Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on Sept 15, 2008 16:54:32 GMT -5
"Have no fear for giving in
Have no fear for giving over
You better know that in the end
It’s better to say too much
Than never to say what you need to say again"
John Mayer "Say"
Aunna Play list link
Have no fear for giving over
You better know that in the end
It’s better to say too much
Than never to say what you need to say again"
John Mayer "Say"
Aunna Play list link
((Character has 1 year full play))
Name: Aunna Lumina Borgonia
Race: Human
Age: 32
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 140 lbs
Birth place: Corellia
Appearance: Aunna ref Link
Aunna has sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes. She is athletically built due to her years training as a soldier, and looks remarkably like her twin brother....the main difference being her well developed curves. Since her trial and subsequent escape, she had taken on a more rugged look, her hair cut to mid back, dark brown pants, and a tan or cream colored top with a shoulder guard. She wears glasses for reading and projects that require her dealing with small or detailed processes.
Personality: Though she seems rather straight forward in her personality, the former major is actually rather complex when you get to the core of her. Her tough exterior and mannerisms belie the far more gentle and caring center of her. Aunna tries to see the best in others before seeing their faults, but time has tempered this part of her with the realities of the universe, and so she keeps a tight reign on her observations most of the time. She's typically a very trusting person, but also because of her past she has learned how to become cautious almost to the point of paranoia if she must be. Her willful and prideful side tend to show quite often, making her a handful and a challenge to deal with at the best of times. Typically steadfast in her morals and beliefs, Aunna seems to have no problem speaking her mind...this isn't entirely true however, as she tends to feel remorseful for making others feel badly, or feel foolish if she's proven wrong. Aunna tends to hate hurting others, emotionally, physically, and mentally.
The former major has more than a few quirks and one rather deep mental scar. Her noble upbringing left her with a strong distaste for the lives of nobles and when she must enter it she tends to feel out of place and trapped/stifled by the strict unspoken rules of "etiquette" they hold to, though she has learned to easily hide her inner feelings from the outside world with a mask of calm, and even happiness, that can often fool even the most trained eye. Her upbringing is also the reason she has a "dislike" for being picked up, seeing as her dancing partners and even her instructors would tend to drop her while preforming lifts or dips. She HATES being called "songbird" because of her former lover, Andrew, and has even gone so far as to break a man's nose who called her that once. Aunna isn't particularly proud of her voice, but she is confident in it and loves to sing. Unfortunately, Aunna is wary of relationships, also because of Andrew, and has a particularly deep fear of finding herself in another relationship like the one she had with the man which keeps her from getting too close with anyone. If she feels that she is getting too romantically close to someone, Aunna will often try to push them away...but only if they seem to reciprocate her feelings. For some reason, however, despite the fact that she has compared him to Andrew, Aunna doesn't seem to feel the same toward Vex.
With a deep love for all life, Aunna is willing to give her life for another more often than not. One of her deepest wishes from early on in life was to help others to the best of her abilities, and she sees the galaxy as one chance after another to change others lives for the better. She enjoys being out in the wild with plants and animals the most, places where she can feel the life around her as opposed to cities, especially since she can easily feel large amounts of death and it makes her feel sick, though she has learned to hide it well...at least on the outside. Once you get to the inside of Aunna, however, it becomes obvious that her past has given the former major a rather self depreciating view of herself.
Profession: Fringer (Former Republic Military Major)
Skills:
Computer Use: adept
Security: adept
Repair: apprentice
Piloting: adept
Medical Aid: adept
Languages Spoken (not including Basic): signifies speech and comprehension unless stated otherwise. Most were learned during her time in the military.
High Galactic: novice (mainly comprehension)
Olys Corellisi: master
Selonian: adept
Drallish: apprentice
Durese: apprentice
Smuggler Cant: adept
Mon Calamari Blink Code: expert
Huttese: apprentice
Jawa Trade Language: apprentice
Gamorrese: novice
Kinetic Communication: novice
Mastery Level: Learner
Lightsaber: Light Pike ((created IC by Vex Praetor Here and Here))
Color: sapphire blue...oddly enough, matches her eye color.
