That Darkness which Illuminates the Cursed Void

[Bass]

To sleep was to walk in a world of nightmares.

This one was different from normal. He knew he was asleep, knew it was all a dream, and yet he felt compelled to move forward, to continue down the path ahead of him, that grew ever darker and starved for light.

Every instinct screamed that it was a trap, that to go on was to face them, and yet still he walked on.

There was someone else ahead of him. A girl, he thought, and some sort of humanoid, by the manner in which she walked. Someone he knew maybe, back before it all. A fellow student, or maybe a teacher, or... Was there ever anyone else in his life, but masters and servants?

He followed, one foot in front of the other, and all the while the blackness closed in around him, the curse reaching out and smothering all sense and sound and hope. Somewhere behind him, he could hear movement, a skittering crawl, like that of some giant insect. He dared not turn and face it, that was a lesson learned years ago.

You could never face them, you could only run. Always forward, always away.

All his senses were gone now, saw only a mist so thick it hurt to breathe, heard only the beating of his heart and the blood rushing through his veins. His hands closed around his lightaber, for what little good it would do.

He walked straight into the figure ahead of him, who had been stopped now for some time. He remained stunned only momentarily, then quickly dropped back into a fighting stance, lightsaber at the ready.

The figure stood motionless, clearly feminine in form. Somehow in spite of the depth of the blackness he could see every detail clearly, from the curvature of her hips to the blood-soaked metallic arms, and the clearly cybernetic spine.

She turned, slowly and deliberately until she faced him, and Bass felt all his defiance and rage vanish, replaced only by confusion and fear.

His mirror image took one step forward and reach out with metal claws soaked in gore to caress his face.

***

He had awoken then, with no sudden starts or fits. Another clue that this nightmare had been different. A message perhaps? A warning?

Right now it didn't matter, a small display in the corner of the compartment indicated that the shuttle would be landing on the planet momentarily. He had reached his destination, the Sith Academy on Glee Anslem.

The Jedi had failed, as he knew they would. Why he had even bothered he couldn't say. If the Dark Side had placed the curse on him, then to the Dark Side he would go to see it removed.

Fare was paid silently, and the master of the freighter asked no questions as to why a cyborg mercenary would choose to go to the nursery planet of the One Sith. But getting to the planet would be the easy part, getting to the academy itself would be more difficult. Its location was secret, and Bass has spent most of his money on getting to the planet. He had a somewhat riskier plan in mind for the next step.

Spoiler

This is an open thread for a Knight or Master (or two or three) and anybody else who thinks they have a handle of dark Sith sorcery. Please jump in or PM me if you have questions.

 

[Bass]

It was a stupid karking plan, really, but he didn't have many better ideas. Especially not now, now that the dreams had changed. Something had changed, and he didn't know what or how or why. He could always keep running, that was an option, but he'd only escaped the last presence because of sheer luck. One more mistake and...

Well he'd just prefer not to find out. The mere thought left him shivering.

The spaceport he'd landed at was part of a small above-water outpost mostly used as a trade post by the aquatic Nautolans to interact with offworlders. The Sith presence on the planet was relatively light, which made sense for a place with a secret academy. What little information there was on Glee Anslem had indicated there was a small Naval presence operating out of an orbital station. They provided most of the security as well, with a number of garrison-precincts on the surface or on floating cities.

Underwater the Nautolans were largely left to their own devices. It was basically standard One Sith policy, so long as you paid your taxes and provided resources and manpower for the military, the local government remained in charge. Dissent wasn't tolerated (nor were Jedi, obviously), and there was always an upper level of Imperial Administration to ensure things were running smoothly and in accordance with Imperial orders, but don't fix what isn't broken was the rule of the day.

Assuming you didn't kark it up, of course. Retribution for failure or sedition was swfit and brutal. The garrisons weren't just there for police work.

It was to the local spaceport garrison that Bass headed. He figured he had a 50/50 shot of winding up dead vs. getting in touch with a Sith, but that was better than nothing. It didn't take long to find the building, nestled in an uncrowded section of the spaceport complex so as not to let the presence of black armored Sith Naval troopers disturb the process of trade.

It was a small building, probably hosting only a single company of troops. Assuming they followed standard procedure around one third would be on patrol in small groups, one third on duty at the station, and the last third off duty.

One washed up mercenary Jedi vs. fifty highly trained troops. Not exactly a fair fight.

There was a pair of armored troopers outside in the black armor the Sith Navy had adopted as standard, and both of them took visible notice of Bass as he approached. They made no movement to stop him, however, and he passed through the entrance with no problems. A second pair of armored troopers manned the security gate, and there was certainly a Quick Reaction squad somewhere inside the facility.

But Bass wasn't looking for a fight. He stepped through the scanner, which promptly went off, to no one's surprise. The two troopers raised their rifles in a not strictly hostile manner, and a uniformed but unarmored soldier approached with a hand scanner.

He wouldn't need it. Bass swept aside his cloak to reveal his lightsaber, then promptly raised his hands in a non-threatening manner and spoke.

"I surrender."

The reaction of the soldiers was immediate. The unarmored man had drawn his sidearm before Bass could finish raising his hand, and was yelling at him to not move. He could sense but not see the two soldiers who had been outside step in, and a moment later a shot from a blaster set on stun slammed into his back.

Couldn't blame them for not taking chances. Hopefully the next step was radioing to a Sith for support dealing with a rogue Jedi.

Spoiler

Any takers? No? Anyone?