By the Blade

[Dax Perl]

Location: Aboard the Talavara, somewhere in space

Metal, electrical components, leather, bone, and shards of crystal floated through the air around Dax as he meditated. The pieces span through the aur and circled the man as if he had his own gravity about him, and the pieces were just the beginnings of an asteroid belt. Slowly, one by one the pieces began to assemble themselves before the man. Power cell, lenses, switches and casing all came together into two sabers before the man before the crystal clicked softly into place. The last of them to become the heart of the saber was the Krayt pearl, which glowed a soft orange red all the while.

Done, the man stood, the saber floating up before him, level to his chest. He reached out and crossed his arms, taking hold of both and igniting them, a roar and a scream signalling the illumination of the orange blades. With a flourish and a spin he brought the to his sides, a quiet hum accompanying him. "Remember I told you once, that a lightsaber is more than just a weapon, but a symbol?"

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Floating in space, the Talavara hummed with life. After her and Dax had gotten the ship off of the planet, they had it fully repaired and retrofitted all of the important components to compete in battles. They also had a crew now, the ship had itself running at peak efficiency. In the bridge, Sena gazed out into the stars. All of this had begun on Won Shasot a few months back. Since then, Sena had adopted full captain duties of the ship. The crew, men recruited from the Outer Rim Coalition, respected her and never questioned her authority.

Checking the hour, Sena walked away from the bridge, giving a few commands to her higher ranking men. Dax would soon be done with his meditations. Sena's saber training had been coming along, she had the ability to be able to move gracefully with the weapon these days, and there were almost no signs of clumsiness. Sena slipped in the door as Dax was finishing up. Then he spoke of a conversation they had had a while back. "I do remember that, and I have thought on it and I do not understand what it is you mean," she replied, her voice shrouded with a hint of confusion. All that Sena could see in her blade was a weapon. The black and gold hilt came to her hand and a blade as white as snow sprang forward with a hum that was almost imperceivable.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

The Master rolled his shoulders, and got into his stance, one foot int front of the other, knees bent, one saber in front ready to defend, the second ready to lance forward. "A weapon is used for one thing. A weapon is used for one thing, and that's to kill or injure. A saber or a sword is not meant meant for that, not like blasters and slugthrowers." The man waited for the woman to get into her stance before quickly stepping forward, attempting to parry aside her defense to leave her open to attack, "A wise man once said that the best swords are never removed from their sheathes." the Rogue recited as he dashed forward, "A sword or a saber once signified peace in the galaxy. And then tyranny. Now, they hold no meaning." When the Jedi prevailed over the Sith, the saber became their symbol for peace, when Palpatine weaved his web of lies to overthrow the Jedi, they became the symbols of power hungry tyrants. But what now?

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Dax spoke while they practiced and Sena took the words in, and ran them over in her mind. 'A weapon is used for one thing, and that's to kill or injure'. This made sense, but the hard part was for Sena to see a lightsaber as something other than a weapon. To her it shot out a blade that could slice almost anything into shreds. And that, in the opinion of the student here, was nothing but a weapon. But from what Sena had seen in her life, the hilt of a saber could merely be flashed and a crowed quelled. This came back to the fact that it was a weapon. Crowds were threatened by weapons. Especially one of a Force user.

But even then, a blade never removed, or even showed for that matter still held power. It gave a sort of symbol for those right of heart to hold on to. Sena shot her burning white blade up in defense of Dax's, half spinning, she blocked his other blade with the same motion. "They may hold no meaning now to many. But they must to some. To you it seems." With one large swing, Sena blocked both blades and jumped back with a flip, farm from Dax. She stopped moving. "What do they mean to you?" she asked, at this point curiosity was ripe on her voice.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax smiled slightly as the woman caught on quickly, even as she parried aside both his strikes, "To me? The rights and wrongs in the galaxy, and the change that we can create." Several more strikes lanced out, the first at her chest, the next, her legs, followed by a spin towards her head, "But one in particular, all the pain I've inflicted, a symbol of my atonement." The saber he spoke, the one in his right, glowed in the center, the Krayt pearl shining with an unearthly orange glow.

Long ago, when Dax had just been forced out on his own, he'd taken part in the Omega campaign. He'd learned the price of war that day, his friends and comrades had fallen, or taken crippling injuries. But they'd succeeded. Having killed one of the Sith leading the Omega's assault on the galaxy, her saber was his prize. What he hadn't known then was that the saber had a will of its own, and coupled with his curse, they plotted his downfall. At one point they'd succeeded. Never again.

