What You Do in the Dark

[EmKay]

The cabin of the ship was quiet. Valentine had a lot to think about. With recent events, he'd come to realise that he was too fresh in the Galaxy. Every decision he made weighed upon him, and he needed help. His eyes slid to the side, staring out into space. His eyes lingered on every star and flicker of movement, as though that mysterious blackened Star Destroyer would pierce the abyss and come to finish what had never had a chance to begin. He sighed and reclined, closing his eyes and frowning. This was easier when Atretes was running the show. He was able to fulfil his purpose and destroy obstacles that dared oppose him. Now he had to play face, temper his hand, and he was stagnating. What happened to fluid that stagnated? It evaporated. Sigma's teeth gritted.

"Do you really?" came a wayward thought.

It seemed a given up until that point. To play the cards by the hand he was dealt, to play by everyone's rules. Was that his way now? Since when did he lower himself to... them? Who was them? Anyone and everyone who hadn't proven themselves - and even then. The only person he still held full respect for was the man who wouldn't come out simply because he wanted it to happen. Everyone else was noise, noise that had been drowning out his own thoughts. He leaned forward and stared into the blackness, scanning the invisible horizon.

"No, I don't." he answered.

He tapped a button on his ship's panel, and it jettisoned itself into hyperspace. He knew where he needed to go. It was a place he'd been before, when he was weaker. He'd told his mentor that he'd return when he was ready. It was time to stop putting off the past, and get on with what he was meant for.

 

[EmKay]

The ship spun out of hyperspace, and dipped down immediately to the verdant planet below. The silver bullet ignored any docking officials that may exist, any previously developed nonsense that had nothing to do with his purpose here today. The ship ducked into the canopy, and he sailed his metal vessel between tree trunks as big around as buildings. He took a deep breath, and felt his way back to where he went years ago. The ship screeched to a halt above the hole in the trees that hadn't fully healed. The triangular cut-out allowed the more rounded ship in easier, and it touched down with a hydraulic hiss and a settling clunk.

"Hello darkness, my old friend." Ash muttered.

He unstrapped himself from the cockpit and collected his lightsaber belt and sword. Then he tapped open a locker. No fancy cyber armour or probe droids for this adventure. Instead he strapped on a combat vest, elbow and knee pads, shin and guards, and a leather jacket over his upper body. He looked more spacer than a leader of a Force Order. Just as he did those years ago. He followed familiar steps, and his senses flared far earlier than they had in the past. He rolled his shoulders and took a heavy stomp, and telekinetic energy repelled the slug-like creatures away from his body. They went flying into trees, splattering like the insects they were. He didn't have time for pests.

There it was. The cave. He gripped the stones that had fallen back to bar the entrance, and he moved them out of the way, revealing the cave's entrance. He stepped in, and snapped his fingers. A weak ball of light appeared by his side as it had before. He never invested much time into the ability, but his mastery of the Force allowed him to conjure this little thing. He walked up to the back wall, and shifted his weight backward onto the pressure-plated stone. It sunk in, and he heard mechanisms churn and work until the stone wall in front of him sunk back down into the ground. He drew his sword as his light poured into the tunnel, and he saw the glinting eyes of those creatures he'd fled from before.

"I'm back." he announced.

His hand gripped the metal, his presence in the force waxed as he prepared to face this horde of things and discover whatever was in the guts of Kashyyyk's floor. It was time to face this trial.

 

[EmKay]

They swarmed. It was what they did. The mass of pale furred creatures quickly enveloped the room and fixed their gazes onto him. He grinned. A lightsaber flew off his belt and hovered for a moment, ignited and humming, before it directed its blade outward and began to spin. It moved faster and faster until it was nearly a ring of light around him. He Applied another lightsaber, then another. He stopped at three, as a bead of sweat trickled down his brow at the concentration. He closed his eyes and lodged the tip of his sword into the ground, then let his senses flare. One of the beasts tried to come down upon him from directly above, and one of the three sabers diverted its course to slice the creature in two, then return to its spinning path with its brethren. The creatures recoiled as one, then eyes locked back onto their prey.

"Oh, enough," Ash said with a frown.

