Further Up and Further In...

[Dune Rhur]

He was alone, blessedly alone. In a cavern not far from the Telosian Jedi Enclave, he sat in deep meditation, contemplating the last decade of his life. More, he considered all he'd gleaned about the Force. It seemed such a small amount, a trickle next to an ocean.

Too many Forceful beings took it for granted, he'd come to find. They didn't ask questions and that baffled the Bith. How could you gain wisdom if you simply accepted everything at face value? Perhaps it would make him an iconoclast but he felt he must question things now, even touching on things forbidden.

Some months ago now, after his brief outburst of Dark Rage, he'd spent many hours contemplating the Jedi Code and the Dark Side. If he was to combat the evils of the universe, Dune knew he'd need to understand them first. A deadly path awaited him through shadow.

His meditative trance was broken and he looked up towards the mouth of the cave. Outside, he could see nothing but truer senses told him otherwise. A presence steeped in blackness....

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Theme

Spoiler

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8rivTGBzBMM

Wind whipped through one of the many canyons of Telos IV, moaning in sympathy with the Sith's mood. Armored boots crunched along the rocky outcrop upon which the young woman walked, throwing pebbles and stones down toward the valley floor. Already she hated this planet, the wind made her skin crawl. The arrogance of the Jedi sect on this world had polluted the very air, leaving a foul taste in the woman's mouth. She hated this place, hated it with every fiber of her being. She shouldn't be here, it was wrong.

Still she soldiered onward, further in to this rocky waste. Further up until she reached a higher ridge along the wall of the canyon where she came to a halt. Her armor hissed as the environmental seals released, her helmet being peeled off a moment later. Eyes of liquid black swept the canyon's walls and floor. She was close, she knew it. But close to what? Her visions were more disturbed than normal. All she had managed to decipher was Telos IV, canyon walls, a cave of darkness and a glowing light, straight and slender like the blade of a saber.

She spit a glob of vile tasting saliva to the rocks at her feet, pulled her waist long raven hair back through the slit in her helmet, and sealed her armor once more. Boots crunched and rocks tumbled away as the Sith named Moravian picked her way down the canyon wall toward the valley floor.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Dune stood at the mouth of the cave, wind whipping his robes about. There, off in the distance, a bulky humanoid shape approached. It was the presence, this interloper. He watched it stop a moment; Ah, they're armored, he noticed.

The Jedi could feel this Dark Sider and wondered if it could feel him. He made no attempt to hide, guided by a feeling in the Force. If he died today, it was his fate and he wouldn't run. Besides, today wasn't his day to die, another feeling he had.

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Moravian stopped halfway down the canyon wall, going still completely. She felt it like a cramped muscle in her side, the oppressive scrutiny of something watching her. Slowly her head turned from left to right as though she were looking for the best path down the slope. She repeated the gesture in reverse to be certain of exactly where the presence was in relation to herself, reaching out with the Force to locate the being. She continued downward, her head tilted down as she picked her way across the rocks.

Once on the canyon floor she walked, more or less, to the center of the valley before she came to a stop once more. The woman, and clearly she was as no amount of armor had ever been able to conceal the curvature she had inherited from her mother, lifted her gaze to look at the Bith standing in the mouth of his cavern. A long moment passed as she studied him until finally she looked away, scanning the canyon to either side of the man.

It didn't make sense. Not in the slightest. Why had her visions brought her here? And to stand before a Jedi of all things. As her gaze settled on the Bith once more, her hand came up before her in a fist. She rolled her wrist, triggering the hidden stiletto blade in her gauntlet. Sure enough, he was gone. A light as thin as a blade in a cave of darkness. Her wrist rolled again, the stiletto sinking back into her gauntlet. Her shoulder rose and fell in a shrug. The Force wished for conflict it seemed. Who was she to stand against the will of the Force?

