Post by ender on Apr 9, 2009 14:19:23 GMT -5
Chapter 1
Beginning of the end
[/color][/b][/size][/font]Beginning of the end
Corran Horn stirred, that is, he attempted to, it was like trying to move a wall. He could not see anything, he was encased in something. What was it again? He had done it to himself. Corran’s head was thick and foggy; it was difficult to think straight. He was completely blind and could not see. He could not breathe. Corran used…the force..? to maintain his breathe. He had to reason out where he was.
Corran felt the encasing around his mouth begin to melt. He let out a hoarse gasp for air. Now he remembered; he had encased himself in frozen carbonite. He had set the time for five years, and now it was beginning to deploy. The carbonite was melting, and his head was clearing. He still could not see…
Corran grunted when he felt something smack him in the face. He tried to throw his hands out, but realized that he must have fallen on the ground. He hadn’t gained his sense of direction yet. He still could not see, how could he fix that? Corran thought for a moment, battling through the thick fog that still raged in his head. He rubbed his temple and groaned. He remembered that he had specifically prepared for something like this.
Corran shakily raised himself to his hands and knees and staggered around, throwing his hands around the ground to find what he was looking for. After a few minutes, Corran felt his hand knock over something. He picked it up and looked for the cap. He found it and he raised it over his head and put a few droplets of the liquid into each of his eyes. He opened and closed his eyes a few times and waited for them to refocus.
Soon enough, his vision returned to him. Corran shakily stood. His legs were still weak from not having moved for such an extended period of time. Disregarding that, he looked around to see where he was.
He was in some sort of cave lit by a fire that hung just above him near the ceiling. Corran couldn’t make out what it was burning, or if it was burning anything. To his right was a large blue electric shield with heavy boulders and rocks on one side, completely covering the entire surface of the shield. To his left, about 20 yards from where he stood, were what appeared to be two stone statues that looked as if they had been carved right where they stood. One, a young man, stood leaning against the cave wall with his arms folded, in deep thought. The other was a statue of a woman with her hands on her hips and standing as though she were glaring at the other statue. They looked awfully familiar. To the right of them, there stood a death-black ship with odd geometric patterns that hurt the eye to follow. It did not appear natural at all.
Corran was about to examine the statues and take a look at that ship when all of a sudden his face ran smack into nothing. He staggered back in surprise and put a hand on his nose and winced. He stretched forth his other hand and it met nothing. He could feel a solid surface beneath his hand, but he could not see or sense anything that indicated that there was anything there. It was some sort of invisible shield.
Invisible shield…? This sparked his memory. He walked over to the blue shield on his right and examined it. There was a device maintaining it on the right side of what would have been the mouth of the cave had it not been for the shield and boulders that barricaded it. Ah yes, he remembered now. He had set this shield up five years ago, and had drawn on the force to shift the rocks and rubble to form a hidden layer that covered the shield and hid it. In this manner, not only did any intruders have to go through some boulders, but also the shield. If Corran remembered right, he had also placed some other defenses around the area as well as distractions. He knew that he would not be able to attend to the defenses while not conscious, so he thought it was better not to take any chances.
Defenses? Against who? Corran thought about this for a moment, then remembered that he had been following two people that were not held in high esteem by many dangerous enemies. One was supposedly dead, and the other one was one of the most wanted assassins in the galaxy.
Corran remembered following them into this cave. He had done everything he could to conceal his ability to use the force. He even brought ysalamir skin with him. He used every ounce of his skill at stealth to prevent them from seeing him. He remembered there were two of them. They had somehow flown what looked to be the Liber Sum into the mouth of the cave. He remembered seeing one or both of them sealing up the cave with boulders about a hundred yards in. Corran remembered digging through these boulders so that he may get in, and then resealing it shut once he was through. He wasn’t exactly sure why he decided not to let them know he was there. He had had this gut feeling that if he had shown himself, he would have been killed in that instant. When a man is on the run, he is easily spooked. Corran had also thought it better that he had been there. The defense they had established hadn’t been very firm, it had not taken much effort to bypass it. If Corran could get past the defense, he knew that others could as well, if they were armed with the knowledge of where they were. Corran knew how to make good defenses.
