Private Ends and Means

[Amani Serys]

For some time Amani had lost sight of her goal. The reason she was here. Nearly her very identity. The trail went cold, and she was left to play her part, becoming just another faceless figure in the Sith’s ever-spanning empire. There were no more clues to chase. No lucky info leaks from imperial higher-ups. No sign of the Grandmaster.

But Amani knew she was somewhere. And as fate would have it, she found the sign she was looking for. It had been a constant tingle in the back of her mind, one that had nearly faded but now surged with renewed purpose. Much like the Force had led her to the Sith Lord, it was now once again leading her to the Grandmaster.

The planet was once under Jedi control, as was the prison hosting her. The Citadel, originally made for the specific purpose of holding Jedi. That she hadn’t considered it sooner frustrated Amani to no end. There was no telling how many changes the Sith had made, and though the padawan was not expert on the previous layout either, it was a good enough chance to go on.

By going AWOL, her cover would already be blown by now, meaning waltzing in and out wouldn’t be an option. Not that she likely would have had the clearance anyway. She had to sneak in. Amani was no spy, but she was quiet enough, and agile enough to keep out of sight. The process was excruciatingly long, wearing her patience thin. The entire operation nearly fell apart after a scuffle in the main security room. But she made it.

Amani waited outside the holding cell with bated breath. She was marked by the telltale signs of a recent fight. Beaten and weary, her hair messied and her Sith uniform torn. In one hand she clutched her injured side, in the other her pike, the blade still glowing red. The faint electric aura around her dulled, as did the yellow of her now sunken eyes, when she finally found what she was looking for. Amani winced, taking a single step toward the figure facing away from her.

“...Grandmaster?”

Elise​

 

[Elise]

Elise sat unmoving, her back to the bars. Her title washed over her, uttered by a set of familiar lips.

She did not react. She did not turn around.

She knew their games. She was no longer playing. Trick or otherwise, Amani went ignored. Elise's frame was smaller, her extended time under the sith leaving her once statuesque posture turned in and frail. Her hair was in clumps, patches misses. Hallow cheeks sat under a set of dark bags. Her eyes trained unseeing at the wall, the once crystal blue scared over by milky-white tissue.


Grandmaster, yes, that was what she was.

At the reminder her eyes flickered closed, the woman instinctually reaching out for the force's warm embrace. Nothing came rushing to meet her, her connection severed.

Her head hung a little lower, no tears slipping from her damaged ducks.

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani’s heart rate skyrocketed, breaths turning to desperate gasps for air as her suspicions rang true. Neither her eyes nor the Force itself could confirm the figure sitting ahead of her, but she knew. She jammed the keycard into the lock and smacked the button over and over as the door took its time sliding open.

The whirs of machinery halted at once as the cell was opened for the first time in a long time, making the silence that replaced it all the more deafening as Amani took a cautious step into the room. She couldn’t even comprehend she had made it. That this was actually happening. Her pace hurried once again, and Amani strode over to face the Grandmaster. “I-I did it.” A disbelieving smile crept across her lips, the first smile she’d given since this journey brought her to the other side. “I found you. I did it.”

Amani crouched down, gingerly reaching out to touch her, only to pause, “Grandmaster? Elise?” Her hand hovered over the woman’s shoulder as she took a moment to actually study the figure in front of her. Elise had been a role model for Amani throughout her training. Without a true mentor of her own, she looked to the Grandmaster’s wisdom as inspiration. What sat in front of her now could barely be recognized as the padawan’s once-hero, “Force… what did they do to you?”

Elise​

 

[Elise]

She flinched back, her eyes snapping open. The unseeing mass flicked to and fro, betraying the inner panic the stirred in her.

They had brought in real padawans in the past.

Padawans she knew.

Padawans that had fallen.

And they had harmed those prisioners of war, pressing her to crack. But she didn't. Not for the first. Nor the second. Never mind fallen Nida Perl 's little charades. Each life they spilled in her name set her further down her path. She would not allow their deaths to be in vain. She would not betray her people and bring them harm.

No matter who they brought forward to kill.

She turned coldly from Amani, her heart stuttering in her chest. "Leave me." If she was indifferent, maybe they wouldn't bother. It was the only hope inside her chest, its fragile light barely an ember.

 

[Amani Serys]

The Grandmaster’s indifference made Amani recoil. Her fingers twitched in place and her heart sank, nervous confusion taking over as she tried to comprehend the cold response she was given. “...W-what?”

