The Planet of Fog

[Lord Ajihad]

It was no secret that the galaxy held many secrets. They seemed to be lurking everywhere, but not all people had the smarts and creativity to discover them. Around every corner was something new, something intriguing, something mysterious. Sometimes you found the secrets, sometimes the secrets found you.​

​

The latter had befallen Lord Ajihad the previous night as he was sleeping. He dreamed of a young girl covered in dirt. She had red hair and freckles, along with electric blue eyes. The image shifted to dank swamp, a sickly fog rolling over the murky waters. It changed a last time, showing him a large, dark planet.​

​

Dagobah.​

It was a mysterious place, filled with many dangers and natural hazards. Of course, it was also strong in the force. Many a hermit had gone to live there, including the famous Jedi master Yoda. Whoever this girl was, she was inexplicitly tied to his future. He needed to seek her out and find out who she was, what she was.​

​

Unfortunately, it was also Galactic Alliance territory.​

​

And he was Sith.​

​

However, there were few people in the galaxy Ajihad feared. And Starchaser wasn't one of them. He exited hyperspace in his Phasma-class Infiltrator, floating just over the planet's outer atmosphere. He let the force guide him to where he needed to, looking for the young girl.​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

The Force lurked at every corner in the world of Dagobah, from the pieces of thick fog that swallowed up families and entire trees, to the itty bitty insects that would lurched out and snatch their prey in a prime moment, only to find that they've been snapped in half by another and sliding down it's throat. Among many of these, there was a middle, and the middle could stretch long and far to the strong and weak. ​

​

That's what Kiara sometimes thought she was. A middle thing, nothing important, and nothing worth dirt. There was a blinding aura about her, though it was difficult to detect through the mess of tangled strings of life force that grew in every living creature one way or another. She was currently resting, as it would be expected for a hermit to spend most of their time on when not preparing the next morsel or trying to repair their house.​

​

Two electro-drivers were jammed in a large robotic foot, one of which seemed to be for a creature that did not even deserve to size up to an average human, and with it, a single hand digging and pushing through a small mess of thin, unprotected wires to grasp and wiggle out a single stick. It slid forward without complications, and was immediately thrown to the side for later use. The hand dived back into the mess, while two sparkling eyes darted for a long line of monitors attached to the wall in one form or another. She could feel something rather strange, but she could not see it in any of her many view ports.​

​

It seemed she was to have a visitor, today in the swamps.​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

His Infiltrator in stealth mode, the assassin began his descent to the planet's surface. He took a moment to use Art of the Small to shrink his presence in the force down to the size of an atom. No doubt there were force predators on the surface, and he wasn't too keen to meet them.​

​

As he entered the troposphere, the windshield began to fog up. Flipping a switch, he quickly engaged the ship's defoggers. He continued to let the force guide him, eventually bringing him over a small clearing. The assassin set his ship down on the surface, avoiding Skywalker's mistake of landing in the water. He would proceed to get out of the ship, Dathomiri energy bow strapped across his back. He locked the ship up, setting off into the swamp.​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

The thick of Dagobah was dangerous this time of day, just so coincidentally for this area. However, the hut in which the hermit lived in was not so far away. In fact, it was rather close to the clearing, a story of why for another time.​

​

Art of disguise was known by many, but more so for others who have actually had to experience it first hand. Young Kiara had at one time created a simple dirt hut with sticks, clay, and the mud around her area in the time which the area had a decent amount of it while she was around. Now, with clay dwindling, and plant over taking, Kiara's hut hid nearly behind a line of tight squeezing trees and a simple placement of grown viney shrubs, making it so that you'd have to brush through the nature to bump right into the dirt.​

​

Kiara adjusted in her seat quietly as a sliver of a difference landed in one of her cameras, but from here, it was nearly impossible to tell what it was. She slid herself off the dirt of her heated bed and flipped a single staff in her hands, waiting by the door of weak wood suspiciously to the attention drawing near.​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

Ajihad journeyed through the swamp, his boots making no noise on the soft peat ground. Vines hung from the trees all around him, odd and unique critters peering at him from beyond their depths. He occasionally felt something large and slimy slide across his boot, but by the time he glanced downwards, it was gone.​

​

He could now feel a presence in the force, no doubt that of whom he seeked. He trudged in that direction, no idea of the hidden cameras watching him as he moved along. One time he could have swore he saw a glint of metal high up in a tree, but figured it was a waste of time to investigate. Whoever this was undoubtedly already knew of his presence anyways. This was the type of planet one did not survive on if they didn't always know what was going on around them.​

