First Blood

Posted on Tue May 8th, 2018 @ 1:05am by Amare & Thane

4,677 words; about a 23 minute read

Chapter: Chapter V: Unbound
Location: Trader's Landing, Sheva; streets
Timeline: Early evening; short while after "Power is a Givin"
Tags: Thane, Coda, sith, sorcery

ON

Coda and Thane had taken a number of books from the givin's collection that caught the latter's interest. The Shevan daylight was fast waning, however, and it was high time for them to end their sojourn on the industrial backwater planet and return to the stars. They made a brief stop at a local spare parts dealer so Coda could obtain what she needed to repair her personal slicing computer, and they purchased handy travel packs to help them carry their load of books from the givin.

Nestled safely away, Thane had insisted on several tomes he deemed relevant to both his and Coda's learnings. Having aligned himself with the resurgent agenda of Darth Bane and committed to training his Nautolan companion, it seemed only suitable to gather as much lore as he feasibly could for their multiplicity of ventures. Dark side materials, let alone Sith ones, had become an increasing rarity in the age of the Reborn Jedi Order.

Thane was committed to rebuilding the litany of texts and tomes that had once been the pride of Bane's Order, ranging from himself all the way through to Darths Plagueis and Sidious. He was also hopeful for the discoveries Bomoor would make with the Krayt holocron, given they were the most recent addition to the Sith saga - until Thane himself, of course.

His internal considerations were interrupted, however, by a sudden shift in the Force, and his icy blue eyes immediately turned towards the culprit - a young man who was dashing haphazardly towards them.

"Oh! Thank the stars someone is here to help!" cried the human man covered in torn and heavily weather rags with a stench that only a pig's mother could be proud of. He ran up to Thane and Coda and fell to his knees pleading. "Please, kind travelers. My mother is hurt. We were just attacked by a group of highwaymen and my brother sent me to find help. He can't take them all on by himself. Please, gentlefolk. If you are armed and able, I beg your aid before something really bad happens to them!"

Highwaymen? Thane repeated the odd, quaint turn of phrase internally, incredulous as he sought to ignore the stench of the local. Gentlefolk?

"Master, can we help him?" Coda asked Thane with deep concern. She was feeling compassionate for the poverty-stricken man's plight and it didn't seem right to ignore his request. Being armed as they were, and blessed with the power of the Force, Coda felt an urge to finally put what she had to good use. Maybe saving lives was why she had her power in the first place.

Looking to his apprentice with a slight scowl, he was slightly unimpressed by her overeagerness and willingness to throw her support behind the first individual pleading for help, armed with so little information barring the clear and apparent weakness of the man. Even as a Jedi Knight, Thane had been loathe to act in haste at the sudden insistence from the denizens of the galaxy; there were greater injustices in the world than such isolated incidents that ones as gifted and responsible as the Jedi and Sith could turn their attentions to, and one had to always be mindful of the broader picture, of what the faint pulling of one thread could do to the entire tapestry.

It was something he had explained to Coda in their earliest conversations on the Force and power, but not in great depth. Unlike the Jedi, they did not have the luxury of years in classrooms to debate philosophy or to have the constant support of more experienced figures to oversee every situation and eventuality. No, as would-be Sith, Coda would learn by doing.

And besides, Thane was not prone to petty acts of violence or cruelty, and whilst he might not do as Coda would wish, he was keen to allow her actions and their repercussions take their course. The lesson and feedback would come in time, he had no doubt.

"We can," he said non-committaly to Coda, speaking as though the young man were not even present, "but one might query whether one should."

At this juncture, he was not even sure of the verity of the man's words, as it could easily be a gambit to relieve them of their wares. Thane decided to not use the Force to help him, preferring to let Coda guide their actions. Gesturing with an open hand towards the peasant, he said, "Look to the Force and yourself, and make your decision. I will follow."

A blood curdling scream from a woman was heard in the alley behind the man. That was all it took for Coda to draw her pistols. No one was going to be hurt or enslaved where she traveled. Not if she could help it.

"Oh gods! Mother!" the man shouted. "Please! Hurry! Do something!"

"Find someplace to hide," Coda told the man to which he nodded and ran off. She pushed ahead into the shadows, her sudden bravery urging her on. She was flush with confidence after having survived Nar Shaddaa and her tests on Irrikut. She felt this was her calling. She felt stronger than she ever had before. She felt right for doing this. She felt...cornered.

