed east. "A ship, we saw a ship land somewhere over there. The screams...the screams...I have to go. Let me go. We are gonna die!"

"No one is going to die!" She shook her captive forcely trying to bring him back to his senses. "Get these people to New Ambaril. To the palace. The princess will protect you!"

He shook his head no. "It's after the princess. She's here."

Hajrah's own eyes went wide, this revelation stirring her own anxiety. She didn't respond and let him go disappearing in the direction of this ship.

Force fueled legs carried her through the streets, a natural agility helping her to dodge civilian and obstacle alike. The dark bubbled braid she always wore whipped in the wind behind her. Searching the force, Hajrah felt for Chiara's familiar aurora. A speck of guiding light in this blackened world.

I'm coming Chiara! Have Courage!

The Jedi knight only hoped she wasn't too late and kept her pace. A hand unclipped the hilt at her side in preparation for what she was running toward when another presence altogether assaulted her senses.

​

Baiko no Kahohttp://starwarsrp.net/user/16782-baiko-no-kaho/ | Darth Prazutis | Beth Australis-Mantis | Adara Raxis | Chiara Viren | Yuca Najwa-Keth | Hajrah Marjanah​

 

[Baiko no Kaho]

The Dark Lord was huge by any standards, a monolithic man built by genetics and the perfecting influence of genome cloning scientists. He had the advantage on reach and strength, both true and tested advantages to have.

But Baiko no Kaho was inhumanly fast.

The only thing which could keep her alive for any amount of time was her speed and dexterity, the double-bladed nature of her weapon’s reach. Each strike of the Dark One was combatted not with strength, but a deflection angle meant to tire him.

If he continued to strike and pounce, even with the utter reach of his crimson sabre, eventually he would tire. But who would tire first? Baiko ducked under a firm strike, which knocked her flat to her knees, diving diagonally past [member="Darth Carnifex"] to twirl her double-bladed weapon firmly at the backs of his knees. While Carnifex wanted to push her backward, instead Baiko moved diagonal and forward, deflecting and cutting off his momentum.

Every instinct was telling her to eradicate his root, destroy his foundation and get lucky. She had to buy [member="Chiara Viren"] and [member="Adara Raxis"] time…

… or so she thought.

Adara’s scream knocked her off her feet, flinging Baiko into a rocky outcropping in the sand. Hitting with a loud smack, Baiko rolled and stumbled to one foot, the vast shales of sand blocking her vision from all but the crimson of Carnifex’s saber. Rolling through the sand away from the immediate threat, Baiko immersed herself in the White Current, catching her breath within its’ security and invisibility.

‘Calm down, child! Adara, he will take you from us. From your mother and Baba, and Ba’buir. Run and hide. He is not your friend. Run, child!’

There was no calming the child. There was no reasoning with a terrified girl. Adara was feeding from her source, and in the clarity of a panicked mind, Baiko understood.

“Oh… oh my gods.” Adara would never be free. Rocks flung up from the child’s cries, bashing into Baiko as she rushed to get away and behind the Dark Lord. Catching her breath and hidden in the White Current, Baiko ran not toward Carnifex…

… but toward the scampering Adara.

The child… she had to be silenced… by any means.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Emperor found his own skill in speed tested against the smaller woman, her movements almost imperceivable to the naked eye. Yet the man known as the Black Iron Tyrant held his own, the Force whispering small glimmers of the future to him, allowing him to react to Baiko's movements ahead of time.

Thrust, parry, block, deflect, an endless dance upon the dunes as both sides fought furiously for the fate of Adara Raxis.

If Baiko thought that she could outlast the Emperor of the Sith in a battle of attrition, she was sorely mistaken. The Dark Side gave him strength inexhaustible, a power that could not be expended so easily. If pushed, he could go on for hours in those hot dunes, fighting for the future he so desperately wished to shape to his own designs.

Then Adara screamed, a wail born of the Dark Side that sent torrents of sand and chunks of stone flying in all direction. Some of them peppered the Dark Lord, but she shrugged them off as if they were mere insect bites as he kept his eye trained on his opponent, his blade arcing through the air towards her fallen form only to have his blade carve through sand, molten glass bubbling up from where his weapon cut deep into the earth. Carnifex yanked his weapon free, his eyes scanning his surroundings before quickly settling on the fleeing form of Adara. Through her, he could see more than he could on his own, and the Force whispered a warning into his mind.

