The Final Jedi

Posted on Thu Feb 27th, 2020 @ 4:11pm by Kalen "Rex" Vickers & Thane & Bomoor Thort & Amare & G2-O7

3,356 words; about a 17 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VI: The Last Bastion
Location: Red Raptor, at hyperspace
Timeline: Week Four, immediately following "The Iziz Connection"

OLD

Well, I'll be. He smiled widely at the so-called Sith apprentice as he finished making the connections in his head. "Thane and Bomoor are in that 'vault'. I'd, uhh, rather you were the one that disturbed 'em. If you don't mind." Rex ambled over the assortment of snacks he had prepared a short while before, thinking it sensible to conceal them in his room before the gruesome twosome arrived. His curiosity was piqued, though. He had been to Onderon once himself.

"If I don't return," Amare said to Rex with a grin, "you know where the escape pod is." She concluded with mock, almost cartoonish villainous laughter before her face faded back to a serious deadpan glare as she took her leave of the droid and their Tatooine-native guest.

NEW

"Yes, that's Theon," Thane confirmed to Bomoor, having been provided with a brief account from Amare. He was leaning on the bar in the kitchenette, his eyes briefly drawn to the occasional rogue crumb scattered not only on the bar, but also in a vague trail towards the holotable, where Rex, G2-O7 and Amare were positioned.

It was peculiar to think of the man after all this time, and especially now, considering all that had happened in the past year. Evidently, the scars of Iziz had lingered long on the man. "He is a Rift Knight, and a stalwart champion of the Alliance," he continued to the others present, knowing the Rift Jedi did not need a huge amount of introduction. "Years ago, when Bomoor and I were still apprentices to our masters, we - alongside Rift Jedi Theon and his own former master - became embroiled in a local conflict, the Avalan Crisis. Whilst it never really became public knowledge, GalactaWerks had been behind that civil war. Theon's master was a casualty of that war. A scapegoat, even."

Thane's eyes moved from the crumbs to the peculiar, unfamiliar obsidian-like pipe situated on the holotable, which he then drew into his gloved hand with the Force, inspecting it casually as they spoke.

Amare scrutinized Thane as leaned back casually on the lounge cushion, her eyes narrowing at his seizure of one of her sentimental tokens from Lorrd. "What did he mean by 'our true enemy showing its hand again', master? Is it Axion?" she asked before glancing at G2 idle near Bomoor, the little droid motionless as the memory transfer was in progress. G2 had chosen a very bad time to start uploading to Amare's network server. Normally, the droid had chosen late hours when most everyone on board was asleep or meditating. Something was wrong this time, her command codes not working the way they used to.

"No," her master replied, not currently paying any heed to the droid. "He is referring to the great benefactor of the Third Republic, chief champions of the Grand Proclamation: GalactaWerks." The sarcasm dripped from the Sith Lord's words.

Rex's eyes widened and his head snapped up to Thane and Bomoor. Usually, he did his best to avoid directly conversing with the pair, especially his fellow Human, but his confidence had risen - as had his fears. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He raised his hands, palms facing out to the gathered crew members. "You guys are mixed up with cultists and the Company? Sheesh." The smuggler shook his head in dismay, before leaning forwards to rest his now-aching cranium in his hands.

Bomoor stirred from his slumped position against the wall, “Thane and I have seen first-hand how devastating unchecked GalactaWerks activity can be, but it would be untrue to say that we have opposed them to this point, aside from occasionally trying to buy our supplies locally, rather than from ‘Big G’.”

He straightened up and pulled out a datapad from his inner pocket before walking over to G2 and giving the droid a light tap on the chassis with the edge of the pad, “But perhaps that is about to change.”

Unbeknownst to the Ithorian, his contact had interrupted the memory transfer that was taking place as the droid returned to its active state and swivelled around to view the one who had disturbed it.

“G2, can you transfer the contact details you were given to my datapad here?” Bomoor asked.

G2-O7 gave an affirmative chirp and began the short range data transfer to the pad while the group continued talking.

