Dead Grandmasters Tell No Tales

[Valik]

It had taken considerable doing, but Warren Valik, along with others of the Tion Bunch, had managed to defeat and kill the former Grandmaster Je'gan Olra'en. Along with Darron Wraith that was two down. Granted, there were nearly a dozen "Former Grandmasters" at this point, but considering how few of them were dead and how the nature of their group was still concealed? Well, Valik considered it quite the accomplishment. Ultimately the accomplishment paled in comparison to the achievement of obtaining the Fallanassi Apostate's body. From what he'd understood it wouldn't tell -all- of Je'gan's tales, but it would tell him a considerable amount of them, and more importantly it would show him the man's secrets. What he could do with the Force. How he did it what he did in the Force. Valik wasn't a mentalist himself, and would never be capable of what Je'gan was, or heck, even what Jared Ovmar was, but he could still accomplish quite a bit from examination. All he needed do was touch a limb here or there, and let the past speak for itself.

 

[Tahira Solo]

[member="Valik"]

The lights flickered In the room that the mad-scientist was working. There was pause long enough for Valik to think the event was something to be written off. Perhaps a faulty-power cable.

The lights flickered again.

Maybe an unpaid electric credit?

A cold breeze stirred at his back. The lights shuttered again and stayed off. A very clear and feminine voice sounded beside the man's ear.

"I know who you are, Valik, mad scientist of the Fringe." The cold breeze shifted to the back of his neck.

 

[Valik]

The lights flickered for a second. Odd. Valik's generators were not known to have such flaws. Perhaps there was an ion storm interfering with his machinery. But that wouldn't explain the cool air raising the hair on his nape


"I know who you are, Valik, mad scientist of the Fringe."

Valik heard a distinctly feminine voice behind him as he visibly jumped. Most un-Sith like, but Valik was alone, conducting a process he'd done alone for nearly a decade now. He had never encountered, or anticipated being surprised by a specter before, and it was obvious. From what Valik could tell no such specter had materialized, only bidding him warning through her voice. Who would this womanly specter be however? How many women had died as a result of his work? Well, that didn't really narrow it down. How many women had died as a result of him and were powerful enough to haunt him afterwards? Hmm. Could it be, the mark's companion?


"You have me at a disadvantage then Mrs. Olra'en, for I know little of you." He said, before stroking a finger over he cadaver in front of him. "Though I suspect I shall soon learn quite a bit."

[member="Tahira Solo"]

 

[Tahira Solo]

[member="Valik"]

A disembodied-laughter echoed around the scientist. "You're as quick as they say - in reflex and in mind, though I prefer Tahira Solo." Her voice sounded far away, almost faded.

"Though not as quick to think you can learn much from one discarded shell of Je'gan the Body Snatcher."

A low chuckle sounded like a wisp of rustling autumn leaves behind his right shoulder. Her voice grew stronger. "Will a thirst for knowledge be your undoing, Warren Valik?"

A light in the corner of the room flickered on, casting the lab in an eerie and untrustworthy glow.

 

[Valik]

"Undoubtedly. Caution can only prevent so many unwarranted scenarios." He replied as the lights flickered and flashed in an otherworldly fashion. His hand stayed on the corpse of Je'gan Olra'en, notably much less mangled and cut than it had been at it's death. Preserved and upkept with surgical precision. Creepy precision the average eyes would assume, but Valik had a mind to maintain his resources. His gaze traveled back in time as he viewed the body's past, unperturbed by the initial shock of death.

"Tell me then Mrs. Solo." He said as he began to delve. "If Je'gan was the Body Snatcher, where does his mind lie now?"

[member="Tahira Solo"]

 

[Tahira Solo]

"Mrs. Such manners for a sith," her tone had tones of amusement mixed with sadness. The feeling of an icy-hand drifted over Valik's digits that rested upon her dead husband for a moment.

A clicking of a tongue echoed around the lab. "You're not asking the right questions, scientist. You have the mind but you don't have that which powers it. What is the body without its spirit?"

