Session export: Return to Karufr

Zakai was growing into himself at last. He was still a young adult, lanky in the larms and legs to a degree but over all he was filling out and becoming quite handsome. His mother’s Hapan descent and their thousands of years of selective breeding for attractiveness meant that despite Vodo Biasks own rugged homeliness Zakai was maturing into something all-together more appealling. He was tall and growing taller, his shoulders were already broad and it was clear that with some training he’d be a powerfully built man. His face was slender and angular with deep, emotional eyes always clouded behind a cool and dark demeanor. He could smirk and smile like a sun beam peaking out from behind a cloud, but his moody demeanor seemed more pensive and introspective than angry or dangerous. He was cool, dark, and mysterious or would have been if he hadn’t essentially grown up around the Clan. They knew who he was and many had spent time teaching or training in him some capacity so they saw through his silence and sullenness. Cassandra was one of those people for she’d been in charge of overseeing his upbringing now for several years as the Consul and Chancellor. He’d been in Shanree’s care for years and it was He who Zakai had spent the vast majority of his time like, they’d become something like brothers, but it was Cassandra who was always looking over the old Colonel’s shoulder ensuring that if nothing else Zakai received a comprehensive education and upbringing.

Zakai came down the landing ramp of the shuttle behind the former Chancellor. He, in his own vacuum suit, followed after her and upon catching up nodded, “I shut everything down after landing. The thrust manifold was still making me concerned so I didn’t anything idling while we’re exploring. When we get back I’ll poke around some more.”

‘Jac Cotelin was not thorough enough.’

How the mighty truly did fall. Clan Taldryan was once a bastion of excellence within the Brotherhood, a shining example of what could be achieved by tbe greatest, brightest, and most powerful.

Now? The Clan had been turned into a Republic, a shadow of its former glory that relied on the Clans around them that were once old enemies. Anders supposed there was some irony in that, but he would be lying if he said he was not at least the tiniest bit intrigue by the Intel Zuza had relayed.

Apparently, Cassandra was struggling. Given recent events, he could not say he was surprised. Her struggle certainly had piqued his interest.

This, on Zuza’s behest, he had travelled to Karufr to confront Cassandra regarding whatever dark clouds covered her mind. He find it ironic that of all possible people, he was the one performing this delicate task, given his status as the new Combat Master he was anything but delicate, but needs must, he supposed.

His first point of interest would be what was once the central power of Taldryan; the Great Hall. No doubt that would be Cassandra’s first point of interest.

BUDD-E, the little BD-Unit droid on his shoulder beeped enthusiastically. Indeed. They would find her soon enough. They might as well explore whilst they were here.

After all, he was in no rush.

The days on Karufr had been miserable. The nights even more so. Anubis didn’t care. This was once the seat of what the cyborg Umbaran believed to be the best clan in the Brotherhood. His home. Where he had first exited that accursed Shadow Academy shuttle, and grinded his way throughout many years to become a Scion through both highs and lows. Where he had formed an intense rivalry with his master, Vodo Biask. That Twi'lek, rotten to the core and just as much cyborg as his pupil.

It had been many years since the Son of Taldryan had been robbed of his opportunity to put an end to his mentor. The fury the Sith Alchemist had unleashed that day had been devastating, to say the least, slaughtering every Collective body in his path. Still, it had not been enough. Rage and vengeance still coursed through his veins.

It had been several of those long years since the former Proconsul and his uniquely crafted crimson-clad dark age armor had exiled himself from the new seat of Taldryan, the Chyron System, resettling back where it all started. Though he had not been on world to witness the devastation his fellow Scion had inflicted upon their home, the remnants were clear. For him, it did not matter, for this planet - and the Taldryan Temple - were his home. One he refused to abandon even as the struggle to remain on the planet proved overwhelming at times. The once green and lush planet had been reduced to ashes, it’s local population devastated and the planet rendered almost completely uninhabited. But through his perseverance and dedication, the now Elder had managed to survive. His anger and hatred had sustained him, scavenging what he could when he could. Furthering his knowledge and alchemical prowess through intense research and trial and error.

The few planetary sensors he had managed to scavenge and rebuild detected the incoming crafts. People were arriving. Friends or foes, the cyborg couldn’t tell. But he was ready nonetheless. He had always been ready, especially once he had discovered that Vodo Biask - or rather a digital form of him - had survived.

The crimson-clad Sith Master waited patiently in the ruins of the Great Hall for their arrival, his modulated breathing the only sound that filled it’s lifeless husk. The shadow it had once been.

“I’m excited you invited me to come, Cassandra”, Zakai moved lithley across the broken landscape with the vigor of youth, “I heard enough about this place from my Father that it feels like I’ve been here before”.

Zuza had expressed her concern to Anders regarding her state, both mentally and physically. Unfortunately for both her and Cassandra, Anders was nothing if not a consummate professional.

