Departure [foxfire, open]

[Mara]

(((All right, this is ‘part one’ of ‘Finding Leef’ storyline, details in RP request thread here…
This is open to any Sith in the vicinity…)))


[… from Moonlight Meditation]

Heart pounding in her chest, breath caught in her throat, she paused at the edge of a stone wall and peered around the corner into the intersecting corridor. The young Twi’lek who was usually overflowing with so much confidence as to be almost cocky and reckless was nervous about what she was on her way to do. Seeing with her dark purple eyes and feeling in the Force that it was empty, she waited a few extra beats before she slipped around and continued onward through the dimness of the windowless passage. Despite her anxiety about what she was about to do, she was resolute in her decision.

She had struggled in the last few months after losing her master, after he had abandoned her. So much anger and rage had clouded her mind, and she had wrapped herself in a depressing blanket of self-pity and bitterness. Choosing to wallow in her personal darkness, she most of her time alone. Others in the temple avoided her in those rare occasions where she departed her quarters. And the few interactions she had been a part of had not gone well. Among them had been an ill-fated duel fueled by her jagged emotional state and an ill-conceived rejection of an experienced Sith’s offer to teach her.

The Twi’lek’s downward spiral would have gone on unchecked into the distant future if not for an unexpected encounter with someone from her recent past. Cho the Noghri Sith had found her in one of her lower moments, a vision of her sister having doubled her pain, and instead of coddling her had snapped at her. She had been so startled by this that his words had actually worked, cutting through her self-imposed fog. Slowly through their brief conversation she realized what she had been doing to herself; she had been allowing her feelings to hold her back from the powerful potential within her, stunting her growth as a Sith.

However, even putting away her abandonment issues and holding them close to strengthen not weaken her, there had still been one thing holding her back. Something she had to resolve before she knew she would be able to fully give herself to her training once again. Dreams of her sister had been haunting her more steadily in the past months, and the thought of the older Twi’lek in trouble kept her from focusing completely on the path she was currently on. So she had made the choice to deal with the visions and do what she could for Leef. Then she would return to Korriban to rekindle her lessons with a new master, healed of all her loose ends.

Her slow and steady progress was near soundless as she moved on bare yellow feet along the cold stone floors. In her arms, she carried a large rucksack stuffed with meager but precious belongings as well as a few supplies. Though not intending to leave permanently, she needed, wanted, all her possessions for the journey ahead. Unsure of what see would be facing in the coming weeks, she had packed all her weapons: her lightsaber, along with her former master’s two, and her small bag of metal shards, hiding them among the packets of food. She had also tucked away her boots and cloak, knowing wearing them during her trip through the halls was foolhardy, given the tapping and rustling they would create.

Looma Isana had chosen the time to enact her plan carefully. At first, she had considered midday, thinking to get lost in the chaos and commotion of the busily functioning temple. But then she had discarded the notion, realizing that she was dealing with hundreds of Sith, not regular beings. And so departing under the cover of darkness had appeared her best bet for making her getaway. The Sith would still be around, but most of them should be asleep in their quarters, not worrying about a single initiate slinking around. In fact, she had spent many a night under the stars in the middle of the night; if any noticed her presence, they would hopefully assume she was doing the same.

Making one last turn, she paused, looking down at her final destination: the hangar that serviced the entire temple complex. Compared to what she needed to do now, everything leading up to this moment had been easy. Stealing quietly through the halls of the massive stone building was one thing. Sneaking into the large chamber filled with various transports and taking one for herself was quite an undertaking, and one she still wasn’t quite sure how she was going to accomplish. Especially considering that the young Twi’lek had absolutely no piloting experience, her only encounters with ships being as a disinterested passenger.

