Ask Shadow of the Past

[Thel Xeros]

Thel thought about Param’s words as he followed her back to her ship. While he hadn’t exactly treated Param well, he had been far less harsh than other Sith masters. When they arrived a short time later, he was somewhat surprised that she was still using the same ship he had given to her. He assumed she would have upgraded.

Stepping up the ramp, it occurred to him that this was the first time he had entered her ship. He had never bothered checking the ship before giving it to her, all that time ago.

He glanced around the lounge after stepping inside. “I see you still like plants,” he said, gesturing towards the herbs. Turning around, he looked over the swords. “What happened to your lightsaber?” He remembered the time he had spent practicing with her.

“The outer rim. I’ve never stayed in one place too long though. It’s how I used to operate when I was a Sith champion,” he replied to her question. Pausing for a second, he thought something over in his head. “Who was the Sith champion who attacked Troiken? Out of curiosity.”

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

"I wish you could have seen the garden I had on Troiken before it was all burned," she said. Param still loved plants, but having more than a few required more room, and she wasn't willing to settle down with a home. The small plot of herbs had done her just fine since her "death." They certainly allowed her to keep up her intake of spicy food. Her smile stayed, though her features seemed to slack into a frown. "It wasn't my lightsaber, it was my former slaver's. After my 'death' I gave it to Crimson Dawn." Really she'd given it to Kai to do what he wished with it, but she didn't have a doubt it was running around the Crimson Dawn circles now. "I forged each and every one of these myself, that top one I used the Force to forge on Korriban. The crystal in the hilt doesn't agree with me anymore, though."

Param finished wiping the sword down, sheathing it back into the scabbard at her hip. She turned toward Thel and waved her hands around at the ship interior. "It's not a bad way to live," she said. The ship lurched and accelerated. It was time to meet Vee in the cockpit. Param started heading toward the cockpit, stopping when Thel asked who had attacked Troiken.

"Karys, and his apprentice, Vossari," she said, trying not to spit the words. Param continued to the cockpit without another word about Troiken and its attackers. Revenge wasn't on the table for her, or even in her mind, but just thinking about them still made her angry. "Can you take us into low orbit, Vee? I think that would be the best place to scan for more nests." Vee chirped his response and Param sat down in the pilot's seat, leaving the co-pilot's seat empty for Thel.

"Anyway, I have a couple of crystals to make own lightsabers," she said, glancing at Thel. "I just haven't made them yet."

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

Thel remembered the garden that Param had cultivated on Troiken. He had allowed her to indulge her hobby when she was his apprentice. All gone now though.

No doubt Param’s lightsaber was one of many that Crimson Dawn had acquired. He had been something of a purist when training Param and had insisted on her learning to use a lightsaber well. He was never too keen on other types of weapons, feeling a lightsaber was superior, but he wasn’t bothered now.

The names of the two Sith were not familiar to him. “I’ve never heard of them.”

He took a seat in the co-pilot’s chair. “I’m sure you will use them wisely,” he replied, in reference to the crystals.

“Will these nests be easy to find?”

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Param shrugged at his suggestion of using them wisely. Her plan was to make a couple of lightsabers for herself, but using swords granted her a bit of anonymity that she enjoyed. The only thing lightsabers were able to do better was conceal when carried, cut through anything, and there was no blood. Param looked down at bloodied self and frowned. Maybe for that reason alone she should build those sabers.

"Considering there's nothing on this world but nests, yes," she said, turning a smile to Thel. Vee chirped and buzzed excitedly from his plug-in point. He'd found a complex already. It was larger than the previous one, and from the communications Vee was sure that it was the main hub on the planet. Wiping it out would cripple the rest. "See? Found one already. Vee thinks it's the main hub for the planet."

With a wave of her hand, Param told Vee to go ahead and take them there. There would likely be defenses, but like everything on the planet most of everything would be underground. The ship lurched forward and accelerated toward the surface. Param turned to Thel. "Just like old times. The plan is the same as it always was with us- fight our way in, get what we need, and hopefully we've cleared the slavers out so we don't have to fight our way back out."

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

“Indeed,” Thel replied, quietly. He watched as Param’s droid began to cheep and sound off excitedly. Apparently, it had found a larger complex. “Well, that should provide a small challenge,” he remarked, wryly.