It was astonishing that Karufr had not been ransacked any further than it had. It was a prime target for smugglers and thieves to run amock the once heart of the great Clan Taldryan.

Anders scoffed at the thought.

Reaching out with his senses, he felt the presence of several individuals of varying degrees of strength. Cassandra, obviously, but a few others.

“Well, Buddy. Shall we go introduce ourselves?”

A curious mind, Zakai had read up on almost every datafile he could slice into about The Reaving. That was what Vodo Biask had ensured that black day had been called back when these reports were being compiled. Zakai quietly snorted to himself, thinking that was just like the arrogant asshole who had been his father. For someone so cool, so in control, seemingly unperturbed by everything yet constantly furious at everything Vodo sure had been insecure. The older Zakai got and the more he matured, under the influence of the much more balanced Shanree Argentin, the more he realized that about the man. At times Zakai worried that his outwardly brooding face and growing size would remind people of Vodo, but then he reflected on how they were very different people– people seemed to like Zakai for one. 

He and the now-former Supreme Chancellor picked their way across the debris field towards a mound of debris more prominent than the others around them. Lacking much of an atmosphere the star Kr’Tal above them cast everything in a harsh and vivid white light contrasted with the deep, dark black of the shadows cast off the destruction of the planet. Zakai dialed up the polarization on his breathing mask to shield his eyes, which had the added benefit of giving more depth to the shadows around him and thus more confidence in where he stepped. They took their time, being in no particular hurry. It was often difficult to distinguish what it was they were walking or climbing over as just about everything had been partially melted from above or quickly carbonized from the flash fires below. Stone and Duracrete columns and rubble looked as though someone had poured thick molasses over everything that had quickly solidified, but Zakai knew from reading the reports that it had been the concerted planetary bombardment by the Brotherhood’s Justicar…

A Taldrya had done all of this.

The Taldryan temple had been enormous. There wasn’t much left of it that wasn’t melted into heaps of meaningless slag. What remained was a piled mass, a twisted and broken thing whose remains suggested that in life it had been magnificent. It had been the home, the headquarters of the Taldryan of old– the Taldryan at the height of its prestige and power. Zakai recalled his father talking about the extensive hangar facilities beneath its great mass where he’d once kept his ship. Vodo went on at great lengths about how the Temple had been home to hundreds of Journeymen and Equites, how it had been the nerve center of the Fleet and Army, how it had been a training site and place of great power for Dark Jedi of enormous power. From what remained of that great edifice, the piled slag and melted duracrete, it was evident that Vodo hadn’t exaggerated much. He was awestruck being in its presence.

Something buzzed on his hip and Zakai jumped, startled out of his befuddlement. It was his comlink. He pulled it up and activated the holopad to receive the transmission, “Ye–”

Up from the holopad emerged the small blue image of a tall, broad-shouldered Twi’lek man with dark black tattoos running down his lekku, “What brings you to this gravesite, Seer Biask?”

Zakai jumped again, startled by the ghostly image of his dead father, though he quickly put together that this was V.O.D.O. whom he’d helped create. The AI had never attempted to contact Zakai directly, though he’d heard from others that V.O.D.O. had on occasion done just this: popping up out of nowhere and inviting himself into a conversation that he would then dominate. Zakai recalled him doing that in life as well. 

It was Cassandra’s turn to jump in startelement as she glowered down at the hologram image.

The Great Hall may have been Taldryan’s most visible symbol, but to the Emissary, Dragostae was its heart—her home to replace the one she’d never quite fit.

The Entertainment District was all rubble and cracked pavement now. Half-melted duracrete and bombardment craters, the scars of Cotelin’s fury, replaced the swirl of brightly-coloured buildings. Laughter, music, and clinking of glasses had all faded into mournful winds and echoing footsteps. The people were reduced to grinning skulls and gleaming bones. Most of them weren’t even complete skeletons anymore, just collections of remains left behind.

When Erinyes left her the Tapani Sector to join the Brotherhood, Dragostae embraced her as one of their own. Setting foot in this city was the first time in her life she’d felt like she belonged—the first time she’d been accepted for who she was, instead of being looked down upon or outright ignored for not being what someone else wanted her to be.

That kind of bond stuck with you. Even when she was away from the Brotherhood, Erinyes always came back to Dragostae—until, one day, she couldn’t. She’d been halfway across the galaxy, doing… something? It wasn’t important. Even so far away, she’d sensed the confusion and terror when Cotelin’s armada rained destruction on the city. She couldn’t have made it back in time, of course—and even if she could, what would she have done? Get pulverised like all the other relics of Taldryan’s past?

Before now, Erinyes had never had the opportunity to say goodbye to Dragostae.

No, that wasn’t true. There had never been anything stopping her from hopping in her ship and flying to Karufr. She just hadn’t made the time for it, because she knew she wasn’t ready to face those ghosts—the remnants of a people, a city, a Clan she’d loved.

