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>>2281686
"Hello," you call out to the Weequay guard as you and Sadon approach.

"Basic to Weequay," you whisper to R4-K4. It warbles a series of beeps that sound upbeat enough to be an affirmative recognition, though you can't understand the droid speak any better than that. You should really get Hacna to have the droid itself speak Basic.

"I would like to rent a cruiser," you say slowly, enunciating each word so that your interpreter droid is sure to pick it up. "To take us to where my survey team is located. They, as well as I, will be leaving Sriluur--"

"I speak Basic," the man grunts. The Weequay vocal chords were made more for croaks than the wide range of sounds found in Basic, but he's perfectly understandable.

"Oh!" you say in surprise. "Well, perfect. That's an unlikely coincidence."

His leathery frown creases even deeper, something you hadn't thought possible.

"Few Weequay do not speak Basic," he says firmly.

You make a note to yourself to have some choice words with Hacna about that. She had insisted that she has a racial disadvantage when it comes to learning Basic, and that precious few Weequay speak it.

"Like I said," you continue. "I need to rent a cruiser." You go on to explain your position with Imperial geological services, and that you're here to pull your team out early for another, more urgent mission. What you don't tell the guard is that you're responding to a distress call. He would likely be more than happy to let the group die out there in the wastes.

As you finish speaking, you see Sadon edging towards the Sriluur Wolf and raising his hand to pet its bony skull. You spot its stinger-tipped tail curling menacingly, and shake your head at Sadon.

"I really wouldn't do that," you mutter. The animal's appearance should be deterrent enough, but those pack animals his first tribe was riding looked nearly as menacing.

"Where are your men?" the guard asks.

You turn your attention back to him, nearly blurting out the truth before stopping yourself just in time.

>>2281687
"I have the coordinates. In the flats between here and Meirm." You refrain from mentioning the name of the canyon the team is in, on the very real chance that might affect the guard's decision.

The Weequay lets out a low, thoughtful rumble as he looks between you and Sadon several times. Perhaps realizing that you don't carry yourself like an official of the Geological Service, and that the face-painted Sadon doesn't look like any typical Imperial bodyguard.

Finally, he reaches into a pocket in his tunic beneath his armored smock and pulls out a white sphere that fits neatly into the palm of his hand. There's a small circle of black on top, about the size of your thumb. He gives it a good shake, and after it comes to rest, an indecipherable symbol appears in a milky haze on the blackened portion.

"Quay says you may go," the man says. You tear your bewildered gaze away from the children's toy, and mutter your thanks. Just as you begin to move towards the parking lot of rusted cruisers to find one that looks like it will last the journey, he stops you with a raised hand. Sadon nearly draws his retracted vibrosword, but a growl from the Wolf and a glance from you stop him.

The guard shakes the orb again, and the same symbol appears on it. He grunts in amusement, then barks out an order to his Wolf in what you assume to be Weequay. The animal runs into a nearby stone hut, emerging a short while later with a large knapsack clutched in its jaws. It brings the bag to its master, who yanks it free and hands it to you.

"What is this?" you ask as you take a quick peek inside before passing it to Sadon. From a glance, it looks like emergency supplies and rations.

"Quay does not want you to die," the guard replies.

You're taken aback by the man's apparent concern over your safety, but soon discover that’s as far as his generosity extends. Once you begin talking prices, the means of divining his God's intentions go away and the haggling skills come out. You end up settling on an exorbitant hourly rate, as well as a deposit that is easily twice that of the cruiser's value on any free-market world. A deposit you will get back if you return alive, he says.

With few other options, you allow yourself to be robbed. The Reclamation Service will reimburse you, but it does mean more paperwork on your part. After reluctantly dropping a credit chit into the man's palm, you and Sadon depart through the rusted gates in a roar of engines and a cloud of dust.

>>2281688
Temptation Canyon is not exactly close to Quay'kizac, but your route there is as close to a straight line as one can get. As soon as Sadon drives far enough for the city to fall out of sight, the next four hours consist of little more than featureless salt flats and the occasional foul-smelling acid lake. The hostile landscape and your silent companion remind you of your drive through Korriban, as well as another world with a mystery you'd like to get to the bottom of.

"Did you ever notice anything odd about Sadon and Kalyan?" you ask him.

At first he is taken aback by the unexpected question, but then his expression turns grim. "They are too close - it is strange. I will tell them not to be so close."

"Not that," you say with a wave of your hand. "Tell me how you met them."

A mean smile seizes his lips, though it's not directed at you. He's remembering something. "Amaza and I killed the four they were with. Then the twins stopped fighting us."

You give him a surprised look. "You accepted their surrender?"

"You said to find warriors, Lord Varrus." He's clearly somewhat annoyed at the contradiction inherent in your question. And he's right - you had told him to find warriors.

"You weren't worried that they would stab you in the back the moment you fell asleep?"

"Yes," he says with no hesitation. "But they did not. And now you have good fighters."

You probe a bit further to see if there's anything hinting at the siblings’ origins, but Sadon knows nothing. Which is not surprising, since he was only with the two for a month before you plucked them all off of Tion.

Awhile later, you glance at your datapad to see the coordinates you were given for the Imperial team are fast approaching. Less than a minute after that, you drive through a field of low hills coated in salt, none of them more than ten feet high - and you're at the canyon's edge. You come to it with little warning other than that slight upset in terrain. A yawning fissure dug into the terrain, much deeper than it is wide. You stand at the apex of one of the loops, and the canyon winds off into the horizon to both your left and right.

"Lord Varrus," Sadon says, pointing at one of the hillocks as the two of you depart the cruiser with supplies in hand. Squinting, you see that the gritty white lump is fluttering in the wind. Upon drawing within a few dozen feet of it, you realize that the 'hill' is actually a tarp covering another cruiser. Presumably belonging to the Imperial team, though it's a local rental like yours. You continue to the edge of the canyon, and are stunned by the sight below you. The bottom is a vivid blue-green, with a small river of water flowing down the center.

>>2281690
But then you realize that the color is not inexplicable plant life, as you had thought - it's copper oxide, likely deposited by the stream of water coming from the north. You should have known better than to expect life here.

Using your datapad to orient yourself with the source of the signal being broadcast by the Imperial team, you soon find that all you need to do is look more carefully at the canyon. Positioned in front of one of the many cave entrances lining the cliff face opposite you is a small camp, with black tents and supply crates clearly visible against the colorful ground. But you see no people.

Making your way down the length of the fissure's edge, you find a zig-zagging path down the rock face that is very clearly man-made. How long ago, you have no idea - but the precarious-looking staircase does not give way, and the two of you crunch onto rust-coated soil with your bodies intact. The river is small enough to leap over without soaking your boots, and you carefully make your way to the edge of the small camp.

There are signs of living, but no signs of life. Crates of sensitive seismic equipment remain uncovered, but that sloppiness is not as disturbing as the fact that there is no one to greet you.

"Where are the people?" Sadon wonders, echoing the thoughts so clearly playing in your own mind. You duck into a few of the tents, but find little more than cots and abandoned datapads. You would not have been enormously surprised if you had come here to find the whole lot of them dead - they had complained about hostile wildlife, after all - but there is no sign of any struggle whatsoever, and that is even stranger. Even if the six-man team was currently engaged in the cave system they were exploring, they would have left at least two individuals at the camp.

Moving from the camp to the cave they had set up in front of, you notice something peculiar about the shape of the opening. It's more square than round, and the uneasy slope leading up the yawning entrance has the look of carved steps that have been worn down by millenia of wear and tear. You would not have noticed if the memory of a similar structure on Tion were not so fresh in your mind. Looking around further, you see something nestled against the wall of the cave, just inside the shadows.

>>2281692
A battery. Kneeling down, you thumb the red switch on top, and a string of excavation lights flickers to life on the left wall of the cave, perfectly illuminating a path that stretches far forward before veering sharply to both left and right.

"Hello?" you yell into the cavern, repeating the shout a few times and receiving your own echo as an answer. Sadon steps forward and helpfully adds his own voice to the mix, bellowing out a yell that nearly pops your eardrums. But still, only your own echoes answer back

Taking another look at your datapad, you confirm that the signal beacon is very clearly broadcasting from a few hundred feet ahead - and possibly a good distance below as well, though you can’t tell that from the datapad. Imperial protocol is to leave such a beacon within the confines of the camp, but if the team were forced to seek refuge deep in the cavern - so deep that you couldn’t call to them - they might have taken the beacon with them to ensure you could locate them.

Which makes you wonder just what they’re hiding from.

What do you do here?

>>2281693
Nothing to do but follow the path toward the beacon. If we're attuned enough to the force to detect any nearby life that'd be cool too.

>>2281693
Could we examine the datapads that were left behind for clues? Also if Sadon has any tracking experience maybe he could see more evidence of what happened in the camp.

>>2281696
We could even just have R4 hack them if they're encrypted or locked or something. Assign him to recover a map for us, I'd hope they made one with the seismic data they got as well as their own exploration. Let's not go into this cave blindly if we can avoid it.

>>2281687
>we can't understand droidspeak
Fuck. Oh well. But if the droid can translate basic then surely it could be made to speak on it's own.

I keep forgetting my trip. I'll be gone for about 2 hours and then I'll write more. I like these ideas though.

>>2281693
>Explain Sadon the mission as well what we are about to do. Investigate the camp a little bit more and brig some supplies since most likely we will need some exploration gear if the men went down to the caves.

Time to have a small talk with the dark side creatures!

>>2281688
Wait... Did this dude just consult a magic 8 ball to decide if we could rent a cruiser? I must have missed that on the first reading. Lmao this dude is awesome. The force is with us.

>>2281712
R4K4 can speak basic but he speaks like HK.

>>2281718
I kinda want it as a memento. Or maybe we can give it to Hacna.

>>2281707
>>2281701
Woops, mislinked my post.
>>2281719
It can translate the speech of others to basic but when it's actually speaking for itself it can only speak in traditional droid beeps and dwoos. Hacnas interpreter droid is the one who translates her speech similarly to how HK47 speaks.

>>2281712
The fuck? I thought Hurt said we could understand it back when we made it.

>>2281846
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2237696/#p2237828

Stick to the narrative, man.

>>2281848
Does it really matter? That was an OOC post anyway.

>>2281863
Of course it matters. We're literally walking around with a droid we can't understand, when it's whole purpose is communicating.

>>2281871
It's actually a disguised slicer droid. Anyway, I see your point but there's no reason to get all butthurt. Maybe we can ask it to translate its own droid language to basic. Just relax dude.

I'm curious about how Hacna and Jevan are doing. Could we get an interlude or something about what they're up to at some point?

>>2281891
>Just relax dude.

It is perfectly reasonabe to point a GM to mixed signals. If you think I'm frothing at the keyboard, you're incorrect.

What do you guys think this place is? It's suggested that it's more of a weathered man-made tunnel than a natural cave system. I know that lots of gangs and whatnot hang out on sriluur so that could be related.

>>2281693
You pull away from the cave, not wanting to venture into an underground labyrinth of questionable integrity before you've exhausted all other options. There's also the possibility that whatever caused the Imperial team to call for help also chased them into the caverns. If that's the case, you just assume stay out here a little while longer.

"Sadon." You gesture at the colorful ground around the camp. "Can you track the Imperials?"

He nods and gets to work, walking up and down the visible length of the canyon with his eyes fixed on the ground. The place is a mess of footprints, but the winds that rip through the rest of Sriluur don't reach down here. If anyone can untangle that puzzle, it's someone who spent their whole life hunting other people.

While he is doing that, you go back into the tents and begin picking through the datapads the team left behind. R4K4 takes each tablet in its spidery appendages and plugs into the ports on the side, making short work of the basic encryption. There's little of interest, which isn't surprising given that these are the datapads the team took along for their off-work use. Their Empire-issued equipment will be kept close at hand, on their belts or in backpacks. But you wouldn't be able to break through Imperial encryption with an off-market slicing droid, anyway.

The only thing that catches your eye is on the datapad of one Becu'wis'vrisduo - the team leader, who made the audio message that the Reclamation Service forwarded to you in their message. You weren't able to put a face to the name, but the unpronounceable nature of the latter tells you that he's Chiss. Cuwis - as you'll call him in the customary shortening method - appears to spend his off-time exploring many wild theories that loosely pertain to his work with the Service. One journal entry delves into the religion of the Weequay, particularly their thunder god, Am-Shak.

>>2282353
Thunder gods are common in tribal pantheons, so there's nothing strange about Am-Shak. Except that Sriluur's peculiar atmospheric properties have yielded conditions in which neither thunder, nor lightning, are natural occurrences. You're sure people could postulate all sorts of interesting theories about how a thunder god came about on a world with no thunder, but Cuwis' idea catches your eye.

He believes that a battle took place in orbit some millenia ago, back before the first recorded records of worship of Am-Shak. According to Weequay legend, Am-Shak was dragged from the sky into Temptation Canyon by the siren song of water nymphs, which then transformed into hairy beasts and tore him apart.

Why they worship a god who was torn apart thousands of years ago is a question for the Weequay. What you would like to ask Cuwis is just what he thinks was dragged down to Sriluur's surface all those thousands of years ago, making thunder loud enough for all Weequay to hear. A ship? A weapon? His journal doesn't get into it. But apparently, he refined his theory enough to take to his superiors and get a team sent to Sriluur.

"Nothing." You turn around to see Sadon peeking in through the tent flap. "The footprints, they go up and down the canyon into caves. Then to the stairs we take up."

"Did you check up above?" you ask him. "Did they walk out into the flats for some reason?"

He shrugs. "Too much wind. No tracks in the salt."

Or, they were never there. You're probably just looking for reasons to avoid going cave diving. Which, at this point, looks inevitable if you have any serious desire to locate the lost Imperials.

You need to decide how to confirm the Imperials' presence within the cave system. Sadon has a bag of glowsticks and other emergency equipment, and both of you have short-range communicators on your wrists.

>>2282359
Let's both go in there. We should be able to follow our tracks backwards to leave if we start to get lost. Use an imperial frequency on our short range communicators to try to make contact with the team as we descend.

