The Saber Of Damocles

[Connor Harrison]

Aurora Industries
Erilnar, Outer Rim​

Arriving on Erilnar in the early evening, away from the warm light of the sun and instead in the coldest dark of the night, Connor had been granted an audience with Taeli Raaf which was totally out of the blue.

Walking with a limp as the bones healed in his leg and trying not to use his left hand at all as the broken bones in those healed, he bore the body of a man who had done many dark deeds and survived. But now things were heating up, and he didn’t know where to turn.

Korriban and the devastation felt in the shockwave that rippled through the Order. Caring for those in the Order who needed his help – the fragile [member="Kyra Sol"], his aspiring Padawan turned Knight [member="Aria Vale"], the support from [member="Joza Perl"] - Joza. Never more confusing signs about her than what he felt, but he kept his distance for both their sakes.

The violence shared with [member="Keira Ticon"] and pushing the Mandalorian to war, and then the Sith [member="Matsu Xiangu"]. If anyone knew what he did to her, he didn’t know what it would mean for him. Or maybe he did and he was too scared to admit it.

So now, leaning against the top floor window looking out over her mighty empire, he tapped his fingers together, staring at nothing, as he waited for her, not having seen Taeli for a good while. Maybe she would be a voice of reason to this, because she had sat on both sides, and while her path was with the Jedi, maybe she could look beyond that if she would be able to help him.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"My apologies for the wait," Taeli said, striding into her office, datapad in hand. "Your request to meet came at a very... strained time for me. My researchers and I are preparing to depart for Wild Space to test a new cloaking technology soon and we've been quite busy getting everything in order."

That was when she took in the rather dishelved and beaten image of Connor. Her Umbaran secretary had said he had seemed more rough around the edges than last time he had come to Erilnar, but Taeli had chalked that up as Connor being gruff as usual to people he wasn't sure about. Here though, she could he had been through a lot. Not surprising considering what was going on recently with the Silver Jedi and the unfortunate incident at Korriban.

Still, Connor felt like other things were weighing on him... not just Korriban... and he had added a few new scars, including a rather nice scar under his eye.

"You look like you went a few rounds with a demon and lost," she said, settling herself behind her desk.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Glancing out the corner of his eye as Taeli came into the office, he wasn't surprised she was cooking up some new experimental weapon or medicine or power or armour. He continued to stare out as she seated herself and took him in.

"I lost a few rounds but I think I dished a good deal out to the demon herself."

That was more truth in that than just a smart comeback. After a second or so more tapping, he sighed and turned, making his way to her desk a little slower and sat down, keeping his damaged leg extended a little.

"Why did you turn your back on the Sith?" He looked at the crimson scar lines across his hand where the reconstructive surgery had taken place as he flexed gently. "Why give it up? And for what?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Herself? You went after your old nemesis Xiangu, didn't you?" Taeli asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question. Connor had always had it out for Matsu Xiangu for as long as Taeli had known him due to the Sith magic and poison she had injected into Connor's skull. Still, she had to wonder why he was now asking why she had left the Sith. He had asked before, if she remembered right that is, but she was sure he had when they had fought on Saleucami.

"I left the One Sith to be closer to my sister," Taeli answered, giving a small sad smile. "And truth be told, to also get away from the over-obsession with the Yuuzhan Vong that was taking root among the One Sith at the time. I'm not the biggest fan of the Yuuzhan Vong, but then not many are. Plus, as a Jedi, more doors would be open for me to continue studying the mysteries of the Force. Do you really think, when we visited the Fallanassi, that they would have taught a Sith their techniques in the White Current?"

She looked out the window he had been so interested in, the Aurora campus even at this hour was still alive with activity. Not as hectic as during the day, but the research scientists for the new Adegan cloaking device were still working on final tweaks before shipping out. They wanted to be absolutely sure that all the configurations they had done to the standard stygium device had been sorted out completely, every charge and system working perfectly without a margin of error.

