Private Law & Evasion

[Ran Serys]

The sound of boots hitting the ground echoed throughout the neon tinted and shadow soaked alley. A corporate military crew ran in adjacent patterns on the mid-levels of Denon. They were looking for someone.

"Sector V2-19 secure. No sign of the fugitive. Dorn Squad heading back to Checkpoint 918. Shut the Sector down. Prepare to bottleneck traffic in and out of the sector. He might turn up yet."

Whoever they were looking for, it wasn't Ran. She breathed a sigh of relief. As the thud of combat boots on steel disappeared, she let herself loose from the shadow of a broken down air purifier. "I will have to make it through that checkpoint if I am to make it to the ship tonight," She continued to herself. "I wanted to keep a low profile but this may make that impossible." She walked through the alleys following the trail the CorpSec commandos left behind. "I would settle for making it through without handcuffs."

She opened her datapad as she kept on course. The screen displayed a wanted poster. On it was Ran's face. Her name was listed as Unknown. The reward was modest and assigned for the theft of a Galactic Alliance starfighter, the one she was still in possession of. She needed to get through the security checkpoint, get back to the dilapidated starport she docked at and rid herself of the evidence.

She made it to the security checkpoint with ease. The lines to get out of the sector were long but fast moving. Identicards were being scanned. Being a mutant experiment, Ran held no such thing. The only public record of her was the Galactic Alliance wanted poster. She stood aside letting others pass while she thought of a plan.

_______________________

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Perched upon a nearby roof, clad in a black leather jacket and nowadays a domino mask concealing his identity, Dagon Kaze watched the sentient traffic shuffle towards one of the many checkpoints. After the Darkwire-driven protest earlier here in Sakedo Tower - Denon's prime commercial ward - CorpSec had doubled security. Checkpoints across almost every junction of the ward and at some alleys there were more law enforcement and corpo muscle than commuters.

"Can't believe I'm saying it but... it's a boring night, isn't it?"

"Is that not what you fight for, Sir?" Arthur, his faithful A.I companion, responded through his earpiece.

"...well... yeah. But it's odd."

"Perhaps you've become too used to your rounds at the Suicide Slums or Lum Rouge. Sakedo Tower tends to be--"

"Deceiving as hell. It's the most crime-ridden ward of the district, Arthur. You won't find that on any statistic. All the crime's done up there, top of the skyscrapers and it's all legal. The illegal part just trickles down to the Slums, the Rouge, the Rowe." he interjected, then sighed.

"I would suggest delegating more of your patrols to the rest of Knightwatch, Sir. Certainly, Master Kyric and Miss Gaelor would welcome more on-the-field training."

"And leave me more time unraveling the big cases up in the high rises? Yeah, I've been-- I've been thinking about it."

A blip materialized on the otherwise transparent HUD of his mask. The dot situated over one of the individuals lining up on the queue through the corpo's checkpoint. It blinked for a few moments before a hologram of a wanted poster materialized.

"Theft of an Alliance starfighter, huh? Man, they really need to up their military security. No name, just a face. Pretty one at that. It's always a pretty one, isn't it, Arthur?"

"Unfortunately, Sir, my programming has only a single response to analyzing the attractiveness of a sentient - beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"Geez, never say that in public to someone." Dag shook his head, then narrowed his eyes at the starfighter thief down in the crowd, "Her ID's gonna ping the security... I wanna see what happens. If something bigger pops in the meantime, I'd rather not be chasing a thief instead."

Little did he know that the Mirialan was anything but a common, run-of-the-mill poacher.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

Plans were not Ran's strong suit. She always knew the outcome she wanted, but it was the getting there that was the challenge. She needed time to figure this one out. The time she needed would not be found idling near the checkpoint queue under corpo-militant scrutiny, so she turned away from the checkpoint and made tracks back towards the alley she came from. She needed somewhere quiet to think.

"Hey! Security Checkpoints that way," One of the CorpSec officers informed before Ran could get off of the busy street. His voice was electronic, amplified by the mic in his helmet. He was close. Close enough to kick. Ran held herself back. "Low Profile." She whispered to herself as she stopped.

