Tears for the Future

[Dmitri]

Geist had spent the five weeks playing with the Sith Sword while also improving a new set of armor he'd offer to Lord Azrael, as the Sith Lord's last one had been partially damaged during his duel with Darth Umbra. He had also done some investigating on Lamia Kressh.

Lamia Kressh, until a couple months ago, had been a Jedi Padawan; Geist theorized she hadn't been promoted to Knight due to her race. She was exiled for use of the Dark Side; apparently the public story favored Lecchaememnon's side rather than Lamia's. In response, Jedi Master Matsu Ike and several students left the Jedi Order in protest. The bond between Matsu and Lamia was apparent, something to be manipulated.

The weeks had gone by and Geist was impressed that Lamia still had rations left, though at a price. Paranoia and fatigue were sitting in. Hallucinations would start soon. A perfect opportunity for illusions.

Geist spent two days studying all information that there was on Matsu Ike. He worked to mimic her speech, her habits, her unconscious movements. The voice was an issue but he eventually got to a believable pitch.

Focusing his mind, he began to work. He sent a signal through the Force, a telepathic message. Telepathy didn't give a clear voice so it would be difficult for Lamia to differentiate.

"Lamia... Lamia... This is Matsu Ike... Can you hear me?" Geist whispered through the Force.

 

[Fusion]

Master? You've gotten to me. Thank God... I'm stuck here on this wreck of a space station, being held captive on candy bars and water by a daft Sith Lord. Tell the Knights to help me get out of here.

Lamia was ecstatic that Matsu had found her and answered her.

 

[Dmitri]

"We're on our way, but getting through security will take some time..." Matsu's voice through telepathy said to Lamia. "But we have a problem. The Imperial Knights have been compromised. Someone is manipulating Bellatrix Rouge. We haven't been able to locate the source yet, but I think the Seneschal may be responsible. There's more, though. The Jedi have begun to move into the Imperial Knights' jurisdiction. They're trying to gain control. They want to execute you. It's how we found you. Grandmaster Lecchaememnon's been sending communications to the space station you're at.

"If it is indeed a Sith Lord there, we must proceed with caution. What can you tell me about the Sith Lord? Do you have a way to escape or distract them while I get to you? We have to be quick, as Lecchaememnon's sent an Alliance frigate to destroy this place. If you don't act quick, the Jedi will kill you."

 

[Fusion]

I knew the Jedi would never let me live in peace. They just had to pursue me and take away everything near and dear to my heart.

The Sith Lord is an alchemist, Geist Weiss. Master of disguises, from what I can tell. I suppose I can try and splice some of the consoles to open the doors up in this facility.

Lamia bent down and pulled some loose wires out from underneath the consoles, connecting them together. She had figured out how to open and close the doors on her level except for those leading to maintenance and administration. Clipping a couple together, all the doors on Lamia's floor opened.

 

[Dmitri]

"Geist Weiss? That doesn't make sense. I worked a job with him. He's a mole for us. It may explain why he hasn't turned you over to the Sith and refused to surrender you to Lecchaememnon. Hm, has he done anything to you... Wait, what' is that. Evade! Ev-"

Matsu's voice ended suddenly. Sirens began to wail in Lacrima. A doppelganger of Geist Weiss appeared.

"What's going on?!" demanded Geist. "Why is that Alliance ship destroy that ship. Aren't you and the Jedi allies? Tch, so Lecchaememnon has decided to aim for Darth Umbra's empty seat. He must think that by eliminating me and capturing you he'll gain the title of Darth." He paused, his head twitching as if considering. "Dammit, he'll ruin the Alliance and let the Sith win for sure. Lamia, there's a hangar down the hall." A map flickered on a screen. "Go there. I'll get a ship around to pick you up. We have to get out of here."

 

[Fusion]

Lamia moved over to the door that had previously been left shut, grabbing her remaining food and water.

Bring my weapons.