“It concerns me slightly that we should go for years without hearing from Theon and then to have him contact us now, knowing we are now unaffiliated with the Jedi Order,” Bomoor narrowed his eyes in thought, “What would he need to come for us for that he would not ask of the Rift Jedi?”

"Belief," Thane suggested. "Support. Something a government agency could not sanction. We operate beyond the purview of the Jedi and the Senate. Quellus already seeks us; to go further against such ideologies is seemingly insignificant."

There was a low bleep from the datapad and Bomoor rose it up to examine with his dark, marble-like eyes, “Alba,” he spoke the planet’s name with a tinge of interest in his voice before elaborating, “Theon has provided us with the details of a meeting place on Alba in the capital city Elsgate. If he wants to meet us on the so-called capital of the Outer Rim Alliance, as it once was, then he must still be in favour with the Rift Order. I must admit, I am intrigued to hear what he has to say.”

"As much as it would thrill me to 'cordially' meet another Jedi," Amare said to her superiors with no sarcasm lost on Thane given their recent brutal throw-down with a certain Jedi Master, "there's a small complication." From her relaxed seated position, she casually held her shoto upright and ignited its green blade, careful not to point it at anyone. Her little display was partly to emphasize her point, but mostly to make poor Rex sweat a little. "I don't suppose your Rift friend would care too much to know I took this from the dead hands of one of their apprentices...that is unless you're planning to attack him."

She switched off the blade whilst locking her gaze at Thane. She wanted to tell him she would like nothing better than tag-teaming another Jedi, for there was no greater learning experience for a Sith apprentice, regardless of the pain and the extreme risk. Theon, in particular, would be a rather pleasing kill, if only to burn away that smug smile he mocked her with right before the call had ended.

Rex had indeed eyed the brief and dramatic display of plasma with widening eyes, thinking silently at the sudden and terrifying ways Amare's whimsies could thicken the tension in a room so rapidly and unnecessarily. Fortunately, Thane spoke before he risked making any comment of his own, allowing him to remain silent a little longer to observe.

"Theon is not our opponent," the Caanan said to her, eyes briefly narrowed at her lightsaber hilt as he finally placed her pipe down onto the surface in front of him. "It is not in his nature to deceive nor play political games. He is usually a more straightforward creature from that, unless he has changed radically. A man of stark morals and firm loyalties."

The recent execution of the former Jedi Consular-turned-Rift Guardian Ise-Kal Formeri had been unfortunate to Thane in some ways. Whilst he had found a remarkable degree of satisfaction in besting the experienced, powerful Rodian during their showdown, she had shown a modicum of modesty and wisdom that was so often lost within both the Reborn and Rift Jedi Orders. Of course, he was not blind to the irony that Formeri's desire to protect knowledge from the fearful book-burners of Quellus' Order had actually resulted in the Sith acquiring one of the most eminent and remarkable dark side holocrons in the galaxy's history, thereby fulfilling the grim prophecies of the nervous Waayist Jedi.

Not for the first time, the man that would be Serus wondered how many of those prophetic fears he was helping to realise, as well as how many of those fears, so frequently and nervously preached, had helped lead him to this path. Thane almost huffed in self-deprecation.

"I believe we should make our way to Alba, and learn exactly what it is Theon has to say," Thane continued evenly. "Should the Force not provide, we may yet accrue other knowledge, power or allies from this excursion. Even if Theon cannot directly aid us in our search for Axion or the kaiburr shards, I understand the libraries of Alba are stocked with galactic lore, easily rivalling the annals of the Jedi Archives on Coruscant."

“We must still be cautious,” Bomoor warned, finally looking down from the datapad, “Although the Rift Jedi are not hunting us, we must assume that some are aware we are no longer a part of the Reborn Order as Theon clearly does. We could become the subject of some scrutiny and we don’t want them finding out about the Telos Holocron or our involvement in the unfortunate deaths of their members.”

