Penultimate Piece, Part II
Posted on Tue Oct 2nd, 2012 @ 4:07am by Thane & Bomoor Thort & Berry
Edited on on Fri Jul 26th, 2019 @ 1:29pm
2,022 words; about a 10 minute read
Chapter:
Chapter I: Web of Fate
Location: The Lucky Corellian Apartment, Nar Shaddaa
Timeline: Some hours after "Penultimate Piece, Part One"
OLD
The Calamari's fear was now at war with his greed, as well as the simple survival instincts that warned him of how much money he needed as well, given how many patrons he had lost. "D-deal," he finally blubbered, "b-but pl-please don't damage anything else!"
"If we do," Thane responded with a smirk, "you can rest assured that my fine colleague here will reimburse you every dactary." With a final gulp, he added, "He's kind like that."
"Hmph," chuckled Bomoor as he withdrew his glass and placed it on the counter, "I'm not sure who's likely to do more damage - you or our new friend here."
NEW
The apartment the owner of The Lucky Corellian had rented out to the two Jedi and the part-Aquar was far from luxurious, but it had been somewhat better than what Thane and Bomoor had expected; both had made quips on the journey up the stairs to the last room on the right about the sort of incidents that had probably occurred in the rooms, and Thane had made doubly-sure that there were no female (or male) escorts awaiting them when they finally arrived.
Having failed to take the joke, the Mon Calamari owner had insisted he could find whatever they needed, but had been dismissed after a long sigh of defeat from the two Jedi. Berry had just continued to grin and laugh at anything she perceived to be amusing (which, unsurprisingly, was almost anything).
After arriving in the room, whilst Thane had been more interested in securing everything and ensuring it would suit their purposes, Berry continued to complain about her hunger. Thane had promptly locked her in the fresher with a large platter of food and ignored her since then, and whilst Bomoor had stated his apparent opposition to this tactic, he relented and Thane was certain his friend was also pleased with the peace and quiet. In fact, whilst Bomoor moved off to meditate, Thane settled into a restless sleep, whilst Berry was also slumbering in her watery prison.
The trickling of water around Berry had been going on since being thrown into the fresher and left to clean herself by Thane, and had even become a source of comfort as she closed her eyes, but it did not take long for the gentle trickle to turn into something somewhat different, as if it were falling further, and with louder drops. When her eyes opened to investigate, she was not in the Nar Shaddaa apartment. In fact, she was nowhere.
A grey fog was all-encompassing in this new place, but faint noises - like footsteps and muttering - could be heard in the distance. Not far from where the noises seemed to be coming from, a shadow could be seen to be taking shape. Despite there being no clear indication of where she was, her feet were scraping against stone, but a warm breeze could be felt coming from far away, like a cavern off from the desert.
“Hey!” she called out, stumbling around. A dark figure stood ahead of her, obviously shrouded and radiating some kind of mean-ness. Where his head should’ve been briefly turned toward her, and Berry gasped. There was a red glow from one of his hooded eyes, and he had a—he had a red glowy stick. He was a bad guy! There were all these dark wispy people standing behind him, so thick she couldn’t see past them. The mutterings grew louder.
Berry frowned, peering. And there was someone standing away from all of them. He was motioning a lot to the person, waving his stick around. Was he being mean? She peered at the other person, and for some reason Berry knew it was female. Young. Short. Salty. The unknown woman was unsure but…
Berry blinked and looked around. The room was getting clearer. It was HUGE, with a tall, tall ceiling and a…a big chair in the middle. A funny looking shiny thing sat in the chair, and Berry quickly looked over to the dark figure. The shadow-people fell silent. A shiny thing was in his hand, too. He was waving it to the woman. It felt like he was waving it to her. It looked kind of yummy. No, it felt kinda yummy…
Berry reached out to them, walking “Hey, can I eat that—oof!” She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her foot and her face. The next moment she blinked and she saw she had run into the fresher door. Her tunic and pants were hanging on a hook on a wall to dry. Her chest area was wrapped in a seaweed strap, and she wore a short seagrass sleeping skirt (the best sleeping gear on Velusia since it was so hot) but now…now she just felt cold all over, even with the humidity of the tiny room. She frowned and pounded with a fist on the fresher door. “Hey! Lemme out!!” If they didn’t she would break it down herself! Then something caught her eye. But…not before she ate this fish cake. She absently nibbled on it as she sat down against the door. Why didn’t the other two need to pee yet? Weird…
Thane could see the dark figure in the distance, just beyond where the fog had been at its most dense. And then its 'head' turned, and it was as if the life was being drained from Thane in the red glow of where the figure's eye should be. It was not looking to him, though, but to something else, a familiar presence.
Off to the side, a young woman was standing. It did not take Thane long to realise that this woman was in fact the Near-Human he had met for the first time today, the one with the unrefined power that Bomoor felt should be with them - an act of the Force. The dark figure, drenched in the power of the dark side and heavily-focused hate and power - something only to be attributed to a Sith Lord of legend - was tempting her, trying to draw her towards it.