The alley didn't stretch far, but it led into an open square clearing between the apartment buildings. There was only one way in, and one way out. Coda saw the human woman on the ground in a corner curled up in a fetal position with most of her body covered in loose torn rags. A blanket concealed the victim's hands and face.

"Miss, are you alright?" she asked. Coda looked for the brother the pleading man mentioned, but by the time her head tendrils sensed someone from behind, it was already too late to react.

A bulky arm went around her throat forcefully pulling her back against the broad body of her assailant. The man's other hand held a blaster to her head.

"Well, well. Lookie wot we got here!" the man said jabbing the tip of the blaster barrel hard against Coda's head after she tried to struggle out of her tight grasp. Just then, the woman threw off her concealing blanket and drew a blaster of her own pointing it at Coda and sneering at the nautolan. There was hardly any sign of abuse on the human lady at all.

"Drop your little toys, girl," the woman demanded.

Coda complied, her blasters smacking the ground just as heavily as her confidence caved in right then and there. She had thought Thane was with her, but he was nowhere to be seen. She considered using the Force to knock the woman down or take her weapon just like Thane had taken her own blasters when they first met on the Red Raptor, but she would still be a hostage in the man's grasp, and likely a dead one if she tried anything.

"Wot's in the bag, little squid?" the man asked her, tightening his hold making it harder for her to breathe. "And where's your handsome beau, hey? We saw you both in the market."

"That was...just a friend," Coda barely managed to let out, barely able to hold back her tears, those old feelings of subservient helplessness flooding back into her all over again. "He's gone now. He went home."

"Don't play games with us," the woman said striding up and poking the gun at Coda's chest. "You want to die, or you wanna go home, hm? Either way, we're taking all your stuff. But if you tell us where he is, we'll consider letting you keep your life."

"A generous gesture." The familiar well-spoken voice of Thane interrupted the threatening goon from behind him.

Standing closer to the mouth of the alleyway, the young Sith was unimpressed with the new locale and developing events. Although the light of the day had been dipping for sometime, it was entirely unapparent in this grim corner of Trader's Landing, the height of the grimy buildings either side of them obscuring what little sun remained for the day. Also gone was the pleasant sea-salt aroma Thane had found so quaint and endearing about Coda's first choice of locale. Instead, the acrid smell that seemed universal to backstreets galaxwide, regardless of dominant species or typical terrain, was permeating all about them.

"This little one's not worth the effort," he continued, taking one slow step forward, his gloved hands clear of any visible weapons.

He had already considered a few options for dispatching the opportunistic duo, envisioning several means by which he could inflict suffering upon the pathetic creatures, simply for the audacity and sheer insult of trying to claim anything of his or Coda's. Of course, some of these were limited by the risk of harming the Nautolan, or simply because they would be too self-satisfying, something he was keen to avoid.

No. This would be another lesson for Coda, he decided, even as he gathered the Force invisibly within himself, prepared for whatever show of power or feat he ultimately decided to utilise. Inwardly, he hoped Coda would make some effort of her own, but she was still in the infancy of her life with the Force, so he bore her no ill will or disappointment.

The lady larcenist shifted her aim at Thane and her male partner in crime turned and used Coda as a shield.

"Not very clever coming here unarmed," the lady said as she stepped forward.

"He clearly hasn't heard of the famous Bunnie and Claude," Claude said.

Bunnie rolled her eyes at the mention of their names, and tilted her blaster up a couple of times to indicate for him to surrender. "Hands up, handsome," she calmly said in an almost flirty tone. "I'd hate to put a hole in that babyface of yours."

"Do it, or your friend here is fried seafood," Claude reinforced the threat.

Coda was shaking her head, pleading with her eyes for Thane not to give in.

But surprisingly, Thane began to raise his hands.

Slowly and with care, the pale Human brought both gloved palms upwards in the appearance of concession, although his face did not appear to betray any hint of his true sentiments on the action.

As the thieves delighted in how easily Thane gave himself up, Coda's face was incredulous. She couldn't believe the man she called "master" would give in so quickly. After the rigorous force training and study of the past week, and being dragged through hell and barely surviving a forgotten old dungeon on Irrikut, how could it come to this...unless...

As Thane's hands began to reach the apex of his slow manoeuvre, he allowed some of his gathered Force to extend outwards. With his hands almost fully up, moving slowly enough to visibly frustrate the pair threatening him, Bunnie's weapon began to start shudder with a slight tremor, as its barrel began to move quite evidently towards the pockmarked face and head of her barrel-chested companion.

