Where Worlds Collide

[Connor Harrison]

For a while it was almost like they were outside in the garden of their family home, under the large tree covering the pond, sitting together either having some pointless disagreement or some mindless debate. Either way, it was innocent times gone by. Now they were sat in a dank street with Imperial and Sith agents around trying to control a raging fire he had been part of instigating.

”I was going to say desperate. Who was I to think you’d care about big brother when you were doing your Jedi stuff. It’s not important now anyway. I can literally feel the venom coming from you. It’s always been there. Always touchy about things.”

As her final threat seemed to ooze from her lips with a hint of menace, it lingered as he talked. Zam tutted gently and turned to her.

”I’ll answer to those who ask when I’m ready. Not you, Seraphina. For the love of god, don’t try and police me.”

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"I'm sorry that I cared more than you. I'm sorry I wasn't the perfectly obedient younger sibling you wanted. But most of all, I am sorry that you have so much hatred towards me that you'd channel that into doing things like this."

Her hand would again point back to the burning buildings he had taken part in orchestrating. "Do you think when you're eventually caught you'll be better off with them instead of your own blood? Tzam, this isn't a game, you're committing arson, even if you didn't set the flame, you've aided in it by association." She moved closer towards him, unsure of what he might be planning to do. She felt so distant from him, but she didn't want to let go of that hope that some part of him still cared. If there was any hope of regaining that piece of her life she had to try, for her own sanity if nothing else.

"Just...Come with me."

[member="Tzameron Shel'tah"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Zam looked to the distant glow of the orange, and then back to his sister. He could feel her good intentions, but he didn't know her or those she served. If anything, family would come second to the family she had with the Jedi.

”Ok. Just...don't do anything rash, like this - ”

He barged sideways into her and used the momentum to scramble up on his knees, then to his feet and started to run down the back street of the city. He felt a great surge inside him to do more, but he had to get away. She could do so much damage to him, or vice versa.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

She would have smiled as he spoke, if not for where his intentions actually laid upon charging into her and knocking her back against the wall as he ran off down the back road to escape her. Caught off guard from the sudden body check from the larger Twi'lek she hit the side of the building with a bit of force and exhaled as the air escaped her lungs. Sera looked down the road as he ran, her lips curling inwards with displeasure that he would truly make her chase him down, and off she went, after him.

"Tzameron! Stop now!" She would chase him, until her legs gave out she would chase him. As he approached the intersection his sister would extend an arm, pulling a pair of trash canisters loose from their resting spot and hurl them at his legs to try and trip him up and gain ground on him.

[member="Tzameron Shel'tah"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Just like chasing each other as kids, only this time there was more at stake than being doused with a bucket of water. Zam heard a banging and turned in time to see an invisible force launch the large trash canisters towards him, tumbling forward.

Knowing he COULD avoid them, as he’d done things before like that, he envisioned himself jumping up and over them, quickly before running away, so he thought about it and pushed down - and ultimately rolled backwards as the canisters knocked into him, filled with heavy waste, and helped him lose balance and stumble over into the intersection.

He could already hear the footsteps from Sera as he sighed on his back, and he somehow knew that this Force was her ally and she had already won. He scurried up onto this feet, a little clumsily due to the mess under him.

”FINE! What you going to do? Hm?!”

He held his arms out.

”Well done you, little sister!”

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Watching as she continued running after him, her eye twitched in response to the collision as he stumbled after he hit the canisters and refrained from his getaway, seemingly aware that he wouldn't be able to escape her without some substantial assistance or luck.

Once she reached where he remained standing she halted as well, listening to the snide comment and sarcastic congratulations upon her catching up to him. She sighed and shook her head.

"You ran, Zam. What was I supposed to do?" What am I supposed to do? She contemplated what she said and thought almost simultaneously. This was now a Sith world, afterall, but it was still her home. He had broken the law, but was it the Sith law? The Republic law? Did it even matter? What should she do?

"I don't know what to do. I'm torn in pieces over you." She stepped forward about a meter and put her arms around his back, embracing him, holding on to the idea that maybe someday things could be OK again.

[member="Tzameron Shel'tah"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Ready to fight back with another comment, Zam tensed as she came forward closer, to restrain him – but instead she only hugged him, tight and holding him which made him feel, again, like he wasn’t alone. Arms still up, he looked out to the street behind them, before slowly lowering to hold her shoulders gently.

”You need to get out of here, it’s not safe for you Jedi.”

