Is that the place you spoke of...

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus bit her tongue. It was less what he said than how he said it – at least how Corvus heard it.

She wanted to reprimand the Sith for what he called Braith – but her previous warning was sufficient for Corvus to hold her thoughts.

“I want peace. I want a galaxy without evil. A galaxy without Sith would go a long way towards that – but the end does not always justify the means.”

Corvus hadn’t even covered the topic of what the Sith wanted when Braith took the words from her lips. And in truth she had little to add and was definitely not going to contradict anything that was said, so she remained quiet, awaiting the Sith’s response.

[member="Braith Achlys"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Perhaps I am not speaking in ways you understand. Too much clever wordplay, right?" Red eyes glanced in-between [member="Braith Achlys"] and [member="Corvus Raaf"] . To Ferus, a shield was never as good as a sword for offence, but the shield could still be used as a weapon. It's edge was still enough to shatter bones.

"I need the Jedi to distract the upper echelon of the Dark Lord while I kill his Eye. I am not asking you to kill the Dark Lord, or anyone. Leave that to me. Once the Eye lays dead, I will have a true claim. A claim that can split the One Sith in two, a war where the chains that hold us back will be broken. I do not need the Jedi for this, but I would prefer it. Less people I would have to worry about owing. Help me spark this war, and you will have your peace while I break the chains of the Sith. Otherwise, I will have to kill you now, and the One Sith will destroy you Jedi and the Republic before you get the chance to find your feet. I implore you to take the first. I do not want to have to kill both of you."

Oddly enough he sounded hesitant with his threats. Fear? No. He wasn't afraid of fighting the two. Their death wouldn't even pit a dent in his plan. Ferus, simply put, didn't want to waste the effort when a better option was clear. Please Jedi, don't be stupid was the only thought that went through his head now.

 

[Hailyn]

Her thoughts on the matter were rather settled at the moment - she wasn't going to let this sycophant bully Corvus into a decision that would end her life unless it was her own choice to make that decision, and even then she would go down fighting with her. The Sith had a funny, backwards, way of going about their treacherous plots - they always wanted to claim responsibility near the end, always wanted to be the face of their grand schemes, to have pride knowing that they capsized the ship that was their order. If he came to them - to Corvus, really - he must have been woefully unaware of the Alliance that grew to the direct south of the One Sith's growing empire. It wasn't a rag-tag group, and indeed she actually found that there were one or two equals in terms of their knowledge of the force, something she just simply couldn't say about the brute in front of her that had resorted to playing with the stitches of his own body in order to even gain an edge on her prior.

"Answer a question for me, would you?" She asked, though it was more or less a statement really. A sigh escaped her lips and she tilted her head, brow at first furrowed but then arched in such a way that it portrayed interest. "Has the One Sith grown so fat on their own victory that they haven't noticed the swelling beneath their bellies? Or are you so desperate and afraid that you ignored the growing Alliance to seek out a lone woman that was here to lay flowers for the woman that had been once the voice of your so-called 'Dark Lord' - unless you would like to offer that title to me, considering many of her decisions were either influenced or outright made by the woman you are now standing in front of." Braith continued, her tone not quite venomous but certainly unwelcoming. "When I dealt with you prior, when I so 'bored' you that you fled, did it ever occur to you that a woman who hadn't slept in ten thousand years might have been too weary to demonstrate any true might in single combat that was most certainly not in my favor - did it occur to you that seeking aid from a shield when you should be seeking aid from a sword or a spear was unwise, that attempting to break that shield in might incur the wrath of something greater than your petty 'Dark Lord'?" She said, her voice growing increasingly softer, lower. A whisper even.