She’d also waited because at first, there was no need to face those ghosts. The people and the city were gone, even the planet, but Taldryan was fine. They’d survived. They were rebuilding. She might’ve had disagreements with Rian over whether the kinder, gentler approach that Taldryan had taken in Caelus System was the right one, but it was still the Clan’s approach. Then she’d become Consul, and the Clan’s future was her decision to make. She could visit Dragostae when she’d given them something they could be proud of.

Then… Appius happened.

Erinyes couldn’t really blame the Lord First for buying into the whole “the Republic and democracy” shtick. That kind of starry-eyed idealism was just his way, and it had its merits. Besides, he’d become Consul, and the Clan’s future was his decision to make—or so Erinyes had told herself time and again. It was an experiment, one Appius was entitled to conduct, and she’d fall in line the same way he had done as her right-hand man.

Erinyes told herself the same thing after Cassandra decided to continue the experiment, despite clear signs that the Caelus Senate simply didn’t have the spine to do what was needed to look after the Clan. If they had, they would’ve placated the Traditionalists before the schism started. Instead, they sat around pleasuring themselves and ignoring their responsibilities while Taldryan was on the brink of invasion by Moff Sloven.

_ _ When Erinyes had resigned as Proconsul—sorry, Vice-Chancellor—she’d assumed Anders would step in after Cassandra was gone and bring things back around. She didn’t agree with the Chiss on much, but when it came to running a Clan, they had some common ground. And yet, not only had the political situation steadily gotten worse, but now Anders had stepped aside—probably for some Inquisitorius matter or another. Cassandra had been too preoccupied with her personal issues to bring the Senate to heel, which had eventually led them to the brink of civil war. Then Cassandra stepped down entirely, and Zxyl had gone off to pursue his own interests, leaving Taldryan with a complete outsider.

Erinyes had met Ood a couple of times. He seemed like a competent leader and a decent person, but a nagging worry hung at the back of her mind. Ood was a Jedi, and Jedi had—historically speaking—been strong supporters of failing republics and opposed any attempts to “correct” them.

The crack of a metal cap and the glugging of liquid echoed through the demolished street. It was the first bottle of anything that had been poured in Dragostae in years.

Erinyes had named Kasiya Estates’ Zeltron spear-grain whiskey after the city. They would’ve loved it. She poured the whole bottle out, letting rivulets seep into the cracks in the road. Then she shut off her helmet’s comm unit for some privacy.

“I’m sorry I failed you,” she said to the ghosts of the past. “I couldn’t stop Cotelin then, and now I’ve been standing back and letting the Senate trample on your memory. You deserve better.” She tossed the empty bottle away. It shattered like the rest of the debris.

“I’ve dragged Taldryan back from the brink before. If I have to, I’ll do it again.”

That would’ve been it, but as Erinyes returned to her shuttle, she sensed familiar presences. Cassandra was on Karufr—ironic, given how she’d opposed the Traditionalists—and… Zakai?

_ _ What was Vodo’s kid doing here? Erinyes could understand Cass coming to Karufr for some kind of soul-searching, but she wasn’t the type to drag Zakai into it, and Zakai wasn’t the type to ask.

No, it had to be connected to Taldryan somehow. And if that’s what they were searching for, they’d be going to the Great Hall.

V.O.D.O. looked sternly up at the masked countenance of the Lady Second, “This is not a safe place for the Seer.”

When the program failed to follow up that remark after a moment of awkward silence Zakai jumped back in, “Hey! You don’t get to dictate where I go and what I can do!”

Zakai gulped as he had a sudden thought, “Oh frell, have you been manipula–?”

The hologram cut Zakai off tersely, but without much emotion, “–No, I haven’t, and You aren’t my concern young Equite. Lady Second, there are things there I would prefer left undisturbed. Things that could endanger your Pilot as I fear, as much as He spars with his Master, is not the survivor I was.”

“Good, it sounds as though we are agreed. You’ll return to your ship and find a new diversion to fill your retirement,” V.O.D.O.’s tone was stern, “Do listen to the voice of reason, that sounds suspiciously like me, in the back of your head for once…”

Zakai bounded after the former Lady Second into the depths of the ruined temple. His helmet popped to life, twin beams of illumination leapt from the sides of his head. Everything that hadn’t been blasted or melted was carbonized and burned from the intense heat the bombardment had generated. Simulations showed that Karufr’s atmosphere had likely ignited after twenty minutes or so, but that the temple edifice itself likely took hours to reduce from orbit. It would have been a literal Corellian Hell that ended, for anyone somehow still alive, in obliterating fire. The eeiriest part for Zakai however was the charcoal-like remains of people and objects that had been in the process of smoldering from the inside when the oxygen in the atmosphere had finally burned off and they were snuffed out. These black shapes were largely formless, but it took very little imagination to see the humanoid form some of them once had. 

