Private Nightmares on Thule

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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After his rescue and full recovery, Valery wanted to spend some more time with Kahlil. He had once helped her find the ruins of her former Temple, and again, he offered to help her with her duties. This upcoming task she had set for herself would take them to a rather dangerous world, with a history deeply rooted in the Dark Side and its followers. So she felt slightly bad for asking him to come along, but she doubt that he'd mind too much. She'd always be fine if he decided against coming, too. ​

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For the meeting point, however, she decided on a world in safe territory that was relatively close - she had picked Azure. There were some facilities there she often used to travel from, and this new assignment wasn't anything different. So after her own arrival, she sent out a message.​

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Transmission​

To: Kahlil Zambrana
from: Valery Noble​

Subject: Mission​

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Kahlil, I hope you've been well. The last time we spoke, we discussed working together again. I've found some information that details an abandoned facility on Thule. I'll be traveling there in a day or two. If you'd like to come along and help, meet me on Azure - that's where I'll be heading out from.​

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Hope to see you soon!​

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-Valery​

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[Kahlil Noble]

It'd come as a surprise, but a welcome one. True to his word, Kahlil was trying to give Valery Noble any space she had asked for. .. No, that was a selfish thought. His lips thinned as he read over the message. He'd been putting distance between them, for a reason he didn't want to have to tell her. Maybe he could on this? After the mission. Whatever was going on on Thule wasn't something he wanted to distract her from. He got up from his seat, stepping out into the room and leaving behind the datapad. On it, a simple message back. 'See you soon.'

"R6, get the ship ready to launch. .. Yes now! Valery asked for my help! .. Really, she's why you'll get your tin can into gear?"

Thankfully it wasn't a long trip. Kahlil relaxed in his seat as the lights of hyperspace left and Azure came into view. A pretty world, if unremarkable otherwise. With R6 to watch his ship he set off, turning his gaze around the spaceport for a sign of the Jedi Master. This was the place to meet. He'd continue on towards one of the coffee shops, rather shamelessly ordering one of the more sugary drinks with whipped cream.

He liked sweet things, not his fault.

Taking a seat close by, he closed his eyes and let himself relax. Focus on the mission first.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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While she waited for Kahlil to hopefully make his way to Azure, Valery had taken care of all the necessary preparations. A shuttle was ready, she had her gear prepared and she knew exactly where to go on Thule. She wasn't going to spend a minute longer there than necessary, especially not while she had company she cared about. ​

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Once she finished up, she made her way to the spaceport and watched as the familiar freighter came down. She smiled happily and began her walk through the port, hoping to find him somewhere. ​

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After a moment of walking around, she spotted him in a seat near a coffee shop. She blinked at this and very slowly made her way over, careful not to alert him to her presence. With a smirk on her face, she stepped up behind him, noticing his eyes were closed. She gently placed her hands on his shoulders and smiled.​

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"Not falling asleep on the job, I hope?" she asked with a teasing tone.​

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She was happy to see him again, and this showed in the smile she carried while she looked at him.​

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[Kahlil Noble]

"With all this sugar, I hope not." There was a small jump as Valery Noble touched his shoulder. He was on edge, far more than he'd like to admit. But seeing her? That stress melted away as he smiled wide. Without thinking about it he leaned over, pressing a brief kiss to the Jedi's lips. A brief kiss that he immediately pulled back from to clear his throat and glance off. Right. Public. He'd go right to downing his drink, using that to calm his mind. They were Jedi, still. Here to do Jedi things.

Right, sure.

"So, uh. What's the plan exactly? What's up with this facility that needs a couple Jedi to investigate?"

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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Valery noticed his reaction to her touch and blinked in confusion. But he quickly relaxed when he realized who it was, so she met his gaze with a wide smile of her own. But then he stepped closer, which she wasn't expecting at all, not here in public. Her eyes widened a tad as his lips connected with hers, but she too relaxed very quickly.​

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As the kiss broke, he cleared his throat and looked around, trying to calm his mind. But Valery just looked at him with a playful smirk. It made it seem like she didn't care about being like this in public. ​

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But she also understood that they'd have to be focused when going on missions, so the playful attitude shifted to a slightly more serious one.​

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"I'm happy to see you again, Kalil." she said after a moment while she ran a hand up through her hair.​

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"As for the mission, it's simple in concept - intelligence gathering. This facility was under the direct control of a Sith who practiced mostly Alchemy. I want to find out if anything remains of whatever he created." she explained.​

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"It's not a safe world and I doubt the facility itself will be easy to access either, which is why I thought some help would be useful." she looked at him with a warm smile.​

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[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil's sudden embarrassment faded as Valery Noble smiled. They had spent a lot longer apart than together, but it was already something that he sorely missed when they were apart. And yet, where joy should be there was a hidden sadness in his eyes. "Do remind me to stay with you next time. I'd like to see this smile of yours more." For as long as he could, at least. Another brief lapse in his otherwise attempt at being professional before he straightened out and nodded. Right, the alchemy lab on Thule. A different kind of emotion filled his eyes, but this was snipped at the bud before it could be truly expressed.