>>2282359
Go into the cave. Check if there is any gear lefted behind. Also use one of the sismic droids to mao the caves like we did when we went to Sebuks tomb.

>>2282379
i suspect old droids. I would rather mark our way using R4k4's sense or one of the drones to map the cave corridors for us.

>>2282359
Well I'm out of ideas. What happened to the probe we used on Korriban? That would be insanely useful right about now. Might as well just go into the caves and do this the old fashioned way.

Oh could Sadon determine which tracks were the freshest? We should use that cave entry and follow them in conjunction with tracking the transmitter.

>>2282379
This pretty much

>>2282359
Does any part of the canyon seem more like a crater? Maybe that's where the "thunder god" was dragged down and probably the best place to look.

>>2282479
Oh damn that's a good idea.

>>2282479
If our droid could fly up high and take a picture from above it might be easier to tell.

>>2282359
You consider taking the time to try and verify Cuwis' wild theory - that a spaceship, or something similar, crashed nearby - but doing that right now doesn't make much sense. The parts of the canyon you could see were deep and narrow, with no water-filled basins that would hint at a past impact crater. Though perhaps that's where the copper-oxide tainted river is flowing from - something to keep in mind for later. A cartographical droid could fly through the canyon and make a map, but even assuming you could find one in the supplies littered around the camp, it would take hours for you to figure out how to work it, and many hours more for the droid to complete its work. Hours the Imperial team might not have.

"Can you tell which tracks are the freshest?" you ask Sadon.

He ducks out of the tent, and you follow to watch as he mills about the camp, somehow managing to find the freshest trail within the criss-crossing paths of footprints.

"They go in there." He points at the cavern you had illuminated, and you return to peer into the illuminated corridor stretching out before you. Sadon has his blaster in his hand, vibrosword at his waist, and bag on his back. You have R4-K4 just behind you, and your lightsaber a twitch of the hand away. You're as ready as you'll ever be.

Shortly after stepping foot inside, Sadon manages to re-establish the trail of boot prints left behind by the Imperials.

"See?" He points at a part of the cavern floor that looks just the same as the walls and ceilings. "The blue and green from outside." You can't see a thing, but you take his word for it and continue to follow him through the twists and turns that become increasingly maze-like. Most of the halls intersect at precise right angles, again leading you to believe that this place was not formed naturally. You will talk to Cuwis about all this later, assuming he hasn't been torn to shreds by Sriluur Wolfs or something equally nasty.

The further you progress into the network of tunnels, the more sparse the lighting on the wall becomes and the more certain *you* become that you are closing in on the team. You call out a few times, and they do not answer, but you can feel them - multiple living beings. They're close - as is the beacon - but you get the distinct sensation the life you feel is below you, not up ahead. A cave-in having trapped them seems increasingly likely, and you tell Sadon to pop one of the glowsticks while being careful to watch his footing.

>>2283041
You also become increasingly glad that you have Sadon with you. Even with your datapad tracking the beacon, you never would have been able to find your way through the confusing mess of corridors, any number of which the Imperials could have taken when they fled inside. With Sadon watching the trail of footprints you still can't see, you have a path to reach your destination. And you do reach it, after only a few minutes of slow walking through the underground complex. You're not all that deep into the cliffside, but it's plenty dark enough that you need R4-K4's flashlight and Sadon's glowstick to add to the weak glow of the wall-strung lighting.

Your droid finds the beacon before you do, shining it's flashlight helpfully on the center of the room - though you doubt it's intelligent enough to have done that on purpose. On a flat-topped stalagmite jutting up from the dusty floor of the cavernous room sits an Imperial Black Box, its sharp edges and smooth surface contrasting sharply with the rest of your surroundings. But no team - nor any sign of them, other than the beacon they inexplicably abandoned after doing the same to their camp.

"Where do the footprints go?" You say to Sadon. The life forms are still there - you feel as if you're standing right on top of them. But you've seen no sign of collapsed ground or any side-tunnels curving downward from the ones you walked through.

"Ah..." Sadon mutters to himself for a bit, pacing around as his sharp, predatory gaze softens to one of anxious confusion. He goes to the small pillar on which the box sits, then traces the edges of the cave, disappearing behind partial rock walls here and there with the light of the glowstick showing you his path.

"They stop at the box!" he cries out, sounding increasingly agitated. You doubt he's actually worried about the Imperial team. This is either fear of disappointing you, or a simple hatred of feeling like he's been beaten by footprints.

"I know where they went," comes a voice behind you. You spin around to face the corridor you entered the cavern through, and there spot a figure standing fifty feet back down the hall. You dart to the entrance, pressing yourself to the wall just beside it while Sadon does the same on the other side. Taking a careful peek around, you see that the robed figure - a woman, judging by her shape - hasn't moved.

She's not a Weequay. That much is clear from her voice. What's strange is that you hadn't sensed her sneaking up on you, even when consciously throwing your awareness outward in your attempts to pinpoint the Imperials' location. But stranger than that is the fact that you *still* can't feel her presence.

What do you do?

>>2283047
Ask her to lead on then. And ask who she is and why she's here.

She must be a master of some sort if she can completely conceal her presence from us. Which means she likely already knows that we're force sensitive. Might as well introduce ourselves.

>>2283047
Well where are they then?
Hopefully she's not a mythical water nymph who's about to turn into a beast and attack us. No reason to be hostile just yet.

>>2283047
>Introduce ourselves

Sadon has fucking night vision? What is up with these Tionese survivors?

>>2283047
Great another force ghost.

>>2283115
Force ghosts should be very way to sense though.

>>2283111
He's got a glowstick

>>2283127
Ah. The fact that we couldn't see anything when he could confused me.

>>2283119
Not if the ghost has a crystal to mask his presence. The fact we can't sense it even though it's ib front of us suggest either a droid, a live force master, or a ghost because ghosts aren't alive.

>>2283129
We are not good at tracking. Also once more Sadon shows why we spared him.

>>2283134
If she had a kyber crystal we would be able to sense the force power it. I'm kind of confused by what you mean here.

>>2283047
Let the awkward silence ling in for a little bit more then say:"Now is the part that you say what you want in exchange for the information."

>>2283134
Oh are you referring to how the Jedi on the Hutt's ship did something like that? I feel like the kyber crystal was meant to be a red herring as well as the jewelry being a disguised disassembled lightsaber. The reason we couldn't detect her force sensitivity was because she was trained to conceal it.

>>2283047
You don't respond, instead letting the silence grow until it's almost a sound in its own right.

"Now is the part where you either tell me where they are--" You slide your hand down to your lightsaber hilt as you speak. "--Or tell me what you want."

The cave again grows so quiet that you can hear the woman draw a sharp breath in even with the distance between you two.

"Throw me your lightsaber, and I'll show you," she calls back. That surprises you enough that you nearly drop the weapon you've unhooked from your belt. No one on Sriluur should know what you really are. Sadon quietly lowers his glowstick to the ground and unfolds his vibrosword, but you motion for him to stay put. For a few more seconds, anyway.

"Why would I do that?" you shoot back. Another look around the corner, and you see something cylindrical gripped in the woman's right hand. Her brown robes and the fact that she knows you're a Sith makes your mind jump to the image of a lightsaber, but you can't detect the presence of a Kyber crystal anywhere nearby. Masking one's own presence in the Force is difficult, but not unheard of. Masking something or someone else's is impossible.

"You have ten seconds!" She tenses her arm, rubbing her thumb over the tip of the cylinder. "After ten, I'll bring that cave down on your head!" Her voice wavers and cracks, but you're not so sure it's fear that has her speaking in so trembling a tone.

"One!" she shouts.

You have nine seconds.

>>2283300
Throw her our lightsaber then. Activate it in midair and manipulate it with the force to destroy the cylinder in her hand and then bring it back into our hand.

>>2283320
Actually just sever her hand that's holding it. She doesn't have force power, she has the place rigged with explosives and she's holding the detonator.

>Her voice wavers and cracks,

Oh it's a hologram and she has a detonator. Which makes her Mandalorian.Most likely after the Darksaber.

>>2283328
Yeah this.
>>2283329
She's just scared shitless. Why would a Mando be here? Nobody knows we're here and nobody knows that we might have the darksaber apart from Cypher 9.

>>2283336
Cypher9 might have putted a bounty on us.

>>2283336
We didn't sensed fear. If we were a real sith we would have being sure it was.

>>2283300
Dash out of the cave and Pull Sadon with you using the force.

>>2283336
>Why would a Mando be here?

Mando's are good trackers and the Hutt were we grabbed the dark saber was about to sell it to the Vizla clan. She must have hunted down and it's looking for it.

Also mandos are pretty good in killing force sensitives.

>>2283356
That doesn't explain how she would be here before us. She isn't acting like a mando and she doesn't look like one either. My guess is she lives in these cases with others and didn't appreciate the empire sniffing around. The Mando theory really makes zero sense.

>>2283366
regardless of what or who she is she is. There is the fact we can't sense her and the fact her voice is crackling. Which makes clear she isn't near or in front of us making the image we seing a fake one. The fact that we can't make sure if she is afraid is a plus.

Whatever we do i say we escape be it by runni g with Sadon back to the entrance we came or doing something else.

>>2283380
This room is a dead end and she's standing in the only hall we could escape with.

>>2283380
Don't star wars holograms look all blue and transparent? It'd have to be super sophisticated to transmit a convincing hologram in a cave that showed no signs of technology inside of it when we walked through it.

>>2283391
Then pull her towards us using the force. She won't use whatever trap she laid if she is in the middle of it.

>>2283401
It may be a more sophisticated one or it might be the low light from the cave. The fact that she isn't carrying a lightsaber can also mean she is just a bounty hunter or as other anon said someone living in this meadow.

>Holograms were usually monochrome, often blue, with no or faint other colours. However, full coloured holograms were not unheard of, and more advanced holograms, such as those created by the holographic disguise matrix, were realistic enough to fool both observers and electronic sensors.

Just got it from the wookieepedia

Either way there's no way we should surrender our lightsaber. If it's a hologram then they're testing us but they'd have to be dumb to think we would actually comply. Hopefully we don't get buried in rubble but we don't have any good options here.

>>2283448
If she is a hologram then we can just rush toward the entrance and pull Sadon toward us once we reach it.

Unless she putted explosives on the entire cave system.

>>2283458
Why would we need to pull Sadon? He can just run too. Probably just as quickly as we can.

>>2283462
He doesn't have force speed. The pull is just to make sure he doesn't end being squashed in the stones that fall over us.

Is the dice system for this quest gone now?

>>2283300
"Six..." the woman says, her tone growing more agitated with each number.

"Alright!" You throw Sadon a quick, wide-eyed glance, and pray to the Emperor he knows you well enough to decipher your command to stay put. Stepping out, you hold your lightsaber up high, and move to toss it before pulling back. "I can't throw it that far. I'm going to levitate it over to you."

She's quiet for a moment, her detonator-hand lifting briefly before falling. "Do it!" she shouts, shifting her stance slightly as if preparing to accept the coming object. You were telling the truth about not being able to throw it down a narrow cave hall, and you *do* have every intention of delivering the weapon to her - business-end first, straight through her right wrist. The moment she drops the detonator, you and Sadon will be free to make your next move.

Stretching your hand outward, you let your inactive saber fall a few feet before gripping it with the Force and bringing it slowly forward. Your mind screams at you to activate it *now* and send it hurtling into her chest, but you resist that growing impulse. If her reaction time is good - or if you fail to make an immediately fatal wound - she could activate the explosives with you still in the blast zone. Which is assuming these supposed explosives are real. Sadon made a sweep of the entire cavern room and found nothing but bare rock.

You're counting down the seconds until your lightsaber reaches her, when the woman reaches out towards your still-distant weapon, and it lurches forward with a ripple of Force. It feels as if you've awoken from a dream, or breached the waterline after nearly drowning. You can sense it clearly and powerfully now. This woman is strong in the Force.

"Let go," she shouts. "I will take it."

You had miscalculated. Her lack of a lightsaber wasn't a sign that she isn't a Jedi - she left it behind so that she could conceal herself from you. A Kyber crystal would have tipped you off to her shadowing you, or at least would have piqued your caution.

A bead of sweat rolls down your forehead despite the coolness of the cavern. If you pull the saber back, she will take that as a refusal to hand over your weapon. If you thrust it towards her and activate it, you will have made known your intention to kill her - and she will respond in kind.

What do you do?

>>2283532
Yeah, I didn't like how random it made events feel so I'm going to try just writing a story that proceeds logically & thematically from past player choices.

I tried to do that quantitatively through a system of dice bonuses and all that, but it was too complex and the results still felt too random.

>>2283553
Fuck. Just let her have it and cooperate for now. We're in a bad spot.

>>2283553
We're outplayed fellas. At least we're not defenseless without our saber. Pass it over and see where this goes. She doesn't seem to actually wish us harm right now but it definitely seems that she set a trap for us specifically.

>>2283560
Works for me.

We really need to learn how to conceal ourselves. We keep getting screwed over by others with that skill.

>>2283553
Give it to her. We'll get our chance later after we figure out what she wants.

Loving this quest btw. Finally caught up.

inb4 this is Sebuk fucking with us and her voice was cracking since she was trying not to laugh

>>2283553
Forcing yourself to relax your hold on your weapon, you allow the woman to draw it safely into her waiting hand. Even with her face half-wreathed in shadow, you can tell she's surprised. Her detonator hand tenses and relaxes over and over, as if she herself doesn't know what she wants to do with it.

"You were about to tell me where the excavation team is," you say to her. She swaps the lightsaber and detonator, then points your inactive saber at her. It's a somewhat emasculating gesture.

"You don't care about them," she snaps. "You're Sith." Her voice is so low and so angry that it barely reaches you.

With a loud scoff you make sure reaches her, you hold our right hand out. "Then give me back my lightsaber." You give the weapon a subtle tug, not nearly enough to pull it from her. She grips it tighter and thrusts it down to her side, raising the detonator in turn... but then lowers it again. You've made your point.

