Dev City of Jade

[Sawa Ike]

"She wasn't always like this." Sawa said it while she was moving and her attention was on the walls in the rooms. She hadn't gone into the one with Ni-Ne but she could hear everything... barely having to speak above normal speech with the way sound traveled down here. "There was... there was a time when she was kind. That was how I met her, my father brought us to court, he and the emperor are friends from childhood. Some people have said they were more at one time but they always seem to imply that when anyone doesn't just use someone." She said it but was looking around the alcoves finding a few things here and there, pieces of armor mostly.

"I was being brought to learn about what was happening to see our families at work. The Emperor insisted that we play together and spend time together. It would keep Midori from acting out if she had to stay proper." She said it though holding a piece of armor and it looked like a skirt but it was a kama for protecting the backs of their legs and sides. "So I was a companion at first, supposed to make sure no one visited her bed or was untowards with her.... I just didn't realize she liked well... that she preferred." Sawa felt herself blushing to say it and she had been surprised with herself enjoying it or wanting to admit it to herself.

Sawa was looking at the armor though where she could check it out. A smile though when she came into the room looking at Ni-Ne as she spoke. "I know it might not sound the most interesting. Sawa was looking at all of them though with a small grin on her face though to it. She wanted to know more about Ni-Ne and moved into her room looking at the books. "Though why they chose us, why they sent us I can only guess at. My mother sent a message with KayOne that things were dangerous, there had been attacks across the planet from people opposed to meeting outsiders. This could get us out of Kuramagi in case someone was looking to attack... Midori is also leaving."

Sawa stopped though looking at her and she came closer to Ni-Ne while she was looking around at everythign they had here... with a smile on her face though when she thought about it. "There are so many things here.. I do not know what we might be able to find. This old armor, the equipment here is something that we can see though and this lighting.. I have never seen it before." She checked out a few things though holding up a dagger with a jewel in the hilt, there was an armored kama she could wear over her kimono to protect herself and parts of it were padded for the butt to ride in a saddle. She was checking out a few other things around them.

Sawa was looking at her though as she explained a little more maybe.. she was uncertain. "I mean we are from to houses that have been around for a long time right? We are skilled and with a long standing traditions. It makes sense that the emperor would trust us." Sawa said it while checking out some of the other areas where they could go. She wanted to move them when she was going to the bridge of stone there over the ocean then getting to the other side where she could feel a few other things. The breeze and scent of salt air was there for them to scent. Sawa was looking around as the doors leadingi nto other sections of the mountains depicted murals.

Sawa was watching some of them with a grin on her face from the glow rods. "These are murals from the unification wars, Kuramagi fortress was able to hold out because it could come here through the mountain and the supplies were large. It has the Dragon's Gates, narrow passes that make an armies numbers a disadvantage.... and here." She pointed showing the twin graves both being honored with the prince and woman being wed. "The daughter of Shoma the last warlord and the pearl prince were wed to honor their parents courage. The empire was formed from the two of them and his brother began the Yovshin."

Sawa had a smile on her face though as they were stanind in a hallway displaying history and everything that they would be able to do with it. She wanted to see some of the parts as the massive dragon's gates were there. Thick, powerful with layers of metal and wood. Spikes as well as tracks they would be needed to use as she started to try and work the mechanism's to open it. She wasn't able to get it fully opened but partialy enough for them to get through and close it back up. The breeze coming from the mountains was more then enough as she could see one of the yovshin statues there at the doors opposite a statue of Taito.

"There are forty seven of these statues.. well supposedly forty eight if you believe the mother joined herself to the vigil... and taito who led all of the clans across the mountains." SHe could see some other parts and in the distance there was the pale reflection in the light of the corpse city. WHite stone against the black and grey high in the mountains. Sawa stood there looking up and she couldn't see above the mountains themselves. "It is like going to Seito.... I could never see the entire palace but once I was up there you could look out across the entire mountain range and se whte walls and villages, my ancestors tomb and the great gates."

 

[Nine Lives]

Ni-Ne listened as [member="Sawa Ike"] explained things between her and Midori. So it had only gotten bad later, eh? Ni-Ne thought it unfortunate, but tried to ignore The Blood Tiger in her whispering of Midori's unworthiness. About how Sawa deserved better.

Her sweet voice filled the last daughter of The Li-Ves with a strange longing she had no idea how to address, because of the slowly encroaching doom upon Atrisia. The nightmare she had of the burning land filled her with a cold dread, for she had a gut feeling if she failed it would become real. If only the Sacred Ancestor wasn't a factor. If only...if only.

When Sawa explained Midori was leaving as well as the attacks, Ni-Ne wondered how suspect that explanation was. 'People opposed to working with outsiders' was a lot more palatable to the authorities than 'Dead people missing their shadows'. But the info that Midori was leaving told her the rats were gonna try and jump ship. Something big was coming. Something bad. She could feel it.

Sawa then went through, examining a dagger and talking about the equipment in this chamber. Ni-Ne felt bad...horrible for how she was about to involve Sawa. It was a sick guilt that hung with the future vampire as she followed the woman she had a crush on but didn't know how to admit to herself except to say Midori was not worthy of a person that sweet and beautiful repeatedly as she absently went through the chamber, pausing and kneeling down, finding an old Atrisian Karambit with a synthetic grip. She slipped it into her blood red robes, following Sawa out of the creepy chamber that had just happened to have black arts spellbooks in the vicinity. She dared not pick them up. That way led to madness. As Sawa suggested they were picked because they were from two ancient families, Ni-Ne had to disagree: They were picked because they were expendable. Ni-Ne's lineage was on the way out and nobody in the Emperor's court would even notice an academy prefect biting it. In all likelihood, they had been sent to make it seem like the academy was doing something about the attacks. But if the Emperor really gave a damn he would have sent troops through here, with his own, hand picked investigators. That or he was planning to dispatch them both specifically for reasons Ni-Ne could only surmise as him about to 'clean house'.

She followed Sawa across the stone bridge of this strange land within the aegis of a mountain atop her horse. The sea breeze was starting to get to her, for it might be the last time she'd experience it on Atrisia. They reached the other side, and Ni-Ne took a look at the murals Sawa showed her, explaining the history of the formation of the Yovshin.

Ni-Ne's eyes fell on one very ancient mural, depicting the founder of The Li-Ves, Kain Li. It was full color, and depicted the ancient warrior's history.

On the farthest end of the mural it showed the preist maidens of the Li clan finding him on the beach, washed ashore with a ring of flaming wreckage around him. The mystery of Kain, first among the Li Clan's murderers, and who he had been and what he had been doing before he washed ashore, had never been answered. A question whose answer was lost to time. Kain had not been a particularly bloody man, even when for all intents and purposes he was a glorified assassin...the Mural showed Kain's notorious preference for a silenced, double barreled rifle-pistol, its bullets shooting enemies of the clan, clad in sky-blue Ashigaru armor with white boots and gloves, a black eyepatch over his left eye. He hadn't wanted to team up with Ga-In at the end, even when it was the best option left for his Clan's future...but he had done so, and as she went along the journey the mural depicted, it showed the results of Kain's clan staying loyal to her as among her top vassels later in the war. It showed him standing alone, surrounded by mountains of dead in the final battle of the wars, his clan fallen all around him. His armor torn and ravaged, bleeding everywhere. They'd made him a Colonel in a posthumous fashion after he had disappeared into the lands of the Horse Lords, having snapped completely from survivors guilt. They'd assumed he had died. But the truth had been much stranger. Ni-Ne wasn't sure exactly if the next parts were true, though even the histories in her own library swore up and down on the validity, almost like their own writers were desperately trying to say "I chit you not, this actually happened."

Kain had spent the next decade or so running through the mysterious lands of the Horse Lords in a state of screaming insanity while completely naked, wielding a large claymore. Anything that tried to mess with him died, the books had taken great relish in pointing out. The mural did a rather good job of depicting this part, showing the naked Kain butchering scores of abominations and Horse Lords atop a hill on fire, pools of blood around him as he strangled something that looked suspiciously like a rakghoul with one hand, while scores of other creatures that looked like Ancient Terenta and Horse Lord Assassins storming the top of the hill where he was, one assassin already impaled through the head by his claymore. The next part depicted him brutally conquering the Ves Clan, who guarded a lake of strange black fire, with the help of a hooded woman wielding two Force Sabers. He was depicted first crashing into the ancient Ves compound from above riding what looked like an archaic motorcycle, firing a laser pistol while screaming in rage at an appropriately awestruck-looking number of the deadly, black garbed killers, transition to a scene of him charging into a group of the sword wielding Ves, knocking them into the air while his fist crashed into the face of the Ves Chieftain, garbed in black, thick horse hide armored robes, his face covered by a ceremonial red tiger mask, wielding a giant double headed battle axe. His lover, the hooded Luci Ves, cut down her own as everyone battled for the lake of black fire. He was still naked. The last part showed the formation of the Li-Ves clan, all the assassins with the sole exception of the hooded Luci bowing to a still naked Kain...who was celebrating by tearing a rakghoul like creature in half with his bare hands while a gigantic red Lion nearby cowered in fear of him.

As her own clan's historians had put it, Kain Li never stopped being awesome, even to the day he died. It gave her some hope that if Kain could solo the Horse Lords naked, she could bring down the Sacred Ancestor.

It never really occured to her up to that point, but that meant Ni-Ne herself must have Horse Lord blood in her. A famously unyielding people. Another source for courage, if not pride.

Ni-Ne spent a while admiring the other murals, though she did not point out Kain's to Sawa, prefering to let the actions depicted speak for themselves as she followed Ike through the hall, imagining playing with and combing that long black hair of Sawa's for a bit before they came upon the large, massive dragon gates, Sawa cleverly working the mechanism so they could get through, Ni-Ne guiding both their horses in after, petting hers. The dead city looming over them like a necrotic sentinel, guarded by the living sea and the mountain. She got a cold chill, and the silence reminded her of Atrisia's doom.

Ni-Ne dismounted her horse, and looked at Sawa as she explained what lay ahead.

Ni-Ne decided now was as good a time as any.

"Sawa..." Ni-Ne said, drawing close, smelling the jasmine scent and the sea breeze intermingling.

"Sawa...remember what Midori told you? About my mother's ship? Its not just any old command ship. Its called The Sacred Ancestor, And in less than a month it will arrive. Its a prototype warship...Mother referred to it by a term she heard from an off-worlder--a 'Star Destroyer'. My father believes when it arrives, it will attempt to destroy Atrisia...and I need your help to stop it..."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

She was looking at it all from the images to the scene in front of them and she heard Ni-Ne as she turned to look at the girl... at her face and this was something different. She was giving her her confidence. THe first instinct was for her to go over to her and wrap her arms around her. If her mother was ocming to be a danger and attack them it could be a major risk... it could be a problem for everyone. So she did it.. she moved forward and looked at Ni-Ne rising up onto the horse they could use and she just spoke. "It will be okay, we will figure it out. The ship won't be here for a month after all and we have each other... We'll find our way back yes?"

She said it watching her and watching everything that was around them in the mountains now. Where she could check it out. She was looking over Ni-Ne's shoulder and motioned for them just letting herself breathe in the scent of her. Perfumes, sweat, skin... all of it intermingling when her voice came out. "I will be here for you, I want to help you and if there is anything Ni-Ne please let me. We are being sent out but that doesn't mean we can't work together towards a goal or purpose. We have a long ride and there will be a whole lot of things to talk about aside from just getting to know you... or me... or trying to figure out why I have the urge to want to possibly hold your hand."

Sawa was thinking about it and her mind flashed, in the span of a breath she was seeing something and didn't know what to think. She was kneeling in the center of a room, wooden panels, painted with images and designs. THick waxy paper windows that let light in and allowed it to see like a normal room but it was uncomfortably hot. Her skin having that wet sticky quality where it was humid in the air and everything felt like a syrup. Her black hair was hot and had been cleaned with a black oil she knew was used. To make it straighter, black it more reflective and regal looking. Her hands on her hips, the kimono was thick and breathed in the heat but she was still unsure what to do.

Then just like that she was back int he moment, back to sitting with Ni-Ne and her friend had confided within her about her mother. It only seemed right that she be honest as well from the back of the horse she spoke. "THere is something I need to tell you as well." She thought about how best to say it and was starting to try and ride on the horse TO get them at least started into the canyons and along the trails as the mountains seemed at first desolate and quiet. THe wind going through the tall grass, the smells of trees and flowers all around them. "I am not completely unaware of your mother... Midori wasn't the first one top tell me."

