One Man's Trash

[Darth Abyss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmtAm3a5Mr8

Unkown Region, Derelict Mining Platform

Most people would think that a Sith Lord thought it beneath him to do the mundane tasks of day to day business, but Darth Abyss had never been a being of pride or arrogance. Being able to survive in the vacuum of space indefinitely was an advantage that had many uses, not only in battles, but in making money as well, even if it meant that he had to waste his time inside of some broken, old thing floating untouched in the vast endlessness for ages. His task was a simple one, bring the generator back up, so that his servants could systematically take the mining station apart and sell the salvage on the black market.

The husk that remained of Darth Abyss walked through the dark corridors, only illuminated by the slight, red glow of the emergency lights that came to live once the generator was reactivated. His steps were soundless, making the facility seem as hollow and empty as the strange being that walked within it. His deformed armor was shrouded below his ragged, black robe and his equally deformed limps wrapped in dirty grey and black pieces of clothe that obscured the myriad of damages they had taken since he forged himself a new body.

His face was an unmoving mask, framed by a fixed, ghastly grin composes out of sharp metal teeth. Upon his head rested a crown, made up out of sharp metal pieces, that could've easily been his teeth, crudely patched together. His steps carried him to the hangar of the faded station, ready to leave this meaningless place behind and return to more important matters. Yet as he was about to prepare his starfighter for his departure, something called to him in the back of his head, a unclear echo in the force demanding him to stay.

The Sith Lord programmed the autopilot of his vessel, commanding it to leave and come back for him in a few hours. While the ship emerged from the floating ruin, the husk himself vanished, swallowed by the ever present shadows and darkness of this force forsaken relic, quietly waiting for another whisper of the force.

[member="Makai Dashiell"]

 

[Makai Dashiell]

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Derelict Mining Platform | Location : Unknown Regions​

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Boots quietly echoed down corridors as he walked along corridors of the mining facility. According to his scans some parts of the mining platform were still operational. During his short walks through the platform he did notice some lights on, some sparking. Gravity was off and on in some spots, as was life support. He kept the envirosuit on just in case.


Makai was scouting the platform for possible reclamation - his father's company was interested in it. So far he hadn't seen anything that would prevent Salacia from coming in and taking over. Repairs would be needed but from his fly over he didn't see gaping holes. The young half-Galan moved towards a control panel, opening the access. Cables came out to get readings on this sector.


The job was fairly simple so far. Makai was half-in, half-out of the Iron Empire. The territory hadn't been for him. It was an icy hellhole. He wasn't a stellar pilot despite a promotion. Firemane Industries had wanted him to consult for a project and he realized his talents were being wasted. He wasn't happy out across the 'verse away from his family and friends. There was no sense in moaning and groaning about it, instead choosing to come back to his father's business. Coupled with the Firemane consulting Makai finally felt he was on the right track.


Iced azure eyes studied the readout - some issues with lifesupport and electrical. As he made little notes the teenage boy could have sworn he heard a noise. He was an experienced salvager - things tended to moan and groan, scrape together. Especially on poorly maintained stations.



[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The suit made impossible to say who was below it, but Abyss knew better then to mistrust a calling of the force.

Quietly he lurked in the shadows, following the path of the unknown figure through the station. It was clear that whoever he was, his mission was similar to that of Abyss by the notes and test on the state of the old facility. Maybe he was just some scavenger, easy prey, but it was unlikely that the force demanded him to hunt down some nobody. It was as likely that the man below the suit was a seasoned warrior, even if his presence at least assured Abyss that he had nothing to expect of the stranger in the ways of the force.

The element of surprise was a useful weapon, but without knowing who his prey was that same weapon was aimed at himself. Attacking now would be a gamble, and it was never wise gamble without knowing the odds. Instead he wanted to determine the capabilities of the stranger before making any rash moves, even if it meant to make his presence known.

"Run."

Without any clear point of origin the nearly incomprehensible word whispered through the narrow corridors, bouncing of the walls as an faint, distorted echo that seemingly came towards the stranger from all sides. By his reaction Abyss would be able to observe if the man was ready and willing for a fight, or if he would actually follow the command and run for his life.

[member="Makai Dashiell"]

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Darth Abyss"]



A few taps on the datapad and he was deeper into the system. According to his scans it seemed the system had cycled off and on throughout the years but nothing steady. If he had to guess the station - once abandoned - had been used by pirates or smugglers in the recent past. Excellent location, quiet, relatively stable station would make an excellent base of operations.