"If we are to tread carefully," Amare said leaning forward to clap her hands on her knees as she pushed herself up to her feet, slowly pacing towards Bomoor, "then know this: I had trusted one of the Rift masters for a time. Nearly every deflection and slash you saw from me on Mustafar came mostly from the ways of the Rift. And yet, that kindly master who taught me so much in such a short time betrayed that trust. Recent experience has taught me that no Jedi can be trusted anymore. I saw their pitiful ways for myself in the halls of their Temple, and I saw it up close in the eyes of one of their most powerful masters, blade to blade at the edge of death. In case you haven't noticed, 'Master' Bomoor," she added with a strong hint of sarcasm with the mention of the title she no longer had the stomach to use for the Ithorian, "there are Sith in this room; we're everything they are sworn to destroy! Perhaps you have the opportunity to surrender to them if you wish, but me and my master? All we have is survival. They won't forgive us. They won't show us mercy. I've accepted that. I have no desire for open war with them, but I'm willing to fight them all for my passion, for our freedom. Are you? Can you kill your fellow Jedi? Think you can you kill your old master if he raised his blade to you? Huh? Can you?!"

For the first time in all Amare's time with Bomoor, her eyes had burned with a measure of blind hate and resentment towards him, the one whom she had once looked up to with genuine care and respect. It was a supernatural shift of emotion that quickly overwhelmed her, had taken even her by surprise, but she had indulged in the dark side heavily over the past few weeks, surviving extreme odds in her quest to further Lord Serus' cause. For Bomoor to advise caution was laughable at this point. In her mind, it was only a matter of time before the only two Sith in the galaxy would find themselves directly at odds with all the Jedi in the galaxy. The old saying, 'life is unfair', couldn't have been more true for the Sith.

Bomoor allowed the datapad to drop to his side and he stared for a moment at the Nautolan. Those present could see his eyes narrowing as he gazed deeply at Amare, as if seeing her properly for the first time in many weeks, “You ignorant child; you declare yourself a Sith and proclaim the Jedi your mortal enemy as if that ancient stolen title by itself has any meaning in today’s world. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but Thane and I walked way from the Jedi because the council was doing exactly what you are doing now: painting the galaxy in black and white and seeing enemies where there are none.”

The Ithorian jerked a finger out with a building fury, “I reject the Jedi and I reject the Sith, but I would be a fool to dismiss what I have learned as a Jedi and what I could yet learn from the Sith. I see the potential for something new; something better that I thought you might have understood. But this attitude will only prove Quellus right and I am certain that is not what Thane has in mind for his new Sith Order.”

“Right, Thane?” he craned his head around expectantly, as if awaiting the final confirmation to his words.

"You do not get to lecture me or hide behind him you self-serving coward!" Amare quickly snapped at Bomoor through grinding teeth before Thane could interject, her hands balling into fists at her sides. "You deny the Jedi and the Sith, so then what are you are here for? What do you stand for?! Stopping Axion and his band of scum? Fine! I want them gone too, but then what? You have no allegiance, and yet you have the gall to expect you deserve knowledge of the dark side of the Force? No! You will not belittle me or call me a child again! You've shown your hand, Bomoor Thort, and I will not let you take what does not belong to you!"

Her left hand became bathed with a brightening font of smoldering red light, on the verge of leaping maliciously at Bomoor to divorce him of his life-essence. At the same instant of her burning hesitation, there was a tremendous rippling wave of temptation in her right arm, her hand slipping perilously close to drawing her weapon on the former Jedi Knight. The part of her that was Coda deep down inside was desperately fighting Amare to the point that her hand was visibly trembling near the shoto hanging from her belt.

"Enough!" Thane's voice boomed before either Amare or Bomoor could say anything more, the words supernaturally enhanced by the fury of the Force exuding from him.

The power of the call knocked what few objects were arranged in the room off from their resting places and out towards the walls, cracking or shattering most of them. Whilst Rex was momentarily pinned to his chair, Bomoor and, to a lesser extent, Amare, were protected by the natural Force shields most wielders of the power instinctively boasted, although the intensity of the wave still rocked them and set their skin alight with a buzzing sensation. The power Thane was focusing on his friend far exceeded that he was pressing against his apprentice, but ensured both were keenly aware of the simmering fury barely sealed behind the thin veneer of civility worn by the Sith Lord.

