Private The Ghost and The Dragon

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Wearing: Interceptor Gear

Armed With: Nathan's Saberstaff

With: Moya Virtu

Currently aboard: Derelict Luxury Station


Climate control was a constant crisis aboard this station. Even with Nathan and Moya bringing in scavenged supplies whenever possible, they were just two people trying to fix whole kilometers of non essential electrical systems, with what few Utility Droids they could restore to function. A work force was needed but there was no one to trust.

At least they had gotten the damn shower working in the former owner's master bedroom, after hours of cleaning and sterilizing with industrial grade solvents.

Unfortunately, it was the only shower they had gotten working, meaning they had to take turns. Nathan went second this time, scrubbing quickly with cheap shampoo through his hair and cheaper soap before exiting the shower and dressing in a gray t-shirt, black sweatpants, and floppy sandals and went out to the barely restored kitchen, poured himself some cheap cereal normally sold to children (He innately despised the colorful marshmallow pieces mixed in with already sugary corn based cereal. At least, he THOUGHT they were marshmallows.).

He heard Moya enter the run down barely functional office.

"Please tell me you remembered that plasma torch I needed to cut through that sealed door on deck two." Nathan grumbled as she walked in. He was never happy to see her. Moya, for her part, thought he could barely tolerate being around her, blaming her in part for the disaster his daughter had become. He wasn't exactly incorrect about this, in Moya's opinion.

He seemed to be more tightly wound than Laertia had ever been, Moya thought to herself as she walked in wearing her old dress. Never any idle talk. No chit chat. Never anything personal. Never anything that made him less of an enigma. She didn't even know if his current name was his real one or a crude alias.

"Yes. Did you remember to make the synth crystals I asked for?" Moya asked right back as she placed the plasma torch pack on a counter in the kitchen.

"Yeah..." he muttered, not looking her direction as he pointed at the pouch on the broken table.

"Good..." she said. "Now get dressed. We're going to Susefvi..."

Nathan bothered to look up at last. "Why there?"

"To talk business. There is a Jensaarai who needs advice on a Dark Side shrine. A shrine made by The Cult.

Nathan finished his cereal, not saying anything. Then he headed to his room, also not saying anything.

When he came back out, he was in his typical pitch black biker leathers, armed with his saberstaff.

"Let's go." Was all he said, brushing past her in the hangar, grabbing the synth crystals.

Moya sighed. Not even curious. His hatred for the Cult was intense, visceral. He could barely talk about them without the glint of murder entering his eyes.

Present...

They had arrived to the peaceful looking world in an old Venture Class Star Galleon Moya had purchased ages prior, run by a Skeleton crew consisting of the odd pair, teamed up only by guilt and the need to defeat and destroy their own daughter and the Cult she was master of.

Little did they know, walking to the Jensaarai Enclave, that they would soon have a run in with Draco Miles , who had been assigned to retrieve the shrine contents for House Io...

 

[Draco Miles]

Wearing: Gucci Power Armor

Armed with: Custom lightsaber

Traveling with: Me, myself, and I ;-; (excluding my boy piloting the ship)

Currently on Khemost!

At her master’s quarters she learned of her task: Retrieve the dark shrine from a Jensaarai. She of course had her questions of who she was looking for, what it looked like, all those quirky little details when it came to stealing and pillaging… but it would be fun~ a mission she was very much used to, an opportunity to let loose and relax by crushing skulls in her hands and beneath her feet!

She took her small little assassin ship and advanced to her destination, having received her information before Nathan Bloodscrawl was an advantage she’d take, landing and hiding her ship in the caves of the land. The plains and savanna’s Far too open for her liking, and a subterranean setting allowed for her to be a little noisy as well as set up a holding area for hostages.

Sheesh, that’s one hell of a ship… she saw Nathan and his crew on a scanner when entering the atmosphere, or at least, the neutralizer Albert did. He notified Draco and she prepared to hide in the shadows for a perfect ambush~

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Where'd you get that vessel?" Nathan asked Moya.

