Dear Captain Raxis

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

Captain Raxis,

We need to talk. It's extremely important. Please meet me on Rebellion Actual at your earliest convenience.

General J.Q. Merrill

Rebellion Actual, the mobile space station that comprised the Underground's primary base of operations, was currently located above the desert planet Altir in the Unknown Regions. Jorus waited for Raxis in a corner booth in the Red Shift Cantina, the station's best watering hole for Underground fighters. His fingers drummed nervously on the table.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Vassara arrived shortly after. She had an inkling what this might be about. A very good feeling. As such she had come with a special set of items and only armed with her saber. After the events that had unfolded on Cularin, no doubt Jorrus was certainly cross with her.

And he had good reason to be.

Vassara sighed, moving through the dark hallways and slipping to and fro through the crowd. She had tried to follow the code to completion. Tried to be a Jedi. But alas she was certainly not the greatest nor the saintliest. Despite good intentions and trying to help the republic, her nemesis had been the very code she'd sworn to uphold.

As she entered the Red Shift she spotted Jorrus. He was tucked away, as always not wanting to be seen. She made her way over sitting down and staring at him.

"Yes?"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

Internal security scanners would, perhaps, give him a general idea of what that 'special set of items' was before she arrived. He watched as she entered the Red Shift, and his mouth compressed to a thin line.

"I need to know three things, Captain. I need to know why you fought alongside the One Sith at the Cularin massacre. I need to know who you've told about this base's existence and current location. And I need to know what's in your pockets."

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"Ah!"

So she had fought against the Jedi for the Sith? She would have to rectify that statement. Still Jorrus was right, he did need to see what was in her pockets. Vassara pulled her satchel and laid it on the table slowly. Within was the datacrons she had saved from destruction at the hands of the Sith. The Sith who had come to destroy everything on the planet.

Were they worthless? Probably, but the fact that she had saved something from their clutches meant something to her.

"You no doubt have correspondence with Corvus. Know this one thing, no one knows of my involvement with the Underground, save the Underground. No one knows of your base either. I brought these back to you. The reason I attacked corvus...."

She paused now. How to put it? Could she be blamed that her and Venris had felt the influence of the darkside as it swallowed the world whole. Was she weak? Was it her fault she had broken. Most likely she was not as strong as she thought. Another sigh escaped her. For the first time in her life she felt legitimately sad. Almost remorseful.

"Let me start from the beginning. You have Corvus story, but not mine. I was on a trip to the Enclave to learn what I could. to me knowledge is sacred and powerful. Not shortly after I arrived the Sith set upon us and the Jedi Showed up. The sith were coming down on us. My first and only reaction was to recover as much lore as I could from the place before it was overrun and the datcrons destroyed."

Vassara paused again and then continued.

"Course 'twas then Corvus set upon us with her band of Jedi, and said we were stealing. When she threatened to arrest us and refused to accept our help, and refused to accept that we were trying to save their property rather than steal it...well."

...

"The Sith were all over us, the darkside clouded the whole place and I cracked. I let my anger get the better of me. Rest assured I had always intended to return these, not steal them for my own. So here they are, and here is my version of events."

...

"you know I have always been different. I have a much different view of the world and my place in it than the straight laced conventional Jedi. Not quite the straight arrow, but not quite a sinner either. My resolve to hunt sith may be my flaw, and you may do what you must."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

"All in all," he said at last, leaning back in the booth, "I believe you. You've always done right by the Underground, and I can't fault you for a moment of weakness. Force knows there's been a few Jedi Grandmasters I wanted to slug upside the head too. Whether you did right by stealing the datacrons before the Sith could...well, that's not my place to judge. Now, here's the issue, and it's a big one. Because your Underground affiliation isn't known, so far as I'm aware -- though we do have a Council member in our ranks, Kian Karr -- there's not a lot I can do about the bounty they'll certainly put on you. If you're telling me the full truth, and I think you are, there's two suggestions, strong ones, that I have for you."

He tapped one of the datacrons. "Number one? Study these. I don't like the Dark Side, and I don't like what it does to the emotions and thoughts of people I need to be able to count on. I especially don't like that you slipped to the Dark Side and took a swing at the Jedi Grandmaster. You and I've both seen Darksiders turn into rabid dogs. So study these, recognize where you went wrong, and fix it. I don't care what path you set for yourself, but whatever it is, your story tells me you know you need self-control to make that path something that strengthens you and makes you more reliable. When you're done with these, then give'em to me and I'll get them back into the Jedi system without making too many waves."

With finality, he pushed the datacrons back toward her.

"As Master of First Knowledge, entrusted with the holocrons of the Jedi Order by Grandmaster Kiskla Grayson, I'm giving these materials into your care for as long as you need them to grow as an adult. And the second strong suggestion I have for you is this. Go underground. Change your name, wear a mask. The Republic's Jedi don't forgive, and I think we have to be realistic about the consequences if you showed up at Raaf's door to try and explain yourself. I'm not judging your actions -- except for smacking the Grandmaster around; that was a doorknob move and we both know it -- but the fact of the matter is, assault and burglary are crimes in Republic space, regardless of your intentions. I'd steer well clear of that crowd and the Jedi Academies too, just in case. We've got enough Jedi in the Underground that we can find someone to quietly help you get a handle on yourself, at least until you're satisfied with where you're at. Fact of the matter is, I can't spare you, and I'm not enough of a hypocrite to turn you over anyway. But feth it, Raxis, you do need to get a handle on this. Fair?"