With a deep breath and summoning all her courage and desire to finish what she had started, Looma passed through the doorway into the hangar, keeping near the perimeter in case a mechanic was working late into the wee hours. Faint starlight twinkled through small openings towards the ceiling but otherwise the space was dark. She used the Force to guide her slowly around objects as she went deeper inside. About halfway down, she stooped behind a large crate and waited a few minutes for her eyes to adjust. Once she could see, she began scanning all the options laid out for her. One of these ships would be her way out, if she could just figure out the best course of action…

[Foxfire]

For days Cho had been working on getting a mission off world. Finally a mission to find new planets for resources came up. The mission had an indefinite time line all he had to do was call in once a month with a new information progress report. Never did he really like the thought of just being gone but the temple was grating on his nerves again. Only recently had he returned to the planet as Honog.

The pain still lingered from the dark force poisoning. The time of healing was hard especially since he had no help in his recovering. The droids had tried to deal with the poison but he had to flush the effects himself. The month or so that he was back he had lived with the sith hounds hunting the remaining hssiss and ending them. The group of sith hounds had grown from his companionship. The group had been to afraid to deal with them because they were the rejects from the pure clans. Each had their problems but all would died for each other even their non-hound friend.

Now a harshly scarred hound that stands 4'6" followed him to the temple's hanger from the now open den that was once the hssiss nest. This hound was one that no matter where he went it would follow. Honog could not explain it's reasoning. Yet he welcomed the beasts loyalty. Many of the temple would move out of their way and he was never bothered by the lower classes of sith.

With a food pouch and a pilot droid to command Honog was leaving for his mission. He was issued a long range scouting transport. A small amount of money and other sundries would have to settle as his salary for the mission. The rest would have to come as he needed it, by killing and stealing it as he went along. Honog really only needed food for the hound he could get by well on his own for a few days with the protein rations he had stored up.

As they neared the hanger the sith hound grumbled a growl. Honog slowed and sniffed the air. With in the air was the sweet smell of a very familiar twi'lek female sith. Patting the head of the hound he moved forward again with the pilot droid in tow. The group moved to a older long range transport ship. Honog racked his claws down the length of her letting the screech sound through out the hanger. The noise made one of the mechanic shiver and come over to him.

This ship is mine prepare her for departure. Another will be coming to go with me do not impede them. Is that clear?

The mechanic nodded and got underway the preparations for take off. Honog looked around sniffing the hound laid down at his feet as the droid moved to the flight cabin to start the warm-up. With a cold grin upon his face Honog waited in utter silence for the call to board came. He would be a long time on the ship so every minute off of it was a godsend.

[Mara]

(((Whoops, this got longer than I planned;
Also, I PM'ed you, but I'm having Looma attempt to take Cho's transport/droid...)))


Crouched down in the darkness behind the crate, Looma had found a couple likely targets for her mission. They were smaller ships, hopefully something that the young Twi'lek would be able to handle well enough with just auto pilot, since she didn't know the first thing about piloting. As well, they were berthed near the large hangar exit, so should she succeed in commandeering one, her escape would be accomplished that much more quickly.

Slowly, quietly she lifted a foot and began making her way along the perimeter of the cavernous hangar once more, heading towards one of the ships she had picked out. One her way, she began feeling uneasy, as if there was a sudden change in air pressure around her. Looma stopped and scanned around the unlit space. But before she could identity anything, a loud, shrill noise penetrated the silence. In response, her face immediately scrunched up in a wince, and she clamped her hands against her ear cones, dropping her rucksack.

The Twi'lek cowered there for a few moments, waiting through the initial metallic shriek as well as its echoes. When it had died down and she was able to focus once again, she peered around the strut of a larger and bulkier freighter she had stopped behind. Carefully, tentatively, she felt out with the Force and looked around the hangar with her violet eyes. At the same time she saw him, she sensed the Noghri, as well as his kath hound companion on the floor next to him. A man dressed as a mechanic was trotting away from them and towards one of the transports, followed by a strange-looking droid.

Immediately, she closed herself from the Force and ducked down again. Looma had to think. The arrival of Cho could complicate things. Yes, the Noghri Sith had earlier offered to give her a lift off Korriban, but considering everything that was in front of her, the personal journey she was on, she believed deeply that she had to do it all herself. Even one leg of the trip with another being could slow her down or distract her. No, she needed to do this solo. But how?

