Ask In Our Midst

[Cheriss Ktrame]

“There will be more suffering if things go your way.” Candace reached out a hand to retrieve the knives with the Force, but not before Cheriss did the same and flicked them aside, letting them thud into the wall. Candace’s grip on the Force was weak, and she wondered if the woman was any more than a Padawan.

“And to think all of this could have been avoided.” Cheriss pointed her blade at the ground to her side, and that was when the children made the first move, throwing a metal cup at Maerae before attacking her from both sides with kicks and punches. She didn’t know what that was supposed to do against two lightsabers, but if this was all Corpal had to defend himself, she would almost be sorry for him when they found him. It wouldn’t be much of a fight at all. Candace clearly thought so too.

“No! Wait-” Before she could finish, a flash of red flew towards her and she was forced to duck. Cheriss’ lightsaber returned to her hand and she lunged forward, aiming for the woman’s heart. But then she felt something quickly approaching her. A vibroknife zipped straight for her head, and her attack was cut short as she moved to knock the blade aside with her saber. It skittered across the floor. Knife out of the way, she turned back to Candace as the woman tried to unlodge the other knife as well, but that one was firmly stuck in the wall. That was too bad. With one smooth swing, Candace’s head was separated from her torso. Cheriss extinguished her blade and took a step back after that.

What a fool.

Spoiler: Rolls

Rolled 18 for Cheriss(attack), 13 for Candace(resistance)

@Vicc125

 

[Maerae Verdan]

Cheriss took on Candace Corpal, or whatever this Jedi's real name was, and Maerae was fine with that. The woman was trained, at least partially, and the Champion had more power in the Force and more skill with a lightsaber than Maerae herself did. So the young Acolyte didn't worry one bit, as knives started flying around the room.

She had other things to occupy her time: dealing with the part of the job that meant getting her hands dirty.

The children came at her, actually tried to rush her, with nothing more than fists and feet. And a cup, that harmlessly bounced off of her thigh. For a split second, Maerae was conflicted. Jedi Younglings/Padawans or not, the woman had no desire to kill them. None. She had spent the entire trip hoping that their deaths could be avoided; that somehow, she could be clever enough to come up with a way to spare them, without seeming weak or merciful.

But the galaxy didn't work like that.

So when the first child came at her, she simply flicked her wrist, and let the yellow blade do what a lightsaber did. Maerae didn't let herself look at the outcome, but she knew. The second child stopped short, properly terrified of her now. But it was too little too late. With her face contorted in a mixture of hate, sorrow, and disgust, Maerae lunged forward with her blue lightsaber.

She closed her eyes, though. The outcome was still clear, judging by the silence that now filled the room. But she refused to look upon the scene of her own carnage nonetheless. Trembling, Maerae turned herself around, so that she wouldn't have to gaze upon what she had done.

Candace's lightsaber found itself tossed to the ground, and her own weapon found its usual place on her hip. Sick to her stomach, Maerae walked back toward the cockpit without a word.

Spoiler: Rolls

20 for Maerae's First Attack on Child 1, 18 for Maerae's Second Attack on Child 2, 19 for Child 1's Resistance, 5 for Child 2's Resistance

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss turned back to see how Maerae was doing, but the younger woman had already made quick work of the children. As a result, Cheriss only saw Maerae’s back as the Acolyte left for the cockpit. So soon? Cheriss had been about to praise her on getting it done so quickly. Then she shrugged to herself; Maerae had done her job, and surely she would know that she’d done it well.

Cheriss moved the bodies to one side with the Force, not wanting to have to step over them later when they got off the ship. She paused as she neared the hall, picking up the lightsaber on the ground before making her way back to the cockpit as well and placing it in a little compartment near the entrance. She glanced over at Maerae as she closed it.

“Careful with this. We don’t want to let it fall into the wrong hands.” Lightsaber taken care of, Cheriss plopped herself down in the pilot’s seat and looked at the holomap displayed on the navicomputer. They were going to arrive at their destination in just a few minutes, where Corpal would be waiting for them as well as for his “reinforcements”. She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he found out that even with all this planning, things hadn’t worked out in his favor. She couldn’t help smiling at the thought.

“Well, we certainly taught them a lesson today that they won’t soon forget.”

