Alone In The Universe

2 years prior to The Force Awakens...
A persistent and interactive galaxy set shortly before the events of Episode VII

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Alone In The Universe

Post by Nichalus »

UGP-489583

Such a bland, unemotional name for a world. Non-Descript, unattractive, and best of all...unfrequented since the first, and last, survey ship came decades ago. This wasteland with its violently eruptive volcanoes, magma rivers, fault lines that changed the face of the planet on a continental scale once or twice a year, wasn't even appealing to the various mining corporations. One, due to its distance from the Core Worlds, and two the logistics of even doing orbital mining would cost far more than the world's unimpressive minerals could gain them. In other words, this place made Mustafar look like a paradise by comparison.

What UGP-489583 did have, which factors in to its inhospitably, is its lone inhabitants...the Rathsaurs. These hard-scaled creatures resembled a Rancor, but on a just larger than man-sized scale. With their nearly durasteel hard skin, they could walk through a river of magma and come out unscathed on the other side. The first survey party that came to the planet, disembarked from their ship and was promptly met at the bottom of the boarding ramp, at which point the most deadly thing about the Rathsaurs was discovered...their 3 foot long claws on their 4 fingered hands. The party was lucky enough to have got the boarding ramp shut in time before it could get aboard, but they still lost 4 members of the crew who were the first ones down the ramp. They were bisected in one single swipe of a clawed hand.

So, with no monetary value, no viable colonization purposes, there was one redeeming quality about this world. If a person wanted to disappear, never to be found, you could not find a better place in the universe.

So one would have been surprised to see the lone man walking boldly between the rocky crags and boulders on the scorched earth landscape. Seemingly every inch of his medium-sized build was armored, or had a layer of, what appeared to be, Rathsaur skin strapped to it, while his head was neatly wrapped in the reptile's skin, a set of dark lensed goggles had been fashioned into the weaving that allowed for the man's sharp blue, almost white, eyes to peer through. Another gift of the Rathsaur was that it's skin literally absorbs heat, and keeps the intense temperatures away from anything underneath it, thus how the creatures survive and thrive on this world. No doubt if the surveyors had found this out, there would have been a more marketable reason to harvest the sole value of this world, but after the slaughter, one could understand why they chose to leave the world be.

The man was slowly approaching a fairly mountainous region of the area, and suddenly broke into a run as a crevasse stood between him and his destination. He came to the edge of the magma filled rift and leapt into the air and amazingly landed nimbly on the other side of the 20 foot gap without even the faintest hint of a stumble. Keeping up his now brisk pace, he suddenly came to a sliding stop on the hard-scrabble surface. He stood stalk-still, as he methodically moves his head slowly around to survey his surroundings, his head tilted slightly as if also listening for something nearby.

The Rathsaur came charging at him from behind a group of rocks with a speed that seemed impossible for its ungainly form, its arm raised behind him with its razor sharp claws extended and ready to cut the man in two.
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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The creature rushed in low, it's claws sweeping in but slashing only the heated air as the man leapt straight up, flipping over the creature and landed on his feet behind it. Spinning around, the man stood his ground, as the Rathsaur over-balanced from its vicious swing, and tumbled to a unceremonious heap onto it's chest. It quickly leapt up from the ground and roared its anger as it whirled back to face the man, who merely stood in place, his dark lenses staring back at it.

Again the creature rushed in at its target, swinging it's claws wildly at the man, but this time, the man caught the creatures arm in his hand and spun, using the creature's own momentum, while twisting the Rathsaur's wrist. The creature's feet left the ground, its body flipping in the air and crashed to the ground, and the man placed his foot on its neck while holding on the it's wrist, effectively pinning it to the ground. The creature struggled to rise, but with the painful pressure the man was placing on his wrist, combined with his boot on its neck, rising was an impossibility at this point.

"Submit.." The creature croaked out in a low, guttural voice.

"I've told you time and time again, that you must use surprise to your advantage Morrock." The man's muffled voice behind the wraps of skin stated. "You depend on your size and speed too much against a smaller opponent. Never underestimate."

"Yesss...truth." Morrock nodded under the man's boot.

The man removes his boot from its neck and releases his hold on it's hand to help it to it's feet. The man looks up at the creature, fully a good 2 feet taller than him, and claps him on it's armored skinned shoulder. "Perhaps next time you will get the better of me."