A vial that contained some liquid edged off a corner shelf and shattered on the ground.

"What are you searching for, Valik?" A frigid breeze slammed into the scientist's face.

[member="Valik"]

 

[Valik]

[member="Tahira Solo"]

Valik let out a chuckle as a vial hit the floor, dropping a rare and expensive chemical unto the floor. Annoying, but he supposed it wasn't unexpected. The chills and the drops, all very well done, but Valik was no scantily clad academy student in an underfunded holo-vid. Now that he knew the Force Ghost was there, he had little fear at what she did, though he won't he didn't shiver.

"So you don't know where he lies? Where he's trapped? What manner of weapon was used against him?" He said as he traveled deeper, past the the incident of his murder, into his life as 'Selka Ventus'. "I suppose otherworldly knowledge has it's limits." He shrugged, as he witnessed the back-deals of the executive of the youngest and yet most powerful corporation in the galaxy post-gulag virus.

"And if you must know, I am searching for two things. One was requested to me by a friend, so I won't betray her motives." Valik answered to her last question, willing to play the dead woman's game. "The second . . . well. That experiment will come later, and I don't want to spoil the surprise."

 

[Tahira Solo]

[member="Valik"]


There was a moment of brilliant light that quickly faded as her figure appeared in front of the dark-eyed and dark-haired sith. Albeit, her figure was luminescent and slightly opaque, she appeared as she did that day in the ballroom. She stood right in front of him, almost nose to nose, if she was that tall. She offered him no comfort in her distance.

"I know many things, Sith Lord. Some things I could only learn in this form," her chin tilted downward as if to motion to her own glowing figure. "Is this the same friend that asked you for the old Grandmaster's murder? Be careful Warren because one day your death will be sought out by others. Did you not think that your actions in the ballroom had consequences?"

Another vial crashed to the floor, this time near the lab's entrance and outside of the solitary light's glow.

 

[Valik]

The ghost materialized, well, became visually apparent rather, as the woman continued to speak, taunting him with her vaulted knowledge and the threat of consequences. Where Valik gave chuckles earlier he now put out a more pronounced laugh.

"Everything has consequences my dear deceased duchess of the Force. If I was afraid to face them I'd have never left this lab." He said before the sound of more glass breaking erupted. He had half a mind to alchemically enhance the durability of each vial, but he had more pressing business. "And no, the friend isn't the one who asked for your husband's death. Though I'm sure that one would appreciate what I'm doing in concept." He said as he viewed more and more of Je'gan's past, his days as an Imperial, his days as Jedi Grandmaster. Quite the storied tale this body had to tell.

"One day I will be hunted, killed, like an animal, but until that day I will build and I will learn the way this galaxy works. The ways I can bend it, shape it into something more. And the legacy of that which I build will be eternal."


[member="Tahira Solo"]

 

[Tahira Solo]

[member="Valik"]

The form of the deceased Duchess of the force moved without seeming to, now perched on the edge of the cadaver's table. "Oh, Valik," luminescent face regarded him thoughtfully. "Is your biggest fear to be forgotten? Does that drive your greatest desire, to make a legacy?"

Shimmering hair fell along her shoulders as she shook her head. "You are nothing but a breath of air, a disappearing shadow in eternity. So was I. So was my husband. Time's meaning changes and one day you'll embrace it for yourself. But how you get there and where you go is another matter entirely."

Her figure dipped closer to the sith lord as she leaned forward. "You are a skilled shaper," a genuine smile curled on the deceased, master healer's lips. "Did you know how close your poison was to preventing me from leaving - though I did not pre-plan any of it? To think my remains would've been in this lab somewhere, with your finger at my skull - or something far worse entirely."

There was no fear or regret in her voice, just a mildly amusing tone as she stared at him in an eerily persistent and undaunted way.

 

[Valik]

Valik smiled as the non-corporeal woman's hair flowed in an oddly corporeal fashion. She spoke of time, breaths, shadows, glimmers. All metaphors for comparisons in scale. None of which were wholely inaccurate, but none of which held vision on the big picture.

