Private Ghostbreaker

[Darth Themis]

Armed with: Divining Rod

Wearing: Armorweave Catsuit

Objective: Travel to Corellia's countryside.

It had been a few days since recruiting both Alyosha Drutin and Lucien Dooku and the Bright Lord of The Sith had decided to guage them seperately. After staring into the future to see which option was best, she picked the future where she went to Corellia with Lucien.

Something of great concern was here for Themis to scrutinize.

Bloodprint Estate, a Winery in the rural areas of Corellia, had shut down completely. This was due to so-called maintainance issues. They were nothing of the sort. Rumors had been spreading. Workers had seen haunting incidents. Moments they felt they were not alone, even when they clearly were.

But they all described one thing in common. The ghost always carried a golden spear. A Lightsaber Spear.

This 'deeply' interested Themis obviously. Because she knew a spear like this. It was the weapon of her old apprentice during the reconstruction era, Darth Typhunn.

He had been, at one time, her favorite apprentice. Truly a remarkable mind and deadly warrior. One of many lost when the war the Jedi waged on her before the Gulag Virus ravaged everything turned on her, wore her down.

She figured this was a perfect opportunity to test Lucien, which is why she was flying her black, Lambda Class Shuttle to a prearranged grove on Odessan to pick him up. They would fly to Corellia, discreetly investigate the rumors, and if there was anything to them, put the ghost to rest if possible. Themis could not stand the idea of Typhunn suffering eternally as she had once thought would be her fate.

The shuttle landed, the Light Side Sith hiding her emotions behind a mask of stoicism as she stepped off the Lambda shuttle, searching for her apprentice.

It reminded her of better days, going with apprentices in the De Lifte family on assignment. Despite the fact Lucien was about to do something serious here, she could not help but feel a bit of nostalgia at actually being a teacher.

Her Obsidian, skin tight catsuit gleamed in the early morning, reflecting the light and the grass, and potentially Lucien's face when he showed, her light mutated eyes scanning the area, the bronze and green sheen flicking about for a familiar face.

 

[Lucien Dooku]

vibes​

Lucien sat cross-legged in the center of the grove when Themis touched down in the Black Lambda shuttle that was identifiable to him as her personal transport. Granted his eyes were loosely shut closed at that moment, his mind drifting through slow meditation as the Lightspear perched firm in the ground next to him. Several days had come and gone since his inception as a student beneath another master; his new master was similar to his old one, yet in many ways they were different, so very different. They both treaded a fine line between the light and the dark, and Lucien's own understanding of the force had come from the teachings of the man he once followed everywhere. They were both unique in their own way as well, although he'd be the first to admit that Themis had him beat in that regard.

She was a powerful Brightlord of the Sith, and he was a Jedi Master who followed no code but his own. Standing in between the two were the student that would eventually come to be a culminated mixture of their teachings, with the addition of his own flare of course. Luc was an independent soul who didn't let the force truly guide him where he must be. He was the lightspear that he now wielded, nigh invulnerable to all but an equally powerful force with a core that emitted a blazing heat that one would only dare to extinguish. He cut a path through the force, intent on finding his own way through the fates that aimed to guide him where it wanted. His meeting with Themis had truly been a rare moment, indeed.

He set aside his ethos -- or perhaps his ego -- in favor of listening to the winds that guided his dreams for days upon end. It led him to a new master, toa an interesting world, and truly he was fine with the outcome this time around. She was a newfound guiding light in the path he carved out for himself. Much like the Captain of the Infinity's Free, she offered him a place at her side without the stipulation of total obedience over his fate; the same fate which he aimed to guide by his own hand. Their first meeting had ended with an equilibrium that he was willing to accept in the end, and for that he was truly grateful. He'd accompany her with no hesitation, as long as the state of things remained how they were. And even if they didn't, at the very least he figured the ride itself would be enjoyable.

Brrreeep, do brrreep. OooOoop.​

The R-4P droid mounted in Midnight interjected his thoughts to give him a heads-up on a craft entering within visual range. "Hmmm, thanks for the heads up, R4~" Luc chimed back to the droid through the comms on his wrist-mounted NAVI, blue-grey orbs gleaming in the sun as he opened his eyes towards the sky above. Midnight was parked a few meters to his left, and he raised from the ground and leaped onto one of the wings with a single fluid motion, his feet dangling off the ground casually as he awaited her appearance. Themis had arrived back on Odessen, and she stepped out of the black shuttle with a dangerous elegance emanating from her form, a playful smirk spreading across his lips in that usual way it did when something piqued his curiosity or interest.

Luc waited until the woman was within range for a casual conversation to be held before he said anything. He wasn't the student one would take if they were looking for formalities, after all. He was independently-trained, and for the greater portion of his teens and adolescence he'd spent his years traveling along the rim, training beneath different types of Jedi and even a Sith or two, which he later discovered on his own. A wave of ahishand followed once she was close enough. "A pleasure to see you again, Master." He said, his tone respectful yet playful at the same time. Afterwards his hands motioned into his pockets. "And here I was thinking that I wouldn't see you again."

Darth Themis

 

[Darth Themis]

Themis acknowledged Lucien Dooku as he greeted her.

"You almost didn't, my apprentice." she said, in a playful attempt to troll him. "If you had eaten anything other than what you specifically ate last night, it would have triggered a series of events that would have ended in you being blinded in a freak encounter with an Odessan Squirrel while waiting for me..."

She tried to look grim and serious for a few seconds, hopefully just long enough to make him wonder whether she was joking, before busting out into laughter.

"Sorry, couldn't resist. If its any consolation, that only happens in half a percent of your futures...and not on Odessan..." she added, this time managing to keep a straight face for 007 seconds, before she could not hold back the snickering.

"I'm sorry. That was mean. I don't have many chances for humor. I was dead for a few centuries so all my humor is the humor of the gallows..." she said. "How are you Lucien? I see you have bonded with your spear, as I have."

