Determined to Break

[Setzi Lunelle]

Silence.

And a then a sharp intake of oxygen, causing her heart to pound within her ears, each thump louder than the bang of any explosion, or the hum of warp speed.

Darkness.

Open your eyes, Setzi. And there will be light.

But when her eyelids fluttered open there was still a suffocating blackness, and the sense that she was purely and utterly alone.

Sister? Chastity, still missing, presumed dead.
Children? They had fled or returned to the side of their father.
Lovers? Oh, she’d had a few. Yet, no one appeared to be near her.

However, one man scratched to get in, to claw through whatever spell she was under, the Force clearly nullified as she could not move or thrust the oppressive darkness away. But was he also just a dream? Am I in a grave somewhere entombed on Korriban? Or in a lab to be experimented upon like her Agricorps hybrid plants.

No smell, no touch, just floating in darkness.

He was a friend, Setzi knew that for certain. Half-mad and completely blind she concentrated on the presence.

“...and go to Deneba together.”

Connor Harrison. Where are you? And where am I? And please, please, please will you come and find me?

 

[Connor Harrison]

Amber eyes opened in the darkness.

Silence.

Laid out on the lounge chair in the hull of his ship, stationed on some isolated space-station in the mid-rim full of pilots, gamblers and merchants, away from any far reaching jurisdiction, Connor felt something.

He laid looking up at nothing, but processing the...feeling.

It was a voice from the past in his head. But how? There was no trace of the journey Connor had walked before. Not in the mind of this man, anyway. He had made sure that part was eradicated and destroyed as well as his physical and mental state at the hands of Matsu Xiangu on Maena.

No - somebody was reaching out to him.

He swung his legs over the lounger and sat, looking into the dark wall and searching his broken memories and the voice. The name. The girl. Closing his eyes, he inhaled slowly.

A shiver ran up his spine.

"Deneba."

Connor stood. He strode through the ship, holding onto the frame of the cockpit hatch as he leant in, eyes focused, and pulled up a holo-map of the surrounding systems. He tracked the Mara Corridor and then North to the planet and the Meru Spaceport fixed there.

A world filled with mountains and deserts and neutrality.

His eyes closed, finding that voice. That feeling. Then, they opened.

"Well well well. The apprentice has returned."

Connor pushed his tongue across his teeth, the possibilities running rampant as he started to fire up the engines on his ship.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

And as though her plea had been answered, she finally heard a noise, the clamor of an organic being with its asymmetrical rhythm, either footsteps or knocking about randomly which told her she was not dead but in some kind of chamber, either in a ship or structure. She began to wiggle her smallest finger and then her toes, and finally she regained just a small amount of control over her limbs, but did not feel capable of rising up quickly and Force-fueled as a Padawan would.

There was still the issue of darkness, despite her eyes in an open state.

“Haku woy uba naa uen?”

Setzi froze at the deep baritone speaking Huttese. The next voice, higher pitched told her there were two of them.

“Jee canta ua doth nan cay ten.”

“She’s tee, she’s duenu. Banikei ateema. We’re jot uen cat. Stoopa Jeedai. Tee kiukamaie biweoo bai doth kanu tee tee-tocky mo kaa ree babaplee nanu.”

The footsteps began to fade and as they did, Setzi spread her arms out, trying to find out if she was free-floating or encased in something and quickly realized she was in some kind of chamber, either an Inhibition field or a Suspension Chamber, making it impossible for her to use the Force.

Outside and unbeknownst to the brunette Padawan, an Ion Storm was heading towards the hedonistic enclave and many of the inhabitants and visitors began to evacuate, once the dilapidated space station’s weather detection systems picked it up. In eight hours the station would be fully engulfed, so if the electricity didn’t kill her, starvation eventually would.

She searched her memory for how she could have gotten in this situation, but the last person she remembers seeing was Connor Harrison on Voss. Is that why she called out to him? And is that why she still wanted to?

*“Why did you wake her?”
**”I thought she was coming with us.”
***”She’s not, she’s blind. Useless now. We’re leaving her behind. Stupid Jedi. Not powerful enough to be worth our time or anything at auction.”