Coda stared in awe and heart-gripping apprehension as the weapon turned in her general direction, but Claude could clearly where it was truly being leveled at.

"Honey-bunnie," Claude said with shock and anger, "wot in the hell are y--"

And then a single red bolt leapt forth from the blaster straight through the skull of the male assailant, knocking him backwards in one fell motion, his arm instantly releasing Coda as the cadaver crashed to the floor in a lifeless heap, wisps of smoke gently rising from the sizeable gap in Claude's remains.

The short-range blast had pulverised his skull and wiped away all recognisable features in a flash, but was fortunate enough for Coda to have cauterised the edges of the damage, leaving no organic detritus to flood forth from the still-twitching corpse.

The bolt was close enough for Coda to feel a first-degree burn across her head tendrils on the right side. She had sealed her eyes shut the instant the blaster went off, and she kept them shut after Claude's body hit the floor. She had to dig into some of her willpower, grind her teeth hard, and clench her fists tight at her side just to keep herself from letting out a scream, but in doing so, her body was trembling.

Allowing himself a small quirk of a smile to tug at one side of his lips, Thane, despite himself, was satisfied with the result and the obvious, intended effect it had on the still-standing criminal, her blaster still shaking - only this time with no assistance from the aspiring Sith.

By having reached forth just moments ago with the Force to the unconscious, uncomplicated minds of the two criminals, whilst also allowing his telekinetic powers to gently start lacing themselves around Bunnie's weapon and limb, he had imperceptibly - at least to her mind and body - guided Bunnie and her weapon to deliver an end result not entirely dissimilar to that which she had perhaps just moments ago envisioned for their quarry.

Looking at her alarmed and contorted features now, Thane considered that Bunnie was not an unattractive specimen herself, if a bit undernourished and sallow for his tastes.

"It appears you missed," he taunted, hands still raised.

Bunnie lost the will to hold the blaster after murdering the love of her life. She stared at Claude's corpse as her weapon slipped from her absent grip. She didn't understand how it happened, or why she did it (if she even did it at all), but all she knew was that her world had instantly shattered by her own hand.

"No...noooo!!" she staggered backwards and fell down hard on her back. She shuffled along the stone ground, pulling herself back towards the corner where she had been playing opossum just moments ago, and curled up into a shaking fetal position. "I...no...I didn't do that. How did...no, no, no..."

Coda slowly opened her eyes as the scent of burning human flesh caught up to her senses for the first time ever. She didn't turn to look at what was left of Claude, but instead turned to look upon Bunnie's sudden helpless state of mental breakdown. She began to feel compassion for Bunnie's situation, but the smell of Claude's corpse was like a natural antidote to her lighter feelings. It didn't draw any revulsion from her, but rather...a feeling she never though possible was starting to bloom from within: satisfaction.

The smile slipped away from Thane's face the moment the woman dropped her weapon, just as his hands fell to his sides once more. Taking a few long strides forward, he stepped over the still-smoking remnant of man to stand beside his apprentice.

From both women near him, he could feel a tumultuous swell of emotions. Whilst Bunnie was gripped by fear, sheer grief and obvious panic, Coda's were more akin to his own, and he knew it was a surprising turn for her. There was clearly a darker depth to her than he had first expected, her (perhaps unwitting) acceptance of the dark side a much faster progression than his own had been - although that could easily be courtesy of their respective histories.

Although he knew his own holocron mentor would object, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder just briefly as they both regarded the cowering creature before them. Whilst it had not previously been in his nature during his years' tenure as a Jedi Guardian to indulge himself in the negative experiences of others, he had found it a surprising boon to his own talents and connection to the Force, allowing his dark powers to additionally flourish.

In some ways and indeed in this circumstance, Thane noted that Darth Bane's avatar had been correct: drawing upon the anger and misery of others acted like a salve to his various ailments, in a way once drawing upon the light side had to heal his wounds. It was not perfect nor as effective, but it was a resource he could not ignore - not that he was now going to indulge in petty acts merely to soothe scuffed knees.

As he was about to open his mouth to address Coda, he noticed one of her head-tendrils twitch, a mere fraction of a second before he felt another presence dawning upon them, immediately accompanied by shouting, and Thane turned to face this new threat as he placed a small amount of distance between him and the Nautolan.

"What did you do you bastard?!" the young man that had first drawn Coda and Thane into this encounter in the first place was charging at Thane from the alley which they came, a short bronze sword held in one hand, and small hold-out blaster opening up in rapid succession on the former Jedi.

