Consolidation Litanies of the Dark Side: Defiance

[Dreadheart]

For few moments, the commlink remained silent. Romla, tilted his head to the side, seemingly still estimating what was going on behind the Fury's transparesteel. It was rather strange, to say the least, for someone not to be able to answer that specific question. She had forgotten her name? Or did she not have one? He could only guess.

Reason quickly struck, though, for if she was a captive of the Sith, there was only so much one could endure before succumbing into madness. He had seen their slave crew, their thrall armies and their own turned into little more than pets.

A feeling of disgust clotted his throat. He swallowed. A vain attempt to push it down.

"I see someone else there. Are you alone? What happened to the crew?" he inquired.

He switched on the scanner. A tinny blue light flickered against his orange uniform, hinting the life of the system. He turned his eyes down to the cockpit's consoles.

"I can see you are the only one alive in there. That pilot is below critical. Is it a Sith?"

The other Liberators performed slow circles around the Fury, as if they marked the territory for their own.

The scanners of the Interceptor sparked to life again, this time detecting a larger vessel approaching from the void.

"I will need you to help me get this ship secured. There must be a switch, or lever, to power down the engine. Find it, and use it. Somewhere on the transmission screen you should find a button to transmit Ship's credentials. Use that too. When I have that ship secured, we can get you out of it, and into a medbay."

 

[Valia Muqai]

Valia did not care for Romla's suspicions or attempt to allay them. That was the only answer she could think of and give, at least for the moment, and thankfully, he seemed to accept it and did not press on further in that incredibly sore spot within her conscience.

"You could say that, yes." She nodded, briefly glancing over at Kirki next to her. There was no time to worry about her barely living companion.

She pushed herself up from her seat and over the ship's control panel. Searching through the numerous buttons and switches until she could locate the engine cut-off and the button to transmit the ship's credentials after a short time of trial and error using her long atrophied experience with piloting, then slumping back to her seat. Panting as if the effort drained her of further energy.

"Please be faster, I don't think I can hold on for much longer."

 

[Aola Cliyerslan Vilbolra]

The Captain remained silent for a moment.

"I got you. Are you injured? Can you tell me what happened in there?" he inquired then.

As soon as he spoke, he switched the Mute button back on, before connecting his intercom.

"This is Red Leader, we got Target in position, ready for tractor beam."

---

Her breath was calm, calculated. In all the struggles and sacrifices, even now, she couldn't help but bring forth memories of loss and deceit and failure and Death. But this, was not her purpose there. Atop the bridge of the Romulus Rex, she was bombarded by the numerous noises produced by the scanners, the engine reports and the navy correspondence, as the Thranta-Class Corvette emerged from Hyperspace.

The artificial air was perfumed with a strange scent, meant to cover up the malfunctioning of the life support. The Romulus Rex herself was a battered veteran ship, who carried the markings of defying the Dark Crusade's naval supremacy in the near sector in the form of a shattered engine, and various point-defence turrets bruised by some prior engagement that had yet to be repaired, due to how recent these battle scars were.

"General, we have contact with the Fury Interceptor." one of the bridge officers reported, offering the Jedi a datapad.

"Must be from the splinter fleet from Skor."

"Should we launch fighters?"

"No." Aola shook her head, turning her gaze into the distant void, her eyes barely distinguishing the Fury Interceptor. "Charge the tractor beam. Marines at the hangar."

Though her eyes gazed into the distance, it was the Force through which she reached out, as if to make herself a beacon of Light, hoping to sense something from the distant lost ship.

---

The Thranta advanced, as the Fury's deck started shaking, the starfighter of Captain Romlo pulled back.

"Stay on the cockpit. Keep your hands behind your head when they enter. You will be safe soon." he spoke with a strangely reassuring tone in the commlink.

 

[Valia Muqai]

Valia gave no answer to the Captain's questions, instead choosing to let herself be lost in her own thoughts for the moment. She still could hardly believe what was happening. In the back of her mind, she considered if it was a terribly cruel trick that will soon unveil itself in the very last moment. A test of loyalty? Darth Eosfor should have known where her loyalties laid by then and such test should be entirely unnecessary.

