Bloodlines of the Sith (Closed for Neysha)

Neysha Kibuqa was out there, on one of the ships that was arrayed against him, he was sure of it. He could feel her through the Force, as if she were calling his name. Of course, Darth Mortuus was fairly certain she did not know his name, not any longer. She would remember only Bendis Lamar, a weakling if there ever was one, though at his core there had been a powerful Sith Lord waiting to be born. Malak and Revan had recognized it, and thus he had been amongst the first that they inducted into their new Sith Order.

Now, he'd been assigned to take his former homeworld of Alderaan from the Republic, along with his current apprentice Darth Malyn. They were assisted by Admiral Damaya Tadro, a formidable woman who had actually been able to distract him from his obsession with Neysha over the past couple of years, though now that the object of his desire was so close, such distraction was impossible.

As he looked out at his massed enemies, all he could do was laugh; they were a pitiful thing, really, and would not be able to stop him. They had to know this, and he was sure that the small enemy fleet was likely a cover for an evacuation. He had to move fast. "Admiral," he announced suddenly, turning his frost blue eyes on the lovely, yet imposing woman in direct command of the fleet, "Hit them hard, and hit them now. I don't want any ships escaping; I don't care how many of our own must be sacrificed." As she began to relay the orders, he pulled aside their best communications officer, "I want you to do your best to slice their frequency. You will listen to their chatter, and use it to locate a Jedi Knight named Neysha Kibuqa. Once you do, find me." The young man nodded and returned to his station to do as told. He had to find her; she was the key to his dominance of the Sith Order; he had foreseen it.

Neysha Kibuqa was taking the lead starfighter of the local defense squadron, covering the planetary evacuation as the massed Sith starfleet approached. It was her first tactical command, and was a necessary promotion considering the Jedi Order was already stretched out so thin across the Republic combating the Sith, and other opportunistic competitors as well.

"Remember," Neysha stated. "Every minute we delay the enemy, another transport of refugees will escape into hyperspace. Do not hold back. They will show us no more, so strike hard, and strike decisively," the young female Jedi Knight stated over the secure communications to the rest of the ragtag defense fleet. "Leave no emotion in reserve, strike with all of your passion and the knowledge that we are in the right, and defending the innocent against the evil Sith."

With her impromptu and some would say rather somewhat non-Jedi like speech now finished, she banked her heavy fighter towards the leading enemy Sith fighters. Her squadron followed in combat formation.

"Stay tight and break up their formations. Cut through to the destroyers and sloops and unload your torpedoes. Those are the real threat," she then ordered before locking her targeting computer on the lead opposing fighter, the first of a gray cloud of approaching enemy ships.

Her own craft banked hard away, the tail spinning but the nose of her craft still aimed at the same direction as her nose mounted triple laser cannons opened fire and a puff of fire and electricity clearly confirmed her first kill of the day. After that, nothing else would be as easy as soon the entire battlespace was filled with laser blasts, exploding ordinance, and zipping fighters intermingling and dogfighting.

Still aggressively pressing forward, Neysha sliced through the formation, a steady line of laser fire plowing through anything that got in her way as she made her way through the enemy fighters and towards the long, tubular and dull gray hulled sloops that were moving up to support the Sith starfighters.

She locked on to the nearest of the sloops with her targeting computer and armed the torpedoes. They were sitting ducks, their anti-starfighter batteries weren't even tracking her. It was as if they weren't expecting anyone to come through their own fighter screen.

Typical Sith, overconfidence and arrogance was one of their greatest weaknesses. She locked her ship killing torpedoes on the two leading sloops and fired without hesitation, taking fully advantage of her good fortune.
---

Sith Capital Ship

Admiral Tadro flinched as she saw two of her patrol sloops suddenly swell up and flare out in plasma fueled flames, before simply exploding into an inferno of debris.

Two light sloops, forty crewmembers each, wiped out by a single fighter.

The Admiral regretted this, but resolved not to show weakness. As Darth Mortuus would say, it would have no purpose. "Sir, we found her. It is as I expected, analysis of her previous engagements always trended towards Neysha Kibuqa leading from the front, not from a flagship. Her fighter has been isolated and the communications sliced. We have voice confirmation of her announcing that she'd eliminated two..." the Admiral paused and frowned. "Two of our sloops."

