Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Turn the Other Way

Man this gets boring. Tormax thought this as the blood seemed to float in his head. This was happening because he had been upside down for the longest time, trying to see how long it would take for his arms to tire out. Five minutes of this and he started to wobble. He flipped himself to his feet, not wanting to fall, and sat back down on his bed. He stared for a long while at his hand, which was almost unfamiliar to him. Was this right? Should I have saved him...? I could have died and yet, I still saved the man who did this to me and- He stopped. He hadn't even thought about everyone who had lost their lives. How many were there? A thousand? More? Tormax wasn't sure. He thought back to the bodies being carted off, and how he had the chilling thought they were going to the incinerator. How off was he on that?

Yet, when he saw the man who caused not only the death of an imperial outpost, but his own men, dying on the ground, he couldn't help but save the man he had served with. Now, here he was, in the base of the enemy. Were they the enemy? Tormax was so conflicted, On one hand, he had served with the imperials for years now. He grew up with them. But on the other hand, he was getting sick of the internal conflict. That, and...

Andanian.

Just then the door opened to his room, cutting off his thoughts.

[member="Krux Mullarus"], [member="Connor Harrison"]
 
Krux entered the chamber he was escorted to by two Rangers he had asked. He still wore that really tight, uncomfortable white jumpsuit he found in his medical office. He really needed to get an actual room to stay in. His eyes would have wandered the cozy little space the giant Tormax resided in, but he was...genuinely scared of what had happened to the young soldier.

Tormax was terrifyingly large now. He made the young, physically fit Krux look like a shrimp. Granted, from where he stood, he was almost just as tall as him. There was only about an inch difference between them.

Setzi always did admire how tall I am... he thought, unable to hold back a blush as he stared down for a second.

His eyes glazed over the abnormally muscular body of Tormax now. It was no wonder it was so dangerous. It was a miracle the soldier survived. He was one of the smaller stormtroopers, too.

"You followed me and saved my life after I put thousands of your fellow soldiers to death in order to force you all to murder other, unsuspecting young people. Why? You were never supposed to be loyal to me. You were supposed to be loyal to the Empire that I clearly had gone against."

Mullarus' question sounded like an actual question and not a scolding. Here on Voss, with Tormax stripped out of his stormtrooper body sleeve and armor and Krux not even a Sith anymore, they were equals.


[member="Tormax Ategann"]
 

Connor Harrison

Guest
So Connor stood back out of the door and leant on the door frame after showing Krux to his comrade, and he let the two discuss matters. The trooper, surrounded by those gifted with ability deemed god-like to those without, had done a brave thing and deserved to be treated well.

Where his path would take him, back to the barracks or sticking with Krux, was all down to him, but Connor would help him as much as he wanted.

[member="Krux Mullarus"] | [member="Tormax Ategann"]
 
This couldn't be the same man as before, could it? The one who screamed at two thousand Stormtroopers to prepare for a raid on a Sith academy, now standing before him, not demanding to know something, but simply asking, like a regular man would ask another. Tormax could tell from Mullarus' face that he didn't truly realize what the serum did to his men until now.

When Mullarus asked his question, Tormax stared intently at him for a few seconds. "You know. Just a few seconds ago I was asking myself the exact same thing. And what I came to was that, well, I never went out searching for you so that I could server you wherever I went. No. I went after you for a couple of different reasons. The first one," He stopped, trying to calm the building anger inside of him, "was to make sure you weren't running away from what you started. Which you were. The second was, if you were running away, to ask you this," Tormax then went right up in his ex-commanders face, his face contorted in rage despite his attempts to quell his mounting emotions. "Was it worth it? Everything you did? Killing your grandfather? Amassing an army made of freaks?! Was it worth it when you think about everything that was lost in the process?!"

Now, pictures flashed in Tormax' head. Dead bodies. He saw Jackal Squad, most having died from the serum, the rest in duty, leaving only him. He saw his friend, Private Konnor, limp in his arms, whilst everyone went to Mullarus to make sure he was alright. He saw the bodies of Stormtroopers he had started to know be drug off to some unknown place, deformed, mixed with the bodies of Stormtroopers he never had the chance to meet. He saw the rest turn into monsters. The final picture was not a picture, but a memory. It was from before he "woke" to the dream of being trapped on a island-like rock, surrounded by lava with Darth Azurea and his dead friend. The scene of his squads dead bodies being scattered around him, and a dark void inching closer and closer towards him. This time, the surrounding veil of darkness stretched out, revealing even more bodies. Hundreds, thousands, murdered by The Unknown before him. It was him, it had to be him-

But he knew it wasn't. It wasn't Krux Mullarus' choice to kill his grandfather, resulting in the death of a friend. Nor his choice to be betrayed by the one he loved, only to lash out with an army, before backing down. It wasn't his choice. Not really. Tormax realized this as he stared into the eyes of the now broken Sith. Tormax wasn't force sensitive, having been accepted by the serum proved that, but at that moment he started to understand why the Sith were considered to use the "Dark Side" of the force. It corrupted. It corroded. It made the choices. The Void, the Unknown, was the Dark Side, manifested to show all the lives it would destroy, with the help of the One Sith.