He wound his arm back and threw his lightsaber with tremendous force through the air towards Adara, not at her body but at the empty space above her head in a straight line from his position and into the distance. Then, with his left hand resting on his secondary saber, he willed the Force into his legs to sprint towards the young child.

Intent on her safety, a warning rang out through the Force: "Watch out!"

[member="Baiko no Kaho"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Beth Australis-Mantis"] | [member="Adara Raxis"] | [member="Chiara Viren"] | [member="Yuca Najwa-Keth"] | [member="Hajrah Marjanah"]​

 

[Baiko no Kaho]

An Echani battled against an Epicanthix in the desert, speed and dexterity battered against brute strength. He wasn’t going to tire. The thought pinged horrific against her. He would never tire.

His stamina relied not on physical means. No. This would not end in attrition. A decisive victory one or the other way would have the child’s destiny as its’ reward. Baiko’s double blades sliced through the air with ease and grace, cutting anything unlucky enough to be in their pathway. Darth Carnifex’s lightsaber was as malicious as the man, a hellacious dervish of spite and domination.

All Baiko could do was deflect the rage and its’ twin apathy for sentient life.

She leapt toward Adara, and there! Her strategic advantage. He couldn’t see her in the White Current. His swing was too wild. There was caution in his arrogance. Adara. Baiko had to cessate the connection between the Dark Lord and the Infernal Child… in whatever way.

At the Dark Lord’s warning, Adara dove to the ground, covering her head with her hands. The sand bit into her skin, sweeping into the cuts on her knee, arm and forehead. The child cried out, shaking.

Baiko dove above Adara, hidden by the current, until the searing of [member="Darth Carnifex"]’s lightsaber stole into her left side. The wound cauterized along her flesh, the gurgled sound of her scream broke into Baiko’s concentration.

She flickered into reality as she fell, shoulder hitting sand with a dull crack. The twin bladed polearm skittered away by [member="Chiara Viren"]. Darth Carnifex ran for the child.

“Adara, no!” Baiko rolled to her feet and unsheathed her katana, immersing herself once more in the Current. She ran limping to a Craig, her back against the warm rock. The way Kaine Zambrano dove for the girl gave Baiko pause. Gasping for air and feeling along her cauterized wound, Baiko attempted to suppress the pain. She was no Jedi, nor were her powers those of a combative Master in their prime. Black spots stole across her peripheral vision.

‘Gray…’ Gray’s voice in her mind told her to run. Grab Adara and run. Head to the Myrmadinas and run. There was no running with Adara in her arms. There was no winning this battle against the Dark Lord. No leaving her granddaughter behind.

Adara scampered within reach of the Dark Lord’s grasp. The child sought an instinctual safety, one she knew best in the thrall of the Dark. Rushing from behind the rock and hidden by the Current, Baiko burst in a sprint.

She slid out of her immersion the second her blade swung for the Dark Lord’s arm. If he wanted to hold Adara, she would ensure he had no arms. If he wanted to walk her away, she would take his legs.

Baiko gritted her teeth and roared into the swing.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

His blade struck true, carving a canyon of burnt flesh and steamed blood through Baiko's left flank. The weapon continued on through the air before lodging itself in the sand, its blade briefly glassing the ground around it before shutting down. With one hand firmly grasping his blade at his hip, the Emperor of the Sith trudged through the thick sandbank until he came within a few meters of the young child, Adara. In turn, she ran towards him, the only bastion of safety that had presented itself in their current situation.

One hand reached out to grab the child, while the other unsheathed the weapon at his side and activated its blood-red shine just as Baiko's weapon threatened to sever his other arm at the elbow. He caught her weapon with his own, holding it there as he cradled Adara protective against his chest.

"You have lost, foolish woman."

His words cut through the air like a dagger, drawing Baiko's attention to him as he pushed against her weapon yet still keeping it poised at an angle to lock her weapon against it. But that was merely a distraction, a feint to keep her attention squarely on the Emperor as his discarded saber slowly pushed its way out of the sand it had fallen into. Silently it hurled through the air as if flung, the blade still unlit as it crept up behind the Echani.

"The future, now and forever, belongs to the Sith."

At that moment the weapon spun end over end in an arcing curve towards Baiko's left, the blood-red blade activating at the last second to become a sweeping scythe aim at cutting Baiko completely in half right at the waist.