Which is not to say the situation is anywhere near defused. Volatile Force-sensitive aside, there's also the matter of the twitchy bodyguard standing just out of sight to your right. His muscles tense like a predator ready to strike, and you can hear the soft squeak of his sweaty hand gripping his sword tighter.

"Why don't you tell me what you want?" you say to her. What you don't want to ask is *who* she is. If she is indeed a Jedi, you're not sure you can muster the force of will necessary to keep Sadon from charging her in a blind rage. He's spent a lifetime nursing a grudge against their Order, then *you* came and stoked those fires into a raging inferno. And here you are, presenting him with a perfect target. But if he acts rashly *now*, you're both dead.

"I want to know where your Master is," she replies.

>>2283765
You had already figured out that this was a trap laid out for you, but you hadn't realized that you are simply a vector to pursue Veredious. Therein lies the problem, though - you don't *know* where he is.

"He's in the Outer Rim."

She waves your lightsaber at you. "I *know* that."

"And I can tell you where he is," you add quickly. "But not until I know my team is safe."

She doesn't respond. You've caught her in a moral bind, something the Jedi often find themselves tangled in. The team you came to rescue are not Sith - they're not even soldiers. They're archaeologists and researchers, with some basic intelligence training. The Jedi draw a strict line between soldier and civilian, a separation which does not exist in reality. Farmers feed soldiers, and archaeologists deliver powerful artifacts to power-hungry Lords. Yet another example of the Jedi code falling to pieces at the briefest contact with the real galaxy and real dilemmas.

"They are alive, and safe." Her angry ranting has been replaced by confident declaration. "I don't lie."

You give her a smile of disbelief, keeping your hands where she can see them. "I'm supposed to take your word on that?"

This time, the woman doesn't miss a beat before responding. "Jedi don't lie."

You wince reflexively as soon as the first word passes her lips. The last one is barely audible over the bellowing roar Sadon lets out as he charges the Jedi, vibrosword held in a straight guard and blaster firing in front of him. She activates your lightsaber, deflecting the first two bolts back down the length of the hall. Then, you hear a sharp beep coming from behind you - from the black box at the center of the cavernous room.

What do you do? Sadon has only moved a dozen feet ahead of you by the time you see what's happening. The woman is fifty feet further down the corridor that you stand at the entrance of. The black box is twenty feet behind you in the center of the large cavern, plenty close enough for you to manipulate with the Force.

>>2283771
That's all for tonight

>>2283771
Throw the black box as far as we can to the opposite side of the room as us. Begin charging at the jedi alongside Sadon and hit her with force lightning.

>>2283771
FUCK.
>>2283794
Getting the bomb as far away as possible is a good call but I'm worried that Sadon would be in the way of electricity. We should interfere with her lightsaber hand as much as possible with the force to give him a chance to unbalance her.

I feel fucking retarded for giving up our saber. Sorry guys.

So here's the deal. This lady is smart but she doesn't seem supremely confident in her actual combat skills if she contrived this entire situation to avoid actually fighting us. So maybe Sadon has a chance with our backup.

Another option would be to stop Sadon in his tracks with the force. But we still have to deal with the explosive first. Clearly Sadon would not appreciate this but his odds aren't great in this fight. And negotiations have clearly already broken down, possibly beyond repair. I just wish he had gotten actual anti-jedi training first. I need some more input here.

>>2283914
If we can avoid the dangerous blast zone of the bomb we can let it explode and then use the shrapnel and rubble as force projectiles. Sadon would just have to last long enough in melee for us to pull it off. I'll be so butthurt if Sadon dies here. I guess we should've just charged her from the get go.

Either way we need to start sprinting toward her while throwing the bomb as far away as possible as well. Then focus on attacking her.

Does our vibroblade have cortosis in it?

It seems like our best chance is to have Sadon badly wound her, enough that we can retrieve our lightsaber with the force. First we need to push the bomb away as quickly as possible, run behind Sadon, and use all of our force power to throw the Jedi off balance just as Sadon is about to strike her. Ideally he can either wound or kill her with that first strike. Then we steal our lightsaber back while she's distracted by the wound or Sadon just kills her outright if we're lucky.

>>2284163
Also if he keeps shooting at her during his approach we can interfere with her ability to deflect those shots with the force. If she gets hit by a blaster before they enter melee his chances improve dramatically. Basically we should just use the force in very short bursts to push the lightsaber in random directions as he shoots at her and then push it strongly to one side to open her up for an attack by Sadon's vibroblade.

>>2284163
So she's probably not used to the curved hilt either. So if we push the blade further in the direction it's curved she'll have a harder time compensating for it.

Definitely wishing I would have been here last night instead of watching the super bowl but I'm not sure what I would have done differently.

The suspense is killing me, this is fucking tense. RIP Sadon.

>>2283771
The moment you hear that ominous 'beep' coming from behind you, you know that you have the thinnest sliver of a moment to relax. The explosives were real, and neither you nor Sadon missed them - you just walked right by them. Spinning away from your charging bodyguard, you throw a wave of Force outward that spreads across the room, splitting off fragile rock protrusions and kicking up dust that has lain for untold centuries. You didn't take the time to pinpoint your target, but your attack is strong enough to catch the box in its wake and send it hurtling to the far side of the cave.

In the split-second this happens, you consider what to do next. You'll charge behind Sadon, hobbling the Jedi with a blast of Force lightning from overhead as he ducks low. You'll use the Force to upset her blade hand, slowing her enough for one of Sadon's blaster bolts to strike. All sorts of ideas run through your mind, but they're shattered the instant the bomb detonates.

The blast hits you at the speed of sound, blowing out your eardrums the same moment it sucks the air from your lungs and throws you backwards. You can't hear, but you can see everything. The cave ceiling crumbles, pelting you with rocks that become larger and larger until the ground beneath you shakes.

Then, the lights go out. The darkness swallows you up from every direction, and you're gripped by the distinct sensation that you are falling from a great height. Even as you plummet down, debris continues to strike you, until you endure the worst blow of all. Something hits the back of your head and legs all at once, and the churning in your stomach stops, replaced by immense pain and the feeling of being shattered like glass.

>>2285836
For a time you lay there, your skull ringing so hard that you can't even think. There's no light anymore, and when the ringing stops, there's no sound. Just pure oblivion. You're almost afraid to move, lest you discover that your sense of touch has been taken along with everything else. Eventually you summon the courage to shift your hand, and you feel your fingers dragging up wet stone.

Then, you see a light. It fills your entire vision, and you reflexively wince and look away. The spotlight swivels off to the side, and in the split-second it's still half-focused on you, you clearly see the hovering sphere of R4-K4 a few feet above you. If he's making any sounds, you can't hear them.

Letting out a groan so pained you can feel it in your chest, you try to push yourself into a seated position, but then gasp and fall onto your back. Fire shoots through your left wrist, and you use your right hand to feel at it. The fiberglass screen of your communicator is splintered and broken badly enough that you can touch the circuitry underneath. As for the limb its attached to... the odd combination of numbness and burning leads you to believe it hasn't fared much better.

You had instinctively shielded yourself from the blast, but that had only stopped your body from being turned to complete mush. At some point you had broken your arm - either from the explosion, the crumbling ceiling, or the fall that came afterwards. Even now you can barely remember how it played out. R4-K4 swivels its flashlight towards you, and you hiss in annoyance before barking out an order only it can hear. The droid obeys, point its light up towards the ceiling. There's no hole - at least, not anymore. Loose chunks of rock the size of a man have plugged up whatever chasm you plunged into.

What do you do?

>>2285840
Examine the chasm we're in. Have R4 shine his light all around. Did we keep any of the supplies or was Sadon holding them?

>>2285846

You never took the bag of supplies from Sadon.

>>2285840
Make a quick sling for our arm with some of our clothing. Investigate the room we're in. Thank R4 and ask if he knows what happened above.

>everybody suddenly just lurks instead of voting when times get tough
Come on guys

>>2285840
See if we can sense any life around us.

>>2285840
>get up and look around, duh
>make a note beat the stuffing out of sadon

Also ask R4 how long it has been since the explosion.

>>2285840
You roll onto your stomach and stumble to your feet, careful to avoid putting any weight on your left hand. R4-K4's flashlight only illuminates a small patch of gray rock in the distance, but you can tell by the sheer distance that the cavern you're standing in is larger than the one you fell from. You start to ask the droid beside you what happened, but stop the moment your own voice fails to reach you. Even if it has an answer, you wouldn't be able to hear it.

Closing your eyes, you reach out with the Force and feel for any signs of life nearby. Sadon had been further from the explosion, but he didn't have the benefit of your protective powers. You quickly detect a nearby presence... and then a second one. Then three, and four, and five...

You step back as you open your eyes, and find that you've stepped into a shallow stream of running water. You can't hear or see it, but you can feel it trickling past your boot. Commanding R4 to make a sweep of the room, you follow his light as it shines up and down the glistening walls. You've nearly made a full turn when you come face-to-face with it. Two lidless eyes hover a few feet away from you, with yellow irises and pupils yawning like twin black holes. You could almost mistake them for the eyes of a human, were it not for the hairy, wolf-like face they are set into. The animal's jaw creaks open, countless jagged teeth glowing white as R4's flashlight passes over them.

Your own jaw drops open - you might have screamed, though you can't be sure - and you stumble back while thrusting your hand out at the creature and hitting it in the face with a blast of lightning. The animal lets out its own scream, and this one you can feel in your own bones. The face moves away, and you watch in horror as the thing scuttles back on four claw-like hands attached to a flattened body. The current you struck it with continues to sparkle even as it fades behind a wall of rock, the blue light illuminating the domed cavern around you. More of the creatures scuttle into every conceivable crack and crevice, like spiders vacating a room when the lights are switched on.

A hard, rhythmic 'thunk' shakes the ground beneath your heels, and your heart seizes in your chest as you shoot another bolt towards the source of the vibration. It strikes the ground beside another one of the beasts, causing it to scuttle sideways. But this one doesn't flee.

Objective: Survive.

>>2285971
Force scream to scatter the rest of them and intimidate this one. Blast it away with the force to create some distance and pick up several large stones from the rubble to bludgeon it telepathically. Keep a couple floating nearby to use for defense and use them as shields if the creature lunges for us.

>>2285998
Yes. Answer it's howl with one of our own. If there was ever a time to get fucking pissed and embrace the dark side of the force this is it. Pissed at the Jedi, pissed at Sadon, pissed at our master for always putting us in these situations, and pissed at ourselves for fucking up. Kill the alpha and the rest will be cowed into submission. Let loose a little bit but don't completely lose control.

>>2285971
Okay >>2286009 >>2285998
Although force scream has always seemed a little autistic

>>2286082
Lol it's not like we're gonna just REEEEEEEEE in the wolf's face

>>2285998
Force Scream is gonna be pretty badass, and I generally support this option.

>>2285971
If lightning will not scare it, then perhaps thunder will. You take a deep breath in, your nostrils flaring as you run your mind over every single thing you hate in this moment. The Jedi that attacked you. The bodyguard that failed you. The pain in your useless left arm. These horrible creatures, straight out of a nightmare. And most of all, you - for letting yourself be dragged down here by complacency and ill-preparedness.

Then you let it all out, in one tremendous bellow that rattles your brain in your skull and shakes the ground at your feet. You can't hear it, but you can feel it - and so can the monster before you. Your Force-enhanced shout hurls it back into the darkness, before slamming it into some slab of rock with enough force to send another ripple through the floor. Every animal with two brain cells to rub together understands two things - pain, and dominance. And even nightmares like these can be made to feel fear.

You look all around, R4's light following your gaze as you search for any sign that the remaining creatures are making a move. The blow you inflicted on that other one killed it - you could feel its presence snuffed out the moment it hit the cavern wall. But there is still plenty more life around you - and a few seconds later, you feel something new. It starts as a sort of 'pop-pop' in your eardrums, and for a moment you think your hearing is returning. But you can't hear the sound of your own frantic breathing, nor the small stream flowing past your feet.

That strange popping noise continues with no others accompanying it, and a moment later you see flickers of blue light crackling to life all around you, sliding out of every dark hiding place. There's a rhythmic thumping as the creatures crawl down the walls and scuttle across the floor, pounding their clawed fists on the ground as they walk. Each strike produces a flash of blue lightning, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. And with that sight, you realize that the sound you can so faintly hear... is the crack of thunder.

Maybe you can negotiate with them.

>>2286239
>look at me, I am the captain now

>>2286239
Emulate what they're doing with our force lightning I guess? Hopefully we just killed their leader and took his place in the hierarchy. I don't know if they understand speech or not but it's worth trying, to get us out of here and destroy the Jedi on our way.

>>2286239
I can't tell if what they're doing is threatening or not. Can we get a vague sense of their emotions? And maybe their enhanced senses of smell and primitive minds make them more susceptible to our pheromone control.

This is good though, we've been a classy diplomat for so long that we forgot about the more bestial and predatory nature of being a sith. This is a good reminder.

>>2286269
Reading the emotions of alien beasts is not a task you're accustomed to. But what little you can sense leaves you with the impression that their sole desire is to tear you limb from limb.

>>2286239
Give them another force scream to establish further dominance. Use the rock throwing force technique mentioned earlier to tear them all apart if they still continue to attack.

>>2286311
Yeah do this then. I misinterpreted what was happening. Start moving toward the source of the stream for a possible exit as well.

>>2286302
>their sole desire is to tear you limb from limb.
So they don't even desire to survive? Fuck.
> run away

>>2286239
Retreating upstream sounds good, while pushing them away with rocks and force pushes.

We could aswell flash our own lightning, but it seems they have already decided to kill us

When we get back from this we desperately need to do some training beyond these basic force abilities. Our force lightning doesn't ever seem to do much damage

I'm worried about Sadon. He's either dead, injured and captured, or turned against us by the Jedi. I guess there's a slim chance he managed to kill her but I wouldn't bet on it. We don't have any good options for another leader of the guards either.

Also if we can't get our lightsaber back I say we just make a more stable lightspear for immediate use before we can fully replace it.

>>2286239
You can't fight all of these creatures at once. There's a dozen creeping out from their hiding places, and undoubtedly more waiting in the wings. Every good sense in your body is screaming at you to run - but where? And then you remember the stream at your feet. It might not lead to an exit, but it will take you uphill. And right now, it's the best option you have.