 

[Connor Harrison]

All he did was nod slowly as she guessed his movement in an instant. It was obvious to someone like her. But he had a good enough reason to go for Matsu as it was...but the fact he didn't kill her was something else.

He left his hand and looked up at the Jedi opposite him as she spoke about the Sith and the Vong and their time studying White Current. Such a typical answer and one he expected.

"Well Corvus is gone now so forget that," he said a cool as ice. "She's gone and probably not coming back so she's not keeping you here anymore. And all your research? What's that getting you? You're on a backwater planet with a successful company before you, I don't doubt that, but what are YOU living for now? Living in your sisters shadow as a Raaf."

Connor shook his head and flexed his hand as he looked at her. She gave nothing away. Taeli was too calm and too complex for even he to understand, but he was trying.

"What keeps you in the Light when all you care about is gone? Hm? What?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

As Connor spoke, Taeli wouldn't interrupt his little speech but her eyes would narrow dangerously as he questioned why she was here and still with the Jedi.

"Because I have an obligation to honor my younger sister and my parents," she said, a bit of an edge in her voice. "You can mock me for my motivation to stay with the Jedi... you can even question what do I get out of life by endless study. You seem to forget I grew up on a world where knowledge is valued and that I have a rather insatiable hunger to learn more. So, this might be surprising or it might not be, but sometimes people find that research and study alone is good enough to live for."

This man could be so frustrating sometimes.

"I feel we're getting to cusp of why you wanted to meet with me, so let's hear it all then," she continued. "Speak your mind, Master Harrison."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor noted the quint in her eyes and that flash of annoyance that he often brought out of her, but he didn’t respond with a quip or a cocky smile. This wasn’t the time, as she was eager to find out what he wanted.

Flexing his hand again, buying a few seconds to think, he kept looking at her.

"So you fell back with the Jedi to honour those no longer here. Living in their memory? If my memory suits, you were doing just as good with the Sith – Lady Arcanix – remember? You had it all there, you had all those resources and tools and you gave it up for them."

He looked out of the window, pulling a little confused expression.

"I didn’t think that was like you. Giving it up so easily on a whim." And with that he looked at her again, her frame and face solid, giving nothing away. "We had a chance to change things, and you talked me out of it. Why?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Now whoever said I gave up the resources and tools I had?" Taeli asked, an eyebrow rising. "When I left the One Sith, I brought my company with me. Every single employee left Sith space with me when we re-established ourselves. You can see how we've thrived Connor, you said it yourself. I have access to far more resources and materials than I ever did as part of the One Sith. I'm more knowledgeable and powerful than I was back then. As for changing things... the Sith never change. Yes, some always speak of changing them, but its always the same with the Sith. The constant struggle for power and supremacy. That will never go away, but that's what makes the Sith strong."

She trailed off, looking out the window as well.

"When I talked you out of turning then, you had also just tried to kill me," she said, still not looking at him. "It wasn't completely your choice then Connor... not like now."

She turned back to face him.

"It's clinging to you now, the darkness... What have you done?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Fascinated by her little speech, and her person in general, Connor looked at her even though she wasn't looking at him. She was being rather honest, and he respected that at least. There was one thing he never felt before Taeli, and that was she was judging or mocking him.

"Not all Sith should be tarred with the idiotic brush of the One Sith," he said quietly, almost to himself.

Sitting up a little, he tried to let her read his mind when she turned to him. She always had a way of picking apart his actions and his words, and he was curious how she'd do it with his answer. Honesty was always the best policy.

"What have I done. Well for a start I'm preparing to go on a mission of vengeance to take out Darth Ingus after he cut up my friend, and recently I've used the Dark Side to fight Keira Ticon of the Mandalorian Clans in an attempt to kill her for speaking up against the Silvers. And also I've..." he stopped, thinking about the admission, "...I've become close to Matsu Xiangu in a way I can't explain. Not in that respect, but she's making more sense than anybody else recently about my path forward. And all this before I skinned part of her body and face because I could, in another act of revenge for myself. And I enjoyed it. And I don't regret it."