[member="Baiko no Kaho"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Beth Australis-Mantis"] | [member="Adara Raxis"] | [member="Chiara Viren"] | [member="Yuca Najwa-Keth"] | [member="Hajrah Marjanah"]​

 

[Baiko no Kaho]

‘You are now, and forever, my child.’ The White Current wove around her, sweeping across Baiko’s pained brow. The wind spoke heteroglossic, each whispered syllable unpacking into thousands of independent thoughts. Baiko’s mind momentarily nestled in the grip of a Mentalist whose abilities spanned planetary systems.

One who was coming at breakneck speed back to Sabarene. A man the once named Darth Vornskyr might remember. [member="Manu Xextos"], progenitor and Master of Sabarene.

“Oh.” Her side burned. Hands shook on the grip of the blade. The pain at her side lifted. Her grip was steady. A blessed breeze struck her haggard face, until the fate beautiful rushed toward her.

“I love you, Adara.” A blade activated behind Baiko’s back.

And nothing remained on the sands of Sabarene, except two pieces of a chersilk dress lovingly hoarded for the most important day of a woman’s life. The day Baiko no Kaho, nee Xextos returned to the place of her kin.

Baiko’s katana clanked to the ground, vibration ringing through the air in a final fading note.

[member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Chiara Viren"] [member="Darth Prazutis"] [member="Hajrah Marjanah"]

 

[Adara Raxis]

Adara’s tiny hands gripped into the cloth of [member="Darth Carnifex"]’s robes, her head ducking into his chest. The child cried freely, protected by the one-armed grip of a father to many, who knew her as one of his own.

Her whole body stung with cuts and the sticky-scratch of sand caking her wounds. Deep black and red eyes peeked up as strains of white came to her vision.

Words of love whispered into her ear. Nothing remained before her gaze but the black cloak of her saviour. Nuzzling into Kaine’s chest, the lost little girl tried to staunch her tears.

Glomkhoduil never cried. Crying was for babies.

“Glom-khod-uil… I hurt. Are you hurt?” There was a slickness to Adara’s brow, a greying of her skin as her strength, as paltry as it was, began to fail her. “Where’s Ba’buir? Is she gonna hurt me more? I didn’t wanna go here. I wanted to go home.”

Sniffling and looking up into the only eyes which matched her own, Adara’s lip wobbled. “You came... my dress is dirty.”

 

[Darth Carnifex]

In one strike the battle was over.

But instead of a corpse, halved at the waist, falling to the harsh sands there were only the smoldering scraps of a dress laid serenely atop the dune. The Emperor's brows furrowed in through, his eyes narrowing as he stared down at the dress as the fire continued to crawl up the seams to lick at the once exquisite fabric. But, he would deactivate his weapons and recall them back to his belt, hooking them onto magnetic grips through the Force as he sat Adara down on the ground and eased down onto one knee so that they were at modest eye-level.

"You are safe now, Glomkkoybudil. Those that have wished you harm are no longer with us, I destroyed them." A gust of wind shifted the sand around the burning dress, smothering the flames and burying it beneath the dune both of them stood on. The Emperor's baleful eyes checked over Adara, noting every injury and every abrasion the small child suffered in her flight from her enemies. They could be easily treated on the Behemoth, and there she would receive all of the amenities afforded to one of his own blood.

"Don't worry about your dress, I will find you a new one. A better one. Now come, we have to leave this place." He pressed a button located on the device strapped to his right wrist, sending out an inaudible signal to the Crestfallen II with his exact coordinates and a request to be picked up.

[member="Baiko no Kaho"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Beth Australis-Mantis"] | [member="Adara Raxis"] | [member="Chiara Viren"] | [member="Yuca Najwa-Keth"] | [member="Hajrah Marjanah"]​

 

[Adara Raxis]

Flights of sand billowed in gentle rivulets to the dunes, golden and ruby in the light of the sun. Cradled momentarily in the black cloth of the Dark Lord’s robes, Adara’s fingers fumbled off his chest. The monstrosity which saved her held the child aloft. Inspected her cuts and took note of the sand in every wound. Petite sniffles hiccupped out of her nose and mouth, as the child attempted to cessate the blubbering of her tears.

“Thank you, Glomkhoduil. Thank you muchly.” Adara took [member="Darth Carnifex"]’s massive hand and hugged it to her cheek. It was warmer than the sands, a gentle and pristine heat, which stole the shivering from her diminutive bones. A girl clung to her saviour in the desert, the security and safety of family a tangible presence in her experience.