She had said it and thinking about it. "My mother works as an investigator for the emperor she sent me K1 with a message that something was happening and the Sacred Ancestor had been brought up. SOmething that wasn't going to be completely official or known. So she wanted me to investigate and try to find out all I could about it." She said it and didn't know how to take it back when she was waiting for something to happen. Midori would have been verbally violent towards her with this sort of information but Ni-Ne seemed the sort to hold thoughts and grudges maybe... she was kinder and more tender... if that was the best word.

Her mind flashed again and she felt different, stronger more at peace as it were.. she didn't know what to feel when there was somethign stirring in her arm. One hand curled up and under her head in the back as she rested on it. THe tingling sensation where it was asleep but she smelled something. A different scent that was foreign and familar at the same time. Her other hand was above something the skin tight and toned, She looked at her head and she could tell it was a her... something strange as the faintness of it was there and kissing the back of her neck before she looked up at the sky above them. It was all different.... the stars were in different places.

her mind came back and she pulled herself in a little closer as the horse was walking slowly but carefully. A breeze had come through the mountains as the shadows around them seemed to grow longer and colder. The sounds of wind moving through caves and rocks almost sounded like chimes witht he wind. A natural musical note but she wrapped her arms around the waist of Ni-ne. "Ni-Ne... do you ever... have strange dreams? Of yourself but in other places, worlds with different skies, with people or things... Monstrous, beautiful and different." She said it while looking around with her eyes flicking but she imagined nuzzling and kissing the back of her neck.

 

[Nine Lives]

Ni-Ne felt a weight lift off her chest when [member="Sawa Ike"] said she would help her. And then her stomach fluttered when the innocent woman said she wanted to hold her hand. It was that moment Ni-Ne realized--and admitted silently to herself--just how badly she wanted Sawa. But oh, what a terrible time for this...

Sawa then told her she had been given orders herself. Ni-Ne could only, smile, grasping Ike's hand.

"You cannot imagine how...relieved I am that I was not the only one on his trail..." Ni-Ne spoke quietly, still grasping Sawa's hand as they rode on horseback together through the natural valley of rock, Atrisian bamboo growing in tightly clustered chutes above them.

"But there is a catch...we have to break into a high security section of the Academy itself...the Academy we are getting farther away from by the second...and even if we succeed, we still have to figure out a way from the schematics to destroy the vessel, and then we actually have to find a way to get aboard the vessel itself to do it when it arrives..."

Sawa asked a question, and Ni-Ne had to give it some thought.

"I had a nightmare not long ago...it was Atrisia...the Jade City was burning. And everywhere I looked, there were corpses...corpses missing their shadows. And this...black figure...in a hooded Kimono, with a toothed katana...saying Atrisia deserves it..." she admitted.

"I fear its a vision of things to come if we fail...and when I got this double edged foreign sword from that Jedi we spotted when we first met...I kinda put two..."

Ni-Ne paused, a sense of terrible danger all around her but she couldn't see why...she reigned in the horse.

"Sawa...get off the horse..." the last daughter of The Li-Ves trailed. "We aren't safe..."

On instinct her hand reached up into the sky for reasons that made no sense, only that it clenched shut as she felt a whistle of the wind hit her fingers. She felt something thin and solid in her grip and realized she had caught an arrow milliseconds before it would have pierced Sawa's skull.

Cold, black fury at her crush being attacked brought out the Blood Tiger in Ni-Ne and she drew Thousand-Handed Titan, its crimson steel gleaming in the faint light of the valley as she leapt impossibly high, higher than any human should have been able to leap at the chute cluster. She didn't know how she was doing it, just that she had drawn both swords in mid-air and looked totally rad to any witnesses as she plunged both into the chutes of bamboo, sending geysers of blood everywhere as she killed the hidden bandit in black cloth armor, who had been nocking another arrow as he was torn in half by her swords.

That strange danger sense amplified as she saw dozens of bandits rappeling down from the cliffs above, and she made that impossible leap into the air as she beheaded and bisected a man, not having time to process that she had just killed her second person ever. They had attacked Sawa. They would die...

Ni-Ne landed on the ground, immediately putting to work her master swordsmanship, parrying the lazy crude attack of a heavyset bandit and disemboweling him with her vibrosword. She wheeled around and easily cut in half a man who was trying to bring down a battle axe. She cut off his arms, dodging the weapon and the limbs as they fell and as the bandit dropped to his knees, spraying blood on her and everywhere else, she executed him with what her family called a "Glorious Kill", impaling him through his head with her vibrosword, the blade passing through flesh without effort.

"SAWA!" Ni-Ne shouted as more surrounded her. She began parrying, dodging, defending with both blades, adhering to the tenants of her family sword styles...both of them. She cleaved into another man, ruthlessly butchering him, annointed in blood as so many in her bloodline had before her. She had finally joined her brothers in glory...

And it was more horrifying than anything she could have imagined...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

THe moment... the strangeness of it. Sawa could feel it in her head and in her chest as her vision narrowed almost becoming mute except to the sound of Ni-Ne who was fighting before she was biting her lower lip. Focusing on the feeling of the woman on the horse in front of herself, the movement up and down as they walked and it felt like an eternity was stretched out before them. Her mind processing each milisecond into a minute, an hour a day. She didn't have family or friends, or problems just this right here, just this sensation of the woman holding her hand... talking with her. The puffiness and shine to her lips, the curves in the clothing... her.

THen something was coming and her instincts kicked in a danger sense that was overwhelming as Ni-Ne moved and lept from the horse moving impossibly fast and jumping high. Sawa moved herself, she knew how to fight but she dodged another attack by sliding to the side on the horse and slipping off into a cartwheel so she could draw her sword. The gleam of it as she moved quickly and to the bamboo as she fought with one of the other bandits. The man was not eviscerated as Ni-Ne was doing but they threatened her.. they threatened Ni-Ne and her but she wasn't violent like this. Moving quickly and methodically as she sliced into his calf and heel to make him fall to the ground face first.

From the small incline fo the hill watching them, where they could check it out and she saw two females who they had thought would be easy pickings here alone. It brought a wicked smirk to her face and she didn't move down yet instead sending her men. It wasn't a great idea but it did give her a chance to well cull the ranks that were getting a little to ambitious. The grin on her face though while she ran a finger along her bow string giving it a small twang. The light catching the arrow when she took it from the quiver. Then strung it watching the two fo them move, her eyes flicking back and forth to watch Ni-Ne but it wasn't a simple arrow.

Sawa herself was moving quickly and she could fel it in her body. a rush of energy that made her perception that had been dedicated to focusing solely on Ni-Ne was now solely focused on the people around them. TO protect each other as she moved into position next to her and held Musashi the blade itself gleaming from the energies coursing through it and it was connected with her. Connected with her family on a level she had rarely seen before she came to stand back to back with Ni-Ne and looked to see her. Take in the sight of this beautiful woman who was moving with agility and grace... a vicious madness borne of... of .... she didn't know if she could say it while moving.

"Behind you." THere was another, thickly muscled and armored as he moved and almost seemed to be charging them down. Whcih... a charge from him she could believe would crush them in his armor... but they could dodge here. He wasn't faster then them while the gleam of two standing on the hill came to her. One was pale with black hair and a bow. Smaller but she could make it out, the curves of it game it far more power then others thought or for bows larger then it. Making it far more dangerous, the other was... was an Oni, she could see her dark skin her blade curved and hair in thick braids. The kimono she was wearing was darker then the grey of the mountain.

Sawa was moving quickly as she willed and tried to speak to warn Ni-Ne that they were being watched but didn't want to alert the ones that she had seen them out loud. THe corner of her eye was important before she was moving. On the hill Hagukure looked on with Kirena and smirked. Her voice coming out almost sweet like. "THey have talent and skill, we could take them for hostage... blades like those mean some sort of wealth or they stole them and that is why they are out here." She spoke holding the sickle like blade up meant for riding but it also allowed for dangerous fighting if you really worked on it. The bandit leader with her bow.

She was admiring them and changed the arrows, instead going with one that had a package on a larger string and was meant to drip coming up short. The sleep dust would paralyze their bodies for a time and make them want to sleep as the Oni next to her nodded having a small grin on her face. "THey could be but they are a little wild... you'd have to break them in first and that could take a while. I don't know if we'd have the time or people to do it?" Her question and statement was more just repeating what they knew as another of their men fell to a blade. Holding back a little she fired the arrow and a pull string on the bow loosened and drew away the thread until the dust was descending to coat the area.

 

[Nine Lives]

Thousand-Handed Titan cleaved through the helmet of a bandit, continuing to travel down his body, until he came apart, and [member="Sawa Ike"] was at her side, her own blade tingling with a strange power as Ni-Ne struggled to understand the powerful emotion that had made her butcher multiple people in less than a minute, all to protect Sawa. All to save Atrisia from The Sacred Ancestor.

All to protect Sawa...

The Blood Tiger, spotting the charge of the armored brute, and broke into a charge without hesitating at the armored brute. Her vibrosword swung first, the strange tech that made it slice through materials almost without effort cut into the midsection of the armor, spilling blood and entrails, as her crimson katana's point was jammed into his visor. She didnt stop moving, engaging another bandit who got near her and decided to be brave. His death was both humiliating, in that he literally lost his hands in the first three seconds, and painful, in that he would be left to bleed out in the canyon, watching Ni-Ne zip to another, attacking with both swords before skewering her newest opponent as everything went black.

The dust cloud was quick acting, but not so quick that Ni-Ne couldn't cut one more bandit's head off before becoming completely paralyzed and unable to move, feeling the overwhelming urge to sleep, her last thoughts not of Atrisia, but of Sawa...

Later on...


Ni-Ne's sleep was again troubled, haunted by the vision of a burning Atrisia, the shadowy, hooded woman with the jagged edge Katana calling out and proclaiming Atrisia's damnation...

They wrote their own ticket. the black hooded one with the golden dots for eyes proclaimed as Ni-Ne ran from her in the dream through black burning woods, the smell of ozone everywhere, until she stopped at a sea of corpses without shadows, Sawa amongst them...

The golden ship that hovered over the burning city of jade began to glow brightly as Ni-Ne fell to her knees.

"SAWA!" Ni-Ne shouted as she awoke from her nightmare. She was chained to a wall and could not see ahead of her. It was so dark. How long had she been unconscious? Every hour spent here was another hour given to The Sacred Ancestor to arrive unimpeded.

"Sawa! Sawa, are you there?" Ni-Ne called , cold with dread at Sawa's status. The bandits had taken them alive.

She felt a building sense of panic. If she was held here until the Sacred Ancestor arrived...everyone was doomed...

"SAWA!" she called out desperately.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

She felt it, the first pulls of slep and her body protesting as Sawa looked at the dust.. then at Ni-Ne when she heard her. "Ni-Ne." Her body gave way as she collapsed to the ground, fingers stiff and locked around the hilt of her sword... then sweet oblivion and blackness as she stood there. Shadows all around her, thoughts jumbled and murky before she felt something on her. Hands and looked up at a large being carrying her off. THey had both of them and she went back to sleep as her dreams came in bursts. Off in the distance she thought she could hear Ni-Ne screaming her name, smell the scent of burning world... feel something slightering in the dark.

Meanwhile her dream came and she was back at court standing there. She was listening to the affairs of office with her father who had insisted she and her sisters learn it all. THe first thing up for business was the arrival of the jedi and Republic. This far into the deeper core as they said it presented them with a number of new things. THe girl with the older man had been confronted by him. Standing tall, standing there on the other side of the honor screen. The artwork being used to obscure the females of court. Her sisters were with her.. listening, her eyes drifting to the other court ladies who were around them.

Sawa woke up with the sound of her voice, thoughts about Dante... that had been his name and much like the Republic envoy and the jedi he had come with the promises of working together.. of having the galaxy open to them. A different type though and he had met her previously though she had not admitted it... nor would she tell him. Her mind shifted to the room and it was darker at first but then she felt it on her face, a rough sensation against her cheek as she moved her head to the side and managed to scrap the bag off of her head. THe room wasn't much better or well lit, a small flame in the one side as she could see Ni-Ne and struggled at her bidnings to try and get to her.

"Ni-Ne....." Her throat was raw and dry, the words coming out more like a croak before she was moving or something swas. The snapping of something when she flung her arm forward and then a sharp pain in her arm. The wall gave way after but she yelped in pain being able to free one arm and then pulled herself as close as she could to Ni-Ne on the ground. Her other hand still in the chain when the sounds of movement brought her attention around. THere was another here somewhere in another cell and she moved to join them. THe brief flash of pale painted flesh told her that much as least when she spoke. "Hello."

