Jedi Adept: A Path in the Dark Ch. 12

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Ulya watched the image of the human woman. She claimed her name was Zannah, and had in life been the apprentice of Darth Bane.

She knelt, absorbing as much of the information being provided as she could. She found it hard to believe that at one time she hated these devices with such a deep passion. An unfortunate side-effect of her rearing; quickly forgotten as she leaned the lore of the Sith; dark affections which fused mechanical and biological—all done to further her own power.

Finally, she lifted her head and looked around her, the Force vibrated. Something out there was calling to her; a shift in powers that she could use.

She noticed the hologram of Zannah nodding her head, and focused on her again. "Yes, you can feel it can't you. The call. Follow it, find your apprentice. Then, and only then, will you become a true Sith."

Ulya focused on the swirls of the Force for a moment. Then she nodded and focused on Zannah once more. "And if she refuses to come with me?"

"Then kill her. If she refuses, or if you believe she is not worth being your apprentice, then she must die. Your life, your existence, depends on secrecy. Sheer power is fine, but there is a lot to be said about twisting beings to your will through trickery, and making events go your way with machinations from behind the scenes. It may require more patience, but such tactics will succeed where brute force often fails."

Ulya thought for a moment, and then nodded her head. "I understand this."

"Good," Zannah replied sternly. "Then go forth and find your apprentice."

Ulya Tu stood up, her joints popping with the movement, and strode from the room. In a matter of minutes she had left the hidden temple, and began the long journey to where he ship waited for her.

She would find this apprentice.

She would become the Dark Lady of the Sith.

She would have her revenge.

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Tionne stormed through the Temple. She felt anger and frustration working at her. It had been days since young Noelani had disappeared, yet there had been no sign of her in all that time.

In the Force, there were occasional flickers of the girl's presence, just enough to let the Jedi know that she was alive and still somewhere on Coruscant.

Her husband reached out and touched her elbow.

She stopped in her tracks, and turned to face him. Concern lined his face. "Calm yourself Tionne. We know that she's all right."

Tionne sighed, and exhaled slowly, not wanting to vent her anger and frustration on Kam. "I know, Kam. It's just… she could have given me a chance. She didn't have to run."

Kam nodded his head slowly. "I know, yet she did what she felt she had to do. She is the product of both Anakin and Tahiri after all. Once she had made up her mind, there was probably nothing in this galaxy that could have stopped her."

"But why? Why would she run?"

Kam's face darkened slightly as he looked away from her. "Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you have ran away from us, if the Jedi had treated you the way that we've treated her?"

Tionne sighed, and rubbed her face in her hands. "I… you're right of course."

Kam smiled at her, and grabbed her hand in his. "Come on, I'm sure the Council is waiting for us by now."

She nodded, and then spoke again, "I think it's time to go back to Ossus."

He looked at her for a moment. "And Noelani?"

"You're right. She'll be found when she wants to be found. Until then, we can't put off our responsibilities to the rest of the Younglings on Ossus."

Kam watched her for a moment, and then nodded his head. "All right," he replied, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

Together they walked the rest of the way to the Council chambers. She nodded as the Padawan guarding the door bowed to them. Then they were in the Council chamber itself.

The rest of the Masters looked at them. For the first time since Noelani's disappearance, Tionne could feel a real smile twitching at her lips.

"Sorry we're late," Kam said as he walked over to his chair. Tionne took hers, and then the meeting began.

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Chase walked beside Noelani, their hands tightly gripped in one another's. Ahead of them was one of the many guards who seemed to reside in Evir's compound. All of those guards were big, burly men; who looked like they might have at one time been trained soldiers.

He felt his mind wandering, trying to make sense of the past few hours. What troubled him the most was that he could not figure out a reason why Evir would want them to help him.

As they entered a room, he shoved the concerns from his mind. He saw Evir in one corner talking to a Chev in a blue lab coat. A large conference table dominated the room, and sitting at it were two more people. A Bothan, who appeared to have mange, and a human, with two distinguishing features; the first a long scar running down the side of his face and the other being a bald head save for a purple top knot of hair.

Their guide nodded to them, and then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Evir looked up from the Chev and smiled at them. "Sit you two and we'll begin in just a few minutes."

