Private Echoes of a Past Life

[Darth Malevolum]

Location: Tattooine, Dune Sea



She had spent years searching for him, knowing he was out there, and yet he always managed to slip away. But not this time, no, this time he had slipped up, taking residence with Sand People? It was nonsense, ridiculous. Why would he come here, why would he be here of all places? It didn't matter, she didn't care. There was only one purpose she had for coming to this world, and it was to cut that final knot out of her life. It was odd that he wasn't trying to hide himself, she could feel his presence as she neared, that sicking light that he had so aptly worshiped covered him like a festering disease. It made her sick to even think that she too had been that weak before, that she too had bought into the lies he had told her. She was young back then, she didn't realize what truly laid out there. Again, it didn't matter. She was coming with a purpose in mind, and she was going to see it through.

Her speeder neared the site, the campfire he had constructed gave enough illumination to confirm what she already knew; it was him, Master Ordin. He wouldn't escape her this time. The old man rose his head up, a soft smile on his face, as he paused from rearranging the fire before him. "I was beginning to wonder when you would arrive." There was a joy to his voice, like he was happy to see her. That mere fact filled her with rage, as Malevolum's hands turned into tight balled up fists. "I see somethings never change. You never could show up on time." He stood only thirty feet from her, she could cover that in no time and kill him, but she had words she needed to say first, things that needed to be spoken before this wound could be mended. "Why did you come here?" She started, her right hand reaching for the hilt of her saber, as she pressed the metal against the metallic palm of her suit. Ordin looked up to her, tilting his head, an amused grin replaced the soft smile now. "I should ask you the same." Was this all a game to him? He knew she had come to kill him, and yet he wasn't taking this seriously. "Look what has become of you." She started, the violet blade of her saber flared to life, as she pointed the weapon towards him, marching ever so slowly as the purple light glowed across the sands. Still, Ordin did nothing, he kept himself seated, only slowly setting the stick down in the sides as the fire crackled on. "Look what has become of you." He repeated, his hand going to his hip as he now rose up. The rage was palpable now, Malevolum's grip tightened, her teeth clenched as it seemed her old master was doing a damn fine job in annoying her. "Do you think this is what Ines-" "Don't speak her name." Malevolum cut him off, she was within ten feet now, raising the blade up as she was fully intent to strike within the next few moments. Ordin knew this, his saber flared to life as he swiftly swung upwards and intercepted her blow. It seemed he was finally going to take this seriously now. "I can feel your pain Alana, you don't have to continue down this path." "There is no Alana anymore! She's been long dead!" She let the rage flow now, as she began to slam her blade down, seeking to pummel her master into the sands, but Ordin was a skilled bladesman, as he parried each of her strikes, as he gave little ground in the sand. He suddenly leapt back, as she came in for an overhead strike, then felt something slam into her saber, sending the weapon spinning out of her hands and shutting off as it impacted into the sand. Bewilderment took over the Sith Lord, as she merely glanced back towards the weapon, then to her master, as it seemed he had outside help. He had prodded at her, using her emotions against her, distracting her from the reinforcements he had brought with him. She moved towards him, her hand reaching out for the weapon as this wasn't going to stop her from getting revenge, only to feel another impact on the side of her head, which sent her sprawling face first into the sand. Her vision was failing, as was her hearing as she was losing consciousness. She heard one unmistakable sound however, the grumbled nonsense of the sand people. This had been a trap all along, and the list of people she was going to kill had just grown. She attempted to push herself back up, not ready to allow these outsiders from interfering with her fight, with her destiny, only to be knocked on the head once more. She had realized her mistake now, and she wouldn't be foolish to allow this to happen again.