"Do not worry about the loss of life. Those eighty crewmembers will prove an insignificant loss compared to what I have in store for this Jedi when I finally capture her."

"Y-Yes my Lord," the Admiral responded before reassuming her previous stature. "Dispatch our reserve squadron to intercept the Jedis starfighter. Be certain they only use ion weapons." She then turned to a nearby Lieutenant. "Lieutenant Medea, prepare two platoons and a shuttle. When the Jedi ejects I want you to land your shuttles and cut off any possibility of escape and set your weapons to stun."

The overly confident Lieutenant frowned. "Isn't a forty trooper platoon against one woman overkill?"

"Just do it Lieutenant." The Lieutenant dutifully saluted and nodded, perhaps not realizing that the Admiral and Darth Mortuus were simply using his troops, much like the crews of the two ships, as bait to weaken this single Jedi warrior. Although the Admiral didn't, or simply refused to understand why, Mortuus believed that this woman was worth far more then a few dozen... or even a few hundred regular soldiers and sailors.
---

It was a trap, Neysha realized too late but she found it almost unbelievable. Were the Sith so sadistic that they would sacrifice two of their ships just to capture one random Jedi? How could they even know she was a Jedi?

But it was clear, they were tryin to capture her, as she noticed the blue-white ion energy bolts zipping by her and another one thudding into her craft. Her displays and monitors flickered and sparked randomly and her ship was soon disabled. She was a sitting duck, and if she stayed in her craft for too long, the Sith would simply tractor her ship into one of their docking bays and...

The Force only knew.

She only had one option and activated the ejection sequence.

A split second later, her cockpit exploded away from the rest of the self destructing craft and she found her impromptu escape pod rocketing towards the planet surface, hopefully for a safe landing. It was there she would have to make her escape.

There was no way the Sith could capture her so soon unless they actually had a shuttle prepped and launched, following her pods descent the entire way down.

Of course, she couldn't see it from her ejected cockpit as it entered the atmosphere, but that was exactly what was happening as a troop deployment shuttle, carrying an entire platoon of expendable Sith troopers armed with stun weaponry, followed in the wake of the escape pod.

Aboard the Sith Capital Ship

"Well done, Admiral," Mortuus allowed some of his fondness for the woman to show through in the tone of his voice when he saw the fighter supposedly piloted by Neysha begin to drift. As expected, she ejected rather than face capture by the cruiser's tractor beams. "Commence with stopping their evacuation now. Do it smart, but stop them at any cost necessary," he gave his final order to the admiral before turning and getting out his commlink. He raised his apprentice, Darth Malyn, and heard the answer from the other end.

"Yes, my lord. I am with the troops headed down to capture this Jedi. We will not fail you," the familiar, raspy voice came back over the frequency. Malyn had no idea what it was that his master had planned for the woman, but he looked forward to being there when it happened. It was clear that he had been brewing whatever the plan was for some time.

At that point, the Sith master moved to sit cross-legged on the floor of the bridge. He had studied Battle Meditation, and while he did not have the facility with it that a young Jedi on the other side named Bastila Shan had, what he could do was adequate to give the capital ship that he was on an edge. And with his apprentice safely on his way to the planet's surface, he was safe enough to slip into the necessary trance.

Alderaan's Surface

The Sith shuttle ferrying the platoon of soldiers led by Darth Malyn entered the atmosphere at the point that the Jedi's escape pod would have fallen through. As a result, if she had made it to the ground safely, she would likely see it descending near her position. In order to keep her from getting too much of a jump on them, Malyn reached out through the force, seeking the strongest signature in the area as the shuttle touched down. He sensed something, faintly, and knew they might have something of a march ahead of them. Either that, or she was trying to dampen her presence.

"Move out commander, head East, and keep a sharp eye out," he told the platoon commander. As they began to fan out and march, he remained at the rear, paying close attention to any currents in the Force that might indicate where she was hiding.

"The Jedi could be kilometers away by the time we arrive at the crash site," the Lieutenant grumbled as he led his platoon out in two staggered lines into the forested area that the escape pod... and this force signature that the Sith apprentice detected, were last picked up in.