Throwing a wave of Force outward at the creatures that sets the entire group off-balance, you turn around and break into a run, doing your best to keep your steps where you can feel the splash of water beneath your boots. The ground is slippery, particularly because you're deliberately racing through the wettest, steepest slope on the cavern floor. You slip a few times, nearly smacking your face against stone. Each time you fall, you throw another blast to your rear to ward off your pursuers. You see them there, growing closer on the walls and floor. One of them has even attached itself to the ceiling, and comes dangerously close to scampering overhead before you grab onto it with the Force and hurl it back into the darkness.

R4-K4's light tracks the way you're facing throughout the entire heart-pounding experience, but the droid can't illuminate everything at once. When you're fighting, you're tripping over uneven ground you can't see. When you're seeing which twist and turn to take in the upward-snaking corridors running off of the main cavern, you're casting fearful glances backward to try and judge how closer your pursuers are growing.

It's on one such look behind you that you run straight into a wall, nearly knocking yourself out cold in your growing need to get out of this hell. The ringing in your ears is back, but you come to your senses the moment you hear the rapid thump of an approaching monster. You hurl yourself upright, lashing out wildly with the Force in every direction over and over. R4's light spins around wildly as you strike the droid by mistake, and a few moments later you are being pelted by rocks and thrown back in a torrential rush of water.

Direction loses all meaning, and as you're thrown about you are gripped by the very real fear that you will be washed all the way back to those creatures' nest. But your grasping fingers find tenuous purchase on an outcropping of rock, and you begin pulling yourself forward against the tidal wave washing over you. Then, a light appears in the darkness behind you. It swims past in a rush of bubbles, and you feel the vibrations of R4's robotic warbling through the hiss of rushing waters.

>>2286738
And you pull. Again and again, hand over hand. Your left forearm might be fractured - broken, even - but the muscles still work. The pain is still there, but it isn't something to be overcome through force of will. It's *fuel* for the will, a burning reminder that you are alive and will fight to remain so to your last breath. That breath is one that grows ever closer as you force your aching body to work against the unimaginable pressure pushing back on it.

One moment of weakness, one thought of giving up, and it will all be over. Foul-tasting water fills your mouth and floods your lungs, but still you kick towards that light. Just as the darkness begins to seep into the edges of your vision, the one light becomes two, and you fight your way towards it. The vicious pull of the currents are gone, leaving only still waters that grow shallower with each passing second.

You breach the waterline, coughing up the coppery lake-water from your mouth before drawing in a huge breath of air. It's the sweetest thing you've ever tasted. Sriluur's sun shines down on you, and R4-K4 makes silent rotations around you with its spotlight pointed at your face. Your arm hurts, your head hurts - hell, everything hurts - but you're alive. You kick your way towards the shore of the blue-green lake, feeling relief wash over you as your feet finally touch ground near the edge of the waters. Once you're on dry land, your first instinct is to collapse onto your stomach and sleep for days. But you force yourself to keep moving, using the sun and direction of the canyon stream to mark the direction back to where you had first entered the cavern.

You were right - there was a nearby water basin. But Cuwis' theory, no matter how elegant, was terribly wrong. As you run, your mind fills with thoughts of throwing the Chiss and his whole team down into that cave to see where their carelessness landed you. The Jedi, too, if she's still close by. Twenty minutes later, you come up to the Imperial camp nursing a side stitch that feels worse than the broken arm hanging limply at your side.

But the Jedi isn't there. And Sadon isn't dead, as you were sure he would be. He is kneeling in the center of the tent grouping, inactive lightsaber in hand. His face is twisted up in anger and grief, twitching with each sniff and snivel he makes. He holds the weapon outward, and then activates it with the red blade pointed at his stomach.

What do you do?

>>2286740
Yell at him to stop.
Fuck, OP this feels like the entire situation was designed to make us fail miserably. Not a very fun feeling but I guess it had to happen sometime.

>>2286749
>Fuck, OP this feels like the entire situation was designed to make us fail miserably.

You guys should've thrown the black box at the Jedi after she mentioned explosives and Sadon had done a thorough sweep of the cavern. Could've avoided all those cave monsters.

>>2286740
Force pull the lightsaber back into our hands. Then approach and ask him what happened. I bet he's trying to kill himself because he thinks he failed. The question is if he killed the Jedi or if she spared him. If she spared him she wouldn't have given him the lightsaber though.

>>2286754
She could have detonated it the second she saw us start to move it though. It's totally understandable that we won't succeed in every encounter but we definitely didn't have enough info to reasonably infer that the explosives were in that box anyway. They could've been buried or in the cave directly below the one we were in or something. It's okay though, if we succeeded at everything easily there wouldn't be much fun to be had.

>>2286740
Call out to him!
Sadon is best boy.
But yeah we would've had to move the bomb over 70 feet for it to reach her and for at least the first 20 feet of that she would have time to use the detonator and her finger was already on the trigger. Definitely an unwinnable situation unless we complied with her demands at least at first.

We've got a good opportunity to teach Sadon the same lesson we learned at the academy. That pure fury and aggression must be tempered with control and reason to be used effectively.

>>2286754
>should've thrown the black box at the Jedi
>giving I imperial property to a jedi

>>2286740
"Hey!" you shout, drawing Sadon's attention at the same moment you use the Force to pull the lightsaber from his grip. His fingers narrowly avoid being taken off by the still-active weapon as it slides from his grip, and he stares at you in utter shock that doesn't lessen one bit as he races towards you.

Sadon's mouth moves rapidly and he gestures just as frantically, but you can't hear one bit of it. You point at your ears and shout that at him until the message finally gets through.

"What happened?" you ask. He throws his hands out at the path zig-zagging up the other side of the canyon, the same one you two descended earlier that day. That's when you realize that the Jedi's body is nowhere to be seen. Sadon surviving the encounter was surprising enough, but the Jedi simply *leaving* after everything that happened is even harder to believe. You turn back to your failure of a bodyguard to see that he's thrown himself onto the ground, prostrating himself before you and slapping at the dirt in contrition.

"Later!" you snap, gripping your tender left arm. "Get me back to Quay'kizac."

He forces himself to his feet and leads the way topside, avoiding your eyes the whole way. You had expected for Sadon to have to call Jevan and Hacna to send help for you two, but when you reach the top of the canyon you find your cruiser in working order. Sadon switches it on while you stand a ways off, but it isn't booby-trapped. The four-hour drive back to the city is agonizing, and not just because of your countless injuries. You're mad at yourself, madder at Sadon, and furious at the Jedi - as well as utterly baffled by her departure.

Before reaching Quay'Kizac, Sadon uses his communicator to summon Jevan and Hacna to the Fury. They're waiting for you when you arrive, and are a sight to behold in their own right. Hacna wears a ratty brown robe over her flightsuit, and the bottom half of it is drenched in blood. Jevan's boots are equally red. You find out later that she had been sacrificing livestock at each Thal stone she visited. From the look of her, a herd of livestock had died at her hands. She chats at you excitedly, but slinks back when she sees how angry you are.

Once aboard the Fury, you go straight to the autodoc to have your ruptured eardrums repaired and the break in your ulna repaired. You put your left arm in a sling, and pray that none of this will require invasive surgery when you get back to Voss. Your hearing, though partially restored by the automated medical equipment, is muffled. Everything sounds far away, as if you're still swimming up from those watery depths that nearly crushed you.

>>2286886
With your senses partially returned, you order Sadon to tell you what happened. His recounting of events is chaotic and disjointed, but that's hardly surprising given how events played out. The blast you narrowly survived collapsed part of the hallway, blocking the way between you and Sadon. You're surprised he got out of it largely unscathed, but then you realize you had been standing right in the narrow entryway. When you instinctively shielded yourself from the blast, you did the same to everything past you - including Sadon.

What little of the blast did get through had floored Sadon and the Jedi, and he charged her. He speaks as if they were evenly matched, but one look at your humorless expression has him swallowing and correcting events. He briefly pushed her back through the corridor from the sheer momentum of his attack, but he was never close to landing a serious strike. She quickly gained the advantage, and was a heartbeat away from killing him.

But then she stopped. She looked shocked and horrified, Sadon says. The Jedi backed away from the fallen Sadon, then turned and ran. He gave chase, but she was gone, and had dropped your lightsaber just outside the cavern exit. He picked it up, ran back to the cave-in that had separated the two of you, and tried to cut his way through the debris. It was no use, he says. Each boulder he cut in half made room for new ones to rain down from above. In a panic he resorted to trying to claw his way through bare-handed, he says - and shows you his bloodied hands to prove it. Some of his fingernails are gone, and you wince reflexively.

"Please give me chance!" Sadon pleads, his grasp of Basic deteriorating with his mental state. He throws himself on the floor of the medbay, clasping his hands together and banging them on the grated floor in front of you.

What do you tell him?

That's all for tonight.

>>2284054
>Does our vibroblade have cortosis in it?

Yeah, I'm going off of KOTOR/SWTOR vidya rules where vibroblades can stand up to lightsabers, at least for one sustained duel.

>>2286887
Your bravery and fury are commendable. But you should have followed my lead. Your anger stops being a tool once you let it overcome your mind completely. I didn't expect any of you to be able to compete with a Jedi as you are right now. Which is why I am going to arrange for you all to be trained by the echani, one of the few people who can best a Jedi without the force. In return you will swear to never put me at risk again to satisfy your need for revenge. You must devote yourself entirely to me and to your training before you can face a Jedi.
Heal him up a bit with the autodoc afterward.

>>2286887
The blame is mine to bear as well. I walked both of us right into her trap. But your reckless disregard for my wishes nearly killed me. The blast would have killed you as well had I not shielded you from it. I will look past this for now but I will not do so again. Put a hand on his shoulder and help him up. For now you need to be trained. You saw how much stronger you must be to face the Jedi. And now you must accomplish it and drive the others to do so.

>>2286887
>don't come back unless you have the jedi's head with you

Here's my plan for the future, at least for their training. Sadon will understand now more than ever the need for improvement.
>Work with Hacna to create an improved version of their lightsaber spears as well as lightsaber daggers. These smaller crystals are perfect for shorter blades.
>Train them constantly in how to combat the different forms that a Jedi may use. We should develop an unorthodox and unpredictable fighting style to give them better odds against trained swordsmen. They must also learn to fight in perfect coordination instead of trying to learn to face Jedi in a one-on-one duel.
>Begin working on finding an Echani trainer for them.
In the meantime I really want to do what I pictured the IRS would have us do. Go to some abandoned tomb, temple, ancient weapon cache, or something similar to actually reclaim something. Hopefully Sebuk will come through for us soon.
>>2286991
You wot m8? That's a death sentence before we train him. A complete waste of a loyal asset.

>>2286991
But I'd back telling him that he will repay us one day by bringing us her head.

We never got a good look at that Jedi but maybe Sadon did. We should ask him for a description and try to identify her. I'm curious about why she's focused on our master specifically. She must be related in some way to Pailia.

>>2286996
Also I'm okay with using all of the funds from selling our sith jewelry solely to train them.

As far as training goes I say we upgrade our ship and take as many of the Tionese people as we can. Then we find a military force on that planet and see if they train with or at least observe them as they train. Jevan can use his photographic memory to catalogue their forms and then teach them to the rest of the Tionese Guard.

>>2286913
Perfect way to address him.
>>2286996
Much more thought out plan.
Support both

>>2286996
I agree with this, no chance of creating some sai or nunchuks or anything? Might be a bit too memey to kit them out like TMNT

>>2286887
You look down at Sadon, your lip curling and your arm still throbbing.

"If I wanted an animal that would mindlessly charge my enemies, I would've taken those beasts you rode on Tion."

He continues slowly thumping his clasped hands on the floor in front of you, but stays otherwise silent.

"I shielded you from that blast. Am I your bodyguard, or are you mine?" Not that you had meant to do so, but it's the truth. He would have been torn to pieces if you hadn't been standing in the way.

"I am yours," he snivels. "I am sorry. I waited so long to fight."

This pathetic display of remorse isn't one you can bear to watch for much longer. You're no emotional sadist, but you want to make sure he gets the message loud and clear. If there's a silver lining to this disaster, it's that Sadon's fury and confidence will be tempered by the knowledge of just how badly he failed. You slide off of the autodoc bed and grab him by the arm, then pull him to his feet.

"I want to hear you say that my life is more important than your revenge."

Sadon nods quickly, swallowing and blinking the tears from his eyes. He was probably certain you were either going to kill him or drop him back on Tion.

"Yes!" he replies. "Always."

You turn back to the autodoc and pull out one of the drawers below it to grab a handful of bacta gel and bandages, then hand it to Sadon. He accepts them with muttered thanks and goes to the table to begin wrapping his bloodied fingers. Part of you can't believe how many second chances you're giving these people. Amaza, who tried to stab you - though that was something of a misunderstanding. Kalyan, who nearly burned your face clean off. And now Sadon, whose grasp on bodyguarding evaporates the moment he gets worked up into a frenzy.

"Do you see why I talked about training?" you say harshly to Sadon. "That wasn't a Jedi Master. That was a young woman - a Padawan. An Apprentice, like me."

He nods eagerly, looking to you as he continues slathering his hands in light-blue gel before wrapping his fingertips in white gauze.

"I see now," he says. "I see. I will train, and be smart."

You believe him. At least, you believe that *he* believes his own words. Whether that promised caution goes out the window the next time you encounter a Jedi is something that remains to be seen. With the immediate scolding ended, you fold your arms and watch Sadon work in silence, but then slowly become aware of something. The Fury has left Sriluur's surface behind, but you're not moving.

>>2287823
"Hacna!" you shout out into the hall. "Why aren't we in hyperspace?"

She comes to the medbay a few moments later, wearing only her flight suit. You had made her discard the bloodied robe before even letting her approach the ship's ramp. But she does appear to have kept something from her time on the Weequay homeworld.

"Quay says it is not to be so." She holds out the white orb in her hands towards you, displaying the Weequay script floating on the black screen built into the surface. You raise your hand, then clench your fist tight, crushing the sphere into a misshapen chunk of metal in her palm.