"Unless you've got something to hide." The officer accused as he attempted to steer Ran the rest of the way into the alley. He was dirty. He waited patiently for just the right mark, and she was that mark, or so he thought. The blaster now fixed in the small of Ran's back confirmed this. As the pair reached the alley she felt the corpo grab her arm, the one nearest the blaster pistol affixed to her thigh. He pushed and pinned her against the wall. She let him. His grip would be easy to escape but she wanted to let him think he had the upper hand just for a little while longer.

"Identicard. Slowly." He ordered. It wasn't his first time giving that order, although it could have been his last. "I do not have one." Ran told the truth. She was not a practiced liar, and anything less than the truth might be obvious.

"Good. I was hoping you'd say that," He tightened his grip on her arm and pushed her a little more into the wall. An attempt at intimidation. A failed one. "Now we can make a deal. Credits. There's a price for your freedom and another to get through the checkpoint. What do 'ya say? Deal?" He proposed. He thought he knew the answer. He didn't.

"No deal." She whispered.

"No deal?" He questioned.

"No deal." She confirmed.

He looked down at his blaster. Raised it up and readied it to bash her in the back of the head.

_______________________

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

At first, he was curious, but now he was interested.

The vigilante's eyes trailed the CorpSec goon heading after the thief and an eyebrow was raised when she didn't burst into a frightened sprint away.

"Keeps her cool, huh?"

She stopped and the guard caught up to her, the barrel of his gun pushing against the small of her back. No shove came back in retaliation, no form of resistance or whatsoever.

"...she's drawing him in..."

The armed thug's callous hand reached for her thigh and the Jedi cringed in response. Dirty. Feet itched to make the jump but he held back. He wanted to see it unfold.

As usual, the corpo guard was open for bribes. Whether through financial or other means.

She didn't bulge. Not one bit.

Dagon saw the shift in his body language, he was moving to strike. As curious as he was to see through the finale, it was time for a premature drop of the curtains in the shape of a raven-haired vigilante. The Force amplified the strength in his legs and softened his landing as the dropkick sent the man crumbling on the ground.

He wasn't getting back up for a while but the periodic check coming through his comms meant they were a minute away from a whole security unit from the checkpoint rushing into the alley to investigate the guard's lack of response.

Time, as always, was not in his corner.

"...who are you?" he asked, standing back up from his crouched, feline landing. The white orbs of his domino mask may have concealed his identity but his tone clearly indicated that the earlier curiosity had morphed into an urgent interest.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

It was time. Time to let the security officer know who was actually in charge…

WHAM!

Or not.

Ran's brow raised in confusion as the corporate guard hit the alley floor and the man who missile drop-kicked him raised himself up from it. He looked strong, confident, pretty, very pretty, and also like he was in a hurry. She locked eyes with the mask more than the man. His question gave her pause.

"I do not know who I am," It hurt her to say that. After all, it was the truth. "But I do know I am getting out of here before more like him show up." She gestured toward the corrupt CorpSec officer. "As his assailant I would suggest you do the same. Thank you for the help." She said before sprinting down the alley. She stopped before turning the corner from one alley to the next and took what she thought would be one last look at the vigilante.

No one has ever saved me before. I will never forget you. Ran smiled. It was one of the first smiles of her life. It elicited a powerful reaction within her ending with her thoughts being unintentionally broadcast through the force. A power she did not know she held, but a power that began to manifest itself in her newfound era of freedom.

_______________________

Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"I do not know who I am,"

Her confusion spilled over to him. Not the answer he expected. The Jedi sized her up as if that would give him an answer but only found more questions. Lady X was an inch taller than him, Mirialan if he had to guess and far more than your run-of-the-mill vehicle booster. Matter of fact, she looked anything like that. Her black hair ran down her beneath her well-shaped shoulders, and her athletic physique drew curves across her frame that only rigorous and consistent training was capable of molding.

No. Nothing at all like the sleazy-haired and body disproportionate shape that speeder or starfighter thieves were known for.

Hell, she didn't even have a death stick stuck on her lips.

The faint ache in her tone reverberated through the Force like a whisper. She wasn't lying about not knowing who she was.

"But I do know I am getting out of here before more like him show up." She gestured toward the corrupt CorpSec officer. "As his assailant I would suggest you do the same. Thank you for the help."

His eyes follower her gesture at the CorpSec officer lying on the floor. The sound of his supervisor grew more and more impatient with each passing moment without a response back. Lady X was right, any minute now and the corpo muscle would be swarming this area and she was off. He remained silent, eyes lingering over the sprinting back of the Mirialan, wondering whether to sate his curiosity going after her or not.