"Derelict, like the station. Galaxy's lousy with them these days..." Moya answered as they walked the plains of Susefvi. "I learned to scavenge such things from Laertia."

Nathan's frozen, grim expression hardened.

"What do you think made her choose them in the end?" he asked quietly.

"Laertia doesn't have to be the hero in order for the Jedi to have been completely fanatical little chits obsessed with wiping out the Sith." Moya answered with a sudden edge of bitterness he hadn't heard before. "There was a race called the Bryn'adul and they were--"

"I know that part. Percival Io and me eventually got around to speaking about her motivation. What makes me curious is why she never snapped out of it. Why she gave herself to the Cult utterly." Nathan said in a snappish, irritated manner.

Moya paused, the wind blowing through chocolate hair.

"She killed since she was a child to survive. Her mind was irreparably damaged on that basis alone. No amount of meditation can relieve the burden of memories. No amount of attempting to live normally is gonna erase the guilt."

Moya begin walking, stopping as she noticed a small field of blue flowers. Nathan took in the scent, standing next to her, but his expression remained unchanged.

He truly derives no joy from this... Moya realized, analyzing him silently due to her Psychological treatment protocols.

Conclusion: Severe Depression. Possible subconscious death wish.

(Cutaway of Charles Bronson shooting muggers in an alley)

"It can only be managed. The damage mitigated to mentally bearable and emotionally survivable levels." Moya continued, watching a butterfly land on a flower next to her. "But it's a lifelong battle. One is never done fighting. Struggling. As...as morally questionable as it was to program me to act like her Mother, I am also confronted by the inarguable fact that...in all likelihood, if she hadn't had someone there for her in those days...she likely would have been six, maybe seven months away from jumping off a cliff."

Moya paused, swallowing hard, blinking back tears. Nathan's expression did not change.

"But even if she hadn't inherently compromised my Psychological Therapy database by designating me as her parent...she was just too damaged for me to treat effectively...she should have been institutionalized at the earliest opportunity...regardless of how it would have hurt me."

Nathan's expression barely softened by a fraction.

"You were given an impossible task. Julia was after love, not therapy. I'm guessing that deep down, she didn't want your help. And for your part, you were overwhelmed by an emotion you were able to contemplate, examine in others, but had no clue for how to actually deal with when experiencing it for yourself."

Moya realized how fethed up he was that that was the nicest thing she had ever heard him say.

"It's said that how you deal with the bad part of Love is what determines your character, what determines the Dark Side's hold over you..." Moya said softly. (KOTOR REFERENCE #321999765444!: 90 XP)

Her face fell. "Julia was awful at dealing with the bad part of Love. And the Cult knew that."

"But to choose the people who killed her own parents..." Nathan said, nauseated by the horrible reality of it but refused to look weak, and so hid it.

"Is it so hard to understand?" Moya asked. "Socially awkward woman with no experience at normal Civilian life, suffering from a pronounced, life long speech impediment. Barely understands existence without Weaponry. Warped, idealized concept of familial ties. No experience at mating or romance, nor even a concept of how to look alluring. Then she encounters a creature that talks fast, is dressed in a skintight catsuit, is gorgeous and knows and exploits it readily, and despite all your own personal shortcomings, all the things that you would expect to cause someone to look elsewhere after looking at you, she keeps paying attention. "

Moya began walking away from the field of flowers, Nathan silently following.

"In other words, The Cult was everything she secretly wanted for herself." Nathan noted. "But she resisted The Cult at first, and tried to go for what she thought would be a safe substitute with...with..."

Nathan paused, dropping to the ground and throwing up in sheer horror and disgust at what had happened between her and her Mother's Killer. He couldn't even speak the name of Syd Celsius out loud without going red faced. He wanted to tear his hair out at the sheer scale of perversions to his daughter's life, not just at the horror of running into a reprogrammed Phyre thanks to that bastard Zabka being unable to let go of his fallen apprentice, but of a piece of that horror hiding and warping her original Master (Who was an abomination herself) into a copy of the beast that had consumed Lysandra Crownwraithe.

