A shift in the Shadows ( Evolve members only )

[Jarai Telo]

((I hadn't noticed you posted. I apologize for the wait, then.))

The screen started flickering and Jarai leaned over the table, elbow bent at a shapr angle. Balanced between her fingers was her ale. Her eyes glared over the rim of the glass container in which the drink was held. And of all things she thought would appear, it was a droid. Smart guy, whoever had decided to trick her into coming. He let his droid do the work.

But the coldness of such mechanical gazes and the stiffness of the metal spoke other volumes. She peered closer at the structure of the head, sipping the ale as she did so. When she finally processed the type of droid, she nearly choked. A magnaguard? Trade Federation? Over ten thousand years ago. Jarai softly sputtered, covering her mouth with her hand, and then coughed and resumed her position.

"Shut up, friend. I do not wish you dead before I can use you for your final task. Leave the room, and pilot the young Sith toward the GA landing bay."

Jarai forced her jaw not to drop but couldn't help turning her rather surprised face toward the screen, fully comprehending what in planets she was listening to. The ale was set down. The bounty hunter was sent scurrying to the forward cabin. Jarai's hand followed his flee, eyebrows knitting together and mouth opened to say something. Nothing came out.

"The Nemoidian?" she repeated the droids words back to him. "I left him... as safe as possible." If those words were tumbling out of a Sith's mouth, they were hardly to be trusted. She listened to the further instructions and his apology before the screen winked out. Jarai continued to stare at the screen, leaning back in her chair and plucking the ale back up, downing the rest in one unhealthy gulp as she felt the ship vibrate, transporting her back to the GA base.

The Valley of Death, huh?

[rc83]

The ship slowly glided across the desert. The bounty hunter stared at a small data-pad and frowned even deeper. Matters between him and the Trade federation were becoming more and more disturbing. He flipped on the auto pilot and began to send in coordinates for the ship. It slowly changed direction and went in a straight line for the GA port. Then, he stood up, and strode out of the command bridge, ( A small room with a few simple computers that could be piloted by just one person. ) and inspected the main room. The computer was down, again. He needed to get his transmitter fixed in order to obtain clearer signals, this ship was still a work in progress...

Slowly he sifted into the room and took a seat. Without saying a word he looked at the droid and it pulled out a large bottle of heavy liquor. His emergency bottle. He popped the cork and poured some into a cup, "Want some?" He asked, "Very, very heavy stuff." Then he took up a glass and drank. Finally, he put it down and licked his lips, "I'm no longer speaking to you as a friend of my boss, but as a Bounty Hunter. I have advice for you that you may want to take into thought." He gulped down his drink and then poured some more, asking a final question as he added one last thing, "That is, after you ask any possible questions."

With that he folded his arms down on the table and placed the glass down. His eyes looked at Jarai, they were tired, as though he had a lot of troubles on his mind and had already been through a war in the past. However, they also had a different edge. If she could not already tell, he was quite a resourceful lad, but his eyes showed that he was not in the least done with self-advancing plots and schemes. As any Bounty Hunter, he was all about helping himself. And there was deception and intelligence in his gaze too. Something was very off about him, but it was not something he had shown to any degree earlier. It almost seemed as though he was somebody entirely different.

[Jarai Telo]

“I’d rather not and talk to this… droid himself to get answers to my questions.” Her eyes stared at the corner on the floor, where the side met the floor. She ignored the bounty hunter, for the most part. Her fingers were tickled with the feeling of the glass rim. The glass rim of her empty ale cup, she realized.

Her discolored eyes lifted finally, to the empty cup. The tips of her fingers grasped the glass’s rims a little more firmly and with a flick of her wrist, she sent the glass to the hunter. “Just a little. I’m not sure how heavy that stuff can be when you’ve been drinking membrosia for a while. That stuff will seduce you on its own.”