Another thing that the first surveyor's team had missed about the Rathsaurs was the fact that they were a highly intelligent creature, and their ability to adapt and learn from their surroundings, by what they see, and surprisingly, could be taught. Morrock had learned to speak a rudimentary Basic within days of his and the man's first meeting...well...that is after they fought with one another for well over 2 months after the man's arrival on the planet nearly a decade ago.
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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Nearly a decade ago

The man arrived on the planet with no name after a brief search through the Galactic Directories of the Galaxy of Known Systems and Planets. His heart was filled with bitterness and disillusionment at this point in his life. Harsh words were spoken to the man and mentor that he once held in the highest regard, but they were spoken from his heart. He wanted so badly for him to listen to his words, to heed his warnings, but he was rebuked time and time again. "Patience. In time you will learn where your place is, and then you will know what to do."

But patience was in short supply in his life at this time. There was a pressure, an insistence...a lure. Words were said, words that cannot be taken back, words that could never be resolved. So he left...incomplete, unfulfilled, and worst of all...disillusioned.

So when he found this particular planet in the directory, heard the survey crew's horrendous report, and the fact that it was so deep into the Unknown Region, he knew it would be the perfect place to be left alone. Away from the turmoil of the fools that were battling, backstabbing and murdering thousands of innocents caught between like they were so much insects. He wanted no part in it. They didn't want to listen, then he would allow their blindness to destroy them.

When he arrived he was met much like the Survey Crew was, a lone Rathsaur lying in wait as his small shuttle settled down. He knew that there were others watching from the various rocky deposits around the site, but the Rathsaurs had developed an almost Warrior's Honor code when dealing with intruders to their world. One on One combat was the usual means to dealing with them, as there was no honor for several warriors to dispatch a lone being in such a dishonorable way. When the man had dispatched the first 'Raith', as the man took to calling them due to their ability to blend into their surroundings, he did so with an ease that made the Rathsaurs rethink their new neighbor with a more respectful tone.

The further their unease at this new being on their planet, who had after the initial fight taken up residence in a large cave system deep within the border of this particular clans territory, the man had discovered the protective abilities of the Rathsaur's skin. So when the second Raith showed up at the mouth of the entrance to the cave, saying they were surprised to see him armored with the skin and armored chest plates of the first warrior surrounding this particular soft-skin, is not an exaggeration.

For several months this went on, with the next Raith meeting, and then being defeated by this intruder. The man did not seek them out, he did not hunt them, he merely met when confronted, defeated for survival, then returned to his cave, never to be seen again until the next challenge.

It was then that the Leader of this Clan took it upon himself to take care of this worthy adversary. That leader was Morrock. He had lost too many of his warrior, or S'lith, to this man. It was now up to the leader, that they looked to, rid them of his presence. There first confrontation was nothing short of a spectacle, and they fought to a standstill in front of the cave for well over an hour before they both suddenly parted, with the man re-entering his cave, and Morrock returning to his own in the nearby valley.

For the next two months, the two of them fought, sometimes with weapons that Morrock had, and the man had a long sword that he had fashioned out of a strange metal that he found in the walls of his mountain cave that could cut through the skin of the Rathsaurs. These were deadly encounters, as both combatants on varying occasions would walk away from another standstill with wounds of one kind or another. During one encounter, Morrock took a slashing blow across his chest, and the man himself had taken a nasty cut across his back during another. Both wore their scars with pride, and neither allowed them to hinder themselves in the continuous fights between.

After months of fighting, one day the man stepped out from his cave for their daily trial, only to find Morrock knelt down before the entrance. In his hand he held his Clan's Symbol, which consisted of a Rathsaur skull within a webbing of silk-like material that is reaped from the webbing of a particularly nasty spider-like creature known as a Morthis, embedded in the cranium of the skull was two rocky daggers crisscrossing through it.

"Noris, daban tootana Metra Inso Ralgiir." Morrock intoned in his raspy serpent like voice. It was the first time either had said a word in their many fights, and the first time the man even knew that they could speak.

The man could only stand before the creature, his face unreadable behind the material of Rathsaur skin and dark goggles. He could understand what Morrock was offering, it was subjugation, a surrender of his clan to him. He stood before the creature, and shook his head slowly and deliberately, while pushing the symbol back to Morrock's chest. He then lowered his hand down to his sides, bowing his head and then knelt down before Morrock. Morrock slowly rose, while at the same time the man himself rose with him. At first with confusion etched in his reptilian face, and then finally in dawning understanding a smile, at least what passes for one on his lip less face. The soft-skin was showing him that they are equals, nothing more, nothing less. In doing so, the man showed all of Morrock's clan that was witness, that they were equals. One has not conquered the other, but their prowess was that neither greater or lesser...in other words, Morrock did not lose face with his clan.