​

What couldn't have been more than ten minutes later, the assassin brushed his way through a thick wad of tree branches to find a small mod-podge hut within a cluster of flora. He switched his cybernetic eye to x-ray vision, penetrating through the door and into the small space inside. Within was a cramped space full of scrap parts and screens, undoubtedly hooked up to cameras throughout the swap. The girl from his vision stood just inside, a staff in her grasp. Since she already knew he was there, Ajihad did the sensible thing.​

​

He knocked.​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

The staff relaxed a small bit in the hands of the hermit as she saw the figure no doubt come closer, and from what she could tell, what she could sense, this man was no ordinary out of the box wanderer who just happened to stumble upon her home this deep in the thick woods. No, this was obviously not the case, especially when he had less than a phantom of a droid stumbling across a mile away.​

​

The knock was unexpected, but invited none the less. Without hesitation, the door swung open, revealing the terribly dim lit home of scrap laying left and right, various jars and vases made of clay holding strange materials, though usually something looking edible, and many monitors and tools hanging from the walls and ceiling. One of the most noting features was how low it all was, as if she built it only for herself, and perhaps the bed that rose a few inches off the ground and kept a nice warm pace through it as the fire ran underneath, and fueled by just the pit in the corner against the wall opposite to everything important.​

​

Kiara's eyes stared at the form for an uncomfortable few seconds, before she spoke in a rather weak and scratchy voice to the stranger who just appeared before her door. "What?"​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"] ​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

Ajihad confirmed right off the bat that this was indeed whom he seeked. She matched the person from his dream perfectly, except from the hostile look that now dominated her face. He bowed his head to her ever so slightly, a courteous sign of respect to the mistress of the house. He briefly corrected his posture, before opting to speak.​

​

"My name is Lord Ajihad, Lord of the Sith. A vision befell upon me not three nights ago, and the force guided me to your abode. May I come in?" His voice was a deep, rich baritone that seemed almost godlike in nature. His golden eyes glowed from underneath his hood, meeting that of the young girl. Whoever she was, he was hopefully about to find out.​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

In all of the swamps, and all of the galaxy even, to have been lead to Kiara seemingly was not an uncommon thing for those who landed in the swamps of Dagobah, according to the several people who had visited her recently. She really should have hid her stories better, but it didn't matter now unless she were to move and make a new one. After a moment of silence and staring at the strange man who had traveled the stars to see her, she gave a slightly upset sigh and turned away, using her staff as a walking comfort. "It would be rude not to invite you in. Make yourself comfortable."​

​

Without another word she sat down on he obviously dirt bed where several droid pieces laid at her feet - an area of mass construction, as it was probably some of the only construction that happened in this area for years beyond and years before. It was obvious now, inside of the hut, that droids of several different paces and times were hanging and even built into the walls. At times, a droid head would make itself flicker a color of eye as they assigned new directions to the cameras, completely blind to personality otherwise.​

​

"Why don't you tell me what you want so we can get you out of my home quicker?"​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

He entered into the small hut, his boots making not a sound on the soft earthen floor. He gracefully avoided the small piles of droid bits and pieces, no doubt automations that had made the mistake of wandering into her territory of the swamp some time ago. The walls were formed out of dried clay, as well as sticks, branches, and other natural elements. Her abode reminded him of that of Yoda, which he had seen many an image of in the Sith library on Coruscant.​

​

He sat down on the floor in a cross-legged position opposite of her, remaining silent for several moments. He pondered her question, as he really didn't know the answer. His eyes turned to her, before speaking, ​"Truthfully, I do not know the answer to your question. However, I confess a suspicion that you might. When I approached you several moments ago, your expression betrayed no surprise. Others have come before me, what did they seek?" He asked the question with an inquisitorial look in his eyes, as he was profoundly fascinated to learn the answer. What did this seemingly random young girl have to offer?​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

The hermit's fingers neatly drummed against the dirt of her bed, one after another spotting and lifting from the previous, making a wave of motion. As she thought, she quietly slid her obviously firm and worn metal staff to the side of her to rest on the wall, and after crossed her arms loosely into her baggy robed attire. "Everything," She responded with a flat tone and a glare. "Shelter, bounties, information, droid help, ship repairs, food. I don't care what you're here for, as long as it ends with you leaving." The last part of her sentence was almost a hiss, though inside she knew it was better to have some company and escape from the loneliness she continued to trap inside of herself.​