Unaware of her private conversation with V.O.D.O., Zakai absently mentioned to her as he studied something, “They say close to 400 Clan members, and nearly fifteen million people died in the attack. You’d think you would feel a wound in the force or an echo of the past here, but its so quiet.”

The eerie Force silence was just as It wanted it. There had too many voices, too many despairing screams and eternal wailing, and so It had silenced them. It found that by asserting enough pressure it could silence those voices, even if they remained. With time It found that it could take them within itself and use their presence to increase its own. Where there had once been tens of millions of voices, there was now only It’s own– but only until two People intruded upon It’s peaceful respite. Their presences in the Force were loud beacons, roaring and thundering tumult that deafened It. The silence was broken, and It was displeased.

—————-

Zakai grinned through his visor at the Lady Second, “I think I’ve got it.”

He leapt for the line and started sliding down it with some gusto, landing perhaps a little too soon after Cassandra at the bottom of the shaft. He stumbled into her and mumbled an embarrassed apology.

The Seer pulled his torch and lit it, holding it aloft to illuminate the turbolift shaft beyond what their helmet lights could provide. The metal and duracrete walls were intact and showed little sign of the turbolaser’s violence so evident everywhere on the planet. Beside them was a crashed cab of a turbolift who’s safety brakes had failed. Anyone who had been inside would have died in the crash. In front of them was a pair of sliding metal doors that would have mated up with the turbolift cab that had traveled this shaft. 

Concentrating Zakai reached out with the Force and examined the doors. They were standard sliding doors, like one would find on any turbolift in the galaxy. Mechanically-minded he knew exactly what to do. His left hand drew a line, pulling a latch hidden in the wall over its catch. With his right he grabbed lightly at a gear mechanism through the Force, and twisting his wrist over and over he spun it so that the doors slid open almost without complaint. He could have of course just ripped them open but this had seemed like a good time to show off and cover his earlier mistake.

“I think we both know why you brought me along, and it wasn’t to ask about Shanree…” Zakai said, entering the room ahead of the older woman. 

Behind a dusty and soot covered transparisteel wall sat an almost pristine looking chamber. It was, unlike anything else in this ruin, lit by emergency lighting. Cassandra and Zakai were in a reception room, it appeared where a counter along one side opened into a secure access zone where the attendants and guards limited access to the room beyond. A transparisteel turnstyle airlock to one side of the clear wall was the controlled means of access to the room beyond. In normal times this place would have been secure at the heart of the temple complex, and these rooms under surveillance and around-the-clock guard. 

Zakai had a data spike in his kit, but to use it he’d have to be able to place it on the data core itself. To get to the core, He and Cassandra would have to go work. No doubt the transparisteel was very high quality, warship grade even, but a lightsaber didn’t care about that. Anyone attempting it before the Reaving would either be under constant attack while working through the transparisteel, or the Temple would be in such a state that no response was coming and it probably didn’t matter how long it took a lightsaber to get through. Of the two situations, they found themselves in the former– no one would care if they spent an hour cracking the transparisteel open with their Lightsabers. 

He drew his lightsaber and activated it, its green hue filling the room around them. Cassandra’s blue saber joined his own moments later. Zakai was about to plunge his blade into the transparisteel wall when he thought he heard a voice.

“What was that?” he looked over at Cassandra, she’d said something that the com hadn’t transmitted.

A figure dropped down from the exposed ceiling structure, a few metres behind Cassandra and Zakai. They were clad in a familiar suit of armour, and through their helmet, the face was equally familiar.

“Hello there,” Erinyes said.

Zakai was more confused and surprised, “Auntie Erin? What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Zakai. I was going to ask the same question, since Cassandra seems to think I’m planning to stop her from doing something.”

Zakai looked at the lit lightsaber in his hand, and the one in Cassandra’s hand, and then he looked at the Lady Second, “Uhh… Are we not allowed to be-?”

Erinyes turned toward the computer core’s bulkhead door and stooped over like a hunchbacked old lady as she toddled towards it. “So you come seeking ancient knowledge,” she said, in the raspy voice of Generic Dark Side Witch #3. Then she inserted an old code cylinder into its slot in the door controls, and punched a code in with a few swift keystrokes.

With a strained groaning of metal, the door began to open.

Erinyes straightened up and returned to her normal voice—there were already too many jokes floating around about her being an old lady—as she led Cassandra and Zakai into the vault.

“The records don’t have much. Cotelin’s fleet didn’t exactly waste time broadcasting an indictment before the guns started. That we had any warning at all was a minor miracle, and I suspect it was because we had a sympathiser.”

“If you’re looking for Jac’s logs, don’t bother. They aren’t there, and even if they were, you don’t need them. He told me his reasoning himself.”

Erinyes leaned against the console, folding her arms across her chest. “And yes, Arx has taken notice of Taldryan’s power struggle, and the Grand Master isn’t happy. I offered to keep an eye on things after Zxyl left the Council, but Dacien decided to wait and see how you handled the issue.”