@Vicc125

 

[Maerae Verdan]

She'd killed children. Children. They must have been no older than twelve, and she'd just... stolen the rest of their lives from them. It was unjust. It was cruel. It was evil. And she'd done it without hesitation, without trying to offer mercy. Cheriss had commanded, and she'd followed the order to the letter. No choice, nothing she could do.

Except that was a lie. She could have done anything else. Come up with a logical reason for keeping them alive, pleaded with Cheriss if she'd had to, but Maerae had done none of that. Instead, she had chosen violence. Because that was all she was good for; all she'd ever been good for, as her instructors had told her.

She'd raged against them for so long, that she'd never stopped to consider if they were correct. And they had been.

Her hands still trembled, and she balled them into fists as Cheriss sat down in the cockpit. Cheriss, who clearly had no qualms with what they'd just done. Cheriss, who'd ordered their deaths. Cheriss, who she should have struck down instead. But what good would that do her now?

She was damned, her fate forever sealed now.

So she swallowed her anger, let it settle in her breast, still roaring like a flame. The path of the Dark Side was not an easy one to follow, but she had made her choice today. Those two children were only the first lives she would take. More would fall before her. The torment would fuel her self-hatred, give her power, and by embracing that, she would be more capable of serving the Empire than ever before.

She was Maerae Verdan, and she would be Sith, even if it meant drowning in blood.

"Corpal still remains," she replied to Cheriss, her calm tone having found itself replaced with something darker and more sinister, "and his lesson will be far more brutal."

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

“I like the way you think.” Cheriss gave Maerae a pat on the shoulder as the ship started its slow descent, noting the shift in her tone. She sensed the anger growing deep inside the Acolyte. Good. It would serve her well when they confronted Corpal.

The path forward was clear. They would find the traitor and kill him, make him sorry for everything he had done against the Empire. When the ship touched the ground a few minutes later, Cheriss got up, made her way out of the cockpit, went around the cold bodies on the floor, and flipped the switch that would lower the ramp. There to greet them was a barn, a large field, and none other than Corpal himself. He appeared to be alone, stopping a good distance away from the ship.

“You’re finally here. Took you long enough.” The man looked the pair up and down before crossing his arms. “I’m guessing you’re here to kill me?”

Cheriss smiled. “Now, where did you get such an idea?”

“I have my ways.” She saw something move just behind the barn, then the telltale clicking sound of a blaster. A sniper. Corpal went on.

“It would be such a pity if-” A blaster bolt cut him off mid sentence. In less than a second, Cheriss’ lightsaber was out and the bolt had been redirected to the ground. However, she realized too late that a second one had been fired from a different direction. At first she felt nothing, but after a moment a searing pain shot through her right shoulder. Her hilt dropped to the grassy ground below and she to a knee, her other hand instantly moving to grip her shoulder. Corpal, on the other hand, seemed to be looking for something behind Maerae, a hint of desperation in his eyes.

Cheriss’ gaze locked with his, and the genuine fear in his eyes as no one with a yellow lightsaber emerged behind the Sith seemed to give her strength. The pulsating pain wasn’t something to overcome. It would give her power, even if she couldn’t use her right arm.

“Take him down,” she snarled.

Spoiler: Roll

Rolled 2

@Vicc125

 

[Maerae Verdan]

Cheriss' approval of her filled Maerae with disgust. But this was what it meant to be Sith: to sully one's self in the pursuit of power, so that the greater whole of the Empire might be served. So she embraced the turmoil that began to swirl within her. It gnawed at the very core of her being, but then, wasn't that the point? Power had consequences. Sith accepted them, and turned them into twisted strength.

So when their ship landed, finally, Maerae was ready. There would be no hesitation, no mercy, no remorse. She didn't have the luxury of those things, not if she truly wanted to be a Sith Lord. The Empire required her to be ruthless, and so Maerae would be the most ruthless enforcer the galaxy had ever seen.

Cheriss strolled down the ramp, but Maerae stayed. She tried to get a good look at the farm, and the lands surrounding it. She noticed the barn, didn't notice the sniper, and found her eyes straying to Corpal. He had, wisely, opted to stand away from the ship, far outside the reach of a lightsaber.

Her chaperone exchanged words with the traitor, and Maerae expected that their man would find himself in a very early grave. Then, there was a shot- no, two shots. She watched Cheriss deflect one, but take the other to the shoulder. Maerae wasted no time; there were two shooters to deal with, but more importantly, Corpal still had to die.