Another keystroke. An odd whisper echoed through the halls, urging him to run. Hand immediately went to the blaster at his side. His free hand grabbed a flashlight and flipped it on, searching down the hallway. Booted feet slowly moved down the corridor, abandoning his datapad.


He had legends of this before. Old spacers had told him before those in the know would set traps to scare off those who would come and take what was already claimed. Trap doors, electrified fields, speakers hooked to rig. Flashlight moved up to the ceiling, scanning around for any sign of speakers. A wise pirate would use the internal comm system but not all were that smart.


All he could figure was the speakers were set to turn on the minute he tried to turn on life support for the entire station. To prevent someone from reclaiming it. Makai turned the corner to another corridor, wanting to check every base to be on the safe side.

 

[Darth Abyss]

Shrouded in shadows the metal husk observed his prey, mentally making notes about his every move. The man hadn't trembled in fear, but his stance was neither that of a seasoned warrior, nor was his weapon that of one. Not that a blaster couldn't kill someone as easily as anything else, but someone ready to fight would've probably brought something with a little more potency behind it. The flashlight also told him that his prey required light to see, not a given considering that many suits came with some sort of nightvision.

Still his whisper hadn't archived exactly what he had in mind, besides allowing a bit more insight. The man seemingly wasn't scared easily, but that could be changed. Some sith preferred power, speed and a direct approach, but Abyss had rather spend his time learning how to properly use theatrics to break spirit and mind of those he fought and hunted. The place they found themselves in was the perfect for such tactics, with the eery, dim lights, and the faint but ever present noises that came from the station itself.

As if the appearance of the Mindeater wasn't horrific enough, the sith lord called upon an even more twisted and deranged being, a familiar hidden deep within the void inside the hollow armor. [member="Makai Dashiell"] would be able to see a glimpse of Abyss as he moved at the edges of the shadows, but before his shape fully came into sight it was swallowed by black smoke, emerging from every opening inside his empty form.

Then the smoke began to transform into countless tendrils, sharp teeth and broken fangs attached to a roughly humanoid creature. From it a terrifying scream rose, as much an unpleasant, high pitched noise as an mental blast of terror formed from the force. The familiar levitated through the air, untouched by gravity, a slow, menacing path towards Abyss prey.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Darth Abyss"]


Hands were attempting to unscrew a speaker to test if the connection was live.Low voltage so he wouldn't have to worry about electrocuting himself to death. He was tall but not quite tall enough, trying to 'gain' some height by standing as tall as he could to pull what he thought were live wires. Briefly he thought about using the blaster in his hand but that would be a waste.


Then he heard it. A high pitched scream from behind him, a scuttling of a shadow off to one side of him. As he turned to face the noise better, stomach churned.


The creature in question was floating, drifting towards him. There were no legs - just odd tentacles and a ghostly humanoid appearance - until you got to the razor like teeth. It was terrifying. Makai had heard spacer stories about similar things and had rolled his eyes. Now here he was, going to be a sixteen year old telling the same stories with no one to believe him.


Blaster raised and fired towards the odd creature. First towards its lower body and tentacles before the half-Galan could regain his composure and aim higher, trying to drop the thing. All the while he was slowly backing up, not wanting to get boxed in or have creepy tentacles get too close to him.

 

[Darth Abyss]

The creature made no attempt to avoid the blasterbolts aimed at it. Instead the energy projectiles meet his smoke shrouded, and oddly translucent flesh, causing fine black clouds to rise from the injuries. The pain that the creature clearly suffered lead to another scream, another focused wave of fear and horror, as it continued to move towards the man.

While [member="Makai Dashiell"] was caught up with focusing on his familiar, Abyss himself once more wandered through the shadows, circling around his monster and the man with the intend to stand behind his back, where even in the dim light he would be unable to see him coming. His beast was a effective distraction, but it had little to offer in terms of actual power, at least as long as the Sith Lord wasn't channeling his own strength through it.

As the true Mindeater closed in on his prey, the deformed monstrosity he had summoned lifted his broken claws, the thin fingers pointing at the stranger. From them a weak blast of blue lightning emerged, an attack that would cause little more then pain, but did well to add to the horrific sight that it had to offer.