The sabers' radius expanded outward and cut a swathe through the creatures. The ones assaulted shrieked in pain, and the rest regrouped. Valentine's brow twitched and he nodded to himself, in a manner that could only be explained as... accommodating. He cracked his neck and reached into the Force. He gripped the energy these things were letting off, and reworked it into his own power, then his hands released the sword and his fingers splayed. From the tips arced electricity that carried licks of fire with it. This elemental wrath filled the semicircular room like a plasma light orb, and every beast it touched was left with electrical burns and blue-black flame racing across their fur. The creatures howled in collective pain as the light show left them all writhing and engulfed in Sigma's Inferno. He closed his hands, the flow of energy ceased like tap of water. He placed his hands back upon the pommel of his sword, and the lightsabers deactivated and clipped themselves to his belt. His eyes opened, and he watched the creatures retreat as a mass of inidgo fire. He smirked.

"I'm stronger than before, you see," he told them as thought they understood.

He took a step forward and kicked the sword's tip out from the rock. He gripped it in his hand with a flourish and walked down the long deep of Kashyyyk. Now that the welcoming party was dealt with, it was time to join the real gathering.

 

[EmKay]

The halls were narrow, but they were vacant. The creatures retreated to lick their wounds, and Valentine was only taking the invitation to delve deeper. There were several offshoot tunnels, where he could hear hissing and screeching, but he stayed down the main path. As he delved deeper, the walls smoothed and became more... refined. The claw marks were still there from the creatures, but the cave was less natural. He snapped another light into existence and observed his surroundings. He stumbled lightly as he looked at the walls, and found that the floor had turned to stairs. He walked down them, and was beginning to sense a great deal of life. The belly of the beast must have been below. He gripped his sword tight, and traversed the distance ahead. The hall widened until it was nearly a chamber, then he saw something amazing.

Before him was a massive tunnel, filled with all manner of treasures and trinkets. Things he hadn't ever seen before, like what looked like part of an X-Wing, just... much older. In the centre of the room was a block of metal. It shone like a jewel and was at least two metres long and as big around as his body. He took a step into the room, captivated by that mysterious slab of metal, then his sense for danger spiked and he sidestepped a thrown weapon. From behind the metal, came a massive creature. It looked like the others, but was significantly taller and had chains hanging off it. Old, rusted chains that clanged as it moved. Its claws were long and wicked, and is teeth shined perhaps as brightly as the metal whose brilliance they reflected. The lumbering brute took a step forward, and the many smaller ones gathered along the walls. The creature roared out something. A series of growls, clicks, and guttural calls that almost resembled some kind of demented Wookie speak. The others began to whoop and sound in chorus as a reply. Asher waited.

Perhaps it was his lack of a reaction, or perhaps it smelled the adrenaline that was running its way through the Archon's veins. Either way, its eyes locked into the comparatively small man, and it took another step. It... spoke again, but Valentine had no way to know what it was saying. It didn't seem to care though, as it appeared to monologue and punctuate with what sounded like laughter. Whatever it said was apparently the joke of the century, because the others joined. Asher's head tipped to the side, and he replied.

"I'm sure I'd find it funny too, but since I can't understand you, I'll laugh when you're dead."

He doubted the creature understood the words, but the defiant and superior tone coupled with his refusal to appear nervous or frightened got the message across. The beast roared its anger, and gripped the chains that hung off it. Whatever this room held, he'd have to best its owner, first.

 

[EmKay]

A massive fist came down, and Asher wasted no time. He dug his heels into the ground as a channel for letting the Force imbue itself into his legs and works its way up his musculature. Then he sprinted. His footfalls were fleeting, and in moments he was racing up the monster's arm towards its head. It roared indignantly, and tried to smash him with its other arm. He threw his hand out for guidance, and a lightsaber impaled itself into the offending hand. It howled in pain, and those gathered screeched that their leader had been harmed. The lightsaber twisted and returned to its master, where he gripped it in his off-hand. He'd reached the shoulder. Unfortunately for him, the thrashing and flailing threw him off-balance, and he tumbled down the brute's back. He rolled with the fall and came to his feet face to face with one of the normal-sized creatures. It snarled in his face and he simply decapitated it with the same motion he used to turn around.