 

[Connor Harrison]

A warning siren rang out across the beaten old ship Connor had flown during the Silver Jedi era. Now it served as a bucket of bolts to get from A to B and beyond. Connor walked through to the cockpit and didn't need to look twice to see the ion storm that greeted him coming into Deneba.

Deneba, an orange blot on one side of his ship, a raging white and blue ion storm to the right.

"Perfect," he muttered.

Slipping into the pilots chair, he took over the controls and headed towards the storm. Better to work with it than against it. He pulled up to take the craft higher and hit the thrust. As he neared, the ship began to shake and the cockpit blared at him to take evasive action. His eyes were set on the storm, ignoring everything else as he banked hard, high and wide.

The ship shook more, and as he hit a height, he turned into the storm as the lights flashed, holomap shorted out and the read-outs died. The engine died, but at the same time the ship shot forward, carried along by the raging shockwave of the storm itself.

Holding the controls tight to at least maintaining trajectory, there was no point racing to the planet and risk losing total control. Here, he had lost control but also maintained it.

The planet was coming closer, and lashes of white and blue bolts shot past the ship as the shockwave pushed harder, twisting and turning the craft against his command. Gritting his teeth, Connor held fast.

The orange orb was in full view, and in path of the storm, was the Meru station. With a sharp exhale, Connor pushed the yolk down to force the rudder in guiding the craft towards the station.

It came closer...and closer...the large wings and docking arms sprawling out....flashing lights top and bottom....

Closer...closer...

Connor closed his eyes and dived down to the floor as his craft careered into the station, the shockwave of the storm pushing the ship though and the might of the storm cracking around them as it passed over.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

The room was still again. Don’t panic, Setzi. You’ll think of something. And just that small bit of self-motivation urged more positive thoughts now as she gathered her senses in whatever isolation chamber she was held in. She tried to recount her memories, but they were jumbled, and she was clearly missing large chunks of recent time.

...after abandoning the darkside, I was on Voss with Master Harrison. We had bonded over our loss of Chastity, and he had seemed especially guilty and self-flagellating over the fact that my sister and his former lover was gone...

And then their reunion had turned physical, and in her recollection, Setzi actually blushed and felt that fluttery feeling in her stomach over what had transpired. Really? Right here in the isolation chamber, you’re going to feel like a schoolgirl with a crush?

Slowly trying out her limbs again, she realized there was a fair amount of atrophy going on within her musculature, but she was able to begin bending her torso at the waist until her head bumped up against the top of the chamber. She lay back down, exhausted by just that effort.

Perhaps moving right now is not a good idea anyway, she thought as the station shook and crackled with electricity. Setzi worried it was about to blow up, but more likely some kind of weather anomaly was happening. If she understood Huttese she may know by now what was causing such a thunderous roar outside. But she did not.

I’m going to die here, aren’t I? In the most anticlimactic way.. Escape from the Sith, make it to Voss, get shoved in some kind of synthetic burial mound and then… life extinguished.

And then again, she saw Connor in her mind’s eyes, his tall form, the scars upon his chest, and the way his eyes closed as he kissed her that day upon the grass. Out of all of the memories, why Master Harrison? She closed her eyelids, attempted Force meditation and settled for regular old deep breathing when she recalled that the Force did not work in her small enclosure.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

All was quiet, bar the spark of a few electric circuits above the ship inside the station and the hiss of steam escaping from a cracked pipe or three.

Connor slid down the side of the now useless ship, wedged between what looked like another craft and the ground, and landed on the ground and stumbled over. He was helped up by a couple of people trying to help, but he said nothing and stood, brushing them off. Turning to the smoldering site, it seemed the storm was passing over the station, but it was causing all sorts of issues with the systems.

Security worked to get people back from the crash site as droids worked to douse the fire and cover the leaking fuel before it ignited and sent the whole arm of the station up in flames.