“It wasn’t ‘the Council’. Pravus made it personal.” Erinyes sighed, reaching for her belt where her flask would normally be, then grumbled when her hand hit spacesuit instead.

“Taldryan has a history of rebelling against authority, and Jac has always been at the forefront of it. First he was one of the Councillors who saw the Exodus through, and then he led the dissident clans of the Brotherhood to try to stop Muz from destroying Antei, just a few years before this happened.” She gestured around the ruined Tower.

“Meanwhile, Pravus was a maniac bent on purging the Brotherhood of anyone who didn’t fit into his vision. He also knew that the most likely obstacle to his plans wasn’t external—it was Taldryan being upstarts again, with Jac at our helm and a good portion of the Brotherhood beside us. So, Pravus decided to nip the threat in the bud.”

“Jac might be a Taldrya, but he was a Grand Master before Taldryan was even founded. He probably cares about the Brotherhood more than anyone alive. Pravus correctly guessed that Jac would sacrifice one Clan, even his own, to prevent the Brotherhood falling into another civil war. Pravus didn’t expect Jac to take the reins of the sacrifice himself, but he wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to have Jac very publicly betray us.”

“So, Pravus ordered Jac to glass Karufr, and Jac did exactly what he was told—but not what Pravus actually wanted. If you’ve talked with the Arconans, the only thing in the Taldryan files you might not have seen is Aiden Lee Deshra’s account of how he ‘overheard’ the planning of the attack on Karufr and warned Rhylance it was coming. Isn’t it awfully convenient that the warning came in time to evacuate most of Taldryan’s members and major assets, but late enough for a few prominent Taldryanites to gallantly stand against the tyrannical Iron Throne as ‘their’ Grand Master burned their homeworld to ashes?” Erinyes smiled, but the expression was mirthless and bitter.

_ _ “Jac didn’t betray us. He put on a convincing spectacle for Pravus while making sure we had the resources to rebuild—and that if and when the time came, we’d find a way to win without having ‘our’ Grand Master as an ace up our sleeves. Our dead Clanmates, the people of Kr'Tal, and Jac’s own reputation were unfortunate but necessary sacrifices to make sure that both Taldryan and the Brotherhood came out intact.”

“And then… we took our new lease on life and decided to be like the kriffing Galactic Republic. Right down to the part where a bunch of corrupt, incompetent senators brought us to the brink of war.”

Zakai listened in wide-eyed awe. Vodo had been very tight lipped about these proceedings, they’d clearly deeply affected him. The old Spider had always given his son the impression that the Taldrya were of one mind and always in lockstep, but here he was seeing the curtain pulled aside.

Erin’s holo projector flickered to life, materializing an 8in tall blue image of the former Vodo BiasknTaldrya. For her part Erin didn’t appear overly surprised.

“I did indeed failed to bring all of my valuable possessions with me, I was not so fortunate as to be forewarned of the impending attack by the Traitor Cotelin.”

“I repeat though, this time for Seraine’s benefit, that you should call off this terrible idea of an expedition and remove yourselves from this tomb of a temple” the hologram’s stern expression lingered on Zakai for a moment longer than necessary before addressing Erin directly, “You and the other two should remove yourselves before you disturb something better left to lay.”

Zakai snarled at the hologram, “Oh frell off you revenant. You had your time to boss people around when you were alive and miserable, you don’t have to keep being a miserable old program in death.”

V.O.D.O. snarled at the boy, “At your age I had begun to forge my own destiny while you’ve buried yourself fixing broken hover bikes and playing at martial artist. You know nothing your Master or these two Women haven’t told you.”

Erinyes snorted. “Appius’ problem was that he didn’t learn enough from me. He saw the Caelus Council’s attempt to sell Taldryan out to the Collective after Rian spent all that time playing nice with them. Then he saw me put them in their place, and the security that resulted. But, apparently his Jedi background was too strong, because he decided it was better to sacrifice himself—and drag the rest of us along—for the sake of a bunch of snivelling sycophants.”

“I wouldn’t worry about Dacien yet, the key word being ‘yet’. Taldryan’s rebellions always came as a reaction to unreasonable tyranny, like Astatine, Muz, or Pravus. It’ll only become a problem if Ood doubles down on leaving the Brotherhood. Zxyl isn’t going to do anything, either. He’s washed his hands of Taldryan and the Traditionalists, at least for the time being. That’s why it’s me standing here instead of him.”

“As for Vodo’s belongings and warning, I have no idea.” Erinyes shrugged. “It might be a genuine danger, it might be that he doesn’t want us to find his stash of Hutt porn and naturally-sourced Trandoshan marital aids. The better question is why you’ve decided to deal with someone controlling your mind by seeking out artifacts that control people’s minds. I would think you’d want to stay away from those.”