Darth Malyn wanted to agree, but his Master insisted that this was the true path as a leading fireteam approached the small crater of the escape pod which should of held the fallen Jedi.

"Set up the heavy repeater!" the Lieutenant ordered as a three man team laid out a large tripod and then placed a large barrelled energy weapon onto the tripod, aiming it at the still smoking escape pod. "Fan out, semi circle. Sergeant, take two men and open the pod," the Sith junior officer ordered as Darth Malyn silently bore witness to the proceedings.

The Sergeant grumbled, already sweating under his armor. "The Jedi bitch is already long gone," he muttered under breath, not wanting his obvious distaste for this Jedi hunting mission to be too out in the open.

The red skinned Sith apprentice suddenly felt a soft tingling in his mind and his hand instinctively moved to his lightsaber, sensing... preconceiving a threat but unable to pinpoint it...

The Sergeant, flanked by two other troopers, approached the pod and the Sergeant produced a pair of plasma cutters to cut open the pod. "Hold!" Darth Malyn then ordered just as the arching sparks of the plasma cutting torch struck the escape pod.

A split second later, the pod exploded and a flash of violet erupted from the forest as a familiar lightsaber suddenly shot spinning outward from the forest just as the escape pod exploded, engulfing the Sergeant and the two other Sith soldiers in the violent explosion as they set off the booby trap.

Darth Malyn activated his blade, only to duck at the last moment as he realized that through the force, the scything violet blade was arcing towards him, cutting through several helpless troopers along the way. Malyn ducked into a forward roll, and then reached out with the force to stop the thrown saber in midflight.

He smiled to himself.

Now he knew why his Master insisted on this mission. Neysha Kibuqa wasn't a runner. She was a fighter.

A warrior.

She would make an excellent convert to the cause.

And in her foolishness, she had disarmed herself.

Her purple lightsaber fell to the ground, deactivated as Malyn reached down to seize it. His fingertips touched the weapon just as he saw out of the corner of his eyes, a brown blur of Jedi robes flashed towards him and a moccassin clad foot smashing into his jaw, sending him spilling head over heels from a superhumanly fast jump kick.

Recovering as quick as he could, Darth Malyn looked up to see Neysha recover her violet energy blade and with two deft slices, cut down a Sith trooper on either side with near instantaneous strokes and then leap high into the air like a cannonball, vaulting herself above the blaster bolts only to land perfectly on her feet in front of the Sith apprentice.

She was too close to Darth Malyn for the Sith troopers to fire at her, and thus risk hitting their own dark jedi ally, but she wasn't above striking outward, and cutting down any unwary and relatively unprotected Sith soldier that dared wander to close to the dueling Jedi.

"My name is Neysha Kibuqa, Jedi Knight of the Grand Republic!" she said with a grim determination rare amongst the Order. "Activate your blade so I may honorably deliver you to Hell!" She raised her blade to a high guard and prepared to strike, regardless of whether he would react or not.

Darth Malyn, wiping the blood from his swollen lower lip, obliged as his own lightsaber came to life.

The other Sith soldiers wisely gave them a wide berth, knowing full well their own lives were hinging on who defeated whom in this duel.

The red-skinned near human couldn't help but grin as he wiped the blood from his lip and ignited his own lightsaber, the dark red blade looking just as menacing as the man wielding it. "Already your hate for me is so strong, Jedi," he told her as he raised his blade into a guard position, seeing that she seemed intent on an aggressive start, "Have you ever even given thought to the question of whether you are on the right side in this conflict?" His tone almost seemed amused, and he actually laughed when he parried her first blow, countering with a quick thrust at her core which she easily sidestepped. Darth Malyn relished a good duel as much as any Sith, and was glad that she seemed skilled, if a bit reckless.

The duel was an impressive sight, to be certain, and the soldiers who saw it couldn't help but be impressed by the grace and beauty of the Jedi, even if they despised what she stood for. Both of them preferred more offensive styles, which led to their lightsabers becoming blurs, red clashing with violet. Malyn, in particular, fought similarly to his Master, jumping and leaping about in a way that would have overwhelmed many Jedi less talented than Neysha. She was able to match him blow for blow, however, no matter how quickly he seemed to move.

