Private Together in Electric Dreams

[Zemira]

The Knight ran her fingers along the odd engravings in the stone wall and looked as though she was deep in thought. It was no secret to both Jedi that the Dark Side of the Force was strong here but the reason for the presence was unknown so it would be necessary to exercise extreme caution. "Come on." She gestured to the Padawan who was with her as they ventured further into what appeared to be ruins of a society long gone. As they neared an adjoining chamber, the sound of voices could be heard beside the crackle of a fire, prompting the Knight to stop firmly in her tracks.

With the threat of the Dark Side looming, she could only assume them to be hostile and implored caution in the Padawan. "Do as I say." She whispered as she carefully approached the entrance to the neighbouring cave but maintained cover by a wall. As they became uncomfortably close to the voices, they fell silent for a moment before one of them spoke up. "Do you feel that?" A female voice asked. "Jedi." The second voice confirmed before the pair got into motion and started to prepare for what would likely be an attack.

Zemira stood with her back pressed against the wall as her mind raced, wondering what to do. In many situations she could remain calm and detached which allowed her to act rationally rather than emotionally but when faced with the Sith, it became all the more harder. As she saw it, the options were to run and get a head-start on escaping or to initiate an attack against the Sith and as her memories resurfaced, as did her anger, prompting her to be more in favour of fighting the Sith. However, the Padawan stood at her side made her less inclined to put him in danger so she felt conflicted on how to act.

But if she didn't make a decision now then the Sith would find them and they could have an advantage whereas they had the high ground at the moment and with many moments of conflicted thoughts she decided to use it. She jumped down into the adjoining cave behind the two Sith, knowing that she didn't need to tell the Padawan to do the same, the lightsaber already ignited in her hand. "Don't you know it's rude to drop in uninvited?" The Sith told her as she ignited her crimson blade with her own apprentice following suit. Zemira gripped the hilt of her lightsaber tightly, knuckles white, and stared at the Sith with a look of pure hatred before launching into an attack.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Cas could feel the Dark side calling to him in this cavern, he hated how tempted he felt to let it in. But he was a Jedi, he had to be strong and overcome this. As he followed Zemira deep into the cave, he felt... strange, it wasn't the Dark side. It felt like one of his dreams but, not at the same time, everything was clear and vivid and he could even pinch himself and not wake up to anything. Maybe it was all in his head.

When the two sensed the presence of others, the Dark side surrounded these strangers. Cas continued to follow Zemira as they shimmied along the wall quietly, getting a closer look at these individuals by their crackling fire. After hearing the exchange between the two, Cas and most likely, Zemira, deduced that these were Sith... or at the very least Dark siders. He sensed the conflict with the older Jedi Knight, he wasn't sure as to why but he attempted to reassure her "Psst, I have a good feeling we can handle them."

And then, without words, Zemira leapt down from their vantage point and was ready to engage these Sith. Well, no going back now, Cas unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and leapt down alongside her - igniting the cyan blade. A smirk formed on the Padawan's youthful face "Hi, Is this where the Sith meet-up is supposed to be?" he quipped, watching the face of the Sith Apprentice's contort into rage. Before he could follow up with his joke, Zemira leapt into action - uh shouldn't they have gone in together?

Cas' thought process ended quickly once the Sith Apprentice swiftly closed the gap between the two and began attacking. Cas quickly hopped backwards and avoided a horizontal slash of the Apprentice's lightsaber, Cas put his left foot forward, closing the gap and then swung his cyan blade at the Apprentice whom swiftly blocked it with his own crimson blade. Quickly performing an aerial cartwheel, Cas avoided an underhand attack from the Apprentice and countered with his own while in the air. Upon landing on his feet, the Apprentice closed the gap again and raised his lightsaber in an attempt to catch the Padawan in an overhead strike, Cas quickly blocked it, placing his blade horizontally, and the two locked blades. Now, face to face Cas cockily smiled at the Apprentice "Yep, I think this is it. Thanks for letting me know." he winked.

Zemira

 

[Zemira]

"Cas! Take this seriously!" She warned the Padawan as she was in a lightsaber lock with her opponent, battling for the strength to overpower her. He was capable of handing the apprentice if he was able to maintain a clear and focused mind, though Zemira wasn't doing much better at that herself because although she was treating the situation with the utmost importance, she was almost overwhelmingly angry with the Sith: what they stood for and what they had taken away from her and emotions could be incredibly hard to control, no matter how much you didn't want them to influence you.