It was difficult to keep clear mind despite her attempts. Between the pain and fatigue washing over her. Though her senses within the force still remained sharp enough. She could sense warmth reaching out to her like a beacon signaling its presence. Valia recoiled, not even realizing she had grown so unused to the light. To the one reaching out, Valia appeared nothing more than a flickering flame in the darkness, desperately clinging on.

She nodded slowly to the captain's instructions. The reassuring tone he had did wonders to dispel more of Valia's worries, at least for a time.

 

[Eaglor Aest]

Time warped, loosing its meaning the more it progressed. When and for how long the Liberator squadron escorted the tractor-beamed Fury Interceptor towards the Corvette, or how long it took for the welders to unseal the blastdoor at the stern of the Interceptor was lost in a period deprived of motion or flow, becoming a mere cluster of memories experienced in a strange limbo.

Aola waited patiently as the welders did their work. The starship itself was bound on deck, while the hangar itself was closed, denying any chance of the Fury to fly out of the vessel. She waited, in what could only be described as a silent prayer to the dim lit candle she sensed behind the durasteel not to fade, by the time the welders succeeded in breaching into the ship. Eventually, the blast door, bent and blackened by the blowtorches, fell against the deck.

With no words spoken, Eaglor approached the Jedi Master. He turned his head to her, and she nodded, and with that, he had received the same orders he had had so many times before, in so many cases before, rendering any vocal confirmation redundunt, between the two. She was his General. And he, her soldier most loyal.

He tapped the safety of his rifle and switched to stun mode. The weapon was a standard issue S-311 "Saboteur" rifle. Unlike most, who jumped to the opportunity of switching gear to a better, more advanced killing machine, Eaglor viewed the Saboteur as a weapon that reminded him of his origins, oh so long ago, in the days now long forgotten by most under arms, in this period of perpetual conflict the galaxy found itself in.

He walked into the Fury and switched the light of his helmet on. Power had long been cut off from the interior, as the power generator had given up, drenching the cabin in darkness.

"If you can hear me, make yourself known!" he shouted. His voice altered by the helmet's vox. A rather characteristic sound, making most of the Republic Troopers to sound the same.

He aimed ahead, turning swiftly as he hugged the wall, entering the cockpit.

Kirki, who's chest barely hinted of breath, was lying against the pilot's seat, her hands hanging down, weighted only by the rings still worn, glued by the coalgulated blood inbetween the fingers.

But Eaglor's barrel, was not aimed at her...

 

[Valia Muqai]

Time became a completely meaningless concept once again. How much had gone by since she had awakened on the ship, been found, and the distinct sounds of the blast door gradually being unsealed were completely lost on Valia. To her, it felt like an eternity she lay there feeling as if she teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. Each careful breath pulled at the stitches and staples on her chest, which felt as if they could tear at any moment, much to her immense worry.

She remained still when Eaglor moved into the cabin, now darkened by the lack of power. The room had become much colder as well due to the lack of heating, or the cold was entirely in her head; Valia couldn't discern.

"I am unarmed." Valia rasped. Placing both her hands behind her head, just like what the Captain had instructed. She didn't turn the seat to look at Eaglor and didn't see where his gun was pointed, but Valia could sense the danger the weapon posed, to herself or otherwise,

 

[Eaglor Aest]

"Stay as you are." Eaglor instructed. "Medic's on the way."

The trooper stepped closer, slowly circling around her seat, as soon as a second pair of footsteps sounded in the ship. A third, came soon after. Eaglor lowered his rifle and produced a lifesign scanner which he held over Kirki's body. It beeped.

Her body did not motion, as her footprint in the Force was lost almost completely.

"Call the General. One crew, one Sith dead. We got one Sith alive, and the captive..." he nodded to the other trooper. As he brought the lifesign scanner over Valia.

"You got to be kidding me..." he muttered.

He brought it again over her, this time close enough to make contact with her hair.

No beeping.

Eaglor stared at the pale woman. Though his eyes hidden behind the visor, his shock was sensible even through the Force herself.

"What... Are you?"