THe words came out and Sawa kept pulling to try and get closer as she reached out and managed to brush her shoulder then the wall was being smashed and she managed to get free enough to wrap her arms around the girls shoulders. Touching her, feeling that contact and something buzzed in her head... like electricity in her stomach that went to the back of her mind as she moved so the two of them were in a corner of the room, protected on nearly all sides with Sawa just holding her. The floor covered in dirt and slick with mud before she was looking at the other woman in the cell next to them. She didn't need to speak but Sawa knew her.. or of her.

"She is a Hana." She had heard tell of these legendary warriors the Jade Empress herself had fought against them and managed to win their respect. The Hana were curious fighters from the history books, females all of them as the males were few and far between with the strongest, the richest, the most deadly staying back to oversee the city. THeir sons and heirs protected while other males were gelded and turned into slaves. The strongest ones made to fight in an arena for amusement while the females of the city defended it outside in forts with their weapons and mystical skills. THis one she could feel something from her as the woman finally spoke and stood next to the cell bars.

THe woman was tall and well muscled with painted skin as the Hana marking swirled and defined her muscles. Going across her entire body and one other thing she knew about the Hana they were big on no armor or obstructions from their movement. Using magic to stay warm and cool, they were all tattooed for each victory getting another until they were painted from head to toe and they were into piercings with riches or displays that they have taken different prizes, won honors. Sawa was looking at it with a look on her face though while she was hearing Ni-Ne's presence in the force itself. She just remained there with Ni-Ne.

"We're going to be..." SHe trailed off as the voice of the Hana came out and she was stnading there to watch them. Her hair colored red from dyes but it was large and massive. "You will not be, they will use you for entertainment and likely sell you to slavers. I have heard the Imperial court loves young girls for their houses." THe Hana grinned with sort of a sneer and Sawa was watching her before she looked at Ni-Ne if they were going to well complete their task, save Atrisia from her mother and try to figure out why they were well like this.... the two fo them really needed to work on it and they needed to get out of here.

She wasn't certain how much time they had let pass but eventualy someone came to take them, two of them both with weapons and.. soap... oils. THey took the pair to a small area of the river they had made with braziers and heated sections to turn the chilling river water into steamy showers. Making sure they were clean and presentable as silk kimono's were provided and Sawa got a real chance to look at their camp. COmpared to others that were made for being packed this one had been set up within the mountains to stay. Sections sealed off and protected so that it could be isolated and defended from predators.

The shacks were mostly made to be repaired quickly and housed women and children. Sawa could see some of them while urn s were being presented to the people. She looked at the carts loaded with grains and food then towards what amounted to a shrine as it had several of the goddesses from Jei.... "Those are." She said it staying close to Ni-Ne, arm around hers to try and make sure they woudln't get taken away or separated. She checked out the shrine though and could see some of the legendary statues of the goddess and her 'children' lovers it was a very hard story to understand as in theory their myths about creation involved the goddess birthing the lands, streams, oceans and rivers that formed from her children.

"That is Izanyazi the goddess of creation and love." She had a better idea and was looking at some of the others, servants who were around... lay members before she checked out it. "But... but the Jade Emrpess killed all of them." Someone overheard it as they spoke and she was standing there walking. "She tried and mostly succeeded but we have been reborn across the world many times." She said it and was walking off as the sounds from the rooms around the shrine came on the wind before the stone doors closed. Sawa was looking and had been able to spy flesh and people. "I do not know if this is going to be good."

THere were other signs she could see the bandits weren't well run of the mill though she had been guessing that when they went up the small hill and were able to overlook the small shanty town and shrine. Sitting around a fire were the two women she had seen on the hill. Lounging, servants around them as they brought food and drinks. Sawa felt some heat to her cheeks while the leader and she could see that from her having the largest attending slave girls, pile of gold and there was their weapons near her feet. "Welcome." She spoke and looked up while tapping one of the servants to the side of her. The Oni who sat next to her looked up.

"See they clean up nice." She had her blade but was only partially looking at them. A few others were around, mostly it looked like servants. "This is the Lady Higagshino of the Keisei formerly now she is your master. If she tells either of you to move you can assure yourself it is with my orders." THe Keisei woman was dressed fully, Sawa could see it, the kimono of silk that matched the ones they had to wear, the make up, the small book at her side, the black hair and even the scent of exotic spices and oils..... but Sawa could feel unease from her, she wasn't formerly anything really she was a captive liek they were and doing what she did.

THe servants around seemed to pause for a moment and she pushed the one away, the girl went to her side and finally she moved standing up and leaving her kimono open enough to expose bare flesh at her legs and stomach. SMall scars from fighting, burns and her long hair when the words came out and she spoke. "You two killed a lot of my men, their families wanted your blood but I convinced them sending you on a suicide mission would be a lot more useful.. the same mission their husbands would have been on." Sawa watched her for... something... anything a sign of something dangerous but all she got from her was pride and arrogant posturing.

"Now what am I going to do with you, we were going to attack that academy, it has taken time but we have a way over the wall, we have the means to take several of them for new servants to sell in some of the flesh markets but now there is a crimp in my plans.... two girls have killed my men and worse still they are looking so green I doubt I could have much enjoyment from either of you." So come on, tell me what is so important that I shouldn't just kill you and not bother wasting my time?" She spoke while standing in front of them and moving as the others went with her a slave girl on either arm and Sawa was observing everything she could.

Her hand instinctively almost reached down to Ni-Ne's trying to find some form of comfort and it was obvious this woman was strong she kep tthe others in line with fear it seemed for the ones who were armed and defending her or keeping the slaves around and she scared or from some of the sounds. Enticed and had the slaves enjoy their position. She was thinking about what they needed to do and getting out of here alive was the only way to do it before she was speaking. "Well you could ransom us off, we are very valuable to a family in the Kansai privince." A destination and the Keisei tilted her head up listening to it mentioned.

 

[Nine Lives]

Nothing helped with the nightmare she had just hand, even the arms of [member="Sawa Ike"] wrapping around her, which was nothing to sneeze at.

Sawa asked if they were going to complete their mission, and Ni-Ne genuinely lacked an answer. It depended on who had captured them.

Sawa then mentioned another in the room and Ni-Ne spotted the Hana, the mystical warrior women. Ni-Ne trusted cold hard durasteel. She wanted Thousand-Handed Titan back. She liked that sword.

The Hana sneered that only doom awaited them. Ni-Ne only grunted at this.

"We'll see..." Ni-Ne replied humbly. "We're not dead yet. They must want something. Perhaps they are amenable to negotiating."

She wasn't sure exactly what she was to negotiate. If they didn't want to deal she would not have many solutions beyond escape or killing them all, and Ni-Ne was not looking forward to either. She had to try negotiating. It was her best chance.

Guards arrived after and indeterminate length of time, and Ni-Ne and Sawa were both escorted. They were to be bathed. Ni-Ne surmised they were also being stripped of their clothing as a way to make them both feel vulnerable, and the way the small section of the river they were escorted to, guards with crossbows hidden in the bushes and trees watching them as they bathed in the steam, Ni-Ne's tall frame nude in front of Sawa for the first time, revealing curves and muscles. Sawa was nude also, so Ni-Ne turned away to give Sawa privacy while she bathed, trying to figure out how to stop the Sacred Ancestor...and for the first time it really hit her that her mother could be aboard that ship.

Ni-Ne was very young when O-Cho Li-Ves had disappeared with all hands on the prototype warship. Ni-Ne had cried herself to sleep every night for the next five years. Losing mom had hurt.

Finally, they were dressed in silk kimonos, hers revealing a little too much leg for her taste but oh well.

The servants who brought them up to the mountain villages Ni-Ne realized were hypnotically beautiful. In fact many of the women were almost blindingly so. Gorgeous. When Sawa began pointing out all the stuff associated with love, the Last Blood Tiger began to put two and two together.

"No...it can't be..." Ni-Ne spoke in disbelief. A passing servant commented otherwise and they were led finally before a beautiful woman in a kimono that made Ni-Ne actually reel back from the hypnotic effect of her beauty. It was true. The Keisei lived! Lady Hagagshino introduced herself, expressing how cross she was with the two of them, and wondering why she shouldn't just kill them. Ni-Ne was not focused so much on her words as she was on the fact Thousand-Handed Titan was not seven meters away. But to grab it would be a mistake. Even Ni-Ne could not win so heavily outnumbered. Sawa suggested ransoming. Ni-Ne wasn't having that.

"It seems we can help one another out..." Ni-Ne said. "By telling you what I know, I am commiting an act of High Treason, for which I will surely be hanged by the authorities even if you yourself choose to spare me. I know the layout of The Academy's high security records. I will give you this knowledge but I want assurances for the safety of the Academy's staff and students. All of them. And what the hell do the Keisei want with the academy anyway?"

"And how did you acquire such a valuable secret. Why would you risk death revealing it?" cooed a dark seductive voice to their right.

Ni-Ne turned, and her breath stilled.

She was a foreigner. That much was obvious. She was clad in a purple, silk kimono, her very black hair done elaborately in an Atrisian weave, a face so beautiful all Ni-Ne could do was stare at the golden eyes and pink, almost purple shade of skin. Her face was symmetrical and sculpted like marble, nails painted black, lips a dark purple tint, full and heart shaped.

One of the servants quickly hurried over to the stunning woman.

"My Lady, Lady Hagagshino is attending guests--"

"Lady Hagagshino enjoys my financial support...I think I'll have an answer..." the woman spoke curtly.

"Because in less than a month a massive prototype warship is coming to destroy Atrisia and I need to get into that records office to figure out a weakness to bring that thing down by any means necessary." Ni-Ne told her. "And every second we spend here yapping about it is a second closer that Atrisia comes to doom."

The pink skinned woman regarded her silently for a moment.

"So full of conviction. I like you. So...passionate..." she said with a dark smile that made Ni-Ne's blood shiver in fear.

"Whatever, weirdo..." Ni-Ne muttered.

"And so amusing..."

The pink skinned lady turned to Hagagshino.

"She speaks the truth..." she said curtly to Hagagshino before departing. "I would advise taking her offer...she's a Li-Ves."

It was telling that some of the servants and even a few of the guards took a step back in fear.

"No wonder she killed so many...she's a fething Blood Tiger!" one of the guards spoke in a panic.

Ni-Ne turned back to her hosts. "Since you lost so many I'd be happy to make up the difference by leading your mission. All I need is my weapons. What do you say?"

She hoped the Keisei knew how serious this was. She was beginning to think she was going to need all the help she could get...


Meanwhile...


Albrecht Bo, after having done what he could from a diplomatic standpoint, had wasted no time in secretly going back to the castle of the Li-Ves, where sickly Shimada Li-Ves waited, surrounded by his red armored, tiger masked Yovshin. Shimada sat on his throne, stoic and formal, face hidden under a large, blood red hood. Albrecht frowned as he approached the dark throne, walking across a black, tiled floor.

"How goes your efforts with my daughter?"

"I've petitioned the Emperor to have Ni-Ne examined for sensitivity to the Force. I even helped with the initial part of her mission. But if I am going to help any more, I need to know exactly what else you are hiding. You've concealed something from me, something ever since you arrived..." Albrecht replied, clad in slate gray robes, Lightsaber dangling from his belt.

"I suppose I would have had to show you eventually." Shimada replied in a rasp. He snapped weathered fingers and the tiled floor in front of Shimada parted. The old Jedi Shadow stepped back as he felt a surge of darkness like nothing he had ever come across, so much so his lightsaber was out and a yellow blade sprouted from the hilt.

"By the Gods, Shimada, what do you have down there?" Albrecht asked, brow furrowing in worry. "Is your castle built on some kind of Nexus?"

"If that is your word for it..." Shimada answered.

"What's down there?"

"Something that will cause my last living child endless pain should what is down there escape..." Shimada answered, the sickly old tiger violently coughing, dim lighting flickering against a red robe.

Albrecht narrowed his eyes at the old man but descended down the stairs, the dark feeling of dread growing more intense. He was now having to fight to keep it out of his mind... He was struggling to move as he reached a gigantic underground chamber of black stone, objects suspended in the air from unknown forces, rocks, pieces of corpses. Some shifting between rotting and not rotting in the span of a heartbeat.

He beheld a vast thing writhing as far as his eyes could see in the great cavern of dark stone, lined with torches burning red. It was flame, a sea of it, dark as the midnight sky. Dark as the void in the hearts of all living things.