“It will be the prettiest dress in the universe and I’ll be the prettiest girl, even more pretty than Befthy and Achani.” Baiko’s dress burned into Adara’s retinae, symbols of a life never to be experienced again. Death was beyond her, as the truths of life were beyond the young. All Adara’s conscious and subconscious mind could fathom was ‘destroyed’, sloughed over, banished and consumed.

“I’m coming… oh I’m too slow!” Her ‘Grandfather’ destroyed those preventing her from leaving a source of pain. The sand warm on her stinging legs, wind brushing across pallid cheeks, Yasha’s child attempted to push to her feet, whimpering softly at the sting on her cut palm. In true Mantis fashion, when Adara stumbled in the sand and fell, she grunted and pushed back to her feet, only raising her arms to Kaine after she completed the task and attempted to keep pace with the Dark Lord.

“Glomkhoduil? Why were Ba’buir and the Princess so bright and cold it hurt? Did you destroy the cold thing? What was it?”

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The dark silhouette of the Emperor's shuttle could be seen on the horizon, a blackness illuminated by the light of Sabarene's sun. Carnifex's eyes squinted against the light, his hand rising to block out the most oppressive rays. His gaze quickly moved from the approaching shuttle to the small child who struggled to keep up with him through the dunes, his instinct preventing him from lending her a hand. Though he had protected and saved her from those who would seek her arm, willingly or otherwise, he was deeply rooted in his own teachings and would not act as a crutch to the smaller Adara, she had to learn how to fend for herself.

Undoubtedly she would learn much from the Mandalorians who raised her, but they would attempt to poison her mind with such asinine concepts like honor or the many restrictive tenets of the Resol'nare. As the shuttle came to landing several meters out from them, the Emperor internally resolved to impart some of his wisdom onto the children before he handed her back to Yasha.

"They were of the Light Side of the Force, Glomkkoybudil. It is anathema, wrong and opposite, of what you and I are a part of, which is the Dark Side of the Force. Two opposites in an eternal struggle with one another, little Adara. A conflict that has raged for thousands of years before either of us were born, yet we are as deeply a part of it as our ancestors were. Though I doubt your buir would tell you of such things, she is cut off from the Force. But she might've told you of the Manda, it is the Mandalorian concept of the Force in which your people all join upon death."

The boarding ramp lowered, and the Sith Emperor gently urged Adara to hurry up the ramp and into the ship with him not far behind. As he did, he whispered a promise to the younger child; "Let me teach you of my ways, the ways of the Dark Side. I will reveal your true nature."

[member="Baiko no Kaho"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Beth Australis-Mantis"] | [member="Adara Raxis"] | [member="Chiara Viren"] | [member="Yuca Najwa-Keth"] | [member="Hajrah Marjanah"]​

 

[Adara Raxis]

The sand shifted under her feet, an unstable swash in the barren landscape. Adara fought to keep up, sand in her shoes and stinging her skinned knee. [member="Darth Carnifex"] refused to carry her like Baba or Buir, or even Tamar and Aiya. Rubbing her face with grubby palms, the Mand’alor’s child sniffled into the air and ran after the long legged male.

“The Light Side is Annie-Thelma and she’s bad. Opposite of you and me... so Ba’buir was doing something bad? Or she was acting like Anathelma. Wrong and stuff. I’ll remember, Glomkhoduil, promise. Buir used to be like your Adara... is that why Buir can’t see good in sunlight?” A child had such faith in those above her, the Infernal Child could not fathom information given to have any adverse effects. To the outside world, Yasha Mantis was an eternally force dead woman, a freak of nature and event. Yet... it hadn’t always been so.

“Conflict? Does that mean we’re all going to be fighting all the time like Baba says?” Puffing up her little chest as she scurried aboard the shuttle, Adara put on her best Baba voice and waggled her finger accusingly at the air in front of her. “‘Shabla dar’jetiise di’kutise! Grr rawr shoot ‘em wiff a gun!’ Like that? I don’t like guns, they’re so loud they hurt my ears and they’re really heavy.”

Cheeks enflamed with the strain of rushing such a little form, Adara raised her eyes up, up, up to the pale and perilous face of the Dark Lord. He whispered of true natures, a rumbling which filled her rumbly tumbly with the promise of eternal fuel. Unaware of the solemnity of such promises, the child hugged Kaine’s leg and smiled up at him.

“Will you, Glomkhoduil? Will you honest?” The glaze of blood loss and fatigue stole across Adara, as she held her arms round his shin. She wavered and blinked. “I don’t feel so good.”

