Private Shadows of Breath

[Halitus Veikis]

Veilis moved like a viper, lunging eith his red tooth into a trooper who’s chest spat sparks from his bite, he then hurled the dead man aside as he reached s Knight who arched in a sarlaac sweep. The First Son evaded the cut and kicked the Jedi across the side with his black boot. He then spun around, and beat at the Paladin with his burning blade, which the Jedi barly parried, part of his pauldron burning off. Veikis did not relent, he followed up his heavy blows with a leap where he took his legs to wrap around the Jedi’s neck, and pulling his saber around bore it through the back neck as he twisted his legs around and threw the Jedi lifeless to a shallow grave.
He rose up with his blood blade and looked at the smoking Jedi, this first blood caused a frenzy among his brethern, who like Firaxen, tasted the spilled Force in the clear waters.
The First Son felt The Father’s eye upon Him and sensed he was pleased. Another Jedi Knight charged, this one carried twin blades, one shorter than the other. He moved with a grace that suited The Viper, he touchdd his red tooth on the two white ones which rang the air with crackles.

 

[Darth Halitus]

The Father was pleased as tue first Jedi fell and at the hands of his First Born. The Dark Lord stepped forward as troopers aimed their rifles to stun hus Sons, he took control of their hands and forced them to shoot one another, and as he passed them he snapped his two blood fangs and carved their necks by dragging the blades in the soul, making head severe from shoulders and rolling about behind him. A drone spied The Darth, he could feel Her eyes upon him. Deactivating one blade, he downer The Eye of Ishaati, and began he march to her Ship.

The Sons stirred by the blood of Light went into a fury, Kravas lept at the Jedi he held him back, beating his blade with his and reaching out with his hand he sent a minor shockwave to throw the Ashlan into the air before leaping up and driving his blade into his arm. The tide was running red, when emerging from the hillside was Nine Knights with golden blades and white mantels.
This Vanguard held staffsabers, with only one end lit. Horil charged them with his saberstaff, spinning the blade in a fleru, when he found himself surrounded by the circle of white knights who made a wall of golden teeth, a sarlaac pit. Horil spun his blade around him touching the points as he let out a cry, Mardan seeing him shouted,
“Horil! Noooo!”
He charged this Vanguard but was too late as all nine gold teeth moved as one into Horil, he was pinned, and coughed up blood. The Nine Jedi then withdrew their blade as his body fell and turned their attention to Mardan who swept with his blade upward, cutting the mask off one, only for others to dip their tips in his flesh, he cried put in anger with each tap. But with each sting he felt the wind in his sails ebbing, until he was on both knees, sweeping his saber as a spade on the ground. The Broken Masked Jedi drew near and said as it held the tip at his throat,
“Repent.. call upon Ashla, and you shall be saved.”
Mardan spat in the face of the Jedi.
“I will see you in hell!”
With that the Jedi VanGaurdian wiped his face with a ivory glove and then thrusted his golden flame blade into his jugglar. Mardan fell limp as his brother before him.

 

[Noomi Ishaati]

Doctor Ishaati watched as The Ashlakiur felled the two Sons. Her face was pained as one refused forgiveness and chose eternal death. Her orders to pacify had given way to lethal measures. The acolyrws of the Dark always tested the resolve of the creed, “There is Peace..” Their very presence made it wither, and their hostility ensured that Jedi sabers would be wet with blood.
She wondered if a day would come when sabers would lay forever idle, and the enmity between Jedi and Sith would end. The Council believed only the complete annihilation of the adherants of the dark side would ensure lasting peace. But Master Noomi disagreed with this dogma, as a healer and scientist she sought another outcome. History was rife with Jedi wiping out Sith and the Sith doing the same, an endless cycle of purges. There had to be another answer, perhaps in the ancestors, The Je’daii who for five thousand years had harmony between light and dark. Noomi kept these thoughts to herself, the unorthodoxy could mean her expulsion from the Jedi Order. Besides she could do more as she was, mending what was broken. As she watched the battle, she felt His approach. Leaving the Med Ship, and descending the ramp she saw The Darth standing with both blades burning, before him lay corpses of troopers.
“Hello Jairus, I see you plan to make my work much harder.”
She gave a smirk, even as altered as he now was, riddled in scars and machinery, she still found him attractive. Perhaps it was that even beneath the shroud he now called god, she knew the man she loved was there, hurting and angry, waiting to be comforted. Still she had to put aside her personal feelings, he was a self identified Sith Lord and had shown his capacity for destruction. She had to play this carefully, one misstep meant not only her deadest h, but the risk of yet another dark enclave joining the spectrum.