As Thane instinctively moved to grab the hilt of his lightsaber, he panicked momentarily, finding nothing there, but when he looked up, the warm foggy caverns had been replaced by an all-too-familiar establishment. The Senate Building, constructed in the likeness of that of the First Republic, was all about him, but instead of the Supreme Chancellor's section within the centre, a heavy wrought-iron throne arose, something glistening - like the tempting tool the Sith had used - was atop it, and the same darkness Thane had felt before was there, at first whispering to him, but it soon snowballed into a massive scream.
Suddenly, jumping down to stand by his side was a man he had never met before but recognised all-too-well: Sev Rezer, and he was armed and firing his weapons at some unknown threat. The screams died down as the Mandalorian seemed to defend him before Thane finally saw the target: a tattooed monster lay dead before them, but as Sev turned around to shake Thane's hand, something wrenched him away, twirling him around to face an audience of dancing black shadows, all screaming in fury at him.
Once more, the red light of the Sith engulfed him, and all Thane could see was Berry's face within it...
And then he awoke with a start, discovering he had called upon the Force during his slumber to yank his saber hilt into his hand, its violet blade lighting up Bomoor's concerned face. At almost the same instant, a crash was heard in the fresher.
"Hey!" Called Berry's tactless voice as she then pounded on the door. "Lemme out!!"
Sweat was dripping from the Jedi Guardian's face but he placed a hand up to the Ithorian, Thane's suspicious eyes focusing on the door to Berry. Deactivating his lightsaber, he nodded for Bomoor to let her out.
Bomoor had jumped into a ready position with his hands outstretched and ready to call upon the force. The sudden emotional flare from Thane and the subsequent ignition of his lightsaber had roused Bomoor from his trance. When he saw all was calm, he relaxed his stance and wandered over to remove the chair from the bathroom door, "Thane, what is going on?" he asked, "Did you sense a disturbance? I did not feel anything."
Berry was opening her mouth to take another bite when the door suddenly gave way and she fell out with a yelp. She popped the last of the cake into her mouth before sitting up, smiling over at the Jedis. "You guys can go pee now." Then she frowned worriedly at the sight of Pale Guy looking super pale. She stood and walked over to him, head tilting. "You don't look so good." Without thinking she stole Pale Guy's blanket and wrapped it around herself, her shivering lessening.
"Yes, I did, Bomoor," Thane said slowly, finally answering the Ithorian's question, his eyes never wandering from Berry. "I believe the Force was trying to tell me something about this one here... of how she would join a dark master against us." Precognition had never truly been an ability the young Human had experienced in the past. Certainly, when he had managed to summon enough calm for a meditation, he sometimes caught glimpses, or images, sometimes ideas, but the only early-warnings he ever received were short-sighted, such as in a duel.
This one, however, had been deep - and thorough. "You were right," he said to his friend, "we should take her with us. To make sure she doesn't let her powers consume her; she is too innately powerful to be left to her own devices - particularly with the way she thinks." His voice was cold and serious, and the cold sweats seemed to be drying, but his brown hair remained slightly damp. It was only then that he actually noticed the golden-green girl was shivering slightly, the thought having slipped his mind when she stole his sheet. He pointed to the fresher, a combination of a question and an accusation spilling from his mouth. "What happened in there, Berry - and don't try and smart-mouth me. Just the cold, hard truth."
Thane could even feel the emotions thrashing about within her, thoughts tumbling here and there, intermingled with confusion and curiosity. If he could sense it, he was certain the far more Force-attuned Bomoor could.
Berry shrugged, looking around the apartment she barely got to see before being tossed into the fresher. "Well, I was eating the food you gave me and then I fell asleep and I dreamed of some scary guy with a red glowstick–" She took in a breath "–holding something shiny that I wanted to eat." She stared blankly at Pale Guy. "Y'know, now that I think about it was pretty cold and it looked hard, too. Shiny. Is that enough?" She blinked and leant in, patting the remaining wet spots on his forehead with a corner of her sheet. No telling what other fluids found their way onto that blanket...
"Then we shared the same damned vision." Thane said the words simply and with a level of annoyance, displeased with how the Force had treated them this past day; it was as if the Living Force Bomoor was such an adherent to had decided to take its revenge on Thane for ignoring it so fantastically up until this point. The Human let out a long and tired sigh. "I need to speak with Bomoor," he told the part-Aquar, "go downstairs, eat some more food, dance with the fish - whatever - but this is important."
She flashed him a bright grin. “Well, yeah,” she said as if it was obvious. “You have to figure out how to stop that bad guy. But I think you guys can do it.” She patted his back and then pulled the sheet completely off the bed. “Can I take this?” Then she walked out.
TBC
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