Fear. Fear Attracts The...

[Connor Harrison]

Joon looked up, eyes set, but face heavy.

Without looking, she fumbled on the grass for her lightsaber hilt, and found it. She lifted it, and held it out, the emitter away from Jamie.

”Take it! It’s not mine! It was my former Master – Ayra. She’s dead. They’re all DEAD.”

She pushed her knuckles into the grass and started to rock gently.

”TAKE IT” Joon screamed.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

This one is unstable... Jamie thought as she observed the woman. The blonde extended her hand and tugged on the weapon through the Force to pull it away from Joon, still not willing to approach the other until she was absolutely certain there was no chance of her having hid another lightsaber on her person, or other tool. After all, Vrak had simply attacked her without provocation and tried to kill her, something he was still looking to do, even while imprisoned beneath the surface of Naboo in prison now.

Only once the woman's weapon was in Jamie's hand would the Padawan extinguish her own sun stained blade. "What are you doing here?" She could assume that the others being dead were either by her own hand, or someone she was looking to pin the blame on, and Jamie just happened to be the closest thing she could find.

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

The hilt was pulled from Joon’s hand, and with that she lowered herself to the ground for a few moments to listen to the silence, and pull the Force in around her with long, deep breathing.

At Jamie’s question, she leaned back up and stood slowly.

”I told you, Jamie. I’m here to promote the glory of the rising Empire and formation of the Imperial war-machine heading this way.”

She took another deep breath and looked at the girl, her sickly yellow eyes unyielding.

”My former Master always said that the ruling family of Naboo had power that reached fay beyond the walls of the palace. I wanted to see it for myself, and to see what it could be like when the Empire rules again.”

With slow steps, she put one foot in front of the other towards the pretty blonde, a glimmer of teeth showing behind her lips, like a wild animal.

”So now what, Jamie. What does a flower-girl with a lightsaber do now?”

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie eyed the woman with an abundance of caution. The words fell from her tongue like venom from a snake.

"Don't move." She commanded, ignoring the woman's assertion of some strange, foreign imperial power invading Naboo even as she began to approach the Padawan again. There was something incredibly unsettling about this girl's behavioral patterns. "I will put you down." She stated plainly. Joon of course wouldn't know that her lightsaber had lacked the ability to actually kill, rather, it would simply incapacitate through a similar manner as an incredibly powerful tazer, causing temporary paralysis.

The blonde tapped the activator on the yellow blade once again as Joon drew closer. "I said don't move."

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

”No. You won't.” Joon whispered.

She kept walking very slowly, and didn't even look at the orange glow of the saber as Jamie ignited it and issued another warning.

”All I want is to be needed again. To be part of a cause that means something. My sisters all died at the hands of the Republic, and I was the only one left to carry on their legacy. I already can tell from your perfect skin and well made clothing you know nothing about loss and not being part of a unit.”

Joon held her hands out wide and smiled.

”Kill me if you want be prove something to yourself. Otherwise, be someone my sisters would see as their own. As I would. Walk with me and be my ally, not my enemy.”

Her fingers gently beckoned, and she let her Force aura seep out in wonderful, soothing and relaxing waves of darkness.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Joon refused to acknowledge her command. Jamie could feel the darkside corruption all around the woman. If she wasn't Sith, she was surely close. Her words were more like Waide's, the Sith she'd met on Ossus during the attacks by the Sith and Mandalorians. He had attempted at one point to convince her to cast aside her own Jedi values as well. Much to his dismay she had refused, just as she had refused when Vrak had abducted her, tortured her even.

"The dark side is a corrupting pathogen that will eat away your heart and soul and leave you as nothing but an empty shell of what you could have been."

Her hand tightened around the lightsaber as she readied the weapon.

The instant Jamie felt the presence touch her, Joon's hands extending towards her, Jamie slashed forward towards her chest. If struck, the woman would feel an incredible wave of pain rack her form before the muscles tensed and failed, a crippling sensation that would drop her like a bag of rocks to the ground at the blonde's feet.

She wouldn't kill her. After all, she hadn't killed Vrak, or Waide. But she would not convert.

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Joon saw the fixed eyes weren't even blinking; the stern face was set in stone. The orange blade turned slightly as her hand gripped tight, and as Joon lowered her hand, the strike came.