Editing

 

[Darth Halitus]

Like an Angel she emerged from her ship, he a devil wrapped in darkness, his blades of hades baying for blood. She had not changed, her beauty eclipsing everything and yet he was the Eclipse. As was her way, she broke the silence, hee remark light, and subtle.
“All angels fall. You could have come with me, instead you took up your lot with Them. That was the betrayal that sealed my destiny.”
His words had weight not only in temp, but they came from a withered heart crowned in thorns. His hatred burned with each syllable and word as he stepped closer, his twin blades held at each thigh clade in black armor.
The Father was poised to strike, though he waited for her rebuttal. A curtesy for an old friend.

 

[Halitus Veikis]

The First Son parried the two sabers of his foe, and with a well placed sweeping of his body low to the ground he rose to drive his blade through the lower abdomen and through the back. He then motioned to throw the dead Jedi over his head, and back behind; he then rose to see Mardan fall. The Knights in sparkling white were felling his brothers, he took up his saber ready to charge with a fury when the words of The Father filled his head,
“Remember the lesson on the mountain.”
Turning he saw as now only six remained of the Sons, and he kmew the omen of His Lord was proving true. Rallying his brothers, The Six Sons faced the Vanguard who made a wall of light. Veikis bore his teeth, and said to his brothers,
“Look at them sparkle! Let us show them the Eclipse!”
The First Son pointed his free hand, and growled, bolts of magenta flew at the Guard, some coiled around their masks, others found purchase in the chestplate. One of them fell from the sting, making a chink in the wall, and with a loud cry The Six Sons charged with their weapons, leaping upon the White Knights with the wrath of the dark side.

 

[Noomi Ishaati]

Noomi watched as the man she loved moved with such predatory purpose. His words venom and his memory of past events ever fractured.
“We were trying to help you, as I now am trying to help. Jairus your mind has been unsound for some time. You believe The Jedi spurned you and we’re persecuting you, when all they was that you are not well.”
She knew these words would not be well received, anytime she mentioned his mental state he would rage, and act violent. The capacity for denial was so strong and now with the dark side it was an entrenched psychosis that only extreme therapies would have the hope of mending.
“Do you remember what you said to me that night by the shore? How our love would outlast the stars. That was the night I knew I would love you forever. When we partook of the fruit of consummation. Jairus.. I need to tell you something..”
Her voice was strained, wordy painted her face as she motioned to the ramp and a young girl descended it. Her hair was long and black, her eyes gray blue, and her body clade in gray and black vestments, with skin visible at the bosom and upper thighs.
“Jairus.. this is our daughter Kuwana.”

 

[Darth Halitus]

Of all the weapons that she could have wielded, Noomi had unsheathed her greatest. The Dark Lord stepped back, looking at his Daughter. Suddenly he dropped both lightsaber hilts which rolled on the wheat colored ground.
He felt his head throb as he looked at her, she has the cheeks and bangs of her mother, and yet there was a fire in her eyes he recognized as his own.
The Father was now truly a father. He had played at the role, instructing his sons, but this was “flesh of his flesh, none of his bone.”
“Kuwana..” he said as he drew near with his hand raised to her face.
She did not flinch at his approach, he could feel he heart racing and yet she did not act afraid.
He looked at the saber clipped to her black cloth belt and one of her locks was braided, the sign of a Padawan Learner.
“A Jedi.. so.. you are learning to be like your mother.”
He looked to Noomi,
“Why did you not tell me?! She is fully grown! You kept her from me all this time? Why?!”
The pain in his tone almost cracked rock, he had been deprived of knowing his Child, and he wanted to know why.

 

[Kuwana Ishaati]

Before her Mother could answer, Kuwana spoke up,
“It was my idea. I had no desire to meet a father who abandoned us, and choose the dark path!”
Her words were laced with bitterness, she would not admit seeing him for once made her heart quake, to finally meet her dad. Instead she spit vitriol, for his aura of shadow disgusted her and his lashing out at her mother only confirmed why her Mother had hesitated to ever arrange a meeting him.
He was a Sith, and as she had heard much of her life he was unhinged, quick to temper and finding insult in everything. She hated that she shared a quick fuse, seeing Him on display made her hate herself all the more and retreat back up the ramp before she did something foolish.
Inside she sat in a chrome seat and placed her face in her hands, a stray tear she wiped away.
The conflict she felt inside made her want to scream, to feel such opposite emotions as love and hatred for a person. He had been a Shadow, lurking in the backdrop of her life and now he was there, and the truth is Kuwana wanted to go back to when he was just some disappointment, some monster she could blame for the pain that ate at her soul. Now having faced him, it grew more potent and she wanted to be rid of all memory of him.