Glancing back to where the older Sith was standing, waiting for his ship to be ready, an idea started forming in her mind. The unusual droid that had gone inside had to have been a pilot droid; Cho couldn't pilot either, not with his Noghri claws. If she could somehow sneak aboard and steal the droid for her own use... Or maybe even just take the whole kit and kaboodle, leaving Cho and his hound on the hangar floor as she took off with his ship and his droid. Looma knew it would be risky, but she was used to taking risks. And she had no other options.

Picking up her sack of belongings, she was on the move again, this time her target was the transport the mechanic was prepping, not the one she had decided on previously. Looma paused two berths down behind a larger ship. For the time being, she worked on shrinking her presence in the Force; it would be impossible for her to hide entirely from someone as powerful as Cho, but if she could confuse him just for a few seconds, it would aid her. She calmed her breathing and her pulse. Waiting for her chance to strike...

[Foxfire]

Cho stood watching the comings and goings of the LZ hanger. Normally he could have cared less of what was going on around himself but he had a feeling that things needed tending too. I had been a while since a Sith of standing had moved the normal ground crews to the better level than they had. His very presence was enough for that and much more. As he stood there he breathed in the night air. Upon the wind he caught a familiar scent of a twi'lek.

Looma Isana had made it known to Cho that she was needing to go some where. He was thinking that he too needed some time away from the temple. So here he stood waiting for her to show and as expected he caught her scent on the wind. Closing his eye fe searched for her. At first he didn't sense her till he dug deeper and focused more. There a shifting in the force so slight if he hadn't been looking he would not have seen her.

From knowing that she was trying to mask her presence told him she was trying to leave quietly and maybe she was thinking that by leaving in such a way was against temple rules. Here he had to change her level knowledge of the temple rules. So diving very deep into the force he started to gather a great amount of force to swell his signature till it filled the Hanger masking and corrupting the signature of every thing in there as well. Raising his head as he finished he shook his head as did the Sith hound.

Letting out a audible sigh the noghri spoke out loud to Looma.

If you're going to try to leave, try masking your scent as well my dear. .... Come forth Looma, we have to talk of the rules about ones of your rank and there comings and goings.

[Mara]

She had been made. Despite her best efforts, Cho had sniffed her out, quite literally. Looma hadn't even been able to trick the powerful elder Sith for even a second or two's advantage. It had been inevitable, she knew, but the yellow Twi'lek had hoped for at least a short moment to get the jump on the Noghri before he sensed her presence. However, she had hardly begun to form a plan when Cho had gathered the Force around himself and filled the entire hangar with it, needlessly announcing to her that he knew she was there. Even before he had spoken, she had realized it was all over for her once she felt his reaction.

With a deep groan, Looma stood up from behind the ship she had been ducked behind. She released her hold on the Force, no longer hiding herself within its comforting arms. Slowly, she stood, slung the rucksuck over a shoulder, and made her way to where the Noghri Sith was standing near his assigned transport. Unsure why, but she felt a little chastised, like when she had been a youngling at the Jedi temple and an instructor had reprimanded her for any one of the host of things she had done improperly. But this somehow felt worse, maybe because of the impossible plan she had tried to enact against Cho, or maybe because he had offered her a ride, and she had obviously declined.

Reaching the older Sith, she stopped a few paces from him and his kath hound companion, the duracrete floor cold against her bare feet. The Twi'lek shoved down her immature childhood feelings of ineptitude and drew on the Force for confidence and strength. Almost immediately she felt better, and more importantly, felt more like herself. Looma looked towards the Noghri with her violet eyes slightly narrowed. "Yes? What is it?" She let a little impatience leak into her Force signature; the more Cho held her up, the longer it would take for her to get off this planet and to start on her search.

[Foxfire]

With the cold dispassionate eyes and not a emotion showing the noghri waited for her to show herself. Seeing the young twi'lek with a posture of shame stirred some thing inside him which he had never felt it was compassion. It left a bitter taste in his mouth but she was one of the few and only one who saw him for more than he was. The sith hound beside him murmured. The sound brought the noghri back to the now and what was happening st the moment.