Going down the hallway, she entered an elevator, and pushed the button to use it. The doors close, and she began to move.

 

[Dmitri]

In the control room, Geist pressed a switch which activated the explosives planted in an old storage room. The explosion shook the space station, but would not damage the integrity of the space station. Geist then pressed the switch to the space station's internal speakers.

"Lamia..." Geist added a little pain in his voice. He also made sure to let his presence be known through the Force. "I'm sorry. I couldn't make it to the ship. I've jettisoned an escape pod which the Alliance ship has destroyed. I pretended to be a Stormtrooper, and I've persuaded them that we've been killed. They're leaving, but our story won't hold for long. Lecchaememnon must be eliminated, or else he'll come back for us and your friends. He tried persuading me a few times to hand you over so he can eradicate your fellow exiles and the Imperial Knights. However, he found a way to contact the Jedi. You must eliminate Lecchaememnon before he can send ships over to your hideout. I... I..."

Geist masked his presence, making it seem like he had died. Lamia would be alone, in despair. He'd use another of his aliases to 'rescue' Lamia later. For now, he'd leave her to ponder the faked deaths of Matsu Ike, his own death, and the 'soon to be deceased' Jedi exiles and Imperial Knights. Once he 'rescued' her, he'd send her to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, to have her go after Lecchaememnon and Daisuke. For now, solitude would return.

 

[Fusion]

Lamia paused, feeling alone in the region of space once again. But something wasn't right... During that whole ordeal, she didn't sense an Alliance ship and the crew aboard it, nor did she sense Lecchaememnon in the area as Weiss claimed. She did not sense Matsu or the others physically near her either. She knew what he was doing, though what he was and was not responsible for, she did not know.

Weiss!

She painfully, agonizingly yelled out his name.

Don't think you can fool me with these illusions! I am smarter then whatever ignorant fools you left here in the past!

She was delusional, beginning to break down. Not sure if reality was an illusion or vice versa.

 

[Dmitri]

A doppelganger of Geist Weiss appeared before Lamia. His illusion-clad head was tilted to the head in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" inquired Geist, a little drowsiness in his voice. "What's the commotion now? I was enjoying such a fun dream. I was in a garden full of beautiful sculptures and I was being awarded some unpronounceable award." He yawned.

 

[Fusion]

Oh please... You expect me to believe that bantha fodder? You were using your illusion skills to make me believe I was to be rescued by Master Ike.

She stepped up to and tried to slap the illusion in the face, but her hand went right through it.

Just torture me and get it over with. I beg you...

 

[Dmitri]

"What are you talking about?" inquired Geist. While Lamia's attention was on the doppelganger, Geist created another illusion to make the rations look like they were untouched. "Are you sure you didn't just have a nightmare?" He pointed to the rations. "You're acting very weird since you fell asleep a couple hours ago." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Jeez, you are a strange one. You've only been a Lacrima for twenty-four hours and you're already acting strange. And you're not even one of the Saligia experiments.

"Maybe the place is haunted," Geist laughed as his doppelganger slowly faded away.

Half a minute later, Geist played a recording of happy children playing down the hall from Lamia's present location. They were singing a jingle.

"Ring around the rosies,
pockets full of posies,
ashes, ashes,
we all fall down."​

 

[Fusion]

Lamia heard the children's singing. A jingle, but with meaning of death. Posies, she knew, were a sweet-smelling flower claimed to prevent certain deadly diseases from occurring. The third and forth lines referred to bodies being reduced to actions and death itself.

As she sat on her knees, naked and shivering with paranoia, she heard something behind her. Turning, she spotted an old woman. One with skin grey like a corpse, white hair, and a robe that covered her eyes.

Have you come with questions? There is little for me to answer.

Kreia?

What is it you require?

Someone to talk to.

Very well. What is it that drives you?

My will and strength. And my refusal to fully immerse myself in the Dark Side of the Force.

It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it.

What are you saying?