She yanked her upper body back, arms out for balance as the blade swiped through the air close to cleaving her in two.

Turning, Joon gasped and shook her head.

”You silly girl. I thought we could be friends.”

Snapping her head up to look behind Jamie, she raised and dropped her hand in a military fashion.

”FIRE!”

She gave it a second, and went for it. Of course it was a ruse; there was nothing there at all. She just needed to move. It wouldn't be expected, and it was better than facing Jamie without any hint of surprise or distraction.

The Dark Side clone lunged at the Light Side human reaching one hand for her attacking wrist and one for her throat - and this time it was to grip hard, to hurt, to bleed and to kill.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie paused. Friends? The look she gave Joon was completely dumbfounded. Everything about her was erratic and strange. It gave the impression that this woman was deeply troubled, bordering on, if not actually, clinically insane. The blonde took a step back, then saw the motion in her hand and the shout of her order. Oddly however, she had no sense of danger in the vicinity, save for the woman that had sufficiently frightened her with her behavior. Still, for a brief second, with her peripheral vision she looked to either side, wondering if per chance there was some unseen threat looming.

Yet when nothing came, no shots, no shuffling of weapons or feet, just the approaching arms of the woman to seize her Jamie reacted within hairs of a distance. Her shoulder tucked to the right, narrowly avoiding the clutch at her neck, likely intending to either strangle her or crush her throat. Unfortunately Joon still got hold of her other wrist, holding the lightsaber, thereby preventing her from going too far. Jamie cursed, feeling the tug at her limb and the prevention of a majority of her mobility.

She did still have Joon's crimson lightsaber, though she would much rather not use the blade. Still, it could be used as a threat.

The blonde reared back, tilting the unlit saber towards the woman with an overhanded angle.

"Release me!" She ordered, the woman's master's saber emitter would have no trouble reaching her from where she was held.

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Gritting her teeth against the enhanced strength of the little girl from Naboo, Joon rooted her feet down and pushed as hard as she could, clocking her hilt bearing down on her.

Jamie issued her threat.

Joon looked at the hilt, and then to Jamie's saber, and then to Jamie's pretty little face.

”Watch...your back from now on.....”

With a sharp lunge of the neck, Joon made the most savage and primeval of attacks; a headbutt straight to the bridge of Jamie's nose. This clone was out for blood and she wanted to wear some of Jamie's as a memento.

It was an attack to temporarily disorient and tear her up with pain, and hopefully with a sharp twist of the nails in Jamie's wrist, Joon could snatch back her hilt.

Pushing Jamie away, despising everything she stood for and how full of Light she was, Joon leaped over the tended bushes, razing them with a swipe of her lightsaber. And she took off through a narrow alley inbetween the palace and the large plaze where she had crossed.

Should Jamie follow, then she wouldn't stop running. If not, he would do her best to lose sight of the chaos behind.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde felt the crack. Instantaneously her vision blurred, stars appearing and sending her stumbling back and over onto her rear with a single, blinding scream. As she did a full garrison of palace guards arrived, a dozen or so bounding after Joon while two stayed behind to tend to Jamie. The girl had dropped her own lightsaber into the grass as Joon made her getaway with guards in tow. Blood rushed down the front of her face like a terrible river of red.

Her lip trembled, hand trying to somehow nurse the wound, though every brief graze or touch sent her into pain once more. The men by her said lifted her up by the arms to help walk her inside.

Why did everyone suddenly hate Naboo!? Why did everyone hate her!?

"Get the video footage, follow her to wherever she goes. If she has a starship, ground it on the pad! Warn them we have a potential Sith attempting to flee!"

She rattled off orders to the men who forwarded them to the correct parties. The starport in Theed would be locked down, no inbound or outbound shuttles permitted. Space orbiting the planet would be restricted with orders to prevent travel, should detainees attempt to exit low orbit.

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Joon didn’t stop moving, and she followed the narrowest paths she could through the city. Crossing a thin ivory bridge across a flowing river, she touched her head, wincing from the impact with Jamie. There was a dull ache already. Touching the flesh, she felt blood from the Naboo royalty, and wiped it away with her fingers before licking them dry.