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Dax had a sadness about him. No matter his outside appearance, there was something deep within him that Sena felt. It was just a pure, human sadness. Dax struck at her chest, and she glanced the blow to the side before sending away the strike intended for her legs. With her last parry, Dax went into a spin, surprising her with a strike at her neck. Sena was much taller than her master, and with a quick duck she spun under the arm that was stretched in an upward angle, putting herself behind him before going for a heavy strike. Sena let her voice go silent. On and on they dueled, the lightsabers buzzing with delight as they clashed.

Signaling a rest, Sena's white blade drew back. Sweat shown across Sena's face, her loose white training clothes sticking lightly to her skin. "I think that's about enough for now. Your words were poetic," she said, recalling their conversation at the beginning of the training. "I do not see the lightsaber as a symbol. Despite being able to recall little from my past. I remember major galactic events and I have not seen the lightsaber as anything other than a tool. Primitive species use primitive tools. We are advanced species using advanced tools." Sena looked deep into the sadness of Dax's eyes.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax was impressed with Sena's quick reactions, swiftly ducking beneath his arm and winding up somewhere behind him. The man wasn't about to risk a quick glance over his shoulder, instead opting to immediately roll forward to avoid any potential attack. Good thing as well, as heat and a hiss passing closer to him that he would've liked to admit. Either he was getting slow, or she was getting really good.

The sweat poured down Dax's face, staining his shirt, the dark fabric becoming darker, hair becoming damp and sticking to his forehead. Eventually though, they ended. Just as [member="Sena"]'s white blade retracted, so did Dax's orange and yellow blades. "Poetic? Maybe, I guess. But they're true. People want something to look to, or something to hate. You have to choose which one you're going to be. And if your saber is what people see, that's the symbol they'll hold onto."

Dax had made many mistakes in his short life. But each and everyone had taught him a lesson, some just had a steep price. The sound of his sabers hooking onto his belt resounded through the room of the Talavara, breaking through the small moment of silence. "You've learned a lot, and quickly. I'm proud of you." he finally said.

 

[Sena]

Sena hid her blush by turning quickly. "Let us each go to our quarters. I believe we should both freshen up." Sena strode out from the room in haste.Why had she blushed the way she did? What happened? Shaking the thoughts of what had just happened, Sena focused on getting to the quarters. Since she was the captain, she had a rather large, beautiful room decorated in a very sleek, modern style. Her clothes dropped to the floor, the sweat having mostly dried from the walk to the room. The warm water cascaded down her body, cleansing her skin.

Instead of training clothes, she donned a more formal outfit that still gave her plenty of flexibility. The clothes were black and white, just as she usual wore. A black bow held her hair up, the ribbons from the end nearly touching the floor. Sena walked to the viewport in her room, looking out into the vastness of space. Sena closed her eyes, reaching out through the Force. Her senses sharpened from the presence of the ship. She felt for Dax, feeling safety in knowing he was near. But as she felt through the Force, she felt something...else. Sena rushed to the intercom in the wall and tapped into Dax's room. "Do you feel that?" her words gasped out. Someone had to have slipped in under radar. And they felt evil. Touched by the dark.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax pushed damp hair out of his eyes as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. 'Sena sure got out of there quickly...' the man thought to himself, 'Hope everything's alright...' No sooner had he had the thought, Sena's voice came over the intercom. 'Do you feel that?" Dax reached out with the Force, feeling the life forces around him. The crew, Sena, Athena, everything felt normal. Until, not far outside the ships hull, a void in the Force. Even in the emptiness of Space, he should've felt something. Yet there was a void..."Yeah...I feel that." he told her, "I'll meet you on he bridge." the Rogue said as he tossed aside the towel and began to put on some underwear and pants.

The doors slid open as Dax walked onto the bridge, sabers on his belt, Assassin pistol in its holster. He went over to a scanner and began to pull up the readings, looking for any anamolies. "Maybe starweirds?" he muttered to himself as he watched the screen.

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Starweirds would be trouble. Sena had never dealt with the almost skeletal creatures befores, but she had seen what they could do. No ship had passed unharmed from the touch of starweirds. That she knew. "What do you see," Sena asked a man scanning the life support on board. "Four....no five entities. No origin point. They just started moving about one of our cargo bays. I don't see any of our men there." No origin point. That had the earmark of the creatures all about it. Sena shot to the intercom and spoke to the whole ship. "Attention all crew of the Talavara. This is not a drill. Report to your quarters and secure your doors. I repeat, this is not a drill." Turning to Dax, her eyes were wild. "If they are all in their crew quarters, we can defend those. Let's go."