----

After picking up the Nemoidian that so dearly tweaked Jarai’s nerves the wrong way, and there weren’t many, Jarai sat in the same spot she had before. The Nemoidian sat across the table, the bodyguards bracing their legs apart to stand firmly at ready. The alien was still wary of the Sith character he had for extra protection. She still made him as nervous as before. Her gaze suggested certain death if she ever met him outside of diplomatic missions.

Not that Jarai would probably do that. She may appear like it, but she may not. This just went to support her personality, as strange and finicky as it was. Today she just seemed to retain the appearance as some cold blooded Sith, as many were. Of course, it was only a part of her. It was almost required of her to be cold blooded. She didn’t have feelings for the bounty hunter, the nemoidian, his intentions, the bodyguards, this ship…

She did have a passion for her own plans and Evolve. The only reason she was still wrapped up in this mess. Since Evolve was known about to these damned people, or person and droid she should say, Jarai was forced to comply with anything until she found a way around this. If this had been an escort mission, she would have handed the nemoidian over to the hunter and bid him farewell.

It was all patience until the ship shuddered in the familiar procedures of landing. Jarai’s gaze flickered suddenly and she moved for the first time in a long while. Her hand braced against the table as she lifted herself out of the chair, raising clenched hands into the air as she stretched out stiffened muscles. Expecting to exit, she started for the ramp and was forced to wait once more as the bodyguards rounded up their diplomat and the hunter came to lead them on, gesturing for following.

The walk certainly wasn’t long. And without much to see. Jarai figured this was because this droid actually didn’t want her to see any of his true installations here on Korriban. She shrugged off the thought this droid could actually think. They were programs. They didn’t think.

Led through a door, the nemoidian first, Jarai passed on yet another glance to the hunter before ducking through the doorway herself. Instantly, she was annoyed. There was a table, the short conference type. There was that droid who had been the fill of the mounted screen on the ship. And four rolled up balls in each of the corners.

She really hated droids.

[rc83]

Rc stared at the group of people who sat grudgingly at the other side of the table. He had been waiting for the moment, so silently, he was laughing inside. Finally, he broke the silence, "Sir..." He said, "Do you know what I am?"

Jarai was led to another room, where she would wait until Rc was done conversing with Nemoidian. The Bounty Hunter had followed her into there.

The Nemoidian looked at him, he could not quite tell from underneath the cloaks. "No." He mumbled, "Not at all."

This time Rc-83 removed his cloak and shone his full body, his face, and the vibrostaff on his back. He gave a slight laugh, which came out of his speakers as a breathy wheeze, and said, "I am Magna Guard Rc-83, Grievous' personally trained guard, Under the command of Grievous, the general of the Droid federation."

The Nemoidian was in awe for a few moments, then he said, "But...This is impossible. It has been ten thousand years." He replied.

Rc sat down and said, "But it is true. I have preserved myself perfectly, because I know my orders."

"And...What, are your orders."

"Serve the Federation, dismantle the republic." Rc replied, and he remembered Grievous, standing in line in front of him as he drilled his speech into their heads, never letting them forget.

The Nemoidian laughed at that, "The federation has been dead for a very long time."

Rc-83 laughed back in retort. "Not dead. Sleeping."

"Get to the point." The Nemoidian said, anger in his voice.

"Good. Straight to it. My point is, I plan on reviving the Trade Federation." He said, and he raised his voice in saying it, showing his pride and love for the Federation.

"And what is the point of telling me this?" The Nemoidian asked, his eyes narrowing into slight slits. "I hope you don't plan to sell this ridiculous idea on me."

"That is exactly what I planned. A diplomatic leader who knows the people of the Galactic Alliance. Someone to run the Trade Federation politics." Rc-83 replied, staring at the Nemoidian for a reaction.

"RIDICULOUS!" He replied, and jumped out of his seat, "I am loyal to the Galactic Alliance!"

"Damn fool." Rc sneered. "You'll regret it too. Sit down." He ordered. The Nemoidian snorted and shouted, "I am leaving."