After, the man was invited to the clan's village. While he could not yet understand their language, he could tell that they were fascinated by the man, now that they didn't have to fear him for his abilities in battle. They did not appear to be upset over the fact that he wore the skin of one of their people, but the fact that he was using it in a way that showed his resourcefulness in their eyes. Over time, he became a normal figure among them, even priding the fact that he was with them over the other clans in the region, who visited Morrock's village just to see this outsider for themselves.

The man slowly learned their language, and in turn taught Morrock Basic which he took to very quickly. One night while they were sitting with the other members of the Clan's Elders, the man turned to Morrock. "Morrock, your people call me Metra Inso Ralgiir constantly now. I would wish to know, what does it mean?"

Morrock's lips form a smile. "Morrock wondered when soft-skin would ask this. It mean Warrior From Stars", and is an honored title from my people. No insult mean."
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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The Present...

Ralgiir, as the Rathsaur called him, and Morrock made their way inside the cave and the home of Ralgiir for last 9 odd years. While the outside was a hostile and fiery landscape, some hundred yards into the cave, was a far different matter. The corridor from the entrance suddenly opened into a large domed space several dozens of feet across. The rock walls of the room looked to have been painstakingly sheared away to form such an almost perfect spherical roof some 15 feet overhead. Amazingly the temperature in the room was a mere faction of the tremendous outside, but it was comfortable enough that Ralgirr began removing his armor and wrappings.

Where once a fearsome warrior once stood, now stood just a human in a one-piece gray jumpsuit that was worn and withering with years of wear and tear beneath the armored covering that held his pieces together. Long, deeply graying hair, fell down upon his shoulders as he then removed his dark goggles to reveal his almost ghostly blue/white eyes. His lean and narrow face was etched with various scars that had healed over time, his skin was taunt against the bones of his skull from the lean foods that he had grown well accustomed to eating.

Amazingly enough Ralgiir had been able to grow some vegetables in his cave. towards the back of the room there were green and red leafed stalks growing from the well maintained soil. Ralgiir walked over and began examining several of them before choosing the most ripe and he pulled it from the ground. At the bottom of the stalk was nearly half a dozen large amazing bright red bulbs which he called Rathatoes, which were rich in starch much like their cousins the potatoes. Ralgiir had brought along with him several seeds to cultivate his garden. Along with his Rathatoes, he had several types of tomatoes, lettuce, and was even able to grow Corellian Figs, which grew in abundance in a tree that was nearly as tall as the ceiling.

Morrock smiled and licked his lipless mouth. "Morrock likes the Rathatoes!"

"I know you do my reptilian friend. So that is why today we dine together to mark 10 years of mutually agreeable friendship." Ralgiir smiled and then sat down near a pot that sat on a small fire that was filled with water that was beginning to steam. He reaches over and pulls a small device from a cloth bag, clicks a switch and the vibro-knife comes to life, and begins to peel the Rathatoes, dropping them one by one into the pot. He then takes a slab of meat, which came from another indigenous animal called a Balinti that was a feline species that lives among the mountain sides, slices it into several medium sized chucks, and adds them to the pot. Lastly he adds some various dried seasoning and then places a smooth flat rock over the pot to allow it to stew.

Ralgiir then reaches over to a pitcher nearby to pour them a particularly potent liquor that is made from a fruit that only grows on the side of particular mountainsides, when the pitcher suddenly falls from his hand, and his eyes widen as if in shock. Morrock rushes over to his side and places his leathery hand on his shoulder. "Ralgiir? What is wrong?"

For a long moment, Ralgiir says nothing, but then he blinks his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Something is coming. Something...horrible."
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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Commander Davide stood in the center of the Command Center watching his officers and tech personnel performing their various duties in a orderly and efficient manner. So far he had been quite pleased with his team, but today was a most important day for him. All the years of toiling and back breaking work, by his officers and techs that is, all came down to this. It was nerve wracking for him, though he dared not show it openly. So many other up and coming officers were just waiting for him to stumble, some even dared to question him openly about his work, but soon found themselves falling down a deep hole, or got lost in the snowy forests that surrounded this particular base.

Yes, it was going to be a good day. He smiled to himself, pleased with how things were progressing as he walked slowly and methodically towards the viewport with his hands clenched behind his back. Already the snow covered trees that laid out beyond the complex were beginning to thaw, large clumps of snow fell silently to the ground, and the melt was running rivulets of water on the ground as the system's Sun bared down upon them.

Looking up through the viewport a bright gleaming red speck of light shone in the far distances from his vantage point. His smile could not have broadened any more, but it found a way to.