No one has ever saved me before. I will never forget you.

Huh?

He blinked in surprise at the foreign message through the Force. It didn't take a master to pinpoint from where it came.

"Hey--"

BUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDA!!

Lesson number one on Denon - Corpos always shoot first, ask later. Without the aid of the ethereal pinging his sixth sense a moment before, Dagon Kaze would've been nothing more than dog meat - Denon's finest local produce. His instincts moved quicker than his mind, lunging himself after Lady X - the earlier dilemma solved by the hail of bullets. He dashed, bounced, and jumped left, right, up, down - any direction to keep the bolts from finding their intended target. Almost like a dancer flaunting his moves. Corpos were trained, they worked in patterns - like a rhythm - and their aim was true but predictable. Gang goons sprayed and prayed, erratic in behavior, most of their shots missing their targets but the longer they were allowed to fire, the bigger the chance they'd find their mark.

First alley left, lose them in the construction site, his thoughts echoed through the Force directly to the mysterious thief. He would follow her even if she didn't heed his suggestion but if she did - they would find themselves in the site of a large megalomaniac project for a new shopping mall. It was to be the prime shopping spot in Sakedo Tower but a few roughened up suits and a barrage of blackmails halted that project. Someone didn't like competition in the free market. News cited it as an investor's decision on a temporary freeze due to a predicted economic downturn.

Lesson number two on Denon - never get your news from the news.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

The second she heard bullets and bolts fly, she pivoted and sidestepped. With her back against the wall, she peeked around the corner from which she came. Her right hand reached down her thigh and unclipped the blaster from its holster. She was ready to back up the masked man. 'He does not need back up.' She thought as she watched him avoid blaster fire. He was a hurricane of acrobatics and in her eyes he was seemingly unfazed and unhindered by the blaster fire aimed at his back.

His instruction echoed loud and clear, as a familiar pulse of pain touched her mind underneath it. A lingering side effect of the last twenty-nine years she spent mentally subjugated by sith sorcery. It threw her focus off, but not enough to keep her from following the vigilante's orders. She made the left into the construction site.

It was a gargantuan maze of unfinished steel framing, narrow walkways, and shadows. It reached both high into the sky and well below the surface of Denon. Great terrain for an acrobat. For an equipment-clad Corpo firing squad, not so much. It was an easy place to get lost and might have been Ran's best route out of the sector.

Before airing over a gap on a walkway, and swinging from the framing into the shadows of the level below she looked over her shoulder to make sure the masked telepath was with her, and that the CorpSec officers were far behind.

She'd come to a safe and shadowy corner of the unfinished installation and once it seemed they were clear of CorpSec she would whisper the masked man a question. "I have met many beings capable of speaking through their minds. Two kinds, more than all others. Are you Jedi, Sith, or something else?"

The answer she hoped for was something else. She hated the Sith for what they did to her. Meeting a Jedi would just fill her with guilt.

_______________________
Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Nightshrike groaned when two bolts scorched his back just as he lunged left towards the construction site. The sound of boots stomping the ground in a hurry fizzled out and the adrenaline surging through his veins declined the more distance he covered from his now reluctant pursuers. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils, echoing the years old warnings of his mentor that his recklessness never heeded - you're mortal, Dagon. Warnings ironically recalled as he made his way on a thin steel railing following Lady X's trail.

She waited for him a few levels beneath and he flung down, bouncing off half-finished walls before dropping beside her. A thousand questions were on the tip of his tongue but she shot hers first.

"I have met many beings capable of speaking through their minds. Two kinds, more than all others. Are you Jedi, Sith, or something else?"

A question he found himself contemplating the answer. Or rather the divulgence of truth. Dagon Kaze was a Jedi, that was all he was; a Knight of the New Jedi Order. But Nightshtrike? He had to be something else. Emulating the Jedi's ideals through his actions but foregoing the title so his actions wouldn't be seen unreachable for those he sought to protect or smeared by preconceptions. A lot of the folks on the streets could hardly tell the difference between one or the other, he'd often found.

Because Dagon Kaze was indeed mortal and someday he would die but Nightshrike... with no face and no name, he became an idea.

An idea that could be passed down the generations.