It was a dark nexus, manifesting as a lake of unholy black fire. He saw a figure standing in the black flame naked, eyes closed, burning inside of it.

Albrecht's eyes widened in horror.

"What evil have you wrought, Shimada?" he asked himself, backing away from the lake and running back up the long steps. When he reached the top he was panting as the tiles closed behind him.

"The Lake of The Twisted..." Shimada explained. "Its not for the faint hearted or weak, as you can see.

"Was the person standing in it--"

"--Yes..." Shimada interrupted.

Albrecht stopped panting from the experience, took a deep breath and sighed. Ni-Ne's job would bear a heavy price for success...

"What happened? Why is she just standing in the lake?"

Shimada said nothing for a moment.

"I believe some sort of enchantment stops her. It paralyzes her if nothing else. I had always hoped to figure out how to reverse her condition."

Albrecht looked sourly at Shimada, having caught his breath.

"Fat fething chance of that happening..." he snorted.

"I suspect the missing component is the Sacred Ancestor itself. Only then shall she awaken."

"What do we do when she does, with all that darkness she's soaked up? It'll be hard enough just destroying the ship. She'll be a whole other deal." Bo insisted, sweating from the experience.

Shimada leaned back in his seat and sighed.

"It was discovered by my family's founders. It twists all who enter it as it twisted her. It is a thing of evil, a blight that would surely menace all of Atrisia were it to be known." Shimada elaborated.

"How did she even enter the lake?"

Shimada sounded sad as he gave his answer.

"It was all my fault..." he admitted.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa watched and the keisei wasn't in charge she was the prisoner of the two who were sitting there and listening. The look she got though was more curious as she spoke. "It is a keisei's duty to chronicle and listen. We observe everything." She said it with a smile as the one who was in charge leaned back in her seat and she swatted the backside of the one servant with a smirk on her face. The Oni sitting next to her lounged now pulling the Keisei over between the two of them and she spoke more harshly. "Now now now, no talking... just sit there and look pretty." That got some laughs but Sawa was more studying Ni-Ne as she got to see the reactio of the blood tiger.

Sawa though was listening to the plana nd the danger that was coming, something in her mind when the woman spoke. "And what about you huh." She got a small nudge and spoke. "I am of the Ike clan, my mother is investigator and father the chamberlain of the emperor." THat got some gasps when they looked around and postions for themt o sit were given. "Come come sit then and we'll discuss it all. attacking and letting you lead an assault against your people could be useful. I would love to get a few pieces that could be sold to the right markets." Sawa looked at Ni-Ne and stepped a little closer to her mostly to be secure and they were going to have to sit eventually.

Sawa was looking at all of them and she took a seat that was there. Watching the others as slave dancers came out, the keisei was sent over tp play music while the one who was in charge remained there. Black hair long and flowing, her kimono slipping open as she poured wine and spilled some of it. Where Sawa was watching though was at Ni-Ne as she spoke low. "I don't know what we will be able to do here, if we lead people it could end badly... we can't watch all of them all of the time if we are going for the records to try and stop the ship." She said it but there was a lot of information they might be able to find.

 

[Nine Lives]

Maranon's Theme: "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/7j_yGYU_jUU

The rosy skinned woman in the purple kimono, after leaving [member="Sawa Ike"] and Ni-Ne to the interrogation, had sequestered herself away in her lavish mountain loft, furniture and finery from a hundred different worlds, in mixtures of gold, silver, and royal purple, statues of naked men and women (especially women) were present in various poses, some intellectual, some seductive. The rose-skinned woman stared at her current 'Toy' a woman from Haruun Kal, her skin dark marble, her clothes sparse. The rose skinned woman had been working on her for about an hour before those two blue bloods had been dragged before those two who had enslaved the Keisei.

She hadn't tried to seduce any of the Keisei. One, because even though she was Zeltron she was not exactly sure whether or not these beautiful women would be swayed so easily by her charms. Two, because they were a little too beautiful for even her taste. She preferred her lovers have a down to earth beauty.

She wasn't going to spend time with her toy, however, as the Blood Tiger's claims...or rather, revelations, had put a wrench into her short term plans regarding Xavier, namely, investigating why he was here and what he was so obsessed with on this world for. She'd brought the tall, admittedly hot as feth ingrate into her inner circle, tutored him (Though she hadn't slept with him...she drew a red line at that sort of thing.) and now he'd left and betrayed her in the process, coming to this lovely planet...for what?

It was a question that vexed the Zeltron, and obviously she'd followed Xavier to Atrisia, co-opting the local bandits in her scheme as they knew the land pretty good, funding them to help them suppress the Keisei who once stayed hidden in these mountain ranges. Xavier had managed to get diplomatic level clearance into Kagamiri. (Something even she hadn't figured out). So getting inside to figure out what he wanted--and taking it from him--was paramount.

Sure, technically speaking, there was no need to interfere--wasn't like she had special say in what Xavier could do with his life.

But the former Jedi was a possessive and jealous creature, and no one walked away from her without her permission.

So it was that Lady Maranon, known on Ossus where she had both trained and been trained as Kerimi The Apostate, and on Naboo as Maranon, Keeper of the Six Blasphemies, now had this new difficulty to consider regarding this prototype warship coming to kill them all...

She wasn't a history scholar, and really, trying to learn the history and customs of every planet you visited was an excercise in frustration. Not like she was a Consular anymore.

More information was needed, she decided as she strolled through the loft, the sea breeze wafting in through a stone viewing port. A silent mental command told her toy to leave, and the naked woman with the dark skin and voluptuous curves rose and left while the Dark Witch let herself flop onto the giant golden satin beanbag in the middle. She clapped her hands, and her primitive, drum like Astromech 56DF rolled out of a hidden alcove.

"Tell those two over-ambitious bandits Mommy Credit-Bags wants a word alone with their two guests after they have worked out their deal...and tell them Mommy Credit-Bags is also out of that Rice Wine...the good batch AND the crap batch...send both batches up...

The steel colored wheeled drum rolled out of her sight.

Maranon stretched in the bean bag.

"Ah, these third-galaxy dictators...they sure know how to live..." she remarked. But inside she was empty. Worse than empty.

Alone.



Meanwhile...



Ni-Ne saw their attitudes change relatively quickly when Sawa told them who she was. It was a reminder that while the Li-Ves had once been dreaded by nearly everyone on Atrisia, they were a dying breed.

The Li-Ves might still illicit fear in such criminals as these, but they'd soon go extinct. And then they'd just be another boogeyman to haunt the ancient histories, one of many. A historical curiosity among Atrisia's clans. The Li-Ves had tried to change, tried to modernize too late to make a difference. They reaction to Ni-Ne being a Blood Tiger was legitimate, but it was also similar to the reaction of seeing a unicorn.

Ni-Ne took a seat next to Sawa, watched as more impossibly beautiful women approached to play music. Ni-Ne could not be soothed. Thousand-Handed Titan was within spitting distance.

But that sleep gas might still be around.

Sawa spoke of her uncertainty as to whether they could stop these Bandits from getting out of control if they led them into Kagamiri.

"I know...Sawa...we might have to write Kagamiri off. Getting to those records is paramount. If nothing else they'll provide a distraction...we don't find those plans, we don't stop The Sacred Ancestor...we're commiting high treason doing this as it stands..." Ni-Ne said soberly. She knew Sawa didn't want to see anyone get hurt. She liked that about her...but she could not figure out how to avoid it...

Her dreams were nothing but horror soaked in adrenaline, and that didn't help either, neither was being next to the academy prefect whose kimono was perfect for pulling off...but who she was crushing on at completely the wrong time.

"The records office will be heavily guarded, they have droids..." Ni-Ne told the leaders. When we strike we'll need to take down the security system first. The best way I figure, is go right back the way we came, through that ancient door, and keeping it open to let your minions through. They'll have to be disguised as something or someone else. You'll have to be smuggled in...we'll also need parts for an EMP device. A large one. How significant are your technological resources?"

Just then the droid Maranon sent rolled in and beeped Maranon's instructions to the two leaders and rolled off. Ni-Ne eyed it. It wasn't local. Most people did not have droids on Atrisia except in locations for the rich to show them off properly. Most people on Atrisia thought they didn't even exist. The rose skinned woman must be very well off...she got the strange feeling she had not seen the last of her. Not yet...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was looking at them as Ni-Ne spoke and smuggling them back in through the door would be something but it could be just as dangerous. She coudl see the one with her drink thinking about it but she wasn't one to well she was practical and preferred sure things where they would always come out on top but she spoke finally. "We shall see little blood tiger." There was a wicked looking grin on her face though that promised a lot more under the surface. Sawa could see a few things and a few dangerous around them... they had Jei priestesses which was outlawed and they were usually marked for death. THey were not unfamiliar with fighting it seemed.

"I'd recommend something else." THe Oni, with dark skin, black hair in thick dreads said it when she was sitting there lounging a little but she had one of the dancers on her arm. "Looking for a means to get yourself out of this or talking among yourself little ones won't do much. We have some of the toughest warriors here." She said it more as a point of fact and the priestesses, lay servants from the temple were around. THe night continued on and Sawa never got an answer they were motly being ignored as Maranon seemed to want to talk with them and the pair went off with some of the dancers to their cave. Lights on the stone of the cave and silk sheets in front of it.

Sawa was looking at Ni-Ne though as they were left alone mostly with a few of the women who were angry with them but were also drunk and celebrating their take from other raids that had been happening. Sawa was moving closer to Ni-Ne mostly to have the two of them not be pulled apart with the others around them. THey had somewhat free roam in the camp and could go around because there was no where to go without their supplies. horses or anything... THey wouldn't get as far or make a scene among the drunks they were guessing. She turned to look at her. "I am not certain about this but we have a duty and were told to fulfill it by any means."

 

[Nine Lives]

These bandit worms annoyed Ni-Ne as they said they wouldn't escape. But at the same time she could see how few actually wanted to try and be the ones to stop them...she knew how many she had killed to protect [member="Sawa Ike"]. She had not gotten as many as she would have liked but she had gotten enough to have their strongest guards stiffen a little bit in hesitation when they got near her. She cared little. Getting into that records office was paramount.

Ni-Ne and Sawa were then led to a cave with some of the dancers, Ni-Ne growing so anxious it felt like her skin was itching. She smelled Sawa, who drew close to her and Ni-Ne for her part, tried to play the role of comforter, but the memory of seeing Sawa dead in her dream caused a painful stab to her brain that made Ni-Ne go cold with dread.

The last Blood Tiger caught herself fantasizing having Sawa alone, on a picnic. It was easier then acknowledging she was essentially in a hostage situation, held there only by both her own uncertainty to escape and her fear of being unable to protect Sawa in the process.

She was so close. She smelled divine...

Ni-Ne's heart pounded as Sawa drew closer to her. She cursed that they were not alone. That there was not more time.

Finally, one of the bandit women came and told the pair Lady Maranon was waiting to speak to Ni-Ne first, then Sawa.

"I'll be back, Sawa, I promise," Ni-Ne said, wanting to touch the soft edges of the prefects lips with her own but to show that kind of vulnerability to these cretins would be a catastrophic mistake. She silently complied, following the bandit to a private turbolift in the cave and heading up it alone, getting a strange, nauseated feeling as the lift stop. A feeling in the pit of her stomach that refused to abate. Exiting from the silvery lift, she found herself in a penthouse full of statues. Silk banners flowed overhead.

"I was there, you know, when you first killed..."

Ni-Ne spun around behind her, spotting the voluptuous, pink skinned woman, dressed now in sheer, embroidered silk that hugged her body and revealed too much. Ni-Ne could only gape slightly at the audacity of her dress, little more than strategically placed strips and sashes of silk. It was certainly something no Atrisian woman would be caught wearing. Not in public at least.

Maranon's golden gaze scanned Ni-Ne as she approached. Ni-Ne backed away.

"How did you do that? Magic?" Ni-Ne asked. "Is that what you are? Some kind of sorceress?"

Maranon flicked black, curling locks away from her shoulder, gaze now eyeing Ni-Ne thoughtfully. Hungrily.

"Oh, so perceptive. You much smarter than this rabble of primitives I've encountered on this world so far..." Maranon took a step forward. Ni-Ne took a step back instinctively from the muscular, curvy frame, rippling with a directionless lust.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Sorceress." Ni-Ne asserted sternly.

"If I stopped at just flattery most of the time you would be right..." Maranon cooed, sauntering foward seemingly faster than Ni-Ne could react. She felt her face being clasped by pink skinned hands.