"He's been overruled," you say to her. Hacna glares at you, drawing a sharp breath in before storming back to the cockpit. A minute later, you feel the familiar rumble of the Fury entering hyperspace.

With your hearing returned, you go to the ship's command center to place an urgent call to the Reclamation Service - but you receive one from them the moment you establish a connection. The Imperial Team, it turns out, is alive after all. They had gotten in one of the *two* cruisers they rented, driven back to the city of Meirm, and then left Sriluur for Dromund Kaas.

When they arrived on the Imperial capital to report in, their superior had asked them why they had left Sriluur behind so early into their mission, and why they had placed a distress call. None of the team could answer either question, nor could they remember anything of substance about the mission. Everything that happened after setting up camp is hazy, they said. They simply felt a burning need to return to headquarters.

The Imperial official you speak to asks what you found there, but you delay by telling him that it's not safe to say over insecure channels being broadcast through Hutt space. When you next return to Dromund Kaas, then you'll discuss with him what happened. He doesn't like that, but ultimately is in no position to push further. With the call ended, you start considering just how much you want to tell the IRS, and how much you want to tell Veredious.

>>2287824
If that Jedi is associated with the one Veredious killed on the Kwee-Kunee, informing the Imperials about what happened could end up tipping off Cipher Nine, who would be very curious to know why that Jedi is out for your and your Master's heads. Whatever your course of action, you need to know who this woman is, and why she fled in fear before killing Sadon. You sensed anxiety and anger from her in that cave, but not the sort of abject terror that would overcome certain victory.

"Would you be able to recognize the Jedi's face?" you say to Sadon.

"Yes!" he replies. "I saw her clear." He goes on to describe her to you. Young and human - as was your impression - fair-skinned, with medium brown hair and a plain face. None of those details ring any bells, but you didn't really expect them to.

What do you tell the Reclamation Service about the events that played out? Notifying them that you were nearly killed by a Force-sensitive claiming to be a Jedi will send up alarm bells at Imperial Intelligence.

What do you tell Veredious?

Identifying the Jedi will be difficult, but not impossible. Imperial Intelligence has dossiers on many of the Order's members, but getting access to such sensitive information is downright impossible without a compelling reason.

>>2287825
We were attacked by bandigos who had a strange ability to create a large explosion with a coordinated attack.

Just send Veredious her physical description, he'll know what to do.

>>2287825
The fact that the team was sent away by mind control will have their suspicions very high about Jedi interference. Maybe we can brush it off since those cave monsters clearly had some limited control of the force and were able to work together to use a powerful technique.

We still don't know for sure that our messages won't be intercepted so we should say very little in our message to Veredious.

>>2287830
Along this line

Dangerous wildlife, unstable tunnels and mysterious gas around the camp that was likely cause for the Imperial teams strange behavior.

Tell Veredious that some friend of his was looking for him and give him the description.

I'd rather not risk it using Imperial Intelligence services

What do you guys think happened to make the Jedi stop before killing Sadon? I bet she started to get a bit carried away and maybe our anger infused lightsaber crystal had a small influence. Then she felt the darkness in herself and ran off. Or something.

>>2287867
Maybe she took a peek into Sadons mind and got scared?

>>2287842
Yeah this. Maybe we can find a less official means. Organized crime and bounty hunters have to have some kind of database like that.

Maybe we could have one of our guards trained heavily by Olub'cree on how to operate in the criminal world so they can pose as a bounty hunter looking for information. Just to mask our involvement.

You still here OP?

>>2287825
You decide not to tell the Reclamation Service about the Jedi, as that information would inevitably find its way to Imperial Intelligence - and the Chiss agent gunning for you and your Master. Instead, you take the very real story of your encounter with the cave creatures and fancy it up a bit. Maybe they are Force-sensitive, you suggest. And maybe their subtle influence they had on the Imperial team is the same way they've kept the native Weequay away from their nesting ground. You, being too strong in the Force to be mentally swayed, stumbled into their breeding ground, and nearly got killed for it.

Once you reach Voss-Ka, you go straight to the communications center within the Imperial enclave to send that information to the IRS. You play off your earlier paranoia as having been born of your near-death experience, and the fact that you considered the existence of Force-sensitive animals rare enough to warrant waiting for access to heavily encrypted channels. In truth, the monsters in that cave weren't Force-sensitive. The electricity they produced was of crude bio-electrical means, though that question of how that came about evolutionarily is undoubtedly interesting in its own right.

After that message, you compose another one to Lord Veredious. You sit at the terminal with your datapad in hand for some time as you consider how best to phrase a warning that could be intercepted by Cipher Nine. It needs to be specific enough that Veredious will have some idea of what the hell you're talking about, but general enough that the Chiss has nothing to work with. In the end, you settle for a whimsical message about a beautiful woman you saw on Sriluur, which you hadn't expected on a planet full of leathery Weequay. You go on to describe her thoroughly. She caught your eye *almost* as well as that nimble dancer on the Kwee-Kunee. Hopefully he remembers Baghora getting the Darksaber straight through his eyeball.

>>2288173
It's a little too-smart-by-half for your taste, but it's the best you can do. Your Master needs to know that there's a Jedi after you, for both of your sakes. He's still yet to get back to you about the matter of Cipher Nine, assuming he's even received your message yet.

With those two matters dealt with somewhat unsatisfactorily, you go to the Imperial clinic to get your ears and arm looked at by one of the military doctors stationed there. Your Sith status gets you into an examination room with no three week waiting period, as well as an uncharacteristically thorough examination. Your hearing should return in full within a few days, the doctor says, though he recommends you avoid any noisy environments during that time. Your arm will have to stay in the sling for two weeks, but you're just happy to avoid having it put in a cast.

You arrived on Voss in the late morning, but by the time you near the hill atop which your manor sits, the sun has already set below it. The two human servants who first picked your entourage up from the starport have seemed... *off* to you the entire day. There's nothing outwardly unusual about their behavior, which is as it should be - subdued and quiet. But there's something about their glassy stares that has a hot itch crawling up your spine, and that feeling only grows more pronounced as the cruisers stop in the driveway out front of the manor entrance.

The doors to your home open, but it is neither Olub'cree nor any of the other household servants who greet you. It's Amaza, throwing her arms out wide in an exaggerated flourish that is bizarrely out of character for a young woman who so often reminds you more of a shadow than a person.

"Hello!" she calls out, walking towards you as you exit the hovering cruiser. "Who come to visit?"

What do you do?

>>2288177
Just continue into our estate and ask what has happened in our absence. Let's see where she's going with this. We don't actually know her at all.

>>2288177
Greet her and continue in. Sense her emotional state and the state of the other servants. I can't tell if something sinister is going on or if Amaza was just a huge pain in the ass for the rest of the servants to deal with while we were gone. Maybe Olub'Cree is training her to take over the position of the scarred twilek that we didn't keep.

>>2288177
Okay..how about we /don't/ walk straight into an another trap.
Say does this remind of the imperial team that does not remember anything

>>2288213
A trap? I don't see how this could be a trap. This is a secure estate. But something weird is going on for sure. God damn we can't get a break can we?

Are Hacna, Jevan, or Sadon still with us? Or did they return to our manor while we were getting medical treatment?

>>2288216
We would be crazy not to become a bit over paranoid with all the things that has happened to us.

>discreetly ask from Sadon if this is normal of Amaza
After that I'd suggest an quick, chat while checking Amaza with what mindreading abilities we have

>>2288177
>does this remind of the imperial team that does not remember anything
Yes.
Just go in full corner clearing mode. Maybe disable Amaza and the two human servants first so they don't shoot us in the back.

>>2288235
Idk man I feel like we're jumping to conclusions here. Let's make sure something is actually going on first.

What if Sebuk is here waiting for us? She's got mind control expertise. I could picture her doing something like this to fuck with us.

>>2288269
That makes perfect sense actually. She would have used mind control to install herself as the head of the household. Which is why everyone is acting weird and Amaza considers us a visitor.

>>2288177
>discreetly ask from Sadon if this is normal of Amaza

>>2288177
You turn to whisper to Sadon as Hacna and Jevan depart the cruiser behind yours.

"What's wrong with her?" you ask him. From the look on his face, he's as baffled as you are. Turning back to the girl, you reach into her mind to see if there's anything on the surface that would hint at the reason behind her strange behavior. The ability to peer into another's thoughts with the Force is difficult - far harder than simply sensing their raw emotional state - but you give it a try anyway.

The moment you dip below the surface, her eyes roll back into her head and she collapses onto the ground in a crumpled heap. Sadon rushes over to her, putting his ear over her mouth and feeling her neck for a pulse.

"Breathing," he says to you. You're not quite sure what happened - you hardly did a thing. Motioning for Hacna to back away and for Jevan and Sadon to walk just ahead, you carefully and quietly make your way inside. The two Tionese don't have the benefit of their blasters, which they had to leave on the Fury, but they draw their vibroblades and keep them ready as you inch your hand towards your lightsaber.

Chatter echoes through the entryway, which is devoid of servants. You follow it through another two rooms before coming within view of the manor courtyard, where a strange and unwelcome sight awaits you. A good deal of furniture has been dragged into the open-air space, creating a sort of lounge area. At the center of it, lounged back in a throne-like chair of dark wood, sits a red-skinned, black-robed figure. Her face is blocked by Olub'cree, who stands just beside her, but you don't need to see her face to make an educated guess as you slink through the windowed hallway wrapping around the courtyard.

You tell Jevan and Sadon to relax - not too much, though - and then you stand up straight to make your way into the open space. Darth Sebuk comes into view, as does the very unhappy-looking Kalyan on all fours in front of her. Sebuk has her bare feet propped up on Kalyan's back, and lurches forward with a grunt to grab a handful of small fruits from a bowl on the table beside her chair.

When she spots you walking towards her, the food falls from her hand and her eyes narrow.

"Finally," she hisses to herself, her low voice fraught with impatience. "Finally!"

You return her frown with one of your own, taking in the sad state of your two servants. Olub'cree looks just as dazed and dreamy as Amaza and the servants who picked you up from the starport, but Kalyan looks very aware of her situation, and very unhappy about it.

"Are you ready?" Sebuk snaps, swinging her bare feet onto the ground. "I've been waiting here for two days!"

Well?

>>2288315
Demand that she relinquish her control over our staff. Ask her how long she has before she has to return to the academy, since we have to recover from our recent injuries.

>>2288315
Haha damnit Sebuk. Yes I suppose we are. Help Kalyan up and free Olub'cree. I could care less about the unnamed servants.

>>2288315
You could have just simply sent me a message to avoid this. I see you've made yourself at home in my absence.

>>2288315
We should give her some D later on
Yknow after we become famous

>>2288323
This is the smartest answer.

>>2288490
Poor Varrus hasn't gotten any action in a long time. Must be even tougher for him as a zeltronian.

>>2288508
>Poor Varrus hasn't gotten any action in a long time.

What's it been... a year+? Can you even imagine?

>>2288624
And the last time wasn't even consensual lmao

>>2288624
What is he, a Jedi? He's been neglecting the passion part of the sith code for a while now. Sebuk wasn't above seduction when we first met her. The only issue is whether we trust her mind controlling tendencies enough to bang her.

>>2288655
It is decided then, we bang the possessive Sith today! As long as we don’t get mind controlled

>Kalyan is extremely intelligent and resistant enough to force related mind control that even an ancient Darth can't control her
We're really lucky to have her. We just need to figure out how she was created.

>>2288323
Supporting

I feel like each member of our Tionese guard are unique enough to warrant separate character summaries in the Google docs.

File: spear saber.jpg (247 KB, 608x720)

247 KB JPG

Spear saber concept.

File: SoraBulq-darklight dagger.jpg (17 KB, 250x154)

17 KB JPG

Light dagger concept.

>>2288315
You can make a pretty good guess at what happened here. Sebuk showed up unannounced, saw that you were gone, and decided to make herself at home - starting with brain-washing your feeble-minded servants. What you don't know is why Kalyan, who seems unaffected, is still on all fours.

You go over to help Kalyan up, and Sebuk scoffs incredulously at the gesture.

"She attacked me, you know! As soon as I arrived!"

"Good," you snap back at her before taking a look around the vacant hallway wrapping around the courtyard. Veredious took half of the servant staff with him when he left months ago, but there should still be more activity than this. "Where are the rest of the servants?"

Sebuk makes a noise of disgust, like she's got something stuck in her throat. "I had all of your Twi'leks locked away in one of the far rooms. Disgusting creatures." That would be most of your staff, then. The humans who picked you up comprise two of the five non-Twi'leks.

"But you've got no issue with him?" You point at Olub'cree, who meets your gaze without a hint of recognition.

"Ah." Sebuk glances over at him, as if only then remembering his presence. "He's there in case this brute gets uppity." She waves a hand at Kalyan. "Shock collars are a good idea. You should put them on all your slaves."

With that, the rest of the pieces fall into place. Sebuk arrived, saw you weren't here, started working her sorcery on your staff, and Kalyan intervened. But with the bewitched Olub'cree able to shock Kalyan with a mere tap on his wrist, she was forced to go along with Sebuk's demands. It was either that, or try to subdue a decrepit old man whom a stiff breeze could snap in half. You’re glad she found the will to endure this humiliation.

"I am sorry I could not do anything, Lord Varrus." Kalyan's tone is steady, but the icy glare she gives you says that she is very much unhappy with the situation your actions have put her in for the last two days. "I would have done something, but this..." She points at her collar.

You sigh and hold up a hand. "It's fine."

Sebuk launches into another series of sputtering half-words. "She hit me!" she says again, leaning forward in her chair and turning her left cheek towards you as she points a finger to it. "Right here, see?"

You walk towards her, bending over and squinting at the uniformly red flesh. "I don't see a thing."

"It looked horrid this morning," she insists. "And it still hurts."

It seems you've both had it rough. Stepping away from her, you refuse to comment on the matter while very bluntly changing the subject.

"Free Olub'cree. Then we'll talk about leaving Voss."