To Amare, he seethed: "Bomoor may not be Sith and he may not garb himself in the code of our burgeoning order, but he walks a parallel path to power, an ally in our pursuits. He is no foe to you and his wisdom exceeds your neophyte understanding of the Force and the galaxy. You will not so readily discard those with knowledge and power that yet eclipses your own; you will heed his words and observe his actions as you, like him, find your own way in this universe. You forget the lessons of Yavin too quickly,” he continued darkly, all meaning that would be carried with that comment comprehended and intended. “Being Sith alone does not a perfect being make. You are powerful and you are talented, Zaracoda Wolph, but you will be blinded by your dogma at your own peril!”

The Caanan’s lip curled unpleasantly as he regarded his impetuous apprentice. Her frustrations, laid bare through her justifiable grievances with Bomoor (and himself, undoubtedly), were understandable. Thane knew his part in forging the young woman’s ambivalent and tormented character, but to indulge such normal and mundane behaviours typical of the galaxy’s wider sentients was unbecoming of the Sith Lord’s chosen apprentice. However, he did not permit her any opportunity to respond before he whirled around towards Bomoor.

The dark expression that had taken his pale face remained, being something familiar to the Ithorian, but not as something offered to him. There was a dismay and disappointment that he knew would be palpable to Bomoor through both their bonds as companions and their Force bond, just as his friend’s ire had been naked to him just moments before.

“Go set a course for Alba,” Thane said to Bomoor sternly, the words cold and their true meaning clear: it was a dismissal, almost military in its delivery and inviting no discussion or compromise. It was only now that Thane finally began to withdraw himself from the others within the Force.

Bomoor drew himself upright and Thane could sense a hint of embarrassment in the man at allowing Amare to get to him, "Quite right," he nodded, his eyes washing across the room but not stopping on either Thane or Amare. Instead, he addressed the silent observer in the room, "Rex, will you help me plot in a course?"

Rex, who had kept silent since the shift in the room's dynamic - a tactical decision, he thought - rose up quickly from his chair and gave a quick nod to the Ithorian, but did not display the same cowardice that often struck the man, although the nervousness was still present. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Would love to." He scuttled quickly towards Bomoor, but he glanced briefly over to Amare, and gave her a vaguely apologetic smile and a wink, before turning away once more.

The pair exited down the main hallway and the door behind them slid shut, creating a vacuum of silence as though Bomoor's absence drained all sound but the quiet hum of the engines to either side of the common area.

Thane's harsh rebuke had left Amare speechless and robbed of all her ranting bravado. The focus of her eyes were upon the floor where Bomoor had stood as the destructive lava in her hearts had met the dowsing effect of a cold ocean of shame. The way Thane had spat her given name to her...there was no magical trick of the mind or some other dark power in play, but rather something scarier: his unravelling tone that stripped away her pretences coupled with his intense charismatic delivery. To be called Zaracoda in such a damning way might as well had been a lightsaber blade to her throat. The young Nautolan woman felt like nothing more than an inconsequential peasant at the mercy of her sovereign...no, worse; she felt like a slave all over again.

Amare put her quivering hand up to her forehead and breathed out in little more than a whisper, "What have I done?" She felt cold and without face in that moment, yet aware of her master's eyes upon her, and the fear emanating from Rex having borne witness to the verbal confrontation. The dark side had encouraged Amare to entrust it with her passions and deep feelings, and she foolishly let herself go over the edge. She gave herself so completely to the power so much in recent times that it finally gave her a reminder of its chaotic whims when it deceived her to burn her bridge with her now former Ithorian friend. Her mixed feelings towards Bomoor were amplified, and filtered all her thoughts of him through a narrow lens of hatred and resentment. And yet, she knew, there was no blaming the Force; she made the choice, and was too weak to resist, too unwise to hold back and save her malice for the real battles yet to come.

"Come with me," Thane said to Amare, already turning to leave the galley and not waiting for any response from his apprentice. "It is time for another lesson."

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