With a small effort of will a saber hilt lept from her hip to her hand. Her neck rolled and popped. And she started toward the Jedi, one of her saber hilts gripped in her right hand.

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

As the armored figure approached, Dune noted the telltale break in the hips. A female humanoid then, his mind concluded instantly. The Bith noted her retrieving some sort of weapon from within her armor. An exasperated sigh escaped his thin lips. Always quick to violence, though his logical mind grasped that she was almost certainly concealing other weapons.

That was the mistake of one new to such things, he'd come to learn. A truly experienced and skilled Sith killer wouldn't have drawn her blade until the exact second she'd intended to land the killing blow. The Dark Side murderers were professionals, though they fed from the death and destruction. Too did they take enjoyment from the kill but not until after it was done.

The Dark one drew her weapon but the Jedi did not. Instead, he gathered the Force around him as he stood in repose. His hands were folded in his wide sleeves and his hood drawn up against the winds. His own lightsaber still remained on his hip. Perhaps another Jedi would've drawn their weapon and charged after the Dark intruder...the Bith simply waited. It wouldn't be long now, whatever the outcome.



[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Moravian moved up the slope toward the Jedi, slow and cautious. In part for the loose footing and wholly because of the threat the Jedi posed. She had never crossed blades with anyone beyond the Sith that had taught her how to wield the weightless blades. Oh, and those useless saber droids that were supposed to hunt Jedi. She didn't understand the tension in her chest, didn't understand that fear was clawing at her heart. It didn't matter. She shoved the sensation away from the forefront of her mind, focusing on the placement of her boots and the Bith ahead.

With little more than ten feet between them, she slowed. Not stopped but merely took her time with each step forward. Why didn't he draw? He folded his arms and... was waiting? Now she stopped. The knot of fear in her chest no longer something she could ignore. What was he doing? Why wasn't he attacking? A trap! The thought burned through her mind sending another wave of nausea through her. She stepped back once, bracing herself as best she could on the loose rocks. Why didn't he move!

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Her hesitation was obvious, as he stood facing her. He could feel the fear quickly squashed within the woman. She stepped back and braced herself as if anticipating an attack. The fear surged again and he finally spoke.

"Be calm, your fears are misplaced. Why are you here, so far away from Sith-controlled space?"

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

The young woman tensed as the Bith spoke. Words held power, or so she had been taught. Words could shape and reshape the galaxy around the speaker, if used properly. Still she held her ground, her eyes flicking to the motion sensor display inside her visor, nothing. What was he waiting for? Didn't the Jedi code call for her destruction because of her very nature? The darkness that had been instilled in her from the day she had drawn her first breath. She didn't understand why he was bothering to speak. He was supposed to fight, wasn't he?

The voice that emitted from under the woman's helmet was completely at odds with the hatred, fear and darkness she exuded. Her voice was soft and uniquely musical in nature, shy and naive. "I am not afraid Jedi. Death is something to be embraced." She retreated another step, her head sweeping side to side as she scanned the rocks visually once more. "Am I not a citizen of this galaxy? Free to walk were I want just as you are?"

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

The musical chimes of her voice were a stark contrast to the inhuman quality of her armor. " A Jedi does not fear death but we do not necessarily seek it out."

She stepped back again and her gaze swept the stony canyon in suspicion. "A simple citizen of the galaxy, you are not. You are Sith, from the would-be conquerors of the galaxy. I do not seek conquest and bloodshed and this is the difference."

"So tell me, why do you come to Telos IV, so far away from your Order and so near my own?"

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

The young woman's head jerked back as though she had been slapped in the mouth. "I've never conquered anything! I've never killed anyone that didn't earn it either." Her sword arm lowered finally, her saber hilt held loose and nearly forgotten. The moment of aggression passed quickly and her voice grew soft once more. "I wasn't seeking bloodshed or conquest. I'm ..." She hesitated. She hadn't explained her visions to many. Actually she had only explained them to Braxus or at least had tried to explain them.