 

[Halitus Veikis]

The battle with the Ashlauri was proving frutiful when Veikis sensed it, The Father was in distress and outnumbered. Breaking from his brothers he cut at the waist of one White Knight, leaving a molten orange mark as he made haste across the Field of Infirmity. When he came to the Med Ship he saw His Lord disarmed and standing before him two women, one was familair, her blond hair burned in his memory,
“Noomi..”
The other was far younger and she retreated inside the ship after shouting something to The Father. There was no exchange of blows, there was only words, and emotion. Veikis considered return back to the field, and as he looked back he saw the Asherium marching towards him, two of his brothers were being dragged, Kravas and Naile. The First Son approached them his saber extinguished. One of the White Knights stepping towards him, ans spoke, a female voice,
“You are beaten brave of Bogan, yield and you shall not die on this field.”
Veikis felt a strong desire to paint those pure robes with blood. And yet with The Father occupied, and most of his brothers slain, he had to decide on the wisest course of action.
He reached out with his saber hilt and handed it to her. The Vangaurdian took it and Veikis with his two unconscious brothers were taken to the Med Ship.

 

[Noomi Ishaati]

There was much to tend to, Jairus was getting temperamental and Kuwana was responding in kind. She had long seen traits in their daughter that reminded her of him.
“She’s emotional. This was not an easy meeting to orchestrate. I kept her from you because I was afraid.. I had this little girl and you had gone into exile. I had to make hard decisions. I am not justifying all I did, but I had my reasons.”
She did not know if her appeal would get past the fog of his fury. That was one of chief reasons she had kept father and daughter apart, Jairus was unpredictable and she feared what hen might do, especially being a Darksider.
“Jairus.. rather than dwell on what has past, look to the future. You have a daughter, she needs a father. Come home with us!”
The earnestness in her voice was matched by desperation. Ahe had not been a romantic, her domain was reason. That all changed when she met Jairus and Kuwana was born. She had to juggle the heart and mind, and her mind told her that the happy family scenario was as likely as seeing a Mythasaur on Mandalore. Still she hoped that the revelation of being a father might move Jairus to consider laying down his dark ways.

 

[Darth Halitus]

The Dark Lord watched as his flesh retreated into the vessel. He was about to follow up with a furious word directed at Noomi when she began to plead with him to come with them, to be father. She was always good at redirecting his emotions, something he had come to depend upon.
“You would have me after all this time?”
His voice was not the cold and confident tone that normally pervaded over his tongue, but broken like his own flesh.
For the first time he felt his mania ebb and the consideration of her proposal became serious in his mind.
“I cannot easily forsake my ways.. I cannot be as I have been.”
He was offering terms of surrender, “let me be as I am, love even this dark husk and I will come to you.”
He brooder on this as he waited for her response. The fact Noomi still loved him and they had a daughter fo bind them forever together; both bloods flowing within her made him amenable to accepting her offer.

 

[Noomi Ishaati]

Noomi walked over to Jaorus and placed her soft hand on his pale cheek.
“I would have you as you are. I need your forgiveness as much as you need mine. I let fear delay what should be more important than allegiances to Orders, devotion to family.”
She placee her head on his chest below his chin, his blood curls draping over his pipes and tubes. She could feel his heart beating with a great thud.
Closing her eyes The Doctor listened to his labored breathing and contemplated the methods in which she could ease it, for many new breakthroughs in medicine had made it possible to heal ling tissue.
There she was held by the Man she had feared was gone. The Jedi telling her that he was beyonf hope. She knew they were wrong, and that all he needed was time.

 

[Halitus Veikis]

Veikis was brought to the scene of The Father and the Enemy in embrace. The Ashlakiur making a circle around them. The First Son was disturbed by his Master disarmed and holding a Jedi Master in his arms. He eyed with his black pupils that bubbled like hot oil. Kravas and Naile we laid on the ground, both devoid of consciousness. Veikis decided he had to do something, to rouse The Father to action,
“Father! Your Sons are decimated! Look upon all that remains lf your work!”
He began walking towards them, the White Knights keeping their saber pikes pointed on him.
“Have you forgotten your promise? That I am to be your successor?! That the Vrapas shall take their place in the galaxy!”
He made a fist,
“Has this Jedi Witch bespelled you as she did at The Outpost? Do you not remeber what you said it her, ‘you do not know the power of the dark side!”
The First Son was entreating hard his Pater, beseeching him to act.