"Oh good." he muttered.

The walls were nearly alive with crawling, writhing creatures. The massive one faded into the mass. He blinked, and he was faced with another sea of moving fur. He didn't have time for this. He drove his sword into the ground with aid of the Force, and came to kneel gripping the handle. He exhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and felt the Force flow through them again. He fed upon their primal rage and instinctual evils. He directed that energy with the metal spike as a conduit, then into his lightsabers. The air around him rippled as though he were on fire, and then his eyes snapped open. In that instant, his lightsabers flew off his belt and ignited, then pointed outward. His hand glowed with energy, and he dropped his knee to plant firmly on the ground. The blue-black flame roared to life in a circle linking each lightsaber, and the lightning spidered out from the sword that now served as a lightning rod and connected to each lightsaber, then connected each lightsaber together.

"Enough of these games, creatures." he called out.

Then he stood, and all that power discharged. The fire belched outward in a flash inferno, blazing trails through furred bodies and setting them all alight. Following that came bolts of electricity that sought out the nearest living body and jumped from victim to victim, shooting lethal doses of electricity through their chest cavities. Hearts either stopped or exploded in the moment of contact until the bolts dissipated. The lightsabers came to heel behind Sigma, fanned out like wings, and he twisted his steel from the ground. With the peons ablaze and illuminating the cave, he found himself locked in a stare-down with the big one.

"Well?"

 

[EmKay]

The large one reared back and let out a bellow. Asher's head tilted at the display, and his mouth twisted into a nearly sadistic grin as he lifted his hand. The brute's eyes affixed to the hand and tendrils of darkborn electricity surged outward. Before it could register the onslaught, it was screaming in pain as the lightning surged through its body and seared flesh. It fought, it struggled, and it broke through the pain to take steps forward. Asher smiled at the valiant effort, but decided to not play with his prey too much right now. He twisted his wrist and the surges of electricity fluttered and expanded, and soon his control over the Force changed his power from lightning to fire. The flames billowed out from Valentine's hand like a flamethrower and enveloped the massive creature. He took a deep breath and let the flames settle. He watched the beast thrash and flail as its own fur worked against it to sear it and char flesh. It glared at him with angry eyes, its physical torment one it had never experienced before.

"I hope you're ready to die," Asher commented

It turned to face him, and began its journey anew. Fighting through flames, fighting through pain. Struggling to best the small form of Sigma. Unfortunately for the brute, the man was only small in size, but not in strength. A lightsaber snapped to life and impaled itself into the beast's knee. It howled and collapsed, and the saber whipped out of the way, hovering metres from the creatures. Another saber snapped to life and impaled the other knee, rendering both joints useless. It joined in flanking the creatures, and two more lightsabers hissed to life and spun around the back like boomerangs. They severed the creature's achilles tendons and hovered at attention to the rear of the beast. The last two lightsabers snapped to life and flew like spinning blades to sever arm ligaments. The beast fell prostrate and immobile. Asher waved his hand and the lightsabers all came above its head like a crown of illuminated needles. They pointed downward and hummed in eerie, ominous unison.

Valentine's fist clenched. The sabers all came raining down, impaling different angles of the creature's skull and frying his brain, if not immediately killing it. The sabers deactivated mechanically and returned to their place at Sigma's belt. He walked up to the now-dead creature and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"Rest in peace." he muttered, out of respect for its effort in spite of its weakness.

Now he had other matters to attend to. He turned to that silvery metal and wrapped his ethereal grip around it. He had his prize, now he needed to leave with it in tow.

 

[EmKay]

After being fried numerous times and with their chieftain of sorts lying dead on the ground in their main chamber, the beasts left Asher to his own devices on the way out. He'd forgotten his sword, lodged in the spot where he'd left it, but that was no matter. This metal felt... different. It felt like it was powerful. He would make a new weapon with it, one befitting his role and his own power. He kept the slab close so that he could better direct it back through the woods. He paused, and looked back to the cave. This was a chapter of his life that he'd left open before, but now he was done here. He let the metal rest on the ground, and returned to the entrance to the cave. It seemed to gape at him like a maw, and he observed the rock he'd assembled to form an entrance. He took a deep breath and let the Force flow through him. He didn't grip it to his will, but rather moved with the currents as he directed it to ebb and push against the stone. Against the cave ceiling. He rocked the earth here with the ebbs and flows of the natural energy, until stone cracked and crumbled. After the first few pieces caved in, the rest followed suit. Asher blocked his eyes from the dust, and then looked to his work once the air settled. Where there had once been a cave entrance, there was now little more than a pile of rubble. Soon the plants would grow over it, and this location would be little more than a memory.