Sith Capital Ship

Even as the Sith Master's battle meditation helped to keep his personal ship safe, Admiral Tadro's skill turned the tide of the battle quickly. Now that the trap had been sprung, she was able to bring their forces to bear in the ruthless, efficient style she was known for, and the republic forces found their attempts at evacuation being torn apart, especially with the loss of their Jedi commander.

Even through his concentration, however, Darth Mortuus could feel the exultation of his apprentice as he fought Neysha, and knew that she had been found. In the midst of his trance, his lips twisted into a grin as he silently urged his apprentice to defeat her and bring her to him alive. He remained in the trance until the battle seemed to be mostly over, and then rose to walk over to where the admiral sat. Standing behind her, he placed his hands on her shoulders with a familiarity that most of the crew were used to; if a Sith Master decided to show affection to you, it lent more to your aura of command rather than diminished it. "Well done, as usual," he told her, clearly pleased with the results he saw through the bridge window.

The duel had gone continued, as the two almost equally matched duelists continued to parry and counter the others attacks consistently. But Darth Malyn, while impressed by the Jedi's graceful skill, was also somewhat offset by Neysha's unusually aggressive style. She was obviously more skilled then a Jedi of her age and years of training, but the way she fought was far more different.

She fought with a passion. It emanated from her and while Malyn was not subtle enough to pick up on it, his master even high above in orbit, could almost taste the raw emotion that practically radiated from her. It was as if instead of giving in to her hatred of her foes, she was rechanneling it, focusing it into her naturally ferocious fighting style.

Malyn leaped away and almost on cue, the nearby Sith soldiers opened fire with their blasters and even flung a few grenades.

But their throwing speed was far slower then her Jedi honed reflexes and the Force allowing her to leap above the stun gas explosions and the numerous crisscrossing blaster bolts. Neysha leaped high, but by then Darth Malyn had already landed and reached out with the force.

Throughout the previous hour of the duel, he had tried subtle force tricks, holding her wrist in place, trying to cast doubt in her mind, confound her with mental tricks, interspersing his strike or countering parried strike with a blast of force energy to knock her off balance, but all was for naught. He even tried reaching out, and hurling nearby rocks and debris at her as a distraction.

All for naught.

Perhaps it was her fighting style, of skirting the dark side, that allowed her to read what he was about to do. Or perhaps she was simply better.

This time, Darth Malyn would display that if she was better, she still wasn't going to win as with a flick of his wrist, a geyser of loose dirt suddenly erupted from the ground into a geyser, blasting Neysha with a cascading column of dirt. It blinded her and as she landed, she did so off balance.

As the dirt dissipated, Malyn struck fast, knocking the violet lightsaber from her grasp and driving his shoulder into her chest. It knocked her onto her back, and Malyn quickly blasted away her lightsaber out of reach. "Only one thing matters to a Sith Jedi, and that's winning," he gloated.

She then inexplicably thrust her head forward and knocked him backwards, manipulating the force with the movement of her head instead of her hands, before scrambling to her feet herself and reaching a hand out, taking her lightsaber in hand and letting out a battlecry, started to bring the lightsaber down upon Malyn who could only look up in a mixture of shock and surprise at his imminent doom.

A half dozen stunning energy blasts thudded into Neysha's backside that same moment however and almost anticlimatically, her lightsaber flickered off as she thudded to the ground, her body sprawled over his legs.

A traditional Jedi would've never focused so intensely on her opponent to allow themselves to be blindsided...

Darth Malyn considered and dismissed the lesson. Most traditional Jedi wouldn't of lasted this long in this duel and put him in the predicament he was in a second ago.

Regardless, she was taken down... alive. Just as Master requested.

Darth Malyn realized that the dual had gone on far longer than it likely should have, but he had been working under one handicap, after all. He'd been trying to take her alive, whereas he was fairly certain she'd have killed him given the opportunity. Yes, he could definitely see why Master Mortuus would wish to convert her. Even better, he could tell she was almost there, channeling her emotion the way she did. It was skirting close to Sith teachings already; it would take very little to push her over that edge, and he was confident that his Master would be able to accomplish it.