Maranon smiled, running her fingers along Ni-Ne's cheekbones.

"Ah regalness. I can always tell a blue blood from a peasant..." Maranon breathed, intrigued. "But so untainted by cruelty..."

Ni-Ne wanted to pull away but somehow, her gaze, her very appearance, her smell...it was getting to the part of Ni-Ne that wanted to mess around yet knew it absolutely did not have the time to do so.

"What...what are you?" Ni-Ne said, stock still, terrified by the nausea feeling and the dread she had of her, but enraptured all the same.

Maranon drew her face close to Ni-Ne's. Her breath smelled of lilacs.

"I am known as Lady Maranon...Keeper of The Six Blasphemies. I am here...and your warning draws my eye..." Maranon answered, fingers tracing the brow ridge of a nearly hypnotized Ni-Ne.

"You're thinking about your mother..." the Zeltron breathed, drawing ever closer. "You remember how she would brush your hair when you were little...you're wondering if she is aboard the ship. You're wondering if you will fight her in the process of all this..."

"H-how could you possibly know that?" Ni-Ne whispered, pulling away.

Maranon, noting how strong Ni-Ne was mentally to break the psychic probe, merely smiled. A challenge. The first she had had since coming to Atrisia...these bandits minds were laughably weak.

"Oh, so many things the Force graces me with knowing..." Maranon answered slyly, taking another step, winking at her.

Ni-Ne stepped back again. Maranon smiled. "Nervous?" the Zeltron asked.

"Uncertain. Not nervous."

"Oh, please..." Maranon said with a snort and a roll of the eyes, sauntering over swiftly to Ni-Ne's side, her lips close to the blood tiger's ear.

"You radiate fear and anger to someone like me." she whispered. "Fear of what you must do and fear for that innocent prefect you've been snuggling next to...I must say though...she IS cute. You two are so adorable together..."

"What do you want, Sorceress?" Ni-Ne demanded, fighting the strange, inexplicable hunger for Maranon, who glided to her other shoulder, wisp-like.

"I don't care for this world. I'm here because one of my pet projects is loose...nasty customer, but he IS mine. And I can't devote my attention to messing with him while this world faces imminent threat of destruction. It would inconvenience me. Plus...who knows what delicious secrets your warship holds. These bandits want to survive: that they will aid you is not in question, if only for the sake of maintaining their fiefdom. What I want to do is know how far are you willing to go to save Atrisia..."

"I'd give my life..."

"What about Sawa's?"

Ni-Ne went silent. She felt Maranon's fingers trace her earlobe, felt a strange relief across her back.

"I can smell her on you, Ni-Ne. Such a pleasant scent...can you imagine her burning up under turbolasers? Her flesh crinkling as superheated plasma touches it--"

"I would sacrifice Sawa to save Atrisia..." Ni-Ne said flatly, "It would hurt, but I would do it..."

Maranon smiled, this time wider. This one had some ruthlessness to her, alright. Maranon had seen it when she had slaughtered the ones on the mountain road...she could get things done, and clearly didn't care about how it made her look. She admired that. All of these were things that applied to Maranon as well. (Except the looks part. Bogan forbid her losing hers.)

"Mmmmm...ruthlessness. Willingness to sacrifice your happiness for the greater good. I was like you once...naive..." the Zeltron said sweetly, delighted as she felt Ni-Ne go electric in the Force as her hands traced the Atrisian's shoulder.

"Tell me, how deep does your affection for Sawa run..."

Ni-Ne maintained a stoic air about her, trying not to think about how much she could see through Maranon's "dress".

"Why does it matter?" Ni-Ne asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Because without passion you have no motivation. If you have no true motivation than you are of no interest to me."

Ni-Ne was silent as she considered her answer.

"I have wanted her ever since I really stared into her eyes..." the Blood Tiger answered.

"Rapturous, isn't it? Those first faint pluckings of love?" Maranon asked...producing the golden longsword given to her by Albrecht Bo from thin air.

Maranon observed the Jedi symbol on it and a frown crossed her features.

"Albrecht, my old friend..." she said under her breath, too low for Ni-Ne to hear. She turned back to the uncertain woman.

"What does this symbol mean to you?" Maranon asked, pointing to the winged symbol on the hilt.

"I just got it. Couldn't really say..."

"I can tell you what it means..." Maranon replied, her voice coy and flirting as she drew close to Ni-Ne, sword in hand. Ni-Ne kept her eye on the sword.

"You want this...don't you..." Maranon asked.

"Itd make my current situation more bearable."

"But you don't even know what it means..."

"Its a sword. You kill people with it."

"No sword ever held by a Jedi is just a sword. Its a big, fat, sign that says 'Come and get me!' It means infinite, endless sacrifice to a thankless galaxy, doing things they didn't ask, and will ultimately not reward you for." The Zeltron explained. "The life of a Jedi is the life of a monk in robes, killing people as you see fit for a nebulous concept of right and wrong. A true Jedi's only love is the Force. And nothing and no one else. Even if you succeed, the life of a Jedi demands that you be forever seperated from Sawa. So not only will you be forever banished from Atrisia most likely, you won't even get the girl in the end. You will be left with nothing, dear Ni-Ne..."

Ni-Ne was still at this. But after a moment her fists clenched.

"My happiness is nothing compared to Atrisia's survival. I'm prepared for those sacrifices." Ni-Ne said. "Are you going to help me?"

"Oh, so brave..." Maranon said lustfully. "Yes, as a matter of fact...but first..."

Maranon pulled Ni-Ne in closer, guiding the Atrisian's face in for a kiss...Ni-Ne, too affected not so much by Zeltron pheremones as sheer beauty and mystery, kissed her first foreigner, her hands gliding around Maranon's barely covered midsection, painfully aware that Maranon was a stand in for Sawa. Ni-Ne was even more scared about what to do with her feelings than she was previously. She might not live long enough to act on them. But even if she did, the fact she had the Jedi Order's attention (Not to mention they might be her only 'out' due to diplomatic immunity) meant she and Sawa might very well have to stay apart.

Somehow, this woman had gotten past her defenses...no, not 'somehow'. She was a barely clothed pink skinned woman with betwitching charisma. And Ni-Ne was far more vulnerable to that then she could admit.

And it was a damn good kiss. Maranon pulled away visibly shivering in pleasure. This was repulsive to Ni-Ne, for it was not the reaction of a normal woman being kissed, but a parasite getting a fix.

"Seek those sneaky Keisei out for a deal. They are itching to rebel. I haven't warned the bandit queens what they are planning because I wanted to see if they were smart enough to get wise to all the plotting. They aren't." Maranon joked. "Wait though. I have something I want you to do for me..."

"What?"

"A small grove, not far from here. There is a growth of crystal. You will break off a piece, no matter the color, and bring it back here. Without the guards knowing."

Ni-Ne glowered at the exotic, smiling Zeltron..."And how am I to accomplish this?"

Maranon reached out, touching the scowling Atrisian's forehead. Ni-Ne collapsed in shock as Maranon shivered in pleasure and a shock of knowledge coarsed through Ni-Ne's skull, filling her with an unfamiliar concept...

(Plasmid Acquisition Theme plays)

(New Powers Gained!)

Power: FORCE SIGHT

Spoiler

See living auras and Force alignment through walls. Useful for spotting threats ahead of oneself. Range and intensity increases as character becomes more powerful.

Power: FORCE PHASE

Spoiler

Phase through relatively thin barriers. Useful for stealth and breaching security. As strength increases, is able to go through thicker barriers.

Power: FORCE CLOAK

Spoiler

Become temporarily invisible due to force generated stealth field. As power increases, is able to become invisible for longer

Ni-Ne rubbed her head, wincing from the pain. Maranon helped her up, licking her lips.

"That's how..." Maranon said lustfully. One kiss and she wanted more. It was her nature. To want to taste and lick the mind of her various fancies. Ni-Ne smoothed out her robes highly disturbed by the new knowledge she had received. She didn't like Maranon, having felt a great and terrible emptiness in the Zeltron as their minds made contact.

For all the Woman's seductive wiles, she had never really felt love at all. Real love. Ni-Ne did not know whether to hold Maranon in contempt over that or pity her. Either way, she was far more powerful and dangerous then she let on.

"I will complete your task later tonight...wait for me..." Ni-Ne said, still slightly remembering that kiss...Maranon was no virgin, that was for sure.

Maranon blew her a kiss as Ni-Ne headed to the turbolift. She headed to her comm terminal and immediately told the bandit guard to send Sawa up.

When Ni-Ne got out of the turbolift she sought out Sawa...

"Watch out for Maranon..." Ni-Ne barely got the chance to warn her before the bandit guard arrived and asked Sawa to accompany her to the lift. The worry in Ni-Ne's eyes was deep and clear.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa watched as she was going off... spending the time with Ni-Ne here though she had been wondering about it and trying to figure out anything that she might be able to here. Ni-Ne was being taken up and she went to work for herself... while she might not be as feared it was not like she was helpless just standing around and she could look around at the others who were here. Different females, some looked to be slaves or servants but they were not mistreated if that mattered. If anything it seemed they were treated better since there were few men left around to fondle or grope. A benefit maybe of killing them... well just maybe.

She didn't know what was going on with Ni-Ne and the one who had summoned her but walking she could see a number of things here. Several of the females were hidden behind screens of honor something meant to let them be seen but it wouldn't stir lustful thoughts from the ones observing them. One or two were practicing with moving around while carrying drinks, some were being into initiated for the Jei temples, their rituals not unknown to many it was just they had been wiped out and washed away quite literally as the unification wars saw their temple, their city flooded and it was still there as a memorial of sorts.

Sawa was watching some others... these Jei priestesses she was guessing had been drawn into the mountains away from where they were going and she saw or had seen some of the devotions and rituals.. it was different and she was unsure about it. She stopped and was in the room with the Keisei. herself changing and removing the kimono they had put her in as she spoke. "Oh it is you, I guess you've decided how to help them then?" She said it as a question but was unsure about how to answer it.... they weren't helping the bandits as it were to join them they had ideas to use them to ge the information and save atrisia... at least she was sure of that.

THe Keisei watched her for a moment but stood there with her and spoke coming close enough that Sawa could inhale the scent of her skin... even here she was clean and smelled fresh. Like flowers and fruits even. "I don't know, we need teir help to get information... we need to try and stop what is coming if we can." She said it and believed it but there was also something dangerous here... an intention to what was coming though as she could feel something happening... something shifting and it was like a whisper in her mind before she was moving and the Keisei was walking with her... they went around and outside to see.

"THere is a lot here, not all of them are bad but most of them have been captured. THeir patron the one funding them and the leaders have preferences." She looked at it and there was a small look at Sawa when they were walking around. She got the meaning and could see it, the serving girls were beautiful, long hair, smooth skin and they were wearing silks with jewels as each were bringing drinks. the sounds from the larger tent indicated that they had continued the party there on their own or at least with one or two of the girls they had been sitting with. Sawa could walk and wondered what might be happening with Ni-Ne.

"THe lady will see you now." SHe was being summoned and led through caves and to turbolifts as she entered the chamber. THere wasn't a sign of Ni-Ne here just servants. Pale skinned with flowing silk dresses tha were loose fitted compared to just about anything that she could see. Maranon was there laying down as sawa was led in and she averted her eyes from the woman... pink skin visible all over when she felt warmth coming to her cheek. "Oh so innocent aren't we." She moved her head just a little and a curtain of hair was there going over her face. "Hmmm delicious, sweet cherries almost I can smell from you."

Sawa was looking at her and worried for Ni-Ne if she had been here but wasn't around and she didn't know what was happening before the pink skinned woman was moving and standing in front of her. Hand on her face with a grin as she scented the air and her skin. "Oh I see, he has been around you... no wonder I was intrigued." She seemed to be scenting her and circling around her. Maranon moved a hand and was removing her kimono as Sawa stood there seeing it... the servants were coming around and dressing her in new clothing.

Sawa was being led through the room into a small section of it instead though as she observed the woman enter a bath and she was stopped short of going in. not a major risk for now until she moved off with a little more interest from her. "We'll just have to see really how innocent you are compared to your friend... she had quite the ..... tongue in our interaction." The zeltron didn't say anything... she didn't say what happened but let it suggestive and open ended. Sawa was watching it though and seemed to get lost in the haze of it all as she was waking up later and out of it as the scent of the mountain air came. THe academy was in the distance, the gates entrance before she was being taken out of the palanquin.