She held out her spear. Moya had trained many in this style. So had Themis, both before and after she had been Moya De Lifte. She felt a twinge of nostalgia for those old days, the days of sparring in the Fortress Chambers.

"How about a practice duel, Lucien?" Themis asked. "I want to see what you can do."

As she waited for him to prepare and strike, she decided to engage in conversation, brief him as to where they would be going.

Her green shoto activated out of the glossy, giant obsidian toothpick of a spear she carried.

"We head to Corellia. A matter concerning a haunting at a Winery has brought up reports of a ghost bearing a description similar to that of another Light Side Sith. One I trained. The very first, in fact. Darth Typhunn was a powerful, esoteric man. I will not see him reduced to haunting a Winery in eternal suffering. We are going there to put his ghost to rest. It will be an opportunity to learn more of the ways of a Light Sith."

 

[Lucien Dooku]

Luc returned her quip with a momentary expression of serious himself, though it lasted only as long as her own before his playful demeanor returned back to his face. "You almost had me there for a sec, Darth Themis~" Themis and her occasional banter on the premonitions she foresaw amused him, to say the least. He was trained in the ways of the force, and despite similar premonitions of his own being the cause that eventually drew the pair together, he still didn't believe in them entirely. In his opinion, true premonitions were a rare thing for the sensitives who were capable of manipulating the potential that coursed through their bodies. Even then, those premonitions were only as powerful as one allowed them to be; Lucien guided his fate with his own hands, and there was no better example than the choice he made all those nights ago. The keyword of that thought, his choice.

But he wouldn't express that thought to the woman who graciously accepted him under her tutelage. Returning to the conversation at hand, Luc let out a yawn, his mind and body finally beginning to warm up now that he was no longer alone in that quaint Odessan grove. "Can't say I have much to complain about, Master. It's a beautiful day on an even more beautiful world, and i'm alive and well to live another day." He spoke up, the force flowing through him once more as he pushed off Midnight's wing and gracefully flowed across the air and landing on his feet, next to his Lightspear once more. Unlike his lightsaber, Luciens connection to the slightly unfamiliar weapon came with a deeper connection to the second weapon he'd crafted in his life. The synthetic crystal mounted within his lightsaber was a synthetic one, chosen for the aesthetically pleasing aqua-colored blade that it generated rather than a connection it formed with its wielder.

Truthfully he didn't understand the entire process entirely as of yet, but he couldn't deny that connection to the Lorrdian gemstone that he derived from the ritual that underwent a few days prior. In return to her query, he gave a nod and left it at that. Further response wasn't necessary in any case, as she continued on with challenging her battle-savvy student to a duel before elaborating on their purpose for traveling together moving forwards. Luc removed his jacket, tying it around his waist in the usual manner he did when the extra maneuverability was needed over its undeniable style. Afterwards he even removed his shoulder holster as well, R-4 ejecting itself out of Midnight's slot as Luc tossed it in the air, a hand trailing the holster and guided its fall gracefully with the force. It landed on R-4's domed head, the droid proceeding to hover back down to the ground a few moments later.

A dejected series of beeps chimed from its voice box, but Luc's gaze had not shifted from Themis's form the entire time. "Y'know-- it almost sounds like we'll be heading to Corellia like the Sith master and apprentices of old." He smirked, a hand gripping the Lightspear and removing it from the ground with a firm tug. "What was it called again, hmm-- the rule of two, am I right? Heh." That definitely wasn't how the Rule of two went, but Luc was trying to be funny more than sound in his logic. He activated the Lightspear a moment later, a delightful violet-colored blade emanating from the tip of the weapon. It wasn't as beautiful as his lightsaber, but it felt just as fitting when it wielded it.

Luc strolled in a circular pattern around his Master's flank, his gait as casual as the way he wielded the lightspear. "My ancestor, the greatest of the Dooku line, had fallen to the Sith before he succumbed to his end." The words flowed from lips curled in that signature grin of his right before he came to an abrupt stop in his path. The force flowed into his legs in that instant, knees coming to a bend a breath's moment before his form hurtled towards her with all the might his force-imbued body could muster. He twisted through the air, the Lightspear now gripped with two hands and falling upon Themis in what was an attempt at beginning their duel with an impressively energetic strike. "Hubris is what I imagine led to his end, and it sounds like your apprentice had much in common with the old Dooku!" The force behind his strike resonated with a burning excitement that came from within that blazing spirit of his, a clear indication of where Lucien favored on the spectrum of lightsaber styles. To a master of the Jedi arts, it would be clear that Lucien was primarily a user of Vaapad, an art that was not that commonly known, especially for one of his age. Granted his ability to utilize the lightspear itself was nowhere near the level of finesse he'd reached so far with a lightsaber, which meant applying the energetic, brute-force of Vaapad was all he had to work with for now.

Darth Themis

 

[Darth Themis]

Themis, as she eyed the violet blade of Lucien Dooku as it erupted from the end of his spear shaft, felt a painful twinge of familiarity at the color of the blade.

Violet had been the color of choice for the woman who had murdered her long ago, Darth Phyre. The way the purple light had danced off moldy yellow eyes...

Just about the only consolations she had received so far besides ressurection in of itself, was her two apprentices, and the sure knowledge that Darth Phyre was dead. Phyre had murdered them all. Even the Padawans hadn't been spared. But The Cult of The Brain Demon never spared anyone.

Lucien's assertion that it was hubris that had doomed Typhunn as it had Lucien's own ancestor, Themis had to disagree.

"Not the man I knew..." she said simply. "This was a great man. A man's man. He led by example. But Death can break almost anyone. It almost broke even me. Whatever he's become, try to reserve your judgment until you know the whole story."