And both of them managing to seduce her in the same way, for the same reasons. While also being seduced by a corruption of the woman who had murdered Nathan's parents.

All those Julia loved most had destroyed his life. Did that mean she hated him for not being there? Or had she wanted a piece of actual, tangible history she could hold onto for her own sense of identity so badly she would settle for the worst parts rather than nothing at all?

Moya watched as Nathan regained his composure, offering him a flask of water. He washed out his mouth with it, spitting it out on the grass and they resumed their walk to a woodland area, not knowing they had gone right into the kill box of Draco Miles

 

[Draco Miles]

The most fun part about joining a dark side oriented faction was the sweet gear one can get, such as Draco obtaining her armor, and some extra abilities. In her training she had learned how to make illusions, traps, and the likes. One she had perfected was a squad of model 1s surrounding the victim, she made sure that every bit of them was authentic in looks, including but not limited to: their heat sources, power outputs, how they sound even when idle, and their voice!

All around them they heard an eerie whistling, echoing through their minds and hopefully sending chills down their spines. A slow and haunting tone to it as a trap was sprung, the ground around them glowing with runes and illuminating the entire battalion of model 1 house Io droids, all pointing their standard issue rifles straight at them. Their metallic skeletons and humanoid shape most likely very familiar to the pair, as every set of glowing red eyes affixed themselves upon Nathan and Moya.

Nathan Bloodscrawl truly had only one choice: surrender, or die. Draco would present these options to him

“You have a choice. Surrender, and lead us to the Jensaarai, or die here. You have to the count of three before you will be fired upon. 1.”

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"We surrender..." Nathan said. "But we will not betray the Jensaarai to you." Something felt off about all this though. How had she gotten a Battalion of these deadly Droids (He inwardly shuddered at their skull like visage. Only a hunger to kill could have made her fashion them so.) through League Space without being caught? How had she gotten them in under the noses of the Jensaarai?

"I sense the teachings of Countess Belasko upon you, young one." Moya said to Draco Miles . "Tell me, do you know the significance of the man next to me? Do you know who he is to Laertia?"

 

[Draco Miles]

Damn, her illusions were seen through. They’d hear a growl of annoyance before the mirage disappeared and she appeared before them, all 6 feet and 11 inches of armored Sith warrior. A blue visor gazed upon Nathan Bloodscrawl and sized him up… who the hell was this guy?

To Moya, she’d notice the dual bladed lightsaber along Draco’s hips, but in her hand was some sort of powerful relic… maybe that was why she was able to cast such an intricate illusion? Just what was that? It fit in her hand with a tight grip, but it was much to small, and lacked the proper emitter, to be a light saber.

“I’ll be honest…. No. Nor do I care. You will give up the location of the Jensaarai, or I will bring you both in cold. Laertia herself specified how it was done was not important”

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Bullchit." Moya said. "If she really wanted us dead she wouldn't have sent you. She'd do it herself."

"But if you want a shot at the title, come and take it..." Nathan snapped, Lightsaber sliding into his hand from up his sleeve. His Dark Blue blade ignited.

"This man is Morris Crownwraithe. Laertia's father." Moya explained.

"I ate feths like you for breakfast in the Plague." Nathan growled. "Put up or shut up, Sith. And you can tell Arianna I don't mind watching her burn at the stake again if it comes down to it."

Nathan lunged for Draco Miles , a diagonal slice for her wrist holding the trinket...

 

[Draco Miles]

Orders are now clear… KILL!!! Draco ignited her own saber as Nathan Bloodscrawl’s came crashing down, she stuck her hand out and caught his blade between the dual set-up of her own, pinning his weapon and allowing her to take advantage of his fighting stance, since he most likely was going for a powerful swing, if both hands were holding onto the sword, it’d make her next move even easier.