​

Most people had a Force signature, be it plain dark and light, even grey, but with Kiara something different was afoot. Dark and Light clung together with strands of grey and a dwindling pit of witchy goodness separated the two from closing into each other. It was honestly a mess at times, but the more you got to know it, the organized Chaos seemed like a work of art.​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

Ajihad examined the girl for another moment. What was so special about her? She seemed to be just a young girl living out in the swamps alone, trying to keep to herself the best she could. The only thing that was off about her was her force signature. He had encountered some like it before when he trained with the witches of Dathomir. It wasn't light, it wasn't dark, it wasn't even gray. It was something mystical. Something intriguing.​

​

Ajihad shook his after a moment. "I am not after any of this. There is something you must be hiding. There is something you are..." The assassin paused mid-sentence. Perhaps she wasn't intentionally hiding anything. Perhaps it was the force that was playing with him.​

​

Ajihad looked down at his hand, twisting the Primordial Signet Ring that occupied his finger. It was forged by the finest sorcerers of the Primeval, an old cult that he considered himself to be a part of. Its gemstone changed odd colors around this girl, perhaps it was trying to tell him something...​

​

Quick as lightning, the assassin moved his hand to lightly touch the ring upon the girl's forehead. The piece of jewelry had strange properties, abilities that contradicted the ways of the force itself. It was said the ring could awaken the force within an individual who had the potential to wield it, or even bring certain abilities to light that were not typically visible from the surface. As he ring would touch her, maybe some sort of secret would come to light..​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

The hermit raised a brow at his confusion, unsure what exactly he was after, as she was not truly intentionally searching for answers in him. Her mind wavered over calculations of how much wood she would need to keep her bed warm this night, especially with the smog coming in a few hours. She would need to gather shortly after this meeting, or suffer having a slightly cooler bed than she normally preferred.​

​

At the milli-second a sudden ring came up to touch her forehead, she simply crossed her heads and tried to look up, only to see the hand around it. She let her eyes back to the man before her, a curious pile of questions being sorted about in her mind. She wasn't sure what he was doing, but it probably wasn't working either. She already knew all about her Force abilities, how to control them and balance them as she needed, as well as a few tricks up her sleeve. Though this was nothing to fear,even though the uneasiness coming from the piece of metal and blood surrounded her and her home.​

​

"And a hello to you, as well." She responded, reaching to pat the ring away from her head.​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

Ajihad frowned at the apparent lack of result. She was already awakened in the ways of the force, and the witch-ring had nothing to tell him. He let her gently move the gloved hand away from her forehead, still a look of puzzlement in his striking eyes.​

​

However, she did let her thoughts wander as he tried to get the ring to work, allowing him to see glimpses of her thoughts. She held no fear for him, though more than a touch of hostility was present. He also felt her thoughts of wood to make a fire, as nights on Dagobah were undoubtedly quite cool.​

​

The Sith Lord stood up, and with a flick of his wrist, a lightsaber ejected from his sleeve. With a rapid press of a button the saber ignited, illuminating the hut with a sharp red glow. He stared at the girl for several moments before turning to the door. He walked outside roughly thirty yards, and with a swing of superhuman strength, he cleaved a massive tree in two at the base. It toppled towards her home, surely about to crush it like a boot on an ant. However, the Sith raised his hand, and the tree stopped in its path. His hand drifted lazily to the side, the tree telekinetically moving with it. He let it drop harmlessly to the ground, and walked over to it to begin chopping it into logs.​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

A soft unhappy growl grew and released into the bound spaces of the lonely hut, as in a few walking motions and a few well placed strikes, one of her many trees were put down. She didn't much worry for the fact that it would crush her, in fact she didn't even acknowledge it, but the real trouble was knowing she'd have to go out, dig up the roots, and replant it in time so the smaller creatures wouldn't eat at it before it could grow a bit stronger. Even then, the nature was imbalanced and her hut wasn't as hidden as before, causing more trouble than it was worth for a few pieces of wood.​

​

Sitting back against her wall, she slowly picked up a mechanical hand and went back to work on peeling and twisting wires together to make them functioning again. It was a hobby, really. If she felt like it, she could go out and get a job to buy all the parts she needed, but it was far too fun to take them apart and fix them with other parts. Some of her prized droids were like that.​

​

After a moment of work, she put it down and got up with the support of her staff, walking to the corner where she threw the sticks, then walked out the door a single inch to dust it off at her porch, paying only the bare amount of mind to where the Sith gone to.​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