Salis

 

[Salis]

Location: Tatooine, checking with the locals
Objective: Find something interesting


Salis chuckled, glancing at Zepher as the two stood aboard the astro-class-lx-combat-freighter. "Finally getting a little bit of a fight again I hope." she said, her children were back on Bespin at the moment. And she had needed a moment of her own, something to truly entertain her. That's why she was here. The ship was mostly equiped with the tx-1-robots. Rather than Salis doing that herself, while they were still in the phase of things being ever so boring. Zepher simply looked at her, her impatience for a fight seemed to have few bounds. And she always seemed to be looking for one. Even after her two girls were born this continued, though she still gave them attention, there were still those spurts of necessity for her about fighting something. And the Red Dragon didn't send her to war enough to sate that interest. That was why she so often had her little feelers out trying to find interesting things to do, this time, a Jedi hiding away on Tatooine. And that was where she was headed. She hadn't heard much, mostly just that it was a Jedi. She'd fought them before, Jedi, sith, they were all different and yet the same to her.

She left Zepher and the droids on the ship, only heading out with a simple astromech droid. Nothing particularly special, easily replacable. Good for distanced communications though if she found it necessary. And may provide some use should matters of technology come up. Taking her speeder to the nearby village in hopes of answers. She was wearing a full armor, which was rather lightweight. Meant mainly to permit her maneuverability to remain peak, while providing some defense at least and an environmental safety measure. That, along with the blaster rifle slung across her back, and other weapons, made her look more like a bounty hunter or a mercenary than a sith. Right now, she was attempting to hide her presence. She wasn't an expert at it, but had grown better over time. She originally had no clue how to manage it, and had had to learn the process on her own, lacking a master at the time she began.

First objective, appear normal. Ask about finding resources, things like water especially were considered important here. Make them consider that she was nothing more than another person from tatooine, the fact she was wearing armor to protect her from the harsh environment might help she hoped. Along with her speeder made for rough terrain, she began looking for anyone who might know something. Achieve the first objective, inquire.


Equipment:
XP-38_All-Terrain_Roughrider
Salis Lightsaber (Hidden in pouch)
Stun Pearls (small pouch and on ears.)
-Salis's armor
-Sith_gloves
-Several phrik throwing knives.
MK_II_Paladin_blaster_rifle
2 Model_Kylan-3 (sides)
XAD_Omnisight
Wrist_link with up to date commlink and chrono that also connects to head piece.
Extra commlinks on her.

On ship:
-Basic Astromech droid.
Wanderer_Scout_Surveyor
501-Z_police_droid with MK II paladin blaster rifle Zepher
tx-1-robots.
Z65_patrol_droid

Darth Malevolum

 

[Darth Malevolum]

When she came to, Malevolum found herself in a rather perilous situation. She had been restrained to a metal rack, her armor stripped from her, as she hung from her wrists and ankles, only the underlying skin of her combat suit clung to her form, and a fury was quick to sweep over her. The plate that concealed her lower jaw was still in place, but none of her gear seemed to be in the vicinity. She was being held in a hut of some kind. Her head pulsed like mad, as she was certainly feeling the beating that had been given to her as she laid unconscious. She felt cold a cold liquid across her face, and in several patches under her suit, and chalked it up to slight bleeding after her treatment by the Sand People. She reached out, trying to feel for the life signs around her, and found there were many living beings about.

She had to have been in the center of a settlement judging by how strong the life signatures were here. Idiots. She tested her bonds, but to her surprise, the Tuskens had restrained her with durasteel cufflings. Even with her enhanced strength, Malevolum found herself unable to shatter her bondage. She was in a rather foul mood, which only worsened as she caught sight of movement at the front of the hut. Her old master had come to see her, with a Tusken escort to each of his flanks. He did not seem as jovial as before, a rather tired expression was worn across his face as he lingered before her, taking her hateful gaze with it's full on intensity. She would see him dead for this, her humiliation would not go unavenged. "It pains me to see you like this Alana." He spoke, he posture lacked the bold steadfastness that he had only hours ago. He was so old, so feeble, a blind fool for a cause that he had wasted his life away to uphold. "That name has no meaning to me anymore." She replied, her teeth gritting as she pushed herself forward, the restraints being the only thing that kept her from leaping upon him. The two Tuskens raised their Gaffi sticks at her, but the jedi master merely motioned with his hand and they ceased. "It wasn't easy, but I figured this would be my best chance of reaching you. Far away from the Empire, far away from your allies. It will just be the two of us and my new friends here." Her eyes fixated at the old fool, seeing what he was planning to do. He sought to hold her here until she was a brain washed toadie of the order.