"Sir, we are approaching optimal orbit and position." A Junior Officer walked up, snapped a salute and stood crisply at attention. "We have sent out the landing parties to place the Recorder Probes so that we can gather data before and after the test."

"Have they taken all precautions for the reported indigenous hostile animals on the surface?" Davide asked as if he truly cared one way or the other. As long as the probes were there and activated, he couldn't have cared less.

The officer nods crisply. "Yes, Sir. Plus..." The officer looks a bit reluctant to speak further, knowing the Commander's reaction will be bad.

"Spit it out man." Davide demands irritably

"Well Sir, one of the Knights demanded to go with the Landing Party."

Davide's face suddenly flushed with anger. "Damn those meddling freaks! If they do anything to disrupt my test, I'll go directly to Supreme Leader himself!" Davide closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm himself. After a few moments, he opens them, and malicious grin suddenly appears as he grasps the bottom of his First Order uniform and straightens the creases from it.

"Then again, perhaps that freak will meet with one of those creatures on the surface of ...." he thinks for a moment, trying to remember something. "...oh what the hell is the name of this insignificant world?"

The officer looks at his datapad, as if to remind himself. "It has no name Sir, it is only known as UGP-489583."

"No Commander." Davide stated quickly. "It will soon be known as the first victim of the Starkiller.
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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He rode aboard the probe crew shuttle in silence, sitting in his seat, which was just fine with the rest aboard. His worn and battered black facemask betrayed nothing as he stared forward. He could feel their unease all around him, their distain, their fear. It was the fear that fueled him, sated him, filled him with power. He had always found that it was this particular emotion that benefited him, and that his silent presence caused it to rise in these occasions. The fear of the unknown always made the weak minded let fear overrule their minds.

Underneath his mask he smiled. It was a ruthless smile, one that would have made the other members in the shuttle cringe even further, but his smile wasn't for them, it was for...him

Yes, him. He had felt his presence when they first entered the system. At first it was an annoying itch in the back of his mind, but as they got closer to their destination, it became a certainty. I have found you at last. This time...you will not escape me. He thought within the darkness of his mind.
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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Ralgiir and Morrock stood outside of the cave that night. The dark skies were crystal clear and it seemed like every star in the galaxy could be seen. Ralgiir could have easily pick out the Core Systems, but it was a brilliant blue/white star that caught the eye of Morrock..

"What is that Ralgirr?" Morrock asked turning to look at his friend. "Morrock has never seen this bright light of star before.

"It is...trouble." he replied without looking up. "What I do know is we need to prepare."

Morrock looked at him quizzically. "For what?" It was then that Morrock noticed, for the first time, the look of fear on Ralgiir's face.

"Come on." Ralgiir stated as he started back into the cave. Morrock looked back at the new bright star in the sky and then back towards Ralgiir, and then his own spine tingled with apprehension.

Both of them walked back to the very back of the large opening where Ralgiir had lived for years, and he pulled back a large tarp made from another of the planets creature's skin, revealing another long tunnel. After several dozen meters the tunnel opened up into an even larger open space, the ceiling of which was wide open to the starry skies above. Below the opening settled on the ground was a dust and dirt covered YT-1250. The ship had the same basic design that much of the universe can come to know due to the Millennium Falcon's use by Han Solo, but instead of the long exhaust port in the rear this ship had three engine ports mounted there. While the YT-1250 had less storage space, its weaponry made up much of its bulk.

"Fester wake up!" Ralgiir shouted as he stepped over to the docking ramp and keyed in his code.

Standing near one of the struts a BB Unit suddenly wobbled, its lights various system lights flaring up from the low-power mode it had been in for many years. The little droid shook violently causing a minor dust cloud to form around him. When it checked its internal chronometer and issued out a series a loud squelches and warbles of irritation.

"Yes, I know how long it's been. For you it was a blink, for me it was much longer." Ralgiir replied.

Fester issued another screech as it scanned the room and found Morrock standing there staring curiously at the little round droid.

"He's a friend Fester." Ralgiir stated as he went up the ramp into the darkness of the interior of the ship. Within moments the externals lights on the ship started coming to life, as well as the interior lights. Ralgiir rushed down the ramp. "Get in there and start prepping the Hawk for departure."

Fester looked between the ship and Morrock, then back to the ship and to Morrock again. He warbled a worried moan as he looked over to Ralgiir.

"I said he's a friend, just get the ship ready and warmed up, we'll be leaving within the hour."

Fester shook his head slowly, obviously dazed and confused by the situation, but dutifully rolled up the ramp.