The Knight adopted her preferred Makashi form initially but as the intensity of the duel increased she switched into Ataru, though the more aggressive form ran the risk of feeding off of her emotions more. The sound of blades clashing echoed throughout the cavern and the Jedi seemed to have the upper hand as the Sith began to get pushed back which gave the Knight confidence. She pushed onward and met the Sith in another lock where she could look into her opponent's eyes with pure hatred as memories of the past were brought back to light - of the day her family were separated when her father joined the Sith.

"If you believe emotions make you weak then it will be true." The Sith told her through gritted teeth as both struggled for power over the other. As Zemira pondered the possible reasoning for the Sith to impart that piece of wisdom on her, the Sith suddenly broke free and swiped at Zemira's midsection, causing her to lean backwards to avoid the tip of the saber. As the duel continued with a fierce intensity, Zemira feigned an attack as she closed in to disarm the Sith but her opponent unexpectedly predicted such an attack and thrust her lightsaber through the Jedi's exposed midsection.

Zemira didn't need to see what she could already confirm; the burning sensation in her abdomen and the smug look of satisfaction in the Sith's eyes was all she needed to know. Her legs collapsed beneath her and the fell to the floor, the lightsaber hilt fallen at her side. She thought about how she had handed the Padawan with her a death sentence and how this would be her final legacy before she was overcome by darkness...

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

"Come on, Master Z. We got this!" he boasted as he leapt out of the way of another attack. Cas and the Apprentice then both stood a few feet apart from each other, both panting and holding their lightsabers in a low position - after both the young Force users had regained some stamina, the duel restarted with the two raising their lightsabers once more. The two then met blades once more and engaged in a flurry of attacks as if they were in a rehearsed dance - their cyan and crimson blades lighting up the dim cave.

Landing a timed counter, the Padawan managed to disarm the Apprentice and then proceeded to slice at his thigh, creating a flesh wound. The Apprentice fell to his knees and Cas quickly knocked him out by kneeing him in the face. Thrilled he had just won his first proper lightsaber duel, he was ready to turn and help Zemira when he felt a severe disturbance in the Force - feeling like it had torn at his very soul, he turned to see Zemira collapsed to her knees with smoke coming out of her abdomen. His eyes shot between the Sith Master and Zemira's now dead body.

His expression of delight quickly contorted to that of white hot rage "ZEMIRA!!!" he yelled out in despair. The Padawan pulled the dead Knight's lightsaber into his hands and ignited the blade, he yelled out in rage as he leapt toward her and began ferociously attacking her with the Jar'Kai style and tapped into the Dark side while doing so. The Sith Master seemed to notice this as well, cackling as she blocked and countered his attacks "I can feel the Dark side festering within you, boy. It gives you focus." she stated arrogantly. Tired of this, she stopped in place and staggered the Padawan with a counter leaving him open to perform a cho mak on him. The Sith then grabbed Cas by his shoulder, holding him in place, and proceeded to stab him in the chest.

The Kiffar gasped as the blade penetrated his chest... entering shock, his vision went hazy. However, with little life he had left the Sith leaned in, still holding his shoulder, and whispered into his ear. While his hearing was muffled, he managed to make out what she said - "Now grovel in the dirt alongside your Master." she said mockingly, aggressively pulling her blade out of his chest and releasing her grip from his shoulder. Cas dropped instantly, his final moments were spent staring at Zemira's lifeless body and regretting at how he had failed her...

Zemira

 

[Zemira]

*******​

Zemira awoke with a gasp and lurched forwards, heart pounding in her chest. Although she knew her eyes were open, she couldn't see so she reached up to her face and pulled a headset of some description from over her head and dropped it to the floor. As her eyes focused on her surroundings, utter confusion began to set in as moments before she had been killed at the hands of a Sith but it didn't take long for her to comprehend what was happening. The room was relatively small with four chairs leaning back into an almost horizontal position but only two were occupied and opposite her was Cas who lay motionless.

The Knight pushed herself upright and got to her feet unsteadily before walking over to Cas, almost dragging a foot behind her as her entire body seemed slower than normal as it too tried to get up to date with the situation, and shook his shoulder in an attempt to rouse him. "Cas!" She urged him before placing both hands on the headset over his head to pull it off. At that moment, an alarm started blaring nearby, alerting whoever had put them here that they were escaping. Everything felt hazy, like a dream but the sense of urgency was still there.