Rubbing his eyes, Connor knew time was short and he pushed through the crowds, some pointing, some shouting and some taking video for the Holo-net on their datapads for a good story.

The crash wasn't too sever in terms of physical injury, but he was sore from the beating he got being bounced around the cockpit as the ship turned over itself during the less than perfect landing. Connor walked on, trying to compose himself, and find out where he was. There was chatter, there was lots of activity. He grabbed one by the lapel of his orange jumpsuit.

"There's a girl here. Lunelle. A Jedi. Where is she."

The Gran blinked his three eyes, mouth ajar and shook his head.

"Jee cha bla coo uba besnewa!"
"I don't know who you mean!"

Connor let him go and carried on, looking around the station and the various levels, docking arms and inner buildings. The chaos was still going on behind him.

A couple of excitable looking humans and a Rodian came around the corner. Connor interjected them and held his hand out to slow their pace.

"There is a Jedi girl on this station. Lunelle. Where is she?"

The human gave him a funny look noting his soot covered face and amber eyes.

"Bu Jeedai? Ua doth mee?"
"The Jedi? She's yours?"

That was enough. Connor lunged his hand out across the mans face and pushed, and twisted and pulled the thoughts from his head. The lower level. The storage yard. The isolation chamber. Connor pushed his head to the side and broke his neck, his body crumpling. The two Rodians didn't have time to react before their thorats closed up and after a few seconds, their eyes bulged and the gurgling in their throats stopped. Three dead men, and Connor was away to the centre of the station and looking for the lower levels and some storage or cargo hold.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

The isolation chamber that held Setzi also kept out the distressing smell of black and acrid smoke which now inflicted parts of the station due to lightning from the storm and the ship collisions in the various landing bays. Also could she not hear the gurgle of the Rodians as Connor Harrison strangled them. The Padawan would have been conflicted - on one hand she did not wish to have her captors die. Then again, they’d obviously thrown her in this synthetic crypt and had caused her to lose her sight somehow.

Somehow the chamber pumped in fresh oxygen, so Setzi felt around with her fingers for any holes, finally realizing the metal slab on which she lay had a lattice work of air vents. She traced them, not just to find any weak areas she might be able to pry open, but also to pass the time, counting the holes - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...

Without use of the Force she felt like an ordinary inhabitant of the galaxy, the farm girl from Aduba-III. As though watching a holo-film, she scanned through memories of her own childhood - running through the fields of maize-stalks with Chastity, playing hide and seek or catch me if you can.

Bruised knees, the dinner bell, roasted nuna and laughter, her mother’s smile, her sister falling asleep in her father’s arms.

And there again, Master Harrison intruded. Was he nearby? No, it couldn’t be. Still, Setzi knew that the Force could cause these types of synchronous experiences, turning the uneventful into the extraordinary.

Please find me, she thought, trying to locate him with her mind. Before it’s too late.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

With a twist of both hands, Connor pulled the second door of it's hinges in the cargo bay below the centre of the station, where supplies came in and those who worked in the station made their home.

Nothing.

He moved to third door, a blast door that was shut. The Force swelled in the joints as Connor focused his power in the weak spots, and it bulged for a second before splitting off it's hinges and falling down with a large thud. Connor peered inside and saw a stack of over-turned crates, smashed with various food inside. With a deep breath, Connor reached out as the station shuddered around him. She was here.

Connor walked through the dark bay and pushed through two double doors and saw her. Laid out on a slab with a glow of energy around her. Setzi Lunelle; the former Sith and sister of Chastity who both toyed with Connor's heart and shaped his future. Moving to the side of the room, Connor took his lightsaber hilt and held it to the control panel and activated it for a split second, melting and cutting through the controls for the energy shield that died in an instant.

Whatever place this was, whatever it was used for, it wasn't to hold girls captive.

The man walked over and leant over her body. He somehow recognised her face, but there were many blank thoughts where her memories with Connor had died on Maena.

"Setzi Lunelle. We have to go."

With a swipe of his hands, the shackles peeled back on her limbs and she was free. Without waiting, he hooked an arm around her waist, lifted her and carried her over his shoulder, and made his way back the way he came.