He knew Thule.

"If the Sith isn't in control, I imagine his experiments are running rampant to dissuade looters. I'm at your disposal, Master Noble."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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Valery chuckled and offered an affirmative nod, "I'm not going anywhere this time, so you'll be seeing plenty of me. Unless we're both working, I suppose." she smiled and gestured for him to follow. Valery's own ship was a one-seater and she felt bad about asking him to use his ship to travel. So for this mission, she had arranged a shuttle at the spaceport. ​

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Everything was set up and ready to go for them, so there wouldn't be any delays.​

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"I also have a feeling that some of his creations are still around, but they tend to get unpredictable without a Master in control. I have no idea what to expect, so we'll have to be careful in our approach."​

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She smirked at him.​

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"It might get spooky."​

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[Kahlil Noble]

"Spooky, huh?" Kahlil got up from his seat, moving to follow after Valery Noble with a faint smile. They'd see more of each other, huh? .. Yeah. If only. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting his mind calm down before he made this any more complicated than the trip to Thule alone would be. "Sithspawn, most likely. I'm not sure what they've worked on recently, but it was mostly just minor alterations to life. Giving something the ability to see in the dark when it naturally didn't. Turning something's hands into blades, things like that."

There was no point in hiding his knowledge of the facility. Especially if it meant helping her.

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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Valery knew that they could expect some kind of Sithspawn over there, but he seemed to know a bit more than she did about this world. She looked him in the eyes, clearly curious, and tilted her head lightly, "You've been there recently?" she inquired. His description was too specific for him not to have some inside information.​

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It was specific enough to give her an idea as to what to expect as well. She was familiar with all sorts of Sithspawn from her past in the Shadows.​

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"Either way, let's stay together and find out as much as we can. I hope I can get something useful to track whoever made those things, or it's going to be a simple case of purging that place." ​

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With that, the two reached the shuttle - it wasn't pretty because she didn't have much money to hire a good ship at all. So she smiled sheepishly at him and stepped inside. She would buckle up inside the cockpit and prepare for the journey to Thule with him.​

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[Kahlil Noble]

"Certainly not recently." He chuckled, though it hit him that Valery Noble really didn't know much about his past. He knew some about hers. Had he really avoided talking about himself all this time? Kahlil didn't seem to mind the shuttle at all, pretty quickly stepping inside beside her to sit down. In a way, the shuttle ride would give them time to go over everything. There was a lot more to go over than she likely expected.

"I was a student there, when I was young. You know my father was the Sith Emperor, right?" Nonchalantly was the only way he could thing to say it. Their conversation with Ingrid mentioned his brief moment of being overwhelmed by the dark, but Valery was still learning the new age of this galaxy. His lips thinned as he glanced out the window to watch the ground fade below them.

"Some of those experiments are likely going to be my own. Abandoned when I was finally able to flee."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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Valery was flicking a few switches to boot up various systems but stopped to stare blankly at him. It wasn't so much what he said - she already knew his father was the Sith Emperor - but how he said it. She chuckled with a slight shake of her head and continued to take care of all take-off procedures.​

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But then he mentioned that some of the creations were his own.​

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She paused again, looked out through the window in front of her, and pulled the ship off the ground without saying anything for a moment. Hearing this, she wasn't sure whether to feel bad about bringing him along or if it was meant to be in one way or another. ​

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"I see.." she began.​

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"Then I assume you'll be quite familiar with them as well. It should make it easier to take them out. You may have created these... monsters before. Now you have a chance to help me get rid of them." ​

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She smiled a little again and looked his way.​

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[Kahlil Noble]

"Yeah. Help fix the mistakes of the past." Kahlil spoke softly, keeping his gaze outside. In the age Valery Noble was from, he knew how she might feel about the Dark. How would she feel about this? His dark past. What he was planning to do. Dwelling on it, delaying it. It was starting to seem more and more likely that he'd just get distracted himself on the mission if he didn't tell her the truth.

And really, he didn't want to hide anything from her.

"My family is determined to make me fall to the Dark. I plan on doing just that. My father does so much in such closely guarded secrets. I need to stop him."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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"Yeah. Help fix the mistakes of the past."

She smiled at this, knowing it was difficult but likely something that would help him feel better in the end as well. Whatever he had helped create on Thule, together they were going to overcome it. This thought made sure the smile remained, as a sense of determination struck the woman. She put in a course for Thule and pulled back on the hyperspace lever, resulting in the familiar jump. ​

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But then he mentioned his plan to fall.​

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It was something so far beyond what she expected, that it took her a moment to process what he just said. She blinked, shook her head, and turned her body to face him.​

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"You what?" she asked, surprised but also somewhat shocked.​

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"You plan on falling to stop your father?" she asked. She had heard him just fine but she was caught off-guard, and almost needed to just hear that again. She frowned and looked away at her console, trying to find words for it.​

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"Kahlil, you can't give up on who you are to fight this evil. There must be another way."​

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[Kahlil Noble]

"I've no intention on giving up who I am. It's why I'm doing this." He was oddly calm about this. As much as he was dreading telling Valery Noble this, there was just.. Peace. Peace in the truth. He turned his gaze towards her, offering a smile. "My father has power over his very soul. He can split it apart. Seal it away in things. People. He's been killed twice, but keeps coming back anyway. Sometimes he waits for a new body, sometimes he already has one. I'm one of those bodies. There's a mark on me."

