Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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"The Crucible" Antithesis prologue

Now most folks when they find something new are a bit cautious. Take time and precautions to make sure what they have is not deadly or poses a threat. This is what a wise man would do...

This is the story of how I lost ten years of my life in the blink of an eye. How I discovered the secrets of Bio-tech and how I learned the true meaning of pain...

It all began simply enough. The relief work on Skor II was proceeding well enough and my role in the aftermath was coming to and end. I had called in a "105" medium transport to pick me up as well as the Vision-class luxury yacht I had paid a small fortune for but still was not working right. The "105" had been on a special run but I in my infinite wisdom I had decided my needs were more important. As it was with every decision I was playing right into her plan. A pawn only seeing the small picture and failing to know what damage I was creating.

It was just before we left the Salvagestuff Station when I first met her. I didn't know it at the time but she had many faces, may pawns and may purposes. This face was that of a mere deliveryman, a nondescript human carrying a half meter large durasteel box.

He said little but handed it to me, noting I should read the card.

:: To Red haired Awesome Fit it Guy, Thanks for not dying and oh saving us as well. The big strong tough people of Super Awesome salvagestuff station::

I actually remembered being touched by the sentiment. I figured most folks didn't know what I had done during the battle of Skor II and the funny thing is I was right.

It was in my personal cabin that I decided to give my present my full attention. We had already entered hyperspace and were on route to Kal'shebbol. Opening the small crate a found only a single object inside. A rather large purple and grey egg shaped object to be exact. It was smooth to the touch and at the top had the outline of a hand. Never one to ignore the obvious I placed my hand in the spot and was shocked by what happened next.

No sooner had I done so then my hand became locked in place. I couldn't move it no matter how hard I tried. Soon a feeling of pain came into it as it felt like a million tiny needless stabbed into my palm all at once. The pain soon though passed to an intoxicating stupor as the world around me faded to black.

Day 1 / 3650
 
These younger races make such excellent toys. So innocent and self absorbed she almost felt bad in using them so. That is if she was capable of such emotions. The reality was she lost the ability to experience such emotions as empathy and understanding long ago. When one as lived as long as she had you come to a cold but real understanding of the true meaning of life, and that is life is meaningless. The only thing that matters is the cause, and the truth means everything.

This young one had surprised her. His resistance to the spawn had been impressive. Three weeks, a mere blink of any eye to one of her age was an eternity to one of flesh such as he. Many of her best creations could have lasted only a few days again the spawn will but this one, calling himself Bryce Bantam had lasted far longer then he should have. It was the main reason she had let him live after the spawn was done with him. Why she had her minions drag him into the crude medical devise these humans used called a bacta tank to repair him. She wished to study him further but he would need to be in better health before she could do as she wished.

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She looked at the first RSD the spawn had created. The first of thousands that would soon flow through this ship. It was a curious thing, nothing like she had envisioned it should be. The ones first created by the Charon were organic, insect looking creatures. This one was so, metallic, ordered and... human. Another by product of this Bryce no doubt. No matter, they would still serve her purpose. Soon they would take this ship apart atom and atom and re-build her into a creation of wondrous destruction.

And she would have this Bryce Bantam to thank, and thank him she would...

Day 25 / 3650
 
The day never starts out well when you wake up floating in a bacta tank. My next memories after encountering the egg were of looking out onto the medical bay of the "105" through the bacta fluid I had slumbered in. My mind was scattered as I tried to bring it back to full operation. It had been combed through and picked apart relentlessly and the rebuilding process was still not complete.

Two burning yellow eyes. That was the next thing I remembered. Then a flash of fire and I was pulled from the healing gel and dumped unceremoniously onto the cold hydrofomed floor. The medical droids that had come with the ship now seemed to only obey her commands as when I tried to order them to help they just stood silent and stared at be blankly.

I blinked a few more times as I tried to bring into focus what looked like fire in the shape of a woman. "My crew, are they save?"

28 / 3650
 
Noble this one, wakes from weeks of torture and all he cares about is the crew.

"Those that made it off before, well I arrived should be fine. The rest well they were, how can I say it delicious."

She could see anger suddenly blaze into the young mans eyes. It was surprising, a welcome sight indeed. He had intellect, that is why she had chosen him to be the vessel of the R'gan'ip. From his frail little mind he had the honor of helping form the shape of the first one. What was to come to be would be a little to "pretty" for her tastes but its' power would be breath taking. The small being before him would have worn out his usefulness had he not shown these flashes of intrigue to her.

"Anger, in the face of me, where is your fear little one. Where is your awe."

She was not used to resistance and his battles again the spawn and now this demanded study.

"We will need to find it, open you mind to me child, I will soon know how to break you."
 
The pretty face on the outside hid what Bryce could only call a demon within. For days they had played mind games, for hours he had been forced to relive his worst memories. He had watched his mother torn apart by bogstockers a powerful and painful memory from his childhood. Watched Cague die by his hands days on end. Saw the blank face of death in Alexa's eyes when she met her end in the sky's above Castimeer. All his most haunting memories played on repeat for him.

As he fought he wondered where was the force, he could not feel it. Both the light and the dark was missing. Where was he, how could their be no force, no energy about him? This beyond the horrors he now relived troubled him most. He had called upon it may times since his ordeal had began but it had been silent, elusive, missing.