>>2288960
Turning to the old Twi'lek, Sebuk opens her mouth to speak before grimacing and closing it. "He'll be a bit sluggish for a few days once I do that." After some pushing, Sebuk amends her statement - he'll probably be bed-ridden for a week. Amaza should recover from the strain in hours, she insists, being so much younger and healthier. You tell the Sith to have Olub'cree free the servants from their makeshift prison, go to his room, lie down, and only *then* break out of whatever spell he's under. With a snap of Sebuk's fingers he's off, and you move onto more important topics.

"How long do you have before you need to be back on Korriban?" you ask her.

"A week," Sebuk replies, then slaps the armrest of her chair. "Which is why we need to leave *now*. You've already wasted two days..." She glances at your broken arm and waves a dismissive hand at it. "...Galavanting around."

You throw your head up to the pastel-painted sky and heave a tired sigh, then drop yourself into one of the free chairs Sebuk had dragged out here.

"I just got home." You heft up your bad arm. "Do I look like I'm ready to go tomb diving with you?"

She shoots you an annoyed look and rises from her chair. "You asked me to make time for this, and I did. Are you telling me you can't go for a quiet little walk because your arm hurts?"

"How quiet?" you ask. She hasn't yet told you *where* you two will be going.

Sebuk eyes you silently for a few moments, searching for any hint of duplicity. "Yavin 4," she says finally. "Well within the safety of Imperial space."

You frown up at her. "Yes, and thoroughly explored."

"Just as Korriban was?" she retorts sharply. You of all people can't help but see her point.

"What's there?" you ask her.

She waves her finger in front of your face and gives a sharp 'tut'. "I'm telling you no more until we're on your ship en route to the Yavin system. I don't want you leaving me here among these awful aliens you've filled your home with."

Nor do you have any intention of leaving your staff in her questionable care. Twisting around in your chair, you glance back at your bodyguards to see Sadon eyeing the Sith with suspicious anger. Jevan, on the other hand, seems strangely fascinated - though his stance tells you he's still plenty cautious of her. Hacna is nowhere to be seen, likely having sequestered herself in the outdoor garage.

Do you leave with Sebuk tonight, like she's demanding? If so, which two servants do you take with you?

That's all for tonight.

>>2288968
Yes. Let's take Amaza and Kalyan. Hacna should work more on studying and making suitable weapons out of the small kyber crystals from Tion. Sadon will begin further training against our training droids.

>>2288985
Yup. We should get the truth from Kalyan about her origin during this mission. And get to know Amaza.
>>2288985
Jevan should train with him as well.

>>2288985
This does appear to be the best option, since we need to get the truth out of Kalyan, and we don't know much about Amaza.

I'm downloading KOTOR 1 and 2 to play at work tomorrow. Hopefully I'm given some insight for this quest. Plus the games are fucking great if I remember correctly. I feel like the quest is at least somewhat inspired by those games. I refuse to play the TOR MMO.

What are the chances of the IRS rediscovering Yavin?

Because outside of the Deep Core, it's the only place that has an extant Sith Spirit worth a damn.

>>2289508
Hopefully they don't know anything about it.
My current concern is that we're doing all of these secretive things and lying to the Empire. After this deal with Sebuknwe should focus on building some trustbwith the Empire.

>>2289514
Fuck the Empire, FE Malgus and Revan had the right idea, ask any prominent spirit and they'll tell you that Vitiate is a cuck. But those spirits won't talk to you because you're the wrong kind of Sith.

>>2289518
Hopefully Sebuk is the right kind of ancient Sith to learn from.

>>2288968
Let's take the twins, perhaps they have some sort of defense against being mind controlled. We are sith afterall, and it would be a good counter to her abilitys, and it might come into handy in an dark side infused place

>>2289538
She doesn't seem like it, she seems like a cross between Kallig and Xoxaan.

>>2288968
Yes, Amaza and Kalyan

>>2288968
"Alright." You push yourself up from your chair and turn to Sadon. "Put Amaza on a bed somewhere. We’re leaving as soon as she wakes up." An annoyed sound comes from Sebuk, and you look back to see that her annoyance hasn't lessened. "Like you said, she should be *fine* within a few hours."

That shuts the Sith up, though she does give one last annoyed huff before throwing her hands up and walking into the home. You tell Jevan to make sure that Olub'cree didn't die on you, and then inform Kalyan that she's going to be accompanying you to Yavin IV.

"What about me?" Sadon says from behind you, arriving back into the courtyard with shocking speed.

"You're in no state to fight."

He raises his bandaged hands and wiggles his fingers experimentally, but you shake your head. That's not what you're referring to, and he quickly comes to realize what you mean.

"Get the training droids out of storage," you suggest. "Show Jevan how to use them."

Sadon's face contorts into all sorts of pained expressions, and he takes a step closer to you while throwing a weary glance off in the direction Sebuk went.

"I do not trust her," he whispers. You're not sure why he bothers - his dislike of the woman was made plain by the way he glared at her.

"Neither do I." You nod at Kalyan beside you. "But I can trust her and Amaza, can't I?"

Sadon can only nod and mumble in agreement. That was the guarantee he had made to you when you first picked them up from that fire-melted stone temple on Tion. With further assurances to him that you'll be fine, you go to see where Hacna has gotten off to. You won't be taking her along, but you have no intention of letting her rest on her laurels.

The Weequay is nowhere to be seen in her workshop, until your eyes fall on a web of thickly-woven netting hanging in a corner of the garage, and the body curled up within. You always assumed she slept in the back seats of one of the cruisers.

"Hey!" You shake the net, stirring her awake. One has to envy her ability to doze off minutes after being shooed away from the collapsing Amaza. For all she knew, you and your guards had walked straight into a home invasion - which you had, though it was of a stranger type than most. Either she is that confident in your ability to protect yourself, or her apathy has reached levels you hadn't thought possible.

"What?" Hacna sighs, reaching through the hammock to activate U4 on the floor beneath her. You make room for her to untangle herself from the netting and stand up.

"I'm leaving for Yavin 4." You look around the garage for any sign of those misshapen crystals you gave her when you got back from your second trip to Tion. "Did you ever find a use for those Kyber crystals I gave you?"

>>2290197
She shrugs sleepily. "Shit. Shit crystals."

Disappointing, but not a totally unexpected result. "You can't do *anything* with them?"

Twisting her neck around to work out the kinks from sleeping in a bundle of cargo netting, Hacna mills about the room before settling down in a chair.

"Maybe if I am feeling more creative. Any problem can be solved with creativity."

You eye her with confusion, certain that she's awkwardly hinting at something she wants - but with no idea what. Then, her wandering gaze swivels back to you, and takes on an intensity you hadn't thought she could muster.

"You send Jevan here,” she says firmly.

The thought of that simple man being of any help to her has a smile breaking your bewildered expression.

"He's going to help you be more 'creative'? How?"

For a moment, she just continues to stare at you. Then her hairless eyebrows draw down into bedroom-eyes, and she raises her finger before running a sandpapery tongue up the length of it. You recoil in horror, making all manner of involuntary noises of disgust.

"You tell him to help me," she says. "I will do the rest."

What's your answer?

>Reluctantly agree. Tell her to never, ever, let you know what happened.

>No. The Emperor won't allow it.

>Agree, and encourage it. Jevan will come here often, and he'll be under strict orders from you to only speak to Hacna in Basic with her translator droid deactivated. If she wants company, it's going to be a productive experience.

>Player's Choice

>>2290201
>Agree, and encourage it. Jevan will come here often, and he'll be under strict orders from you to only speak to Hacna in Basic with her translator droid deactivated. If she wants company, it's going to be a productive experience.

>>2290201
No. What you do with him is your business but you will do what I say simply because I told you to. I've been soft on you lately and this is how you repay me? You've forgotten your place. Do I need to remind you?

>>2290201
>>Agree, and encourage it. Jevan will come here often, and he'll be under strict orders from you to only speak to Hacna in Basic with her translator droid deactivated. If she wants company, it's going to be a productive experience.

>>2290201
>Reluctantly agree. Tell her to never, ever, let you know what happened.
Give the choice to Jevan, if he wants to do it, to get his team better weaponry then sure

I'd rather not force Jedan doing something againts his will, when it is not strictly related to bodyguard duties.

We need to have his trust, by the time he has grown up

>>2290201
This >2290228
If she wants him she can dress up like his sister and seduce him herself.

We should get Sebuk to help us indulge in one of our passions... painting portraits, lewd things can come after? Like... hand holding

>>2290668
We were raised in a sith academy, I doubt we indulged in such frippery.

>>2290201
>Agree, and encourage it. Jevan will come here often, and he'll be under strict orders from you to only speak to Hacna in Basic with her translator droid deactivated. If she wants company, it's going to be a productive experience.

>>2290201
....We haven’t gotten laid in years and now our weequay is, poor Leera

>>2290201
"Alright," you say to Hacna. She reacts with surprise at how easily you gave in to her demand, but is smart enough not to pry into your thought process. "I'm going to see some results with those crystals when I get back, right?"

Hacna hesitates again, likely tempted to add in some qualifier or condition - but she's smart enough not to push her luck that far. "Yes, Lord Varrus."

You're not doing this out of the kindness of your heart. The only reason this perverse coupling will be allowed to take place - if it even does - is so Hacna finally learns to speak something other than a series of croaks and grunts picked up by an interpret droid. You leave her and go to Jevan, telling him that Hacna will need some simple help in the workshop while you're gone. But he is *only* to speak to her in Basic, and only when U4 is inactive. The best way to learn a language is immersion, after all. Hopefully this will at least get her started.

Amaza recovers as night falls, confused and groggy but otherwise fine. Sebuk only mildly protests at her coming along to Yavin, but nearly explodes when you indicate that Kalyan will be escorting you as well.

"Why would you need bodyguards?" Sebuk demands. "*I'll* be there!"

You don't mention that's half the reason you want them along. Kalyan because she is apparently resistant to the Sith's mind-control, and Amaza simply because you'd like to get to know her better. If this supposedly-simple trip doesn't go as planned, you'll at least have a chance to see what the girl can do. Dealing with any obstacles that come up will be harder with one arm in a sling. As will fighting off Sebuk if she decides it's time to have another go at looking into your mind.

>>2291326
By the time everyone is assembled and you've reached the starport in Voss-Ka, you're more than ready to sleep. Unfortunately, with Hacna not here, programming in the hyperspace route and getting the ship into orbit falls to you.

"I'm surprised you can stand to be around so many women for so long," says Sebuk. You stop on the ramp of the Fury to look back at her, unsure of what she means. If this is humor, it's lost on you. "Good on you for overcoming past traumas."

Her smile widens, and realization dawns on you as you turn and storm the rest of the way up the ramp. You're not sure whether she glimpsed your night with Tuija in-spirit, or when she made brief contact with your mind on your visit to Korriban. Either way, you make a mental note not to give her any more ammunition to needle you with.

It takes a half-hour for you to get the Fury into orbit and past Voss' mass shadow, by which time Sebuk has already firmly established herself in the ship's only bedroom. She hasn't littered the walls and tables with tools like Hacna did to the cargo bay, but her very presence has a way of making the room seem like her own.

Sebuk sits there on the bed, legs crossed, staring at you gravely as you stand in the doorway. She knows as well as you do what silent battle is taking place here, and what the stakes are.

Do you go to war for the bedroom?

>>2291330
We either argue for it right then and there, or jokingly offer to share, if she's professional enough.

>>2291330
> I never did get round to cleaning those sheets...

>>2291330
Absolutely. This is our ship.
bang her.

>>2291344
This! It’s our chance, emotional build up y’knowhatimsayin

>>2291330
Yes. She can mind control our entire estate but this is where we draw the line.

>>2291330
"You're not sleeping in here," you say to Sebuk. "Not unless you want to share the bed." The barest hint of a seductive smile slips through your serious stare, but disappears when you see the utter revulsion Sebuk displays.

"Ah..." She trails off awkwardly and grimaces, her eyes flickering to your broken arm. "Few things are more repulsive to me than weakness."

You frown and take a step towards her, feeling more than a little humiliated. The offer had only been partially a joke. She is old, sure - and her mind is even older - but she's more than attractive enough for you to have considered it. Perhaps you have thing for dangerous woman.

"Out." You point to the doorway. "This is *my* ship."

"Ownership means nothing if you're not strong enough to keep what's yours." Her grip on the bed frame hardens visibly.

Your manhood is on the line here.

>>2291581
Pomf her! This is our land.

>>2291581
Flip the bed onto its side using the force.

>>2291581
We could always break the bedframe if this doesn't work. If we can't have it, no one can have the nice bedroom.

>>2291581
Throw her off. Not cool.
>>2291587
>pomf
what did he mean by this

>>2291602
..There are ways to break the bed anon, besides if we aren’t as strong physically at the moment we could use the force?

>>2291581
Wrap her in the blanket and shove her in the closet.

>>2291581
Steal all the blankets and pillows

>>2291654
>>2291590
I change my vote, do both of these and take the mattress too

>>2291581
You start towards her, and a hand shoots out to stop you. Waves of force ripple over you, dispersed easily by your well-honed connection to the Force. But Sebuk's invisible push is enough to make your arm start throbbing like the break is fresh. You'd really like to avoid having to turn back and make another visit to the Imperial enclave's medical center so soon.

"Don't you try it." Sebuk rises from the bed, hand still stretched towards you. When she speaks, her voice is low and deadly serious. "I took a public shuttle from Korriban, with *four* stops on the way. Did you know they do bunk beds on those ships?"

You shake your head 'no', eyes darting to the two pillows behind her. "That must have been hard," you say.

Her icy stare turns pained, and her teeth clench in a tight grimace. "Aliens and commoners and servants..." She hisses and shakes her head. "I am a *High Lord* of the Sith Empire! I will not be--"

As you half-listen to her ranting, you reach out with your good hand and pull one of the pillows from the bed. She sees what you're doing only when it reaches your hand.

"Hey!" she shouts, rushing towards you. You stuff the pillow under your armpit and make a move for the second one, but she reacts quickly, rushing back into the room to seize it as you step into the hallway. Sebuk shoves the pillow in between the wall and bed and spins about for the one you stole, but you're already striding away down the central corridor.