 

[Aola Cliyerslan Vilbolra]

The Jedi Master stepped into the captured ship. The very view of the dead followed by a punch of foul scent, so deeply seeded into the craft it felt those who dwelt in it were no longer able to identify the stench. Blood splattered on the walls, while the Sith's lightsaber lied cracked, the crystal missing from the shards. Aola took in the imagery, trying to relive what horrid occasion unfolded onboard, and wondering how and why would the Interceptor ever end up in her grasp.

The Sith of the Dark Crusade do not make such mistakes...

"Slice the mainframe. We need all we can use from the data still intact." she instructed in the commlink.

Her steps carried her further, to the cockpit. The troopers made way for her to pass, followed by two white-marked medical droids.

She halted her pacing as soon as she saw the scene. Her eyes turning to Eaglor, of who's shock she could sense without even trying. The girl, seated on the co-pilot's seat, the candle she hasted not to see fading. She reached out in the Force, as if to embrace her in ethereal arms, pouring just a little bit more wax into the dying flame.

 

[Valia Muqai]

Valia closed her eyes and exhaled in much sought-after relief at the trooper's presence. A sign that her glimmer of hope in being rescued was coming closer to reality. Kirki still lived, judging from the scanner's beeping and the trooper's comments, but she did not care about that then.

When it came to her, however, the lifesign scanner did not emit its signature beeping, despite multiple attempts, and she could sense the trooper's shock at this. What was she? Valia looked up at him with shared confusion.

She sensed another person enter the ship. One strong in the Force, full of light. Valia could immediately tell there was a jedi in their midst. She should be delighted, instead she felt unsure and even slightly nervous. Valia wondered how she would even begin to explain everything to them.

As a response to her attempts in reaching out, Valia flinched, as if moving away from the attempted embrace in her unfamiliarity towards it. The sensation felt unnatural and discomforting, even though it shouldn't be. Valia wanted to be delighted by it and return its embrace, yet she could not, despite her attempts.

 

[Aola Cliyerslan Vilbolra]

"It is alright, you are safe now, child" Aola reassured her. She did not push, nor did she insist in her efforts, offering to the girl what she saw as a most needed space.
"Take her to the medbay, see to her wounds" the Jedi Master instructed the droids, and so, the droids approached, unfolding a stretcher, before gently reaching to the girl, to place her on it.

The Jedi observed. She could feel the troopers' discomfort around the survivor. Something unnatural and repulsive held presence near her, strong enough to inflict a headache on the surrounings, yet not material, or real enough to be sensed in the Force, regardless how much the Jedi Master reached out to identify.

Aola's head spinned in question. She could not know whether this was a form of a fireship, sent plagued with wicked sorcery or worse, or if the girl was simply still carrying the stench of torture and foul experimentation. It was her belief, however, that she would be able to find out the answer to her questions in due, as soon as they reached the medbay.

"You will be taken to the medbay, to see to your wounds" Aola explained to the girl.

"Nobody is going to harm you, you have my word."

 

[Valia Muqai]

Instinctively, she had expected the Jedi Master to force her will onto her, as any Sith would have done. Much to Valia's relief, the Jedi understood that she preferred her space. She did not resist the droid's efforts to place her onto the stretcher.

The reassuring words, kindness, and compassion felt so unusual for Valia that she trusted none of it. Something continued to scream in the back of her mind to be wary of trickery. There was no way that Darth Eosfor had let her go so easily after everything that had happened.

That scream remained ignored in favor of clinging to hope. It could truly be her only chance.

"Where are you taking me?" Valia asked.

 

[Eaglor Aest]

"You are with us now" Aola said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, as the droids llifted the stretcher and started to carry the girl out. "We will take care of you now."

The droids carried the girl out, through the hangar, where they were met by an armed Marine escort. The troopers, sharing the orange markings Eaglor brandished, formed up around the stretcher and started the long path to the medbay. On occasion, they turned their gaze on her. It was apparent, none among them shared Aola's welcoming attitude towards her.

"Looks like one of them Reds, alright..." one of the troopers murmured.

"Pale, skinny and septic" another commented. "I only hope we don't get that big.... -thing- that got Harkam and the boys of the 53rd back in Karideph...."