Rather than drawing his lightsaber from its concealed location, Thane instead raised both of his hands and called upon the Force once more. Thinking back to his recent session with Bomoor, he quickly attempted to invoke the talent of tutaminis, bringing both of his palms up in quick succession in a bid to absorb and perhaps deflect the particle beams careering with surprising accuracy towards him.

Although it was not quite the same as his apparent talent in absorbing his own lightning, Thane managed to spin a few of the bolts off at unexpected angles, only narrowly managing to catch and redirect them as a few struck the walls of the alleyway, and another plunged yet another gaping hole in Claude's lifeless lump.

By the time the holdout blaster had overheated, in the fast-paced few seconds where the young man had unleashed his volley of shots upon the Caanan and the man was almost close enough to swing his blade at him, Thane's gloves were smouldering. Seared flesh was exposed beneath one, causing him to grit his teeth both in pain and anger. Having drawn some of the energy successfully into himself, he prepared to retaliate--

The attacking man's momentum was completely reversed in the opposite direction as if he had crashed into an invisible wall. The breath was knocked of him, but he was resilient enough to maintain his grip on his weapons. He struggled to crawl back up to his feet, but he was instead met with the barrel of slender sporting blaster with the name Widowmaker etched on it. His eyes slowly rose up from the weapon to its owner.

The grim heavy stare on Coda's face could have been carved from blue-tinted stone had it not been flesh.

"No one lies to my master and tries to kill him," she said softly with carefully spoken words, each syllable uttered with a heavy breath of contempt. When Widowmaker howled out with its single point-blank kill-shot into the human's heart, Coda's expression held fast other than her nostrils flaring as she drew in the intoxicating scent of death yet again. "No one," she coldly repeated at the corpse. The scent was fresh...it was morbidly tantalizing...it was inwardly wanting to make her scream out loud with how it was making her feel. How could she ever...enjoy this? It was terrible! But...was it really?

Like a bolt of lightning from the encroaching tyranny of a powerful thunderstorm, she suddenly remembered the words of the dark force shade, Shaddrak, whom she encountered on Irrikut:

"The lie is the life you lived until now. It is a deception of the Light meant to confuse and weaken you. It obstructs your birthright, and renders you an emotional caring fool. The truth is written into your skin, and tempered in the minerals of your bones: you are the darkness made manifest. If you survive long enough, you will soon learn what that means..."

The moment Thane had slain Claude, she felt it deep in her core. Her mental struggle wasn't of shock or disbelief of the speed of the swift kill, it was her inner compassion waning and shrinking under the gravity of murder. She felt it the first time when she opened fire on the mercenaries on Nar Shaddaa, and now she had what she originally sought for that night:

Death.

It was the transformational context to the shade's message. When she looked at her blaster again, the etched name on it was gone. She wasn't certain if it had been some kind of physical projection, or her mind playing tricks on itself, but she saw its absence as a sign of what she was meant to be. All it took was the right push to make it known. The Force intended her to kill. She was the widowmaker, and to those that dared harm her master, she would retaliate without mercy.

Coda's gaze shifted from her blaster to the shocked open eyes of her first kill, and to the weapons that slipped from his limp hands. A sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. It was almost...inspirational. She holstered her blaster, knelt down and pried the sword from the still-warm hand. She blankly began to consider its brittle metal, curved blade, and uneven balance. It was a pathetic implement unworthy of tasting the flesh of a man of lordly caliber such as her master. She plunged it in disgust in the dead man's smooth abdomen, and twisted it marking her brutal claim on his life. The blood that seeped from the puncture added to her pleasure. She started to imagine doing the same to those Nar Shaddaa mercenaries one-by-one, killing each of them slowly. It felt so good to think about. It made her lips curl into a subtle little smile.

"You did well, Zaracoda." Thane's voice interrupted his apprentice's thoughts, soft but certainly with a hint of pride that he was not trying to conceal. She had acted quickly and allowed her feelings and her connection to the Force guide her actions, taking an action entirely alien and contrary to her former life, but ultimately necessary for their predicament. More, she had embraced the pain and death, palpable as both were in the alleyway that had become the doom of two Shevan denizens.

Standing beside Coda, Thane only gave the downed young man the briefest of considerations before nodding towards the final cowering cretin, still huddled and shuddering against the dirtied brick wall. "And what of her?" He asked, his tone betraying the fact the question was more of a teacher's testing query than a true enquiry.