Erratic bursts of blue light framed the creature as it continued to come closer, allowing the man to see what better would've remained unseen, and hopefully caught his focus enough to keep him from noticing the near silent husk that took position in the shadows behind him.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Darth Abyss"]


Blaster bolts connected with the odd creature but Makai couldn't tell if there was any blood, being too distracted and the dim light. Makai had thought a couple shots would have caused the creature to retreat. Instead the creature screamed a deathly scream, setting loose a new wave of terror through him. By now Makai had decided the best course of action was to get as much distance between the clawed one and himself as possible.


The teenage half-Galan fired off another shot and moved to turn away to break out in a full run. There were blast doors down the corridor, if he could make it then in his mind, Makai would be home free. Before he could make a full turn to take off the creature sent a burst of lightning out from its mangled claws.


What the feth was this thing?!


Pain half-crippled him, causing Makai to stumble. It wasn't overwhelming but whatever the creature was doing was enough to cause him to slow to a near stop and all but crawl down the corridor. A half-turn and another shot was fired off.

 

[Darth Abyss]

Before the last bolt reached the demonic creature, a final scream emerged, fading away the moment the being itself faded back into black smoke that dispersed into the darkness. It was instead replaced by a hollow laugh, a distorted echo that had nothing in common with a human, or even alien, sound of amusement. Metallic steps would suddenly be audible, as a empty husk stepped besides [member="Makai Dashiell"], a fixed, unmoving grin looking directly into the boy's eyes. If that wasn't enough, the smoke that had scattered in the room slowly returned back into the strange, walking armor, entering into it through every small crack, every opening including even the hollow eye sockets inside Abyss mask.

"Who do we have here?"

A metal claw descended down, trying to reach for the man on the ground. Long, deformed talons, marked by rust, dirt and blood. While his right was occupied reaching for the stranger, his left had already wrapped around a dark blue, cursed dagger, a fabled weapon of the shadowy order of the Sith Assassins. Cut for cut it brought a slow death, draining the body of it victim of all energy until there would be nothing left but skinny flesh and brittle bones.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Darth Abyss"]


There was barely time between the 'death' of the creature to breathe. Makai was all but panting at this point - mainly out of fear. It had settled around the area like a cold fog pushing against his chest. Once the smoke vanished the weight was off but not the horror as an eerie laughter drifted through the corridor. Makai was half-up from the corridor floor as the grinning 'armor' appeared. Smoke was back to swirling all around the armor, forcing itself in through every crack in the suit.


Dread was starting to seep back in his bones. Makai had thought the creature he fought was a one-off spacer legend. Now it seemed he was facing off against something far more sinister. When the suit of armor asked who he was the pit in his stomach seemed to feel deeper, more hollow if it was possible.


Claw was reaching for a weapon on the side of the armor. He wasn't waiting around to find out what the weapon was. The teenage half-Galan scrambled once more, the claws on the one hand scraping against his envirosuit. Pushing off the ground, Makai scrambled the last bit through the blast doors, scale speckled hand hitting the button to close them. He had to put distance between himself and the evil that had descended upon him.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"There is no escape."

The blast doors could keep out Abyss armor, but not his ethereal voice. Like drops of toxic water they oozed through the door, while the husk on the other side released another laughter to follow them while surveying his options. Invisible tendrils born from the dark void within the armor stretched through the station, searching for an alternative path towards his prey. As so often the ventilation system would allow him to bypass the obstacle [member="Makai Dashiell"] had placed in his path, but the Mindeater would not crawl through it like some filthy insect.

"Nie mekn, tik toka ir vazona" ("No man, only smoke and mirrors")

Words in an ancient language resounded both within the derelict station and there otherworldly plane far beyond veil, while the book attached to Abyss belt rose into the air, held by nothing but the arcane power of his spirit and mind. Rapidly the pages began to turn, until they found the one he was looking for. The runes painted on it in blood began to glow in a crimson red, and then burned apart together with the paper they were written on.

Slowly the metal husk began to dissolve, particles forming into arcane smoke. It would take a a few moments for the spell to fully come into effect, but then it would carry Abyss through the small vents inside the station, and behind the boy that foolishly tried to outrun his fate.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Darth Abyss"]


No escape? The blast doors had closed. Makai immediately shot out the control panel with his blaster. Scrambling the circuits would be the easiest way to keep the door firmly closed. At least, thats what he had thought. The teenage half-Galan immediately had started a dead sprint to his vessel. It was docked several levels down and it was going to take work to move down unused lift shafts.


Makai came to the first one he saw and immediately tried prying it open. The twin doors started to crack open, the boy trying to shove his body in to use his weight to get them to open more. After a moment it was clear the effort wasn't worth the time and he took off once more. Perhaps he could find a vent to shimmy down. Or a maintenance shaft.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"No Escape."