Practiced Lightsaber forms:
Shii-Cho: novice
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: unskilled
Telepathic: Novice
Body: Novice
Sense: Novice
Protection: unskilled
Healing: unskilled
Destruction: unskilled
Specialized Skills:
Precognition
Attributes:
Strength: average
Intelligence: superior
Agility: above average
Leadership: above average
Unarmed: adept
Melee: expert
Ranged: apprentice
Alignment: 05
Ship Name: The Consul ((link))
Doids:
Model: # 13 (REA)
Assigned Name: Eressea
Role: Infiltration, HVT apprehension
Special Ability: Familiar's Sting (Stinger Operating System)- running down the center of 13's tail is a hollow armor-weave barrel about the diameter of a dime. At the base of the tail, a revolver-like assembly allows 1 of up to 5 clips of darts and taser assembly to be loaded and fired by pneumatic pressure. These clips each contain a special type of dart for various situations including neuro-toxin, tranquilizer, flechette darts, tracking tags and incendiary rounds (contains trace amounts of the chemical REA-10 utilizes, aptly numbered as "1812 rounds").
Personality: 13 is cold, logical, and efficient. Despite this, she still isn't nearly as deadbeat as your normal droid. Quite the opposite, she possesses a keen understanding of the philosophical aspects of Familiar as well as the technical ones. She's simply good at handling life, even artificial life. Her wings take the form of a dragonfly's and are relatively simplistic and monotone compared to the rest of her kind.
Arheim's notes: 13 was the first REA Familiar to complete her testing due to her final field test being unexpectedly early due to its circumstances. Proving her worth in the recovery of AER Familiar 03, 13 should be considered more than competent in what she does.
Bio:
A New Light
Aunna and her twin brother, Jade, were born on the planet of Corellia to a primarily military family, who also held the rank of nobility (albeit the lowest rank one could get), to Kovus and Sarah Borgonia. Their father had recently been promoted to the rank of Admiral in the navy, their grandfather was a retired General of the Army, and several cousins had also joined the armed forces by the time they were born. As one would expect, this had a great impact on the lives of the twins as they grew up. Early on, their father and grandfather regaled them with stories of combat and military life, daily life was highly structured, meals and events were always prompt and scheduled, and no form of disrespect was tolerated. By their fourth birthdays the twins were sent to be tested for midichlorian counts, something that was not common for the family, but due to the children’s seemingly impeccable 'sixth sense' they were tested. Unfortunately...or perhaps fortunately...neither child had a high enough count to be accepted into the Jedi ranks, though the midiclorians in their blood were significantly higher than most. However, this meant little because Jade, already cunning for his age and not wanting himself or Aunna to become a jedi but enter the military, had managed to exchange his and his sister's blood samples for another's blood sample of a far lower count (by pure luck), successfully keeping his and Aunna's jedi worthy midichlorian count a secret. By five, the twins were already attending a school their father had attended where they were taught leadership skills, as well as the basics of the military's history, along with science, math, reading, and other such skills one would expect any child to learn.
As they neared the age of ten, the twins became...if possible...more connected with one another, causing all kinds of havoc within their classes due to their insatiable curiosity. At all times, it seemed as if one or both of the children had their nose in a book, were experimenting with various objects and chemicals, or asking seemingly never ending questions. During this time Aunna and Jade began the annoying habit of ending one another’s sentences. As age 17 approached, Aunna and Jade were assigned posts on different military cruisers, because of their father’s wish to maintain a military family. Here they were to observe and train with the men and women...mainly men...stationed on the cruisers. It was at this time in their lives that Jade flourished, but Aunna had a more difficult time. As she set about training on the cruiser she realized that many of the men she worked with looked down upon her simply because she was a woman. In an attempt to shield herself from this harsh reality, she became extremely sarcastic, growing a 'tough outer shell' to combat the resistance that met her at every turn. Despite this, the Corellian navy and her work under Donald Kail helped the young woman learn a considerable amount about leadership, especially after she received a medal of recognition for her swift thinking and leadership during a dogfight with pirates near the Corellian shipyards.
At age 20, Aunna’s life became far more interesting. During a wedding for one of the Corellian princes, the young woman met Prince Rook for the first time. The two seemed to have a great amount in common, and despite her logic, the young woman developed a light crush on the rebellious prince. As she knew, however, things didn’t turn out the way she might have liked, and nothing came of this. Later that month, while on a mission to Manaan to negotiate a deal and receive a new batch of Kolto for Donald’s ship, Aunna found herself feeling more and more bound to the water planet as strange ‘visions’ seemed to plague her mind accompanied by a song that seemed ‘unfinished’ as of yet. During this, she met a man named Daren, who she later learned was Donald’s missing son, and was attacked by a band of mercenaries the sith hired to attack their own base and pin it on the Republic soldiers. After the subsequent questioning and reprimands from her superiors she left the navy and joined the army. It was here that she was finally able to start clawing her way up the ranks, despite its difficulties. Her first promotion came after leading a group of soldiers and wounded safely to a base camp nearly three miles away through the middle of a skirmish between the Hutts and their outlaws, and the republic. Though this had been in direct violation of her commander's orders, Aunna could no longer keep the scattered platoon in harms way, especially after their commander had died. As luck would have it, in disobeying orders she had followed her 'good feeling' about leaving and managed to not only save a colonel's son, but had also reported the enemy's movements in that area, which turned the tide of battle in favor of the Republic.