"Ralgiir is leaving?" Morrock looked to him, and if he could make a truely sorrowful expression, this was it.

"You and your people are coming too." Ralgiir stated matter of factly.

"Morrock cannot leave. This is Morrock's home, I cann...irk" Morrock's eyes widen in pure shock and confusion, as he looks down to find a brightly glowing and humming red beam of red light that was now protruding from his chest.
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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Ralgiir whirled around at the sound, a sound all too familiar to him...and one that he never thought, nor wanted, to hear again. He could hear the sizzle of flesh, smell the cave fill with the stench of it. "MORROCK!!" The cave filled with Ralgiir's scream of anguish.

"Was that it's name?" The Knight intoned with a menacing sort of mirth in his voice that was muffled by his black mask, and pulled his lightsaber from Morrock's body and allowing his dead weight fall to the ground. "Was it a pet?"

"You kriffing BASTARD!!" Ralgiir yelled and pulled his handmade dual-bladed sword, made with the metal from the cave, from its harness on his back. With a click on the hand-carved bone handle, the two gleaming silver blades extended outwards with a snap at both ends. "Why did you have to come Sa'vich? Why couldn't have to just left me alone!"

Sa'vich held his humming red blade in a position to the side of his body, as he cautiously approached Ralgiir. "Oh, you know the answer to that as well as I do...Stephan." He suddenly lashed out with a sweeping swing of his saber, which Stephan blocked the swing with one of the metal blades, and instantly the contact between the lightsaber and strange metal showered the area between them with sparks and a strange high-pitched tone.

Sa'vich took a tentative step backwards, somewhat surprised as he noticed that the metal blade of his enemy's weapon was not sheared off by the energy of his lightsaber. "Well, something new. How quaint." Sa'vich chuckled. "You always did have a way of finding new and interesting challenges for me."

"You were...are...demented Sa'vich." Stephan snapped back, as they began to circle each other near the entrance to the hanger cave. "Your sick devotion to the Darkside was evident the day that you arrived at the Academy."

"Oh yes." Sa'vich replied with a certain amount of glee. "But the Master had no choice but to accept me, there were so few of us that knew the ways of the Force then. Or at least openly used it. When he came to my world, full of promises to train me, of fulfilling my dream of mastering the Force, he knew...he knew that I was a student of the Darkside. So blinded by his need to atone for his father, he did not see, or refused to see that I needed no teacher, for the Darkside taught me all that I needed, it filled me with the power that I sought!"

"Yet you allowed him to believe that you wished to learn from him! You were to be one of his prized pupils that he would have brought back from the Darkside, and into the Light." Stephan spun his dual-bladed sword over his head, then spun his body towards Sa'vich, while bringing blades down in a wide sweeping arc at Sa'vich's chest. Sa'vich masterfully blocked the first blade, when spun and swiped away the second blade that Stephan aimed for his back. Stephan finished his spin, crouching slightly, as he brought his dual-blade into a defensive position. "That is until Ben showed up."

"BLASPHEMER!" Sa'vich screamed and leapt into the air, lashing his saber back and forth in front of him furiously. "His name is KYLO RINN!" Sa'vich slashed downward, but Stephan parried the blow with one blade, knocking the saber blade up and then swung the secondary blade towards Sa'vich's mid-section. Sa'vich thrust his free hand towards the secondary blade and held it in place with the Force. With the two of them locked in position, he turns his polished pure black mask towards Stephan's straining face. "Before I kill you, you will say his name."
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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While the two of them fought their battle outside the Hawk, Fester was inside powering up the long dormant systems fervently. While the battery systems were still fully charged, even after such a long time, the power, engines and navigation systems took a considerable time to reboot and load. Fester gave out little moan like tones as he waited, keeping track of his master's fight for survival on the outside. The Comm System came up first, and a long list of personal messages began chirping for attention. One of which, that was sent nearly a decade ago, caused Fester to let out a long tone of awe-like sound.

Stephan ducked under another savage swing from Sa'vich, the humming red blade sizzling just centimeters over his head. Stephan immediately swung his dual-bladed sword at Sa'vich's calves which made Sa'vich leap over Stephan and land nimbly behind him. Stephan spun to the side, narrowly missing the thrust of Sa'vich's saber at his side. Twirling his dualblade up, he knocked Sa'vich's lightsaber up, and lashed out with a vicious kick that caught Sa'vich in the chest causing him to stagger back several steps.

Sa'vich kept his distance as Stephan poised himself for his dark armored foe's next attack. "You always were the best with the dual-blade Stephan." Sa'vich stated almost respectfully. "And you have countered me on each of my attacks without even using the Force. Impressive as always for a man with your weakness."