Once again the eery whisper filled the air, as thick, black smoke emerged from the ventilation system behind the closed door. Slowly the smoke began to pile up, rising to above human height. Then the particles reformed, dust growing back into cursed metal, revealing the husk that had summoned the spell from within it. It was only there that Abyss noticed that the man's fear had already send him running further. Gnashing his metal teeth in frustration the hollow figure began to follow the very slight echo his prey left in the force.

On the way he made sure to occasionally make noise, when possible from opposing directions. Fear was the most powerful weapon he had, and if he couldn't catch the man, he could at least provoke him to a mistake that would lead him right back into his arms. Metal hands scratched over metal walls, claw like feet stomped onto the ground and incomprehensible whispers resounded in random intervals, making it harder and harder the determine the direction and distance of the hunter.

[member="Makai Dashiell"]

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Darth Abyss"]


What the feth was this thing?


Unable to get the lift doors open he had continued down further. Scrapings and rumblings echoed through the dead halls, bouncing off and drifting towards him. If Makai had been unable to tell the direction of the noise beforehand, it was even more difficult if not impossible now. The teenage half-Galan continued pushing forward. If standing still he would still be caught so at least moving he would feel better - somewhat.


Finding a grate, Makai suspected he could fit through. It was quickly pried off and he squeezed inside feet first. The grate was just on the metal flooring so he reached out and secured it back into place. Using his elbows, he pushed back further into the maintenance shaft, sinking back far enough so the creature couldn't spot him - or so he hoped.


Breathing slowed and he went still. It would be easy to pick up his movements if he tried to escape further, there were no other sounds happening on the station to dull his own.

 

[Darth Abyss]

The husk continued his hunt, making no effort to hurry despite the distance between him and his prey. After a few minutes the almost soundless steps of the hollow lord came to a stop, and his head began to move in an erratic fashion. It was reminiscent of a predator picking up a scent, the mask that made up his face randomly twitching from side to side in search for an echo to follow.

Metal hands wandered over the walls, the air vents and grates around him, searching for a memory of their past that would reveal the presence of the boy he was hunting. Most of the time he only caught small glimpses, until his hands wrapped around a set of bars that remembered more then a shadows quickly passing by. In his inner eye the husk watched as his prey crawled into the small shaft behind it.

Quietly a metal hand wandered to his back, reaching for a small device stored there. Despite having a wide reaching arcane arsenal, Abyss was nothing if not a pragmatist. Priming the small mine, the sith waited for a moment, and the rolled the object into the shaft. Moments later a deadly gas, mixed with a sight obscuring smokescreen would emerge from it, forcing the hunted to either die or leave his hideout in a hurry.

[member="Makai Dashiell"]

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Darth Abyss"]


Makai waited, listening as the creature poked around his current location or near his current location. The creature was moving in a methodical manner, stopping as if to sense for something. Perhaps the creature had supernatural hearing or some type of natural sensor within its DNA. Makai had heard of aquatic species having a type of sonar, no reason it wouldn't extend to odd out-in-the-black creatures either.


The teenage half-Galan was quiet as the creature rummaged in his location. Soon enough the creature was moving the grate. Muscles tensed and an object rolled in. It looked like a grenade of sorts. He waited for an explosion to happen. A smokescreen burst forth. A cough from himself, something tasted odd in the air. His lungs started to burn and not from the smoke. He wasn't sure what is was beyond the fact breathing was suddenly an issue. It was like his lungs wouldn't inflate. Whatever was in the air was circulating through his suit. It was powerful and concentrated.The creature was flushing him out.


Makai had no choice and soon he found himself in a heap on the corridor decking, coughing.

 

[Darth Abyss]

With a level of agility that seemed unfitting for the hulking suit of armor, the husk followed into the shaft that his prey had escaped through. His limps and body twisted and deformed in unnatural angles that no human would've been capable of. His arms and legs continued to contort, clawing the Sith through the narrow tunnel at inhuman speed. This time his movements weren't soundless, the deranged husk framed by the noise of claws ripping and scratching over the metal in his path.

Like some sort of grotesque insect the metal husk emerged behind the boy from the shaft. It only took a few moments until the creature straightened up again, his from correcting by once again deforming his limps into their original positions. Yet once he stood towering above his prey, there was no reaction, just a cold, long moment of silence.

"This foolish game ends now, child. Show me how you are."