He needed a ship, and needed to get away from this place before it was in lock-down until they deemed it safe. This was not a safe place at all.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

After battling a sudden wave of claustrophobia, Setzi finally detected noise in the room again. Did the Hutt smugglers come back for her? Or would a new set of individuals bring her closer to the answers surrounding her capture?

She heard the telltale metallic hiss of a light saber - which made her catch her breath - and then that same weapon cutting into metal and electronics in the room. Her heart beating faster now, she waited clutching the metal underneath her, waiting for the chamber to slide off of her. Or to die, whichever one came first.

Her eyes were open but she could not see a thing.

Yet as the blind would know, the other senses she had left were heightened now. She finally smelled the smoke that plagued other areas of the station, detected Harrison’s footsteps now close to her, the sound of breathing, and then... that voice.

Setzi gasped and said in a raspy voice: “Connor? Is that you? I can’t see-”

As he scooped the padawan up and flung her over his shoulder cave-man style, Setzi did not move, not for awhile at least as her strength had not yet recovered. But she wanted to make sure it was truly Master Harrison. Silly nuna, the Force.

Using telepathy she connected with his psyche to speak, which was easier than using words when she was practically upside down. She tried to go slowly, but her thoughts connected with his in an almost rapid-fire way, like staccato beams from a blaster.

“Master Harrison I thought you would come for me. I just had a feeling. Do you know what’s happened. Where I am? And where you have been?”

No, Setzi did not want to overwhelm him though she recalled him being the most calming presence, and she hoped he would give her just a couple words to ground her in the situation and let her know she was safe.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Her voice was cracked and a little drowsy. Connor would answer questions, and ask, in time. But not he had to get to safety and let the storm pass.

”Save your strength," he said, carrying her, one arm out for balance as he took the service stairs up to the main station walkway.

The bright blue and grey storm was passing over the station, and it listed to and fro, warning sirens sounding for all those in the station to be alert and brace themselves. Connor kept a stern focus on the walkway ahead, the general feeling in the station was one of panic from a crashed ship, one of awe at the storm, and one of fear of the station losing orbit and plummeting into the planet below.

Connor turned and headed to one of the docking arms of the station, a firm grip on the Jedi over his shoulder.

Coming to a bay of small transports, Connor walked them all until he found one, door open after being evacuated in panic. Setting the girl down, he held her side and ushered her in.

”Sit down, and hold tight."

It was small, and they had to stoop a little in the basic transport – an open cockpit and seating areas in a semi-circle to the rear. He let Setzi flop on the seating and Connor took a seat and warmed up the single engine and closed the door.

The release of the ship would drop them out of the station arm, and then Connor would need to pilot fast to maintain trajectory the planet before them. He sat, and waited, looking up out of the viewport and up high into the station to see the glow of the storm.

His eyes never left, hand on the release lever.

He watched….waited….the storm changed course. He pulled the lever and the ship lurched down into space.

Connor gunned the engine and shot them away from the station itself as the cracks of the storm licked out to the dark orange craft, inches from causing damage as the station’s power resumed behind them. The storm was fading, and the transport shot towards the planet.

He let of a small sigh of relief.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

“Save your strength,” he'd responded, and Connor was right. Setzi was drained of both physical and mental stamina. Warning sirens blared around them, and while she felt like a useless rag doll over the Jedi Master’s shoulder, there was nothing more that could be done until she received medical attention.

Once inside his ship, Master Harrison set Setzi down in a chair, where she felt around for the belt to strap herself in, and she tried to brace herself for a rough ride. Oh how she hated to feel so helpless! Once he let her go, she held her hand out just out of instinct since she could not see him, nor anything else for that matter. Another hand grasped the console in front of her, more for support than anything else as she could hear the engines revving, although when the vessel lurched out of the station, she still shot forward to be kept in her seat only by the belt.