Tormax continued. "Despite my anger, when I saw you, face down in front of your own manor, dying, I knew that I couldn't just stand there and let you rot. Well, I could, but I didn't, and I don't know why, because maybe you deserved it..." Tormax stopped the think, and came up with an answer he was happy with. "I didn't leave you there because I realized that what I've been doing has been wrong, and that leaving you there would have kept me on that same track, forever. So I saved you."

Tormax sat down. Holding himself upside down hadn't drained him, but this had. This realization changed almost everything about how he tried to look at the world. Before, it seemed like the Imperials were always right, and that everyone else was just trying to ruin their peace. The combination of seeing the Sith in action, and how the Jedi here agreed to help someone they knew to be an enemy, brought here by another enemy, showed him that the One Sith may be the thing ruining the peace.

This thought, for one reason or another, was very calming.

[member="Krux Mullarus"], [member="Connor Harrison"]
 
Krux entered the chambers of Tormax Ategann expecting a violent response. He surely would have retaliated, but he knew he deserved it. Such a weakness to the will of the Dark Side made him dangerous to anyone around him. When Tormax stood to his new, unnaturally-large height, Krux had to physically look up at him. It was terrifying. He couldn't bare to keep eye contact. The grip on his mask tightened in his hand. He wanted to quickly throw it on so the soldier that used to respect and follow him willingly wouldn't see the tears rolling down his cheeks.

But he didn't. Tormax would see it. Two streams of tears slowly fell down his dark-side-corrupted face and over all of his scars, like a river of water barrellimg through a craggy, volcanic landscape. Krux could only look down at his feet and close his eyes. "No...looking back now, none of it was...I was...weak...I became a puppet of the Dark Side, just as Setzi did. I was no longer Krux Mullarus. I was...a monster, just like Darth Pyrrhus and Darth Azurea. I set myself up to fail, and I dragged thousands of you with me..."

He wiped his face pathetically with the sleeve of his jumpsuit, "I don't deserve forgiveness from you. I don't expect you to stay. You can keep Patriot and leave. Find your outlaw brother. I'm staying here. The Jedi are the only people in the galaxy that can help me now...but...thank you." he said, opening his glazed eyes and looking up a bit at Tormax, but not into his eyes. "Thank you for saving me. I'll not waste my second chance at life. I won't dissapoint you again."


[member="Tormax Ategann"]
 
If Tormax wasn't surprised before, He definitely was when the tears started to flow. When he saw this, he knew that Mullarus was going in the right direction. He admitted he was wrong, and that the dark side corrupted him. Any anger he had depleted and then vanished when Mullarus thanked Tormax and told him to go and find Andanian. It was then that he realized the man who had set the bounty on Andanian was before him, and since that man had turned his back to the One Sith, maybe the bounty would be forgotten as well.

Getting up, Tormax was going to leave immediately, but then realized that that was wrong. He look at Krux, and then placed a hand, gently as he could, on his shoulder. "You're welcome. I'll take your offer and go out to find my brother. When the time is right, I hope I can return to you as a friend." He smiled, then turned back and picked up his stormtrooper helmet. "Might as well keep this until I can get a replacement. It's good for balancing the brightness."

Tormax had noticed the man with Mullarus but had not really looked him over. Now he noticed the man was a Jedi. He's probably why Mullarus told me to go here. He nodded at the man without saying anything. If no one wanted to say anything, he would go to the patriot, leaving the planet and the rest of his Stormtrooper gear behind in search for his brother.

[member="Krux Mullarus"], [member="Connor Harrison"]
 

Connor Harrison

Guest
This time, the trooper acknowledged Connor slightly, but it was enough. The man had a job to do - not a job, a duty. Connor wasn't going to stand in the way, but it was clear there was an understanding between the former allies. As he walked up, the Silver Jedi spoke.

"If you need help, please contact Krux. It's never too late for that second chance. Our Rangers will see you have everything you need, I will take responsibility as you did for saving the life of another - a selfless act. A decent act."

He held his hand out. The man wasn't one to follow the actions of Force users, so why insult him with a once-typical sentimental wishing of the Force to be with him?

"Be safe out there."

[member="Tormax Ategann"] | [member="Krux Mullarus"]
 
He was surprised to hear the Jedi speak to him. He almost thought the man would simply nod and send him on his way, happy for him to be gone. The man holding out his hand was another shocker. Tormax was getting used to the idea that his vision of the world had been way off. He reached out and shook the mans hand.

"Be safe out there."

"Thank you for your offer. I will most certainly consider coming back here once I've dealt with my personal business. Farewell."

With that, Tormax went to where The Patriot was, being shown where to go. Once he had gotten into the ship, he quickly checked his provisions and supplies. Almost full. Perfect. He booted up the engines, and took off from Voss. He didn't think about what he was doing. He just went.

"Now then... Where are you, little brother?"

[member="Krux Mullarus"], [member="Connor Harrison"]
 

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