Her vision told her where Lucien's spear went and she intercepted his Vaapaad Spear, impressed one so young knew the technique. Her knowledge had eroded slightly due to being dead for a long period but she was building it back up day by day.

She swatted the spear shaft aside, her visions telling her to shift to the right to move out of his cone of vision for a split second, so she could swipe her spear shaft at his legs.

 

[Lucien Dooku]

Luc tipped the ground with his foot in the moment their weapons collided-- his own lightspear being swatted away with relative ease by Themis's own weapon. He kicked off the foot as she countered with a swipe aimed at his legs, a move that would definitely have buckled him to the floor if it connected fully with its intended target.

The spear's shaft rolled out of a loose grip, his master's weapon colliding with his own where his feet had once been trajected to land. Metal collided against metal, with Lucien using the opportunity to tighten his grip spear, raising his feet onto the shaft to use it as a springboard of sorts.

He launched himself backwards, arms crossing over his chest as he reeled away a safe distance from his master's presence. He hit the ground with a graceful thud, landing crouched on his dominant leg's knee. "Alright, alright, mayhaps I jumped the gun." He raised to his feet with hands raised on either side of his head.

The smirk rescinded from his lips, an arm reaching forwards in unison with the lightspear dislodging from the ground, propelling into a hand that clasped around the spear's shaft. "But I am curious about somethin' master. If this apprentice of yours was such a powerful individual, what exactly happened to reduce him to a ghost within the force and, y'know, haunting a winery?"

Darth Themis

 

[Darth Themis]

All Themis could do was stare at Lucien Dooku as he used the word 'Mayhaps'

"It has been literal centuries since I heard that word..." Themis remarked.

But then Lucien asked his question...

(Character Theme Song Power Up)

(Theme: "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" by Blue Oyster Cult)


Reconstruction Period.


The Light Side Sith Darth Themis fought atop a hill on Korriban.

Her bodysuit, a deep purple with black gloves and boots, was splashed with blood as she flung Sith into the air with a swing of her spearshaft, dodging impaling attempts and slashes with the aid of her Force Visions, impaling and slashing in turn, skewering them.

She had hid her change of allegiances in the Force as long as she could, but they day had at last come when it was sensed she was no longer aligned to the Dark Side.

Seeing that one of their top Archivists (a position which afforded a large amount of power and wisdom) had abandoned the call of The Dark Side, it was only natural that rivals from every corner would erupt to strike her down, or assassins dispatched to quell the heresy she had chosen to indulge in.

Themis knew she was outnumbered. She did not care. For the revelations she had experienced studying The Red Ankarres had convinced her utterly of the truths of the Light Side of the Force. But she would not serve it as a Jedi. Sith she remained. A heretical Sith.

She felt clarity for the first time in her existence. This was why the Sith could never fully take over the Galaxy. They used the wrong side of The Force to do so.

And the Light had imparted great and terrible power indeed. For as her enemies swarmed, calling forth terrible powers of their own to try and strike her dead, the Light granted her near total immunity to the Dark Side. The Sith were fools to reject its wisdom. But no matter. She had no more use for being one of them. Their savagery disgusted her.

Green lightning, weak due to the natural Dark Nexus on Korriban, flashed down from the sky, still strong enough to severely cripple those that were struck, rending flesh from bone as she made the light punish the dark worshippers, or conjured water from the air as a powerful Jet stream attack.

No matter how they struck, she almost always seemed to evade at the last moment, interfering with each attack pattern seconds before they could land, and what few injuries they did inflict seemed to heal in seconds. In some instances, Themis even managed to trick them into impaling themselves at the last second, ripping the spear blade, tearing, until it was nearly done and there was only one combatant remaining, a large Aqualish brute of a man wielding a lightsaber with a very long red blade. He assumed the stance of the deadly fighting style Djem So.

Themis peered into the future. Went still a bit. This was a juncture. They both had an equal chance of emerging the Victor. It was either gonna be her or him.

Themis immediately tried to strike him dead from green lightning above, but he caught it with his blade, flinging it back at her, which she barely absorbed before she was fending off unnaturally fast slashes her sight barely gave her the time to predict and intercept, and now she really was forced to dodge for her life when his heavy attacks began to get too strong.

Themis Force Leapt away from her opponent and he pursued, targeting her torso, trying to break the shaft of her spear. Themis retreated from each attack, looking into the future for the perfect moment to strike while defending. It helped that Ataru was her preferred style, lending itself well to acrobatics.

At last the moment came, when his saber was swung at a low angle, trying to hit an exposed ankle...

Themis simply gave a short, trolling hop over the saber and slammed the spear into his skull in an overhead attack.

The Sith dropped and Themis rolled his corpse off the hill with a push of a black boot.

She cut open her forehead, bright green blood seeping out and chanted, seeking to grant a sort of purity, and defile the holy landscape of Korriban, whose deserts she had once walked as an ordinary Sith.

The corpses began to shudder and wriggle, breaking down and rebuilding as all black trees standing on the great hill, but the blood remained.

A whisper of a spell and one corpse broke down, repurposed into a chair like tree. Themis sat in it and contemplated her future.

It was not enough to defile the sacred grounds of these thieves and butchers (I want ''my" bird!: 90XP), she needed to see if she could turn one of them.

To her delight, a vision cast across her mind. The Light abided. The light provided.

A young man, a strong man, had sensed her presence. A new recruit to the academy. His path undecided. Only here a few weeks, but had yet to make true progress. But they sensed in him what she sensed. Power and untapped talant.

There were many futures where he chose to run to the others for reinforcements. But instead he was on his way up the hill out of sheer curiosity.

Themis awaited him. He visited the Library often, and Themis let her power shine in the Force.