Once she heard the soft hum of the cabin free from the storm and then heard the Jedi Master sigh, which caused her heart to fill with gratitude, she turned to him, though her chestnut-brown eyes were unfocused and said, “I was sure I would die back there. You do not know how much I am in your debt, Connor.” Patching up could wait until he was not focused on avoiding any space perils, and though she was curious as to what had caused her blindness and whether it was permanent, details large and small needed to be gathered, especially where they were in the galaxy, and how much time had passed since the two of them were together.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

The orange planet of Deneba opened up before the small craft and it was almost as barren as Tatooine or Jakku. Connor focused on where to set down, and the first thing to catch his eye was the large Mount Meru, one of the only real focal points this side of the planet.

The sky turned a hazy blue with a thick blanket of white cloud surrounding the atmosphere and the ground turned dusty brown and drab yellow as he took the ship in closer, staying low to avoid any outposts that may be erected belonging to pirates or Jedi.

For the most part he ignored her talking to him, knowing she was going to have to think hard and fast and deal with whatever fate now was being presented to her. Connor didn’t know what that would be as yet, but he held the aces for now.

He brought the craft down at the foot of the enormously wide and tall mountain, staying in the shade of the cool brown rock.

All was quiet.

He cut the engine, raised the doors and let the air in, along with a few grains of sand.

”Time to go," he said.

Turning, he climbed out and left Setzi on her own for a second before walking around the ship to the rear and pulled the storage hatch off to reveal what supplies they had. A navy blue gazebo, two bags full of random packets of food and drink, a torch, a small hob and a flare gun.

The craft belonged to travellers and campers. Better than nothing.

He walked back to the hatch and peered in.

”I think we both need to fill in the blanks for each other."

With a hand out, he waited for her to take hold.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Slightly unsettled by Connor’s silence, Setzi crossed her legs in the lotus flower position and meditated until she could feel the craft descend, and they broke through some planet’s atmosphere. She reached out to finger the buttons on the console in front of her, but not quite familiar with the ship’s design enough to find something that would help her locate the coordinates of where they were.

If this were the Pirate’s Foe, she would be able to fly it with her eyes closed, a thought which made her smile.

Once the engine died and the hatch opened with a hiss, Setzi could smell the hot wind of Deneba and the scatter of sand across the floor of the ship.

“How long do we have?” Setzi joked after Connor suggested they needed to fill in the blanks. Her missing time felt vast and unending, but that would only be confirmed by talking with the Jedi Master.

She unstrapped herself and took his hands. Words were not needed to let him know that she could not see. He would know for himself by the way she stared ahead and not directly at him, but the Padawan squeezed his hand, grateful for its warmth, knowing by his baritone and even the shape of his long fingers that it was indeed Connor who’d rescued her.

She hoped they had all of the time in the Mid Rim to catch up and Master Harrison wouldn't tell her that half of the galaxy had been destroyed or some other catastrophe.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor didn’t take his eyes off her the whole time she followed his lead out of the craft and onto the warm floor of sand, grit and dust. Her sight had gone. Temporarily of course, he could tell that from the way her eyes were trying to focus on the blur of shape and fading colour.

”We have time," he said, his voice matter-of-fact and a little cold around the edges.

He led her to the rear of the ship and placed her hand on the warm engine thrust and let go so she knew where she was in relation to him. The supplies were on the ground, and first order of business was to erect the gazebo in case of any mild sand storms or hot weather.

Connor knelt, unfurled the material wrapped around a long tube and activated the buttons on the side. The contraption extended, rose, unfolded and set itself in a matter of minutes. A good 8ft by 10ft shelter.

”What do you remember from when you were taken? Where were you before."

He stood and looked at her, working out what her history was and the part she played in Connor’s life along with the sister, Chastity.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Sand and rocks crunched under her boots, the desert heat coating her skin with warmth and dust. Could they be on Deneba? If so, she was hopeful that not much time had passed since she was last seen with Connor Harrison.

The edge to his voice was clear, but Setzi only observed, trying to not read too much into it. If anything she still thought the galaxy was in extreme peril but her training as a Jedi instilled a sense of calm into her. For now at least.