Amani swallowed back tears at her rejection. The weight of her recent actions were coming back to haunt her. In the eyes of everyone she cared about, Amani had turned her back on them, and so they turned their backs on her. The Sith never cared to begin with. But she pushed all the way through, only for the one she sought to turn her back as well.

She had not come this far to quit now.

“No. I need to get you out of here. Please.” Amani reaffirmed, reaching to take Elise’s hand. Her voice trembled, “Please.”

Elise​

 

[Kyra Perl]

.

 

[Elise]

.

 

[Elise]

The hair on her arms rose, Amani's pleas creeping through her. She let out a heavy breath, her head sinking further.

"They. Will. Kill. You," she uttered, defeated yet intentional under her breath.

Take a hint, kid. Take the branch and fek off.

Her eyes flickered closed, as if the action would block Amani out and bring Elise peace. Nothing changed, her panic burning up chest, to her veins. Not again. Not another. Go, please, force, no this one too.

Did they know who Amani was to Elise? They must. Only a sith would be this cruel as to toss her sacrifice in her face and make her watch as it was dissolved into nothing.

Pointless.

A dead padawan and a captured grandmaster.

A compromised order.

She had failed them. The anger turned to dregs of grief, but even that was energy she didn't have to spare.

"Go."

 

[Amani Serys]

“No!” Amani blurted out. It was strange, to talk back to the Grandmaster that way. A moment of silence followed, she lowered her head, tears spattering onto the cold metal floor. “No. They won’t. I won’t.” She held little concern for her own mortality right now. “I didn’t come all this way just to let you stay.”

She tugged at the Grandmaster’s arm, herself standing up on wobbly legs as she tried to get Elise to follow. “We don’t have time. Can you walk?” Amani would try and support her, draping the Grandmaster’s arm behind her shoulder.

An alarm wailed in the distance. The fallen padawan’s dulled senses flooded back, dialed to eleven. Her conflicting energy twisted inside of her, the grip on her pike tightening. “We need to leave. Now.”

 

[Elise]

"Child, please," was all she could breath, her thin frame surprisingly light under Amani's arms. Elise surrendered to the Padawan's manhandling, blind to the world around her and incapable of bringing herself to drive that desperation further into the girls tone.

She wished she wasn't so easy to play.

She could feel as the girl dragged her out of her shell. Awoke emotions. Gave her a reason to care. She knew what they were doing to her, but try as she might she couldn't keep her heart as ice to the padwan's pleas.

She knew what would come next, but for the sake of the girl... she had to at least try. There was always a chance, however small, that they could beat the game. That's how they got her to play it.

The hope inside of her was their fun.

She peddled her legs, trying to support herself as they moved. "I cannot use the force," she warned. "You'll have to be our eyes. Where are they, what do you feel?"

Her chest twinged as she slipped into her teachings.

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani let the grandmaster lean on her, taking it slow as they trudged to the cell’s entrance. Her admittance that she couldn’t use the Force suddenly made Amani much more cognizant of the danger they were now in.

"You'll have to be our eyes. Where are they, what do you feel?"

The padawan slowed her breathing and shut her eyes, but struggled to find clarity through the cloud of emotions she tried to fight.

Shut up shut up shut up.

“Shut up.” She muttered aloud, and the storm silenced itself. “S-sorry. That wasn’t...” Amani shook her head and refocused, honing in on the presences of those approaching. Distant, but closing. “I… dunno. They’re still far. Not here yet. Have to keep moving.”

With a quick peek out of the cell, Amani pulled the two of them into the hall. The spinning red lights created a dull strobe effect, and combined with the droning siren created a headache-inducing combination for the already overwhelmed padawan.

Keep. Moving.

They had only just arrived at the corner when a blaster shot screamed past them from the other end of the hall. Amani threw the both of them behind the wall and slumped against it. “I don’t know what to do.” The reality of the situation bore down on her with its full weight now. “I-I don’t know what to do!” Panic rose in her chest, heart beating faster as the sound of footsteps gathered down the hall.

Elise​

 

[Elise]

Elise didn't need the force to feel the girl's panic. Foolish, memories of the hand off pressed through the fog. Amani was there that day too. What was she thinking? The alarms blared, jarring her senses. Elise let out a slow breath, wondering just what had happened to the girl in months between then and now. Had they always had her? Or had she come for Elise again, only to get caught and baited into this trap?

Elise still thought it was a game.

She slid down the wall, tired, fighting against the emotions in her chest.