He hat last reach the hill summet, and saw her in the center of a newly forged grove. Her protective cowl was with drawn, revealing her pale as tombstone face carved from marble in its unnatural perfection and messy, short black hair. Her Sith brand, a simple red diamond at the center of her forehead, seemed to be slowly but surely eroding, being replaced by what looked to be a black pentagram bearing the symbol of The Ashla at the center.

He was in his early twenties, clad in black form fitting robes. She saw a vision of him in dragon like armor, blacker than his current attire.

His power was still submerged. But his face was seemingly set in a permanent and unnerving stare with eyes not yet gone to sulphur, still an interesting blue. His hair was clean cut and brown.

"Welcome, Derusai." Themis called out. "I have been expecting you."

"Lady Themis..." Derusai spoke quietly, hand not going for the lightsaber clipped to his belt. "You have betrayed everything it is to be a Sith."

"Shocking, I take it?"

"Yes. But, somehow...no, at the same time."

Bronze and green eyes stared upon him, piercing his futures.

"I have sensed your doubt at times. You hide it well. But you flinch slightly at the nastier stuff when you think no one is looking."

"I clearly am no match for you."

"You didn't arrive here to fight." Themis replied.

"Maybe."

"Derusai, what can I say to at least make you consider joining me?"

"My mother was Sith. She sent me here to become as she was."

"You feel obligated to fulfill what she wants?"

"Not as much as I should."

Themis smiled.

"They're savages. All of them. Its all they do in the end. That's why it never lasts no matter how good they have it."

"I suppose turning corpses into trees isn't crossing a line in civility?" Derusai snarked.

"Any line I crossed against them they crossed hundreds, thousands of times with people who could not defend themselves. At least they're making oxygen for people to breath now. I intend to reform the Sith. Or at the very least create a suitable competitor to the Main Orthodoxy."

Derusai at last spoke the words Themis knew he had been wanting to ask since he had first walked into the library to study. The words that best ensured the futures he became her apprentice coming to pass.

"Is the Light Side stronger?" he asked quietly.

Themis received a powerful vision of she and him in his black dragon armor setting electric judgement upon the Dark Followers of Dromund Kaas, their spears searing through the unholy as they manifested the light's judgement and twisted it to their ends. Derusai would become truly great and terrible in the ways of electric judgement, casting it upon the unholy and freeing a legion of their slaves from the shackles of The Dark Side, that base of freed slaves becoming the basis for their network of operatives.

"Derusai..." she told the future Darth Typhunn pleasantly. "Let's talk..."

Present Day.

"I don't know Lucien. I just don't know. He disappeared after a battle on Exagol. I couldn't feel him through our bond. I searched for over four years. But...eventually bad luck caught up to me also. As powerful as I am, I'm not invincible. I can die just like anyone else. It just requires more effort to kill me than usual. Derusai--I...I mean...Darth Typhunn, sorry...he was a powerful light user. A skilled warrior. Patient. He moonlighted as an Engineer and a Physician. He always gave the Dark Ones a chance to forsake the Dark Side. Always. Even when it was impractical. You'd have liked him, I think...but in the end he was still mortal. I suppose I should be greatful his soul wasn't trapped in the hellish agony of magical black flames for over three centuries like mine was. Still, this hardly the end the man I knew deserved."

She then refocused on their sparring.

"He was a good friend." was all she said afterward in a somber tone, before signaling him to guard himself.

Themis sprang forward when the visions told her to, right when he was in mid blink of the eyes, targeting the end of the spear on the left arm to try and knock it out of his hand.

 

[Lucien Dooku]

Lucien chuckled, his arms moving his shoulders into a half-shrug thanks to the Lightspear he wielded in one hand. "Sometimes the old adages of nobility come out when i'm having fun." He replied with a grin. His accent had once been quite heavy with the more pretentious tones and words that were common among Serennoan nobility. A decade of traveling the stars with his former Master along with the past couple of years on his own had more or less bastardized his dialect to something more spacer. A palatable mixture of the old and new it was, but he never forgot his origins. He embraced who he was and stood confident by the things he said, and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't a useful talking point when engaging with the various women he'd met occasionally around the Rim.

The grin on his lips did fade when she divulged further onto the origins of her former apprentice. Luc could be a bit of a facetious hardhead when he wanted to be, but he also knew when to tone it down during moments such as these. Darth Themis revealed that her and this Darth Typhunn shared a bond which tied the two of them together through the force. It was an experience that he'd never felt himself, but he nonetheless felt the emotion emanating from his master. The loss of her student was a sore spot on her mind, much like the disappearance of Lucien's previous master. The difference being that she at least had an opportunity to seek closure on the issue. He was dead, but not truly gone, whereas Jo'ron was simply...gone. He could've been lost in Wild Space for all he knew, or even worse, dead or converted to the Sith. The possibilities were endless, and the force did little to bring insight into the fate of Luc's previous master. Eventually he'd get his answers, but for now he could take solace in the things he'd gained since his exit from his student's life. Themis being one of them.

Emotion swelled up within him before and after she called to him to ready his guard. She came at him within the blink of an eye, the end of her spear thrusting towards his arm in a delightfully fluid move which forced him to release his grip or risk an impact that would've knocked it out anyway. He hop-stepped backwards, his master's pressing upon his guard forcing him to improvise in a way that was unorthodox at best. He wasn't ashamed at his lack of skill with the lightspear as of yet, but neither did he wish to accept defeat so soon into their bout. He relished the feeling of clashing weapons with an opponent worth their salt, and such was a rarity indeed since there weren't many competent force-users in the world of a spacer. Excitement had long before set in, and no longer was that boyish grin sitting on his face with a playful demeanor.