Perhaps she did not want to see with her own eyes what had happened? To Connor? To the galaxy?

And then he led her around the ship, but she could no longer tell what was happening by noise alone. His quietness was slightly unsettling and perhaps, Setzi, you should be more guarded...

“To be honest? I remember our last meeting most vividly. I do have most of my memories intact except how I was taken and kept in the chamber. And how I lost my sight. Thankfully there is no pain.” Touching her own lips instinctively, recalling their kisses, she continued: “I was looking for Chastity.”

Did you find her, Master Harrison? Please tell me some good news, she thought. But something prevented her from following through on the desperate inquiry.

“And then we... “ Did he remember the way they held each other tightly, warm skin to skin with complete and lustful abandonment?

“You were going to take me as your Padawan once more. That’s all I can remember of recent events.”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

By now he was stood in front of her unloading one of the bags, listening to her voice, watching her eyes stare through him like he was ghost - and he was. A ghost of the man she talked about knowing.

He stopped for a second as he mentioned Chastity; the girl he had fallen for, taken on as a Padawan and lost to the Dark Side. This was the sister. The Dark Lord. A Sith.

Those amber eyes fixed on her with interest. He had to tread carefully.

”There are many memories. You have been through a lot and I have not seen you for a long, long time." With a slight curl of the lip in a smile, he spoke so she would hear the man she thought she knew. ”We what? I can't remember."

Turning away, he sorted through the food, keeping the items that lasted longest and were going to best for them. A couple of bottles of water were also stacked up. Connor wiped his hands.

”Things have changed since I saw you last, Setzi. When your sight comes back, and you are rested, we will talk. There is much to tell you."

The girl would need to be broken down piece by piece to tap into the thoughts, memories and powers that lay dormant.

Just like Connor Harrison, Setzi Lunelle would have to die so the real beast within could emerge triumphant from the shackles of the Light.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

“We… you and I.” She paused. Did he not remember? How could he forget something so dear to her?

Oh you daft Lunelle sister. Quiet down with your badly wounded heart. How much does it even matter in an apocalypse?

But it did matter. It mattered a feth-ton. That she could not deny.

“We were lovers,” she said plaintively. That’s how she’d categorized them at least. Yet, his next statement baffled her even more.

“Why do I need to wait until my sight is back? I’m the same Setzi I was before. Or are the sights around us too horrific to imagine?”

By now the Padawan was skeptical - of everything: the location, how she came to lose her sight and memory and yes, even her old friend and paramour, and perhaps this was a giant illusion created by the Sith, and she was still a captive of a Darkside cult.

She reached out with the Force, just a flutter at the edges of his consciousness, but what she felt caused her to recoil right back. Master Harrison was not a sentinel for the Light Side any longer.

You can handle this Setzi. You were once a Sith Lord.

But like an recovering ryll addict walking into a room where ryll filled every nook and cranny, being so close to a darksider was dangerous for her. She wasn’t certain she had the strength to resist. She bent at the knees, leading the way with her hands and finally sat down. The ground beneath had a soft nylon covering - a shelter perhaps.

Though her mind was telling her to run, her heart kept her rooted to the ground. In a soft voice she said, “Why don’t you tell me now, Connor?”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He kept looking her as she worked certain things out for herself. Places. Feelings. The past. The future. She felt her way down to sit on the gazebo cover, and he handed her a bottle of water, or more placed it into her hand.

"Water. Drink up."

Walking past her to the ship, he closed down the small hatch at the rear of the craft, locking it down and then the front.

"There is much you need to see with your eyes as well as your heart, Setzi. Things have changed. The galaxy has changed. I have...changed."

He walked back to the shelter. The ship locked down, it was time to identify more about this girl and the secrets she held. Crossing his legs, Connor sat on the canvas flooring a few feet from her and looked at her for a moment.

"I don't remember much about Connor's past. Setzi, you need to listen and take it what I tell you."

Again, he gauged her reaction.