"You are right of course. It's all about perspective. Tip of the glacier as it were. Those are the rules. All die in time, even the Gen'dai or the Anzati are not immune." He said, as he picked his hands off of the body. He had what he needed. The woman leaned in closer to Valik, putting a smile to her face as she complimented him honestly.

"You were no slouch yourself. Most can never hope to cure themselves from what I produce, let alone in so quick a timespan. It is a shame a woman of your skill is lost." He said, as he backed up, before turning to face the lifeless corpse once again. "But as you say, we are all a disappearing shadow in the light, or darkness of eternity." He said, before a crazed and confident smile curled into his lips.


"At least, those of that play by the rules."


His words echoed, as he reached out to the corpse before him. It took time and tremendous power, but he could feel what the body once had. It's old connection to the Force. It was more than a sixth sense, what Valik felt was permeable, manipulateable, physical. Beyond the otherworldy capabilities of the Force what he stimulated, what power he poured into the lifeless shell was biological.

It was, admittedly, a power Valik had only tried once before. An ability he used to bolster the strength of the Force-stripped Ashin Varanin, stimulating her connection to the Force temporarily, bringing her back to her full strength. Perhaps even more, if only for a moment. It was draining, but he'd conducted several experiments isolating the origins of the Force, analyzing it from a scientific level. He was no master of the power yet, but he was perhaps second in history in comprehension of the biology of the Force. Second only to an old Muun, murdered by his apprentice nearly eight centuries ago. He was not sure if it would work, nor was he sure what would appear if it did, but at the very least he understood the concept and execution of what he was attempting to do.

To manipulate Midi-Chlorians to bring Je'gan, or whatever soul was left from the body of Daesumnor, back to life.

[member="Tahira Solo"] @Je'gan Olra'en

 

[Tahira Solo]

[member="Valik"]

"I was never lost," she said quietly as her attention shifted to the bodily shell on the table, one of many forms her husband took. She caught the glint of madness in the scientist's eye and recognized the signs of using a tremendous amount of power. A cool breeze prickled along any exposed skin of Valik as her form flickered and appeared beneath the remaining light in the room, by the doorway.

"But you will never be found. What will happen when you fail?"

The shelves along the walls trembled and shook, their contents bobbed to the edge.

 

[Valik]

Valik continued exciting the dormant mid-chlorians of the man's body, etching him closer and closer back to life as the woman taunted from the doorway, as if being hard to find wasn't a desirable trait.

"I will do the same all scientists do when confronted with a problem. I'll take notes, analyze my mistakes, and correct them. True scientists do not have failures, merely roadblocks, and my quest will be no different." He said as energy continued to funnel into the dead man as walls shook and datapads spilled to floor. Sound rumbled throughout the lab as energy poured, though whether the origins were the Alchemist or the Spirit one could not readily determine, until a soft steady beat began to emerge.




Bip






Bip








Bip







It was the sound of the equipment measuring Je'gan, and his beating heart.

[member="Tahira Solo"]

 

[Tahira Solo]

If force ghosts could show surprise and to a certain degree, feel it, Tahira Solo was one of them. The rattling of the shelves stopped, whatever damage done was done. "That's...," she paused.

She knew better than any saying impossible was incorrect.

It was impossible to disappear that day in the ballroom. It was impossible to be present in front of Valik. It was impossible not to be angry with her husband's murderers. But whether through a greater power or that of her own, they were possible.

"...unexpected."

After years of being connected with her husband spiritually, mentally, and physically, she knew it wasn't him. But it still made her sick to her stomach. Her figure significantly faded within the ring of light, reduced to the faintest glow.

"Warren. I know this isn't something you'll ever ask for, value, or maybe even understand but I forgive you."

The statement didn't fit the situation nor did she offer a further explanation. But Tahira Solo never fit into the norm. Just ask [member="Jonathon Patches"] about dish-washing. Whether the apology was for Valik's current taunts with the body, the murder not so long ago, or something else entirely and not yet come was left for his imagination.