Andrew Seals Her Fate
Nearing age 24, Aunna met a man named Andrew Harvang. Andrew worked for a company that shipped supplies for the military to the various bases throughout the galaxy, and it was on one of these runs that he happened to meet the vivacious officer. With his charming personality and dashing looks, it hadn’t taken the man long to gain the young woman’s attention. Over the course of two years the two seemed to have hit it off well, and despite the long times between meetings because of their respective jobs, there was talk of making the relationship more serious. By this time Aunna had become known as “Songbird” (a pet name coined by Andrew himself) amongst the others on base with the young woman because of her voice and the fact that she seemed to be singing almost constantly. The good times were not to last, however, because behind the scenes not everything was right with the couple. Over the course of the second year things had become more and more rocky between the two, and Andrew seemed to become more unstable and angry. Aunna, despite the warnings of her brother, remained with Andrew, her pride and determination to make the relationship work blinding her to the true dangers of the man.
One particular day, when she was 25, Aunna had approached Andrew about his flirtation with another woman. The ensuing argument was far from pleasant, especially for the young 1st Lieutenant, who found herself jostled around by the larger man. Aunna, as per her typical stubborn personality, refused to back down despite the fact that Andrew now had her pinned to the wall. As the blond man seemed to collect his wits once again, he released Aunna and apologized for his actions, stating that she had been completely right. What Aunna didn’t know, however, was the fact that Andrew was far from calm. He was tired of the “wretched woman’s unyielding ways” and was bound and determined to rid himself, and the galaxy, of her. Appeased, Aunna apologized for her temper as well, and, thinking nothing more was wrong, forgave Andrew. The rest of the evening was fairly calm. As a further “apology”, Andrew took Aunna out on a date, including dinner at her favorite restaurant and going to see a new holovid at the theater. Needless to say this was enough to ease the previous tensions of the day and the two engaged in more…adult… entertainments when they got home. Afterward, feeling content and relaxed, Aunna began to sing as Andrew made his way from the room under the guise of getting something to drink…unfortunately his return was not with a drink of any kind. Startled out of her song, Aunna was set upon by the maniacal looking man and his dagger. After a drawn out struggle resulting in the dagger piercing her right shoulder, the fiery woman managed to knock out her attacker and call for help. This was, however, the night that she unknowingly closed her connection to the force nearly completely, Andrew’s words of “sing wench! Why don’t you sing?!” ringing in her mind. After that night, the songs that had helped her connect so easily to the force, albeit unwittingly, cut from her as she vowed never to sing again.
The Interlude
By 28, and following a string of events such as the one involving the Hutts and her platoon, Aunna had been slowly promoted to the rank of captain. Many times she found herself receiving both a reprimand as well as a promotion in one fell swoop, due to her "unorthodox way of making decisions"...which seemed to be military terms for "you get the information you need, then decide to disregard it for your 'good' or 'bad' feeling about things" as her father put it. Her luck would run out, however, as she faced off against a small force of the dark jedi and rogues they had gathered to their cause. It seemed that this group of dark jedi had learned about Aunna's 'feelings' and worked to mask the truth of their operations, sending out mixed signals through the force, which confounded Aunna's attempts to make correct decisions through her feelings, and forcing her to rely solely on the information gathered by her troops. The battle was hard fought and the few Jedi that could be spared to fight, were, but even so, they were constantly outwitted by the dark jedi forces....luckily, help arrived in the form of her brother, who was now at the rank of Major, and his small fleet, loaded with fresh troops. The battle was won; however, Aunna only received a reprimand for her efforts. Undeterred, Aunna continued to work 110% at all times, until finally achieving the rank of Major at the age of 30.
Dark Jedi…they're EVERYWHERE! ((IC Updates start here))
Before moving to her next mission, Aunna found herself once again on Coruscant. The night before her meeting, the major found herself the unwanted center of attention as she settled down to a ‘decent’ meal at a local cantina in the Entertainment District. Typically this wouldn’t have marked anything significant in the woman’s life, however, it would prove a vital turning point to her life in the months to come. What made it so significant? One person. The man was what she could only have described as a dark jedi, and through a rather mundane sequence of events the man took a not so subtle interest in the young major. “Can we help you?” she had asked. "Indeed, Major...but not today… We'll see each other again." He had replied. Indeed she would see him again.