Forced to fight on without it he had felt days, slip into weeks, weeks into months. Time in his existence seemed to have no meaning. He had turned to logic, to keep him from falling to madness or despair. As he relived each memory he spit part of his attention on his captor and torture. As she worked his could feel it, over time. Either she was weakening or he was growing stronger. He only needed to hand on... try to hang on...

254 / 3650
 
“You tougher than you should be, I have seen the strongest users of the force crack and slip into madness but you boy, you remain stubborn. You resist my gifts, force me to do things to you, unspeakable things and still you remain obstinate why?

She did expect an answer, nor did she get one. What had been well over a year of mental and physical torture had left him silent. Gone was the wisecrack, the humor he had hid in. Cut off from the force he was without his supernatural gifts to respond. He had no gadget, or cleaver relic to use. He mind and body now flayed, lay bare before the ethereal Kathol. But the spark, the soul of him shined bright, undimmed, undying in stark contrast to his mortal shell.

“What holds you here? I have pushed you past the point of death, even the unique modifications you have made to your flesh should not be enough to sustain you. Death should have claimed you for its’ own. Why do you persist…”

513 / 3650
 
Eva was unrelenting, it was why he had chosen to remain when others of her race had moved onto another plane of existence. She feared us, those that could use the force. All the Kathol did. After what the dark Jedi had done to them many millennia ago, forced them from their mortal bodies and into this formless existence. She was hell bent on revenge, like the dark Jedi she so hated she used her rage to sustain her and the irony of this was not lost on Bryce.

“This ends Eva,” I said standing before her definitely. “You have failed my knee will not bend to serve you. You can only kill me, but you won't will you...

A rye smile came over Bryce’s face one lost all those months ago had returned...

“If I die who will fly her? Yes I know your little secret, you left yourself no out. You were so confident, so sure I would cave that you left no other option, no recourse. Kill me now and this ship now taking form around us will have no captain, she will be mavric, and answer to nothing. End the process and she will die, unfinished she will not survive when she enters back into normal space. Failure, utter failure it is all you see. But it need not be, I have another way. MINE…”

Bryce let his words hang in the air for a minute before continuing.

“This is the last chance you have to create this is it not, the last seed? Why is she taking so long? None of the others have, am I right?”

He then walked over and place his hand on a newly formed bulkhead.

"... you are no quantity or number; you are the beginning the starting point. Before you there were none, you are the point at which all other are made, if you go now, no other will be born..."


Bryce turned his attention back to Eva.

“Zero is my creation, my child. In this roll we are reversed. While you have given me the seed you have done little else in that time. In between the moments you have worked to control me I have guided every step of her growth. Now she obeys me, she has reached the age of understanding…”

“Raise containment field…”

802 / 3650
 
The Kathol had long ago learned the secret of the void stone, how to harvest it from the reaches of other space… She had so carefully used them to weaken Bryce, keep him contained, controlled. But he had not been as powerless as she now realized. He had somehow been reading her mind, learning… How had she failed to see this. Like a great hunter he had been waiting, taking his time and stalking her. Like a gambler with a face of stone he had shown no tells. Her worst fear had been realized, her lack of form meant she was able to go where she pleased, pass from location to location with the ease of a demi-god. All that was now gone, only glowing walls of photons, electrons and plasma greeted her.

How would she now be tortured? For nearly two years she had abused him, using any means short of killing him to attain control. If his mind was devious enough to do this, what horrors had be planned for her...

805 / 3650
 
Bryce stool over the containment cage as he spoke to his prisoner.

“Fear is the mind killer old one, it surrounds you like a cold, wet blanket. But still like an old friend it comforts you. I’ll let it comfort you a little while longer…”

With that Bryce left the research lab where he had transferred the Kathol. He was content to let her sit with fear, let it weaken her. The less he did the more she would worry and while it was a bit twisted for him, considering what he had been through it a worthy penance. Besides he had other duties to attend to now he was free. One of the most important being his own health. Returning to the medical bay he prepared for his daily bacta treatments. The damage Eva had inflicted on him was near total as nare a cell of his own remain other than the grey matter of his mind. She had torn fingers from his hand; burned, electrocuted and cut both organ, flesh and bone alike. After each session Bryce had been left barely alive and in the care of the ship's medical droid. What Eva had not know is Bryce had been guiding its’ actions though his skills in Mechu-deru. Along with rebuilding him after each session it had been making changes to the ship as well, slowly moving and removing the void stone from walls, floor and ceiling decreasing its’ effects and allowing him with each passing day to increase his connection to the force.

Yes today he would allow himself another day to heal, another day for Zero to grow, and another horror filled night of self inflicted torture for the old Kathol.

809 / 3650
 
She would feel the cage moving, but the lack of a presence mean it was probably one of those damned metal drones. They were the reason she was here. Cold, mindless automatons. With her isolation she had time to realize many thing, most of all how utterly she had underestimated Bryce.

As she stewed in her anger she suddenly noticed the walls of energy fall around her. This had to be another trap, he heart told her to flee, run for her ancient life. But unlike before she felt weak, powerless, and most of all scared.

As she slowing phased through the uncharged walls of the holding vessel she materialized in a room of photons and light. In the center he felt his presence, the creature who had done this to her. The pathetic youngling, the cursed force using fleshbag.

All those months of isolation had created a rage in her that needed to be quenched. A price she would now take from him once again. Locking in on him she transmutted back into fire form and charged Bryce with all her might.

“I hate you!”

850 / 3650
 

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