Corran looked around the cave again and found the tool he was looking for. Stretching out his hand, his lightsaber flew from where it was placed on the wall and into his hand. The blade ignited a bright silver, emitting light that lit up his hands. Corran studied it for a while, and then smiled in satisfaction; it was good to be holding that lightsaber again. It had been his trusty companion in the Battle for Coruscant. It had probably saved his life on a few occasions.
Quickly deactivating the shield, he began to cut an arched hole into the boulders in a location that he knew would not affect the stability of the structure. White-hot rock dripped onto the floor close to his feet.
Once that was done, he used force push to send the rock flying away and then stepped through it. His face was welcomed with a mighty roar and a fowl breathe. Corran forced himself to keep his eyes open. He was looking in the face of a giant krayt dragon. Corran felt his black hair whip back as it gave another roar into his face.
Calmly, Corran used the force to reach out to the creature You have done well in your guard. Now I ask something more of you. Scout the area and tell me if you see anyone. Do it, and I will release you from my command. Go now. The dragon gave Corran a quick sniff, and then leaped out of the cave and out into the Tatooine sands.
Corran’s eyes followed the creature for a moment, his eyes squinting in the bright sunlight reflecting off the golden sands. He had studied many of the old Jedi masters, including the Dark Jedi Revan. He remembered that Revan had faced a dragon similar to this one. The dragon had been guarding something important. He couldn’t remember what exactly. He decided that if he wanted to keep curious eyes away, the best way to do it was to have something that could take those curious eyes away from the owner if they wandered here too far.
Just as Corran was turning to go back in the cave, his ears ringed from a large sonic boom. He went flat on his back from the sudden force. Boulders the size of water melons flew over him in an avalanche. Corran looked up as one of the larger ones came plummeting his way. In a desperate roll, he managed to scoot himself out of the way before he had his face planted further into his skull than was to his liking. Corran rubbed his eyes from the dust, and tried to see through the brown haze in the direction of where he was sure that sound had come from.
When the dust cleared, he saw a young man about his height with blonde hair and blue eyes step in his direction. His face was content, but cautious. He looked to Corran’s direction, and then suddenly he felt his whole body ripped from the ground and dragged over to where Ender was standing. His feet dangled in the air. Well then, Corran thought to himself, This must be Ender. Apparently he can preserve his body by encasing it in stone.
Ender studied Corran carefully, “Who are you?” He asked.
Although Corran was in no position to do this, he thought he may as well test the man. Calculatively, he carved the emotion of surprise into his face, with a little offended touch, “You don’t recognize me?”
Ender raised an eyebrow, “Should I?”
“I suppose not.”
“Then what is your name,” he asked again.
“Which one?”
“What do you mean, which one?”
“I’ve always considered my ID to be as true as my real name.” Corran grinned.
“So you are a soldier?”
“Did I say that?”
“Yes, you did.” Ender said flatly.
Corran summoned his most innocent smile, “Soldiers aren’t the only ones who wear ID’s, hmm.”
From the look on Ender’s face, he did not find this amusing, “You are a soldier, you move like one. Who do you serve under?”
“Why, the leader of Jedia of course.”
Ender looked beyond Corran, out into the sands, “And is he here?”
Corran knew what he was thinking, but he decided to say it anyway, “Yes, of course he’s here. That’s why I’m here.”
Ender noticeably shivered. He began to walk towards the sands outside, as though he intended to look for him. He then stopped and turned to Corran, “Where is he? Where is Nader?”
Corran looked confused, “Nader?”
“Yes you fool, where is he?” Ender visibly began to tremble.
“Which Nader?”
“The Emperor of Jedia! Who else would I be talking about!? Where is he? I cannot sense him.”
“Oh, that one? I don’t know where he is.”