Scratching his brown, he shrugged a little to her.

"Come on then. Hit me with the trouble you faced and the pain you felt as a Sith. But right now I feel I'm seen as one thing - boring. That's what my years of fighting and teaching and defending have made me out to be to my worst enemies. A bore. A bore!"

The scratch turned into a rub of the eye which was starting to get irritable under the stress of emotion.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

Taeli closed her eyes, head bowed, as Connor spoke about what he had done and what he planned to do. She wouldn't say anything for a long time, just letting his words and actions bounce around in her thoughts for a few moments. What was she supposed to say to any of that? Even when she had been a part of the One Sith, she had never gone out of her way for revenge on someone for harming an apprentice or ally. Never had skinned someone because it felt good to inflict pain on them. She had been the cold analytic who didn't see a use in such unnecessary gestures.

And here was Connor, admitting he was after revenge and enjoying causing his enemies pain... all because he couldn't take being called boring...

"Revenge is not the Jedi way, Connor," she said quietly, still refusing to look at him. "If you are so insecure that your enemies calling you boring has effected you so much that you resort to skinning a captive enemy or used the dark side to fight someone who denounced the Silver Jedi... you aren't a Jedi anymore."

She turned her head to face him, her purple eyes hard and cold as she regarded him.

"You're no better than the monsters you fight," she said harshly. "Is that what you expected me to say... or did you hope maybe I could offer you guidance or some hope? Maybe even some sort of justification for your actions? You've done things I never did even at the height of my being a member of the One Sith. What would you do if I said right here that the Silver Jedi deserve everything that has happened to them in recent weeks?"

She was being harsh, but the time had long past now it appeared to be gentle. Subtly, she would grip the shoto blade she kept hidden under her desk. With what he had said, she wouldn't put anything past him now.

 

[Connor Harrison]

When she didn't look at him, Connor just looked at her. Take away Coci, and possibly Aria, Taeli was the few people left he looked at beyond their status as a Jedi. So what she said meant more than most. And what she said was right; hence why he hadn't talked about it with anyone else.

Rubbing his fingers together, he didn't really know what he wanted from her. Maybe he just had to say it and be judged, to feel what the truth about it was and confirm his suspicion. Taeli delivered it in spades.

"I don't want anything from you. I don't know why I came her. I guess I just wanted to say it out loud."

Nodding slowly in acceptance of what she said, he didn't feel annoyed or angry. In fact he was calm.

"And I'd say nothing. In fact," he sat up a little, "I'd agree with you. Why do you think I've done what I have? Because nobody else will. They spend their days talking and pondering instead of acting - I've always told you that and right now I'd led them forward more than Thurion has. I've broken every rule to make sure we stand strong, and for what. Nothing. I can't see any results."

He glanced to her desk, eye narrowing, a slight smile breaking on the edge of his lip.

"What, are you going to stab me or something? Going to kill me? Don't be all self-righteous with me, grant me that respect at least."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Considering you seem to have taken a plunge into the deep end, doesn't hurt to be prepared for a fight," Taeli answered, but she still didn't remove her hand from the concealed shoto. "You should know me enough by now that I play things rather cautiously. Connor..."

She paused, her stare still just as hard. She had tried to help him time and time again to see the right path, to be a better man... and still the man before her had started running pell mell towards the darkness. He claimed he wanted to take the fight to his enemies, and he was doing that in his own way, but he was doing so in a way she couldn't accept. It was too messy, too destructive and personal. Maybe that was his ultimate problem. He cared so much about what others thought of him, if he went off on his enemy for being called boring as an example, that it clouded and controlled his actions.