"Your ideology blinds you Ordin. What you seek is far beyond your grasp." Malevolum attempted to reach out with her right hand, aiming to strangle the life from the jedi master, but he redirected the power back at her, causing her to tremble in her bonds as he lightly began to suffocate her, her eyes widening as she realized what her old master was aiming to do. "You merely need to be reshaped back into the woman I knew before, and I am nothing if not patient." Ordin looked to the two Tuskens, as he applied more pressure, starting to squeeze the air out of the weakened Sith, as he motioned for his escorts to leave him. "You shamed me greatly when you left Alana, but dragging you back into the light shall wash away my failings." He muttered to himself, as Malevolum was fuming in rage; though her face slowly took on a shade of purple as the precious air was drained from her lungs. Ordin's death would not be swift once she was free, that much was to be ensured.

Salis

 

[Salis]

Location: Tatooine, checking with the locals
Objective: Research

In spite of having been a bounty hunter for awhile, Salis really wasn't the type who was an expert investigator. She liked the action, not all this...detective esque work. It didn't really excite her quite as much. However even she had the ability to spot when something was especially off. And a lightsaber being held in the hands of someone, when she couldn't sense force sensitivity from them, that was a sign of something being very off. She walked towards them quietly, seeming to go to pass them by then skidding on her heel and placing her arm around the shoulder of one of them, who was most certainly taller, but the suddenness of it was still a bit of a shock to cause an almost nervous chuckle as they noticed how armed she was and her completely relaxed state around them.

"Heya boys, that's a rather unusual piece you have there." she said casually. There was a moment of pause as the trader hesitated before going right into selling mode.

"That's right! Bought it off some tuskens, at quite a cost." He responded smiling and holding the weapon up, stepping away from the two and activating it, smiling at the gleaming blade before turning it off and his eyes turning to the two of them. Salis pushed herself off the man she'd swung her arm around cocking her head as the man continued, "Thought I might keep it, but uh, I'd be willing to part with it. For a fair price of course."

Salis simply smiled underneath her mask, chuckling and putting her hands on her hips, glancing up at the man next to her. A twi'lek it seemed, of a yellow color. And larger and more muscular than normal for his race, known for so often being so lithe, or fat if they were in a high position, but rarely muscular. The trader however was more common, a Weequay, tough skin and an attempt to have a charming personality, along with a blaster at his side. If it weren't for that the man seemed to be alone, she'd almost think him some kind of pirate. "And you were gonna pay for it huh?" she asked the Twi'lek. He held his hands up, as if to shrug off the question, "Ey, I's just lookin'" he answered.

Salis simply looked at him a moment longer, before turning back to the trader, "I'll pay you 1500 credits for it, if you tell me where those Sand People went."

The trader scoffed, "1500 ain't even enough to pay for what the Tuskens got out of it." Salis narrowed her eyes under the mask and took a step towards him causing him to suddenly tense up and a hand to fall to his side as if he was ready to raise his weapon, "How much did you give them."

There was a presence slowly growing around her, and the twi'lek's lekku seemed to twitch as he slowly took a step aside from her. The trader swallowed, unsure if he should be afraid or not. Weequay had an unusually high tolerance for blasterfire, but that didn't mean he was immune. "I, uh, at least need 5000 credits. And another 200 for the information. Sand people are dangerous."

"I asked how much you gave them." She demanded. He held up his hands, "Hey, hey, I gave them 6 moisture vaporators. I need to make a little profit here. I'm already risking things as is."