Taken aback, Ender looked at him oddly, “Speak plainly. Where is your leader?”
“My leader is in this cave.”
Ender’s head whipped around the cave. Corran felt the grip that was holding him tighten, as if it were trying to hold onto something real, something safe. Corran liked to think that he was safe…to his allies that is.
Well, Corran thought he had learned enough. This man was no friend to the Jedian traitor, “My leader, and the leader of what is left of the true Jedian army, is standing before me, and his name is Ender.”
Ender slowly turned to him, “You make no sense.” Whether Corran made sense or not, relief was evident in his face.
“You are the only person currently alive that I can say is a leader of Jedia. All others are false and need to be removed.”
Ender seemed to zone out, and from the look in his eyes, something he had said had hurt him, or had sparked a memory. Curious… Corran thought, Tchdwn? “Perhaps,” Ender finally said, “But I know that I am not the man for the job. Where is the rest of this true Jedian Army you speak of?”
Corran placed an ironic grin on his face, “What you see before you is the might of the Jedian army.” He stretched out his hands as best he could in his invisible straps, which wasn’t much.
Ender grimaced at Corran’s words. He shifted his feet and then stretched out his hands. Corran’s lightsaber leaped from his belt and into Ender’s outstretched hand. Ender ignited the silver blade and looked at it curiously, “This somehow looks familiar.”
“Yes, I collected it on Coruscant.”
Ender looked at Corran, “Yes, I think I remember your face at the Battle. You were protecting Jimbo. You must be Corran Horn. I’m glad that at least you survived.”
“Yes, I am too. I am also glad that I can serve as an excellent decoration in this cave for you. Perhaps you could hang me over there, hmm?” Corran gestured over to a random part of the cave.
Ender’s face reddened, “Sorry.” Corran slowly descended to the ground and he landed on his feet. Corran tested his footing, and smiled.
Ender waited for Corran to regain his orientation and then said, “Now, if you will tell me…”
“ENDER I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” A young girl that must have been half his age wearing military pants and a black shirt stomped into view. Well then, Corran thought wryly, This must be the QT, that is, Tigeress. Or did she go by a different name?. She had dark, shoulder-length black hair, blue eyes, and dark skin. She glared menace at Ender.
Ender looked at her oddly, as though he found her anger unreasonable, “What Tigeress?”
“You think being encased in that stupid stone of yours would make me happy!? You left me there while I was conscious! While you’re sitting here having a good time with your new friend, I was nearly suffocating!” She went over to Ender and slapped him hard on the face.
Ender rubbed his cheek, “You couldn’t have been conscious for more than a few minutes. I was just about to get to you. Someone penetrated our defenses…” He glanced at Corran.
Tigeress made no gesture that indicated that she cared in the slightest, “Your argument fails because even if you took care of any intruders, I would still be in here suffocating. Therefore you were irresponsible in my safety when I said you could do this to me.”
Ender shook his head and sighed. Corran suspected that whatever was going on between them, there was obviously a lack of communication, “Ok, I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
“You’re lucky that I was smart enough to figure out how to get out of it myself,” Tigeress glowered.
“You would have been fine Tigeress…”
“FINE!? Is your idea of me being a breathless corpse fine!? Why I agreed to travel with you at all…”
Corran decided to butt in to divert the argument that seemed to be developing. He was not sure if that would be the best thing at moment, “Mind if I ask what that encasing or whatever it is called was?” Both of them looked at him oddly, as though he had just asked if Rancors could fly. Tigeress folded her arms and looked at Ender to explain. She still looked angry.
“I couldn’t say that there was a name to it. The rocky casing isn’t a necessary for the process. It was simply used for a protection…”
“Some protection,” Tigeress growled.