"I don't have an order. Not really anyway. They trained me for the first year of my life and just sort of... went away while I was trained to fight in other ways."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Dune considered her words, observing body language and listening to her tone. He couldn't see her face beneath the mask but the Force painted a truer picture than mundane senses could. There was no deception that the Bith could discern, at least from her point of view. The truth might vary, however, in such a mind.

"Opinions would certainly vary among whose lives you've taken. As to why you've come, that is more complex."

Dune possessed no gifts with far-sight so he carefully recalled what he'd learned in his studies. "Perhaps you had a vision, a dream or...a feeling. Something that compelled you here," he supplied.

The first year of her life...which meant a clone or some kind of genetic experiment. A killer bred from the genetic material of some other Dark Lord. He wondered just what 'other training' she'd undergone during her time away from the Sith.

"You may have no Order as we speak but they will find you. They will compel you to obey."


[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

A mixture of emotions swam through the young woman, complex concepts she had never really felt before. Hope, happiness, fear, anxiety and so many others. He knew! He understood something of her visions, more than she did perhaps. Her head spun at the very notion that this Jedi might be able to help her understand why the Force kept filling her mind with sights and sounds beyond her ability to even imagine. "What do you know of visions? Tell me! How do I stop them? How do I control them if nothing else? Please tell me." Her boots crushed through rock and stone as she moved several feet forward in a startlingly quick series of steps.

The mention of being found by her Order however crushed many of those new emotions she had felt, leaving only disappointment in it's wake. "I have been free for some time Jedi. No one is looking for me. They would have found me on Coruscant if they had been looking."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

He'd struck a chord within his visitor, her eagerness highly evident. The Jedi would tell her what he knew, of course, but no doubt it would be not exactly the full explanation she wanted. She had come forward a few steps in anticipation but pulled up short. Dune nodded to her last words.

"I see," he said diplomatically "At any rate, I'll tell you what I know."

"Visions...premonitions. They're always an iffy thing, even the Jedi Masters don't speak in absolutes about them. They're never exactly certain things. They show what might be, what could be. Sometimes they express strong emotions and can occur between those with familial bonds. As far as how to control it...there doesn't seem to be such a way. It's said that you learn to accept it."

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

His words fell on her like a rock, her shoulders sagging beneath the weight of them. There was nothing she could do to calm the images and sounds that raged through her mind. There would never be peace from the torment they inflicted upon her psyche. Worse still, the visions were strongly tied to family and emotion, her family was considered a plague on this galaxy. The Zambrano Clan, monsters and murderers of untold depravity. Most of her visions had been tied to her dark family, the God-King Kaine more than any other. The woman's head tilted down some, "I see." Her words little more than a heartbroken whisper. No peace, she thought darkly.

She turned away and began down the slope, traveling back along the path she had come. "Thank you Jedi." Broken. There was little else in the woman's heart as she picked her way across the rocks and stones carefully. Such sorrow she had never felt before. Why was there no way to calm or control the visions that haunted her mind? It wasn't fair!

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

"This is part of a Jedi's training, young one. Learning to accept these things and to find peace in it." he said with sympathy. Her sadness fairly radiated from her, her anger and a multitude of other feelings. He knew that it perhaps would be a gamble but he went on. "We could help you find peace. My Order, we're not far from here."

Though he stood as he had before, he expected her to lash out....

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

That gave her pause. Why? Why did this Jedi care? Why was he trying to offer her guidance? It was nothing like what she had been told to expect from them or their order. She stood there for a moment before turning back to look up the slope at the Bith. "To live is to suffer. Through suffering I learn to endure. Endurance breads strength. Strenght, Jedi."

Though he couldn't see her face, she smiled faintly. "Your order would not accept me if they knew who I was. Neither would you if you were smart Jedi." She turned away, starting down the slope once more. "If I am not here to die, I don't know what the Force was trying to show me. But I'm fairly certain it was not to be captured by your Order."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

"It's hardly capture if you choose to come with me," he replied with the ghost of a smile. "Perhaps it wanted you to come here to join us."