It was a replaced with a devilish smirk- the type of expression that one carried when they were truly embraced in the excitement that a pitch-battle might carry. A hand extended outwards, the jet-black hilt of his lightsaber flying into his grip and erupting with an aqua-blue blade that carried with it the weight of his existence. Though he was supposed to be practicing with the lightspear, his thoughts were no longer focused on simply training to improve his skill. He wanted victory, not at all costs, but enough to the point where he refused to allow his master to see him at his weakest. The duality of Lucien's spirit was on full display after the brandishing of his primary weapon. He was a Vaapad user, after all, and it was hard to keep that feeling of wanting to win, that feeling of wanting to fight to his heart's content, checked and balanced by the Light that mirrored his dark.

He stepped back into his master's zone after rearming himself with a more competent choice of arms. He wielded the lightsaber with one-hand, a fluid yet powerful strike being directed downwards and at an angle towards his master's torso. The blade glimmered as it carved towards Themis, and it didn't stop with just a single strike. He twisted and pivoted his form, a wave of interconnecting strikes flurrying forwards with little regard to the control of the explosive power behind his blows. Granted he wasn't aiming to kill or even land his strikes towards anything in specific. The assault was intended to strike at her guard until she rightfully countered or repelled his advance. As for him, Lucien's emotions were on full display, and it was clear that he was growing with delight at being able to fight someone who wouldn't just outright die when pitted against a force-user with a lightsaber.

A Master of the force was a treat in that regard, and he looked forwards to having her show him just how powerful she truly was- or was he? His thoughts weren't clear outside the sole purpose of fighting, and fighting with every ounce of strength and emotion he could summon from the deepest recesses of his mind. It was a line that he rarely was able to cross, a line which he never needed to cross either. But for today he would cross it, consequences be damned.

 

[Darth Themis]

This was admittedly an impressive defense and counter-attack on his part. She had once possessed great skill in Vaapaad, but it had eroded in her death, like many other skills, making it all the more important she pass on what she did have to Lucien.

"I'm not judging you Lucien. I used to use the word 'Habidashery' unironically. You cannot imagine how red my face was when Typhunn told me how antiquated that word had gotten. Cheeky bastard was struggling not laugh at me."

She could see that Lucien Dooku had taken Vaapaad's nature to heart however. Even with her visions, his attacks were difficult to predict and intercept...attacking as much on instinct as planned strategem. Themis switched switched to Vaapaad herself to have the best chance of intercepting his assault, her spear shaft swatting aside his attacks, but barely, jumping or shifting her feet only when her visions told her to do so, to reduce the power of his heavy attacks when they struck.

At one of his attacks however, she shifted to a completely different style, her preferred style, to parry moving forward with her spear held horizontally forward to knock his spear upward, stretching out her hand...

Moisture ripped itself from the air of the greenlands around them, shooting out as an ice cold jet stream attack of water impacting with half the force of a Fire Hose to try and knock him down. The Hydrokinesis in most futures usually took him by surprise.

But it took a bit of wind up for her to use it. Lucien had plenty of time to dodge but Themis was already forming a construct of water in the form of a wall to try and prevent him from retreating backward as she followed it up with multiple slashes aimed at his arms.

 

[Lucien Dooku]

Lucien gleamed with excitement as he engaged his master head-on, foregoing the lightspear in favor of his primary weapon to fully let himself immerse into the battle at hand. He chuckled mid-strike as his master gave him a response, informing him of her own use of the more antiquated vocabulary of the nobility. "Habidashery, now that's old, Master Themis." He replied with a a wide enough grin to display his full set of teeth, drawing his form backwards with a hopping step and using the opportunity to lunge forward with a twist to his body that transitioned into a downwards-swing, colliding against her lightspear to no end result but the continuous assault upon her guard. It was essentially a game to him, the constant striking and maneuvering that made up his plan of assault. He moved upon instinct rather than his usual method of thinking ahead and following through with a legitimate plan.

The force guided his blade as much as the emotions he emitted mixed with those that emanated off of his master, especially after her form switched to Vaapad in response to the barrage of strikes he sent her way. The combination of the pair's emotions merged together to feed his instinctual desire to fight- and fight on he did, with zero regard to anything besides where his impulse edged him to strike again next. The enveloping feeling of joy that he felt during their battle was, to say the least, a refreshing feeling. It was almost too refreshing perhaps, since whatever limits he'd placed upon himself were freely being let loose for the first time in the longest time ever.

"This is great, am I right?!" Lucien exclaimed amidst another weave of connected strikes, his master responding with a shift in her form that deviated from the Vaapad which she displayed before. His strict focus on maintaining an unrelenting offensive had the unfortunate effect of leaving him completely unaware to the subtle signs of hydrokinesis forming across the surface around them. Moisture gathered from across the land, coalescing into a stream of water which whipped forwards and impacted with his form, the impact of the attack whipping him across the chest with enough force to knock the wind from his lungs.

Lucien toppled over after receiving the hit, though he caught himself in a backwards skirt as his boots slid across the moistened soil beneath them. The fire within his eyes had dimmed by the time he skidded against the wall of water pressed against his back. "Heh." The smirk remained planted on his face in spite of the powerful hit, and Lucien followed his master's impending advance with a force-assisted vault, casting his body over the water construct and landing behind it gracefully. His senses had returned to him fully by then, and Luciens' form tightened up, no longer as lax as it was when he'd clearly let himself immerse into the feeling of Vaapad as before.

Both hands gripped the lightsaber, which he held at an angle over his head and at just enough of an angle for the blade to be capable of whipping across around his body without worry of cutting himself in the process. It was clearly an application of Form V, specifically the Djem So style which called for aggressive counterattacks in response to a powerful foe. Aside from the benefits that came with the more defensive, counter-focused applications of the technique, it also allowed him a moment to regain control over his thoughts and equalize out his emotions. The period of disregard that came with his all-out offensive had come at the cost of leaving him wide-open to Themis' use of force-based attacks, and as such he aimed to counter that possibility in the future, if only by reducing the chance for tunnel vision to take over again.

Darth Themis

 

[Darth Themis]

Themis chuckled a bit as Lucien Dooku was blasted backwards by her jet of water. But he rebounded over her next set of attacks.