"Keep your tongues to yourselves, you two" Eaglor interjected. "Keep weapons at stun, and have an EMP by the belt. The General is no fool, she will send a Jedi to keep track of...." he shrugged, looking down at the girl lying on the stretcher. "Whatever this is..."

"And the Sith?"

"Which one?"

"The other one..."

"That's going down the 11th Nova... They gonna get her back up and running... I wouldn't want to be there when they do..." Eaglor shook his head, as he called yet another lift for the group to move. By then, they should be deep in the ship, having gone through numerous narrow corridors that defined this type of corvettes.

"We get her to the medbay, we are done as far as I am concerned, boys."

 

[Valia Muqai]

As comforting as the Jedi woman's presence was. Valia could not fully relax on the stretcher; she felt tense and nervous. She could sense the troopers' apprehension, and even disgust, towards herself. It placed her further on the edge, fearing one of them might act to put her out of her misery, despite the Jedi's promises of protection.

Hearing Karideph mentioned once more caused a spike of pain through her chest that made her wince. The memories of that dreadful day flashed in her mind. Reminded of all the pain and suffering that had happened, which she had worked so hard to suppress in a bid to maintain whatever was left of her sanity.

Valia wanted to speak to them, maybe ask a question, but chose not to. Deciding it was best to save her strength until she reached the medbay, which was a place she dreaded as well.

 

[Nassuga Missotbu Fanna]

Beep... Beep... Beep...

The first thing to attack her senses, before her eyes even openned was the scent of sterilization chemicals. The blinding light over the bed, moving horizontally along it produced an ever so slight noise of faulty bearings, grinded down by overuse. And yet, the medbay seemed clean. A medical droid hovered by the bed, extending its arm on which a scanner was attached, running a quick vitals check. Her upper clothing was removed, with kolto bandages covering most of her torso, offering a cold sensation against the skin.

"You are very lucky."

The voice came from a nearby mobile bench, on which various surgical tools and emptied viles were laid. The alien creature speaking had large, humid head in the shade of grey, with black spots. An aquatic alien.

"Took me awhile to remedy the damadth." the lisping alien continued. A hand rolled cigarette hopped from his mouth while he spoke. Some five more deformed in a small glass filled with water. "Your immune thythtem ith imprethive. Though cothtly on the Kolto, to thay the leatht."

The alien turned and walked towards the woman on the bed.

"You may feel dizzy, for abit. Thtand up when you feel able. Medth take a toll on the thythtem."

 

[Valia Muqai]

The dreadful continuous beeping of a machine jolted Valia back to consciousness. Expecting to be strapped down in a poorly lit, dilapidated medbay with life support tubing forced down her throat, that was not what greeted her. Valia awoke to, for once, a proper medbay without the disturbing presence of the Dark Crusade's excuse of a medical team.

She squinted at the brightness of the medbay, unused to it. She pushed herself up to sit, her head still spinning from having just awoken. Her hand moved to rest over the kolto bandages over chest. It felt cold in a relieving sort of way, gone was the feeling of flesh being pulled with each breath she took. Fatigued still plagued her, but overall, she felt much, much better.

"What even happened? I don't remember being injured to this extent." Valia still remembered plunging the knife into her chest, it was something better left unsaid for the time being however.

 

[Nassuga Missotbu Fanna]

"Tithue Necrothith"

The alien responded, almost as soon as she inquired.

"You were not feeling inthured, becauthe half your tortho had already died. I redthuvilated what could be thalvadthed. Three dayth in kolto can do wanderth, after removing infected tithue."

He moved to the mobile bench and picked the glass with water. Then, he made his way across the room, to a chair inbetween the monitors and the bed, where he sat on, placing the glass on the keyboard of the nearest computer, tapping the ash off the cigarette, before bringing it back to his lips.

"Now that you are awake, I can give you painkillerth for the headache. For the heart..." he shook his head, causing the tinny tentacles on the sides of his upper lips to jiggle. "You gonna have to find thome ditholvanth, before another clot workth itth madthic."

His hand reached for the computer's keyboard, on which he lazily typed, choosing to stretch himself than stand up from the chair.