Oddly enough, the major’s duties had been, and would continue to be, hunting down pockets of dark jedi, first on Talus and Tralus, then on Selonia. It was on Selonia that the dark jedi she had met before would make good on his words from that night in the cantina on Coruscant. In her search for dark jedi, and his search for her, the two had once again managed to end up on the same planet, at the same time, in the same place. Fate…or perhaps the Force…was at work it seemed, and the two were destined to meet again face to face. Meet face to face they had indeed. It was, in fact, the dark Jedi’s laughter at finding Aunna’s purpose upon the planet that had attracted the attention of her men and set into motion a series of events that led to the two coming face to face once more. Weapon drawn, the major had gone looking for the singular thorn in her side, the predatory man who had seemed to take an interest in her. The search brought her into a dry-goods warehouse, her minor connection to the force drawing her toward him. It was also through this minor link that she first felt him brush against her mind and sending shivers down her spine at the dark and almost intimate touch. Disgusted and disturbed by the feeling, she had drawn closer to him, finally finding him in the heart of the place. Ever civil, she informed him of the charges brought against him…murder of republic soldiers and interfering with a republic investigation…and asked him to come quietly, though she knew he wasn’t about to do that. In return he had scoffed at her statement and given her a choice, to help him, or face the consequences.
It was obvious where this confrontation had been leading from the start, and so Aunna had simply followed through. In the following fight, the major seemed to earn some small measure of respect and a decent amount of anger from the dark jedi as she managed to land two hits on him nearly allowing a third, more life threatening, one. Unfortunately, as is typical of battles between force/non-force users, the tide of battle was never truly in her favor. While she may have been able to deflect or dodge the majority of his physical attacks, the predominately telepathic man had the upper hand, slamming his will down upon her mind before breaking her leg. Blinded with the pain in her mind and her leg, the dark jedi left her there for her men to find later. As Aunna later came to learn, the three dark jedi they had ACTUALLY been sent there to find had been wreaking havoc outside of the warehouse. As the man left Aunna inside, he made swift work of the three outside. And so the Republic commended Aunna and her men for their ‘brave work in killing and capturing three dangerous dark jedi with minimal casualties.’ Unfortunately, Aunna found herself healing up behind a desk on Manaan…her newly ‘awarded’ position being one most would welcome after months of hard work….one saddled to a desk.
Vex Praetor
The recently healed major once again found herself hungry, something that seemed to often be her downfall since meeting the dark jedi on Coruscant. Making her way to a local dive bar, she had been ready to tuck into some decent food once more when, yet again, she found herself crossing paths with the rebreather masked man. Frustrated and already irritable from paperwork, the Major swiftly found herself in the aforementioned dive bar, and, as the people who milled about started to move in a more organized fashion, she knew something was wrong. The gap in the people led easily to the very man who had broken her leg, his polite gesture to the seat in his booth only served to rankle the woman further, but she sat anyway. Despite her short and snappish replies, the man…whom she would learn was named Vex Praetor…was quite civil, even polite, in his conversation with her, much to the woman’s surprise and consternation. Over the course of the conversation, the former jedi lay out his reasons and feelings, however unclear at the time, to the major. Little did she know how true one statement of his would turn out to be: “I do believe we have more in common than you realize..." From the major’s incensed reaction came another prophetic string of words, though not fulfilled in the manner which it was originally intended. “I will practically be selling you everything I still have to my name: my pride, my honor, and most likely my life.”
Indeed, she did come close to fatality that day. As the two struggled against each other at the end of their conversation, each trying to get the other to see their point of view as correct, Aunna had left the booth, not bothering with the food that had just been delivered. As she came to the door of the building, the brother of one of the men Vex had attacked on Selonia entered, looking for blood…particularly Vex’s blood. Seeing her chance to protect not only the man she had just spoken to, but the others in the bar, Aunna attacked first. In the short struggle that followed, Aunna managed to kill the force wielding Sith Military man out of sheer luck and surprise, but not without receiving a particularly bad saber wound to her side. The searing pain caused the injured major to stumble backward against a close table, and she found herself in the very hands of the dark jedi she had just left. Easing her pain just enough to keep her from passing out, he managed to pull her out of danger by healing her with a type of what she could only describe later as force lightning. As he healed her, she managed to see a side of him that was not lost to the darkness, an indescribable light that he seemed to have buried nearly to the point of being forgotten. She had seen who he had been and who he could be again…a good man. She was taken, then, to one of the med-bays and fully treated with kolto, amazing the doctors that watched over her because of the degree her injuries had healed…little did they know it was because of a supposed Dark Jedi.