Themis searched for futures where she caught him off guard. Choosing the one that had the best chance of foiling his guard, and struck in a series of quick thrusts aimed at his legs, enhancing her speed with the Force.

She was having way more fun than she thought herself capable. But deep down she still had a deep sense of future-shock. Lucien and Alyosha were her two friendliest windows into the new world, which was both frightening and ugly to her. The Gulag Plague had been bad but this new era proved you didn't need disease to flush out the rot: People were perfectly happy to fight to the death over the rot's effects to start with.

It was everything she had tried to prevent during the Reconstruction Period. Now the galaxy was basically a murderous free for all, regardless of who called what shots. The murder rate was as sky high on some worlds has it had been during the plague.

Lucien and Alyosha seemed to be doing just fine, but that was because they had grown up in this. Society wasn't meant to be this bloody, to be such a raw fight to survive.

Phyre would love this, this chaos, as it would be her dream come true. She would have loved to be able to torture and kill the innocent with such abandon as you could in this era. It was good Phyre burned in hell.

As the trauma of her own murder had scrambled a good chunk of her memories where Phyre was concerned, Themis was unaware of Phyre's rebirth as a Jedi, and how her own schemes had led her to that. For now, there was only Alyosha and the moment. Anything else was too big to think about for the time being.

Themis waited to see if the future where she successfully nicked one of his legs came to pass, still attacking that area relentlessly.

 

[Lucien Dooku]

Lucien shifted backwards with each leg as Themis sent a series of timely thrusts aimed to interrupt his guard. "Trying to cut me down a few notches it seems." He taunted with a smirk that covered up a wincing pain that came with her weapon grazing his legs before his footwork got into the groove of her attacks. Luc performed a hop step backwards in unison with directing a downward swing between the space between the two. A hand shot forwards right before he landed, a wave of telekinetic force being directed towards her by the time his feet pressed back against the ground. Lucien was attempting to put her on the defensive if it was at all possible to achieve. In spite of the confidence he put on display, it was evident that Themis possessed a far greater repertoire of abilities at her disposal when compared to himself.

The previous display of hydrokinesis was enough to confirm that much, he thought to himself. He had a few tricks kept up his sleeves, but revealing them would require a bit of patience if he was to come out of their little spar without losing a limb in the process. Even if the thrusts that were directed his way were avoided this time around, precise footwork and the unnatural precognitive abilities he'd developed over the years would only carry him so far against what was slowly showing itself to be a much more dominant opponent once things started to heat up.

With the wave of force being directed in her general direction, Luc would kick off his feet regardless of the outcome into a dash across to the right in an attempt to curve around her flank if at all possible. His lightsaber deactivated and reentered his holster, and his hand extended outwards again as his own cortosis staff reacted to the force extended from his limb and shot from the ground and into his grip once more. He activated the weapon as soon as it entered his hand.

His lightsaber had put him at a clear disadvantage in regard to length, and with his emotions back under control it was easy to determine that the wisest course of action was to resume using the weapon he was supposed to have been wielding in the first place. At the least it would allow him to counter the range of her own staff, so he waited for her to resume her attack whilst he assumed his guard once again, the blade of the weapon pointed forwards in anticipation of her making the next move.

"Round two might just be the charm. Maybe~"

Darth Themis

 

[Darth Themis]

She had succeeded in getting a few scrapes on his leg, enough that he had resorted to sending a wave of telekinesis to her.

She was not fast enough to dodge the wave, and her entire form distorted, flesh under the body glove rippling and distorting for a split second as she was flung backward, the wind knocked out of her as she hit the ground, breaking a leg on impact.

Themis winced. She hated it when she reached an unexpected future in which she broke a leg. Leg injuries were the most painful.

"Ouch...gimme a second here..." Themis called out, letting her leg regenerate to an unbroken state.

The Leg reset itself after a few minutes and Themis tested it experimentally.

Lucien Dooku had a brain, certainly. Push her back and then guard, instead of immediately going in the counter offensive.

This strategy was one Typhunn had employed. He liked to keep the enemy at a distance...

Themis spun her spear in her hand, dashing towards him at high speed, thrusting for his shoulder. She had it on a low setting, so as not to severely injure him.

"You need to be looser in your stance, Apprentice." Themis critiqued as she made the thrust. "Too stiff and you can't manuver or react in time to deflect."

Giving such advice reminded her of the old days, as Themis...


It had been days since leaving Korriban. Derusai had needed convincing but the desire to leave the Dark Side had been within him all along. Themis had merely provided the words and courage necessary to leave.

Her ancient Citadel on Denon, a black tower in the mountains, had proven an ideal hideout, and Themis had spent the weeks doing nothing but teach him, watching him grow stronger.

He had taken to her spear fighting with alacrity. He took every word of hers as iron.

Part of the reason it had been so easy to flip him was because hhis doubts had very much been hers once upon a time.

Like all Sith, she was expected to kill her master. She had done so.

The trouble was, Her Master had been a friend, or the closest a Sith could come to having one. Had it not been for her Master, Themis would have never been anything more than another high risk smuggler.

That guilt at killing her friend was what had started her spiral, as most Sith would put it. It had started to open her eyes to the barbarity of it.

Derusai spun both himself and his spear, constantly defending. She could tell he had been leaning on Form 3 a lot.

"You're defending too much with the staff. The point of the Spear is not to defend primarily. It is to attack. You let me far too close."

Derusai smirked. "All the better to throw you off my real strategy, Master."

Themis snorted in amusement, walking around the stone training chamber clad in her purple body armor.

"If your real strategy is 'hoping I get tired', I find it a bit wanting."

Derusai was confidant however.

"You'll see..."

Themis struck from all angles, her spear thrusting at his midsection. His weapon spins deflected everything but Themis grew even more determined, striking faster.