"Not a Sith." the answer came by instinct, a repulsive undertone in his voice. Calling himself a Jedi, at least now, to a person he did not know at all could bear severe consequences over his efforts to remain incognito. But Dagon also didn't have it in him to outright deny being a Jedi. Being all that he was. "You can call me Nightshrike--" he mulled it over, "--or Night, I guess." rolled off the tongue easier, right?

Rolling up a bit further the sleeves of his leather jacket, he spoke, "Not much merit in asking you who you are again is it, lady?"

"But maybe we can figure that out together by telling me why and how did you end up on Denon." he proposed.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

"Okay, Night. If it is a name you are asking for, I call myself Ran. You may also call me that." She whispered as she continued in the direction of her ship. "But who I am is a different story, and it is one I am not entirely sure of. That and a few more reasons are why I am on Denon." She spoke softly as she reclipped the blaster to the holster on her thigh. It didn't seem like the CorpSec officers would pursue into the dangerous and half finished build site. Their priority was the security checkpoints.

Ran came to a stop and locked eyes with Nightshrike. She could smell his seared flesh. Her tone was serious as she spoke. "Before I tell you how I got here and before we tend to your wounds, I have two requests. One, I do not like voices in my mind. Refrain from doing that and I will keep civil. Two, answer this question. If you are not Sith, who taught you to speak through your mind?" His disgust toward the sith was noted. Ran also held no love for their fractured empire. However, his omission of the word Jedi did not go unnoticed. Her preternatural instincts and awareness went further than just combat.

Footsteps could be heard traversing steel a few levels above. They didn't sound rushed. They were more deliberate. Like someone was searching, scanning, or patrolling.

"Let us keep moving. I will show you how I got here."

_______________________
Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Far too often he had been used to be the one asking the questions that it took him a few blinks of the eyes to acknowledge the reality of the situation. She wasn't hanging upside down over the roof of a building with his hand holding her ankle. The usual 'intel gathering' procedure.

Ran wasn't overtly hostile, nothing in her posture indicated a vile web being weaved around him either. Then again, even if he hated to admit it, Dagon had a weak blind spot when it concerned an attractive woman as the counterpart. Amelia Ardal, the seductive lady of Necropolish that turned out to be a bloodthirsty Sangnir; Ishani Sibwarra, the charming goldilocks who was in reality (then) a Sith; Sable, the Zeltron druglord on Denon; the cliche list went on and on. He would've laughed if most of these experiences with femme fatales had not been a moment away from an early grave.

There was only one way to find out if history was bound to repeat itself with Ran.

Follow her.

And, well, answer her question, "A Jedi... and sure, you've got yourself a deal." the answer was short, there was no need to go into details. The enigma surrounding him was a shield he wouldn't eagerly put down on the ground. It was his first time answering questions regarding his persona to someone who didn't know who he was beneath the domino mask. Every other account had been with criminals on the run from him.

"Forget the wounds, Ran. I'll live." he remarked as they silently traversed through the maze of the construction site. His attention centered on her back, analyzing each movement trying to pierce find more and more pieces of the puzzle that she was. Her composed nature in dealing with the corpo muscle indicated someone well confident in their abilities, someone well trained to bait a threat and deal with it. He could tell the athletic physique shaping her form was not merely a pleasant sight for the unsuspecting eyes but carved with a particular goal. She moved efficiently from ledges to walkways, not unlike him.

He could tell jacking a starfighter from the Alliance was the least Ran could do.

"Same question - who taught you how to use the Force?"

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

A Jedi. A tough one too by the looks of it. Shrugging off a few blaster bolts to the back was no easy feat. Although, it was one Ran had seen done before. In the wars between the Alliance and the Sith Empire, Ran had met Jedi on the battlefield with no choice but to fight against them. A few shallow scars, wounds that had been made and cauterized in an instant by the end of a lightsaber, crossed the covered parts of her body. She returned the favor in the form of blaster and rifle bolts. She was happy she wouldn't have to do that again.

As they walked she could feel Night's eyes on her. He was likely analyzing her and assessing the current situation. It is what she would have done if the roles were reversed. The only question left, what was his interest in her?

"The Force?" She echoed his words back at him with an air of incredulity and a look of confusion.

And there was the answer.

"I do not use the Force. I am not a Jedi, Sith, or some Mystic. Why would you ask me this?" She stopped making tracks and looked into the eyes of his mask. She couldn't see his pupils but her heart raced. The mention of the force elicited a powerful reaction within her. She felt a connection in the conversation, one that went past sharing words and presence. She shuddered, as she felt the touch of the force. She tried to turn away from it in fear. Fear of the unknown and a fear of the familiar. No. She thought to more than just herself.