“Yes, just like old times,” he replied, beginning to think back to some of the missions they had been on together. The ship gently came to a land. He went with Param and stepped down the ramp, onto the surface of the planet.

“So, are you at all worried about retaliation from the slavers?” Slavery was big business and it seemed logical that criminal gangs would try and track down someone who was damaging their operations.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

“Let them come,” Param said, taking the few steps needed to get to the turbolift platform. She waited for Thel to step onto the platform as well before activating it. Even as they slid down into the bowels of the complex, the muffled sounds of alarms caught her ears. Param slowly drew her sword, grasping the hilt with both hands as she held it in front of her at hip height. It was easier to absorb the bolts that would be coming their way with the cortosis weave on the sword than to try deflecting them all with her hands. Thel had his lightsaber and would be fine.

“A weapon is used until it is no longer useful,” she said, turning a saddened smile to Thel for only a moment before focusing on the doors ahead. She had striven to try to be normal and had to embrace the fact that she would never be. “When the time comes that I am no longer useful, so be it.” It would take a particularly strong slaver to break her- that or an army. And if one were to finally take her down, she would choose to believe the Force had decided she had finally atoned.

The moment the doors slid open, Param was a blur of movement. Blaster bolts screamed by, hitting the back of the turbo-lift. There were five Thelassians with blaster rifles aimed at them in the lobby. The first found Param’s blade through its throat, held tightly by her right hand as her left hand extended out to the side toward the second. The Force coiled around the reptilian, and Param yanked it toward her only to rip her sword from her victim’s throat and slice through the new victim’s nape.

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

Param had a more cavalier attitude to danger than Thel; that much was clear. “I suppose so. As I said, I believe your efforts are commendable.”

Prepared for when the doors would open, Thel ignited his lightsaber. As soon as the doors opened, a hurl of blaster fire came his way. Moving swiftly, he batted blaster bolts away as he advanced into the room. He deflected one of the bolts straight into the chest of one of the Thelassians. Circling around to his right, he closed in on one of the other attackers. Slicing their blaster rifle in half, he followed that up with a slash across their torso. The last remaining guard offered no challenge. After easily deflecting away their blaster fire, he removed their head with a swipe of his blade.

He took a second to survey the room. “Yes, just like old times,” he remarked, with a slight grimace. He had kept in practice, during his absence; just in case he needed to defend himself. He was still an efficient killer.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

"Only real difference is that everyone we save from these slavers gets a chance to live a regular, proper life," Param said, surveying the room with Thel. It would take a minute or two for the slavers to figure out the welcoming party had been slain. While Thel grimaced, Param's expression was blank as she glanced about at the bodies. She had long mastered the art of turning off emotions and the showing of them when in combat or on a job. The deaths of the five slavers were a means to an end. Not every slaver needed to die, just the ones that decided to fight back to continue their work.

Vee needed no instruction. He hopped off of Param's left shoulder, and plugged himself into the receptionist control panel at the desk. His first mission was to find where exactly the slaves, if any, were hidden. Then he would set about locking and unlocking doors, funnelling the slavers toward Param so that surprise flanking attacked wouldn't be used. It was a tactic they had used many times before, and it had worked everytime thus far. Panic and confusion were friends of controlled chaos.

"Vee will find the people to free, then he'll work to funnel the slavers toward us as we make our way to them," Param explained, turning her deadpan gaze to Thel. "Not everyone needs to die, just the ones that decide to fight or try to run." She pursed her lips in thought for a moment as she paused. "Are you okay with mercy?"

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

“Yes, you’re right,” Thel replied, looking over the bodies.

He watched as Vee hopped onto the receptionist’s desk and plugged itself into the system. It was an efficient thing. He couldn’t remember for certain if Param had paid for it using the credits he had given her.

Listening to Param set out her strategy, he did see the irony in the fact that he was now taking instructions from her.

“As you wish,” he stated, calmly.

“Of course, I am. I’ve never been a mindless killer. When I ran the operation on Troiken, for example. That was done by showing mercy towards the Xextos. I could’ve been more ruthless with them, once I took control, but I wasn’t.”

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Param studied Thel carefully as he explained that he'd never been a mindless killer. The Xextos were quite loyal at the time to Thel. When he disappeared, her already established relationship with them allowed her to take over rather seamlessly. She was far more lenient on them than he was. Such a terrible Sith, she was. Param could have ruled, collected wealth and power with ease, had she only been able to give herself truly to the Darkside. She was glad that had never happened though.