Valentine turned away and recovered his metal slab. He walked with it back through the forest floor, and to the freighter he was using. He set the metal down in the cargo bay, and he could feel the hydraulics of the landing gear shift to accommodate the extra weight. He tapped the cargo ramp closed, made his way to the cockpit, and flew out of the system. He needed to get the metal analysed, then he could decide what to do with it.

 

[EmKay]

Asher decided to do his own tests on the metal before he arrived. He ignited a lightsaber, and decided to see if this material was as powerful as it felt. He tapped the metal with the humming blade, and it resisted the initial impact. Valentine's eyes shined in curiosity, and he jammed the blade down on the silvery material. It hissed and whined simply from the blade being forced, but when he removed the energy beam from the brilliant slab, there was only some scoring that wiped off as easily as any burn mark. His brow raised, and he shut off the glowing blade. This was an interesting object, certainly. With his curiosity sated, he sat on a small padded bench and slid himself to lay down. There was still some trip left ahead, and it was a good time to take a nap and consider the future.

* * *​

​

​

"Looks like you're back where I was." came a voice.

Sigma blinked and looked around. It was a vision, but interactive. Introspective. His gaze slid over and affixed to the small light that faced him. It was all that was left of Rhoujen. His head cocked to the side and he stood, the memory of his last waking position influencing his first dreaming position. There was something odd about the little sprite of his former bodily companion... amusement? Sigma went up to the little ball and tapped it, rendering his own dream to create the image of Atretes. Longer hair, more innocent eyes, and younger than Asher was. It was his illusory world, after all. He could change it so he was talking to a person.

"What do you mean, where you were?" Sigma replied in query.

"A little lost, a little confused, wasting your potential." Rhoujen quipped.

Valentine glared at him. Atretes merely gave his pirate smirk and shifted his stance into a 'prove me wrong' gesture. Asher's mind raced over the past year. He ran over all the things he did, all the things he could have done, all the things he should have done. He watched Rhoujen watch him, and watched the boy's expression shift to one of knowing as realisation set in. It was the second coming of the revelation he'd had earlier that day. He'd been playing according to what everyone else wanted, not by the will that was instilled into him by Bestine and Omega.

"I see." came Sigma's reply.

The dream shifted, and the canvas was white. Blank. Rhoujen was nowhere to be seen, but his voice came out.

"Do as we were taught. Shape the galaxy as you see fit."

The first thing Sigma did? He turned the white to an endless sea, glittering in the disembodied light of an invisible moon. This was his sanctuary now, and it would be shaped according to how he saw fit. For now, the water was rife with the promise of possibility, and that was enough.

 

[EmKay]

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Came the alarm signalling the reversion to realspace. Asher was jerked out of his dream of revelation and tranquillity, brought to wake by the obnoxious sound. He trotted to the cockpit and slid into his seat, touching the acknowledgement button and letting the ship lurch out of the blue-white vortex and into a black starfield with a world below. He didn't know where else to go, so he went to Roon where there were plenty of experts. The ship soared down to the planet's surface, and came to rest at an R-and-D facility. He called out a team to analyse the material. Their scanners read its structure, and they did some tests to measure strength, flexibility, etcetera, even using a specialised cutter to remove a small sample. After a couple of hours, they returned with a report.

"The metallic compound in question is commonly referred to as Songsteel," a scientist explained, "It is commonly used in forging weaponry, and is highly resistant to even lightsabers." he finished.

The man scuttlied off to return to whatever assignment he had, and Valentine crossed his arms and looked over the block of metal.

"Stronger than a lightsaber..." came his thoughts.

He'd have to see about forging it into a weapon himself. He wasn't very skilled in such things, so he'd have to make some calls.

ƒın​