_______________________
Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

He really was in for a night of surprises.

Like a moment before, the Jedi couldn't sense any deceit slithering in her tone. But there was something different now. He couldn't exactly pinpoint it but beneath the confusion drawing lines on her face, there was something else. Something gut-wrenching.

Fear. Both her body and presence within the empyrean stirred like one does when shaking off a nightmare.

"You do, Ran." he said somewhat gravely as if being the harbinger of bad news. Perhaps influenced by her own locked-up fear.

The vigilante took a faint step closer to her, shoulders relaxed and wide open in a trusting gesture. Her well-concealed distressed rippled silent waves through the ethereal and it drew him to her bound by his Jedi oath to protect.

He pointed a thumb back, "My voice in your head and you thanking me back at the alley? The Force."

Ran Serys ​

 

[Ran Serys]

"No. No. No." She denied vehemently at the mention of the force and began to spiral. Her life flashed before her eyes. She experienced every cruel and strange experiment of the sith. Feeling the years of sorcery and science probing her mind and body. The dull pain of experimentation mixed with the loss of self brought on by the crushing weight of the dark side of the force. It was something she never wanted to feel again, yet here it was, an inescapable reminder.

The flood of memories ceased. Her eyes crossed in the fury she felt. Her head pulsed with pain. Her stomach turned and then she dropped in front of Nightshrike. Fainted because of the straw that broke the camel's back. Exhaustion had finally caught up with her.

She had been through much in a small amount of time. First the injury that gave her freedom. Then with fresh wounds and the aches and pains that mind-control had dulled, she fled sith space. She dodged both the Sith Empire and the Galactic Alliance until the Sith Empire was "defeated." Her hunt for information was hard. Staying ahead of the authorities and making progress in her new life was harder. She'd quickly learned the phrase "The tough get going," but what happened when there was nothing left in the tank? This. Unconscious in the shadowy end of a Denon gutter with so much to do.

Her eyes blinked themselves open, but they struggled to stay that way. In her dazed state she grabbed at her pockets revealing a starport docking ticket - Port C-7, Sector V2-18. "Force be damned. I am getting to that ship." Her eyes crossed again and then closed. Like a peaceful and sleeping child, her body went limp.

_______________________
Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"Whoa." his eyes widened beneath the mask as Ran collapsed before him. Instinctively, the vigilante slid to ease her sudden fall while trying to figure out what the hell was going on with her. One moment she was standing straight and fine and the next she crumbled face down. Her presence in the Force radiated fear at the mention of the Force. The fear had turned into physical pain knocking her out cold. Two digits softly touched the side of her neck, finding her pulse racing like a whirlwind as damp sweat broke down her brow.

"Arthur-- a little help here..?"

Dagon's wristpad lit up with a holoprojection visualizing various different medical infographics, courtesy of Arthur.

"Of course, Sir. The miss' brain seems to have lit up like a Lifeday tree. Or in layman's terms - she is undergoing a psychological shock, Master Kaze."

"So something must've triggered it."

"Correct, Sir."

"I need to get her to--" his words trailed off when Ran shuffled in his arms.

"Force be damned. I am getting to that ship."

"Ran--" her body went limp again, leaving Dagon with a docking ticket and an unconscious enigma not one inch closer to unraveling. "--oh, man..."

"...remind me to never complaina about a boring night again, Arthur."

---

Some time later...

Ran would wake up on a sleeper sofa in a spartan room with nothing but bare walls, a holoterminal, a coffee table and a large drawer. The neon lights of the planet-wide city flashed through the window's blinders throwing ever changing shades on the walls. Sat atop the coffee table besides the sofa where the mysterious Mirialan lied, Nightshrike scrolled through various intel feeds on his wristpad. He'd been looking for more clues to the curious case of Ran but to no avail.

All the clues were locked up within the knocked out lady on the couch.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran groaned as she struggled to open her eyes. Her lids felt heavy, but not as heavy as before. Her vision was blurry, but sharpening with every second she used to take in her surroundings. She was tired, but more refreshed than she'd been in a long time. It was difficult to lift her body from the sofa, because while it wasn't very comfortable, it was the first time she had a chance to put her feet up in a while.