The Sith continued chopping wood, his saber making quick work of the unfortunate tree. The smell of scorched wood filled the air as the trunk was divided into dozens of logs, each the size of a small Akk dog. After it was chopped, he used the force to move them into neat stacks behind the hut, concealed in a large collection of thick brush. He took a moment to admire his handiwork, before moving back towards the front door.​

​

He stopped several feet in front of her, lightsaber once again sheathed and concealed within his robes. He used telekinesis to lift a small pebble, having it dance between his hands. As he looked down at the small rock weave its way through his gloved fingers, he would address the girl. "Tell me child, are you a wielder of the force?"​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

"What gave it away?" Kiara's voice sounded as if it had been obvious all along, taking her singular stick to throw it directly into the mud and clay chimney that ran under the house. She returned to her spot on the bed and began to quietly toy with her smaller sets of tools and the mechanical hand, adjusting it and peeling the wires hanging loosely on the outside to prepare for attachment, whenever that was.​

​

She didn't even seem thankful for what the Sith had done, even when it was pretty obvious to both herself and whoever else may have had been watching. A few of her cameras caught onto the form, already saved in a larger cloud somewhere else, so that was insurance proof if she needed it.​

​

The hand suddenly twitched as a wire was pulled, then one by one a single part of the finger, one by one, every motion it could handle and stretch to, which was just a little over that of a normal human's hand. ​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

Ajihad nodded, her sarcastic tone revealing she took the secrecy of her ability for granted. So she was something of a witch then, or so it seemed. He had known Jedi and Sith alike who ventured onto the swamp-planet for solitude. However, he had a gut feeling that she was neither. A Sith or a Jedi generally had less confusion in the mix of their force signature, as well as a generally more light or dark tipping feel.​

​

Ajihad was a bit of an anomaly himself among the ranks of the Sith. His alignment was in fact True Neutral, making his signature a distinct deep purple. His time on Dathomir also added a slight hint of sickly green to the mix. Most of the Sith were corrupted and evi. Ajihad, on the other hand, just didn't care.​

​

He watched her fiddle with the droid hand for a moment, observing as she got it to move through a near-human range of motion. As she completed her task, he would press with yet another question. "I see. What skills have you develop pertaining to the force? I sense you have not received much formal training."​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

The hand moved yet again, before it was slowly put down next to the metal staff used for much more than just a weapon to show off. She glared down at the hand weakly, then got up with her support staff and went to add it to a collection of end pieces. Feet, tails, hands, and some wrists and ankles used specifically for certain droids. ​

​

The fact remained that the hermit did not once use any visible or truly sensible Force actions since the Sith arrived, but however and whatever information she had on her wasn't all that true. She turned to him and stared with a small electric pulse in her blue shining eyes. "I'm not here to answer interview questions. If you want some weird old hermit to bug with this stuff go somewhere else." She spat with a lace of disgust, quickly standing straighter to appear taller, and maybe fix some of her poor unpracticed posture. ​

​

Kiara didn't have to worry about normal stuff like that, not usually. Proper basic writing, speech, and visual appearance meant little when you lived by yourself and never generally went around real people of importance. ​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"] ​

 

[Lord Ajihad]

Ajihad raised an eyebrow. He wasn't used to being talked to like that, and he didn't really like it. He had been a gracious guest so far, but perhaps it was time to change that. He didn't exactly have all the time in the world, and he wanted to know who this person was. It was time to take the gloves off.​

​

"I disagree. The force guided me here. I want answers as to why, and answers I will get. Why am I here? What is special about you, and how do you relate to me?" These questions were for her as much as they were for the universe in general. As he spoke, he allowed an aura of uneasiness to begin to fill the room. The girl would begin to feel uncomfortable, her heart rate quickening. The more power he put into it, the more the uneasiness would begin to take shape into something more.​

​

Fear.​

​

[member="Kiara"]​

 

[Kiara]

Good boy, bad boy. The game was all too familiar from just a few personal experiences, and it was widely unoriginal. Kiara watched the man with a flat and upset expression, pressing it to herself to keep in her neutral state of grumpiness, despite the rude feeling that this stranger decided to put in her home. It was obviously a play of his own powers, though if he was trying to impress her or simply act tough was the question.​

​

"You've already wasted some of my time with this nonsense of yours, so I guess a little longer wouldn't even matter. You're here because your little mind thinks it needs something more, and you think some strange few little pulses in your religious Force makes me to be some sort of prophet for you to leech off of. You're wrong, and you've made a mistake by coming here." She spat out with a small glare and a tipping to her usual attitude. ​

​

[member="Lord Ajihad"]​