Even a blind man could have smelled the ozone burning as pale sparks played at the tips of her fingers, which hung limply at her side. Perhaps she was unarmed, as far as a physical weapon was concerned, and perhaps she wasn't wearing armor, but to not see - to not feel - the rippling sense of unease that rolled off of her like an aura unrestrained meant sheer inexperience. He needn't fear her, he needn't even take it as a threat - but to not take any such passive-aggressive threats serious was foolish in and of itself. "In time there will be an army, a fleet, and an armada knocking at the doors of the Dark Lord. Make sure you are there for them to be open and we will rip out the heart of the One Sith." She went to say more but paused, looking towards the sky without tilting her head back. "Corvus will not be involved unless she wants to be. The Galactic Alliance will be a spear to plunge into the heart of the Sith, whether you remain with them or not. But I will not play along to your little tune so you may exact a personal vendetta. The 'Eye' is nobody of importance anymore, whether she believes it or not. As far as the Dark Lord is concerned, she is simply a vessel for him to make use of - a tool. But cast him down from the outside, unlike the traitor of an apprentice he had before, and do so in such a way that he renounces the lies that he has told her, and she will be his vessel no longer. Then you can kill her or whatever it is you plan to do." Braith explained.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] [member="Darth Ferus"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

A spear? There is a spear on its way to strikes the heart of the Sith? Red eyes blinked at [member="Braith Achlys"] for a moment, but he was no lomgef listening to her. As she rambled on, possibly to either insult or intimidate, he processed the information. And at the conclusion of his thinking, all he heard from the Witch was how unimportant that the Shield lived. In fact, [member="Corvus Raaf"] was worth more dead then alive now.

So he smiles. A genuine smile, not intimidating, not sadistic. A clean, happy smile. Both hands came up then, and the Force reacted around him. Corvus's lightsaber was one target. He went to giro the blade and pull it forward. Ferus was going to activate it and use the blade to strike the witch in the back.

The other task was one he was clearly more focused on. A shimmering of black formed infront of him, before solidifying as a barrier. The time for words was over.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

She listened to talk of the Galactic Alliance. She was no politician and knew little of the Government other than they'd allied to a group of Force Users that had called themselves the New Jedi Order. But given their first contact with The Jedi Order was to steal their Holocrons, Corvus was skeptical the band of thieves were even close to being Jedi. A dog may live in a stable, but it doesn't make it a horse. So she kept her own counsel for now. And so did Darth Ferus it seems, as he'd clearly grown weary of words.

Corvus was known as the Shield for a number of reasons. Some were metaphorical - but one was quite literal. She was in many ways the epitome of a Jedi. This included her choice of Soresu - the ultimate defensive Form.

And she trusted in the Force. She did not use it, or rely on it, or command it. She trusted it. Implicitly. She had done since she'd arrived Ossus and was schooled by a certain Jedi Master. It had kept her alive and made her the person she was today.

She was also a Master of Center of Being - as well as an accomplished Teräs Käsi user. So between the Force and her martial art, she was able to predict attacks effortlessly. It meant no wasted effort or energy or conscious thought predicting or anticipating strikes. The Force told her - and it guided her.

So as her saber moved, she simply felt her hand move. The hilt snapped into her palm. Not that the blade would do the Sith any good. The crystal was a relatively special Solari. The blade would only work if someone purely Light-sided attempted to activate it. Even she had been unable to use it on a couple of occasions for this very reason.

But she chose not to flick the activation switch. At this point the Force had not indicated a need to act. And she trusted it. Implicitly. She was tempted to simply hide Braith and herself in White Current - but decided to resist...for now. So she looked at the barrier that was forming between them and wondered what the Sith had in mind. As she did her other hand rested on the pommel of her katana. The Force was nudging her. Dawnbringer may yet come into play.

[member="Braith Achlys"] | [member="Darth Ferus"]

 

[Hailyn]

If Braith had been a betting woman she would have placed her credit chips down on the reason for the sudden barrier erection being a thwarted strike from behind - which she assumed likely was stopped by Corvus, seeing as how she made no sign that she had been wounded in any capacity. Ironically it must have been that he arrived at the idea that she had been talking about someone else in regards to a metaphorical spear, when in reality she was talking specifically about herself, figuring the imagery of one of her choice weapons would have made that clear. Regardless, it seemed she was soon to be on the defensive - or maybe offensive judging by the barrier formed between them - and she stepped back cautiously while raising her hands in the same sort of way one would if they expected to utilize the force to generate lightning, not that she had any immediate plans to do so.