“…Basically what I did,” Ender continued, “Was use the One Power to slow down the bodily functions of both Tigeress and me. I stopped them to the point where our bodies could be preserved from any necessity, such as food, water, oxygen, for years. I think I made it strong enough for 5 years. I then stripped layers of rock from the walls of this cave and encased our bodies. It’s actually a very simple process, very similar to frozen carbonite, though without the unnecessary side-effects. There eventually comes a point where the person in this mode will begin to regain consciousness, but the body is still at rest. Since Tigeress is not used to not being able to control her lungs, she believed, from what little consciousness she had at the time, that she was suffocating, when her body didn’t need oxygen at that time. She started breathing again when her body returned to normal and she blasted the rock away from her with the force. Well, that’s what I assume anyway.”
Corran rubbed his chin, “hmm…” They were wasting time. They needed to find their bearings quickly if they intended to survive against the Jedian traitor. He had to gain their trust so that they could move. They hadn’t even been properly introduced yet. Where was that beast…?
“That explanation does not satisfy me at all, considering you didn’t warn me beforehand!” Tigeress had a stubborn set to her jaw.
“I wasn’t thinking about it at the time.”
“Well, you’d better..” She cut off when they heard a distant roar. Tigeress and Ender looked sharply out into the sands.
Finally…Corran shifted his feet, coughed, and headed out. Tigeress and Ender silently watched him go. He held his hand out to the sun to shield his eyes, and looked at the krayt dragon, which stopped right in front of him, sand settling from where he had been running and kicking it up into the air. The thing flared its nostrils and looked harshly at Corran. A flood of emotions and images began to take up Corran’s mind as it reported what it saw. Corran smiled. There wasn’t anyone or anything within miles of them. Corran let out a breath. No one would have heard that bang, they would still have time. He could afford to let them do as they wanted. They had time.
Corran realized what he was thinking and chuckled to himself. Ender could probably turn him to ash where he stood, and Tigeress, with all her training, could probably dislocate his neck before he could blink, or remove it entirely. There was no way he could get them to do anything. That is….not directly. He was willing to offer some…suggestions, and then follow their lead.
After releasing the dragon from his mind trick, Corran headed back to the cave as Ender asked, “What was that about?”
Corran cracked his knuckles. He did not do this very often, but after 5 years of remaining in a fixed position, it felt good, “Perhaps it would be a good idea to know what’s outside, hmm? Krayt dragons have sharp eyes.”
“You must be very gifted with controlling animals. I don’t think even I could have done that,” Tigeress rubbed her chin thoughtfully, studying Corran, “And that is saying something.”
“Ok, so you are here because you acknowledge me as your leader, right?” Ender leaned on one leg and folded his arms.
“That is correct, sir.”
Before Ender could open his mouth, Tigeress butted in, “There’s no need to call Ender ‘sir’. He doesn’t need those formalities.” She grinned at him.
Ender rolled his eyes, “It doesn’t matter what he calls me. He can call me whatever his heart desires.”
A glint of mischief flashed into her eyes, “I heard a funny name once. It was very cute. Zorry. Since I can call you whatever I want, I think I’ll call you Zorry!” Ender looked very annoyed, “oh quit sulking Zorry, just be happy I don’t call you something else.” She laughed at his alarmed look.
Corran almost smiled; he found this all very amusing. Perhaps it was to cope with the stress of a hard past, or perhaps to escape from reality. Nevertheless, work had to be done.
Corran stood at soldierly attention and placed a fist on his heart, “What is your command, sir?” Tigeress’s mouth tightened. She didn’t like being ignored.