A few more moments of rest. She thought to herself, shifting to a seated position instead of standing. She was in no danger here, or at least that was how she felt in the bare bones room. To her side was Nightshrike, from atop a coffee table beside her, he had been watching over her while manipulating his tech.

"Thank you for helping me. I do not fully remember what happened but I do remember going down." She said, looking at the man. From where she sat she could see on the table beside Nightshrike was her docking ticket, and her blaster pistol, but more importantly her datapad. It was on and open flashing her wanted posters both the one for the New Imperial Order, and the other for the Galactic Alliance. She was inclined to reach for her blaster but in the short time that she'd known him, Nightshrike had given her no reason to. Instead she floated him a question. "So you know I am a wanted woman. What now?" She pointed at the datapad.

_______________________
Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"So you know I am a wanted woman. What now?"

The vigilante took his eyes off the datapad and stared back at the levied question. His lips remained sealed for one long moment before he replied, "If I wanted to bust you - you would be waking up in a cell." a cocky smirk pulled his lips before he reclined on the coffee table to reach the bottle of water atop the drawer. Grabbing it, he pulled himself back to face his Mirialan 'guest'. He plucked inside his leather jacket and produced a glossy sachet before offering both to Ran, "This will shake you up."

Setting the datapad aside then, Night put his hands on the underside of the table before saying, "You fainted when we talked about..." he bit his lips, wondering if bringing the topic back up would send her into shock once more, "... the Force."

"...if there are memories locked up that you want to reach -- I can help with that." he subtly offered.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran accepted the man's hospitality. She sipped the water after dumping the contents of the sachet inside. Was that what she was supposed to do with it? She didn't know, but it seemed like a good guess. There were a lot of things she didn't know, and few things she knew too well. It was a good problem to have. It made life unexplainably interesting, at least when she had a chance to appreciate it.

"There are no memories I have not already accessed, but there are ones I would like to revisit," She replied, and then she tensed. "But that would not be healthy. I have been down this road before, here on Denon, just before we met. I learned all I needed to from my memories then. You telling me I can… use the force. It- it makes sense of it all." She paused. "I feel you are right. I cannot question it. I wish I could but I cannot. I do not like this feeling. How do you deal with this? Or is it just me?" She took a sip from the bottle. Her emotions began to unravel in their own way. The more they fired off the more intense her feelings and connection to the force felt. It was overwhelming, and hard to deal with considering she didn't understand it. "I have spent so much time suppressed and turned off. Now that I'm free, I- I feel like an arrow that's been drawn back and let fly. I am free but I do not feel in control of my trajectory." She buried her face in her hands. Her vision blurred again. She almost forgot she was talking to Nightshrike, but now she could feel the force between them. Her side, wild. His, more in control by a long shot. She looked up at him. Not sure what to expect.

_______________________
Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

He listened intently to what Ran was saying, the overwhelming confusion rippling through the Force like tidal waves crashed into his psyche. Dagon had witnessed a number of times the revelation of Force sensitivity in people but never experienced it himself. The son of a prominent (now dead) Sith Lord, he and his twin brother Aeric had mischievously used the Force as soon as they had been able to walk. Its powers, for good or for bad, he'd always taken them as a given.

He'd never walked across that 'valley' of uncertainty himself but it was his duty as a Jedi to lead Ran through it.

Not as Nightshrike.

It was a blind trust, a blind hope that this wouldn't come back to bite him in the end but --

A hand softly fell on her shoulder, while the other -- with a hint of reluctance -- removed the domino mask for blue eyes to meet her despondent stare.

"My name's Dagon Kaze. A Knight of the New Jedi Order." he revealed his true identity, a leap of faith into the goodwill of a complete stranger, "I'll lie if I told you I know how it feels to learn what it is to have the gift of the Force but I do know what it is to feel lost -- and I can help you make sense of it." or rather I must, he thought. To submerge wildly with no restraint into the ethereal was an almost certain pathway to the Dark Side.

"It's a blessing that so easily can become a curse." he added, a solemn tone of warning hinting in his voice. "Take a deep breath, Ran. Collect yourself and talk to me. I need to know more about you... you have my help only if you want it." he could only hope she would trust him as he did her.

