The Longest Road to Nowhere

[Matsu Xiangu]

[SIZE=14pt]Dromund Kaas[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]Evening[/SIZE]


Primeval space had become increasingly appealing the last few months or so, at least in Matsu’s eyes. She’d come to the One Sith in pursuit of the sort of adrenaline she’d always been a junkie for, but she missed out on the most fundamental allure of its existence: the Dark Lord – the myth, the ‘man’, the legend. She was disinterested in his fairy tale and as such most of the fanaticism was lost on her. She stayed because she wasn’t unfamiliar with loyalty and she’d destroy worlds if it would help Gabriel.

But the Primeval stirred something in her.

To her, the stars were kami – a word in some Atrisian dialects that meant ‘wonder’. She’d met a man on this very rooftop that’d spent hours sitting with a bottle of wine under the night sky, talking about Balagoth and death, the life cycle of stars that’d seen lifetimes that would extend a million times beyond their own despite their ambition to make it otherwise. She couldn’t resist the allure of the cult’s domain in space and thankfully she was welcomed with open arms.

She was waved on to the roof by a guard who merely glance before averting his eyes and giving her passage. It was a less a hotel as a reserved area for guests of importance, spacious suites for those that saw fit to drive the Primeval forward on their own free time. Though she spent the majority of her time on Coruscant – home, her rightful place – she considered this place an escape like no other. A place among her constellations – her supernovae, her brilliant star-death companions. No one else had seen fit to stargaze that night and Matsu curled up at a table, tilting her head back to the sky unfettering by the light pollution far, far below.

Beautiful.

[member="Kal'n Drasco"]​

 

[Kal'n Drasco]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

For the first time in his long journey Kal'n looked inward, at his own emotions. Was this in line with the Jedi Code? He thought about that long before he even came to Dromund Kaas, he thought about it now and the answer was still the same. Yes it was. Sure, some might disagree with his logic. But Kal'n trusted in himself, he trusted in the Force.

It had not been entirely without worry, even beyond the Code, Kal'n still had to get to Dromund Kaas, stay undetected and find the Sith Lord Matsu Xiangu. A year ago the idea of facing a Sith Lord would have turned Kal'n a white as winter snow in fear. Now, not nearly as much. Sure he was worried, there was no denying that, but he had developed so much so fast in the past year Kal'n could only think of one reason he wasn't yet a Knight.

He had yet to prove he could handle it.

In order to change that he searched through the data banks and found the Sith he would go after, the Silve Jedi had something of a history with her. If he could defeat her then there was no way he would't be promoted. The thought of failure never crossed his mind.

He sat several kilometers away on a roof-top with a rather light weight but fast speeder at his side and a pair of magnifying binos up to his eyes. Yes there, right where the man who had given him the information said she'd be. It was dark where she was, on top of the building with only the night sky to shine the way. But still, he knew it was her, he felt it was her.

It was now or never. Hoping into the speeder he had acquired he took off, dropping low below line of sight so that the Sith Lord would not be able to see him coming. He also gathered speed, as much speed as the little one man speeder could gather.

As he got closer he began tilting up, so that the speeder would barely clear the edge of the building. His lights were off and he did his best to suppress himself in the Force, a skill he was quickly advancing with how liberally he used it.

Woosh!

The speeder would clear the edge, rocketing high into the night sky. Kal'n, prepared for such an event simply rolled off the back so that he landed in a crouch, his right foot out wide and left hand down to brace himself, lightsaber in hand, a snap hiss accompanied by the a yellow light. His fall when paired with his earlier momentum has carried him some distance forward, he could see a figure laid out across a table. It had to be her.

Though the exact location of the Speeder after dismounting hadn't been planned, it was the one variable that Kal'n hadn't really thought of. A bit reckless on his part. But, be it luck or something else the Speeder tumbled in the air without a rider and came crashing down behind him in a fiery explosion that silhouetted his frame.

He couldn't of planned it that well if he tried.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

[SIZE=9pt] The sound of speeders hummed from far down below, a soothing backdrop to her contemplation. Few planets were quite as loud as Coruscant, and few as constantly. She was comfortable with silence, but a constant droning reminded her of namesake – the ocean, the pressure against one’s ears while drowning… She drifted, dark eyes darting between constellations completely foreign to her this far to one side of the galaxy. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] She didn’t hear the oddly close whine of a speeder making a rapid ascent until the vehicle had cleared the side of the rooftop. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] Too high up for a random accident, not even some drunk idiot.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]She immediately started pooling her access to the Force, letting it settle and simmer until she was ready to use it. Building a reservoir would made any spells she might attempt to use quicker and more immediately powerful against whomever it was crouched within the shroud of smoke and flame produced by the now ruined speeder. Shrapnel fell haphazard around the edge of the roof, the speeder rolling side over side until it came to a noisy stop by crashing in to the wall to her left. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] Her eyes rested on the yellow blade cutting through the smokescreen between them, a humming beacon that sizzled with the promise of confrontation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] Slowly, carefully, quietly so as not to alert the stranger, she reached out and dusted her power in the Force over his mind, attempting to figure out anything and everything she could about him that might help her. He didn’t feel weak by any means, but perhaps less experienced. Matsu hadn’t survived for as long as she had as Sith by underestimating others, and she probed deeper (spider-legs, long, black and yellow, ready for war, ticking over the ridges of his mind, creeping from the edges of her web towards the center where she hoped to wrap him in silk and save him for later).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] A split second, searching for fears and anxieties, and often the thing that mattered most.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] Her voice, like ice, smooth but freezing.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt] “What can I do for you, Kal’n Drasco?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] She attempted to grip at his mind, clenching with mental fists – simple, but effective, crushing pain that would distract him should she play her cards right.[/SIZE]

[member="Kal'n Drasco"]​