The door burst open and in walked a man and woman in white lab coats who Zemira immediately backed away from while her eyes glanced around the room for any objects she could use to her advantage. "Just calm down, no one wants to hurt you." The woman told her in a soothing voice. "That's a lie." Zemira retorted, prompting an exchanged look between the two newcomers to which the man nodded at the unspoken agreement and began approaching Zemira to restrain her but once he was close enough she headbutted him in the chin and punched him in the face, knocking him off balance before sweeping his legs out from underneath him.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

*******​

Cas jolted awake, screaming in panic before clutching at his chest where his wound was supposed to be. Strangely enough his eyes were open but he could still see darkness, he quickly realised something was over his eyes and still in a state of panic, he yanked the headset off of his head. Now blinded by the bright white light that filled the room he was in, Cas quickly shielded his eyes with his forearm before falling off the horizontal seat he was resting on.

Landing on his hands and knees, Cas stared at the cold floor and withheld the need to hurl all over the floor and swallowed it back down. After slowing down his panicked breathing and getting a handle on things, realising what he had just went through, dying, wasn't real... he lifted his head up and got a better view of the room he was in - it was small, with four chairs and had bright, almost blinding lights all over the walls and ceiling. Cas took a glance at his own self, realising he wasn't in his traditional Jedi garb but was in some sort of white jumpsuit with numbers stamped to the left side of the jumpsuit's chest.

Finally, he spotted a familiar and comforting face, Zemira... who was with him in whatever the hell that was back there. She was with two others, dressed in lab coats - in fact, one of them was on the floor... probably Zemira's doing. After a short struggle, Cas shakily got to his feet and approached Zemira and the two individuals, confused and slightly fearful he stopped next to Zemira and asked the woman still standing "What the kriff is all of this?" the teen then clutched his forehead and furrowed his brow, straining to remember how he even got into this situation "Wha-- how did we get here?" he asked with a raised voice. Feeling the anger build in his chest, Cas was ready to choke the life out of these people if they didn't give him answers.

Zemira

 

[Zemira]

Without so much as looking at him, Zemira put her arm out firmly across Cas' chest and pushed him backwards. "Stay back." She told him decisively as she appeared to stand-off with the woman who was still attempting, hopelessly, to diffuse the situation. "Calm down and we can talk about it." She offered, though it seemed as though she was stalling to allow time for the man on the floor to gather his bearings and Zemira wouldn't allow it so without another word, she let go of any civilised behaviour and upon initiating a fight-or-flight response she Force pushed the woman into the wall and grabbed Cas by the wrist to practically drag him out.

Relying on adrenaline to fuel her, Zemira ran through the long corridor where the alarms were still blaring to alert others about what they had done. She had no idea what to do other than to get outside and from there they could gather information and form a plan - even knowing what planet they were on would be nice.

Upon passing a room that appeared to be heavily protected, Zemira skidded to a halt and placed a hand on the door which was controlled by some sort of electronic lock system and she tried to gain enough composure and clarity to move the components within the lock and unlock the door but it was exceptionally difficult given the pressure she was under and how bewildered she felt. However, after what seemed like forever, the door clicked and she pushed the door open to reveal a room full of personal belongings.

She knew they would have mere moments before they were found so Zemira opened a drawer which matched with the number on her chest and pulled out her lightsaber and necklace but as she turned to the door to run to leave, the man and woman were back and with two guards. Zemira immediately ignited her lightsaber and stood in a defensive stance, more afraid than angry. The two guards shot blaster bolts at the pair which Zemira deflected, one into the wall and one into the man in a lab coat. "Let us go." Zemira demanded again.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

The Padawan grew increasingly frustrated with the situation, there was so many questions he needed answered: how did they get here? Why couldn't he remember anything? Who were these people? What the kriff was even happening right now?! All these thoughts would flood through his mind as Zemira exchanged with the woman in the lab coat. "Wha--?" escaped Cas' mouth as Zemira grabbed his fist and practically yanked him into motion, dragging himself behind her.

Cas straggled behind Zemira as they made their way through the long corridors with the blare of the security alarm ringing through his ears. Still in a sort of haze, "Zemira, w-what's happening?!" he asked in a panicked and confused tone. However, Zemira seemed so focused that his question went completely unheard to her. The two then stopped abruptly outside of a door to a room, Cas watched as the Knightess used the Force to unlock the door which revealed a room full of personal belongings.

How many were here? He wondered to himself, it couldn't be just him and Zemira... were they prisoners here? Test subjects? What in the universe was going on? But before he could elaborate on his thoughts, Zemira had already retrieved her belongings which prompted the teen to do the same. Finding a locker that matched the ID number on his jumpsuit, Cas used the Force to unlock it and retrieved his lightsaber. Once he had retrieved his things, he noticed that they had company... although the older Jedi disposed of one quickly and demanded they be let go.