"That's because I don't consider it a weakness." Stephan replied with a weariness in his voice. "Where you see weakness, I see strength."

"Then you will see how weak you truly are." Sa'vich stated menacingly and deactivated his lightsaber, closed his eyes and concentrated.

The cave was suddenly bathed in a eerie silence, even the torches lining the cave walls seemed to dim and shadows permeated the room. Stephan whirled around, his head tilted slowly from side to side as concern etched across his face. Concern due to the fact that for all intents and purposes Sa'vich had disappeared to him...he is, after all, completely blind and has been since he was a young boy.
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Re: Alone In The Universe

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Old fears and doubts flooded his thoughts as his mind travels back to the fragile child of 5 years of age that was daydreaming about fighting against the Empire, painting a luminescent glow rod green and swinging it at imaginary Sith Lords, evil Smugglers or horrific beasts that were threatening his family and friends on Nar Shaddaa.

Memories of fighting these imaginary beast in one of the thousands of warehouses on the planet filled with all manners of goods, both legal and illegal. One of them his parents owned and operated their own meager storage building. His father was a smart man, and knew that some of the crates and containers perhaps stored illicit goods, but he was of a mind that he did not know, and it was none of his business. He was a A and B type of mind, the C did not concern him. It put credits on the table for his family, and that was all that mattered.

That was until the day that he swung his glow stick at a metal container that struck a particularly weak joint in the substandard seam that sprayed Stephan in the face with a particularly powerful strain of Glitterstim....

DAD!!.... He heard his child voice scream out as his world went dark...

Stephan shook the thoughts from his mind and tilted his head slowly from side to side, his blue/white eyes wide open with their blank stare as he listened for the slightest scratch, the whisper of movement in the air, the hiss of Sa'vich's clothing rubbing against his skin, an intake of breath. But Stephan knew that Sa'vich thrived in the darkness, especially in Stephan's particular kind of dark.

The blow to his jaw struck him from the dark sending him backpedaling backwards slamming his back painfully against the stoney walls of the cavern. This was Sa'vich's way of toying with him, teasing him in his almost childlike way but exploiting his blindness like a child that holds a kitten by its tail, he relished in the uncertainty and fear that he was causing,

A sharp kick to his mid-section doubled him over and he fell to his hands and knees trying to get his breath back.

"There...that is how I remember you. On your knees before me." Sa'vich's voice echoed around the room. "Do you remember that day Stephan? Do you remember me standing over you, readying the killing blow. Do you remember the anticipation of meeting Eternity at my hands?"

"The Master knew you for what you are, and stopped you." He managed to get out between gasping breaths.

"And where is your Master now?" Sa'vich taunted. "He hides from the real Master, cowers from his power. The Master was a FRAUD!"

"No, the only fraud is Ben. A betrayer to the Master and his own family."

"His..."

Stephan felt the Force tighten around his throat.

"Name..."

He felt his body lift from the ground.

"Is..."

Stephan's body flew through the air, smashing through several storage crates and boxes of Stephan's personal effects, the contents of which exploded outwards, littering and covering Stephan's body with the debris.

"KYLO RINN!" Sa'vich's voice echoed like thunder around the cavern.

Long ago...

The powerful spray of Glitterstim struck Stephan directly in the face, his hands dropped his toy lightsaber as they flew to his face to cover his eyes. He screamed out for his father as it felt as if his eyes were melting in his very skull then suddenly...silence....

Everything blanked out as his young 5 year old mind was invaded by the powerful effects of pure Glitterstim. Time stood still, no sound penetrated the sudden darkness that seemed to surround him. Even the darkness felt wrong, there was something in the abysmal blackness, a presence or presences, that seemed to surround him, calm him, sooth the pain that should be racking his young body after such a powerful and pure dose of the drug.

Most addicts in the Galaxy knew that Glitterstim, which was mined on Kessel, effected the brain of its user, effecting the eyes and even gave the user a telepathic boost and heightened mental state. Glitterstim had to be process in complete darkness, for it was light that activated it's effects, so when the uncut drug came out of its container, all its effects were in full force and bombarding his young mind. Long-term use eventually wore down the users mental faculties until they were reduced to an almost brain-dead state.


"Stephan!" He could faintly hear his father screaming at him, his voice tinged with fear and concern. He could distantly feel his father shaking him, holding him tightly, but it was as if he looking on the outside in.

But behind his father's voice he could hear another, or others. Whispers, faint whispers. He couldn't quite hear them over his father's screams. But he could make out one voice among the many, it was faint...