The feeling of fear suddenly turned more to confusion as her voice turned light once again, "I'll give you 4000 credits worth for it. And 100 for the information. I'm sure I can find someone else who has that information." she said. He held out his hand hesitantly waiting. Salis put a hand into one of the pockets of the armor, pulling out a a handful of large number credits shuffling through them carefully and dropping it into his hand. Taking the lightsaber with the other. "And the location."

He licked his lips, and groaned, his fear vanishing quickly. "Well there's two nearby. Uh, over 'ere, I've got a map." he said pulling up a holoprojector and pointing out a general area of where the two tusken camps tended to be. She recorded it. Then tossed the lightsaber in the air, catching it with the other hand. "Pleasure doing business with you."

She headed to her speeder, jumping in, and speeding off sending up dust behind her. Curious, she was here for a Jedi. And here she had found a lightsaber. However, she doubted it was his. But, perhaps she would learn more when she ran into the tuskens. She'd have to be more careful with them. Traders could be intimidated by one person, but Tuskens were warriors and hunters. She'd taken on worse, but killing them wouldn't do her any good. She needed information.

Spoiler: Equipment/Links

Equipment:
XP-38_All-Terrain_Roughrider
Salis Lightsaber (Hidden in pouch)
Stun Pearls (small pouch and on ears.)
-Salis's armor
-Sith_gloves
-Several phrik throwing knives.
MK_II_Paladin_blaster_rifle
2 Model_Kylan-3 (sides)
XAD_Omnisight
Wrist_link with up to date commlink and chrono that also connects to head piece.
Extra commlinks on her.

On ship:
-Basic Astromech droid.
Wanderer_Scout_Surveyor
501-Z_police_droid with MK II paladin blaster rifle Zepher
tx-1-robots.
Z65_patrol_droid

 

[Darth Malevolum]

She gasped for air, as much as she hated it, she needed it desperately. Dark purple bruises marked her neck, as Ordin had clearly been dabbling in the darkness more than he cared to admit. "You've grown stubborn in your old age, Alana." He muttered, stroking his beard, clearly he was marveling at his work. He was using her as a tool, as some method by which he might gain redemption, trying to crawl into the good graces of the jedi council. It was disgusting. It took much of the breath she had mustered to speak, but she'd be damned if she didn't mouth off to him. "And you've....lost your touch....old man." Her head perked up slightly, drinking in the air as if it could be her last. He might have crushed her windpipe, would explain the pain and why it felt like she was still being strangled; felt like she had swallowed razor blades.

Still, pain was nothing new. She had survived worse, so much worse. That was why she was strong, and Ordin was weak. The fact that he had lost his way all because of her made her feel giddy. Despite all the pain and humiliation that had been cast upon her, he would always be beneath her. Always. She could feel a tinge of anger within him from what she had said, clearly his jedi act was just that; an act. "This is only the start my dear. Rest now, you have a full day of festivities awaiting you in the morning." The jedi began to turn and leave, which only prompted Malevolum to try and lash out at him again; with as much success as she had previously. She wasn't sure how long he had been trying to 'convert' her, but clearly it had been too long. He clearly thought he was in a position of power, but boy was he in for a surprise. Two Tuskens now entered, their gaffi sticks in hand, as it seemed they were going to 'entertain her' for a time. She was aware that Tuskens liked to torture their prisoners, but Ordin should have warned them that she was not the usual prisoner. She couldn't understand what they were saying, it all sounded like gibberish, but they seemed to be awfully confident in what they were about to do.

Sadly, today was not their lucky day. As the first Tusken raised his stick up to strike, the Sith tapped into the anger she had let welt up within her, and reached out. Her power struck out like a spear, as she felt something she hadn't felt before. She felt her power connect with the raider, and for a brief moment she formed a connection with him, then it was gone; his presence in the force faded like a candle in the wind. She felt the pain around her neck dissipate, as the would be attacker fell dead at her feet, his weapon clattering to the ground. His companion let out a surprised bark, and Malevolum was a tad surprised as well, but quickly turned to finish off the last remaining Tusken. Taking the pointed end of the gaffi stick, she flung it into the head of the raider, and made an example of him. "Well then..." The Darth muttered, looking at her bonds, she was now to free herself from her imprisonment; sadly, that would take a bit.