"We are here." The black armored raiders and bandits were standing there with blades and grapples as they started. Some going for the walls under cover of night and others going towards the gates that Sawa and Ni-Ne had led them to. The concealed door was there and massive. WIth the statues at the sides of it but finding it from where they were was a little harder as it seemed more the statues made it hidden. A form of magic as she noticed it but it was like her mind didn't want to see it. Sawa was in a black kimono with her blade and a shawl to conceal her face before she looked around for Ni-Ne.

 

[Nine Lives]

Ni-Ne creapt through the grounds of the bandit stronghold, the dead city built into the mountains still visible from where she snuck through in the shadows, evading the guards as she struggled to make sense of all Maranon had put into her brain. She still felt traces of the alien woman's mind somehow, a dark and unnatural thing she had never experienced before now. Could feel her seductive whisper in her skull.

Beautiful Ni-Ne. So strong, so deadly. And your girlfriend...so soft...so delicious looking... she heard the Zeltron whisper, even as intense, utterly carnal images from the Zeltron played out in her skull. It almost felt like the Zeltron was a part of her.

The Blood-Tiger in her, had it the time, would have bedded the curious foreigner after the first kiss but the thought of hurting [member="Sawa Ike"] had stayed her. Maranon knew this, and delighted in it. Maranon seemed delighted by anything and everything. She loved to tempt. Father called such personalities 'histrionic', but Ni-Ne had never bothered to look up what the word meant. All she knew was that Maranon kept sending risque imagery into the Atrisian woman's skull, and Ni-Ne wasn't exactly fighting it. She just seemed to have this sudden, overwhelming urge to impress Maranon, and was frankly, so unused to being openly lusted after by anyone, let alone an alien woman that wore far too little to be practical, that it was having a greater effect on her than it might have with someone else.

There were things that still made Ni-Ne wary though, kept her from being drawn in entirely, like the utter lack of love the Zeltron had truly experienced, and the cold ruthlessness that went with all that seduction under the surface. Maranon had meant it when she said she didn't truly give one feth for Atrisia, betraying the inherent selfish nature of the woman.

The grove in the vast stronghold was not far but it was guarded by high walls and patrolled by half a dozen bandits, pacing around the perimeter regularly. Something special was behind those walls. Maranon had mentioned a growth of crystal. Quartz, or something?

Ni-Ne didn't have time for twenty questions. She needed to break a small piece of whatever was in that walled grove.

She decided to focus the new power she had been flash taught somehow. This knowledge of the Force...that was it? This is what she was being initiated to?

Ni-Ne shrouded herself, struggling to maintain the invisibility field, taking most of her concentration as she moved slowly.

Yes, dear Ni-Ne. Such power requires great concentration at first. But it gets easier the stronger you become...feel its wonderful power surge through you, lovely Ni-Ne. Embrace it...as you embrace me, Maranon spoke with lust in a vulnerable brain.

Ni-Ne focused past the carnal imagery the Alien somehow transmitted straight into her mind. Maranon was shameless. Utterly shameless. And NOT subtle about what she wanted to do to Ni-Ne. The young warrior didn't understand the method...why actively distract someone in such a manner when you needed a task completed?

The Atrisian moved slowly as she got ever closer to the walled grove under the dead of night. Maybe Maranon didn't need a reason. Maybe the Alien just had skewed priorities.

The young woman moved slower, straining greatly as she maintained her focus freezing as a guard walked past her in the dark grass. Patrols went around the perimeter every forty seconds from what she had observed. She would have to be quick. She tasted Maranon's lips as she dropped the cloak, approaching the bronze gate. She struggled to catch her breath, even as she heard the approach of other bandit guards.

Yes, Ni-Ne. Yeeessss...now...phase through it...pretend the object is nothing but a sheet of water to pass through. Concentrate, my dear...please me...

Ni-Ne focused, though the strain of using such an advanced power when she barely understood the Force was immense. She had never focused this hard for anything except swordplay...

She was still amazed at the implications of what the knowledge she had received claimed to be able to let her do. To literally pass through solid objects...

This Force...it was clear that whatever it was, it was more powerful than any sword. An especially dangerous and pernicious magic, more terrible than any spirit in Atrisian mythology.

And Ni-Ne was not sure she could trust something this dangerous...

Then again...it wasn't like she trusted Maranon either.

She could hear the footsteps from the bandit patrol getting closer. She focused as hard as she could, taking Maranon's advice...and stepped forward to the gate...

...and passed through it without effort.

Ni-Ne gasped for air as she went through the gate. The strain was too much. She needed to rest, because she suspected it would be a while before she'd be able to do that again.

The red robed warrior stared at what she had walked into.

It was a tree grove, with large spikes of rock over six feet in height jutting out between them in irregular patterns. The Last Blood Tiger spotted multicolored growths of crystal on each spike.

Stretch out...feel the crystals. Feel the Force flow from them and into you and out to them again. Maranon whispered, not ceasing the influx of carnal imagery that Ni-Ne wasn't exactly resisting to begin with.

The Atrisian caught her breath, hiding behind a rock as a bandit waved a torch into the grove, staring at its interior.

The Keisei are weak...this was their grove. Only they or Jei priesteses were allowed here, once...but the bandits put that silly tradition to the fire soon as they invaded here... Maranon explained from within.

"Why don't the Keisei fight?" Ni-Ne whispered once the bandit continued his patrol outside. She shivered as she felt the blatant lust from the Alien burrowing into her spirit, turning every page in the book of her soul...and scribbling notes in the margins.

They lack both the confidence and the proper leader to motivate them. Years of being oppressed by the Emperor has done them no favors either.

"I don't have time to lead them back from the brink..." Ni-Ne hissed silently.

Nevertheless, you will eventually need them. Keep it in mind as you go along.

Ni-Ne rose from her hiding place and quietly stepped deeper into the grove.

"What are these things? These crystals?" Ni-Ne whispered.

Conduits of the Force. With the right knowledge, such tiny things can be put to great use...more use than the Keisei would ever have of them, to be certain. Maranon answered from afar. Find the one that belongs to you.

"How will I know?" Ni-Ne whispered as she moved through the field of crystals and trees. She shivered as she saw the particularly salicious mental image of what Maranon considered 'risque' when it came to lingerie...

Do you prefer black or red Lingerie, dear Ni-Ne? Maranon inquired with a lust filled mental snarl as Ni-Ne searched the field of crystals.

"Blue." Ni-Ne answered.

Ugh, Jedi colors. AND it clashes with my skin tone.

Ni-Ne paused, momentarily thrown off by all the dirty things Maranon started to whisper and...felt something. She turned, spotting a pale green crystal.

Ah, there it is. Green...the color of a Consular...your heart is still that of a warrior, but it is no accident you are chosen by such a crystal. Maranon noted.

"What's a Consular?" Ni-Ne asked as she plucked the crystal with minimal effort. It felt warm in her hand.

One who seeks out the inner mysteries of The Force, and among Jedi, often have the greatest command of it. In fact, I myself used to be a Consular. A sage.

Ni-Ne stared at the crystal.

"What happened?"

I got old. Too old.

"With age brings respect and wisdom."

And decrepitude. Regret. And worst of all...wrinkles...

Ni-Ne pocketed it. Maranon's lust was matched only by her vanity and ultimate short sightedness.

Ni-Ne steadied herself, realizing she didn't have the strength to phase again. She called instead on the strange sensation...that of defending Sawa...to leap so high to kill that bandit the first time. She jumped, the strain of it exhausting, but it allowed her to clear the wall and land. She took off in a sprint, sticking to the shadows.

Later on...

Maranon lay across her circular sofa, still clad in her sheer silk strips, smiling coyly as Ni-Ne returned.

"You learn quickly." The Zeltron quietly observed with a smirk, golden eyes raking Ni-Ne over as she held out the crystal for Maranon to see.

"Did you enjoy the little show I gave you in your mind?" Maranon joked.

"Helleva lot better than those crap imperial dramas they've done to death on stage." Ni-Ne answered evenly. "Can you...actually do all that stuff in real life that you did in my head?"

Maranon smiled, rose, and Ni-Ne went a little red in the face as the Alien woman whose clothing was far too sheer for respectability caught the light from above, revealing all through the strategically placed silk.

"Only one way you'll ever find out, Ni-Ne..." Maranon flirted, kissing her.

Ni-Ne tasted the air. Felt the faint traces of her crush. The kiss was so warm on her lips it was for a few seconds all she could think about, along with that not-at-all-subtle offer.

"You're a busy girl, Maranon." Ni-Ne observed, maintaining herself control, even though the Blood Tiger wanted to rip everything off the Alien woman and take her then and there. "Figured you were the type to play the field."

"Mmmm...Sawa..." Maranon trailed, licking her lips. "You both looked so delicious I couldn't help it. And imagine...not one, but two women strong in the Force to play with...but Sawa has such an immense capacity for darkness..."

"Dark? Sawa? No way. Sawa doesn't have a cruel bone in her body." Ni-Ne asserted firmly, suddenly scowling at Maranon, who only smiled lustfully in response.

"Its usually the nicest ones who end up making the best dark siders." Maranon replied, circling her. Ni-Ne felt a finger trace her shoulder. "You too, have a great capacity for darkness...your savagery killing those bandits exposed who you really were."

"I did what was necessary to protect Sawa and myself. Nothing more."

"If you say so. But if you were to embrace that killer..." Maranon suggested in a faux-innocent manner, golden eyes staring with naked hunger at Ni-Ne, who blushed, despite knowing how dangerous and chillingly shallow the woman was.

"...you would be more than a mere Jedi. You could be a queen..."

"Royalty seems more 'your' department, Maranon..." Ni-Ne replied, unable to help herself from studying every curve of the foreigner.

"Hmmm...I 'have' always wanted a reason to wear a crown..." Maranon mused. "But all things in due time."

"Now that I have your little bauble, what do I do with it?" Ni-Ne asked, gaze betraying her suspicion.

Maranon chuckled, "Patience, Ni-Ne...you really should get going. The bandits are about to run off with your lovely, potentially-dark Sawa." The Zeltron temptress answered, producing both her golden vibrosword and Thousand-Handed Titan out of thin air, tossing them to Ni-Ne.

"Go. Plunder your desperately needed secrets...I'm not going anywhere..." Maranon teased, running her finger under the stoic Ni-Ne's chin before sauntering back to her sofa and reclining on it.

Ni-Ne, not trusting her 'benefactor', though that was complicated by an undeniable attaction to the rose-skinned foreigner. Turned away and headed off to join the others in the raid. Maranon, more in lust with Ni-Ne than before, blew her a kiss as she left her chambers.

Coming to Atrisia wasn't such a bad idea after all...

Later on...

Over eager is how Ni-Ne would have described this attack. They hadn't even run through a plan. Damn these bandits. She'd had only a small amount of time to explain the layout before they had quietly begun the raid. It wasn't an academy, it was a prison, Ni-Ne reminded herself. A prison that held the Key to Atrisia's salvation. She could not afford to hesitate once inside, or the planet would die.

Even though once inside, any chance of salvaging her own reputation was shot.

Ni-Ne looked, spotted, or rather, felt Sawa, and ran over to her.

"Sawa?" Ni-Ne asked, feeling Maranon in her skull, licking her subconscious, egging her on to violence once she was inside. "Sawa...are you sure you want to follow me inside?"

Sawa had to know what she was getting into. It was both their heads if this failed.

Ni-Ne didn't want that fate for the prefect. The guilt of having dragged her into this hit her suddenly like a brick.

"I'll go alone...you don't have to go in with me..." Ni-Ne said almost pleadingly. She felt Maranon mentally ripple with pleasure at the powerful emotions warring in the Blood Tiger.

Meanwhile...

Albrecht Bo had left the Li-Ves castle deeply disturbed by what he had been told, and the entire history behind the Lake in of itself.

He needed to get to Ni-Ne now, and the Force had been whispering in distress over her for a day or so. But moving across Atrisia while avoiding the scrutiny of the paranoid, power hungry nut job they had installed as leader was not easy. His ship was logged by Atrisia's primitive satellite technology every time it flew...meaning he needed some way to reach her on foot.

Albrecht headed back to the academy by taking the crude diplomatic shuttle made available to him on the Emperor's behalf. It would be difficult enough to convince the paranoid fool who was biting off more than he could chew to let him take those two he had found. It would be next to impossible to convince him to release the last of the Li-Ves.

Albrecht wasn't even sure he could guide the young woman. She was far older than many of the initiates usually chosen, but he had felt her touch the Force earlier...she was strong with it, this Ni-Ne...