Rc gave a shrill cry, and suddenly the four shiny brown spheres all around the room shot out of their form, and uncurled to reveal: Droideka's. Instantly their shields shot out around them and their weapons took aim at the Nemoidian, who stared in absolute shock.

"Sit, Down." Rc commanded, his voice vicious. "And stay silent. Your a false hope, I already know. Even if I showed you. He said, with some emphasis on the word showed. Suddenly he looked at the droids, and nodded. Lazers fired through the air, blazing hot trails of red flitting out of their guns, razing each and every one of the Nemoidians guards to the ground, and leaving them charred with holes.

"I cannot let you leave," He told the councilman. "I was hoping you would not be...Stupid. Hoping that maybe you'd see the glory of the Federation. But you do not." He pulled out his staff and stabbed it into the Nemoidians chest.

Finally, he pressed a button and the door opened, giving Jarai a view of the room, and the bodies. But she had not heard anything. "Come in. Do not worry, we will have no attempts to kill you."

[Jarai Telo]

Jarai’s head inclined slightly as she took in the still scene in the room: the body, the droids, the positions and the mood settled over the room. The droidekas were unfolded and shields were up. She gave the bounty hunter a small glance.

“I would comment on the ambience I feel,” Jarai muttered. She pursued further into the room at an uneasy walk. “But, I think that’s pretty much killed when I have mini-cannons aimed at me.”

She approached the opposite side of the table, her eyes locked onto the light bulbs that stood for the magnadroid’s eyes. She stepped directly over the body a guard, her cloak brushed over the heaped, singed parts of clothing and flesh. Her displeasure to be here was still there. However, her face carried the one of lacking emotion.

“At least there was nothing said against my life,” she continued, hooking the chair with a foot and dragging it to her. She made no move to sit down. Jarai held her hands, palms to the magnaguard, as a sign of openness though her eyes glinted almost coldly. “I don’t know how well things might’ve turned out if you had, droid.”

She nudged back the chair, changing her mind on even sitting whatsoever. Her feet missed the bodies as she began to pace back and forth. It was clear she had no disturbances with the corpses beneath her feet. She had made no ties to the guards or the nemoidian. If it could be said, she was GLAD the annoying son of a kath hound was dead. She also showed nothing as a reaction to the droidekas except for a courtesy sweep of her gaze to acknowledge they were there.

Jarai disliked droids. They were unreliable. Even for information. Something could have happened between the target information to the return to the owner. Something could have fizzled its memory or whatever. They were expendable equipment, nothing more. Not to Jarai. So, to have one requesting her patience and attention gnawed at Jarai like a mynock gnawing on cables. She realized her cooperation with these mechanical factory toys was required.

Pacing, she said: “What is this all about? What is it that you require from me? And how the chubba do you know about Evolve?”

[rc83]

( You changed the screen for guests...Good way to give somebody a heart attack... )

Rc sat down, unlike the Sith, he was plenty fine sitting, although it did nothing to comfort a droid, he felt it a more conversational position. As she was pacing, she was the one to actively press the matters at hand.

“What is this all about? What is it that you require from me? And how the chubba do you know about Evolve?”

Rc shifted for a moment in his chair, he wasn't use to be queried like this. Usually, he conducted the business. "I have a proposition for." He said, "I coordinated all of these events in order to offer you and him a deal. He turned down the deal, and so I could not allow him to leave because of his extreme patriotism. This proposition I give...It is not between two people, between you and I. But instead between two factions. Between my faction, and evolve." He stood up now, too. Taking a few steps back he lifted one hand and continued,

"I know about evolve. I know about many things to be precise. I know that you want to dismantle the GA. In this we have a common goal. I know that you wish to have only a few Sith. In this we have a common goal. I can help you accomplish both of these. But we'll need to work together. There is going to be a change soon. And this day, this is the foundation of it...This shift in the shadows, on a desolate planet...This is the beginning of a new tomorrow." He put that hand down, and lifted his right hand.