Coda rose, and regarded her master with a silent glance and a bow of her head to him. They both knew what had to be done. No words needed to be said; justice was the answer.

As she approached the cowering Bunnie, Coda discovered a pleasurable new strength and vigor in her body she hadn't ever felt before. Her stride was more casual and much less stiff and nervous as it was before. Her posture was straighter, her shoulders more relaxed, and she began to allow an alluring sway to her hips.

Bunnie was no fool and could see the improved feminine body language in the nautolan. It was almost like seeing an entirely different person from the one Claude had taken hostage. Coda had slain Claude's little brother without hesitation, and Bunnie thought she was next.

"Why did you kill Jacques?!" Bunnie cried. "No, stay back! Get away from me!"

"Shhhh," Coda quietly tried to calm the woman down. "We're not going to hurt you. I promise." She knelt in front of Bunnie and smiled warmly at her speaking in a soft caring tone. "What happened to Claude and Jacques was not your fault. Don't be afraid. I'm going to help you find you find peace. I can help you forget what happened tonight. Forget all of it. You will never have to cry or feel pain about any of this ever again. Would you like that?"

"What? Y-you can do that?" Bunnie couldn't believe it, but then she just saw a man stop blaster bolts with his bare hands, so anything was possible. If forgetting her friends was the price of survival, she would take it.

"Yes," Coda said with a nod. "If you accept me, I can take away the pain, the fear...everything. Let me shoulder your burden for you." She reached out and gently stroked Bunnie's cheek with one hand, and touched her temples with the other. In seconds, Bunnie's rapid fearful breathing calmed and slowed and Coda pulled her closer with one hand to embrace her. Bunnie rested the side of her head on Coda's chest allowing the nautolan full control over her. The tips of Coda's fingers began glowing a dull red color as she closed her eyes and began to drink in Bunnie's surface thoughts and plied through her memories.

"You have such anger and resentment," Coda whispered in her ear. The nautolan than gasped as she dug her fingers harder into Bunnie's skull and smiled with delight. "Ohh, and you've killed before too. You hated that man so much for hurting you. Such hate! I admire you. You even thought of betraying Claude. You pleasured him so much, yet felt nothing for him; only the riches he helped you steal. No wonder you trusted me so easily. Your trust has gotten you into so much trouble, hasn't it? Don't worry, you'll never need to worry about that again. Let go of your pain. That's it...yes, give everything to me."

A moment later, Coda slowly laid Bunnie's corpse to rest on the stone cold ground. Bunnie had the appearance of someone sleeping, but Coda had used the Force to push all the air out of the woman's lungs, and prevented her from taking another breath until she perished.

"It is done, my master," Coda said with a long exhale, still on her knees, and exhausted by the mind draining ritual she had performed.

Thane had watched his younger companion with a morbid, avid interest, his eyes glinting with a hint of something he did not often feel, which something in-between a type of amazement and-

What? He challenged himself. Apprehension?

Even if it was, he decided, he was nothing short of impressed by Coda. In an incredibly short time, she soared in her capabilities within the Force, showing a natural deftness and sharpness even within the dark side that Thane had lacked, already shedding the limiting reservations that had plagued him more heavily until recent months.

Regarding Coda, she appeared somehow older and more defined in her features than the seemingly jejune and overeager altruist that had rushed off in blind aid of the deceptive Jacques. Today, she had shown an aptitude for cruelty and cunning he had not yet expected from her, far exceeding his expectations. She had exposed a side to her character far more menacing than perhaps his own base nature, taking actions he would have likely exercised more restraint in, not that it was a criticism of the fledgling sorceress before him. Restraint and patience could - and would - be learned, after all.

As his blue eyes continued to bore into the deep darkness of Coda's own, Thane knew that she was doing what was necessary, and was harnessing the true nature of the dark side, honing her neophyte talents quickly and with brilliant efficiency through her actions and indulgence - a true aspirant of their developing joint endeavour.

"And so it is," he finally accepted, pleased that Coda had ultimately not failed either him or herself, his eyes washing one final time over the cadaverous array they had gathered about them with grim satisfaction.

And Serus of the Sith then truly accepted that he had indeed chosen his apprentice well.

__________________________________

THANE
▬ Force Absorption Increase

ZARACODA WOLPH
▼ Dark Side Shift
☼ New Ability - Force Drain
☼ New Ability - Force Telepathy (Mind Trick)
▬ Force Telekinesis Increase

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