"You'll never see results, just pain, in the way things are going for you," Taeli said. "You're too unbalanced right now. I shouldn't even share this with you because you'll just go hunting her too... but I found that Sith who attacked Galidraan. She caused the Alliance an issue on Sluis Van and Xagobah, kidnapped hundreds of thousands of Sluissi and mutated them through alchemy into... well rather terrifying monsters. I had one of my Masquerade droids track her movements and she's currently operating out of a facility on Haruun Kal."

 

[Connor Harrison]

With a obvious look of mock confusion crossing his face, he just sniggered and shook his head.

"Not a problem," he muttered.

Letting her speak, the events of Galidraan seemed like a life-time ago. A rather nasty affair with a rather particular deceptive Sith and a pack of nasty beasts.

But, it was a life-time ago. He had no care for that place or that woman now. Cocking his head to one side, he looked at Taeli with a curious eye.

"Why are you telling me then if you're so concerned? Why don't you act on it. Or have you got too much to lose? Too busy?"

He stood up, arching his back in a stretch, before walking around the desk, leaning on the side of it, hands down, beside her.

"Want Connor Harrison to do the dirty work while you keep your hands clean in the eyes of the galaxy, is that it?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"You asked me after Galidraan to find more information on her and develop something to fight against her rakghouls," Taeli answered evenly. "I've done the former, but clearly you aren't interested in stopping someone likely to strike the Silvers again in the near future. The later is still being worked on. Whether you act on that information or not is up to you, but yes I am rather busy to go deal with the situation as I, unlike you, have other responsibilities than running around with a lightsaber and ferreting out enemies."

She got out from behind her desk, walking to the window and away from Connor. There was an air of frustration around her.

"I have to ask... why do you keep determining that falling into darkness is the best path?" she asked, staring out the window and out over the lighted campus of her company. "Time and time again, I've helped you try and stay on the light, and yet it always seems to no avail."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Taeli wasn't the only one getting frustrated. Watching as she got up to finally break away, he frowned. Matching, he too stood up, with purpose.

"You have no idea what I've been dealing with," he started over to her, to stand behind. "While you've been sat behind your comfy desk, I've been out from one end of the star system to the other trying to stop the Silver Jedi from collapsing after this moronic Korriban business. It's been me trying to negotiate peace deals with the Mandos, and the Sith, and even forging alliances with Commenor and other systems looking out for us. Add to that my own personal goings on that haven't helped, granted, but where am I because of it? Here. Alone and looking for the only path that will give me what I want."

He looked down, composing his thoughts.

"I didn't ask to be where I am, but I'm done fighting it. I've spent my whole life obeying codes and rules and bending to the whim of others and where has it got me? When the Coalition folded, who fought hardest to keep it civil? Me. Not them. ME. Yet I'm always on a leash. Always."

She didn't seem to move.

"Get your facts straight before you preach to me again about what I am and what I do. This is my choice and mine alone. I'm wasted where I am. Achieving nothing. It's about time I took back control of my life, like you tried to do yours, though I don't hardly see you anymore so I can't say you've got much of a life as it is."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

There it was, the unspoken but underlying reason. She had been waiting to here that hint ever since she had stepped into the office. She waved away his slight against how her time was consumed, they both led different ways to live their lives. She was always a bookworm, always tinkering, always sitting more in the background than out in the open... and he had always wanted to be in the thick of things, leading the fight and making a legendary name for himself.

A small scoff left her lips as he finished speaking, but he wouldn't notice it... the faintest hints of a smirk would form at the edge of her lips facing away from him.

"Pride," she said quietly. "A rather deadly sin to have, Master Harrison."

She turned to face him now, the shadows of the office at play with the lights from the Aurora campus below.