The mark he'd never let her seen. Even as close as they were, he made sure the Jedi Master never saw his back. For good reason. "He can control me whenever he wants. If I continue to defy him, or if he feels like it, he'll just.. Take over. I've gotten rid of the mark before. It's just.. Come back. I need to stop him if I plan on having a life. At least if I've fallen, he won't decide to take over."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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Valery listened to his words and as much as they made sense, they were so very hard for her to accept. Giving in to the Dark Side was the one thing she had sworn to never do and always resist - she'd rather die a painful death because, in her eyes, falling was worse than death. ​

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Hearing him accept it the way he did, so peaceful, was too much for her.​

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Where he'd normally see her beautiful, kind smile, in return, he was now looking at a troubled expression. She couldn't look him in the eyes for fear of crying, and stared off into space, her lips trembling as she tried to fight back some tears. ​

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"What.." she said, but her sentence didn't come out, as her voice cracked up a little. She sniffed and looked at him with teary eyes.​

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"What if you can't come back?" she finally asked, referring to him coming back from his fall to the Dark Side.​

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Deep down, she likely knew the answer to this question already, but she needed to hear it from him.​

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[Kahlil Noble]

The peace in his expression twisted as he saw her tears. This.. Of course he accepted it. But Valery Noble .. Kahlil let out a sigh, though he didn't look away from her. His choices affected other people. It was a reality he was still coming to terms with after all this time. He reached out, gently touching her cheek. "I'm hoping you'd be able to bring me back. It's a selfish thing to ask, but if I fall too far to remember, remind me. .. And if that's impossible, kill me."

That was probably the worst thing to ask her. But.. He didn't trust anyone more. "You've shown me a life I want to life. But so long as my father's shadow is there, I can never live it. Not without far too great of a risk."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Azure (meeting place)​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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The woman's grip on the controls visibly tightened when he answered her question - it was the answer she had feared. She gulped softly and bit her lip as she gave his words some more thought. But his touch helped her calm down some, and after a few seconds, she nodded.​

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"I can't follow you where you're going, but... I can't give up on you," she said in response.​

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"I will do whatever I can to bring you back and if I can't.." she went quiet and allowed the silence to fill in the rest. It would be the most difficult thing for her to do, but she would. For him. The Woman's eyes then shifted back to the instruments on the panel in front of her, noting that they were approaching the planet. ​

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"We're arriving in a moment," she said as she tried to regain her focus. But it was clear that she wasn't quite herself anymore now - there was too much on her mind to be fully focused on this mission the way she normally would. ​

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[Kahlil Noble]

"I know."

He smiled again, though this one was much more somber. The path he needed to take very well could ruin whatever it was Valery Noble and him were heading towards. But if he didn't take it, there was no future. Just a life of fear. Of being taken over one day and not being able to stop his father from hurting her. And, well. He wasn't sure which part would be worse then. If he just ceased to exist, or if he had to watch.

Kahlil turned his gaze to the window as she spoke about their arrival. The planet came into view, and immediately he sensed something was wrong.

Horror filled his expression as he stood up, staring at the planet. There was no color. Just grey. Even from space he could see it. He could feel it. Life wasn't on this world any more. Worse, he could feel a familiar darkness. ".. My father was here. .. I don't think there's anything alive down there."

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Approaching Thule​

Valery: Appearance​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Kahlil Noble ​

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Valery smiled at him before she turned her gaze to the controls. Pulling back on the lever again, the ship dropped from hyperspace and into Thule's system. Seeing and feeling the lifeless planet, as well as the darkness coming from it... she felt a sudden headache strike her and leaned back in her chair while she tried to process it.​

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"This place... it's awful." ​

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Her eyes turned away from the planet and to Kahlil after he mentioned his father, and she'd nod. "Nothing is alive down there, it's a void. I sense only darkness, and twisted things." ​

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She frowned, "I've been to a place like this before. Down there, the Force is much weaker, and it will be harder to draw on for us. I was expecting this mission to be difficult but this is.. different. Do you still want to go through with it?" ​

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Valery wasn't asking him because she believed him to be weak, or incapable of handling it. But this planet and what it became was so unnatural, that most would never want to even come close to it. She, however, felt like there was no choice for her - this was part of the dangerous job she had signed up for.​

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She was going down there.​

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[Kahlil Noble]

So this was the power his father had. Kahlil's hands shook ever so faintly before he tightened them into fists. All this did was show that what he chose needed to be done. If he was going to stop Darth Carnifex , the only way was going to be through the Dark. He took a breath, stilling his mind as he listened to Valery Noble . Right. This mission was going to be nothing like it was. If anything was still.. Alive, it wasn't truly so. Sithspawn, most likely, still existed. Unnatural life.

"You'd have to tie me up to keep me from coming with you. No one should go to that world alone."