“Alright, well, we can all discuss this on my shuttle. First of all, I need a drink. Second, as our holographic friend mentioned, there are dangers here that can be awoken. Third, if we finish the talk and you still insist on going ahead, it’s only a short walk back.”

Then, finally, she turned to address V.O.D.O directly. “While we’re aboard the shuttle, please limit yourself to our holoprojectors instead of the shuttle’s systems. Otherwise James will find out, and the shuttle will lock down and trap all of us here.”

Then, she turned to leave, beckoning for the others to follow.

<@494180472713248788>

Zakai, confused, saw the sign and did as Cassandra ordered. He grabbed the remote from his belt discretely and, using a bit of his talent for disguising his use of the Force, placed it as they made to leave the antechamber. The small device attached itself to the mainframe without anyone, or anything, apparently noticing. Zakai smiled inwardly at his own skill, sensing that Erin was none the wiser.

Something had noticed however. The silence it had cocooned itself in upon devouring the other screaming voices was now broken by three shouting ones. They trespassed here, deeper and deeper into It’s sanctum of silence and they made no effort to muffle their awful din. It emanated from them, seeped from their being through the Force. Though they did not scream like the many thousands of others their noise was a pollution nonetheless and It was greatly angered. It was moved into furious action when one of them, one the noisome intruders, drew the Force to himself and used it. He shone like a beacon of light in an otherwise black and featureless nothing. It was as if this Trespasser were bellowing at the top of his lungs, into an amplifier, and disturbing the whole of existence. It was unbearable, and so It would not bear it any longer.

The foundations of the temple rumbled deep below the three Taldryanites. The skin up and down Zakai’s face, lekku, and arms goose pimpled and he was filled with a cold dread rising into his throat, an impression from the Force. 

“What the frell was that?” he said to the two older women

“‘We’ll catch up’ was an old trick when I was a kid, Cassandra. I’m not leaving someone who isn’t in control of their own mind alone with a repository of Taldryan’s deepest secrets, and if you had half a worry about the Clan’s welfare, you wouldn’t either.” Undermining an opponent’s confidence was Dun Möch at its most fundamental.

“Besides, V.O.D.O. is right about the dangers. We all need to leave–”

Then Zakai spoke up, and Erinyes sighed.

“… before it’s too late. What was what, Zakai?”

<@494180472713248788>

“Me? All I did was use TK, it wasn’t–” Zakai realized he’d said too much and gave it away by looking at Cassandra, “We should go.”

“Hey, no need to act like his father. Just keep walking.” She ushered the others towards the turboshaft, more quickly now.

There were no dissents so they proceeded quickly, at a walk, back to the turbolifts. Zakai produced two ascenders and handed one to Cassandra.

“I only brought enough for us”, Zakai said to Erinyes, “How are you going to get up?”

He could still feel the dread in his gut and he was growing worried that his efforts to mentally square himself away didn’t seem to be doing anything about it. It was a dread that was sickeningly familiar in some way, a way that seemed to bypass his emotional barriers and mental defenses to touch something very small and child-like in the back of his head. It felt like the fear he felt as a young boy, newly given to his Father– a tall, dark, and glowering man atop frighteningly monster-like metal legs.

There’s no way, his inner voice muttered in disbelief.

An amused voice chuckled beside him lowly, a voice he couldn’t deny. Zakai jumped as if he’d seen a ghost. He stared at the empty air beside where he’d been standing, his heart rate suddenly skyrocketing. Wide-eyed he looked one way and then the other but there was no one there. He looked at the two Taldrya and was very aware how he must appear.

He could only summon a few words in explanation though. Zakai grabbed his lightsaber and ignited its emerald blade, “He’s here.”

“It’s fine, I’ve got my own. Who’s here?”

The foundations of the Temple trembled all around them ominously, which shook loose dust and rubble from spaces above them. Zakai grasped his head with his free hand, suddenly in pain. He dropped to one knee and began dry heaving as if his body were trying to physically expel something. His other hand, still holding his lightsaber, was knuckled against the still trembling floor for support. The room was filled with icy cold dread, an oppressing blanket rage and violence swept into the turbolift and swirled around them– their eyes saw nothing but the three Force Sensitives could not help but sense it all around them like the wall of a typhoon. The motes of dust the quaking shook loose were grabbed up in something and they began to spin around them slowly at first but every quicker. 

Zakai grunted loudly over their coms, “GET. OUT. OF. MY. HEAD!”

A change came over him physically. He growled and stood back to his feet. The Seer dropped his lightsaber, which thankfully flickered off without the pressure of his thumb on the activator switch, and with both hands he grasped something they couldn’t see on either side of his mask. With enormous effort he tore at the invisible thing until his arms were spread to either side of him. A change came over him in the Force; Zakai was centered and in-control. The angry swirling intensified, whipping the dust and rubble into a darkening haze around them until it coalesced into one giant inky blackness covering entrance to the lifts and back to the mainframe. The shaking stopped.