"Wake up Young One....wake up...wake up...wake up...wake..UP..."

--WAKE UP...MOVE...NOW!!--


The voice screamed in his head, and Stephan's eyes fluttered open, and he rolled to his left among the packing boxes and debris just before Sa'vich's red lightsaber gouged a deep slash in the stoney floor where he had laid. Smoldering bits of glowing hot stone etched Stephan's face as his roll came to a stop, and his hand fell upon a smooth metal cylindrical tube. His blue/white eyes widened as he immediately recognized the feel of it, but knew it shouldn't be here. It had been nearly a decade since he last felt it's weight in his hand, and not to mention the fact that he had left it on that bitter day on Yavin 4 so long ago.
:obiwan: The 'Old Man' of the Exodus

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Nichalus
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Re: Alone In The Universe

Post by Nichalus »

Stephan dodged the swing of Sa'vich's practice saber by the barest of inches, then brought his leg up and kicked him squarely in the chest sending him unceremoniously on his ass to the ground.

Stephan smiled down towards where he knew Sa'vich had landed, holding his hand out to help him up. He did not mean for his smile to have a satisfactory smirk to it, but Sa'vich saw it that way, and viciously swatted Stephan's outstretched hand with a backhanded slap.

"You'll pay for that Silvermane." Sa'vich sneered at him.

"Anger and Vengeance are not the way Padawan Sa'vich." Master Luke Skywalker stated calmly as he sat cross legged at the edge of the practice ring. His piercing blue eyes stood out in stark contrast to the course growth of beard that was now growing on his once youthful face.

"But he mocks me!" Sa'vich replied angrily.

"Your over-confidence is what mocks you Sa'vich." Stephan replies. "You take my blindness as a weakness, where I see it as a gift."

"One day, I will turn that darkness of yours into a nightmare." Sa'vich hissed between clenched teeth and stalk away from the training ground.

"I think that will be enough today students." Master Skywalker stated and the rest of the student began to file away from the area.

"Hold up Stephan." The Master caught Stephan by the shoulder. "We need to talk."

"Let me guess, you think I was being too smarmy with Sa'vich." Stephan sighed slightly. "He is a arrogant student Master, and full of hate. I don't need the Force 'or' my sight to see that his path leans to the Darkside."

"Sometimes your own over-confidence shows too much Stephan. You earned your right to become a Jedi Knight, but even a Knight can still 'learn' to be more with each passing day. Look at me, I still learn each day something new, a new perspective."

Stephan looked towards the Master for a moment with a expression of exasperated frustration. "Master, Sa'vich is dangerous. The more you teach him to control the Force, the stronger he grows in the Dark Side. Worse still is the fact that he and Ben are so close. Haven't you noticed how they stick together, or some of the other Padawans? They flock around him, and it isn't just because his father is Han Solo, or his mother is a member of the New Republic Senate!"

The Master nods, his brow furrowing slightly. "You leave Ben to me Jedi Silvermane." There was a note of caution in the Master's voice that Stephan had never heard before.

"You're being obtuse Master Skywalker and allowing your personal feelings to get in the way of what is the truth!" Stephan stated with his own tone of defiance...and immediately regretted saying it. But it was something that had been gnawing at him for some time now.

For a moment Master Skywalker stared at him, a glint of anger in his blue eyes and for a fleeting moment he saw anger in his expression...or at least he thought he did, for as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.

"This conflict between you and me is something that I knew was coming Jedi Silvermane. But if you cannot abide by my wisdom, then perhaps..."

"I should leave?!" Stephan finished the Master's sentence for him.

"If it is the Will of the Force that guides you away, then so be it." Master Skywalker replied with an almost unemotional tone.

Stephan stared towards him for a long incredulous moment, not knowing what to say. "You...you want me to leave?!" He finally stammered out.

"Your time is finished here Jedi Silvermane." The Master finally stated plainly. "May the Force guide your path." He looked at Stephan, his wizened face staring at him impassively.

The finality of the Master's statement left him stunned, and caught him totally off guard. The more it settled on him, the more angrier he became. That the Master would be able to cast him aside with such seeming casual ease, without so much as a consideration.

Stephan reached behind his back where his dual lightsaber hung from a magnetic clamp, he detached it and held it before him. He had crafted the specialized lightsaber himself, and the Master had provided him with a unique crystal from the planet Ilum, a one-of-kind specifically suited for Stephan.