The woman from earlier, her face remained expressionless as she stared Zemira in the eye "I'm afraid we cannot do that, Subject 120600." she stated, her mask of compassion and kindness completely gone. Growing increasingly angry, Cas ignited his lightsaber and gripped its hilt with both hands - ready to fight "Why the kriff not?" he asked, anger filling his voice. Her eyes then shifted to Cas, face still expressionless, "You see that metallic wristband on your arm, Subject 210499?" she asked.

Cas' lowered his head to look at the wristband that he hadn't even noticed until now, before returning to look at the woman. Once his eyes returned to her, he noticed her pulling a device out of her pocket... it looks sort of like a remote. As she held it her eyes remained locked on the Padawan and as she clicked a button on the device, Cas felt a surge of electricity shoot through his body and he began howling in pain. As his body shook violently, it felt as if his nerves, muscles and bones were on fire and as the electroshock continued, the Padawan felt his sense of reality fade and in an instant, he was on the floor and the world around him darkened into complete blackness...

Zemira

 

[Zemira]

It was understandable for Cas to be bewildered but he needed to react more quickly and at least try to comprehend the situation on his own; he needed to stop asking questions and start paying attention to his surroundings. Zemira didn't know exactly what was going on but she knew enough to know they needed to escape.

"Cas." Zemira said gently as she placed a hand in front of him momentarily to signal him to stand down, at least for now. When the woman told Cas about his wristband, she looked at her own wrist and briefly inspected the band before returning her gaze to the woman. Upon seeing what the woman was reaching for, Zemira dove towards her but the woman simply pressed a button and stepped out of the way so the Knight fell unconscious on the floor behind her.

*****​

"Watch out on your left!" Zemira warned Cas through the headset as she saw another ship approaching his. He was exceptionally skilled at piloting it seemed, more than she thought he would be. He was proving himself to be a valuable ally and a Jedi with great potential; he seemed capable of handling himself so she would only warn him infrequently.

She noticed another ship coming up behind her and after being narrowly missed by a bolt she manoeuvred the starship skilfully out of the way so it was much harder to hit and attempted to get behind the following ship but they were hot on her tail. Determined, she continued to wind along no particular path and made a sudden, albeit risky, turn to catch the follower side-on. Their left wing went up in smoke and the aircraft plummeted into the nothingness below. For a moment, her gaze focused on the stars below as her eyes followed the fallen enemy. The stars seemed oddly fuzzy and not at all dazzling so she frowned to focus on them but didn't understand what the issue was. Before long, another shot sailed past her and she had to leap back into action.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

*******​

They were in the middle of a skirmish, him and Master Zemira in a dogfight with some unknown forces... that or he simply just couldn't remember. The fact he couldn't remember was strange to him. Thinking deeper on the subject, his memory was somewhat foggy... as if he couldn't remember how he got here. Something didn't feel right, the Padawan was sort of on autopilot as he flew through the stars above some desert planet. He was only snapped out of his trance like state when he heard Zemira over his comms.

"Yeah, yeah... I got it" he said, shaking his head slightly, as he performed a barrel roll with his starfighter - avoiding an incoming attack on his left flank. "I'm one of the Order's best pilots after all." he stated in arrogance through the comm, looking on his scanners he could see that the enemy starfighter was coming around for another attack - Cas cranked up his starfighter's thrusters to full, meeting the enemy ship head on. The two pilots exchanged fire at each other with Cas managing to crash the enemy ship but not without suffering some damage to his ray shields.

The impact from the hit caused Cas to knock his head on the side of the cockpit's canopy, knocking him out for a second...

While unconscious, images flashed in his mind - white jumpsuits, individuals in labcoats, long, winding white corridors and... Zemira? Zemira with some kind of device over her head....

Suddenly, Cas' eyes open and he jumped in his seat - realising he has been knocked out and lost control of his starfighter, Cas quickly pulled up his descending spacecraft and returned to the fight above. "I'm good, I'm alive." he said rubbing his head, "Master Zemira... I had... the weirdest vision just now. If you can even call it a dream." Cas added. As he narrowly avoided attacks from other starfighters, he multi-tasked in explaining the dream he had "There was so much white, labcoats, jumpsuits, decor... everything. Then I saw you with some kind of headset over you..." he paused "I think it was a vision of the future..." the teen theorised.

Zemira

 

[Zemira]

"Yeah, right." Zemira scoffed in response with a smile before realising she'd left the comms open and quickly tried to amend her mistake. "Uh, on your right." She quickly covered herself, though not to much avail as there was nothing on his right to solidify her statement but thankfully Cas seemed focused on more pressing issues rather than her antics as he launched an attack on an enemy ship, though she realised in that moment she couldn't determine exactly what enemy that was.