From the void stepped a Twi’lek man, clad in a dark robe and standing atop two very normal biological legs. There was a sneering grin across his glowering face as he came to a stop before them all, “Boo.”

Zakai glared at the phantom, still panting from his ordeal, “It’s just an illusion, he can’t manifest physically yet. That’s why you wanted me, isn’t it Ghost?.”

The spectre of Vodo Biask chuckled condescendingly as the floor suddenly jolted one direction then the next, “You’re still very much at my mercy Little Boy. Run while you can hahahaha.”

Erinyes sighed and folded her arms across her chest. This situation was… odd, to put it one way.

For one thing, Vodo had still been alive when Karufr was razed. Choosing to send his spirit here after his death was uncharacteristically poorly thought out. Second, his presence suggested he’d bound himself into both the temple and his old ring, and into a holoprojection on top of that. Just how many Vodoes had he planned to create? Was he aiming to clone an army? Redefine the term “one-man band”? Something more sinister?

Regardless of the Twi'lek’s aims, Erinyes had a priority. Zakai was still part of Taldryan. Importantly, he was also still alive, and his psyche was intact. The former definitely wasn’t true in Vodo’s case, and how long the latter had been questionable depended on who you asked.

“Hey. HEY.” Erinyes scowled at the apparition. “Has your sense of humour gotten worse since you died?”

The apparition chuckled condescendingly, “You should have run when you had the chance.”

A piece of duracrete broke from the liftshaft’s wall above them. Zakai’s lekku tingled forewarned him and he leapt aside. As the dust settled he saw that Erin and Cassandra had likewise moved out of its way at the last moment. 

The spectre grinned malevolently, “You’ll never leave this place, and I shall consume your essences with joy!”

Zakai leapt for the lift wire and grabbed at the ascender already attached to it, “Come on! We’ve got to go!”

He called his lightsaber to his hand as the ascender began dragging him upward by his grip.

The ghost roared with delight and raised his outstretched hands to pull down more of the temple upon them.

Part of her wanted to stay out of spite—not against Cassandra, but against the spectre that had manifested. After all, nobody deserved to haunt Taldryan’s ancestral home and get away with it, and since when did Sith Masters run from ghosts?

Unfortunately, Cassandra was right. They needed to have A Talk, and the middle of a collapsing ruin wasn’t the right place to do it.

“Glorified HoloNet cartoon villain,” Erinyes grumbled. After making sure Zakai was ascending safely, she followed Cassandra, leaping from ledge to ledge within the ruined turbolift shaft.

Zakai scrambled over the lip of the liftshaft onto the main floor where He and Cassandra had begun their delving. The floor was shaking enough that he found it hard to stay steady atop his feet as he climbed up. The two Elders were there as well and Zakai accepted Cassandra’s hand as he unclipped himself as quickly as he was able from the Ascender. They began sprinting out of the temple dogged by the echoes of laughter and falling chunks of temple masonry and infrastructure. As he ran Zakai hurdled and vaulted over obstacles with finesse but his eyes went wide as a large black soot-stained pillar began teetering ahead of them. It wobbled and then tipped over, threatening to block their means of egress. Zakai felt a surge in the Force, someone grabbed at the pillar and slowed it enough that he was able to slide through under its mass to the other side followed by the two older Women a moment later. 

The laughter began to have an edge to it as they rapidly approached the temple’s exit. The walls shuddered as though something enormous were leaning in on them from outside. 

“Come on!” Zakai shouted through his mask, “We’re almost there!”

The end was near.

The end of the antechamber. The end of the antechamber was near.

Erinyes bolted forward, easily catching up to Zakai. Still concerned for the young man’s well-being, not to mention wanting to get more information from him about who “he” was, the Sith Master reached into the Force. Zakai yelped as an invisible hand picked him up by the scruff of the neck, and the sound lengthened into a wail as he sailed towards and through the temple’s entrance, faster than his legs could carry him.

And then Erinyes caught him, because the Dark Side makes you fast, yo.

“Are you alright?” She set Zakai on his feet. “You’ve been skipping physical training, haven’t you?”

Through panting breaths Zakai managed a hurt tone, “I’ve been busy… And Jala has been making these little cheese poofs–”

He continued to hurry away from the Temple, not sure how far from the Temple the Spectre of Vodo Biask exercised power

Well. That was certainly something.

Judging by the silhouettes escaping from the collapsing temple, Anders deduced that, more than likely, they were all involved in some way, shape, or form.

There was never a dull day in Clan Taldryan.

Nonetheless, his quarry was in front of him, the former Supreme Chancellor was busy catching her breath. Any touched with the Force would likely feel his presence there. Not that he was hiding it in the first place.

Anders cleared his throat and smiled. “Hello there.”

Erinyes nodded to Cassandra, then turned to the new arrival. What a joy.

“Mister Anderson.”

Vodo? As in Vodo Biask Taldrya? Had he nor perished on Arx several years ago?