Ran Serys

 

[Ran Serys]

Dagon Kaze. A man not only trained by Jedi, but a Jedi Knight himself, and a compassionate one at that. Ran listened to the warning in his words. When she tried to calm herself as instructed, she could feel the truth. She committed the moment to her memory. A deep breath was drawn in and a long exhale followed. Her vision focused enough for her to meet the blue eyed gaze of the heroic Jedi Knight. "I will tell you everything, if only to lighten the weight I feel in my chest." She said, reaching for the datapad.

She tapped and slid her hand along the screen. It opened up to a data set with files as old as Ran. There were videos of scientific experimentation and sorcerous rituals, documentation of lab analyses and medical reports all based on a one, Subject 19. Subject 19 now known as Ran.

"I am- I was a Sith experiment. I was abducted as a baby, and raised to be a perfect soldier. I was made to be completely obedient by Sith Sorcery and Science," A video played on the datapad. On screen was a young Ran laid out across an altar. The Sith Lord Jagos stood on one end with his hands around her head. He chanted and meditated and channeled the dark side of the force as Ran convulsed. Her head and heart were in pain. She remembered the feeling all too well.

"The sorcery took my mind. Science changed my body," She continued as another video played. A young Ran sat in the center of a lab being prodded by needles. Mutagens being injected into her bloodstream, and then tests of strength and agility to determine if the injections had done their job. Her muscles bulged, ripped, teared, and mended on the spot. More pain remembered.

"This went on for twenty-nine years. All the while they made me a murderer. I fought their battles. I killed their enemies, I did whatever they wished because I did not have a wish of my own," A stream of photos ran across the stream, all of long gone individuals. Government Dignitaries, World Leaders, Soldier, Sith, and even Jedi.

A tear went down her face as she looked up from the datapad and at Dagon. "I am sorry." She said. She didn't need to apologize, but she felt the need to. She regretted her actions, even if they were beyond her control. While the tears welled in her eyes she kept calm.

"At my last battle under Jagos' control. I was hit by a concussion grenade. It was meant for him, but he used me as a shield," She wiped her cheek with the back of her sleeve. "I was sent flying. I hit my head in the rubble. Then I was free. The rest of the battle is foggy, but I remember I killed Jagos. I stole a starship, a republic starship, and I ran… for months. And now I am here trying to figure out who I am. That, and when you found me I was on my way to sell the starship. I did not want to have the evidence when my bounty caught up with me." Again the datapad displayed her wanted posters, one for the former Sith Empire regarding War Crimes, the other for the Galactic Alliance for a stolen military space vessel.

Ran took another sip from the water bottle and looked down at the ground. She felt… She didn't know how she felt.

_______________________
Dagon Kaze​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Subject 19.

A victim of the vile machinations of the Dark Side and its servants the Sith. A being -- a baby at that -- snatched from the loving arms of her mother and forced through all the nightmares a Sith can conjure only to turn it into a tool sowing death, destruction and despair. Robbed of her own will and bound to the foul wishes of a monster.

Each video creased his brow further into a fathomless crevice and sparks of anger flashed across the Jedi's eyes as they recalled his own experiences against the horror and savagery of the Sith and their cronies. Fists curled into hammers of steel, trepidation across his digits looked for output of his built-up righteous wrath. Her regretful stare escaped him, invisible to the tunnel vision his turbulent emotions had erected.

Only when she offered her regrets verbally did he finally regain a certain degree of his emotions under control. Her sorrow crashed at his conciouss through the Force like a tidal wave, washing away the rancor and leaving him with the sight of the broken, battered, and forever scarred Mirialan girl before him. The dark fissure that was his frown softened at the tears running down her cheeks and the lightning flashing across his eyes drowned beneath her sea of pain and reemerged as a rising, morning sun that wished nothing but for its warmth to break through Ran's storm of grief.

Her explanation of how she'd broken free from the Sith's will was barely registered. Nothing was left but strong compassion for the tortured woman and a burning need to pull her up out of the gloom and shade.

"It's... it's okay -- it's okay, Ran." Dagon reassured her, his tone softer as his hand found hers, "Look at me, hey, it's not your... it's not your fault, alright?" he said as the warmth of the Force slowly embraced her, "What's... happened has happened. Only thing we can do is look ahead and... build a future where this doesn't happen to anyone ever again." he continued, recalling his own oath to prevent anyone from suffering his fate of losing his brother to the Dark Side forever. "... are there others like you still alive, Ran?"

Ran Serys ​