Reaching down, he took her lightsaber, and tucked it into the folds of his cloak. "Put the cortosis binders on her. I doubt she will get her hands on a lightsaber anytime soon, but that doesn't mean we should tempt fate," he ordered the soldiers, "And keep her stunned. I don't want her using any Jedi tricks to get free before we can get her to my Master." As they were loading her on a repulsor sled, the wrist and ankle bindings made of cortosis weave, he looked on, making sure that no mistakes were made.

Sith Capital Ship

As he rested his hands on the Admiral's shoulders, Mortuus felt the fear radiating from his apprentice, as well as the channeled anger of his opponent. His smile grew wider, sending chills down the spine of several of the bridge officers. If she had killed Malyn, he would have been just as happy, though it would have meant hunting her down himself. As it was, the sense of satisfaction coming from his apprentice meant that Neysha was being brought to him as a prisoner.

Leaning down, he whispered heatedly into the Admiral's ear, "We will have much to celebrate later, Damaya. Not one, but two great victories here today." With that, he turned and walked out of the bridge, heading to the hangar bay to meet with his apprentice upon the platoon's return.

When the shuttle finally docked, he could see that there had been a number of casualties, which had been expected. Then his prize came into view, Neysha's lush body floating toward him on the repulsorsled. "You have done well, my apprentice. I know that taking her alive had to be difficult, but it will be worth the risk, I assure you," he told Malyn, clapping him on the back.

"Her lightsaber, my Master," the red-skinned man told her as he produced the hilt. It was exquisitely made, but Mortuus had expected nothing less. She had always had a warrior spirit, after all. It was as he tucked it into his belt that she began to make sounds as if she would wake soon. The soldiers standing next to her began to get ready to stun her again, but the Sith Master raised his hand to dismiss them.

Admiral Tadro slyly looked up at the far more imposing Lieutenant as he reported to her, mud still on his boots from the planet. "And you are here because?" the Admiral asked, her dark eyes scanning up his dark armored uniform.

"Lord Mortuus dismissed me. He wishes to handle the captive Jedi himself Admiral," the Lieutenant replied.

"Casualties?" the Admiral asked in her standard bland, almost emotionally devoid voice.

"Thirteen killed. Four wounded. The Jedi Knight ambushed us with a trap. So unlike them," the Lieutenant responded coolly.

"You took her down I heard," the Admiral then asked. The Lieutenant frowned and glanced down at his own combat boots for a moment, causing the lithely built Admiral to take a measuring glance of the Junior officer who so fearlessly would march into battle against Jedi, and yet now decide to be bashful. "I am your commanding officer. You answer to me, not the Sith."

"Apologies Admiral... ummm... I do not wish to speak of it but the Jedi felled Mor... Lord Mortuus' apprentice. We had to intervene," the Lieutenant stammered out, obviously not wanting to fall on Malyn... or any Siths bad side for spreading such a potentially embarrassing fact about.

"Mmm I trust your men will control themselves," the Admiral asked curtly.

"Yes Milo... Admiral," the now flustered Lieutenant then said. "My apol-."

"Do not apologize for doing an excellent job Lieutenant Bersun," the Admiral stated firmly but without raising the tone of her voice. "I will not have my officers feel they must be punished for fulfilling their duty. Dismissed."

The Lieutenant clicked his boots together, stood at attention, bowed and then quickly walked out of her office, the door closing behind her.

Admiral Tadro sat there for a moment then, wondering if she should return to the bridge but in all honesty desiring to see this Jedi whelp that Darth Mortuus seemed to desire so deeply. But seeing the prisoner was out of the question. It wasn't so much a matter of ability, she was still the Admiral, she could go where she pleased... but one of protocol... and professionalism... and conduct.

She glanced off to the side, feeling a warm sensation in her cheeks and in her chest and then dismissed a silly notion inside of her mind. No, she wasn't going to lower herself to feeling jealous... or even more so, longing for Darth Mortuus' intimate company again.

But something as simple as his hands on her shoulders, softly complimenting her, congratulating her on a victorious engagement... it was soothing to her. Comforting. She still liked the feeling, despite how she tried to bury it.