[member="Valik"]

 

[Valik]

Tahira was right. Valik didn't understand, nor did he seek the approval of the deceased, but at the same time? There was something different about the Jedi Master's words. What did she have to lose with honesty? What did she have to gain by admitting such a thing? Then again, if she could appear to him she could probably appear to anybody, a spy for the other side. Though, if pressed, Valik wouldn't be able to name what 'other side' Tahira would be affiliated with. Which only further brought his curiosity. If not here to mock him, chide his research, or possibily report his activities to his enemies why exactly was she here?

The sound of the heartbeat monitor brought Valik out of his mind and back into reality. Perhaps she had hope that he could do something about her dead husband, or perhaps she wished to try to safeguard the body somehow. In either case, while his heart, his chest rose and fell with the crest and trough of his breaths his mind showed nothing. The body was utterly catatonic, a 'vegetable' in the common tongue.

"I can't say I asked for it, nor that I understand it. But your assertion is . . . noted." He finally said to the spirit. Part of him wanted to say 'thankful' if only to be polite but he wasn't sure what to be thankful for. He didn't regret what he did, as the illusionist was a threat and she put herself in the way. Perhaps a dead person to talk to while he did experiments wouldn't be that bad. As long as she didn't report his machinations to others. Hmmm. Part of him wondered if he could trap the ghost to his person, then part of himself wondered why he was pondering how to stick a Jedi Master to constantly talk to him. Things were so much simpler without people.


"Though the body lives there is no soul." He said, referring to Je'gan's breathing corpse. "It seems Daesumnor has played it's part. Binding souls to an object through leviathan blister traps. Foul business indeed." He thought out loud, before looking to the ghost, fading from sight, perhaps existence. "I am aware it might seem odd, but if you wish, I could attempt to bind you to the body. Would be quite the experiment."

[member="Tahira Solo"]

 

[Tahira Solo]

[member="Valik"]

An emotion hard to read passed across her shimmering face. Perhaps a little sadness? But for what was a different matter. A light in the opposite end of the room flickered on as she faded a shade.

"One thing I told Je'gan Olra'en before we got married, was that he had to promise to leave me in the ground when it was my time." A thin smile pulled on her lips. "He never had a chance to be tested on that promise but I believe he would've honored it." Gaze panned from the re-animated corpse to rest on Valik.

"Perhaps one day the force will lead me back to the living. But today is not the day."

With a subtle nod of her chin, she began to disappear completely as the rest of the lab lights flickered on.

 

[Valik]

Valik considered for a brief moment forcing the woman into the body and conducting his experiment anyways, but then he thought better of putting a woman he helped kill inside the body of her husband, who he also helped kill, that also happened to have quite a high amount of force potential. Perhaps later when he was more comfortable about her presence, but for now twas best to let her go.

"As you wish." He said as she began to disappear. "You know where to find me." He finished, in case she ever got the hankering for more mortal gallivanting. Which left only one thing to take care of, the breathing but soulless body of Je'gan. On one hand he could always use it for experimentation later, stuffing souls in and whatnot, but on the other he could rip souls out of a much less important body and utilize it just as well. Perhaps put Tahira or some other force spirit into a kushiban? Or perhaps an ewok? Or a ghostling? Would make containment afterwards quite a bit easier. No, he didn't need Je'gan's body, and he didn't need him to be alive. Reaching his hands outwards he began to feel the midichlorians that had been given a spark, a jolt, a second chance, then he took that second chance away. The breathing stopped, his heart no longer beat, and the dead man returned to his natural place.

After his second death, or the body's second death rather, Valik began to put it inside a tank, filled not with bacta but a creation of his own design, memory acid. In a few moments the last week of his existence would be null and void, at least to anyone using the gift of psychometry, specifically, the woman he'd learned was related to his body just moments ago. Once the soaking was complete he put the body in a coffin, and then added a datapad with it as he put in the mail. The datapad would read:



A-

My Deepest Sympathies


-V

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

[member="Tahira Solo"]