Vee chirped that he had located the slaves in a large antechamber, and that he had begun messing with the slavers to drive them toward Param. She gave the little droid a warm smile. Turning to the door that led to the corridor deeper into the facility, Param tightened her grip on her Echani war sword. The first Thelassian appeared in the doorway, wide eyed and mouth agape at the sight of Param and her former Master. Param thrust her sword through the reptillian's gut, grabbing it by its armored collar and pulling it into the lobby.

The Thelassian fell to its knees, Param finishing it off by twisting and stabbing the reptillian through the nape. A second Thelassian appeared in the doorway. Param gripped her sword with both hands, slicing it out of the first reptile and through the second's midsection. She took a peek around the corner and down the corridor. Nothing more yet.

"Let's move quickly," Param said. She stepped into the corridor, the Force coiling down her left arm as she held her sword only with her right.

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

Thel shadowed Param as she turned to the doorway. The first Thelassian was ruthlessly dealt with by his former apprentice. The second was then executed with brutal precision. “Of course,” he replied, following Param into the corridor.

Advancing in front of Param, four Thelassians rounded the corner ahead of them. “I’ll deal with these.” Switching off his blade, he clipped the hilt back onto his belt. Quickly reaching out with both hands before the Thelassians could fire their blasters, he unleashed a torrent of lightning down the corridor. Engulfing the slavers, they screamed out in pain before they were overcome. Their charred bodies fell to the floor as the lightning ceased. Thel took a heavy breathe, composing himself, before he unclipped his saber from his belt and activated it again.

“After you,” he said to Param.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Param watched Thel use his Sith Lightning. She had to stop her heart from leaping into her throat, and take a deep breath. It was an ability that terrified her, even well before she had taken a blast of it on Troiken. In all her time as a Sith, she only used the ability twice, once on a mission with Thel, and the other with Cyu. It had always brought out the darkness in her, and it was the darkness that she had grown to hate over time. The alternative was elemental lightning, and could be used to great effect- it just simply lacked final, destructive power that Sith Lightning had.

She surged ahead of Thel, cutting down any Thelassian that entered the corridor and tried to get around them, or through them. Param was brutal, but efficient, just as she had been taught to be. There were no wasted movements, no expendenture of energy where it wasn't needed. Her blade found the weak points in the Thelassian armors; slicing and thrusting unprotected bellies, pelvises, necks, armpits- with a lightsaber she could have just cut through the armor itself without worry, but with a non-vibrating sword, she needed to be accurate.

A few of the Thelassians would bypass her while she was dealing with their comrade and head to Thel, but most put up very little fight. Vee was opening the doors for them just as Param and Thel approached, so most would step out into the corridor with Param already upon and among them. The slavers that managed to get into the hallway before Param had arrived, would try to shoot at the two, Param using her free left hand to deflect what bolts she could and letting Thel handle the majority of them with his lightsaber.

With a string of carnage behind them, Param stopped a moment. Vee chirped and whistled through the EZPod in her ear. They had come up on where the slaves were being stored. There were half a dozen Thelassians inside, and from the souds of battle, were training their weapons on the door already. Param turned a deadpan gaze to Thel.

"Vee says the next door is where the slaves are," she said. She moved across the door, keeping her eyes further down the corridor for a moment before turning toward it, letting Thel take the closer side. "Half a dozen slavers- they know we're coming. Vee, can you lock any remaining doors?" Vee chirped a yes. Most were already locked, but loud "thunks" of blast locks being set into place and lockiing the Thelassians in their rooms echoed down the hall. "Can you also transmit the location of the facility to our Mandalorian friends?" Again, Vee chirped a yes and did what was asked of him. Param herself would not kill every slaver here, she would let Rancor Squadron (@Darasuum ) deal with the remainder once the slaves were free.

Param flicked her sword free of most of the blood that dripped from it and slid it back into its scabbard at her left hip. She took a step out into the middle of the corridor, the Force coiling down both arms. "Get ready to move in," she said, eyes flashing a glance to Thel before focusing back on the door. Groans of metal being bent out of shape rumbled around the doorframe as Param raised her hands and began to use the Force to bend and break the door. It was a surefire way to set off any traps before they entered, making the traps useless. Just as she suspected, the sounds of several wires snapping, two pops of smaller explosions and the phew of gas being spilled could be heard on the other side of the door, as well as the panicked chatterings of the reptillian slavers.