She slowed down eventually as she came out into a long street, and everyone was going about their normal business. So her fur-lined cowl came up and, lightsaber fixed to her behind, she smoothed her hair back behind her ears and walked.

So here she was, kicking up burning embers with no plan, no motive and no goal. Just for the sake of it, Joon wanted to cause trouble, and fight back to those against what she stood for. Did she regret attacking Jamie? No. Did she regret them parting in such a bloody way? Not really. She regretted that she left without a friend.

The clone stood by a market vendor selling pots, and she leaned against a high perimeter wall, watching everyone.

A speeder raced by, and she heard orders barked over it. Maroon clothing and hats signified maybe a guard, or security force?

Joon had never been in this situation on her own. Her heart was racing – she was scared, but more than that, she was excited beyond belief. Amber eyes scanned the crowds, not knowing who to wait for or when to move, but she just stayed still, out of the way, and waited for a chance.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde sat, pinching the bridge of her nose to stop the steady flow of blood, a dark scowl on her face, constant sting running through her face from the assault. In short time a medical droid would come by to evaluate her. it was most definitely broken, that much she knew, she could feel it. The droid would see to fixing her up though, hopefully sooner rather than later.

In the mean time however the city would be put on alert. Information would begin to trickle out from the palace of a wanted woman, her face from the camera footage leaked across the HoloNet for all to see.

There would be nowhere to hide, nowhere to go. Sooner or later, Joon would be found, and caught. That, or Jamie would be back out to find her.

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Patrols seemed to appear in groups of two.

Wherever Joon looked, security was close by.

That coward had to get others to fight her battle – spoilt little rich girl.

And so with her fur hood up, Joon ambled along near to others as best she could through the streets, taking in the architecture of the buildings she passed. Now and then she’d stop in a door way, or sit on a bench or look into a fountain while she scoped out her situation.

She broke away from her latest resting place to move into a narrow street, only to be faced with two smart maroon coloured guards coming her way looking around. Joon continued walking, heart beating faster as she got nearer, eyes peering up as she looked down at the ground.

One of them said something, it wasn’t really important.

Joon snarled and brought up her palm in a firm chop to the man’s throat. She batted away the other man’s flaying arm to skewer him with the crimson blade of her lightsaber right in the gut. His face was magnificent, and he was dead before he hit the floor when she killed the blade.

The gurgles of the man choking to death on his own blood were all she heard when she hopped away to the other side of the ginnel, blade hidden and hood still up, a smirk on her face.

With an effortless grace, she span on her heel and climbed up a green trellice beside her leading to a low rooftop, kneeling on the edge like a wild animal and watching a quieter section of the city below. Another fighter flew overhead, and she followed it in the sky to see it hovering above where the spaceport was located. So it was lockdown.

She chuckled and turned, navigating the tiled roofs of the homes going back the way she came.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Several hours would pass before the blonde was given the okay to move about. Her nose had taken a pretty significant beating, one that she wouldn't be soon to forget. Still, there was work to do. This person was a danger to the people of Naboo, and the things she had said rose concern in Jamie. The video footage of the attack would be reviewed, while other security operatives went about searching for traces of the Sith-like attacker.

With the spaceport on lockdown it would be difficult to get off world, though there was no way she could keep it that way indefinitely. By the end of the day they would resume operations, lest it begin to affect trade and passenger travel, not to mention alliance forces traversing through the area.

Finally a page would make its' way to Jamie's office, informing her that they had discovered slain patrolmen, giving the girl at least a hint that Joon was still searching for a place to hide. That was something, at least. It was a start. And a start was enough for Jamie to snap up her sunlit lightsaber and storm out of the palace to investigate.

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Standing over the body of a young woman, slain for a greater cause, Joon stood on a high balcony on a third storey home in the city. Traversing the roof had been a bit of a hindrance, but she had been high enough to avoid eyes on the ground and see approaching speeders.

The woman had put her plants out at the right time, and Joon didn’t hesitate to get on her balcony and get her out of the way. The crushed flowers under her boot were as dead as their owner.

The palace was in the distance, a few blocks over. The main street could be seen where she had traversed over an hour or so ducking in and out, blending in, appearing here and there. Slow and with purpose to reach her goal.

Jamie was her prize. She wanted the girl more than anything. She wanted to make the girl feel pain. Feel fear. She wanted to leave a mark.