 

[Darth Halitus]

The Darth heard the voice of his First Son and turned to look at his irate face. His words about promises painted in his protest.
“Veikis.. you do not understand.. I have a..”
He saw the Ashlakiur forming around them with pikes, which made him look at Noomi in the face.
“Tell them to stand down.. this boy is like a Son to me. He is strong in the Force.”
The Father could feel the tension in his prized pupil, it was buildong into a storm, and he sensed what would come next..
The White Knights were beginning to converge on him and Noomi, he looked at his two saber hilts on the ground, they were stirring, beginning to tremble. He looked over at Veikis,
“Noooooooooooooo!”

 

[Noomi Ishaati]

Noomi lifted her head off Jairus to see a angered youth, one she had faced before. She felt the shiver of the Shadoe building, and she called oit to Ashlakiur,
“Stand down! Cease hostilities at once!”
The Head Mistress of the Vanguard replied,
“Negative. We have ordera to pacify these Darksiders.”
Noomi looked at the Mistress and said,
“Jeneca! I gave you an order!”
Jeneca looked with her visor,
“You are compromised by emotion, I hereby take authoriy and in accordance with Jedi Law command that these Sith be arrested and taken back for tribunal and executed for their crimes.”
Noomi unclipped her larimar lightsaber and ignited it,
“I cannot let you do that!”
The Mistress pointed her pike tip,
“Ashlakiur! Sieze Doctor Ishaati for treason!”

 

[Kuwana Ishaati]

Inside the ship Kiwana sat in the chair full of so mucj emotion, when ahe finallt rose uo and looked out the cockpit window she saw her parents in an embrace, the scene seemed to freeze, like a portrait. She had to fight a smile, when she saw some other Darksider emerge with the White Knights. He was addressing her father as his own, and seemed poised to pounce. Then Jeneca and her Mother were talking and to her surprise Mother drew a saber against a fellow Jedi. Kuwana decided to exit the Med Ship and descend the ramp where she saw the whirlwind of violence about to land. She did not know what to do. Her head was still throbbing for earlier events, so she waited with one finger im his saber hilt.

 

[Halitus Veikis]

Veilis siezed the moment, as the Mistress of the Vanguard turned on the Witch, he began charging forward, calling to the ligjtsabers of his Lord, one flying up to him as he snapped the blade of blood to life, and aimed his thrust for Noomi.
He wanted to cut her down for many reasons, one being revenge, the other that she had a hold over The Father that needed to be cut. He closed the distance, and the tip found purchase in her chest cavity, making her cry out as she stumbled back, and landed in arms of Darth Halitus. Kravas and Naile who had been limo, stirred and began to rush some of Ashlakiur, Kravas taking one of pikes and plucking it from the warrior in white threw it into the head of another, making them fall. Naile unsheathed a hidden blace in his boot and gut stabbed another Ashlakiur.
The tide was turning for the Sons, the tactic of surrender had worked.

 

[Darth Halitus]

The Father was horrified as first First Son dealt a blow to his love. The strike was severe, and pointing his hands he unleashed a current of Force Lightning on Veikis and threw him over the ramp.
“Noomi!”
He grabbed her in his arms and held her tight, her chest heaving, blood choking her wind pipe. The Dark Lord ripped his mouth piece off and palced it on her, feeding her oxygen from his respirslator. He then carried her inside the med ship. The Ashlakiur were busy engaging Kravas and Naile, The Mistress halted her attack when she saw The Sith Lord had turned on his own disciple and was helping Master Noomi.

 

[Halitus Veikis]

Veikis smirked as he drove thay blade into her, and then to his shock, The Father turned a torrent of Lightning on him and threw The First Son. His body was steaming as he laid then in agony, groaning. Why had he been punished for doing what His Master could not?
After a moment to gather himself, he picked up a lightsaber hilt, and then felt himself kicked by a boot as he heard the snap hiss of a saber. Looking up he saw it was the Girl who he saw earlier, she was charging at him with a yellow jasper blade. He activated his blood blade and made a grunt of anger as he rushed to meet her.

 

[Kuwana Ishaati]

To her horror she watched as the Young Man drove a saber into her Mother’s heart. She joined her Father in the scream and was only comforted to see He not only burned the Boy but gave her Mother his oxygen and was heading into the Med Bay. She turned seeing the Sith Scum on his back, she snapped her blade to life and rushed him, kicking the Darksider in the chest and then beating his blood blade eith a flurry of cuts. She let the tumult in her soul ring loudly as with each strike she sang in screams of anger, pushing the Dark Son backward, his face painted with a smirk as if this outburst was giving him glee. She used the Force to pull him and drove her knee into his jaw, and pinned him on the ground.
“I will carve you into a hundred pieces!”
She then began to beat his face with the pummel of his saber and scream loudly. Her anger filled each blow until she realized that with each blow he seemed more cheerful and she let go.