"Your sister, Chastity, is dead. She died at the hands of the Silver Jedi Order. Captured by the Primeval in a battle, she returned with an illness seeking help. They couldn't help her and didn't take the steps needed. They left her, and she died." He didn't skip a beat. "Connor Harrison, the Jedi you knew, died on the world of Maena far after he lost Chastity. He turned from the Silver Jedi after they failed her, and failed him. They turned into Jedi who abused their power, and Connor strove to find his elsewhere. He joined the First Order and the Knights of Ren where he failed again in his service of the darkness. So, he took his sorrow to the Sith Matsu Xiangu and she destroyed what was left of the weak man you say you loved."

Connor watched her face carefully.

"The dark force that was in him all the time you knew him surfaced and took over the broken body that he gave. He wanted to die to save his soul, but he didn't and lost it to the Dark Side. To me. That man Connor Harrison is dead. I am the true form he was too weak to take."

She was fascinating to watch.

"You, Setzi Lunelle, also have that dark force inside you. And you want it to be free just as much as he did."

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]

 

[Setzi Lunelle]

Setzi’s hand clasped around the water bottle, and she drank, slowly at first so she didn’t choke, and then tilting it back to gulp down a few generous swallows. She heard the hatch shut, and once the ship was locked, the Padawan noticed Master Harrison settle in close to her. She wanted desperately to take his hand like that day upon Voss, but wariness prevented her from doing so.

Once he started talking in that deep familiar voice, yet so foreign in many ways to her, she realized she was not dealing with the same man she’d left in Silver Sanctum territory. Like a Miraluka, Setzi listened carefully for changes in Connor’s tone… even a trace of normalcy, but she could not detect anything that made her feel reasonably secure she was not in imminent danger.

And if he was truly a servant of the Dark, he would be able to not only poignantly feel it, but feed upon her fear. Licking her lips, she restrained herself from crying out when Connor said "Chastity is dead" as she believed her to be alive, and dammit, so did Master Harrison before this bloody strange… lapse in time.

Crestfallen at his distressing words, there was a glimmer of hope when he indicated that he’d “failed in his service of the darkness.” That seed of self-doubt could go an incredibly long way in trying to pull him back from the brink. The names and details were vaguely familiar, right down to the name Matsu Xiangu.

But where one once failed, he’d succeeded. Or so he thought.

"You, Setzi Lunelle, also have that dark force inside you. And you want it to be free just as much as he did."

A shiver of terror went up her spine, but she remained still. Underneath the anxiety she felt a mixture of curiosity, intrigue... even desire, no that had not faded.

She closed her eyes, the blindness beginning to frustrate her. The swirl of emotions inside her set off alarm bells.

Setzi, calm yourself NOW!

“What do you call yourself, if not Master Harrison?” she asked, barely above a whisper. Any little bit of insight - even a name, a small consideration with so much meaning at times - would help her to understand his drastic fall from grace.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Each reaction was as expected. An assault on her emotions one after the other in such a short space of time. Suffering from this mild blindness, the psychological effect of the kidnap and rescue, the loss of a sister she thought alive and the demise of a man she loved and trusted. The process wasn’t easy but it was worthwhile.

Connor stayed still.

"That is a question I can’t answer, not yet. I have no name. Connor is the shell. I use his name. But that name is associated with weakness, with failure and with a sense of regret. I cannot take the name forever."

He cracked off the lid of the second bottle of water and took a mouthful.

"I can feel the conflict you are feeling Setzi. Your emotions have tied you down for so long, and now the Force has brought you back to me." He looked into her eyes with his amber ones and bore into her mind. "The Dark Side is burning inside you. I can see it."

There were many layers it seemed to this girl.

"So powerful. Leader of Sith. Of warriors. Now look at you. You are a shell of that woman. Much like Connor was. The light has blinded you so much you cannot…." he smirked, "…you cannot see what is in front of you. The Jedi let your sister die."

He pulled out of her mind as soon as he planted the vision of the corrupted face of Chastity. Heavy veins throbbing in her temple and neck, the black eyes turned by poison, the blood on her hands from scratching and clawing to be saved.

[member="Setzi Lunelle"]