Strings (Bloody Jackal)

[Dire Wolf]

High above the sprawling city a hawk dove through the sky at a speed that eyes could barely track. A duck flew along it’s path, at least until the predatory bird slammed into it. A mass of feathers exploded out from the exchange, and the duck began to plummet to the ground little more than a lifeless husk. The hawk wheeled around and dove yet again to capture the bird in its talons before gaining altitude once again. The hawk struggled to maintain it’s height, but it disappeared behind a skyscraper before its fate was revealed to the Dark Lady of the Sith.

Had she just observed an omen alluding to the struggle of the Sith? The Republic was resisting the Empire’s military might with the same vigor as the duck had used on the hawk, but would the smaller nation be able to hold it’s prize within it’s talons? More likely was the notion that the Sith would struggle to maintain order, to stay aloft, and another bird would swoop in to steal both it’s life and it’s meal.

Darth Vesperia’s icy blue eyes drifted down from the heavens and onto the picturesque city below. A beautiful park encircled by a wreath of glittering skyscrapers were laid out before her almost as if a master painter had wrought it from ink on canvas. A soft breeze fussed her long jet black hair as she sat with one leg crossed over the other on a bench overlooking the scene. The distance her travels brought her across the stars numbered in the trillions of light years, and she had seen some of the strangest things in the galaxy. Most beautiful. Most grotesque. Enigmatic.

Scenes such as the one before her reminded the Dark Lord of the Sith that she hadn’t yet seen a thimble's worth of what the galaxy, or sentients, had to offer.

Her usual dark, albeit gilded, robes had been left at the Sith Temple in favor of attire that didn’t name her a Mistress of the Dark Side at a cursory glance. Vesperia appear as though she was no more than a common denizen of the rich planet; she had even ordered a strangely named and overpriced variant of coffee from a local shop. To the casual passerby she would be little more than a woman waiting for her man, or marvelling the scene before her.

It didn’t matter. In a matter of moments her contact would appear with the requisite information. Privateers weren’t hard to acquire, but they often didn’t appreciate impersonal messages via the holonet. With any luck this wouldn’t be another pathetic ploy from the republic; the last ‘trap’ did little more than irritate her at best. Enrage at worst.

There the woman sat observing the serene display with the same dispassionate grace one would expect from a person waiting for their turn at a government installation. At least until a dark thing touched the edges of her consciousness.

[Grawn]

Ralltiir.

At twenty-eight moons and as a major source of marble among the Core World planets, it was a most unlikely place that Onyx would find himself to be at. Nothing about the planet stood out as a place that would fulfill his mission. However whispers of the Force had brought him here and ever since his connection with the Force was intensified following his training at the hands of some old Jedi fool on Tatooine all those years ago, the Shard knew better then to ignore the whispers. It was almost like a gentle scrape on his consciousness, a nagging pressure that asserted itself like a pushy salesman that refuses to leave unless you bought his wares.

The droid inhabiting Shard walked among various alien humanoid species as he made his way through a crowded sidewalk. He had no love for anything these vile creatures had to offer. Most were not worthy to even grace the sidewalk with him. Onyx was glad he was incapable of displaying facial expression because he would surely walk about with a look of sickness. No, the Shard didn't care for dealing with taking out the trash, he preferred when trash removed themselves from sharing existence with him. There were few organics in the universe that had served to find themselves in the exclusive club of his favor and half of them were dead by now, not entirely by his hand either. Some would find his attitude crude, but when you are basically sentient lightsaber crystal that has to be eternally wired into a droid in order to interact with the universe around him, your patience is usually never the highest thing.

Concentrating on the hardly existent trail that he was being dragged on like a wild goose chase, he didn't have time to take into account that some organics felt it was other peoples duty to make sure not to bump into them. Droids were a different case entirely and as unassuming as he was, a hulking brute of a man's shoulder collided with his.