"Theemth like the Jthedai like you. You can conthider yourthelf mutth luckier than the Thith lady."

As soon as he stopped typing, so did the life support beeping fall in silence.

 

[Valia Muqai]

Almost as soon as it was mentioned, Valia began to feel the signature intense ache of a bad headache mostly localized behind her eyes. There was sharp pain within her chest that was gradually increasing in intensity. Valia could guess it was the stab wound she had inflicted on her heart. What confused her was how it had managed to work again after everything, though it felt pointless to ask, after all that had happened.

Despite the present discomforts, Valia moved to sit at the edge of the medical bed, her feet hanging to the side but not moving to stand up quite yet.

"Did you replace anything? Like anything at all?" Valia asked. Expecting the answer to be already a yes. Even if she didn't feel 'off'.

"What happened to the Sith woman as well?"

 

[Nassuga Missotbu Fanna]

The alien shook his head, before moving his shoulders.

"Replathe, no. I only removed the thulphure." he pointed out. His voice clearly intrigued by the very information addressed.

"Half a kilogram of it. Felt like I wath declogging a thtool. There..."

He gestured with his hand across the room. On the mobile bench, besides the bloody tools and the emptied viles was one filled to the brim with an ooze-like black-greenish substance, at least twice the size of a curled palm, with tinny shards of metal scattered in the mixture.

"That wath right below that inthithion on your tthetht." he continued. "Can't thurvive that in any book I know. Cleared the lung, too. The other had no damadthe."

He remained silent for a moment or two, picking the cigarette from his mouth and tapping its ash over the glass.

"Theemth like Death dthutht wouldn't have you."

The alien stood up, resting the cigarette on his lips as he clenched his hands.

"The troopers took her. Don't know if she survived. You should ask Master Vilbolra, she has taken particular interest in your recovery."

 

[Valia Muqai]

Valia's expression twisted into a mixture of disgust and disbelief at the alien's description of what he had removed from her body. Further confirmed by the containers laid on the mobile bench across the room. How those came to be over a simple stab wound she'd never know. Likely the consequences of whatever sorry excuse of a treatment that the Dark Crusade considered.

"How did that even happen...." she muttered.

At least, no part of her had been replaced by anything mechanical. That was the singular silver lining of the situation.

She gave no response to the comment about death. It was a sore enough spot already.

She slowly slid down from the bed, holding on to its edge as she tested the strength of her legs. Stars appeared in her vision briefly as her head spun, eventually subsiding as her body adapted to standing. The pain in her chest intensified somewhat for a short time before subsiding into a manageable ache.

"Ugh... it hurts..." Valia whispered under her breath. She took a deep inhale before addressing the alien. "Where is Master Vilbolra then? Or should I wait for her here?" Part of her hoped it was the latter.

 

[Aola Cliyerslan Vilbolra]

The alien rushed, extending an arm to offer support as the woman attempted to stand.

"You thould take it eathy, anethtethia ith thtill in your thythtem!" he pointed out. "The thtittheth will hold, not to worry. Thould take a few hourth before you can roam around again."

The vitals screen experienced a sudden spike, leading to a beeping sound, as if giving voice to the pain mixed with the side effects of dizzyness, that consumed her as she moved.

"Mathter Vilbolra will vithit you here. You have to thtay in bed, for a time." the alien suggested.

"One cannot blame her for being anxious"

The voice was dyed with a soft tone, sounding melodic though carrying the weight of decades of struggle, like a flower unyielding to the thorns surrounding it, blooming to the spring sun irrespective of the tortures of frost and flood suffered through the winter.

The Tw'ilek stood by the entrance of the medbay. Her blue body was wrapped in a white dress cut in delicate shape to allow flexability, while her torso was embraced by a flexiplast cuirass, branded by the star of Ashla on the height of the chest. A tactical synthleather cap was placed on her head, from which her two thin lekkus sprouted from.

Over her hips, a pair of lightsaber hilts hung attached to her utility belt.

The Jedi's eyes looked into the woman by the bed offering a strange, serene sensation.

"How do you feel?"

She inquired.