Still at the top of the ramp, and hopefully out of sight of the snipers, Maerae reached out a hand. She directed it at Corpal, and felt the Force flow through her. Into the dirt. Through the ground. Around Corpal. She was, through the Force, linked to the man they so desperately wanted to kill. She turned that easy connection into her weapon.

Her hand closed. A dozen yards away, Corpal began to sputter and claw at his throat.

"I have him," she said through grit teeth, struggling to use the Force at such a long range, "he's not going anywhere."

Spoiler: Rolls

15 for Maerae's attack, 6 for Corpal's resistance

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

As Cheriss looked up to see Corpal gasping and clawing at his throat, she felt a small twinge of satisfaction. Now she only had to take care of the snipers so they wouldn’t get in the way again.

Extending her left arm and pulling her hilt towards her with the Force, her weapon soon returned to her grip. Just in time, too. The shot from her right side came first, and she stood up to deflect it right at whoever had fired it. When she heard a muffled shout of pain come from the direction, she knew she’d hit her target— though not fatally. She was expecting it when the second sniper fired another shot, but probably having seen what had happened to their partner, they ducked when she deflected it and the bolt flew harmlessly over their head.

Cheriss backed up on the ramp so that she was standing beside Maerae, her lightsaber held up in defense in front of her.

“Bring Corpal here. They’ll stop firing if he’s in the way,” she said to Maerae without taking her eyes off the roof of the barn. Corpal was a little far from the ship, and it was evident that it would be difficult for the Acolyte to do it alone. “I’ll help you.”

Regardless of whether or not Maerae went along with it, Cheriss funneled her energy into the Force, reaching out to where Corpal was and beginning to pull him in their direction, slowly but steadily. The closer he got, the less concentration she needed, and the more she wanted him dead.

Spoiler: Rolls

Rolled 12 and 7 for attacking the snipers

@Vicc125

 

[Maerae Verdan]

For someone who'd just been shot, Cheriss didn't seem to slow down much. Maerae found it impressive, but couldn't allow herself to pay much attention to it. Instead, her focus centered on Corpal. On the grasp she had around his neck. Her chaperone demanded that she bring him closer to them, and Maerae was more than willing to comply.

And then there was an intense burning in her thigh, and her leg gave out from under her.

Maerae crashed to the deck of the ship, letting out an injured roar, as the sound of a blaster rifle echoed throughout the field. Her grip on Corpal slipped, as her mind was filled with the haze of pain. One of the snipers must have changed position, and that meant that they were no longer safe standing on the ship.

The young acolyte forced herself back up to her knees, her right leg shaking all the while. It burned something fierce, and she could see smoke rising from the blackened flesh on her thigh. The damage didn't look good. Maerae wasn't sure that she could put weight on it.

She stood anyhow, leaning against the wall of the ship.

Maerae ignited her lightsaber, the pain in her leg being too distracting to properly help Cheriss pull him in. She could, however, deflect the snipers' next shot or two, until the Champion finished what Maerae herself had failed to complete.

"They've moved," she growled out, teeth clenched in agony, "and they're lining up new shots."

Spoiler: Rolls

1 for Maerae to Force Pull Corpal

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss backed up into the ship, where the roof and walls would provide some cover, and clenched her teeth as another wave of pain rocked her shoulder. Her Force grip on Corpal loosened momentarily as she lost focus, and the man crashed down right in front of the ramp just as Maerae fell to the deck. The snipers stopped firing at the sight. However, it was the bodies visible behind the Acolyte that truly turned the tide in the favor of the Sith.

By the time Maerae had gotten up to her feet, Corpal had too, and Cheriss didn’t even need to bring him over. The man had taken out his pistol and was running straight up the ramp, his face contorted in pure rage. It seemed that he had lost all sense of self-preservation. The Sith might have been wounded, but they were dangerous just the same. An ISB agent would know that, and the only explanation for this that Cheriss could think of was that even if Candace wasn’t his wife, she had to have been close with him.

Anger was a potent weapon, but as with any other, only control would make it useful. In Corpal’s case, it blinded him. Made him rash. Now, it would be used against him.

“You monsters.” Tell me something I don’t know. He raised his pistol and pointed it at Maerae’s head. But his fingers never made it to the trigger, and soon Corpal found himself looking down at a sizzling hole in his chest. Cheriss extinguished her lightsaber, kicking him out of the entrance of the ship with a shove of her boot. The man had brought them enough trouble. She and Maerae were in no condition to go hunting for the snipers, and as much as she would have liked to, it would have been yet another mistake added on to the day. They could wait.