Albrect was silent as he redocked at Kagamiri, finding the slickly dressed Investigator Oba waiting at the docking bay, surrounded by Kagamiri's yovshin. The look on the young man's face was grim and hardened and Albrecht felt the rotten taint of the black lake of fire nearby. He tried not to scowl as he stepped off the shuttle, the hideous taint of what he sensed--and what it meant for this world--driving him to the closest thing the old shadow had felt to fear in a long time.

That lake was a powerful nexus of darkness. Too large to be destroyed...but it could be hidden. Maybe.

It had to be hidden, lest the truly evil among these Atrisians find it and try to use it. He wouldn't put it past the emperor to try, certainly.

That lake was the single worst, most corrupted nexus the aging Jedi Master had ever encountered. He doubted there were any in the entire system or nearby systems that were that horribly corrupt. He shuddered to think what a dark adept would do if they discovered it. He had witnessed first hand what happened when someone obtained that kind of power and used it to alter themselves.

"Investigator Oba...I'm guessing you bring grim tidings..." the iron bearded old Jedi remarked formally as he smelled the faint trace of chemicals in the air that lulled Kagamiri's captives into complacency.

"It has happened again, Master Bo. Another attack."

"Show me." Albrecht ordered.

The Jedi accompanied the group of Atrisians through the beautiful, slavishly maintained academy grounds, led deeper into the facility, via a hidden door in an empty classroom. It was here that the true purpose of the Academy, that of a military prison-fortress, became apparant. Checkpoints, heavily armed droids, armored doors. Theoretically, it could repel any common attack.

What was about to hit them was not common.

Finally, Oba led him into a military morgue. Bo frowned as he saw the corpses. The taint of the lake was strong in their remains. Albrecht approached the gurneys they were on. He went still.

They had no shadows. None of them. Albrecht turned on his lightsaber, a yellow blade springing out, and even shining its light directly on it did not produce a shadow.

"What sort of creature could do this?" Oba wondered.

"It almost operates like a vampire...almost..." Albrecht surmised. "No witnesses, as usual?"

"None." Oba confirmed.

"Then we must assume the killer walks among us." Bo said. "Trouble is...who?"

A yovshin ran into the morgue.

"Oba! The alarms! Bandits have entered the academy!" The swordsmen exclaimed.

Oba pulled out a pistol from his breast pocket, frowning as he ran along with the rest of the swordsman. Albrecht followed, sensing Ni-Ne again...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was listening and as they moved she looked at Ni-Ne who had seemed to be getting distracted. It was dangerous to have distractions she knew and holding her blade that had been returne top her for this fight she covered her face. "I will be fine." She bowed her head and thought about what her mother might say with a look before she was moving and as the attack started she went scaling the wall itself. THe fight was coming as bandits moved going after some of the guards who were there... they didn't have the raider types these were more archers and stealth workers but they knew how to make distractions so holes opened up that the others could get through.

Sawa herself moved and rolled over the wall in the far corner near the mountain itself and she slid down into a bush. Concealing herself as she coud see some more of the guards who were fighting around here but they were going off towards one of the explosions and the attack itself was coming. If she could do it without raising a blade it would be most helpful as she could see one of the gardens and went into it. The stone works were there when she moved around seeing no students but she knew from some of the plans they had gotten this pool went down deeper into the antechambers for getting around the mountain... she just had to hold her breath.

HMMMMM there was a sensation against the back of her mind and she could feel something.. she could feel someone in her mind tickling at it and at what she thought of Ni-Ne who seemed just as distracted. Sawa sent all of the energies that she could to reassure her before sliding out of the kimono, her small pack she folded it all into and had her katana on her back so that she would be able to move and swim quickly. A pale figure slipping into the water as the moonlight caught her skin and it looked more silvery with her eyes when she breathed in deeply going down towards a grate as the sounds of guards coming was there.

The chill of the water was there as she internally shivered and could feel something... maranon.. the alien willing to warm her up as flashes of someting... like a sense memory went across her mind. She wasn't going to get distracted while swimming and she used her katana to cut the metal of the crate so that she would be able to slip through into the stone caves. Her mind recalling the way to go and get through before she came to one of the chambers and rose up breathing in deeply the captured air itself.... her lungs were burning, her skin slick with water before she moved around and ducked back down for a moment orienting herself and rose up gulping down a deep breath.

THen she was going off towards it, swimming through the tunnels quickly as it went down, a small area pressing her as she squeezed through it and she could see light ahead of herself with a small drain and grate. She was able to move it and came into a small section of space between the tunnels and the floor itself. She could hear other talking and it was the area under the gardens near the girls dormitories. She knew her way aorund but blending in with them and blending in would be more dangerous since people would be wondering why she is both naked... or covered in damp clothing. Or why sbhe was trying to be alone when she moved around under them and came up.

Slipping into the cover fo the bushes as she slid back into her kimono and wrung it out of the water as much as she could getting down into the mountain itself and the archives wouldn't be easy. Problem with some of this was to get up secretly you often had to go down to the areas where it is deeper into the mountain. She was looking for the entrances as she slid around a corner to go into the courtyard itself where she could see some of the students standing there with the guards around them. SHe couldn't blend in with them, they were all in night clothing and it was known she was out with Ni-Ne and Midori was gone... no details but they were not in the school.

SOme of the guards came here to watch them and keep them well calm... in their place. Sawa slipped behind one of them and didn't make contact with any before she slipped under one of the gates onto a pathway. Seeing bandits within the walls was a scary thought until several of them were draggin away students and whatever valuables they could find that weren't held down. Sawa moved into the one office building coming across a long stretch of hallway leading to the internal lifts as she slipped into one of the vent letting the warm air take away some of the chill from her bones and body... also dry her clothing for a moment.

She moved and she rolled into an open section of the vent system itself as it came to one of the larger chambers. A lift going up and she could hear more people while grabbed at the wall and she had the ladder to climb up and up. The rising lift going to catch her as she worked on timing it and she could feel something for a moment that focused her as it seemed to slow down.. her blood pumping in her ears, her heart pounding and then she was on top of the lift and rising up towards the vents as she popped them open and lept up onto the small roof. From here she could see it all, the top of the mountain and even at night it was beautiful.

She could see across the school itself, she could see down the mountains to the lower garden's the water garden's the open fields, the walls and all of the paths. Towards the rest she could see the massive mountains themselves, sheer and powerful opening up so much wonder and possibility while the sounds of equipment hummed in the background. THis high up the wind was chilled, the air thin and she could see fans that used the winds themselves to turn and power some fo the less needed equipment like additional lighting or even to maintain music. THe sounds of guards and sirens above and below was also there and important when they wanted to move around.

She didn't move quickly seeing the wind turn, small blades of paper that caught the wind and wound it slowly around to turn the gears and produce energy. Sides of it able to be scaled as the observatory was in the distance and she could see the planets in the Atrisian system that had been developed to give them an idea how it looked. Sawa moved slowly around crouched on the roof hearing the guards while they were moving and she worked to avoid it all. Where she was going until she came to it and rushed climbing up the side then shimying to the sides of the wood... then up and ducked before she jumped to get up higher towards the tip when she stood there.

THe thick cable that was on a spool and got power with friction before she was testing it. THen she was sliding down towards the one office as she felt something within the force and it was like a thick black pool of darkness under her. She looked down towards the mountain and could swear she saw something... fires, destruction, chaos and death but then the flash was gone. She focused her mind and moved landing on the roof as she held herself there and reached out to feel for Ni-Ne but she was working to not distract her with the danger that they could both be in while going for the records.

 

[Nine Lives]

Albrecht's lightsaber flashed its yellow blade through a Bandit trying to pull a student into the woods of the gardens. Ni-Ne. Ni-Ne had done this. She'd struck a bargain with the bandits. Not exactly a Jedi thing to do, but given the situation, and the unexpected way they had both been shuttled off to seek answers elsewhere, he could hardly blame Ni-Ne for being desperate. She must have been captured and tried to turn the situation to her advantage.

Still...damn ruthless...

There was no right answer in this situation, however. Ni-Ne was well over the age of those typically accepted for training--Albrecht thought it a silly policy, himself, one that was going to back fire on them horribly some day. What if some kid missed their mother too much? It was a disaster waiting to happen. But he had to take what he could get with Ni-Ne. She was his only real back-up. He had those other two potentials shipped off the planet with the Emperor's permission a day before.

Even though there was not much he could do to alter the situation, he still knew he had to reach her. He sensed her strength had grown. Or rather, awakened. This was a dangerous time for her. She would be tempted by the dark side of The Force.

And she was dangerously close to it already, doing what she was doing with these bandits. Albrecht suddenly realized he had a problem as he cut down another three bandits with wide strikes of Shii-Cho, effortlessly cutting through their weapons...he was 'technically' on the side of the emperor and the Yovshin.

Horns and alarms were sounded by Yovshin swordsman as the facility went into lockdown, students trapped in their dorms as the bandits started throwing Imperial Martini's, bottles of fuel with a rag set aflame, tossing them onto the roofs. The wind was bad tonight. It would carry the fires.

Albrecht sped through them with a force-fueled swiftness, blade melting cheap metal and disintegrating leather and fur armor. The smoke hit his nose, acrid and mingled with the scent of burning and melted flesh. Albrecht released the Force through his palm, a small wave of medium power that hurled bandits away threatening students.

Albrecht's eyes scanned the hoards of bandits fighting and cutting down the Yovshin in the central courtyard, looking for Ni-Ne. She was close, having not been far behind the one they sent with her, [member="Sawa Ike"]...and he grew more concerned, because now she was exhibiting an awakened connection to the Force...

Great...two people who just discovered their force connection during a time of conflict. It would be enough just keeping his eye on Ni-Ne. But the sheer power he sensed in Sawa genuinely scared him...it scared him because he hadn't felt that kind of power since...

Kerimi.

The distraction at recalling the name cost him and he yelped in pain as a crossbow bolt impacted his shoulder, and he tossed his lightsaber in a wide arc, slicing multiple bandits in half, before Force jumping out of the way of masses of arrows fired at him, landing and throwing up a Force Cloak, disappearing for a moment in front of a group of bandits armed with primitive vibroswords. The blade of his yellow saber became visible for an instant as it began slicing through hoardes of terrified bandits, men and women being torn through like paper by a blade that was in this era of warfare still practically unstoppable as both the materials to repel it and the ones able to process said materials into necessary weapons were still in the hands of only the very specialized.

There was nothing the bandits had that could stop it as he tore through them. He took the biggest ones first, then the second biggest, prioritizing the most skilled among them, fighting the pain of the crossbow bolt and starting to realize Ni-Ne hadn't mentioned a Jedi Presence. She was nobility...she would not have been a total stranger to what they were. Certainly not with being the daughter of his former nemesis Shimada. She knew he was here. That he'd be here, close by, ready to make contact with her.

With a chill, he realized Ni-Ne had sent these bandits to their doom on purpose. She was thinning out her biggest threats, using him to kill them by proxy. They knew enough to get past security, but not enough to be ready for him. Even if they did, he sensed none with the force among the bandits.

Albrecht continued ripping through bandits, blade turned to fans of gold as flesh and metal melted on contact. Oba fired a primitive Atrisian Pulse-Wave blaster that violently broke down whatever flesh it touched. He managed to reach Oba in the chaos.

"Oba! I'm going to check on the interior records!" Albrecht yelled at him over the melee.

"What the hell for?!" Oba yelled as he shot three more.

"They're here for something!" the grizzled old Jedi shouted as he cut down an attacker from behind without looking. "This is merely distraction! They wouldn't attack a holding of the Emperor himself without a damn good reason! If they know this much about the security they could know more! They planned this!" He shouted back at Oba.

"Go! I'll rally the others. Stop them from getting inside the restricted access section!" Oba shouted before quickly turning and disintegrated the head off a bandit charging him. Two arrows flew at him but he managed to dodge, picking up a dead Yovshin's shotgun and opening fire into a pack of bandits about to finish off a student.

Albrecht ran for the records office, knowing Ni-Ne would not have wasted time actually helping the bandits with anything. His instincts were rewarded. He spotted Sawa scaling the roofs in the darkness

A yovshin who had his arms broken burst through a weak wooden wall, followed by another with a broken leg.

Ni-Ne strode out immediately after, both swords sheathed. They were away from prying eyes for the moment, and it was his first chance to really study her up close. He saw raw confidence. Perhaps...too confident...

"Quite a way to go after the records, Ni-Ne..." Albrecht said crossly. "We've got a lot of dead people here. I hope you understand the consequences..."