"Bad choice."

Rather than choose to utilize force lightning, which would have been wasted on the barrier, Braith opted instead to manipulate the ambient force energy present in nature to alter the environment - in this case created a small, miniature, quake on the ground below where Ferus stood. The shaking itself would be a dead giveaway of what she was doing, but regardless of blatant signs of an earthquake a fissure would quickly begin to open up below the man - maybe to swallow him up if it were to reach a width and depth large enough to do so, but more than likely to make the Sith Lord move away from his current position. She wasn't content with simply making the earth below the man break apart, of course, and with the drop of her hands the ground far below would experience a weathering of its foundation by way of the aquifer beneath, creating a sinkhole of sorts on a much larger scale, one which would soon open up and would certainly provide the sort of depth required to swallow a human whole.

[member="Darth Ferus"] [member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

So simple. So elegant.

Trusting in the Force lead to so many outcomes. The Force, living on its own terms, chose its own path. To trust it was to literally put your life in its hands. Itmwas selfless, the sign of a true Jedi. Too bad.

As [member="Corvus Raaf"] wrapped her delicate hand around the hilt the result of what Ferus had done to it was clear. All that time staring at it, all that time messing with the Force. It was to turn the blade into a bomb.

One that needed heat. He wanted to turn the blade on and watch it blow the lovers to the stars above, but alas, Jedi and their crystals. At least he still had his grip.

The Force was a living being. It had its own energy. And after decades, Ferus had learned how to harness that energy in a way The Force itself could not say no. The Lightsaber in the Jedi's hand would burst into flame. A black fire, one that made the Force scream in pain, a scream that one so attuned to the Force as the Shield of the Jedi could surely hear.

Even as [member="Braith Achlys"] began to rip the ground below him it would be too late. The heat activated bomb would go off, acting like an unstable thermal detonator. Breaking the earth took focus, too much for Ferus to use it himself. He had once before, on his old master Vulcanus. But this. As earth gave way to nothing he couldn't help but admire the Witch's skill.

All for naught however. With the exploding lightsaber in action, the original reason he had put on the barrier, and no stable footing, he dropped it. And moved.

Yet he did not take a step. Did not blink an eye. One moment he was there, falling to his death, the next he was behind the couple. Far enough to be away from the blast, but there. A frown riddled his features as he came into focus. Teleportation was not a careless act, and he had planned to save it for a surprise.

Ah well he supposed as his red eyes stared unblinking at the result of his bomb.

It may not be cool to watch explosions, but he needed to see the result.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

So simple.

The thought process of Siths that is. Or at least this one.

Perhaps he thought he could use the Force in front of the Grand Master and she wouldn’t notice. Or that the necklace she wore that protected her without any conscious effort would not have reacted to him using the Force to in some way manipulate her saber.

So regardless of what he may have thought he had done – the truth was that nothing had happened. No cheap shot. No blatant disregard of physics.

In short…nothing.

The lightsaber did not burst into flames. It had not been turned into a heat activated bomb. It was not an unstable thermal detonator. Her necklace had seen to that.

It was instead, her saber. In her hand and not activated. So she observed his antics. His disappearance and reappearance behind them, which she was made aware of by the Force. Center of Being was handy that way.

She shook her head softly. “Clearly the conversation is over. Your…antics, whereas entirely humorous were not, I suspect intended to be so.”

“Leave now…or we shall. I don’t care which. Unless Braith has some plans for you that is.”

And Corvus simply waited. She could only take so much poodoo before her patience wore out. And it had well and truly expired now. She didn’t want to fight him. She pitied him. Especially if he thought he could overthrow the One Sith hierarchy. On this showing he’d struggle to fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

“And give up your hopes of a One Sith Civil War. On this showing? You have two chances. None and zero.”

[member="Darth Ferus"] | [member="Braith Achlys"]