She almost didn't spot the future where his spear split in two deliberately. Suddenly she was on the defensive from her own apprentice who was actually driving her backward.

Themis, of course, being The Master, was not about to be bested by a surprise attack. She waited, finding a future where his constant whipping attacks with his split spear caused him to scuff the ground, throwing off his concentration for a split second.

When it happened, all Themis had to do was jolt her spear during a thrust to the right to knock the bottom end of his weapon away.

She was not prepared when the shoto at the top end of his weapon extended several meters. That was when he began whipping the weapon around his body at an even faster rate, the blue blade clashing against her spear shaft, sending sparks everywhere.

"Why Apprentice, you've taken some initiative..." she remarked, dodging his swipes and stabs. "A Light Pike...a secondary polearm within a polearm...there's something meta about that."

Derusai blinked in confusion. "Meta?"

"Oh, nothing, its Holonet Humor, pay no mind."

Derusai shrugged and guarded. "So Master...how are we to fulfill our ambitions?"

"This period of Reconstruction must be made to last as long as possible. I...I can almost see something...something great and terrible in the aftermath of the Reconstruction. Dark Times. There are those in the present that would bring about the darkness faster. We must end them before they are even allowed the opportunity to do so. And, if possible, ensure the coming darkness never comes to pass to begin with."

Derussi raised an eyebrow. "We may have to kill many."

"Only the specifics..." She dismissed, rushing him...

Derusai was forced to defend against a renewed and highly aggressive series of slashing and thrusting attacks...


Themis waited to see if her attack on his shoulder was successful.

"We should be prepared to leave soon as this duel is concluded..." she mentioned. "I...feel something on the horizon..."

 

[Lucien Dooku]

The sight of one's leg being broken, then promptly repaired with the use of the force, was something that would take a bit of time to get use to. He lowered the Cortosis staff to his side, his stance loosening up while he was afforded a breather until her leg had reset itself and the fight began once again. "I'm gonna hope I never get injured enough to need to do that." He muttered to himself. Eyes remained glued upon the leg itself out of curiosity of the processes that involved the reformation of all the tissue and bone, but the curiosity faded away as it neared its completion, and her attention once again settled upon the exiled Prince.

He tightened his form as she made a dash across the gap between them, forcing Lucien to step backwards in order to avoid the initial strike that was aimed for his shoulder. An attempt was made to raise the staff in his defense, but his movements with the weapon were clumsy and unrefined when compared to the grace that he'd managed to accomplish when wielding his primary weapon of choice. The step back prevented the strike from connecting-- immediately, at least. The length of the weapon wasn't taken in effect when he decided to attempt to dodge the blade itself, which slid across his shoulder, searing the fabric of his shirt and leaving a mixture of bruising and moderate burns in its wake.

Luc gritted his teeth, not at the pain, but entirely at the level of incompetence that he'd displayed so far. It had been so long since he'd picked up a new weapon that he'd almost forgotten what it felt like to get his ass handed to him without even being able to put up a solid fight in return. Granted he didn't do too bad with his lightsaber and the force at his disposal, but it would defeat the purpose of his training if he refused to use his newly-acquired weapon. Luckily for him, Themis would not follow up the shoulder strike with yet another attack, and instead deciding to conclude their sparring session after her attention was drawn elsewhere on the horizon.

Stabbing the blunt end of the staff into the ground, Luc leaned against the staff as he felt his way through the force, attempting to reach out and find that same feeling that Themis claimed to feel as well. "You feelin' something, or someone?" Luc commented, his curiosity growing at whatever it was that Themis had felt. He delivered a message to R4 in the meantime, relaying to the astromech to turn back on Midnight and keep her running until further notice.

Darth Themis

 

[Darth Themis]

Lucien Dooku had excellent timing, because that sensation was getting closer. Light Side signatures.

"Jedi. Keep your weapon at it's side. I'll handle this." She told him. She had no wish to fight another Light Adept, however misguided.

Three Jedi soon approached the clearing where they had been fighting. All three were human.

"How can I help you today, Master Jedi?" Themis asked delicately, slinking a youthful, gorgeous face and curvy body in a skintight bodyglove towards them, blinking Light-Mutated Eyes.

"We sense an anomaly in The Force. In the Light itself. What are you?" The Kel-Dor Jedi asked.

"An exile...a relic of a bygone era..." Themis answered. "Sort of like The Jedi Post-Clone wars. At least you're adapting well to Chaos."

"You force The Light to do your bidding instead of being guided by it. You pervert the natural order." The second Jedi, a Rodian woman accused.

"Natural? Remind me, exactly, what has 'ever' been natural about being a murderous psychic warrior armed with a Laser Blade?" Themis asked. "We pervert the natural order every time we use our abilities to alter matter or minds. If I am perverting the natural order, at least I admit it to myself."

"You are to be detained. Your apprentice as well. We will not let you pervert The Light on Odessan to your advantage."

"You are in no position to detain anyone..." Themis whispered as she began to Dominate their minds, her voice low and demonic sounding in their heads.

(Sinister Latin Chanting)

"We are in no position to detain anyone..." they spoke tonelessly, after a few moments of shaking their heads.

Themis approached. The Jedi were still in her thrall.

"You want to leave behind your equipment and Lightsabers, and forget you saw us."

The Jedi seemed to each clutch and shake their heads harder, but in the end succumbed to her will, dropping their equipment belt and Lightsabers where they stood and began to walk off.

Themis gathered the equipment, watching them until they disappeared back to a distant Jedi outpost.