"Childish!" she shouts after you. "Utterly and completely childish!"

>>2291744
Maybe, but it wasn't something you did to be funny. You had taken that encounter very seriously, and one look at the soft pillow in your hand makes you feel as if you've managed to scrape out a partial win. You will let her have the bedroom, but she will be slightly less comfortable now.

If you *really* wanted her out of there, you would have sent Kalyan in for her. Their second encounter wouldn't go quite so well for Sebuk without the benefit of control over the blonde woman's shock collar.

You continue through the command center to the cargo bay, and wince reflexively the moment the door opens. You're not sure if Hacna has been cooking in here on your trips, or if the stale-spicy smell that fills the room has something to do with the pheromones Weequay communicate with. You sit down on the cot shoved in the middle of a little cavern of crates, waiting patiently to see if you adjust to the odor. You don't.

"Goddamnit," you mutter, looking back to the exit and considering where to drag the cot.

"I leave, my Lord Varrus?" comes a soft voice from beside you.

You leap to your feet, whirling about to see Amaza seated just beside the cot, in the shadow of one of the crates ringing it. You swear she wasn't there when you sat down, but there's no way she moved that close after the fact. Wearily, you reach out with the Force to sense her presence - it's there, loud and clear. She's just shockingly adept at concealing her *physical* presence, and you were too distracted to otherwise take notice of her.

She leave?

That's all for tonight.

>>2291749
No, she can stay. This is a good opportunity to learn more about her as well. Ask her about her life on Tion, her skills, and how she's so damn sneaky.

>>2291749
Nope. Let's get to know her a bit. We've neglected doing so for a while now.

>>2291754
>>2291768
Time to figure out what kind of person is our stealth operative.

>>2291749
Nope, she can stay.

Can non-force sensitives be trained to conceal their force presence? Amaza would be a great weapon against jedi if she could.

>>2293853
Sure, just dress her up in a tinfoil pantsuit.

Reading the archives... dank shit

>>2294690
The dankest

>>2291749
"No," you say to Amaza. You had already decided not to sleep in the cargo bay, and you had been planning on asking her a few questions. With your heart still pounding from the shock she gave you, you doubt you could fall asleep anytime soon, anyway. You tell her to sit on the cot you were just using, and step back to give her a look over. It's something you haven't really done since you first encountered her on Tion, when she had been covered in dust and grime. When she's not remaining just out of sight, your gaze seems to pass right over her, like a random face in a crowd.

She is remarkable in her unremarkability. Diminutive enough to cut an inconspicuous figure, but not freakishly small. Brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin that has become slightly tanner with her time away from Tion, where she remained constantly covered to protect from the irradiated winds. Her hair is pulled back into a clumsy ponytail, and the only thing making her plain looks stand out is the blue face paint mimicking the design of the medallion you gave to Sadon. Olub'cree had forced the four Tionese to wash their faces, but they had reapplied it after your encouragement to Sadon to do so.

Amaza remains perfectly still, except for the thin fingers folding and unfolding atop her thighs. If she's uneasy around you, she doesn't show it - nor can you feel it. It's good to know there's no hard feelings being held onto after you threw her around like a rag doll in that cave.

"Do you do that on purpose?" you say, quickly amending your statement when you see her confusion. "Sneaking."

"It good not being seen," she replies. Her voice is just as airy and formless as her person, and the lingering hearing loss you're still struggling with only heightens the feeling that you're talking to a ghost.

"Did you do that a lot on Tion?"

She nods. "Always."

>>2294975
"Then how did you end up with Sadon?" you wonder aloud. It was hard for you to imagine the twins joining up with him, but it's just as hard to think of why he would let her come along. Maybe she could climb into small places for him. Air ducts and crevices and collapsed corridors that the larger Sadon couldn’t maneuver through.

"I stole food from him," she says. "For nine days. He make camp, I watch until he fall asleep. Then I steal."

"And he never caught on?"

Amaza winces at some mildly irritating memory. "He figures it out, and he lays a trap."

"And you didn't realize it until afterwards," you suggest.

But she shakes her head. "I see it, but too hungry. Try to steal anyway."

And then she got caught. "He didn't kill you?"

"He is kind," she insists, leaning forward on the cot. It's the first real movement she's made. "He only kills when he needs."

That nearly earns a laugh from you. The memory of his band of raiders storming your crash-landed ship is fresh in your mind. As is the image of him stabbing one of his tribesmen who attempted to flee your slaughter of his fellows. He only kills when he *wants* to, and it's a desire that he has never had any reason to suppress. That anti-social attitude got you both into trouble a few days ago.

Is there anything else you want to ask her?

>>2294977
Ask if she ever over heard or saw anything strange about Jevan and Kalyan while she was sneaking. Make sure Kalyan isn't nearby enough to overhear us.

>>2294977
Ask her if she has much fighting experience. And this >>2294989

Where is everybody today?

>>2294977
Ask if she ever snuck into any strange places looking for food or shelter. Places where the technology of her ancestors was still functional.

>>2295074
It would probably just be super average tech from a few hundred years ago.

>>2294977
You spare a glance back at the door to make sure it's closed, and that your words won't reach any unwanted ears.

"What about Jevan and Kalyan?" you ask her. "Are they kind?"

Amaza cracks a thin smile, but suppresses it quickly. You're asking her to gossip about two of the three people in this galaxy she associates with, and she's uneasy about it.

"They are good fighters," she says diplomatically. You don't doubt that. Nor do you believe either one of the twins is quite as mercenary as Sadon. If either sibling were completely self-serving, they would have killed the other to earn your favor when you had demanded it. Kalyan not only had refused, but had risked death to pre-empt your retaliation. Familial bonds are strong, but even those can break under the strain of a wasteland like Tion. This bond, it seems, had not.

"There's something about those two I'm interested in," you say to her. She leans away, her unease clearly growing. "Do you remember when the doctor looked at you four?" She nods in response. "You and Sadon were very sick--" Her eyes go wide, and you wave a calming hand. "--You're fine now. We fixed you. But Jevan and Kalyan weren't sick at all. Isn't that surprising?"

Her eye twitches and she shrugs, glancing off to the side. "I do not know."

"I think they may have come across something before they met you. Something that stopped them from ever getting sick." Amaza looks back to you, her interest heightened.

"I asked them about it, but neither one remembers anything. But they may have simply not realized what it is they found." You can feel her anxiety lessen now that you've indicated this isn't gossip, but rather an open dialogue that you've included her in. "Do you know what it is I do for work?"

Her lips purse and she makes a rumbling sound of thought. "You dig for old things," she says finally.

"That's right. And if the twins came across something interesting on Tion, I'd like to know about it. Did they ever talk to you about any... amazing things they saw?"

She shrugs again. "I do not know them long." Another unsurprising dead-end. Jevan's memories with Kalyan go back far longer than Amaza's, and are just as much an open book. The only way this girl would have useful information is if Kalyan had inadvertently let something slip. And that never seemed very likely. Still, it was worth a try.

"Did you do much fighting on Tion?" you ask, steering the subject away from matters of clones and secrets.

>>2295228
"I fight," she says quickly, scooting forward on the creaking cot. "I kill 3 people, knife in back." She holds her fist up and bangs it forward a few times, mimicking a stabbing motion. But there's something else beneath the enthusiastic declaration of her skills. More unease. Maybe you'll explore that later, when you can probe her mind without the pall of exhaustion hanging over your mind. You pick up the pillow you stole from Sebuk, telling Amaza she can sleep in here. The girl starts to say something as you leave, but quickly stops and slinks back into the shadows she seemed to form from.

Making your way across the Fury to the training room you've been using as a third makeshift bedroom, you find Kalyan in the process of gathering thin roll-out mattresses and bedding from the wall closet. She stands sharply at attention the moment you step over the threshold. Everything about her behavior is proper and orderly - it's like she was *born* to be a military Officer. But you can never quite shake the feeling that each speedy answer carries with it the smallest bit of sarcasm, and each faithfully-executed order is done with just enough sluggishness for you to notice - but not enough for you to punish without appearing petty.

Or perhaps that's all your paranoia playing tricks on you. This woman had nearly killed you. But it's not so much the close call with death that bothers you - you've becoming shockingly numb to those. It's the matter of *who* nearly delivered your end. Your academy rival, Loman, had been your near-equal. Harkun, the academy Overseer, had to use all the tricks of his high station to try to end your life. That old Jedi on the Kwee-Kunee was a trained Master, who Lord Veredious himself had struggled to overcome. But this woman standing before you grew up on a hellscape of a world with no training or education, and still had come closer than all the others.

Finding out that she was presumably *designed* to be capable of such feats should be comforting, but it isn't. It only serves to drive home just how fundamentally outclassed you are on a genetic level. If this woman had your degree of Force-sensitivity and years of training at the Sith academy, she would eclipse you totally.

Kalyan's eyes flicker down to the crumpled bedding on the floor. "May I take this to the cargo bay, Lord Varrus?" All trace of the awkward, bumbling Basic spoken by her three companions is completely gone. Had you not seen her origins first-hand, you might have thought she grew up on Dromund Kaas itself.

Do you let her go to the cargo bay, and then go to sleep yourself? Or keep her here, and talk to her? If the latter, what do you talk to her about?

>>2295231
Keep her here and just directly tell her what we know from the medical report and from speaking to Jevan. Demand an explanation. Its not like subtlety would work on her anyway. She has nothing to fear from telling us.

>>2295259
This. Let's get to the bottom of this. She shouldn't have learned the language so quickly.

>>2295231
>let her go to the cargo bay, and then go to sleep yourself

She won't just go ahead and reveal her cards that easily, she will just play dumb and we can't really pressure here that much.
We should not reveal our cards either, we can wait, there is no need to hurry

>>2295405
I dont see any reason to keep what we know a secret.

>>2295414
When we get more pressing evidence and throw them all at her face at same time, we can make her crack easier

>>2295439
It's been confirmed that she's the only source we have left

>>2295231
"Not yet." You motion for Kalyan to sit on the floor, and you do so as well. There are no chairs in the small training room, leaving the two of you to kneel across from each other like opposing meditators. It feels a bit awkward. "The doctor who examined you and Jevan told me something interesting."

Kalyan nods along, giving little indication that she knows what's coming. She's had a long time to prepare any lies or feigned ignorance she might try to feed you.

"He said you two are clones. Genetically identical."

She stops nodding, staring at you for a moment as if expecting you to continue. "We are twins, Lord Varrus. We *are* identical."

You let out a sharp breath of frustration and feel your eyes roll ever so slightly. "You two weren't born naturally. You were made in a petri dish and then grown to maturity in a surrogate womb. Possibly not even a real woman's womb."

Her eyes go wide with surprise, but not the sort that tells you she knows she's been caught in a lie. "I don't understand."

Now you know what game she's decided to play here - the one where she's just an uneducated savage who doesn't know anything. It would be a very convincing ploy, if her excuse for avoiding the medical examination hadn't been so blatantly fabricated. No one who grew up on Tion is afraid of some needles and a few minutes of standing nude in a full-body scanner. You're beginning to wonder if she even *did* grow up on Tion.

"You said you didn't want to see the doctor because you were afraid," you snap at her. "I say it's because you knew what he would find."

Her mouth moves silently, the dumbfounded mutterings of someone who has been accused of something she doesn't understand.

>>2295668
"I don't know what to say, my Lord." She finds her voice, though it's still quite uneasy and more than a little apologetic. "I don't know anything about clones or being made instead of born." Her gaze drifts downward, as if taking in the magnitude of the news you've just delivered to her.

"Being a clone isn't *illegal*," you explain, softening your harsh tone. "Neither me nor the Empire is going to hurt you or your brother. I'd just like to know where you two came from."

She glances up and nods in understanding, but says nothing. You find your own conviction wavering. The only reason you don't buy her explanation outright is because of how doggedly she avoided the exam, but what if that really *was* just irrational fear of modern medicine? You rationalized to yourself that her experience with the autodoc would endear her to doctors and medical droids, but it isn't unbelievable that having her melted shoulder patched with fake skin would be unsettling enough to turn her off of the whole idea.

"I asked your brother about this," you say. "He says he can't remember anything before about 7 years ago."

"Do you believe *him*?" she asks.

"I do. And I want to know why he has such a massive gap in his memory."

"Jevan was hit in the head," she responds confidently. "We were fighting another group, and he took a bad blow to the back of his skull."

You've reached an impasse. If Kalyan does know something, she also has a reason to hide it. Guessing at that reason and exploiting it could make her open up, but revealing how little you know would prevent future bluffs of that sort.

>>2295674
We could occasionally dress up as a giant needle and jump out from behind corners at her. That would surely shake something loose.

>>2295674
The sort of technology needed to genetically engineer two ideal radiation-proof humans isn't cheap. And you were placed somewhere nobody would ever find you. If you're worried that I would turn you over for a reward to the Arkanians or whoever created you you're sorely mistaken. Both you and your brother are under my protection and therefore if whoever made you tries to get you back then you're under the protection of the sith as well.

It's clear that you were only willing to leave Tion to escape whoever created you. Just tell me who that is and what you really are and I can continue to protect you better, if only because you will be very valuable to me. I can guarantee that your life with me will be the best one possible for you and your brother. You will reach your potential with me in ways that you never could with anyone else.

>>2295718
This

>>2295718
We would have found clear evidence of his past head injury in his medical exam. He didn't lose his memory at all, he was "born" as fully grown clone or genetic experiment. His perfect memory would involve his recovery from the injury as well. People don't just master a language in a few months like you and they don't have perfect recollection for no reason.

I can't remember if I ever explicitly stated it, but all four of them speak Basic, and only Basic. It's just that the other 3 speak a stunted version resulting from centuries of isolation.

>>2295926
Right but she's learned true Basic much more quickly than any of the others.

There's a chance that the twins had already escaped whoever created them while on Tion, which is why they were always moving and switching to different groups. Then they learned of a way to escape Tion for good and took that chance. She's concealing her origin from us because she's either worried that we would sell them out or maybe it was the Empire who created them.