"Have you ever thought about what will happen once all of your goals have been accomplished? Or how easily they can be undone? The very course you take may very well be your undoing. Let's say you somehow manage to destroy the Sith...The Jedi are great in number, and have been training in both your ways and their own. You cannot possibly hope to defeat them all alone. Even then, you'll also have to fight the remaining Sith. All this, and the fact that GA will have made you outlaw. How do you, all alone...You and one master, or a puny apprentice, hope to continue living? You won't. You can't." He said, putting down his hand.

He turned, around, and stared at a screen on the wall, "Long ago there was a time when Sith and droids worked together to destroy a different republic. The Trade Federation...My war. My time. We lost." He turned around again and said, "But this time I will not make such a mistake." He said, then, he clicked a button, and the screen turned on.

The screen was the image of tens of thousands of super battle droids, marching into a Trade Federation Cruiser. He laughed actively and looked at her for her expression, "My proposal, a permanent alliance, between the new power, and Evolve. We will help each other dismantle everything, and then build anew. As an added bonus, when it is time to pick up all the rubble, there's bound to be only a few more Sith left...On either side."

[Jarai Telo]

((This post is one of my greatest as Jarai. ^.^ Oh yeah. It's long. Two and a half pages on word. Have fun with it.

And I didn't change it. Thank Ryan.))


Jarai didn’t like where this was headed. Alliance with a bunch of put together metal with mechanical brains that can be easily seduced or destroyed? She didn’t think so. Loyal they were, numbers they may have, but all it took was to find the plant…

She blinked at the realization of this. They were on Korriban, home of the Sith. Or one of the homes, anyway. This planet was large in the dark side. The energy was enough to corrupt one’s mind if they did not think through their actions carefully. It was a hell hole for Jedi. The only faction or people capable of going against such a seemingly endless number of droids were the Jedi with maybe a few soldiers. But the Jedi could hack numbers fast than any soldier could shoot them. The GA wasn’t keen on leaving even their own base, and relied heavily on the Sith and the Jedi for back up. The GA was soft. It wouldn’t be hard to disrupt them. Korriban’s energy was something the Jedi refused to taste and that was exactly the reason Jarai was here. She was Sith. She could handle the finicky mood of the dark side, far better than a Jedi Master. And she was the only Sith who knew of this underground factory.

How kraking long had this droid been thinking? He had her in a corner, where he wanted her, the only way he could control such a destructive life form, the only way he could control a bane of existence. Her face deepened into an unlovely scowl. Her eyes flashed with each thought.

“You hardly understand what I wish to know. You have bare bits of knowledge you must have gathered from your informants, whoever they may be.” She was trying very hard not to look at the screen and the multiple battalions of droids loading onto ships. Jarai did not like the dread that haunted her, loomed over her as this droid did. “Evolve won’t survive. This so called Sith Empire won’t survive. Half the Jedi will be terminated.

“And you must not understand the nature of the Sith.” Her lips were playing into a small smirk. She was going to try and slowly talk her way out of the corner. She was going to stand as tall as this Magnaguard, stare him in the eye, and work her way out of this much unneeded Alliance. “Conquering takes much planning, dear droid. I’m sure you understand this by now. History shall repeat itself, one step at a time.

“Have you ever learned of Darth Bane, the believed Sith’ Ari of his time? He was a magnificent Lord of Darkness. He understood the way things were supposed to be. He was apprenticed to the dark ways when another Sith Empire stood tall, or thought it stood tall. They called themselves the Brotherhood of Darkness. Bane was a smart man. He saw through the lies of the Sith of his time with the studying of history, all the scrolls and books that were in his library, dusted away, forgotten. He decided truth was with history, and therefore turned his back on the Brotherhood, sought out the knowledge of Darth Revan, a Sith before even him. He found Revan’s holocron, came to understand the Rule of Two: One master, one apprentice, one to hold the power of the stars in his palm, and the other to crave the power. It was the way things were meant to be. Revan had created a thing called a Thought Bomb. Armed with the knowledge of the Thought Bomb, Bane deceived the Brotherhood, who were FIGHTING the Jedi, mind you. He destroyed the Brotherhood with this idea of the Thought Bomb, and he was the ONLY Sith standing. He ran away from the fools who had fallen into his trap. The Jedi survived, but they have to. It was a plan of Bane’s.”