 

[Darth Carnifex]

As the Crestfallen II's engines rumbled to life and the craft began its steady ascent into the upper atmosphere, the Emperor took little Adara into one of the back compartments. Inside was a fully functional medical bay overseen by a Hegemonic Automaton S1 Medical Droid, its multi-limbed torso turning to face the Emperor and his small companion as they entered.

++Salutations, your Eminence.++

Its photoreceptors registered the smaller individual next to the Emperor, but as her face was not yet included in its vast databanks it could not assign a designation other than that of a small human adolescent. Still, it could identify and treat the various wounds Adara had sustained during the short, but fierce, struggle between the Emperor and Baiko down on the planet's surface. He picked Adara up with one hand and gingerly placed her on the cushioned observation table so that the medical droid could better assess its new charge.

++Patient Unknown, request designation input.++

"Tell it your name, little one."

Once she had done so and the droid had cataloged her name into its databanks, it would then begin to meticulously treat each and every one of Adara's wounds. A soothing mist would be sprayed directly onto the site, while nimble forceps gently pried open the wound and applied a disinfectant that would not only destroy any bacteria in the wound but would also deconstruct any other foreign material such as sand so that the would be completely cleaned. Then it would apply a small bacta adhesive over the wound to expedite the natural healing process. It also administered several injections to replenish lost blood and strengthen the immune system.

All the while the Emperor would be speaking to Adara, answering her questions and informing her of other things. "No, little child, not with such simple machines as guns. The Force is all the power in the galaxy you will need, for it can perform wonders that the uneducated would consider magic. Through the Force, you can move objects with your mind, read another person's thoughts, influence the weak-minded, and conjure energy such as fire and electricity at your fingertips." He demonstrated by levitating several objects in the room, moving them through the air for Adara's delight before returning them to their original locations.

"And much much more, things that I have mastered and can pass on to you. Though I doubt your buir would approve of such tutelage."

[member="Adara Raxis"]​

 

[Adara Raxis]

Foreign coloured metal and the interior puzzled Adara’s eyes. Nothing seemed to be made for her diminutive height, a frail bodied child as it were. She gasped at the medical droid, a familiarity and foreboding in her face. Doctors and med droids… was there a week without a sniffle? A day without her mother fussing over her miracle ad’ika? This would be a ‘prove it’ moment, like Buir said to Bethy all the time. Adara would prove to [member="Darth Carnifex"] that she wasn’t scared. Adara was brave, like him.

The brief seconds of being picked up in Kaine’s arm brought a further relief and comfort. Detached spiritually from those who loved her, Adara knew not the strength and docility of a father picking up his child. Baba was good to her, but her father was in the Manda, the adults said, when they thought Adara wasn’t listening. The table was cold on her skin. Adara’s teeth chittered together, her tiny form at its’ limit.

“Adara Vigdis Nussyn Mantis, of Clan Raxis.” Tiny fingers reached out for Kaine’s thumb, lips pursing together at the sight of the needles in their rows. The needles got a begrudging acceptance from the little girl, whose health had been such to require many in her short time. Taking a large, deep breath, Adara held it with a sour face until the needles were done.

“Feeewf.” Chin tilted upward as the droid worked on her cheek, the child kept her eyes on Darth Carnifex’s severe, but friendly face. She pulled her cheek away and smiled, squealing with delight at the floating canisters and other such things Kaine Zambrano thought fit for her eyes.

“I want to learn that one, Glomkhoduil! The floaty one! I can freak out Befthy and Baba and make Ba’buir Gray knock into floating pillows!” Conflict without guns, using magic?

The mind of a promising youth was opened, lulled into the rhythm of the Dark Side’s tempest with stories of telekinesis, influence and conjurations. As her spirit craved the energy she as an infant gladly supped from Carnifex’s own aura and blood, so did his stories infill her with the wondrous goal of a life marred by unfortunate circumstance.

The Silver Jedi could have reached Yasha in time, but they hadn’t. The Silver Jedi could have helped Yasha and the neonate Adara, but their silence filled the worlds betwixt Kashyyk and Mandalore. Now, no song but the elegant growls of the galaxy’s great beast of Dark’s burden filtered into her ears.

And Adara wanted more.

“But I want to. I want to, Glomkhoduil. Buir doesn’t understand when I complain that my rumbly tumbly is empty, or when my dreams show me things that I know will come true. I know it. Nobody listens to me on Mandalore, nobody but Sloobieboo can hear me when I try. Teach me. Please? Just a little? I promise I won’t be trouble. Promise. Buir can't feel it anyway.”