Ok yeah I'm officially running with the theory that they're imperial experiments. That's the best reason for her to hide it from us so insistently.

>>2295936
Wait. Maybe she didn't quickly learn how to speak properly. She knew how to speak true basic before she was ever introduced to the tribal society and she just dumbed it down to blend in. She might have even escaped from the facility with Jevan just as he was awakened as a fully developed clone. She had already received basic education at that point. That would also explain the varying telomere lengths, she is older than Jevan. The fact that they were radiation proof suggests that they were created specifically to live on Tion but I'm not sure why.

>>2296284
Oh damn that also explains why Jevan seems sorta childlike sometimes, especially compared to Kalyan.

>>2295674
You hum thoughtfully and rock back on your folded legs, only then realizing how far you had leaned towards Kalyan as you sought answers from her. Since she likes to feign ignorance so much, maybe you'll give it a try.

"The scans found nothing wrong with Jevan's brain."

Kalyan doesn't look away, and answers quickly. She has prepared for this. "Retrograde amnesia does not necessarily present with physical abnormalities."

"Retrograde--" You blurt out, a scowl creasing your face. "Where did you even hear that term?"

Her mouth falls open slightly, and she waits a few moments before responding. "I asked the doctor about Jevan's memory loss. He explained it to me."

Any patience you had has long since left, but you do your best to soften your frown and relax your tight shoulders. She's afraid of you, in a very rational sense - you put deadly collars on her and her brother after telling her to kill him. Kind words won't lessen that animosity, so you decide to try another strategy. There's someone she fears more than you - the people who made her. There are only so many groups with the funds, technology, and desire to create clones, and even fewer with the expertise to produce specimens like the twins.

"Are you worried I'll hand you over to the Arkanians?"

You finish while Kalyan is mid-blink, and catch an almost imperceptible flicker of unease that keeps her eyelids shut just a moment too long. Her inner self is just as well-controlled as her greater outward displays of emotion, but even the greatest Pazaak players has tells. You would have missed it entirely if you weren't devoting every ounce of attention to scrutinizing her expression.

"I know that's who made you two," you continue, gesturing broadly. You're confident enough now to press that assumption as far as it will take you. If you're wrong, it's a bluff you'll never be able to use again. But if you're right, this might make her crack. She doesn't respond or make any move, and you're still not certain that you've hit the mark. In one last desperate move, you take your datapad from your side, do a quick search on the Holonet, and show it to Kalyan.

"Does this ring a bell?"

She looks at the image, and her eyes flutter open and closed as she wavers from side to side on her folded legs. You're worried she might collapse like some crumbling building.

"What is that?" she asks, her voice shaking.

File: Adascorplogo.jpg (22 KB, 328x200)

22 KB JPG

>>2296413
"*That* is the logo for the Adasca BioMechanical Corporation." You put the computer back in your lap, confident that you've finally found a piece of the puzzle. There are a few species who could have made the twins - the Lurrians, the Khomm, the Ithorians, the Columi - but only the Arkanians have a historical background of mass-producing clones for martial purposes. And these two seem tailor-made for warfare. With Arkanian involvement assumed, it's a certainty that Adasca was the mega corporation doing the bulk of the work.

Kalyan lurches onto the side of her hips, unfolding her legs and sitting cross-legged with her back hunched and eyes pointed at the floor.

"Are you done lying to me?" you ask pointedly. She nods solemnly, her front of defiance now totally broken. "Then tell me what happened. How did you end up on Tion?"

She's silent for what is maybe ten seconds, but seems like minutes. Then, she takes a deep breath in and begins to tell her story. She speaks in monotone, and doesn't meet your eyes the entire time. The tale begins where it ends, she says - on Tion. She woke up in a glass tank filled with liquid, her mouth covered by a breathing apparatus.

Panicking, she kicked her way out until the glass cracked and she fell into the main compartment of a shuttle. There were flames everywhere, but she spotted Jevan on the floor beside her, his own tube already cracked open and his body covered in cuts. She had no idea who he was - or who *she* was - but she felt an overwhelming urge to get him to safety.

Kalyan dragged Jevan out of the crashed ship and down a hill, leaving him well out of reach of the flames. Then she ran back to look for any other survivors, and found their dead pilot. The pilot's face was unremarkable to Kalyan - at least until a few hours later, when she glimpsed her own reflection in a sheet of metal.

Clutched protectively in the pilot's hands was a datapad, which Kalyan inexplicably knew how to operate. There was a video recording, where the terrified pilot detailed Adasca's purge of their covert cloning program. Kalyan understood very little of what the woman was talking about, but the fear in her eyes said to run. So she did run, leaving the dead woman behind to be consumed by the flames.

Back outside, Jevan was being prodded by some spear-armed scavengers who had seen the crash and come to pick over the remains. Kalyan shouted at them, and things degenerated into a fight, which ended shortly after Jevan awoke and joined the fray with clumsy hand-to-hand blows. He didn't know who she was, but getting him to follow her lead was effortless.

And the rest, Kalyan tells you, is unremarkable. She had gotten them away from the crash as quickly as possible, leaving the datapad behind in the shuttle. She claims she doesn't know where on Tion the shuttle crash-landed. You're not sure you believe that after how much she's lied to you already, but you can't imagine why she would bother at this point.

>>2296429
"You could have saved us both a lot of headache by just telling me this," you say.

Finally she looks up at you, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Do you have family, Lord Varrus?"

The question catches you off-guard, as does the look she's giving you, and you respond before thinking. "No."

"Then I don't think I can adequately explain my actions. But that is *my* failing, not yours."

It's as veiled an insult as you've ever heard, but it's hard to take it as anything but that. You're not used to getting a dressing-down from someone with a figurative noose tied around their neck. Theirs, *and* their brother's. But you're still too curious to respond to her verbal jab just yet.

"Is that why your speech improved so quickly?" you ask. "You already knew how to speak proper Galactic Basic. You just changed it to blend in on Tion."

Her eyes go a little wider, and you get the distinct impression that you've found one of the few areas she's miscalculated on. Except Jevan is *still* speaking just as awkwardly as Sadon and Amaza, and you can't picture him being the more careful of the two. In fact, you still can't believe he lied to you at all.

"Why hasn't Jevan dropped the bad Basic, like you did?"

Kalyan's eyes flutter closed again, and she rubs a hand slowly across her forehead as she hangs as her head.

"He came out of that tank not knowing how to speak," she says. "I taught him to talk like the others on Tion did."

You give her a confused look. "He didn't know any Basic? Not a word?"

She's quiet for a moment, then lets out a slow breath that becomes ragged halfway through. "*I* taught him how to speak. *I* taught him how to read. How to hunt, how to track, how to fight..." She trails off, and takes another uneasy breath in. Her eyes are still pointed at the ground and her hand covers her eyes, but you can see her lip trembling.

"You raised him?" you ask in awe.

She nods, letting out a sharp squeak of acknowledgment as tears drip from between her joined fingers. You hadn't ordered her to kill her brother, or her clone - you had ordered her to kill her son.

What do you say next? In addition to, or in amendment of, >>2295718

That's all for tonight.

>>2296436
You should know that I never intended for you to kill Jevan. I would have ended the fight with the force before it came to that. I simply had to take some measure of your loyalty to Sadon and by extension to me before I allowed you to board my ship. And as you have seen I do not demand blind loyalty, I took you both in despite your attempt at my life. I find these collars distasteful but you left me with no choice. Now, at my side you and Jevan will become strong enough to continue surviving.

It won't be easy, but you will see more and become more than you or Jevan could have ever imagined on Tion. It seems that joining me was the first, biggest wish that Jevan ever had since he was willing to do it even despite your advice. If you were to escape me you would find a much harder and less glorious life than the adventures Jevan craves.

The question is, what do you want?

>>2296436
>I'm sure Jevan loves you just as much as you do him
Administer headpats and don't remind her that family is weakness.

>>2296436
What is it that you want for yourself and Jevan? Do you want revenge against the Arkanians? Or do you want Jevan to remain ignorant of his origins?
>>2296610
Dude that in no way addresses the issue here. Also this isn't anime.

Are the Arkanians allied with the Empire or the Republic at this point?

>>2297036
Republic

wtf is with anons fetish for headpats, you anime degenerates need to repent!

So she had some kind of education implanted before she left the birthing tank? I wonder why he didn't then.

Hurt did you have this planned when we first met them or did you just wing it?

>>2297076
At the risk of breaking the mystique of my writing process: I didnt like how everyone guessed the twist that she was pregnant (with Jevan's kid), so I changed it right before you took her for the exam.

>>2297102
Hahaha, well played.

>>2297102
I gotta say, I like this twist a whole lot better

>>2296436
The Galaxy is a cruel place. I believe you're smart enough to see through any lie I could come up with so I'll tell the truth. I believed that a test of loyalty and a display of my cruelty would win over who I imagined were a group of tribal savages. I saw Sadon himself strike down a member of his tribe who tried to flee from battle. But it's also true that I would have prevented any serious harm during that fight. Clearly we got off on the wrong foot and I'm truly sorry for what I did. I have no intention of allowing either of you to be harmed.

Tell her our backstory of being taken from our family for brutal and often deadly training at the sith academy. It's only fair after she told us hers. Not to get pity from her though. Tell her we can work together for mutual benefit. If she seems receptive I'd like to take off her collar and promise to take off Jevans when we return. They're kind of a crutch and working together without them is really better for everybody if we can get away with it.

This quest is good shit OP.

>>2296436
In the end, it wasn't empathy that had made Kalyan reveal her secret - it was trickery. That tact took you this far, but as you stare across the training mat at the woman who has now grown still, you find yourself doubting the idea of it taking you any further. She is afraid of you, but it is a cold, emotionless fear that will evaporate the moment you no longer hold the threat of death over her and her brother. And you would much prefer your bodyguards to not hate you. Changing Kalyan's perception of you will be difficult, but this is a good place to start on that long road.

"I don't know where I came from, either."

Kalyan looks up at you, her hand falling away from eyes that are still just wet enough to glisten in the sterile light. Confiding in this woman - this *slave* - risks lowering yourself to her station. But that danger has long since come and gone. She was never awed by your power, like Sadon is. She recognizes it for what it is - real, but beatable.

"When I arrived at the Sith academy on Korriban, the first thing they told us is that we live or die on our own." You swallow hard at the memory of those early years. Your initial arrival is a blur, but you do remember that single booming declaration. "They gave us training sabers and forced us to fight each other. The weapons weren't deadly, but the shocks hurt badly enough that we thought they were." Part of you can't believe you're telling her this, but you aren't confident enough in your persuasive ability to sway her with anything other than real memories and real emotions.

She stares at you blankly for a moment, and then her expression darkens. "I see, my Lord. That's why you ordered me to murder Jevan." Her tone makes very clear that she hasn't let herself forget, *or* forgive that event.

"I told Sadon to find fighters - the best on Tion. He brought me four, *including* himself." You let the words hang in the air for a moment, particularly the small numbering of the group your head bodyguard had gathered. "Do you think I would have let one of you kill the other?"

Kalyan's lip curls into a mean smile. "Your thought process is a mystery to me, my Lord."

In hindsight, it was a bad idea - nearly disastrous. But maybe you can make her understand, and eventually that understanding will grow to something resembling forgiveness.

"The first group I encountered on Tion - Sadon's former tribe - were savages. They attacked me the moment I landed. I know their type well - primitive people, who respect power, brutality, and nothing else."

She eyes you tiredly, and you struggle to find a way to hammer your point home before you lose her completely.

"I assumed you were like them, and I wasn't aware of your... relation to Jevan." You're no longer quite sure what to call the 'twins'. "I'm not ordering you to forget what I did," you say carefully. "I only want to know that *you* understand that I would not have let you harm your brother."

>>2298913
The room falls silent, and that silence builds until it's a ringing in your ears. You can feel the warring emotions within Kalyan, lashing out at you like invisible licks of sunfire. None of what you sense within her gives you hope for a positive answer, nor does the flaring of her nostrils or the heaving of your chest. But after a few moments her anger is brought under control, and she looks at you with her former facade of cool professionalism.

"I understand, Lord Varrus." Her words drip with more venom than she would normally allow to seep in, but it's the best you can ask for given the circumstances. Bringing up what you tried to make her do was risky, and inevitably gave rise to all sorts of nasty feelings directed chiefly at you. What's more, you had effectively asked her to forgive you - all while insisting you *weren't* asking for forgiveness.

But she had relented, probably due to the simple reality of her and Jevan's position. And that's fine. Ideas, when turned into words and spoken, take on a new firmness. With time and further encouragement, that idea will become her new reality. The events will all stay the same, but they'll take on a softer implication, and you'll no longer be the monstrous villain she's set you up as in her mind.

A few moments more pass. And then, to your great surprise, Kalyan cracks a smile - a genuine one.

"You are right about the people of Tion being primitives," she says with a slight laugh. You eye her uneasily, unsure of where this joviality has come from. "I learned a new term on Voss - 'cargo cult'."

You nod slightly. "I know what it means."

"Some of the tribes we encountered would build landing pads, in the hopes that ships would come that they could loot." Kalyan's smile broadens, but yours does not. Something behind her upbeat tone leaves you weary. "I can only assume they saw old pictures showing ships on pads. I did not know how big the galaxy was, but even then I knew it was an exercise in futility."

You're not surprised by that. Although, you tell yourself, some of the tribesmen weren't so obliquely spiritual about bringing down ships. Sadon's tribe had been very practical and direct about it.

"What I cannot understand," she continues. "Is why a lonely young man who never had a family would fall for the same faulty logic."

Your breath catches in your throat, and your head swims as you grasp her words. Kalyan's expression turns from whimsical to serious in the blink of an eye.

"Does he think that cutting a family in two will allow him to graft half of it onto himself?"

Kalyan waits for you to speak, but you don't even try to. Your anger is rising too hot and too fast for your thoughts and feelings to come out as coherent words.

"Was he looking for the sister he never had?" she wonders. "Or the mother he never knew?"

What do you do?

>Force Choke her.

>Tell her to pick up the bedding she was taking from the closet and leave.

>Player's choice.