Once Looma was before him he listened to her question. He could feel her want of leaving of the place and the connection with her sister.

There is some thing you forgot about the rules on leaving. .... They are or should be for you to tell some one especially some one who calls you their only friend.

The hanger chief came over and Cho spoke to him.

Change of plans I've been called to another location and this one is taking the ship for an extended mission. Ready a land skimmer for me I have to recheck the Hssiss tomb. The void in there is growing again and needs to be checked once more. So Mistress Isana is to be given your full. If she is not pleased by my return I WILL skin someone alive from the peak of the temple and then eat their heart as the new dawn raises. Do I make myself clear?

Nearly white as a sheet the chief quickly called for more help and reran the checks and topped every thing off. He even went as far as bringing in a cleaner droid to go over the inside of the ship while they finished their talk.

With a slight smirk on his face Cho looked back at Looma. Speaking in a tone he had thought he had long left behind one of loss the noghri said to the twi'lek.

Young one my you find what you are searching for and may the power of the force guide your sword. If you ever need my claws then all you need do is call on me.

[Mara]

Her features softened as she took in Cho's words. In a very roundabout fashion, it seemed that the Noghri was calling her his only friend, if she understood him correctly, and her impertinence washed away. Whether he meant just within the Sith Order or within the galaxy as a whole, the young Twi'lek felt oddly honored. And perhaps a little bit sad at the same time with the revelation of this knowledge from the older Sith. Looma didn't pity him, couldn't, but at the same time, she also didn't think there was any point to her continued brazenness.

After his brief remark about there being some sort of rule, and that friends should explain them, Looma had waited for a coming explanation. But instead, the Noghri was distracted by a hangar worker, and she never got it. Assuming that had settled whatever it was Cho had had to say to her, however abruptly, she moved a couple paces to the side to give them privacy. She started scanning around herself again, looking for a possible escape.

But they were standing near enough to her and the Noghri didn't appear to care about lowering his voice in her presence, so it was hard not to eavesdrop on them. Cho's voiced carried in the cavernous hangar. It was none of her business, of course, whatever the two had to discuss, but she found herself focusing in on the pair's mostly one-sided conversation, curious. Her eyes widened into big violet disks as she heard her name mentioned. He was giving her the ship that had been assigned to him?

When Cho turned back to her with an amused look, finished with his instructions, her jaw was still slightly agape in surprise. For a few moments she could only stare at him, blinking and speechless. That was the last thing she had expected to happen. Maybe the Noghri again pressing her to ride with him or even giving her some helpful tips. But this? This was very unexpected. Looma wasn't sure what she had done to deserve such a gift. Strange thinking for a Sith, but it was there.

Eventually she cleared her throat and nodded. She didn't bother voicing her thanks this time. Cho could obviously sense her relief in the Force, and there was no reason to be repetitively expressing her gratitude to the Noghri Sith. Especially if this was some sort of gesture of the friendship he felt towards her, of all beings. "Yes, I do as well. This will be more than enough. I..."  Her adult eloquence melted away into a flood of teenage nonsense. "How--I don't know how to repay--how--I don't know what to--how to thank you." Looma's earlier decision went by the wayside. "I--I'll do you proud." The Twi'lek ended lamely, sure that she had said too much and made to step towards the ship.

Wanting to hide her embarrassment at her blubbering, she was more than happy to turn her back on Cho, making a clean break of their conversation. Their version of farewells had been spoken, and now she had to just move on. At the ramp of the long-range transport so recently given over to her for her journey, Looma paused and took a deep breath. After much planning and expectation, she was finally on her way to look for her sister, to reconcile her distressing dreams and visions. She was ready for something for a change, for something positive in her life. The yellow-skinned Twi'lek then climbed aboard, and the ship closed up behind her as the next step in her life began.

[to Gathering Dead Ends...]