"You've grown cruel, Master Harrison. I guess that is understandable, what with your experiences. If you're so gung-ho on taking back your life from the rules and orders of the Silvers, then leave. Is that what you ultimately wanted to hear me say? A granting of permission or justification to the path you have decided for yourself? Is that what you wanted, but didn't want to admit to me or yourself?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

He didn’t know what Taeli was thinking, but he didn’t move. What did he want? Nothing. He wasn’t saying anything for anyone except himself – and he knew he was safest opening up with her than anyone else.

When she turned, her voice was quiet but it wasn’t as he expected. He certainly couldn’t read this Jedi, who knew how it felt to trip both sides of the Force more than anyone.

”Maybe. Maybe.”

Lifting his head a little, he kept his gaze on her, not reacting.

”I know what needs to be done. I always said from the start I’m the asset of the Order. The one to get their hands dirty for the greater good – to do what nobody else can. Nobody will stop me doing it, and when I do, then I know where my future lies.”

He glanced to the side, looking at the lights of her building across the way.

”The question I want to ask, Miss Raaf, is where you will stand when I do it. With me, or against me.”

From time to time, those lightning burns on his back still whispered her name when it was quiet.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

Taeli turned and started to walk to the other side of the room, slowly... deliberately as she thought about what Connor said. As she walked, the shadows deepened as the final dredges of the sun set and the only illumination came from the lights outside. She could turn on the lamps in her office right now, but she didn't think that the light was necessarily appropriate for the dark subjects under discussion here.

"That, Connor, will all depend on what actions you take," she said, turning back to face him. Her face was covered in shadow, the only truly visible part was those bright purple eyes gleaming. There was an almost sinister air about the imagery if one had a mind for that. "I wonder what you will be once you realize the only person who can grant that sort of permission... is yourself. To truly give yourself permission to be free of the chains you see around yourself."

She continued pacing around the room.

"What actions do you think will fit your own conduct? What will be against it? And will those change as you continue down your chosen path? That will determine if I will stand with you or strive against you, Master Harrison."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor didn't move as Taeli paced. He enjoyed the satisfaction of letting her do the thinking. He just stayed still, only following with his eyes, and the light outside worked to cast a wonderfully atmospheric sight with the Master silhouetted in near darkness.

”What I will be? I will be Connor Harrison, the Connor I've always been without chains and codes to hold me back. How long have I been restrained? Too long, and it's starting to affect me position not just in the Silvers, but also in the galaxy itself.”

He let the silence hang. Would she really be against him? Never. He knew her too well.

”I have no time for rules except those that fit my own gain. I want more. I want to exploit systems and governments. I want to watch those who hurt me fall. I want to do all the things I've dreamed about, and for once I feel it's within my grasp.”

Now he took a step forward, a curious glint in his blue eyes to her striking violet.

”Remember when you had it all? You've never stopped having it all, have you. You know just what you're doing.” His eye narrowed. ”You want to see the Connor who was going to stand with Arcanix all those years ago don't you? Don't bother lying to me anymore because you certainly aren't acting like you're against the idea. Did you ever think what we could do together? What power we could wield? The influence we could have?”

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

Hidden in the shadows, a smirk would form as he spoke. Those purple eyes never wavered as they regarded him, observing as he leapt to what he believed were possible conclusions or scenarios. He always was observant when he chose to be.

"Was it going to be Connor standing next to me... or a different name for a different man... a harder man?" Taeli asked. "I, of course, thought about what that would have been like... but at that time it would have been a lie. Influenced and controlled by magic, never a true choice. You begged me to teach you then, to show you the power and mysteries of the dark side. "

She kept pacing, staying to the heavy shadows.

"You are right, I never stopped having it all," she continued saying. "You know how I operate by now, carefully and thought out before I act... with clinical effect. Of course I know just what I'm doing. When I left a failing ship, I took my power base with me, moved it out and re-established it even stronger than before. I explained that earlier."

Those purple eyes would turn to look over towards where her desk was.

"What do you have to offer?" she pondered aloud, her eyes turning back to face him... and just for the briefest moment... they would flash amber.