Despite the possibility of being caught, Vex made his way into the hospital Aunna found to be her current residence, appearing one day in the corner of her room while she was doing paperwork. Seemingly the man was concerned for her well being, if only because she was of use to him. Irked by his sentiments, the major’s words were cold, though she didn’t fully understand…or perhaps acknowledge…why she cared whether he was TRULY concerned or not. As she tried to puzzle it out, he had asked her not to feel offended and stated that only because he had WANTED her alive had she stayed alive….that healing her had come at a cost to him. Unsure of what he meant, she half apologized for her cold attitude. She knew that if he stayed much longer, however, he would be caught because of his destruction of the camera in her room. Knowing this was true, Vex had come closer, whispering against her ear; "I am glad that you are doing better, Aunna. I look forward to seeing you again. Trust that I'll find an opportune time when there aren't so many cameras around. Perhaps we'll even manage to keep you from getting injured this time around." Allowing him to leave without drawing attention, Aunna had simply blamed the destruction of the camera on a ‘camera shy visitor’. She sincerely hoped that if there was a ‘next time’ he would make good on his words and she wouldn’t be injured…as it was she was certain to be given a good telling off by her commanders. As expected, only two days out of the hospital found her in a verbal confrontation with Colonel Vinay, her direct superior, who informed her that the conversation would not be forgotten. It certainly wouldn’t be.
Saving ‘Little One’
In the following two weeks the major had received increasing reports of ‘incidents’ that could have only been done by Vex. After one particularly trying conference with three of her superiors via holo, Aunna snuck out of the base and into the streets of Manaan in an attempt to find the dark jedi and figure out exactly what he was up to. Things were going fine until she came near to the border between Sith and Republic sectors. As she slipped into the shadows of a near by building, she was spotted by a gang of sith officers who were fresh from the bar. When they pressed in around her the major knew she was outnumbered and prepared to try and make a swift escape. As luck would have it, however, Vex happened to be in the neighborhood, apparently searching out the major himself. Dropping from above the group, the dark man acted once more as some twisted guardian angel, keeping the woman safe from what was certainly going to be a most unpleasant fate. In the process, however, he used a mental attack that affected all around him, including her, which caused the already stressed younger woman to collapse to the ground unconscious. Vex picked her up and carried her to his makeshift residence where Aunna awoke a little while later to a rumbling shake and the feeling of death. After questioning Vex about what had happened the former jedi knew there was no way to soften the blow of the news…her base had just been destroyed by a bomb.
The first thing Aunna could think to do was to go and try to help, but Vex knew that she would only get in the way at this point in time. Forcing her backward onto the bed he’d lain her on before and pinning her down to keep her from leaving, he explained that she couldn’t go back yet, and that he’d lured her out of the base, once again using what was swiftly becoming a pet name: ‘little one’. Accusing him of being behind the attack on her base, Aunna managed to get a hand free and hit him hard in the temple, causing him to stagger away from her, allowing her to get up. Though she hadn’t been about to leave because she knew that he was right about her being in the way, he lashed out, seeking to stun her with mental pain. It worked. As he lunged forward, his hand closed around her throat and he shoved her roughly against the wall, his voice furious as he explained that he’d only tried to ensure her safety. Though he hadn’t realized it, he was choking her, and as she explained that she didn’t know what would serve his purposes, the edges of her vision dimmed. Only after he had spoken his piece, and she found herself nearly out of air, did he finally realize he had been choking her. Letting her go, he pulled her close and in no uncertain terms told her exactly the kind of manner in which he would kill her and why. To say that Vex frightened her at that moment was so close and yet so far from the truth it was amazing. At that moment…he had terrified her. Not with his choking of her, nor with his snarling words, but rather with the close contact and the soft words that laid bare his pure anger at the fact that she had accused him of something so simple minded.
“Never, ever, accuse me of something so elementary in its viciousness.”
Anxious to leave, Aunna apologized to the incensed dark jedi and, with a warning from Vex to watch her back and that he would see her again, the major returned to the ruined site of the former Republic Base.