"Watch where ye goin' ye damned junk pile!" the ape growled to the concern of the more passive sheep around him. Onyx continued on his way, hardly taking note of the transaction which only served to enrage the man more. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

It was with this last yell that Onyx was ripped from his concentration. Not because he wasn't fully capable of ignoring the man. He'd ran into far worse people and animals in his travels. The Shard had kept small mental notes on everything that had been going around him. From the rat that scurried to a nearby dumpster to the exchange of a hawk and duck flying overhead from some distance away, the entire area was a map laid out to him in the Force. He felt the emotions of most of the humanoids around him, ranging from business dealings to sexual bargaining between two high class elite. Onyx watched the blood flow from their disgusting hearts into their other organs. It was when he concentrated that the universe was his clay to mold as he wished in the most subtle ways.

No. The only reason he snapped out of concentration was the small desire to remove such a imperfection. While he was surrounded by disgusting, filthy organic beings that were imperfection incarnate, they had the smallest of brain activity to not take aggression out of whatever incited them at the time. This man did not. So as regrettable as his actions were in doing so, sometimes Onyx did indeed resort to taking out the garbage. Even if it was a gum wrapper.

As the man continued to approach him, gaining slight speed, the Shard reached with his power into the Force. It crept out of him like invisible tendrils that sped for the brutish male. Without him being any the wiser, these tendrils went through his circulatory systems and straight to his heart. It was the simple matter of adding slight pressure.

And...

Before his grasping hand went to reach out to grab Onyx, the man's eyes went wide. Quickly clutching his chest, he fell to a knee and began to cough. The Shard continued on his way as he let the aftermath of his attack take effect. The man fell to the ground and cried out, drawing the attention of any sentient in the area as they rushed to help him.

"Is he ok?!"

"Someone call a medic!"

"Oh my!"

Onyx withdrew his power from the man as the distance grew wider and he knew there would be no saving him. Regardless as of how minor the offense was, he was satisfied with it. Sometimes it was acceptable to get your hands dirty and recognize that even though every single organic on this planet had little value to him, they were helpless against him. Onyx was sure he would later regret his actions as one would regret spending credits on food that looked good, but wasn't at all tasteful, but he allowed himself some small pleasure in his actions. The man would expire from a heart attack and leave three kids with a widowed wife, along with a presumably upset mistress. The Rodian that the man had planned to kill tonight under the cover of night for a gambling debt would be free to continue its wasteful, insignificant life and would never know it was thanks to Onyx.

Not that he cared. The Force whispered to him that his journey would soon end and it would reveal to him what it so direly required him to see or encounter.

[Dire Wolf]

Darkness only grew as the ordinary woman sat on the equally ordinary bench with one leg over the other so that her foot dangled near the other leg's ankle. A sickly sweet ripple in the Force gently lapped at her awareness; it felt as if she stood waist deep in an endless pond and someone had just tossed a pebble into the water nearby. It came from her flank, but the woman did nothing but continue to sit in silence.

A shining silvery cylinder slid out from beneath the woman's black leather coat and was laid gently on her lap. More ripples lapped around her awareness; slowly at first, but they grew in size and frequency at an exponential rate. Unlike the first these ripples weren't made by a thing touched by the Dark Side and as such lacked the sickly film that hung along the surface. They were much weaker, besides; not made by the use of the Force. Dimly she was aware of the people that made those ripples, the fear that had struck their heart.

That silvery cylinder was the unactivated hilt of her secondary lightsaber. Most of the more mundane citizens of the galaxy knew to flee when they viewed such a weapon not wielded by a man of the cloth.

Despite only being able to see the blackness from behind the closed lids of her eyes Darth Vesperia could feel that the block around her had all but emptied save for a few people. One was the creature at the center of her curiosity. Another was a dying man that had obviously irritated the beast. A few more brave souls had stayed to assist the dead man until paramedics could arrive.

No doubt the authorities were already on their way.

"That would be close enough, I think." Her voice could have put a chill to flame, "what is it you want, then? A fight? To join-"

As Vesperia spoke she opened her eyes and turned to view the powerful wielder of the Dark Side: a droid. Her otherwise commanding, unflappable voice had been brought to a screeching halt at the sight. Had she been wrong? Surely a droid couldn't exude such sweet darkness from it. Yet again the woman felt a renewed sense of how little she knew of the galaxy, and its inhabitants.

"-w-what are you?" The chill had all but gone from her voice in that fleeting moment. Her otherwise scowling eyes were wide as dinner plates, mouth left slightly ajar, and lofty demeanor left low. When that fleeting moment had passed and her voice had found its steel once again. Vesperia's face quickly regained the regal, aloof expression it held before viewing the droid. "What are you."