Then again, the Sith had various ways of cheating death. One only had to look onto the deeper depths of the Dark Side to discover what those were.

“At least Erinyes greeted me properly,” Anders’ eyes lingered on Cassandra. “Do I dare ask what has occurred here? There is an abnormal amount of Dark energy coming from within that temple.”

“Oh, just awakening a slumbering dark spirit that decided to throw a tantrum and bring the entire building down. You know, the usual, although I’ll need to have a chat with Zakai about that later.” Erinyes hadn’t forgotten that the boy mentioned using the Force. Plus, different versions of Vodo seemed to have an unhealthy interest in trying to possess him.

“Why are you here, Anders? I’m guessing it’s not for the scenery.”

“Why not? I heard Karufr was a sight to behold at this time of year,” Anders allowed himself a small smile.

Dark spirit? Obviously, it was Vodo. Naturally, that spirit would be drawn to his flesh and blood. He spared a glance at Zakai, but thought better of interfering. He had a job to do.

“Alas, you are correct. I am not here for pleasantries or sightseeing. I am here for you, Cassandra.”

His eyes narrowed on the Epicanthix like plasma from a blaster rifle. To think that not that long ago, that woman was his boss, the second Taldryan Supreme Chancellor.

Oh well. Life goes on.

Erinyes almost snorted at the request. Coming from Cassandra, that was a rich one. “Oh, I don’t intend to let anyone undo what Taldryan stands for. If you get the chance, visit me on Arx. Anders, can you talk Idris into allowing that? He gets cranky when I poke my nose into Inquisitorius work.”

No carbonite? That took all the fun out of it.

Nonetheless, at least she was coming peacefully.

“The Grand Master does indeed wish to speak to you. For what reason, I am unaware. Though, I would not be too concerned yet. If he wanted you punished, he could have simply requested I do the deed myself.”

Anders folded his arms behind his back. Cassandra had turned paranoid. Understandably so, given the circumstances.

“Come along, Cassandra. I can attempt to answer any queries you have on the way. Erinyes…” he smiled at her. “If you wish to get in Lord Adenn’s good graves, might I suggest offering him some of your Mandalorian themed produce from TEAD?”

<@645466919415054357>

“You’ve been cheating on me with another tsiraki maker? I’m hurt.” Erinyes snorted. “If it’s Dacien who’s summoning you, plying Idris with gifts won’t help, and kissing up to the Grand Master is a whole different beast.” Especially when she happened to agree with him. Erinyes might’ve hated the idea of the Taldryan Republic, but at least Appius’ decisiveness had kept it functional. Cassandra had tried to please everyone and ended up satisfying no one, and Taldryan teetering on the brink of civil war was the consequence.

“Assuming you’re in a state to meet when you get out, you’re still welcome.” She turned to Zakai. “Do you need a ride back to Kasiya?”

The ground under their feet rumbled causing dust and pebbles in the nearly airless environment to vibrate and bounce around their feet. The rumbling vibrated enough that it was tickling his shins and knees as he stood there. They all felt it before they saw it. A shrill inhuman scream filled the thin air of the blasted planet and the rumbling increased. Looking back at the crumbled remains of the once towering Taldryan Temple it was suddenly enveloped in a swirling mass of dust and particulates glowed an ethereal green as it rocketed towards the black sky above them. The Temple radiated in the Force swirls of emotion ranging from wrath to fury, from hunger to longing. It was oppressive and Zakai felt the need to shield his face as if the Force energy emanating from the vortex was too bright. 

It was quickly decided by the Elders that they needed to evacuate the planet and Zakai was of no mind to disagree with them. He felt sick. The Force energy radiating from the Temple, and that continued to be easily sensed as they took off for orbit, was the presence of his Father. The young man sat alone on the ship as they made orbit, staring at the top of his helmet as it lay on his lap. He was four years old again and hiding in fear. He was eight years old and had been hungry for days. He was ten and being struck repeatedly for failing a task. He was all ages and being told he was a worthless mistake, a burden and disappointment. His hands tightened on his mask as his stomach squeezed itself even harder.

“We should talk before you do something rash, again”, there was a familiar voice beside him.

Zakai didn’t have to look up to know it was a small hologram of Vodo Biask on the holotable speaking to him to recognize the voice, “What could we possibly have to speak about?”

“I need to inform you of what it is, I presume, you all encountered there on Karufr, despite my adamant protestations”, Vodo was as condescending and authoritative as ever, but there was a note of caution in his voice that made Zakai take note.

The Seer looked up at the hologram and saw that it was indeed the projection of his Father, he then quickly looked around the common area of the ship and ensured there was no one present, “You knew we’d find another one of your ghosts?”

“I hardly knew. Call it an educated guess.” Vodo’s face was flat and emotionless but his icey tone suggested he wasn’t interested in recriminations.

Zakai glared into the holograms eyes, “Okay. Lay it on me.”