Ender looked at him a moment, then wore a serious expression, “At ease,” Corran spread his feet apart, and clasped his hands behind his back. Ender began walking around in thought, “Nader needs to be destroyed, I believe we can all agree on this.” Corran risked a slight nod of his head. A man who was willing to destroy his entire army for the sake of his personal goals deserved no army, nor did he deserve the command of his empire. Tigeress nodded hers fiercely, a dangerous glint flashing in her eyes. She also, had reasons to bring down Nader. She had lost another father, to him, “For all the fact that we have the Liber Sum, a ship that is said to be indestructible, and can magnify the power of the user a hundred-fold, I feel very strongly that attacking him directly would be a fatal mistake. Why, I cannot lay a finger on it…” Ender unconsciously laid two fingers on his temple. A lightstaff appeared in his hands. He looked at it in surprise, “I forgot I could still do that. Seems rather pointless now, with all the power I’ve gained, or found that I had.” He muttered something that Corran didn’t quite catch. Tigeress looked at him curiously, as if trying to figure something out, “Anyway,” Ender continued, “We know nothing of what has transpired in these last five years, nor do we know what Nader is currently doing. We need information, and we need allies. We need people who know of Nader’s treachery, and are willing to stand against it.”
“After five years, Ender, anyone who would stand against Nader would already have done this. Perhaps Nader has already been killed. If anyone got to him before I did, I will start skinning everyone alive for not waiting for me!” She glared at Corran, as if she were going to start the skinning with him.
“If there is no one, then we can make our own. It will be harder, but it can be done. Me personally, I believe that we will find some willing to stand against him. Perhaps not directly, given his power, but there will be some biting his heels without him knowing it.”
“True,” Tigeress said, “But he bit our heels for a very long time before he flashed his true colors and blew up Coruscant. Well, indirectly that is, no offense to you, Ender. He will know the signs.”
“Then I guess they wouldn’t be anywhere near Jedia.” Ender said, “They would have to be very far removed from him. He is probably arrogant enough to believe that no one can harm him outside of the Jedian system.”
“hmm,” Corran rubbed a chin, breaking the soldier’s rule in the process. So Ender’s army was a laid back one. Well, as a one-man army, Corran could get away with it, since technically he was second in command, “Mos Eisely has Catinas in it, hmm…”
Ender looked at Corran, “Well, if we’re to go on this conspiracy against Nader, then we need to get information. There are bound to be connected people in one of the Catinas. What do you think, Tigeress? I know that you are very specialized in things like this.”
“I didn’t need connections, Ender. People did as I said, when I said it, or they died, and that was that. But yes, I have to agree that it sounds like a good plan. Pi777 would probably know more, but I doubt we’d ever see him again.”
“Yes, Nader was aware he knew too much.” Ender grimaced, “It would be nice if we could find him, but if we did, I don’t think he would be able to help us. May he rest in peace.”
“Sir, may I ask a question?”
“Go ahead,” Ender said.
“Why are you still carrying that lightstaff?”
Ender looked down and was surprised. Apparently he had forgotten that he was still holding it, “I feel…” He looked very hard at it, “That for some reason, there is something more to this than meets the eye.” He hefted it carefully, and then gave it a whirl, “Something dangerous, that could cost me my life. I can’t seem to grasp what it is….” He shrugged, then let the lightstaff disappear, “Ok, we need to head to Mos Eisely.” He let the lightstaff disappear.
“Yes sir!”
“Ok Zorry.”
It was nothingness. Nothing mattered to Sith other then his desires and the two men in front of him, and even they held little bearing. They could disappear at any moment. No walls, no landscape, no rooms, nothing. All that existed was Sith, Darkknight, Platinum, and the floor of nothing to keep them up. Darkknight would have shivered for all the impossibilities that were in the World of Dreams, if he were not so delighted.
The familiar deathly, sickly voice boomed through his head, “FAILURE MEANS ETERNAL DEATH. GO, AND DO NOT FALTER.” Sith’s foggy black robes whipped in rage, lashing out, searching for a kill. It was impossible to see his face; it was entirely concealed in blackness. He would be serious on his threat, and he had the power to do it. An eternal death was far worse than a normal death by about a thousand fold. This did not concern Darkknight, he did not mean to falter. He had paid too much a price already to get this far. He glanced at Platinum. His lips were curved in a knowing smile.
Darkknight wore his own smile. Soon, it would be time to make the man he hated suffer, the one who had betrayed him, the one who had humiliated him. Darkknight would be at peace again when he could spit on the grave of his former master. Che Guevara would not live for very long.