Sena dashed from the bridge, a fire in her eyes and her lightsaber's hilt in hand. It seems that it would be time to put some of her training to use. Since Dax had begun to train her on Won Shasot, Sena had little actual use of her training, trying to gather her power before venturing to any dangerous situation. But it seems that danger had come to her. As Sena rushed to the area of the ship that bottle-necked into the quarters, her crew all rushed with her. At least she had their loyalty. But that might not be enough to fend off the potential fiends that threatened her crew.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"Wait, [member="Sena"]!" Dax called after the woman as she rushed off to face the boarders. Fighting these things head on wouldn't work. The blasted things were the very manifestation of the Dark Side of the Force. Locking yourself behind a door? Well, that really wouldn't help you...But trying to fight them? That could only make things worse. And Dax would know.

The haunting scream began to resound in Dax's head, the noice driving Dax to his knees once again...Hollowness was beginning to creep in to Dax's soul. A void as the starweird sucked the life from him, it outstretched hand seemingly gathering a fog. His lightsaber was useless, as was the blasters and slugthrower. Every cell in Dax's body screamed out, the life being wrenched from them mercilessly...

The memory sat fresh in the man's mind, despite it having happened years ago. To say that had been a rough day would've been an understatement. And the Rogue was not exactly keen on repeating the incident. And yet here he was, running after his apprentice, most certainly to attempt to fight not just one, but several Starweirds. Oh this was going to be great....

 

[Sena]

My first duty is to my crew. All of these men and women are relying on me. Sena sprinted, her long legs pushing her at great distances with the Force putting even more strength into her. This ship had become hers. The crew hers. She felt responsible for everything to do with the Talavara. Sena didn't look back to see if Dax was following her. She knew that he would be behind her, despite having longer strides, he was stronger in the Force. That didn't stop Sena from putting all of her might into getting to the hall that held all of the doors to the various barracks. The hall was a dead end, which made a choke point for the invaders.

Sena ensured that all of her crew was safe inside the doors. The ship fell silent. All non-essential systems had been shut down. "Dax," she breathed quietly. "Dax, this may be a bigger threat than we are able to handle. But I must do everything in my power to prevent my crew from coming to harm. I ask you to help me fight these things. Whatever they are." Sena's lightsaber had made it to her hand and the bright white blade shone out, shinning on the dull grey metal that almost looked like stone. Somewhere in the ship, a good distance away, she heard an awful noise.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"You say that like I wasn't already planning on it." the Master replied, only a slight pant in in his breath and he stared down the hall where the spectral beings would inevitably appear. Unlike his apprentice, Dax hadn't bothered drawing his saber. His last experience with the space ghosts telling him only the Force worked on their incorporeal forms. A sentiment he voiced, "You realize these things don't exactly have a physical body right? Saber's ain't gonna do chit to them."

Fire and lightning crackled together in the palms of Dax's hands, his fingers sparking with stray arcs of electricity while his hands appeared to be consumed by fire, despite them being unharmed. As the first cry of the stairweirds resonated through the hall, the Rogue's skin began to crawl and a chill crept up his spine. The extent to which Dax hated these things could not be expressed in words.

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Sena took a deep breath, letting the Force that was woven into the ship flood through her senses. She felt them more clearly now. There were indeed five of them. And they were close. A sense of dread took Sena, filling her mind with thoughts of death and decay. She looked around the gray, stone-like walls of the hall they stood in. This will not be my tomb. This is NOT my last fight. Sena did her best to give herself courage. Courage to be the woman that she had to be for all of the lives depending on her. The lights in the hall flickered. Some of them went out and stayed out, the hall lost much of its light and became eerie. Sena's blade still glowed bright.

A sound touched Sena's ears that made her sense of dread shoot up even higher. "Dax..." she said, the sound of metal scraping metal rising. "That doesn't sound normal." As she finished speaking, five figures appeared in the door way. Sena instantly noticed where the sound was coming from. Each of the starweirds held a massive, two handed sword, inscribed with runes. "They're walking," she whispered almost inaudibly. The creatures, which had been know to float where standing, solidly on two feet. Their bodies were plated in ancient looking, metal armor. They were all together terrifying.

Then they screamed. All of them. All at once. Sena's head exploded with fear. But even as they screamed, Sena, with trembling hands, rose her lightsaber up to a defensive position. Once the scream ended, Sena, said to no one in particular, "I think our lightsabers may be useful this time."