"Yes you do, child," she soothed, with patience that hide her confliction. She reached blindly out, a hand resting on Amani's shoulder. It grounded them both. "Trust in the force, you know what to do. Breathe. Let it guide you. There might be a path out. A door--" Failed once.

"Or a trash shoot." She never made it to that one.

"There is always a way." Yet here she was.

"Do you see it?"

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani’s panic was interrupted by grandmaster, the guiding hand bringing her back to reality.

“Trust in the Force.”

“Let it guide you.”

She wanted to. Desperately. Running on the passions of the dark side for so long made it difficult to stay focused. Amani rested her head against the wall, letting the tempo of her breathing slow. The sound of alarms and encroaching footsteps faded into the background.

“There is always a way.”

“Do you see it?”

A moment of clairvoyance tugged her in a new direction. A path. A way out.

They still had hope.

“I see it.” She focused again. The grandmaster’s words provided further direction. “I see it! A trash chute. Not far.” Amani leapt up, her eyes fluttering open just in time to see a group of guards round the corner.

In an instant, instincts took over once again. The desperation to stay alive, to keep Elise alive. Arcs of electricity webbed between her fingers, before exploding outward in a spray of blue lightning. The dark side had made her notably stronger, but her control was weak and unrefined. The guards were launched backwards giving them time to escape their line of sight.

“...Go!” Amani hesitated only a moment, before ushering the both of them towards their goal.

Would Elise realize what had happened? She felt lucky the master couldn’t feel her through the Force, or with her own eyes for that matter. Amani looked down at herself as they moved. Dressed in the manner of the Sith, a dark black uniform, not too mention how pale and hollow she looked physically. The padawan ripped off the imperial armband and let it fall to the floor behind her. A symbolic denial of the dark side, but it did little to ease her conscience. She was still afraid. Afraid what this beacon of light might think of her. Ashamed of the conflicted energy she was no doubt radiating. But they had to keep moving.

Elise​

 

[Elise]

Elise heard it. Elise felt it.

Elise also heard all the panic in the wobble of Amani's voice-- the shuffle of steps as guns were cocked. Elise took in everything and struggled to understand any of it. She kept calm off practice alone, but the thoughts in her mind were already unraveling to the human panic of more pain.

For Amani, or her.

Only one line kept her together in what be the moment she lost another on her hands.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

She let her care for it all bleed away, a bite of guilt the last lick on her mind before she fell calm. Amani ordered her to move, well the padawan would find the GrandMaster was no less good at taking orders. Amani was relied on to cover her back, yet the suspected blows did not come as she smacked into the wall there trash shoot had been at two months ago. Her fingers pried for the buttons.

Still no pain lashing across her back.

It hissed open.

No dart in her neck.

The blind woman knew her value was not at the back, she let herself drop in first, expecting to land at the Dark Lord's feet. But she just landed in a pile of bagged waste. Uncertain and braced for the next turn of events, Elise turned and listened for the tell-tale drop of the girl.

Please. Please. Force, Please.

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani helped to push the grandmaster forward, forced to split her attention between their escape and their pursuers. Elise fumbled getting the chute open, and Amani spun back around, to face the guards. Her senses were threatening to overload. They were getting closer.

Focus.

A single blaster fired. Her weapon raised instinctively to deflect the shot.

Stay focused.

More followed. Bolts scorched into the wall around them, the others cast aside by Amani’s defenses. As soon as Elise slipped in, Amani dropped her guard, leaping in behind her. She gripped the lip of the chute and prepared to launch down, only to yelp as she took a shot in the back with no protection of her own.

The padawan tumbled down the slide, crashing into the bags of waste underneath with a groan. With no thought for her own injury Amani scrambled back up.

Was she safe? Was she okay?

Elise was still there with her. Amani sighed and stood up, wrapping her arm around her waist to reach the lower side of her back where the blaster had found its mark. The scorch mark still burned, and her efforts to heal it were moot. Too long in the dark side had left her without her most vital skill.

“The hangar can’t be far from here, right? We can steal a ship. We can leave.”

They wouldn’t have much time. The guards would know where the chute led to.

Elise​

 

[Elise]

She didn't know where she was. She had never made it this far.

She felt around, her hands searching to the slimy edge of a wall she could pull herself up on. There are no emotions, there is peace.

She let out a ragged breath, focusing on the sound of Amani's voice. "What did you see when they brought you in?" Her ears perked, braced for the tell-tale sign of feet.