Cheriss closed the ramp of the ship, trying not to wince as another sharp stab of pain shot through her shoulder, and looked at Maerae leaning against the wall. Her knee didn’t look good either, even in the dim light of the room. That sealed the deal.

“Let’s get out of here.”

@Vicc125

 

[Maerae Verdan]

Her thigh burned.

The snipers took two more shots in their direction. One pinged uselessly against the hull. The other found itself deflected with a flourish of her blue lightsaber, and fizzled away into the ground uselessly. Maerae stayed put for a while longer, waiting for their assailants to take more crack shots at them. But they didn't.

Corpal was too close, she realized, and they were afraid of gunning him down by accident. The traitor saw the sight of the three bodies, and clearly found himself enraged. He sprinted up the ramp like a mad man, trying to come into close quarters with two Sith. His blaster found itself pointed at he face, and she angled her lightsaber to deflect his shot, only for it to never come.

Because Cheriss sunk her red lightsaber into his chest. And then she kicked him out of the ship without fanfare.

The ramp closed, because Cheriss willed it so. As the Champion walked away, Maerae forced herself to limp after her. It made the pain in her leg flare up like a raging fire, and she almost fell back over. But she forced herself to persevere. Pain did not stop Sith. To allow such a thing was to accept weakness, and she would have none.

She hobbled for the first few steps, then limped for the next couple. By the time they'd returned to the cockpit, she was walking on her leg as if she hadn't just been shot. It was excruciating: every time her muscles coiled, if felt as if she'd been shot again. Smoke had since stopped wafting up from the wound, but the skin still felt singed.

But. She. Walked.

"A pitiful end for a pitiful man."

All who betrayed the Empire deserved such a fate. That was the lesson to take away from this day.

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Maerae was strong, Cheriss noted. Most of those she knew, even Sith, would have been unable to get up after sustaining such a wound in the leg, let alone walk. But the younger woman did anyway, and that, combined with everything else she’d seen from her today, earned her the respect of the Champion. Unlike Corpal. There would be no pity for traitors, in her eyes.

“It was what he deserved.” Cheriss settled into the pilot’s seat and started up the ship, about to put in the coordinates for Korriban as it lifted up into the air. But as her finger hovered above the panel, her eyes were drawn to another. Then, her gaze drifted to the barn out the windscreen. They’d lined up there earlier, for some cover. If the Sith could somehow use that against them… It was an idea that probably wouldn’t work, but they didn’t have anything to lose.

Cheriss glanced at Maerae. “Keep the ship steady.” From there, she angled the ship’s guns towards the barn, firing a couple bolts at it until the building came crashing down into a heap of dust and smoke, flames leaping up to consume what was left of it. She had no idea if the snipers were still there, but there was a slim chance that they had been caught in the collapse of the building. Either way, there was an odd satisfaction in watching Corpal’s barn burn.

It was only when the feeling wore off shortly after that Cheriss felt the throbbing in her shoulder again. It was a small price to pay for the number of things she’d overlooked today. It was Maerae who’d gotten them out of some of the worst situations, and Cheriss realized that she’d gotten so used to things going her way in the past few years that she’d forgotten about what it was like before, going out into the field. Today had been a warning shot, and next time, she would make sure that these mistakes would not happen again.

When the coordinates were inputted and the ship slowly made its way into the empty vacuum of space, she would look forward and forward only. It was filled with darkness, difficult and dangerous, but it was a path that the Sith had chosen for themselves.

And having that choice was all she could have asked for.

//Exit character

@Vicc125

 

[Maerae Verdan]

Corpal's fate was earned, as Cheriss said. Maerae agreed wholeheartedly. Those who betrayed the Empire paid the price for their actions, and today had hammered that lesson home for the young acolyte. Corpal, Candace, even the children... their deaths were deserved. As cruel as it was, that was simply how things had to be.

For the Empire.

Maerae held the craft steady, as her chaperone blew up the barn for good measure. She found that the flames only exacerbated the new rage she held tight in her heart. Damn snipers had nearly killed her today; killed them both. So she found herself hoping that they'd been buried in the rubble, as they deserved.

Cheriss took control of their craft once more, and Maerae stood on a leg that still burned excruciatingly, and quietly made leave to take care of her wound.

[End Thread}

@Sicadorito