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Emperor of the Sith placed a hand across Adara's shoulders, squeezing gently and reassuringly. Her mind was eager and willing to embrace the power of the Dark Side, for it was the only power she knew to be tangible. Those that dominated her surroundings back on Mandalore shunned the Force, and there were many that saw her as an abomination and had zero qualms about putting her to the sword for the greater good of the Mandalorian people. That was the environment that the Undying had fostered in his second rise, spreading a plague of paranoia and fear against the Force and those who practiced its magicks.

Those that could have helped Adara had been driven away or destroyed, and now there was only Carnifex.

"Very well, Glomkkoybudil. I will teach you, but only if you promise to keep what you've learned a secret. Never forget that those who surround and advise your buir would love nothing more than to see you dead just for being able to use the Force, but especially keep an eye on the man called Australis. He seeks to undo all that your buir had fought and bled for, he is not to be trusted." The medical droid finished up its last bit of bandaging before taking a small sample of Adara's blood and storing it away in its durasteel chassis, and with the young Adara all patched up the Emperor lifted her off of her feet and carried her into the cockpit.

Beyond the viewport loomed a massive monstrosity, an edifice of darkness and power that eclipsed all of the star's light behind it. "We're nearly there, little one. Ahead is my flagship." The Crestfallen II nimbly maneuvered itself into one of the ventral hangar bays, flying through a series of internal holds before reaching the Emperor's private hangar near the back of the bay. As the Emperor led Adara down the boarding ramp, a small cadre of Crownguard was awaiting them in front of one of the many trams that facilitated movement throughout the gargantuan dreadnought.

"I think it's time you had a snack and some rest after that exhausting experience, Adara. I will have my servants prepare whatever it is you desire."

[member="Adara Raxis"]​

 

[Adara Raxis]

“Baba?” Adara’s wide black eyes blinked, her chin tilting and lips pouting up at the Dark Lord.

“But Glomkhoduil. Baba Australis is the one who brought me back from the dead place, when I was a baby. His Daddy, Darfth Cesspool helped him… then Buir made Darfth Cesspool go away forever.” Tiny arms wound into [member="Darth Carnifex"]’s robes as the child in his arms shivered. She nuzzled for warmth, the trusting act of a girl, who did not recognize an adult’s potential to do them harm. Adara’s trust and honesty came at a terrible price for her family. Baiko was destroyed, Beth and Achani running… and the secret to Adara’s rebirth opened before the Dark Lord’s mind. Kaine Australis brought Adara from the horror of an early death, an act of a man, who wore a void stone, then suddenly none.

Rumours remained on Mandalore that Australis was imprisoned for destroying the Braal around the Palace… and the rumour of a syringe placed into his palm by none other than Mand’alor the Infernal herself. The Cure was his reward for saving a life. Once more Adara cost those who loved her. But how? Time and pressure would build to that horrific zenith. Nothing but time could save it.

“I promise to keep it secret. Promise with irli on top.” The child gasped. Those around Buir would put her back in the dead place? A tender lip wobbled, the bacta patch upon it shivering lightly up and down. Peeking out long enough to see the Behemoth dwarf the sun, Adara ducked her ear back against Darth Carnifex’s chest and yawned.

“We have to save Buir… if they’re all being bad she’s in trouble.” A newly clean hand rubbed at her tearing eyes, the sting of salt water brushing upon her bandages. “You’re warm… I like warm…. the light’s too cold and hurty… your flagship looks like a big long city with guns on top.”

Her eyes drifted closed, safe in the hold of her saviour. “Beware of Baba...”

Starved of supernatural food too long, Adara slept until the docking was complete and Kaine roused her. She walked clutching a portion of his robe, for his hand was too far away to reach without struggling. The ship radiated a pleasant warmth, yet the cacophony and strange way the Crownsguard moved caused the child to sink closer to the Dark Lord.

“Yes Glomkhoduil, are they safe? Your servants. Are they like Aiya and Tamar? I guess you wouldn’t have unsafe servants… oh, like cookies! Cookies and milk tea and cakes? I like cakes. Befthy promised me chawklit, but she’s away now and…” Adara gasped as the Crownsguard moved. She scrambled up into the tram and tried her best to make her torn dress look better.

“Thank you for saving me. Nobody else would listen.”