Only Room for One Boogey Man in Ahto City – Samael Vorlax
Over the days that followed, Aunna found herself piled high with work, both in excavating the remains of the base, and in filling out the paperwork that followed. It was one of these days that Aunna, who had opted to move from sleeping place to sleeping place to keep the rest of her surviving company safe, found herself with a visitor to the small military transport she had been staying in. Before she had noticed he was there, Aunna had come in and set about dealing with the mountain of papers on her desk, and earning a rather nasty paper cut. Seeing this, Vex decided to announce his presence with a bit of sarcastic humor. His voice startling the young major, Aunna scolded him mildly for frightening her, and immediately noticed that she felt rather self conscious about her dirty appearance because of her work at the base earlier. Apologizing, she asked the reason for his visit to her THIS time. Despite his statement that he didn’t care how she looked, she had noticed how Vex looked her over completely as she removed her coat and sat down again. Apparently concerned about if she had discovered the person behind the bombing, she’d informed him that she had no clue as to who might have been behind it, not until she looked back at the list she had just brought up on her computer. That was when she had noticed. A twi’lek man named Samael Vorlax…a man who’d threatened her life and her sexuality…had arrived on Manaan not long after she had.
Bringing up the records on the man, it was obvious that Vorlax had a history of criminal activity, including threatening the Major, and was most likely on Manaan to make good his threats. Laying out a plan to capture the twi’lek using herself as bait, Aunna entrusted her life to Vex for the first time. Leaving the interior of the transport, she was nearly immediately blindsided by the man and disarmed. In the struggle that followed Aunna fought for her life against the dark jedi as she hoped that Vex would indeed help her. She wasn’t disappointed…though he waited to strike until the last moments before her strength gave out completely. The transport’s security cameras had captured everything, from Aunna’s struggle for her life against the stronger and faster man, to the point where Vex had disarmed Samael and had him pinned to the ground, his saber at Samael’s chest to keep him from getting away or trying anything else. After shutting off the camera and collecting the two vid-chips, Aunna stored one in the badge on her necklace secretly, and the other she gave to the Manaan security when they arrived to take custody of Vorlax. By that time Vex had already vanished into the ship and out of sight.
Diamond in the Rough – “I DO care”
Once the twi’lek was in custody, Aunna returned to the ship as well and faced Vex, obviously unhappy about his choices and the fact that he was simply using her to further his own ends. Even she didn’t fully understand why she had been so angry and hurt since Vex had told her numerous times that that was the only reason he’d ever bothered to help her…because she was useful to him.
“Well Vex, with your interests secured, your interest would like to know what you have planed for her...at least in part. Your...interest...does not take being manipulated lightly, but if she will be, than she at least has the right to know something about what she will be doing.”
At her incensed and sarcastic words, Vex took more than a few moments to reply…and his reply was laughter, a deep laughter that brought tears to the man’s eyes. It was the first true feeling she’d seen from the dark jedi, and despite her anger at the reaction, she almost laughed herself simply because he seemed so normal, the light she’d seen in him once before bubbling to the surface. It was obvious that he found some true humor in the situation. This, however, didn’t last long, and as it vanished so too did that light the major had seen within him once before. As he explained, once again, his intentions and lay out his exact use for her, he asked what had caused her anger this time. Frustrated, angry, hurt, and confused over why she was so hurt, Aunna proceeded to lecture him on exactly why she was upset…her answer not only surprised Vex, but herself as well.
She had spoken without thinking and what she’d said had surprised them both, though only Vex seemed to show any of that surprise. Aunna finally informed the man of the light she had seen inside of him, and that his actions had caused her to doubt him and lose what little trust she had for him…and more surprising yet…that it hurt her to know this. She would rather him lie to her or kill her than to feel so betrayed and hurt again. The young major made it perfectly clear that she would rather the man lie and have her believe that he thought her life worth something, rather than be told ‘the truth’ and feel like she was of no more worth than “a scrap of metal you're preparing to put in the fire to mold....something....worthless.” As she ended her tirade with a statement that not only showed her truly caring character, the two interchanged the words that would potentially haunt both of them for some time to come, completely and finally intertwining their fates.
“I'll tell you one thing I've learned by interacting with you Vex....even if you do find a way to heal your body....unless you start thinking differently about others....you'll never be able to heal your heart or your soul. Though, maybe you don't care.....but……but I DO care....and I wish you would think twice before losing yourself completely.”
"Sometimes one is lost before they can realize it or hope to find a path back, Aunna. Follow, and you run the risk of getting lost yourself. Take care, Aunna."
Kidnapped?!
Several days would pass before yet another twist to Aunna’s life would throw her world into chaos. Not only had her brother contacted her the day before, informing the exhausted and stressed woman that he was defecting to the Sith military, but the rebuilding of the military base after the bombing was not going smoothly. Add to this the fact that she’d not heard, or seen, anything of Vex in the past few days…not even the occasional corpse or broken minded being…Aunna knew that the dark jedi was up to no good, things were far too quiet. It wasn’t, however, until she had nearly reached the building the Republic army was using as a temporary base that Aunna knew something was very, truly, wrong.