She hit him with a NASTY left hook. With her already base strength greater than that of a wookie, her armor only augmented it further to make her more powerful. She went straight for the knock-out on Nathan Bloodscrawl since she didn’t want to take precautions, her actions exceedingly quick when Imbued with the force in order to make sure there was no other outside interference, in case Moya was force sensitive, and her skills only refined from the years she had spent hunting Jedi and her training under countess Belasko. She would not falter in Combat, not when her tasks were so evident, she was a soldier following orders after all.

She followed her left hook with a quick knee upwards, if the punch connected, hitting the family jewels, or stomach if he managed to stumble back, rather forcefully. She wanted to demonstrate her brutality, her ruthlessness, she would not do only what was necessary. Total domination was the only way

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

That strange flat blade of fire, pronged, ignited in Draco Miles ' hand as she caught the blade, and he could only use the Force to reduce the strength of the injury from her punch, having backed away so that she caught him in the ribs instead of the face, though he felt his ribs nearly break. He almost certainly had a fracture. But Nathan's very being was filled with pain. He wasn't stranger to it.

His saber blade was broken, dissipating at the strength of her own blade, and his Soresu training allowed him to barely evade the follow up attack with her knee, though it sent spurts of sharp pain in his side. Moya didn't interfere, preferring to let the two get it out of their system.

Nathan retaliated, trying to dull her perception and reflexes with the Force by focusing his will on her brash and combat eager mind, and trying to stun Draco Miles with the Force, his saber still deactivated.

A Lava Crystal. It must be. Only a blade powered by one of those could break another Lightsaber so easily... he thought to himself. He would have to be careful. Such a blade was basically an Infinity+1 Sword in RPG terminology.

But more than that...he sensed strange little gasps of both Arianna AND some version of Darth Phyre within the powerful crystal itself...

All the more reason to defeat her. She had much to tell, he suspected.

 

[Draco Miles]

Draco snarled under her helmet, falling to one knee as she groaned and roared out in what was seemingly pain from the attack, or was that anger? Either way, she was knocked down a peg to around his height as her blade deactivated once more and she seemed incapacitated, clutching at her helmet with one hand as if trying to calm a migraine she had.

If only she hadn’t dealt with these attacks before… many a padawan and knight had tried to stay true to the light via non-lethal means: such as dropping stuff on her, pushing her into objects, and most notably of all: overwhelming her senses with an abundance of the force, better known as trying to stun her. To counteract these, she had focused many a time as an assassin dedicated to reinforcing the shield she could project as defense, to protect her from underhanded things such as what Nathan Bloodscrawl came at her with.

But the strength he came at her with was something new, his prowess with the force took her by surprise, and most certainly did have an effect on her at first, her pain was genuine, but with her mental barrier fortified and reinforced, it soon ended, yet she kept acting, groaning until he halted his attack or moved towards her. If he chose to take advantage of his attack, she’d meet him with an uppercut from her left hand, to surprise him with an attack which should be coming from the right, from her saber

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan saw he had affected her but he wasn't fooled. Not entirely.

Nathan, having been faked out before, decided to fight dirty and teleported behind her, rushing in with his now reactivated Lightsaber.

The blade swung for her arm holding the lava crystal sword. His blade was on a stun setting, so while it couldn't cut through armor or flesh, the stun effect (if it succeeded) would hopefully travel through her armor to knock her out painlessly, even though the bad part of him was suggesting to just kill her and mail her back to Arianna in nice, fun sized bits.

Of course, this would also test whether or not she really was affected. She could still roll or dive out of the way or even counter attack if she was fast enough. In which case this fight just got a whole lot more interesting than usual.

And brutal. Let us not forget brutal. Especially when it comes to Draco Miles .