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax stared at the infernal things in a mixture of confusion, dismay, and excitement. They could cut these fethers to pieces! But at the same time they could cut them to pieces! The latter fact only became stronger when the five creatures began to scream. Their cry pervaded the air and forced Dax to cover his ears, the high pitched keen threatening to burst his eardrums. In response to Sena's comment about sabers being useful, a distinctive roaring hum burst to life as the white light that filled the hall now mixed with a pale orange. "Yeah, I think they might."

A quick twirl of his blade and Dax rushed in. The five starweirds readied their blades and as soon as Dax was in range, attempted to attack. The Rogue ducked beneath the first strike and lashed out at the nearest of them, only narrowly missing. Another strike went for the Rogue and he parried it aside, stabbing towards the one who had attacked.

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Two of the starweirds broke off from Dax's attention and came to Sena. Moving to meet them, Sena parried the strike of the foremost. The blades looked ancient and rusted but they held her blade as well as another lightsaber. She danced around the first of her opponents and quickly gave a strike to the second. With one hand, it moved the massive blade in front of hers. It was almost as if their movements were lazy. They seemed to be bored with the fight. This made Sena press harder. Her blade was smaller and much more nimble, she gave a fury of quick strikes, hoping to out-pace the larger creatures. But they matched her every blow.

Why aren't they fighting back? All they're doing is just blocking my strikes. With a flourish, Sena backed off of her opponents, eyeing the both of them. They looked right back, white hair floating despite the gravity generators in the ship. They stood, unmoving. Sena stared at them, neither of the two parties moving. Abruptly, they both charged at her, pushing her toward the entry way of the hall, where Dax was engaged with the others. One of her two opponents hit her and she went flying, unable to move out of the way in time. Sena slammed against the wall, her saber flying from her hand. Her species bones were strong, a lot stronger than most, but she felt hers crack. Her head was slammed against the wall, and stars came in her eyes. Slowly, the two starweirds raised their blades as they closed the distance between them.

"Dax!"

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax felt Sena's cry through the Force before he heard it. Force Bonds were like that sometimes. A powerful Force push sent the three the Master had engaged flying through the air. Rushing over to where Sena was pinned to the wall, Dax barely made it in time, swiping away the strikes of the two necrotic creatures and forced himself between them and his apprentice. The next strikes were aimed at Dax, one aimed at his mid riff, the other to cleave him in half. The Rogue swung his arm around to deflect the blow aimed at his stomach first, and in one fluid arching movement, brought the glowing orange blade up to block the crushing downward blow. The force behind the strike was immense, and Dax buckled slightly beneath it, falling to his knees. A loud crack and brief cry of pain echoed through the halls of the Talavarra as the starweird's blade bit into Dax's shoulder and fracturing his collar bone from the shear power of the blow. The only thing that had stopped the creature from taking Dax's entire arm was his attempting to push back.

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Through hazy eyes, Sena watched it all unfold. Dax was to her in almost an instant. And then the crunch. She heard the sound of the blade bury itself into Dax's shoulder. And the worst part was she felt it. The pain pushed her over the edge. As she started to drift into unconsciousness, Sena felt a drop of liquid on her face. The scent of blood exploded in her sensitive nose. The darkness of unconsciousness flew away. Ya'iri...I will not fail you again. Her thoughts went to the day that she met Dax. In that forest on the lonely planet, Won Shasot. Her eyes filled with the blood of Ya'iri.

An explosion of Force came from her, knocking back the starweirds a considerable distance. "Not again." A white blade shot out of her lightsaber, which had flown back to her hand, and she dashed in toward the nearest of her enemies. It had already recovered and was making to strike at her. She dodged the strike and shoved her lightsaber in the chest of the beast, the blade coming out somewhere in the back of its neck. The starweird gave a loud yell, even more terrifying than the first chorus of screams. But Sena was beyond their reach. "SILENCE!" she yelled, drawing her blade down the center of the being, leaving it nearly in two pieces.

The next starweird was on her in an instant. It took a swing at her neck, and Sena shot her lightsaber up, pushing the sword to the side. A flash of white and her lightsaber sheered through the being. There was no blood. Not too long after she killed each of the starweirds, they simply dissipated. The third and fourth starweirds did the same thing. This one was just as large, just as menacing, but it had been watching the whole time. It had watched her move. It had learned how she fought. They went blow for blow, strike after strike. Even though the starweird had the strength to move the gigantic blade, it was still awkward and couldn't move nearly as well as Sena. She moved in closer, allowing no distance between them. Two more strikes and the last of them floated away.

One of the doors to the barracks opened, eyes peered out into the silent hall just as Sena collapsed to the floor. One of the crew rush toward her. "You're gonna be okay, we will get you guys to the medbay." Sena's eyes closed and the black surrounded her. This time she let it happen.