Stopping barely 30 feet from the door to the building, Aunna watched a black armored being exit, two sabers attached to the belt around its waist. Upon speaking, the major was vaguely surprised to find that the dark jedi…the sith assassin…was a woman, a cathar by her tone and accent. That, however, was of little concern to the sandy brunette as the cathar informed her that Aunna herself was the reason the sith was there, and that the major had a choice: come quietly or not…but either way, the cathar WOULD take her and kill anyone who got in the way. Both women knew that the major wasn’t about to ‘come quietly’, and so the decision was made. During the short fight that ensued, both women showed their determination to have their will seen through, but Aunna was at the disadvantage. With one swift knee to the stomach she fell, winded, to her knees, her ribs on one side fractured and bruised. Knowing that if she wanted to live through whatever ordeal was ahead of her, Aunna allowed herself to be captured and taken to the cathar’s ship. Luckily…or perhaps unluckily…the cathar woman saw fit to take the major to Nar Shaddaa, the planet where not only her brother was currently positioned, but where Vex happened to be ‘on business’.
Destiny – the Nar Shaddaa Incident
Being hauled to her feet and out of the cathar’s ship, Aunna soon found herself in the dim and dingy setting of a cantina on Nar Shaddaa and feeling very confused as to why her captor WANTED to be caught. The cathar’s answer only served to raise more questions than answer them, her over all reason being that it was ‘for love’. Aunna was then released from the binders that held her and set free to go on her way if she so chose. The cathar kidnapper’s purpose for this, however, was the least of the Major’s worries. Even as Aunna moved away from her kidnapper to find a new place within the cantina to bide her time, a new man entered the bar, filling the air around him with a malice that nearly rooted her to the spot. For the first time in nearly 5 years, Aunna felt truly afraid. This man was no one to be trifled with, and she had no weapons with which to protect herself since the cathar woman had taken hers. Moments later a man named Marquin, who had apparently been paid to protect her, arrived and shoved a blaster into her hands as he informed her of a new escape route. Not bothering to wonder if this were some type of trap (it wouldn’t have made sense anyway, and since he seemed to be the only one with a plan she figured it was worth a shot), Aunna immersed herself into the crowd of people in the cantina, and when Marquin started a fight before driving everyone out of the crowded pub by waving around a grenade like a madman. Exiting the premises as swiftly as she could with the few people who had noticed the small side door, Aunna found herself facing another form speeding her direction and she nearly immediately knew it was another force user. Only later would she learn that this newcomer was the man she had sensed earlier, the one she had warned away and in return had her warning dismissed by, and the one she was currently trying to get back to because of the relative safety he provided….Vex. At that moment, however, her mind and adrenalin urging her into flight rather than fight, she didn’t recognize the man who came to her rescue and instead bolted into an abandoned building near by. After a few tense moments in the dark building, Aunna knew she would have to go out again if she hoped to find Vex or get away safely at all. It was with that in mind that she left the building and poked her head around the corner, soon realizing that the man she had tried to avoid…the third and final force user who had come speeding toward her causing her to leap into the building…had actually been Vex! Faltering for a moment as she weighed her options, Aunna called for Vex’s attention…but it was too late. He had already provoked the other dark jedi inside, the bald marauder (the cathar had already seemingly disappeared) who had given off the insidious aura in the cantina. The man blew out the wall with the force, causing Aunna to startle and back around the corner once more…but at least Vex now knew she was there, behind him, rather than trapped in the cantina with the devilish marauder. Trying her luck with the other side of the building so as to stay out of the way of the two force users, Aunna found another battle was beginning between Republic and Sith soldiers. As she crept back toward her original position so that she could possibly find a way around through another alley, she felt…heard…Vex’s voice ring through her mind.
Run....Aunna....leave while you can.