After the attack, Cas' starfighter veered off to the side, prompting the worried Knight to reach out to him. "Cas?" She said on the comm but in a moment he had picked it up again and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh?" She replied to show she was listening. Zemira knew Kiffar could be particularly gifted with clairvoyance or psychometry so she entertained the idea of his dream but when he explained the nature of it, her instinct was to brush it off as nonsense because of how ludicrous it sounded. However, she knew better than to doubt Cas' judgement; he could be immature at times but he seemed serious about this.

"The future?" She repeated thoughtfully, her attention now diverted to Cas' dream as she thought it through. She looked out of the cockpit again at the planet below but it looked hazy and she couldn't even name that either. After a few thoughtful moments, she replied to Cas. "What if that's now?" She asked. "I don't think this is real." She said with finality as she stopped the starfighter before everything went black.

*****​

Zemira opened her eyes but it was still dark and her wrists were bound to the arms of the chair she was on. Within moments, someone in a white lab coat removed a device from her head and gave the Jedi a smile but Zemira returned a frown. "Let me out." She demanded as she struggled against the restraints. "I will. I'm here to get you out of here." She told the Jedi as she pressed a button which released the metal restraints and allowed her a few moments to gather herself as she did the same to Cas.

"Follow me." The woman said as she led the way, producing a blaster from her belt. "What's going on?" Zemira finally asked. "I've been working undercover here for months but I need to shut it down soon, they're going to start taking more drastic approaches." She told the pair as she led them, prompting a confused look from Zemira. "What approaches?" Zemira asked and after the hesitation from the woman Zemira halted. "This isn't real." She said. "I assure you it is, we need to leave - now!" The woman urged, grabbing Zemira by the wrist but she pulled away and shook her head. "This isn't real." She repeated.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

The Padawan was relieved to hear Zemira take his temporary vision into consideration. His brow furrowed when she raised a thought provoking question... what if his vision was happening now? What if this wasn't real? The moment she said it out loud, the world around them darkened in an instant.

******
​

He gasped awake, his dream seemed to be accurate - he was inside a room similar to his dream and right alongside him was Zemira. There was also a woman in the room with them feigning kindness, but he wasn't buying it and neither was Zemira. He watched the exchange between the two and after it was concluded they were promptly released. The Kiffar proceeded to rub his wrists "Do the restraints have to be tight? Jeez." he complained before following Zemira and this woman.

As they made their escape, the woman mentioned something about their captors making "drastic approaches" to whatever it was they were doing now... whatever that meant, but the comment seemed to rub Zemira the wrong way as she stopped to question her. "Zemira, we gotta go." he told her, but she didn't listen and insisted "this wasn't real" which earned her a confused look from him "What?" he asked.

He honestly thought she was losing it, but he stopped for a moment, her senses were more attuned than his... if she believed something was wrong, he would have to trust her. However, as he thought about it more... something really didn't seem right... it was far too convenient, once they figure out they were in some sort of simulation they're brought out of it only to be helped by one of the scientists working here? Cas exchanged a glance with Zemira "How do you know?" he asked.

Zemira

 

[Zemira]

As the paranoia crept in, she became more uncooperative and refused to comply with the woman. "They'll kill you!" The woman urged, reaching for Zemira's wrist again though the Knight quickly pulled back before she could latch on. "It just doesn't feel right." She told Cas as he gaze focused on the guards approaching them from behind the woman. If she was wrong then she had just condemned them but she maintained her stance.

The guards grabbed both Jedi and led them back to the room they had just come from Zemira didn't resist as she thought any attempts would be futile as she believed they were still in a simulation. "It's not real Cas, don't resist." She told the Padawan calmly as she knew he likely wouldn't be as forthcoming as her and once the pair were back in their seats, they were injected with a green substance before the headsets were placed on them again.

*****​

"They've become resistant to it, they're useless now." A voice roused her into consciousness. "We can wipe their memories and start again." Another responded. "We can't keep them forever, the Jedi were already suspicious enough to send another one, what if they send a whole group next?" The first voice argued again. "Just wipe their memories and drop them on a random planet." A third voice suggested, prompting a silence from the other two before a response. "Yeah, we'll do that." They agreed.

Zemira pulled the headset from over her eyes and looked at the three scientists with suspicion, trying to determine if this was reality. She slowly got up from the chair but no one immediately reacted and they simply looked at each other, trying to decipher the situation. "Right, well if you'll come with me..." One of the women beckoned for Zemira to follow her and after a moment of consideration, she did so with no resistance. "This isn't real." She said quietly but the other woman frowned and corrected her, "This is real." She told her, sharing a confused with the man. "Come on, you too." The woman said to Cas.

Cadere