"Think, child. They would have tried to catch your attention one place. Where was it? That's the trap. What might you have seen that you didn't think was important?" She gritted her teeth, disoriented enough to start to slide back down. It had been a long time since she had run. Old injuries started to scream. She still thought Amani was set up by them. She still thought this was a game.

"Don't play into their games, you might just stand a chance. Go."

 

[Amani Serys]

“They didn’t-- I snuck in. On my own. I…”

Betrayed the Order? Betrayed everyone she cared about? Joined the Sith? Elise deserved to know everything. But she didn’t know how to tell her. Not yet.

“I can explain. Later. But right now, we need to go.” Amani made a lunge towards the door, which immediately turned into a stumble as the pain emanating from her waist burned at the overextension. With a whimper she stopped herself at the frame, scanning for the absent console. Hydraulics and pistons on the other side of the walls began to whistle.

Right. Trash compactor. Which meant the doors were also sealed.

“Okay. Okay…” Amani stepped directly in front of the entrance and widened her stance. They had not gotten this far just to die by being squished in a heap of garbage. The walls compressed inward, slowly but surely intent on turning anything in this room into mush.

The padawan let the Force take all of her focus, and she first moved her hands to the center of her chest, then outstretched them as she strained herself to pry the door open with the Force. The entrance’s systems groaned against the pressure, before giving way. Bits of metal burst outward as the door was slammed back into the wall it slid out from.

“Come on!” She grabbed the grandmaster’s hand and pulled her out of the room before the compressors could trap them in. The hall they were brought into was just under the main floor, with grates covering the center of the walkway. Amani looked up through the grates just in time to see a squad of boots stepping just overhead, and pulled both herself and Elise into a side hall as a precaution.

She slumped against the wall to catch her breath, waiting for the footsteps to pass over before moving again. “Can you keep going?” The padawan peered back up through grates, just making out the sign in front of the door on the far end of the hall: the landing pad.

Their way out.

Elise​

 

[Elise]

“They didn’t-- I snuck in. On my own. I…”
​

Elise felt the world wallop. What.

She was pulled forward, her body moving like a doll on stings while her mind... her mind reeled against the scars of the last months. Was it so wrong... to want... to hope?

Strength entered her steps, dredges of energy found the corners of her soul as Amani led them on ... and on... unhindered. Could she keep going?

"Yes," she answered, her voice rawr yet firm. "Two. Walking away." came the near whisper, the woman hearing the footsteps up above. Her head tilted, her remaining senses clawing desperately for details that would keep them alive.

"I hear engines."

 

[Amani Serys]

She nodded, a faint smile creeping across her face. The glimmer of hope was shining brighter. “Yeah. We’re close.”

Footsteps faded behind the sounds of a closing door. The hall was empty. Time to go.

“I’ll make sure it’s clear.”

Amani leapt upwards, clinging onto the framing of the grate above and hoisting herself parallel to it. She unlatched the first panel and swung herself into the corridor with natural poise. It was eerily silent, the aforementioned hum of engines outside being the only sound she could hear. Around the corner she crept; The perpendicular hall was empty as well, the door the guards walked through still shut.

“Okay. Come on, I’ll help you.” The padawan returned to the opened grate, reaching her hand in to help pull Elise onto the upper floor. Once said and done, she would head to the entry of the landing pad, the door slowly opening to reveal a large open space. Lola Sayu’s sulfurous air made her lungs burn, forcing her to suppress a cough. A few ships were scattered about, the closest sat idle, the ramp hung open. Just far enough away to make her uneasy.

Not to mention the lack of any noticeable life.

“I don’t like this.” Just because they were on the outside didn’t mean it was over. If anything tension was higher now. There wasn’t much time to second guess things. “Careful now...”

With the Grandmaster in tow, Amani began to take careful steps in the direction of the transport.

Elise​

 

[Elise]

Elise felt..................................... nothing.

Not a flicker of life. Not the warning of the force. She was cut off. From sight, from sense. All she had was Amani's hand in hers and the silence that surrounded them. She wanted to recoil from both of them, but she kept moving. One foot in front of the other, even as the tension built in her core. She wanted to vomit. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run until she found a corner. The primal urges tore through her, her hand twitching with every wave that she fought to control.

She knew her teachings.

She couldn't breath.

Her feet hit metal-- but what it was, she didn't know. An incline? A ship. She fell to her knees, taken aback, and crawled wildly for the corner she knew she'd find.

She entered a ball, braced for the shots that she was sure would come. Could the child deflect them all? With Elise as her teacher, she was no longer sure.

Amani Serys