Jarai stepped forward to the table, across from Rc, her fingertips splaying against the table. It was a light touch, but one that showed her confidence in this matter.

“We will jump to the Clone Wars, something you should remember, Magnaguard. Quite well, as you are one of General Grevious’s former bodyguards. General Grevious was not a Sith, he was not even Force sensitive. He was a body inside a droid suit. His lightsaber tactics were taught to him by Count Dooku, Darth Tyranus, apprentice to Darth Sidious. Sidious was under the disguise of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Sidious was very tactful on his galactic conquest, slithering beneath Jedi eyes and swiping them from the face of the galaxy with a simple press of a button and an uttering of ‘Execute Order 66’. The Jedi became all but extinct, and all those who managed to survive were hunted down and destroyed. A single Jedi surviving would bring down all that Sidious planned to have: Peace, through conquest.

“You, my friend, were nothing but a pawn in Sidious’s plot. Your leaders were eliminated by Darth Vader, and thus your kind died, no longer needed. The Clones took your place, very good and obedient clones, might I add. A human race, with a living, breathing body.

“The Sith military were also sentient beings during Revan’s, and in Bane’s, time era. They were just as loyal, and they were mostly skilled assassins. Assassins are stealthy, something the Sith need. Why?” Jarai chuckled. It was not a hearty chuckle. “Because stealth is a Sith’s specialty, known and focused or just the opposite. Masters and mistresses of the dark, the shadows.” She was talking herself happy now. “We have an uncanny ability to hide and never be found, in the known regions of space, or we can simply recline in the unknown regions, where we feel safest. Where the beginnings of this Sith Empire started, we can plot a different course of nature. History will be repeated, and history will conquer itself again, and history will be recorded once more, an endless cycle.”

Jarai was walking slowly around the room by the time her speech came to an end. Her eyes would focus on certain spots in the room, or dart to stare for a long time at Rc’s metal face.

“Tell me how I will not survive. Tell me why you think the Jedi will overpower me. The Jedi are hardly the fighters they used to be, cushioned by their beloved light side. The Sith are the warriors now, if only talented as swinging a colored sword around and calling it Jar’Kai. My plan has a lot more to it than you believe. With the Sith gone and the Jedi handicapped, the GA will crumble, no longer supported by the fierce bloodlust of these Sith and surviving on only half of their diplomatic Jedi. The GA will already be weak by the time the execution begins. It won’t be hard to turn many of these weak fools into the assassins of the galaxy. Watch the worlds now, Magnaguard! The worlds are feeble now, wars are everywhere, disturbed by the darkened presence us Sith have brought, and the disturbance has caused unrest. Because the Jedi and the GA and the Sith lack the discipline that should be so highly required, the galaxy is in turmoil! Nothing is orderly!”

Just as Rc had spoken with a passion, hers was creeping into her voice. Jarai cared for the galaxy, but first she cared about herself. The havoc and disorganization of the galaxy was something that endangered her. Sooner or later, the galaxy would collapse upon itself, destruction upon destruction bringing too much to bare on a yoke. This galaxy was where every living and thinking thing lived. It had to be taken care of, either by ‘good’ influence, or ‘evil’ influence.

“Darth Sidious restored discipline and a some kind of peace all those years ago. There was no light and dark conflict in the minds of the sentient beings of the hundreds of thousands of worlds. There was one: Dark.” Jarai was calmer now. She had her comlink levitated with the Force in one hand, and her lightsaber in the other. The gold on the hilt of the lightsaber flashed as she spun the weapon in a small circle. A look of calm was on her face, as if thinking over something.