The sheer force and amount of the persuasion he had thrown into her mind caused the 30 year old major to stumble backward slightly. Pinned in indecision, her heart and mind battling over control of her actions because of what Vex had ordered her to do, Aunna faltered even as the dark marauder spoke to her jedi. Even as she turned to run, she finally broke through the spell as she realized that she couldn’t leave Vex behind or he would certainly die…she didn’t know how or why she knew, but she just KNEW. As she came to this realization, her mind unintentionally wrapped around that link he had created briefly to send his thoughts to her, her heart opening to him an allowing him access to the light she held within, however minor it may have been, to aid him. Without warning the bald marauder had appeared in her view, too close for comfort, obviously positioning himself there in her internal battle. Vex sharply severed the link between them as she fired at the bald monster and lept backwards and away from him to keep out of range of his saber. The events that followed seemed a blur as Aunna watched the confusion around her as Vex protected the dark being stalking toward her from a sniper shot before cutting down a Republic soldier. She noticed her brother join the fray in the street and watched as the bald marauder fell to his knees, holding his head in pain. She understood what Vex was doing now, at least in part, and turned to leave the force users to battle alone…she wouldn’t be used against Vex if she could help it. No sooner had Aunna turned to find the Republic soldiers than the ground beneath her trembled, startling her out of her movement. He had stood by then, turning his head to glare at her, ripping down what little mental barrier she had and rooting her to the ground in fear as the memory of that near fatal night with Andrew was brought to mind once more. The vision broke the woman’s strong will for that moment, and as the dark one let her out of his grip, she crumpled, falling to her knees on the ground, tears streaming down her face as she curled in upon herself, shaking, as she tried desperately to pull herself back together. Luckily Jade had seen the horror the bald dark jedi had unleashed upon his sister and moved to take action, speeding to her rescue and pulling her away from the saber battle that had ensued nearby her. Despite her terrorized state, Aunna managed to pull herself together bit by bit until at last her spirit came to her aid.
“No!....I refuse to be afraid!”
The thought finally allowed her mind to clear and she pushed the memory to the back of her mind once more. Taking stock of her situation she noticed Jade and a member of the Republic fighting nearby and knew that something was going terribly, irrevocably, wrong. Swiftly she removed the badge on her necklace that held her family’s crest…which stored her most important documents on a data-chip placed inside, including the secondary vid-chip from the security camera on Manaan that showed her battle against Samael Vorlax and Vex’s part in it...and as Jade was sent reeling from a blow the Republic soldier had dealt before leaving, she slipped the chip into Jade’s pocket. No sooner had she done this than she heard the sound of the sniper rifle once more. The emotional pain she had felt before, during that vision from her past, was nothing compared to what she felt when she watched the shot slice through Vex as he prepared his final strike against their enemy, the bald monstrosity of a marauder who had tried time and again to harm her. She had already gathered the republic soldier’s discarded combat knife and the blaster Marquin had handed her, but these were forgotten as she cried out in dismay, her body and eyes reflecting the pain she felt in her heart. Furious and desperate to save the man who had come to save her, Aunna turned and ran down the alley to come at the devil man from a new direction. As she crouched, hidden, behind a low wall, positioned, ready and waiting to strike, Aunna watched in horror and disgust as the man who Vex had nearly been able to kill rose once more to his feet, picking up and dragging Vex behind him with the force before settling the injured man against the wall. It seemed like forever that Aunna waited before she knew, she felt, the right moment to strike at her larger, and more fearsome opponent…but she wouldn’t be stopped. Her long dormant abilities were urging her onward as a soft song rose up in the back of her mind, channeling and focusing the force as it strived to break through the barriers she had unwittingly erected against its flow five years ago.
Before either of the force users were able to do anything against her actions, Aunna had hurtled herself over the wall, the blaster firing repeatedly, serving to distract the marauder from his prey and her true intent. Slipping beneath his saber as it worked to block the blaster bolts, placing herself between the man and Vex, the knife she had procured dug into the space between the man’s ribs on his right side...directly into his liver. As she tore through the space, dragging the blade along between the ribs and out again, she swung at his head with the butt of the blaster as she aimed another strike with the dagger to the marauder’s diaphragm. Vex had struck out with her, his will to live finally coming to the fore as she came to his aid in the end, summoning all his strength and will to create a blast of force lightning that shocked across her arm, numbing it and blasting the unsuspecting and injured marauder devil backward into the crumbled wall of the cantina. As both Aunna and Vex took the opportunity to run, albeit in separate directions, the marauder gained his feet once more, intent on killing Aunna for her intrusion and injury of him. It was this that caused the wounded man to send the woman flying through the air with a blast of the force, causing her to land with the sickening cracking of her two already injured ribs as she hit a pile of the debris and metal that had been scattered along the street and alley. This was where Sgt. Damien Meesha would find the injured major after the marauder limped off once more to lick his wounds. As he helped her to her feet, Aunna felt her heart begin to break as he charged her with treason against the Republic and took her under arrest. It was in this manner that she unknowingly reached out for Vex once more through the force, hoping to find that what she had done hadn’t been a vain attempt…seeking comfort in knowing that he was still alive out there somewhere. Once she realized this action, however, she swiftly ended it, not wanting him to feel the pain…both physical and emotional…that she was going through. With that she was led into a transport bound for Coruscant, and her subsequent trial. What she didn’t know, was that Vex had noticed her unintentional action, and that he had sworn to himself to heal, and in turn save Aunna from the fate that she had brought upon herself for him.
[continued on next post]