As the ethereal words echoed through the dim light corridor, the left of Darth Abyss raised towards the boy. Even without the gift it was easy to feel the dark, invisible tendrils that spawned from within the hollow lord, and reached towards the mind of [member="Makai Dashiell"] to find, rip out and distort everything he held dear.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

Little did his mind know the effects [member="Darth Abyss"] could have on it. Makai had been working on the sole premise that he was running from a creature in a spacers legend, twisted and broken by space. The reality was he was fighting off a mentalist, one with the Force. Not that it would have helped in the beginning but it may have helped with the aftermath.

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Ocean waves slowly bobbed up him up and down as he kept one hand attached to the swim deck of the sailboat. They were anchored in turquoise waters, a reef not far from their current location and an oceanic trench a bit of a distance from that. An excellent place to be anchored for today's activity : spear fishing. Along for the ride was one [member="Myra Elspeth"] .Makai had introduced her to regular 'old fashioned' fishing years ago. Back from the Iron Empire and he had figured it was the perfect way to spend some time together.


Failed sailing and camping trip take two.


Feminine legs came into view as he was taking inventory of their equipment. Boyish grin was thrown her way as the girl sat down on the swim deck, purposely splashing him as she did so, although Ellie would deny it if he said anything. Scale-speckled hand grabbed a rebreather to test it for her. Typically spear fishing was done by learning to hold one's breath. Makai already had an 'unfair advantage' and didn't want Ellie feeling left out. Without wetsuits, flippers and relatively advanced equipment Makai considered them and the fish on somewhat even footing.


"So we'll go out to the reef, maybe something easy at first, like crab." Eyes squinted in the sun, looking back up at the freckled girl. "Just....try not to spear me."

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[Darth Abyss]

Love was peculiar emotion. So intense, and yet so easy twisted into something else. It had been the downfall of many, and once even Abyss had given to its temptation. The pain he had suffered at its hand had only further shaped his ability to use against others, once his broken heart dissolved into the endless darkness of the void within his hollow armor.

While [member="Makai Dashiell"] was fully immersed in the false memory that poisoned his head, Abyss used the time to quietly explore what else was hidden in the boy's head. Depending on what he found there he had to decide if he was even worth being kept alive, or if he would just discard him in the vacuum of space. His tendrils slowly began to wrap around the thoughts that were buried deeper then his love, searching for his name, his heritage and their worth to a being like Abyss.

In reality the hollow eyes of the Mindeater remained fixed on the boy that looked back with the empty eyes of someone locked up in his own head, while the husk slowly circled around him. His right had once more called upon the strange blue dagger and waited for the time to send the body to sleep once the vision of his currently deforming memory had found its horrific conclusion.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

OOC Note

Spoiler

Sorry for the late reply. Family issues and wasn't sure how to approach this...Thanks for being patient

[member="Darth Abyss"]

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[SIZE=10.5pt]Puddles found their way inside the sailboat, all the way to the galley. Door rattled as he shut the freezer on the dead crabs now resting on ice. Ellie had been quick to learn and he had taken a back seat, catching one and letting the brown haired girl nab the other three. Boat bobbed in the water and he was in the sun once again, squinting into the distance. Makai was convinced his body hadn’t adjusted from his time on Csilla - eyes included. Csilla wasn’t exactly a sunny tourist destination, it seemed his eyes had forgotten what real sunshine was like. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Ellie was off swimming further in the reef, drifting towards deeper waters in the ocean, determined to up her game to fish now. Jumping back in the water fish scattered from the disturbance in the water. He was in no rush, there were plans to stay and camp after all and his time in the water had been limited ever since returning from Csilla. Makai thought leaving the Iron Empire would afford him a little bit more free time but it hadn’t been found. If anything he felt more busy, caught between working for his father , trying to get his own company off the ground and working for Firemane Industries. There were some lazy kicks of his legs, allowing himself to get distracted by the reef for a long moment.Drifting away from the reef, iced azure gaze quickly took in another horror.[/SIZE]

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[SIZE=10.5pt]One week later and he was staring at the lifeless form of his friend once again. Their sailing trip had gone from smooth seas to stormy quickly . Drifting away from the reef he had found her, twisted against the rocks, rebreather gone. By the time he had got to the surface, back on the boat it was too late. Makai had done his best to bring her back, had gotten the attention of the bodyguards that tended to follow Ellie around, even their best efforts were in vain.He wouldn’t be seeing her again and it was his fault. [/SIZE]