”You’re letting your people down, Princess," Joon cooed to herself. ”Where are youuuuuuu…..where are youuuuuuuu…."

Leaning on the iron railing, Joon drummed her fingers as her stern face looked out to the streets, waiting for her. She would wait as long as it took. There was no rush; no Master to return to. The more information she could get about Naboo, about Jamie, about this Alliance, then it would be worth it.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

A speeder to the western side of the city would be where she found herself. The body had since been cleared, but the area was still ripe for investigation.

Blonde locks bounced up and down, side to side as the girl wandered about the area with inquisitive eyes and ears, searching for any signs of Joon.

There were hardly signs of a struggle, no spattered blood, blaster marks, nothing. That, in and of itself was telling that this was definitely Joon's work. Judging by the time the report had come in, she assumed the woman was likely somewhere nearby. What were the reasons for killing this person, other than drawing her back out?

Blue eyes searched the alley as she emerged into a more open area of the street, orbs glancing from window to window, up to the rooftops. No signs of the woman, but the hint of dark side permeated through the air.

The Jedi closed her eyes and stretched out with the Force...

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Two or three streets from where Joon stood on the balcony, Jamie would be investigating the murder scene. It was as if something still drew them together, and the Force was the key to it all. Light and dark. Good and evil. It was all a matter of perspective.

What would Joon do if Jamie found her? Did she WANT to be found? She had no idea, but she knew the girl was a fascinating subject to poke and prod and gauge as an example of what the Jedi were, for she was Jedi. She had to be. Did she?

Joon tapped her fingers on the railing when the Force almost tapped her on the shoulder. Glancing around the streets, she squinted for her prey.

”Come on,” she hissed, hand starting to tremble in anticipation. ”Find me.”

Leaning out over the balcony, Joon stretched to look left and right for the girl.

Focusing what she had been taught about finding Force auras that we connected to yours, the clone closed her eyes and made hers prominent; a dark side beacon emanating the fear and dread she had pulled from the royal guard before he was gutted and left to die.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie could practically feel her skin crawl as the roll of the dark side passed through the Force to graze the back of her neck while she walked about the area. It was her. The blonde could feel her, she wanted to be found. The feeling was incredibly discomforting, even still. The taint of the dark side was a wicked thing. The mere presence of it made her wonder how anyone embraced such a thing.

Blue eyes danced along the buildings as she turned another corner out into an open street.

There.

She spotted the woman standing atop a balcony, fingers wrapping around the metallic rail the encircled the platform about fifteen feet above her.

"Finding it difficult to leave are we?" She asked with an abundance of impudence.

[member="Joon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Caught out by watching a sleek silver craft take off from the hangar, Joon didn’t see Jamie turn into where she was stood. She just heard that voice call to her. Breaking eye contact from the ship, she looked around for a moment to see the youth standing below.

With a warm smile, she gripped the railing and leaned forward.

”Finding it difficult to leave me, I think. Oh, hold on, I have a gift for you.”

Holding up a finger for her to wait, Joon turned and pulled up the corpse of the slain woman, stiffening up from the body having shut down and blood all but drained. With a little gasp, Joon pushed and lifted the woman over the edge, falling down to the tiled roof below, cracking them in half before sliding down to the ground.

Joon blew a breath and wiped her hands.

”That’s for you. I did that for you.”

And with that, she leaned forward, hanging her hands loosely and watched the girl, a smile still on her face.

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie watched as the body fell limp beside her. Azure eyes studied the deceased person for a moment, pity in her chest welled into frustration. A senseless murder, one that Sith were well known for. Yet Jamie did not lash out, instead simply drew her weapon and directed the emitter towards Joon in a challenging manner.

"You are corrupted by the dark side of the Force. A constant hunger and drive to sate the appetite of destruction."

The woman pressed the activator, a bright flash of yellow tore through the air with a snap-hiss. "In the name of the Royal Family of Naboo, you are under arrest."

Murder, attempted murder, obstruction of justice, assault, breaking and entering. Just a small list of the offenses this woman would be tried for in the high courts once Jamie had apprehended her. A long rest in a Force binding prison cell would do this one well, she thought. "Surrender." The blonde ordered.

[member="Joon"]