With as much apparent thought that the Master had used to dismiss him, Stephan dropped the dual saber in the middle of the practice arena and walked away.
:obiwan: The 'Old Man' of the Exodus

EFFL Champion (2013-2016) First Two-Time Exodus Champion
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Nichalus
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Re: Alone In The Universe

Post by Nichalus »

The angry hum of Sa'vich's lightsaber slicing towards him brought him out of his shock of finding the object in his hand. Using a kipp-up maneuver he leapt high into the air just as Sa'vich's saber slashed the air where he had been. He flipped over once and landed in a crouch and held the object he had found out before him as his fingers activated it's hidden switches.

"No! You left that on Yavin!" Sa'vich hissed between his clenched teeth.

Beams of energy belched out of both ends of the dual-lightsaber, and the effects of the unique Ilum Blue crystal, nicknamed Black Ice, became clear. Both energy blades were completely black, surrounded by a ice-blue aura of color, which if it wasn't for the aura, it would almost be impossible to see the deadly blades.

But most striking of all was the effect the energy of the blades had on Stephan. The blue-white aura cast a pall over his face turning his eyes blazing blue and pupil-less. While this was merely a illusion of the light upon his already blue-white eyes, the Black Ice Crystal did have a unique effect when Stephan called upon the Force fully for the first time in nearly a decade.

It was like a dam breaking as the Force rushed through him. A refreshing torrent that he had feared would be angry at him for keeping it at bay for so long. But if the Force held a grudge, it did not show anger, it showed a relief, a warm embracing hug from a long lost friend. And with it, coupled with the Black Ice Crystal, it brought sight.

One of the properties of the Black Ice was that it emitted a sub-harmonic pulse every few seconds that was not audible to the normal hearing of most beings, but for Stephan it painted the world around him in vivid colors and swirls of light. It outlined objects, and while not color correct, he could make out details of shapes. Even sound was augmented to the point where he could pinpoint movement through it because sound with his Force Vision caused whirls and splashes of brilliant color when emitted, which he had to learn to filter these types of 'explosions of sound' especially large crowds or noisy environments.

"I see you Sa'vich." Stephan stated with a hint of a smirk on his lips.

Sa'vich's form was, aptly enough, a dark red swirling semblance of a humanoid form to Stephan's eyes, with black wispy tendrils of color emitting from it.

"It's too bad your pet didn't." Sa'vich shot back, which in turn wiped the forming smirk from Stephan's lips, and whether it was a play of the flickering white-blue dual-saber's blade, or something far more personal, Stephan's eyes seemed to flare in anger.

"The Master isn't here to save you this time."

There was something in Stephan's tone that seemed to cause Sa'vich to pause momentarily. Whether it was a ring of truth in his words, or just a momentary fleeting thought, he did not know. What he did know is suddenly Stephan leap forward, his dual-saber tracing an almost hypnotic twirling motion as he slashed and stabbed at him. Sa'vich was now on the defense as he managed, just barely, to parry or step out of the way of the Ex-Jedi Knight's attacks.

Methodically Stephan's attacks became more accurate, and far more deadly as his cuts began tearing through Sa'vich's black armored clothing. He was relishing in the fact that he was wearing down Sa'vich piece by piece. Stephan slashed another piece of Sa'vich's leg armor off, then reached over the hilt of his saber with his free hand and lashed out with a Force Push that sent Sa'vich reeling backwards, raising his hand to counter it with his own push only slowed his backwards slide. Stephan continued to push forward, his eyes gleaming menacingly with its bright blue flashes.

"You should have left me alone!" Stephan screamed at him, as he pulsed his Force Push, pushing Sa'vich backwards even harder until he now was pinned against the cavern wall. With a twirl of his dual-saber, deftly cut off Sa'vich's lightsaber wielding hand causing Sa'vich to scream out in a combination of pain and rage. "All I wanted to do was be left ALONE! Why couldn't you have let it go?! WHY?!"

Suddenly Sa'vich began to laugh. It was a mirthless laugh, the kind of laugh that made Stephan pause, because he was missing something. Something that he would regret that he did not realize it earlier.

"Your overconfidence is what mocks you..."

Stephan's own words echoed within his mind as Sa'vich stated them, and then he knew that Sa'vich had the upper hand on him. Stephan released his hold on him, and Sa'vich crumpled to the ground still laughing at him.

"What have you done? How did you find me?" Stephan demanded.

"You fool, I haven't been looking for you!" Sa'vich said between his chuckles. "The First Order needed a test subject, and this planet looked like the right place to use. It was just fate that you were here."

It was then, when the light from the Sun coming through the cavern's open ceiling began to dim noticeably.
:obiwan: The 'Old Man' of the Exodus

EFFL Champion (2013-2016) First Two-Time Exodus Champion
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