He then turned away and continued his conversation. Noelani looked at him, and he just shrugged his shoulders. So, they walked to the table and sat across from the scarred man.

He felt the scarred man's eyes peering at him, as if he was just a bug for the man to squash. Frustrated slightly, he turned and met the man's stare.

The man smirked at him, and Chase looked away, back towards Evir, wondering when the meeting would begin. A few more people entered the room and took seats either at the table or against one of the walls. Chase only gave them a cursory glance before focusing on Evir again.

Finally, Evir walked over and took the seat at the head of the table. He smiled at them; a smile devoid of humor and warmth. Not for the first time, Chase wondered why the man would be doing all of this for them. He wanted to know what Evir was after.

"Well then, shall we begin?" Evir said, as he began looking around at the beings sitting around him. Seeing no complaints, He gestured towards Noelani and Chase. "First I'd like to introduce the two young people who will be responsible for capturing specimens for us for the time being; additionally, they will assist in defending the compound in case of another feral, or Guard, attack. Their names are Chase and Noelani."

Evir began clapping, and Chase noticed a slight blush appear on Noelani's cheeks. He just nodded his head in response.

After a few minutes, Evir began the meeting in earnest, quickly lapsing into odd acronyms which Chase didn't know, and speaking in phrases that sound like some sort of obscene biochemistry course.

To Chase, the meeting ended suddenly. One minute, there was the near constant drone of people discussing things he did not understand, the next moment, everyone was standing up and beginning to disperse from the meeting.

He blinked a few times, and looked over at Noelani to find her chatting with a young woman who was at most twenty standard years old.

Standing, he stretched his arms out above his head, trying to work out the cramps that had settled into his muscles. Then he walked over to Noelani.

She turned towards him; a bright smile lighting up her face. "Chase! Are you excited? We're going to go out and try to find some ferals for Evir in the morning."

Chase nodded his head, flickers of conversation to that affect flashed through his mind. "Yeah… I can't wait."

She giggled slightly. "It'll be all right, we'll be there together."

The next morning, he was woken up by Noelani pounding on his door. After a moment, she pushed it open and jumped on his bed. He lifted his head and noticed that she had already gotten dressed, and was wearing a black tunic, pants and Imperial-style boots.

She grinned, and he was once more stunned at how pretty she was when she did so. "Wake up, sleepyhead. Evir said that he'd have someone here at 0600 to take us to the dispatch center. We've got to uphold our side of the bargain."

Chase pulled the sheets tight around him and sat up on the bed. He eyed her warily, "It's too early to be that chipper."

Laughing, she bounced off the bed and went to his wardrobe and pulled it open. She rummaged through it for a moment, and finally found a shipboard coverall in a dark blue coloring. She tossed it at him. "Get dressed and come down for breakfast."

With a flick of her ponytail she was gone. For a moment, he found himself staring at the doorway through which she had disappeared. Then he shook his head and got dressed.

When he got downstairs, he saw that the red Twi'lek girl, Asyra'mata, was dressed in a shortened version of Noelani's outfit. He sat down beside her as Noelani dropped a bowl of gruel in front of him.

He picked up his spoon, and then frowned at the grey mixture. "Is this food?"

Noelani looked hurt as she lifted her eyes from the bowl she was eating out of. "Of course it is, silly."

He glanced over at Asyra'mata, who was slowly eating her own portion of the gruel. He watched her put a small bit into her mouth, and then saw a shiver race down her lekku.

He sunk is spoon into the mixture, and pulled out a bite. He shoved the spoon into his mouth, and fought back the urge to vomit.

Quickly, he swallowed, and was saved from having to eat more by the annunciator on the front door being activated. He dropped his spoon and quickly stood up. "That must be our guide."

They stepped out of the house, to find a massive human standing on the walkway. He towered over them, and had to outweigh Chase by at least 30 kilograms. He stared down at them, a short look of disgust on his face. "I'm Gorn. You two are my new hunters?"

Chase almost shook his head in defeat as Noelani gave the man a brilliant smile. "Yup. We're the new hunters. I'm Noelani and this is Chase."

The man looked them over, and then shaking his head turned away from them. He walked to the ground car idling nearby, as he called out over his shoulder, "Well come on you lot. The Doctor wants a feral by lunchtime."

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