If you are to truly understand, then you will need the contrast, not adherence to a single ideal. It is only through interaction, through decision and choice, through confrontation, physical or mental, that the Force can grow within you.It does not matter where you go, for it is the journey, not the destination, that matters.

So I am to... join the Sith? The very thing I swore to destroy?

'Sith' is a title, yes, but like you, the title is not who I am. It is not what I believe. For you… it is different. Know that there was once a Darth Traya. And that she cast aside that role, was exiled, and found a new purpose. But there must always be a Darth Traya, one that holds the knowledge of betrayal. Who has been betrayed in their heart, and will betray in turn...

I don't exactly understand this...

What do you wish to hear? That I once believed in the code of the Jedi? That I felt the call of the Sith, that perhaps, once, I held the galaxy by its throat? That for every good work that I did, I brought equal harm upon the galaxy? That perhaps the greatest of the Sith Lords knew of evil, they learned from me?

But your teachings... I followed them prudently! And now I have been betrayed by the very one who taught me the most...

There must always be a Darth Traya. The galaxy needs its betrayers, especially in the times to come.

Then... I accept this. But what about Matsu? What about my other friends?

Your feelings for her are your weakness. She loved you, you know, as one loves a champion. You were all that she could not be.

She never said anything about those feelings.

Yes… It is all that is left unsaid upon which tragedies are built.

Then I accept this. I accept the path I must take, and I accept this journey that will lead me to my destiny.

The hallucination of Kreia faded away as Lamia took the last bite of the candy bar. She had no doubt that Weiss had heard the whole ideal. Perhaps she could now see his reaction to said conversation with the hallucination... at least, that's what she was pretty sure it was...

 

[Dmitri]

Geist listened to the ordeal. He was very intrigued. She was working her own unraveling.

The doppelganger appeared before Lamia. "The Sith Trinity. Betrayal, Hunger, Pain. Is the Path of Betrayal what you seek? If you do, you would best seek out those to fill the last two Paths. Whom would you choose for them?" It was to see who Lamia had attachments for, or possibly detail who amongst Lamia's companions were the most likely to fall.

 

[Fusion]

Mira Albion. Her pain ended when I healed her sight and feeling in her arms. But if she was brought back, she could be reforged the way I wish.

Chora. Her hunger is of a different sort then that of Nihilus. It is a hunger for power, for knowledge. She too could be broken to my whim.

 

[Dmitri]

The name Chora sounded familiar, but he didn't know anything past recognition. Mira Albion, on the other hand, he had heard about. It was a scandal of sorts. She had left the Imperial Knights for the Jedi.

"Even though Mira Albion already betrayed you?" inquired Geist. "She abandoned the Imperial Knights for the Jedi."

 

[Fusion]

She betrayed the Knights. Not me. If she could be turned back to the Dark path, she would be an excellent Sith.

It was true. She had not betrayed Lamia.

 

[Dmitri]

Lamia had a point, though Geist doubted Mira would join the Dark Side so easily.

"And how do you propose coming in contact with her?" inquired Geist. "She's protected by Jedi and you've been banned from entering their temple."

 

[Fusion]

As a Knight, yes. As someone without a home, no. Besides, I should be able to contact her via the Holonet even if I cannot reach her directly.

 

[Dmitri]

"A direct line would be risky," said Geist. "It would be best to send it on a secure line."

A consule came to life. It was actually recording into the security camera's feed, but could be removed and placed into a communication.

"I'll send it through my private line," said Geist. "I would suggest sending another to Chora too."

 

[Fusion]

Very well.

Lamia was struggling. On one side, the Sith were required for her to achieve balance. On the other, she could easily be entrapped by the Dark Side and never be freed. But for now, she would make her messages.

Mira, it's me, Lamia. I don't know how long I can keep recording before they find me. I'm trapped in Sith space. Please help me escape, before they get me...

Chora, it's Lamia Kressh. The one you wished to speak with. I need to talk with you at this location. It's critically important, and could change the war.