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"I would never presume to out you at odds with the Republic or the Jedi Jorrus. I know that you have ties with them and will not expect any special treatment on my end. What I did was certainly wrong and I admitted it to be so. When the time comes, I’ll be sending these back to their doorstep. But I will never set foot into Republic space or a Jedi Academy as long as I should live."

It was a sad fact, but she was not one of them. She was not a Sith, but she was not a beacon of light either. Vassara was something in between, something....different.

"I'll keep my involvement here hidden as I always have."

The mark on her shoulder burned. Something had set off the Witch and she had thrust herself upon Vassara

Be wary of the brother Merrill. For his sister was one of us. He may yet be your undoing.

Vassara winced

"Shut up." She spoke aloud...

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

Jorus squinted, scratching at day-old stubble, as a thought occurred to him. "There's a Jedi who's joined up. He's not with the Republic, and Force knows he and I have had our differences, but he's good with minds. There's a smallish chance you going off the hook at Cularin may have been due to some kind of deliberate mental influence. He can make sure nothing got shoved in there without you knowing. Want me to set up a meet?"

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Vassara nodded. She thought about running. Jumping up and running away. She thought about asking Jorrus about his sister. She thought about a great deal in a flash of second but then she thought about something else. The fleet knew she'd been marked by a rogue nightsister spirit. the Underground did not.

And since truths were being laid on the table, now was as good a time as any to reveal herself in full.

Do not, you will suffer. You will be exiled.

I dont care, begone!

Vassara reached up and pulled down her shirt, revealing a scar in the flesh. It was circular and impressed on her shoulder, a side effect of spell placed upon her. It burned even now in Jorrus sight.

"I've been meaning to find answers. You had a sister. Rave as I remember it. This witch, on Tortuga. I brought her in to heal two of my crew who were in critical condition. She appeared to me, took me somewhere else. Outside of time and space and told me that I had an already set out destiny."

...

"She speaks to me in my dreams Jorrus. Even now, she fears you. I can't sleep without her appearing, I can't run. I can't hide."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

"Fears me?"

It was a familiar story; his sister had lived it, and she'd been much younger than Vassara, more completely under control. That early possession had set the course for Rave's life. And ultimately, it had led her to her death.

"What's a spirit got to fear me for? I fly things. Now, my associate...ah. Ahhhh."

He stood from the corner booth and drew the long, thin sword from his belt. Taralkaar, the Final Blade, the last creation of Rave Merrill. He drew on the Force through it, and hyperlight danced around the Force-imbued blade. Others in the cantina gave him a glance, but no more.

"My sister went through what you're going through. She gave me this sword. It can destroy Dark Side spirits if I use it right, just slash right through them and dissipate them back into the Force. Is there a way you can make your ghost manifest outside you? Or...that mark, maybe. It would hurt."

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"No I can't control it. It seems to live outside of me, but can visit upon me any-time. I fear the mark is more than just the physical, It's in my sould, deep in my soul."

Rave had been possessed? Odd, maybe this Witch knew more than Vassara had thought. Some kind of greater power was at work here. She had meant to be drawn to Jorrus and meant for him to reveal his sister past.

I told you. You can't be rid of me completely. I can come and go as I please. Remove the scar and I will find another way. Raves Failures have taught us much.

Vassara was not intent on the idea of Jorrus cutting the mark from her. She was unsure it would work. Instead she did what she always did. She sought knowledge.

"Tell me more about her history? When did it begin? Who was she? Who are the Nighsisters exactly?"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

Jorus grimaced and sheathed Taralkaar as he sat back down across from her. "The long and short of it is, Rave's not -- Rave wasn't biologically family. I took her in when she was young. Before that, though, when she was about five or six, she was possessed by a Nightsister Elder named Sira Ves. Rave was her clone, see. Ves got exorcised eventually, but Rave kept most of her memories, so from a really young age she...well, she knew about a hundred kinds of torture before she could ride a speeder bike. It screwed her up, and she knew it, and she hated it." He took a long, shaky breath. "Hated herself for it, for what it did to her life. Anyways. The Nightsisters are a cult of Dark Side-using Dathomiri witches that got started around nine hundred years ago, maybe a couple centuries longer. Their powers are...bizarre. Reliant on chants, gestures, and rituals. More limited than Sith abilities in some ways, but a lot stronger in others. They can't do some things Sith consider basic, and the strongest Sith Lords would look at some Nightsister abilities and say they're impossible.They manifest Dark Side corruption differently, too. Sith get slack, pale skin and yellowed-out eyes. Nightsisters get burst blood vessels -- bruises and the like. Just an odd tradition in general. Not one to dabble in."