[Grawn]

"You assume much, organic." the droid voice came out harshly as it translated his Shard dialect "If not for the Force itself directing me to you, you would be little more than an ant. Much like the rest of these walking waste of resources."

His response was crude, but reflected his irritation. The Force had a sick sense of humor to send him to this creature. Not shortly after eliminating one stain, he would be forced to stare at another for who knows how long. It was a tough pill to swallow, but he could admit she wasn't weak by organic Force wielding standards. His head swiveled to put his single line of red photo-receptor onto the new comer. No not weak at all, he would say he could deal with her in a confrontation if not for the fact her organic body gave her an advantage in a lightsaber fight. The technology of this era was not quite to par to be able to handle a fully trained melee combatant that was assisted by the Force. Onyx greatly enjoyed the brief look of astonishment on her face, however.

The Force once again uncoiled from him like great wings and spread from his droid body. Like great tendrils they expanded toward the the Force user, but with no intent of harm. At least not quite yet. He needed this time to assert that he was no mere droid, that he was a threat. Whatever the Force had brought him to, he needed to be sure it was not his end so he required as much information as possible about this organic. Female clearly from what his scanners picked up and from the shape of her shell.

However there was one problem.

She was Epicanthix.

As his tendrils grew close, he could feel a zone of his influence begin to dissipate then shatter completely before they could touch her. Without a sound he coiled his mental powers back to him and gave a disapproving growl that didn't translate. While he had learned about the Near-Human species, he didn't have the misfortune of running into one. They were known to have a rare genetic ability to resist the Force, especially if it involved the mind, something that seemed to come as a cruel joke from the Force to him.

"Interesting." the Shard mused aloud and began to approach the Epicanthix. Perhaps if she wasn't the one he sought, he could experiment on her. Pain in certain places in the right doses worked wonders. Perhaps he would be the one to crack this genetic invincibility they possessed. It was a long shot honestly, but Onyx has grown dull to the sound of begging organics long ago. However she did ask a question and while he didn't feel the need to answer it, he had just attempted to rob her mind of information.

"What I am is nothing you have likely seen on this side of the galaxy. But I assure you," the Shard had his droid point to the open cavity in his chest that housed the red crystal that was him, "I am much more than meets the eye."


He stopped several feet before her robed form and stood still as he began to read body language, temperature, and heart beat. While he might not be able to read her mind, he would be able to pick up on bodily functions that would hint at aggression towards his self.

"I would suggest we discuss such matters elsewhere. Too many eyes," his head tilted away as the sounds of sirens lit up the air from the distance as the medics and police force undoubtedly went to deal with the heart attack victim Onyx had left in his wake. His head returned to look back at the Epicanthix. "Too many ears."

[Dire Wolf]

A soft laughter bubbled out of the otherwise stern and stoic narcissist at the abomination's initial comments on her status as a waste of resources. How quaint. The artificial beast was curiosity, for sure; one that Vesperia knew she should return to the Temple. Its secrets could potentially unravel a new era, and solve one of the main problems the Sith faced when facing a drawn out engagement with the Republic: manpower. Force using droids, even if they weren't able to be mass produced, could only aid their cause.

Yet there was some cosmic force pulling her in another direction. When the beast pointed towards the crystal that sat within the open chest cavity, her interest was indeed piqued. Obviously that crystal was the source of the dark side's radiance that basked around her, and from that the droid could somehow wield the Force, but how? What madman dreamed up such an abomination? How could he be contacted?

When the droid spoke again Vesperia rose to her feet with the fluid grace one might expect from her station. Once the short leather jacket was properly smoothed and the black hair behind her shoulders she moved to follow the strange beast to wherever it decided to take her. The privateers could be damned. Skittish cowards would probably have only attempted to cow her into a less than favorable deal for their services, anyways. They would be brought to heel, be it in person or over a holonet chat. The amalgamation of technology and the Force before her was far more interesting than any mundane deal, at any rate.

"Name yourself then," her voice could have frozen water, "and know that I am far more powerful than you, or your masters. Any sort of trickery will not end well for them, or for you." Pointless to threaten a droid. But if its maker was as intelligent as she believed, he could hear and see every iota of their exchange.