Nathan wasn't going to be nice in any case. She wasn't even working for the real Arianna! Just something wearing her face, like this Biot he traveled with wore his master's face. Moya Virtu observed the fight, clearly exasperated, occasionally glancing at her nails while maintaining a respectable distance.

 

[Draco Miles]

Oh lawd he teleporting! She felt his presence shift in the force, and behind her too! How rude. Impulsively acting, the ground underneath Nathan shot up into the air, narrowly missing her head and allowing her to roll out from under him, leaving them standing across from each other, just how their battle had started. Except this time, Draco would take the offensive.

Utilizing a similar strategy to him: Stunning, she’d keep her distance, slowly circling around him while she waited for a good opportunity for his guard to be raised. Once it was done, her helmet receded into her armor showing brightly lit baby blue eyes and her open maw glowing in a Similar fashion, it was a secret technique she had refined from Force Lighting, to channel the force through her body and instead of it coming from her fingertips, it came from the tips of her teeth, dozens of them, close to a hundred, acting as an arcing point to make just a few strands of lightning coalesce into a massive beam that traveled almost at the speed of light, slamming into him to deliver quite the shock

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan was caught off guard by Draco Miles lifting the ground beneath him and he was forced to back flip off the raised ground. He guarded on instinct, and when Draco unleashed the Lightning from her mouth he suffered his first major injury, the blast knocking him backward and overloading the capacitors in his jacket. Immense pain. Muscles seized up and he convulsed even as he blocked most of it.

Snarling to endure the pain, Nathan teleported to her side, striking for an exposed arm. But he was in an immense amount of pain and his swing was off slightly...

 

[Draco Miles]

A cute trick won’t work twice. She watched as Nathan fell to the ground and halted her attack to instinctively duck, he had to be attacking from behind! The dragon turned her head to see his blade narrowly missing the top of her head once more and used the potential energy from her crouched position to lurch and lunge forward, tackling the jedi to the ground to pin him there, just so she could disarm him and they could chat~

“That’s a neat trick you’ve got there. Teach it to me, tell me your ways, and you may walk away with only the injuries you have now.”

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan got tackled to the ground. The immense strength Draco Miles displayed meant he would have to struggle via normal methods to free himself.

Nathan's eye twitched when she demanded his secrets.

"I'm not about to get bossed around by one of Belasko's pet projects..."

Nathan gave a roar, yanked it free and his fist rushed towards her face plate as hard as possible in a punch that threatened to break his knuckles if it connected and possibly heavily disorient her.

Sure, this ran the risk of hurting him, but anything involving Belasko pissed him the hell off. Especially her apprentices...

 

[Draco Miles]

Maybe she should have really chose better positioning for her hands outside of his shoulders… his fist rocked into the chin of her helmet and the massive ‘CRACK!’ of flesh and bone hitting hardplate echoes throughout the forest. Her grip tightened to the point of dislocating Nathan Bloodscrawl ’s shoulder as he insulted Countess Belasko, Draco’s master, and disoriented her with the hit.

She grit her teeth and tried to keep him there, keep him from teleporting while she regained her senses. She wasn’t stars above her head dazed, but it was certainly enough to have her taking second glances at what the hell this man was. His insult to Belasko also infuriated Draco, it made her inclined to kill this bratty jedi and murder him then and there… but why? She should spare his life, capture him, let the matriarch decide what to do with him… or should she? The Amalgam was basically the one in control, and she did not like that woman in one bit of sense. Maybe she should just let him go? No! No, take him to the countess first.

So she’d beat him senseless, a quick right hook to his jaw to knock him out… wait where was the second fighter?! Before she attacked, she looked up for where Nathan’s companion was, and if she would attack

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

The fist slammed into Nathan's jaw, and he nearly blacked out from the punch, but a mix of pride and will kept him conscious, and he managed to rip an arm out of her grasp, going berserk as he tried to slam his fist into her helmet as hard as he could, not caring if it broke his hand in the attempt. If the first blow connected, he would attempt to connect with each successive blow after, even if it exposed him to counter attack. All he cared about was breaking through the faceplate to break the actual face.