"I had no choice. I have less than a month before the Ancestor arrives. I've seen what happens if I don't stop it. I can't let that happen. I won't. I don't care if I have to tear this miserable academy-prison apart until I've found those plans, Master Jedi. I will not allow The Sacred Ancestor to destroy Atrisia!" Ni-Ne said fiercely.

"Those bandits you are using have already killed multiple innocents. It is not the way of the Jedi to act with such ruthlessness!"

Ni-Ne's stare went glassy and for a split second Albrecht saw her father in that hard stare.

"I am not a Jedi...and I did not ask you to show me your ways...if that doesn't make me Jedi material..." Ni-Ne tossed him the golden sword still sheathed on her back.

"...sorry then..."

Bo watched as Ni-Ne consciously used the Force to jump to the roof and follow Sawa. Bo leapt after her. She was only recently aware of the Force. She'd only get stronger the more she tested her power.

"I am the only route you have off Atrisia!" Bo reminded her with an angry grumble.

Ni-Ne turned to him angrily. "I might not even survive! Your offer of a ride matters little!"

"You won't survive just barreling headlong into your problems!" Albrecht snapped. "You not acting with patience as already cost lives in this prison!"

"My father gave me this mission. A few lives are a small price to pay."

"Your father asked me to help you! I didn't want to at first. We've tried to kill each other hundreds of times, he and I! He asked me to help you become a Jedi! You are not getting rid of me that easily! Not when you barely understand the Force, and certainly not while The Dark Side is already tempting you!" he replied, cutting down a bandit that tried to scale the roof they were on with a lightsaber throw before Ni-Ne could react.

"Face it, Li-Ves...you need me!" He said crossly, striding ahead of her.

Ni-Ne only stared for a second. If her father had really asked...

"Okay...you're with me..." Ni-Ne muttered, running to catch up to Sawa. The route to the internal security would not be easy.

"Never turn down help from a man with an unstoppable plasma sword..." she joked under her breath as she leapt with the Force across rooftops, Maranon having gone strangely silent in Albrecht's presence.

Eventually she caught up to Sawa with unnatural speed, Albrecht having caught up seconds later with them.

"We got a tagalong! He's friendly...I think..." Ni-Ne elaborated.

"Master Albrecht Bo, Jedi Shadow. Pleased to meet you!" He said to Sawa, getting wary of her the closer she was.

Sawa was very strong. Stronger than Ni-Ne with the Force...she was barely aware of though...

But he would have enough problems with just Ni-Ne, so he remained silent. But he knew with all the stress Sawa was under, it would likely awaken on its own.

Albrecht did not have anything even resembling a plan for when that had occured, just like he had not when Kerimi...or rather, Maranon had been changed by that strange magical formula...had been awakened and turned to the dark side utterly in a moment of short sightedness and vanity from an other wise powerful and experienced adept...

Albrecht tore himself away from the past and focused on the now, and the first order of business was stealing the schematics...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa stopped when she was moving and Ni-Ne and then another joined her. She was standing there and checked what her outfit looked like while the wind was colder now. She could see down the length of the academy and there was fires, fighting and more while they moved and she didn't speak at first. She just moved quickly towards Ni-Ne and spoke. "I am glad you are okay." She wanted to reach out to her and take her hands but had to think better of it while looking around and moving. ONe corner bringing a Yovshin out with their blades drawn as a sound came... then another and a blast with a droid surging forward. "BEEPBEEEP BOOOP!"

K1 was there moving with them and standing there as it seemed to be dragging one of the bandits and one fo the yovshin behind both. FLamethrowers out and firing off to keep others away before blasters fired off into approaching threats. Sawa was... surprised.... she had gotten the droid and her mother did say that it was programmed to help her but she figured with like math or something."Ah K1 what did my mother exactly program you in to help me?" HSe was curious while they were going and the little droid pulled out a saw letting it cut the lines loose as the droid spoke. "Ahhh....where did you get assassination protocols?"

THe droid made some sounds and whirled its head around until she could lead the way for the jedi and Ni-Ne to get into the one ioffice. "ALright.. then if you can Kayone slice that dor." She pointed towards it and the droid was moving into range to sart working on the door.

 

[Nine Lives]

Seeing [member="Sawa Ike"], strong and beautiful and without fear as she betrayed everything the young prefect knew made Ni-Ne desire her all the more. The Blood Tiger in her suddenly regretted not taking the chance to find Midori and kill her, if only so that Sawa would at least be free of the spoiled little wretch whatever else happened.

They reached the entance to the secure records office after crossing the pathway across the outer fort wall, the jade city glimmering below. The door was circular but her expensive droid K1 should up at just the right moment and revealed it had been modified for killing. The Ike's had to have been utterly loaded to get something like that. Ni-Ne had only heard of such things, and never imagined ever needing one one day.

Still though...a hidden weapon, disguised as something benign. Imagine if she could make something like K1, but disguised as a person...

Ni-Ne quickly shook her mind of such a notion. Fringe Science, at best...it would never catch on...

As the droid hacked the door, a rustle of metal behind them made Ni-Ne and Albrecht turn around, seeing multiple Yovshin.

"Lady Li-Ves! You have commited high treason against our mighty emperor!" one of the warriors exclaimed, brandishing his katana. "Surrender for judgement, or die where you stand. And you, Master Bo?! Do the Jedi condone such treachery?!"

"Not normally, but its kinda been an off day for everyone involved." Albrecht darkly joked, not realising Ni-Ne was already moving, red bladed sword drawn as she instinctively increased her speed, becoming a scarlet blur to the Yovshin. One thrust, but it was parried too quickly and Ni-Ne found the gap in between his armor, running him through, pulling away, his innards spilling onto the pavement as Ni-Ne sprinted towards the next, quickly approaching Yovshin, whose swords were also raised.

Ni-Ne had been trained in the sword almost since she was old enough to walk. Her father had ruthlessly, methodically ingrained in her every trick he knew, every ruthless use of a blade.

Three blocks. Two parries. Stab. Behead. Move on. Dodge. Parry. Dodge. Behead. Move on. Block. Parry. Parry. Parry. Slice in half, blade going upward. Move on. So the sequence went, Ni-Ne isolating Yovshin as they attacked, finding the weakness in their technique, and cutting them down without remorse. It was them or Atrisia. Yovshin have always died for the Emperor, and too many of them had been jerks anyway.

Albrecht watched as blood sprayed whereever Ni-Ne went past someone. He would have helped but those men and women were already dead.

The red bladed Katana Thousand-Handed Titan sang through the air, sanguine drops flinging off its strangely dense and heavy metal, the Force guiding her as much as her own combat instincts. Soon, every last yovshin that had challenged them was dead.

Ni-Ne flicked the blood off her blade and sheathed her sword, running back to Sawa and Albrecht.

"You're your father's daughter alright." he dryly quipped, rolling his eyes as he frowned.

"You said you and my father tried to kill each other?" Ni-Ne asked as she watched K1 work.

"I'll tell you about it later, when we aren't busy commiting high treason against The Atrisian Emperor." Albrecht grumbled, drawing his robe around him, his eyes seeing more than just the natural world around his new charge.

"That tin-can of yours nearly done, Lady Ike?" he called out. "Every minute we're out here is another chance for the Yovshin or your bandit friends to feth us over."

"Aw, don't be mean to K1! He's cute. Like a little metal garbage-can shaped puppy!" Ni-Ne joked with a wry gaze at the old Jedi.

"I'm gettin' too old for this chit." The Jedi muttered sourly as they waited.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was looking at the droid and she had no idea as the yovshin were coming in to capture them and she looked on as Ni-Ne carved through them with little thought or effort. She was uncertain about what could be done but... as the droid beeped she understood what he was saying. A few of the droids they had gotten taught her when they were little. "Alright." She said it and as Ni-Ne came back she spoke. "He is almost done I am sure of it... seems confident he can handle it." THe sound of the doors sliding open was with a swoosh while Sawa was going forward and looked at Ni-Ne more with some trepidation.... she had killed them without remorse.. people who were well their protectors at one point....


Or as much a protector as a captor could be... but they couldn't let harm come to them so shrug.... SHe was uncertain about how that would really qualify and be set up. She moved over next to her and stood there for a moment looking at her. "Ni-Ne what have you done?" SHe said it more worried that the girl was losing herself in her own bloodlust or in battle each time she seemed to be attacking. Sawa couldn't stop what they were doing but something was changing within Ni-Ne... she could feel it and there was something in the back of her mind. like a pain behind her eye while she was thinking about it and stopped in the one records office as the droid started a hologram.

"Sawa... if you are seeing this then you have had to do something dangerous." THe hologram of her mother was there, standing tall in her kimono with the golden half mask over her face. THe image was high quality for the recording as her mother was waiting there. "It is hard to explain or even make this my daughter..... for one it requires that you have come back to the academy, found Kay One and are going itno the restricted areas. It also means that you might have been having to kill some of the Yovshin which isn't a good thing. THey are not all terrible just honorable men and women who are serving a madman."

Sawa was looking at her mother and there was someone waiting for them in there... looking at the three of them he spoke looking up from a desk as one of the administrators were o the floor. "Ah the Lady Ike." Deep resonations in his voice, inflections and he seemed amused sitting there. Sawa gasped seeing him and she knew who he was with those black dreads in his hair.... his thick and defined muscles of his chest. Jewels around his neck and he stood up watching them more and walked over. "Your mother thought you might need something helpful but I can see you have that already.... still at least I didn't have to wait around and try to explain this."

 

[Nine Lives]

As K1 finally got the doors open Ni-Ne followed Albrecht Bo and [member="Sawa Ike"] in. Maranon had gone dark in her skull...there was no presence in her mind whatsoever.

The records office was styled like a museum. Elegant shelves and shelves of brass with both ancient texts in the form of scrolls and wood slat codexes and primitive (at least by modern standards) datapads. Golden globe like lights cast everything in an amber hue and the ancient frescoes of Atrisia's emperors adorned the ceiling.

"Ni-Ne what have you done?" Sawa asked her. For a moment, Ni-Ne was silent.

"If we let them stop us Sawa...if we let anyone stop us, Atrisia will fall..." Ni-Ne said quietly. "We were cornered...and if we left witnesses, it would give them an idea of what we are trying to accomplish. I...I'm sorry...I just couldn't take that risk..."

"There is always another way, Ni-Ne..." Albrecht chimed solemnly, walking forward.

"And almost all of them would have lowered our already low chances of success..." Ni-Ne argued with the old man, inwardly haunted by the images of the burning city of jade, of a dead Sawa. Of a dead everything.

Ni-Ne would fight that outcome with everything she had, even at the cost of her own life if necessary. She would never let it happen. Never.

The hologram spoke from K1, and again that momentary ghost of shame started up in Ni-Ne as Sawa's mother talked of the yovshin. She had so wanted to be one once. Hungered to where the armor and fight as a true Li-Ves did. On the battlefield. But the love of her father and brothers had always kept it from her. And now her dicing up those yovshin would always keep it from her.

But then again, that was the trouble, wasn't it? Honorable men and women serving a madman? Her father had done it for many years. He'd grown disillusioned in his old age that one man, any man, could deserve such faithful service without earning it. The Emperor never had.

In her studies of what distant cultures she could find details on, she'd read of a alien species of warriors called the Taung, whose societal interaction operated on merit. Remembering those men and women she'd sliced to pieces not moments before, and now keenly feeling their warm blood on robes that were colored to hide such a thing, Ni-Ne thought Atrisia could learn much good from such a people...

Ni-Ne as they explored went alert, seeing a well muscled specimen of a man stride towards them. Ni-Ne wasn't sure she had seen him before, but damn...she might have had a thing for Sawa (and now possibly Maranon) but she still found men hot...

Hubba hubba. Mommy like...Ni-Ne thought, with an intrigued expression crossing her face. Albrecht, who'd had experiences knowing knights occasionally had a fling if someone caught their fancy, gave an extremely loud, exasperated sigh at The Blood Tiger.

"We should hurry and look for those ship schematics. Sawa, is this guy friend or foe?" Ni-Ne asked, snapping back to business at Albrecht's chastisement. She began looking for the tech records, though she never took her eye off of him.

Albrecht raised a brow. Ni-Ne had a ruthless focus to her...frankly, seeing her dismiss her own heartsick musings so quickly disturbed him...like her father, Ni-Ne knew only to push forward and never give up. It could be either a fatal flaw, a recipe for success, or both...

"May I ask your name?" Albrecht called out to the strange man.