As Salis would begin to pull up to the outskirts of the raiders village, one thing she would notice, was a rather strange display mounted at the gate of the village. It seemed that someone had taken armor of some warrior, and made it into a scarecrow of some sort, perhaps a display to scare off an attacker. What might have struck her as odd, was the rather obvious Sith symbol that was stamped onto the shoulder plate. A protocol droid and it's Tusken master would move to intercept her swiftly upon arrival. The Tusken kept himself a fair distance from the woman, but the droid seemed to have been made from the parts of several other models, but it translated the barks of it's master with only slight breaks in speech. "Greetings. Greetings Greet-traveler, what brings you to our -z-z-z-z- our village? Have you, have you come to t-t-trade?" Clearly the droid had seen better years, as the servos that rotated it's head were popping loudly at it's ever motion it made. What might certainly catch her attention however, was that there were three force presences within the village. Two were noticeable, clearly trained users, and both dabbled in a bit of darkness; but the third seemed untapped, a novice is there was such a thing. Clearly there was a secret within this village, and it would be up to Salis to discover it.

Salis

 

[Salis]

Salis narrowed her eyes as she approached the place, glancing at the mounted armor. She grinned as she recognized the symbol of the Sith. So, that was where the lightsaber came from after all. Now, a random force sensitive with a lightsaber was one thing. But someone actually wearing the symbol of the Sith empire. That was a whole new level of fascinating.

She stood up and stepped out of the roughrider as the Tusken and a droid approached her, causing her to cock her head at its broken and stuttering speech. How frustrating, was this really the way that these people managed to communicate with people? That must be awfully frustrating. However, there was something far more fascinatin ghere, that she could sense three others strong with the force here, aside from herself. Two tainted with the darkness, but one was...newer. She'd heard Tusken's had Shamans, perhaps that was who the extra one was. Salis held out the lightsaber, making sure that the Tusken could see it from her position, then pointed to the armor, "I want to know where you got these. I want you to take me to them, in return, you can have this astromech droid." she said gesturing to the basic astromech in the speeder, she had no attachment to it really. It could be easily replaced. But this journey could not.

"Or, if it better suits you, I can find you a real interpretor droid. So this one doesn't have to repeat a word or sound six times in a row before it gets the darn thing right." She added, however, even as she was saying this, she was looking around. Trying to look for if any of the Tuskens were headed to try and ambush her, or hit her with a cycler. She didn't have any intention of being caught by them today.

She hoped they'd be cooperative. Because the value of finding a Sith here seemed considerably greater than that of an astromech. However even if they weren't, she did get a new lightsaber. Maybe she'd give it to Neli or Natasha. It wasn't rubbish at least. Then again, perhaps they'd rather make their own. Or she could just keep it. The thought occured to her, if she didn't end up just fighting the sith herself, she might be prompted to give it back. She'd want compensation if that happened. She wasn't one to be picky on money but there had to be habits made.

Spoiler: Equipment/Link

Equipment:
XP-38_All-Terrain_Roughrider
Salis Lightsaber (Hidden in pouch)
Stun Pearls (small pouch and on ears.)
-Salis's armor
-Sith_gloves
-Several phrik throwing knives.
MK_II_Paladin_blaster_rifle
2 Model_Kylan-3 (sides)
XAD_Omnisight
Wrist_link with up to date commlink and chrono that also connects to head piece.
Extra commlinks on her.

On ship:
-Basic Astromech droid.
Wanderer_Scout_Surveyor
501-Z_police_droid with MK II paladin blaster rifle Zepher
tx-1-robots.
Z65_patrol_droid