Leaning back to break the embrace, he looked down at his sister and rubbed his hands gently on her shoulders.

”This isn’t our home anymore, leave it to the Sith – you need to stay safe, ok? Where are you going – I’ll…I’ll come to see you soon. Away from here.”

Behind them, a flying drone and officer could be seen turning into the street back where they came. It certainly wasn’t police.

”Sera - go!” His hushed voice wasn’t offering her an option.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera relaxed, even if only for a moment before he shouted to her to leave, this time seemingly out of concern, rather than anger or distrust. She turned her head back to see the drone and some kind of soldier or something heading towards them. "It's not safe for anyone on Sith worlds, Zam. And Jedi are safe nowhere." Her hand lifted and thrust forward, sending a powerful wave of Force energy towards the approaching man, while her right hand pulled away her purple hued saber and, upon activating it with the touch of a finger, loosed it, spinning the lightsaber as it flew through the air to carve the drone in two before the weapon returned to her hand. The man would be back up in no time, so she had only a moment to speak.

"You need to get out of here as well. Don't trust the people you're with. They will turn on you! Meet me in two weeks at the Onderon starport. There's a warehouse next to dock 13 that isn't in use."

She took a look back at the man as he began to scramble to his feet before she leaped up onto the building's scaffolding, and another jump onto the rooftop. From there, she would watch below and make sure that Zam escaped before she departed herself. She also wanted to see what he planned to do.

[member="Tzameron Shel'tah"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Moving to the side as Sera displayed the Jedi she was, Zam smiled to himself, slightly impressed and proud seeing a real Jedi in the flesh – and being his sister. She looked powerful, and basically looked really cool with her lightsaber and Force power. The smile dropped a little as the negative came back to haunt him; she was something far greater and better than he could be.

Watching the drone spark and the man fall back, he nodded and looked to his sister.

”Show off.”

Zam stepped back to let Sera move, taking note of the spaceport she wanted to meet in. He’d passed through there before so knew it well, and now had 2 weeks to kill. As she crested the scaffold and onto the roof in a way that looked too easy, Zam started back down the street where they came from, not slowing down as he came to the sparking drone and the stirring officer.

He was a young man wearing an Imperial uniform – a sentry or guard, nothing too important and obviously one carrying out the orders of higher officials. He had to protect the sight of Sera here, and couldn’t leave anything or anyone to threaten her.

Moving down around the Imperial, Zam knelt and wrapped his arm around the young man’s throat and pushed his head forward with the other. Pressure was amplified as he looked back for others coming their way. The body struggled under his grip, but soon went limp as death took him.

Zam laid the head down, patting down the body and taking a com from the Imperial’s belt, pocketing it to rid anything he could from the drone sighting of the Jedi Twi’lek. Flicking his eyes up quickly, he felt eyes watching him – there was nothing he could do to hide who he was, and what he had learnt to do in order to survive. He fished out his own com and activated the signal.

”Man down behind the library – send help, over.”

A blind call to anyone on the wavelength. He picked up the pace and continued running back up the street, aiming to blend back in the dispersing crowd and amble along as if nothing had happened in the last few minutes.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The pinkish Twi'lek looked down from the rooftop, watching her brother's actions as he made his way towards the young man. Her eyes followed him, narrowing as she felt his emotions welling, his fear, nerves, and anger getting the better of him. Her lips gestured a silent No that would not be heard, but rather wished. Tzameron began to cut the oxygen from the man through a violent chokehold, ending his life with little necessity. She wanted to stop him, she wanted to spare the younger man's life, but she couldn't. There was nothing to be done as the act was over with as quickly as it began. Her stomach dropped a bit as she thought about what her own flesh and blood had just done with almost no care or concern. It made her noticeably ill.

He then proceeded to rob the lifeless body of its' contents. Her head snapped back over the edge as Tzam twisted his head to look up at her. She hoped he hadn't noticed her watching him, but there was little she could do to hide their sibling bond and her presence from him, if he indeed still felt it. She wasn't quite sure how attached he was to her anymore, especially after witnessing the day's events and how they unfolded.

She watched from the rooftop as he fled the scene on foot after calling a bogus distress. Once he had disappeared, she felt her shoulders drop, her head shaking in disappointment. This was not how she envisioned their reunion. Turning she headed back towards the spaceport feeling defeated. "Zam, what have you become?"

[member="Tzameron Shel'tah"]