At her spiel about the Jedi not wanting her, he reached out again through the Force. There is a darkness there, and blood, but not so far gone down that path.

"You know of Darth Vader, yes. The enforcer of the Emperor, fallen Jedi turned hunter of his former comrades. In the end, even he was not so far gone to return to the Light. I sense blood and darkness around you but it's fresh. There's still hope for you, young one."

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Frustration and aggression flooded the young Sith's mind washing away her sadness in a flash. She turned back, her hand slashing the air as she threw an unrefined lance of pure Force at the ground between them. Rocks and dirt were thrown across the slope though not much of it managed to fly at the Jedi uphill. "Darth Vader! He fell to darkness out of despair and anger like every other Jedi. He turned his back on the strength he was offered because he lacked conviction. To this day the descendants of the Skywalker line rise and fall constantly because they are without strength or pride. I was made from darkness fool. Breed from an evil unlike anything you or your Order could even begin to fathom. I am the spawn of the God-King Kaine Zambrano! You know my father's name Jedi?

Anger, unbridled and savage, rolled off the woman in waves as she started back up the slope. "My family are no mere enforcers slaved to the will of an Emporer. [member="Darth Vornskr"] is a destroyer of civilizations, an ender of worlds. His scions are not so easily swayed from his path, Jedi. If you ever compare a member of my royal lineage to the sniveling dogs of the Skywalker clan again, I will personally relieve you of both your head and your saber and lay them at my father's feet in tribute."

[member="Dune Rhur"]

 

[Dune Rhur]

Outwardly, the Bith showed no reaction, maintaining his 'sabacc face'. However, inwardly his mind took in all the new details and fit them into the puzzle. So, another of Zambrano's multitude of offspring. It was a wonder how he found time to butcher millions with all of his children constantly popping up.

"Your parentage doesn't set your destiny in stone. Yes, I know of him, a butcher of millions of innocents and a psychopath. If you believe that your Emperor doesn't pull Vornskr's strings, then his strings are well-hidden. Moreover, he is a puppet to the Dark Side."

"You call Anakin Skywalker weak, and yet you have no idea. Even your father's powers paled compared to those of Skywalker. He also possessed enough fortitude to break the spell of Sidious."

Around him, Dune had begun to gather the Force in anticipation. Her outburst of rage meant she lacked control of her emotions. Ergo, the Jedi knew she might well lash out at him. Even if he spoke truth, she probably didn't want to acknowledge it.



[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Mora's eyes narrowed as she crunched her way up the slope. Her lips peeling back from her teeth in an unseen snarl. Knuckles popped and armor creaked as her hand tightened on her saber hilt. "Your hermitage has left you starved for knowledge Jedi. While you sit and ponder the Force, the Sith have waged a war and rebuilt themselves."

The young Sith came to a halt a few feet away from the Bith, her body all but trembling with barely contained rage. "Tell me Jedi, what strings was the Emporer pulling when the Voices and the Hands rose up and murdered him? Who was playing puppet master to my father when he claimed a seat on the council that now rules over Sith space?"

She scoffed as she gestured to the Jedi, "Look and be amazed by the arrogance of the Jedi Order. You believe yourselves above reproach. It's pathetic! You claim to understand the Force, yet wholly ignore half of it. What is light without darkness Jedi? Nothing. Never have the Sith ignored the strength of the Force in it's entirety as you do. There are no separate pieces to the Force for it to play puppet master to one person or another. The Force is all encompassing. Ignorance clouds your Order from that truth."

Again she stepped forward, pointing her saber hilt at the Bith's chest, "But please, continue to speak ill of my father's might. I beg you, give me another reason to lay you low Jedi."

[member="Dune Rhur"]