"Lucien, a Light Side Sith can end conflict just as easily as a Jedi, without Loss of Life or even injuries. It just requires a willingness to be more in the pilot's seat, as opposed to being the one piloted. With enough strength and will over the Light, even Force Adepts of great skill are vulnerable to being persuaded to non violent solutions. This is often desirable, as in being like me, you are part of an incredibly small group. When you grow larger and stronger, operating with as little violence as possible to those who are not truly your enemy and do not deserve it is still highly desirable, as you can often get much farther with words then blades. But you must be careful what you order people to do. It could have unintended consequences. Don't worry about those three. They'll make it. I have forseen it."

The Bright Lord then brought the equipment over to the shuttle.

"In the meantime, we have an appointment on Corellia to keep..."

Themis went inside the shuttle decorated with drawings of visions that may never come to pass.

As Themis waited for Lucien to get aboard and prepped for lift off, she directed him to his guest cabin, where a few items of interest lay.

"I procured those for you. Spare equipment from my days in The De Lifte Family." she spoke of the Pistol and Armor she had left in his cabin. "I don't know how useful they'll be to you here, so I left other gear in case you wanted something more generalized. I also raided one of my old safehouses and procured you some upgrades...

(Zelda Acquisition Theme Plays)

(New gear and upgrades are available to Lucien!)

(The journey to Corellia will involve great danger. It is highly advised Lucien prepare accordingly. Lucien is free to rely on the gifts Themis just gave him, the alternatives below, or ignore altogether.)

(Please make your selection now.)

(CHOOSE WISELY)

Limit: One/Four Armors

Four/007 upgrades

One/Three crystals

ARMOR

Spoiler

1. MASSASSI CEREMONIAL ARMOR

Spoiler

Ancient ritual armor developed by the Massassi Sith Offshoot. A light mobile armor of excellent quality that can take lots of punishment ment from blaster.

2. CINNAGAR WEAVE ARMOR

Spoiler

Excellent light armor developed on Cinnagar during the war against the Ancient Sith Lord Naga Sadow, excellent for temperature extremes

3. MATUKAI ADEPT ROBES

Spoiler

Robes developed by The Matukai faction. Green in color, they help the wearer channel the more physical and athletic ends of The Force.

4. BARAN-DO SAGE ROBES

Spoiler

Robes developed by The Baran Do faction. Saffron in color, they allow for the easier channeling of precognitive abilities

UPGRADES

Spoiler

1. SPINNING SPEAR POINT

Spoiler

An optional upgrade to Lucien's spear that can be used as intended or as a seperate weapon. Essentially a shoto fitted with inquisitor style ring emitters, attaching it via a magnetic clip to one end of the shaft essentially turns it into an emergency buzzsaw in combat or as a utility, but presents a large target and slightly unbalanced weight.

2. CURVED HILT MOD

Spoiler

Creates a curved hilt saber for dueling.

3. INFRARED SCOPE

Spoiler

Pistol Scope with infrared vision that can be used on Lucien's new pistol, enabling detection via heat signature.

4. PISTOL STOCK

Spoiler

Attaches a stock to Lucien's new pistol, turning it into a small carbine

5. SITH POWER GAUNTLETS

Spoiler

Gauntlets that enhance strength and are based on stolen Eriadu designs. Such items are rarely seen outside Sith Possession. These particular versions are Gulag-Era devices painted dark green and stamped with the sigil of the Order of Themis, a stylized Cobra Head.

(G.I. Joe Cartoon theme plays)

6. SITH MASK

Spoiler

Blocks out all nearly sensory imput to concentrate on wielding the Force. This particular version is also of The Order of Themis, colored Dark Green.

007. DROIDEKA BUBBLE SHIELD (HAND HELD)

Spoiler

Twenty second recharging version of a Droideka's bubble shield. Requires ten seconds to recharge after getting used.

CRYSTALS

Spoiler

1. DAMIND

Spoiler

Crystal used nearly exclusively by The Dark Lords of the Sith. Broadens the beam, enabling greater blaster deflecting

2. RUBAT

Spoiler

Once the preferred choice of crystals by The Jedi Order before the discovery of Ilum. Sharpens the blade appearence, enabling greater control and tracking during duels

3. SYNTH

Spoiler

Synthetic Saber crystal. Once exclusively used by Sith, the practice has finally caught up with nearly everyone else. Increases the power of the beam, enabling it to have a small chance of breaking a lightsaber blade powered with natural crystals, but also has an equally small chance of shorting out. Takes more strength to control in combat. Can be any color Lycien wants

While Lucien made his choices, Themis lifted off and began plotting a course for Corellia.

"I used to be one of them..." she admitted. "It started out as cosplay, basically...then it became the real thing. At least I was actually with them long enough to fully understand 'why' their way doesn't work, which is more than most heretics like me can say. But I tried. Wow, did I try..."

The shuttle leapt into hyperspace.

Hours later...

After the shuttle came out of hyperspace, Themis had spent a few moments getting changed into some old gear she had rediscovered.

It was a skintight, deep purple armor with long black gloves and boots, the strange enchantments on it could be felt through the Force. Themis concealed her face under the armored cowl and grabbed her spear. She genuinely felt like The Bright Lord of The Sith now, as opposed to a mere survivor. Her posture changed instantly, going from cautious but charismatic, hesitant, to utterly confidant.

"We'll walk to the Winery from here..." Themis explained, exiting the shuttle onto the sweapt grasslands of the country, where small cottages and farms dotted the landscape.

All except for the Winery.

It was a huge, bronze domed mansion surrounded by towers and acres of Grape Crops where there were seemingly no workers in the fields, not even droids.

The air itself seemed quite silent. Themis clutched her spear a bit tighter as she walked to it, deciding to advance Lucien's training at the same time.

"Stretch out your senses, Lucien...can you feel the life in the area? Try feeling for...restlessness. For Undeath. Undeath is like death but...moving...feel the thoughts and smatterings of the web as it interconnects to spot the anomaly..."

Themis finally reached the front gate and buzzed the intercom.

"We're expected..." she called out to it.

The large gates slowly opened and she began walking past the grapes...