“Magnaguard,” she addressed him again, “Sidious did it without you. The droids were left to rust to something beyond scrap metal. They weren’t needed. What makes you think you’re needed in my plots? How do you know I won’t be against you in the very beginning, as Palpatine was? You were replaced with flesh and bone and blood.” She purposefully lifted her gaze to match the bounty hunter’s as she spoke. Her voice was calm as ever, as if discussing something as simple as the weather outside. “And the Sith were against you. Sidious sent Vader to ruin the organized lives you droids live. He flipped a switch, and you were forgotten. Why attempt to align yourself with the same faction that left you in a coat of dust?”

[rc83]

Rc sat up, and looked at the Bounty Hunter, who was staring at Jarai with a face of shock and amazement. Then something happened that nobody had expected. Laughter rebounded through the air. The Droid was laughing. This shocked the Bounty Hunter even more, he took a tentative step back, suddenly not liking the situation. The droid's laugh was the most horrifying sound he'd ever heard.

"Perhaps I understand you humans more than you yourselves." He observed after he finished his uproarious laughter. "Hundreds of Tousands of worlds say not any conflict between light and dark in their sentient minds." He copied. "There's was only one view point: Dark." He chuckled and he was most obviously mocking her. "You know your history foolish one," He pointed, "But only as it was written in books, not as it was written in the mind. Every human battled. There were cages so full of prisoners, no one would possibly doubt that there *Was* a rebellion. In the hearts of every conscious, of every feeble human mind, there is an eternal conflict between these perceptions of 'good' and 'evil'. You say the world was locked on the dark, but every individual had their own eternal conflict raging inside them. The peace you speak of existed in only one mind, Darth Sidious'. And it didn't last so long. Rebellion soon rose, with or without a jedi. The force has little influence when it comes to humans who do not have it."

"There will always be a stronger force, the only thing you, pitiful Jarai, can hope is this: That you will live your life before the stronger force takes over. That is but one reason why you would be wise to consider alliance. The more strength you have, the longer you keep the stronger forces at bay."

"Another thing, the Sith died a very long time ago. No longer to they live, no longer do they linger. You, mayhaps, are the only one who matches the description of the Sith of old. And just like Bane, you will undeniably become the only one left standing. History, given the same circumstance, will always repeat itself."

He started pretending to be defeated then refuted his actions with his next words, "But the circumstances are not the same." He replied. Bane's situation is entirely different. First situation, the Jedi were fighting the Sith, and so the Sith were already weakened before he fought them. Second sitaution, the Sith and the Jedi are aligned, and both factions have their trump cards. First sitaution, Bane didn't have to deal with me." He chuckled with glee.

"Another problem you have yet to deal with. Humans are imperfect. Bane made his critical mistake, that one thing which seemed insignificant. Sidious made his critical mistake. Another insignificance. Those were their down falls. I watched in the shadows of it all, I mean, who would notice one of the many simple serving droids, one of the many cloaked figures? Who would noticed another shadow? I watched these simple mistakes develop into problems, nation rose and nation fell, and all the while, Sidious was in control. He could handle the big problems. But that one mistake came back to haunt him. Human imperfection is the thing which creates that stronger force. Humans cannot make things to be perfect, precise. That is why they developed the machine." He sat down now, calm once again. "You are stubborn though." He replied, "You do not want this alliance, though I do not understand why. You do not want this alliance, and so there shall be none. Goodbye, Jarai. I will allow you to leave this ship, but you should know my agents are everywhere. If you let a single word slip...Evolve will be revealed. Leave, and rest easy knowing that as long as you do not betray me, I will not betray you. We are not allies, but will be put on a temporary truce. You will hear of me again...The time is almost ready. We have amassed. We will become known soon. The ship you see before you is one of many fleets. If you have nothing further to say, then goodbye."

Little did Rc notice, but in the middle of his speech the Hunter had noticed a chance. And he slipped out of the ship and away without any notice.