Moya, in the meantime, decided playtime was over, and sent out multiple bolts of Green Light Sides Electricity, of a strength great enough to possibly knock out the apprentice of Countess Belasko. Sure, it might also knock Nathan out, but that was an acceptable risk at this point when up against the enthusiastically hands on Draco Miles . Moya didn't want to kill her, just incapacitate her long enough to knock some sense into her and possibly gather info...

 

[Draco Miles]

Draco saw the determination behind Nathan Bloodscrawl ‘s attacks and was actually admiring it. Most people would’ve lost limbs by now, but it seems the man before her was simply too angry to die. As the second punch rang out, she grabbed his wrist and yanked it across his body before attempting to slam her fist into his jaw once more.

That was until lightning began arcing across her body to incapacitate her, the familiar pain coursing through her flesh and bones before she roared out, painful memories flashing before her eyes as she was filled with rage and hate, flowing throughout her and building up into a tsunami of negative emotions, and they had to be let out somehow. Her face mask receded into her armor to reveal her ivory horns, eyes, and maw glowing a bright electric blue as she opened wide, sparks arcing between her teeth as she let out a roar while facing Moya, a massive beam of force lightning firing out in front of her like she were Godzilla, if it were avoided, the attack would slam through trees and have them explode from the amount of energy behind it*

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan could only teleport in time to tackle Moya out of the way of the City-killing breath of Draco Miles , the trees exploded so hard from the impact of the death beam that they didn't just explode, they SUPER-exploded.

But he had partly caught some of the blast tackling Moya out of the way, partly cooking his right shoulder. He was in a lot of pain right now.

No choice. She had inflicted too much damage, they had to retreat, but there was no chance of making it to the ship.

He tried reaching into her mind, using what he could recall of the Light to try and momentarily paralyze her. It was all he had strength for. The rest would have to be spent running for their lives deeper into the Wildlands of Susevfi.

Moya, seemed to understand how wounded Nathan was, but as much as she wanted to defend him, she didn't want to kill Draco.

The poor girl was just enthusiastic and misguided. She had no idea the depths of evil the Cult exhibited.

Moya launched a heavy but non lethal bolt of Judgement at the same time as Nathan launched his Force Stasis attempt. If it didn't, then they were both running for their lives a second later, except maybe the attacks had worked and Draco would be momentarily unable to chase them.

If not, Cute Dragon Sith was likely looking to give a stomping...

 

[Draco Miles]

Another stun attack that she was expecting as she watched the duo turn to run. She was panting heavily from such heavy exertion though, and needed to catch her breath, leaving her to focus on defense and easily keep her mind from being invaded while she activated her ion shielding, and just in time too, as the impact of the Bolt of Judgement arced across her shielding and protected her so that she wouldn't be harmed one bit, but now it was down, and would need a substantial amount of time to recharge with the systems being so heavily overloaded from the electricity. She would definitely be giving chase.

As the duo ran, Draco crouched down, bending one knee while extending the other leg far back as she placed her fingertips upon the ground, assuming the standard position of an Olympic Sprinter and bouncing a little to make sure her limbs and joints were nimble before launching, exploding off the ground and going straight for Moya. She'd outstretch her right arm as she flew between the duo and clothesline the more able of the two, wanting to incapacitate or knock them out so that it was just her and Soldier Boy, Nathan Bloodscrawl

"You aren't escaping me that easily. Please, comply and come with me. Teach me, father of the Matriarch, and give me the location of the Jensaarai, so that you may live to see another day with your companion."

She put on a more formal tone so that he could understand how serious she was, and indicate she also had a bit of respect for him too. She didn't want to continue the fight, but she definitely had the strength still to kill the two of them with ease if she so desired. Surely Nathan had to know that by now! She just solo'd the both of them without breaking a sweat practically.