With a last push of effort, Param slammed the Force into the door. The door was ripped entire from the frame, taking with it shards of metal debris. One Thelassian was unlucky enough to be the recipient of the now flying door, and was crushed entirely under the heavy weight a moment later.

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

Allowing Param to take the lead, Thel followed her down the corridor. The guards were simple to deal with. The ones that avoided Param, were cut down by Thel’s saber. Eventually they found the door they were looking for.

Taking his place next to the wall, at the side of the door, he waited for Param to finish speaking to Vee.

Mandalorians? He’d encountered them before. He remembered Cremek. I wonder what he’s doing now.

“Ready,” he stated, waiting for Param. He watched as his former apprentice focused on breaking down the door. It brought to mind when he had worked with her on her telekinesis back on Troiken. He’d electrocuted her then, to push her into lifting a large speeder. It wasn’t something he looked back on with any pride.

With one last effort, Param sent the door flying into the room. His saber already ignited, Thel charged into the room. He focused on the three to the left, knowing Param could deal with the other two.

Moving swiftly, his blade sliced through the chest of the first Thelassian. Batting away blaster bolts, the next was effortlessly cut down. The last of the three then met the same fate.


@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Watching Thel flow into the room after Param had taken out the door elicited a flow of memories. The two of them, with their Xextos allies, rushing into compounds and rooms to eliminate their targets within. They had been brutally efficient back then, and now they were even more so. She wondered how he would feel if he saw her use Terrakinesis. How she had created a staircase of rock in the snow capped mountains of Eshan to attack a group of bandits and slavers with Arla. Or how she had created a wall between Gemini’s wretched, monstrous form and a village of Echani.

Param rushed in after him, quickly coming upon the first of her two Thelassians. It was going to fire a blaster at Thel, but Param pooled the Force into her palm and placed her hand firmly on muzzle. When the slaver pulled the trigger, its blaster pistol exploded back into it, shredding its muscular arm and stunning it. Param’s hands went to her sword, drawing it in quickly in a horizontal strike through the stunned slaver’s unprotected hips.

She spun, bring the sword around in an arc over her head and slashing down through the second Thelassian. Param spun, horizontally striking through the first’s neck as it dropped to its knees, ending it finally. The second Thelassian was hit by a second vertical slash, dropping it to a knee. The lowered height allowed Param to thrust, though the slaver roared at the same time so her blade found a purchase through the gaped, reptilian jaws and out the back of its head.

Withdrawing her sword, flicking it free of Thelassian blood, and sheathing it back into its scabbard, Param turned to Thel. He had dispatched his three much quicker than her, but that was a benefit of having a blade that could cut through any surface. Param found herself missing a lightsaber more and more as her missions unfolded.

“Good job,” Param said, her deadpan expression warming into soft smile. She turned to the slaves that were kept in force-cages along the back wall. With a few buttons on the terminal, all of the cages deactivated and the group rushed passed Thel and Param, offering their tearful thanks along the way. A shuttle would arrive to take them away to true freedom soon.

“Is that all of them, Vee?” Param asked. Vee responded with a quick chirp through her EZPod, confirming that it was. Param let out a sigh of relief, turning back to Thel with her warmed smile. “We can leave the rest to my friends. What will you do now?” She asked. Despite her smile, the cold claws of anxiousness crept into her stomach. It could have all been a ruse to gain a modicum of trust in order to kill her, or worse- bring her back to the Sith in restraints. She didn’t sense any sort of ill-intent from him, but it had been a long time since they had seen each other.

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

Thel turned around in time to see Param dispatch of the last of the slavers in the room. Param’s mention of having done a good job, was a reminder of the rather unenthusiastic praise he used to offer Param when she completed a task he had given her.

When the slaves were released, some of them offered emotional thanks to him and Param. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with such a situation and nodded his head to acknowledge some of those who thanked him. This was a completely alien situation compared to what he was used to.

Vee confirmed that they had dispatched of the last of the slavers and that the nest was clear. He paused after Param’s question, taking a few seconds to consider his answer. “I’m not sure. I need some time to think, Param. Finding you has been my sole motivation for quite a while. I need, a purpose. Take this.” He took a comlink from his belt and levitated it over to Param. “You can use that to keep in contact with me. We will see each other again, I’m sure.”

@TheDudeMike