With a touch of the console, she brought up the profile on the Jedi Knight Neysha Kibuqa... and simply looked at it for the long moment... taking her entire file in, searching for... something.
---

Jedi Knight Neysha Kibuqa, trained under several Masters, but most notably the famed Jedi Guardian Kavar. It seemed as if he was talking to her now. She had heard his voice in her head, it wasn't him of course, just his imprint. One that almost all Jedi that trained or fought or survived together had. Much like the force and through it, those voices would permeate ones dreams and in periods of deep tranquility, or great emotion.

She heard his voice as she was about to cut down another of the despicable Sith spawned apprentices but was cut short of carrying out her manner of justice by a stunning bolt of energy to her back.

But the voice of her Master was still troubling her mind.

Or rather her subconscious was chastising her for her lack of prudence, lack of patience, and for a moment losing control. It simply took the form of her Master in her dreams.

It was troubling.

Darth Mortuus noticed her mumble indecipherable, her powerful mind unreadable but the raw emotions intense. Then, with a suddenness, she shot awake and immediately attempted to explode outward as if she was encased in a shell.

But there was no shell.

Just cortosis armbands and some sort of invisible energy field holding her back, preventing her from unleashing more destruction upon her foes. Her eyes flashed open, seeing herself surrounded by a detachment of Sith combat troopers and one Sith Jedi she immediately recognized... or rather sensed... as a Master.

There was a slight hint of recognition.

She recalled a name but nothing more.

"Bendis Lamar!" she almost shouted aloud, recognizing the face and easily being able to age it appropriately despite the fact he had changed physically and most obviously, in other respects as well. She could sense the darkness pervading him. He was a Sith now. "What are you doing? Just kill me!" she growled to him. "Because I vow if you let me go, I will certainly not hesitate to strike you down!"

She struggled futilely against her bonds but none of the nearby soldiers dared chuckle at her apparent helplessness. Jedi imprisonment had a habit of being tricky and going awry at inopportune times. The losses incurred in such ordeals often meant... outside of the Sith... little 'talent' in the Jedi capturing arts survived to obtain more and more skills.

Neysha tried to hone her emotions, fueling them into manipulating the force, but so far it was proving fruitless. Knowing full well she had to control her passions now, she mentally checked herself and then closed and reopened her eyes, attempting to enter a state of tranquility. So a second after making her sudden outbursts, she laid back and tried to regain her composure, all while waiting for this Sith Master to speak.

Darth Mortuus chuckled, and approached the repulsorsled, leaning over it to get a good look at Neysha. The force screen that held her in place on the sled was mostly transparent, and he was able to clearly see that she had aged beautifully, filling out the lovely frame she'd always had. "Bendis is no more," he spoke in a soft voice, full of unbridled menace, "That weakling was scoured away, and the core of him grew into the man you see before you now. You may call me Darth Mortuus. And as to your threats, I am certain you would try. It is only natural to hate those who would capture you." With those words, he reached down and programmed the sled with the coordinates of the room he wanted her brought to, and when it moved, he walked along beside it, leaving the others to their duties.

"I do hope, however, that I can show you that I did this because I care about you, and do not wish to leave you to the ignorance of the so-called 'Jedi Masters'," he told her as they made their way through the hallways. When he spoke about the Jedi Masters, the contempt in his voice was palpable. "Don't you get tired of listening to them yammer on about tranquility and serenity?" he asked her, watching her face for reaction even though he would be able to sense her emotions through the force anyway, "Aren't emotions natural, after all? I know that I have seen emotions such as hate, and love, give people great strength even before I discovered Sith teachings. Even before I went to protect this Republic alongside Revan and Malak." The entire time he spoke, he watched for signs of her getting free, as well as paying heed to the Force.

Neysha Kibuqa suddenly realized the lost value of all of those lessons she had taken on tranquility and serenity and the control of ones passions. It was made expressly for circumstances such as these. As Darth Mortuus continued his speech, she tried to calm herself. Her mind and her body.

She tried to maintain control as finally she elicited a response.

"Bendis, I will prove of no use to you whatever. You would be better served by simply killing me rather then wasting your time. You are Sith now, and fallen. You have betrayed the Republic, and the Order that trained you and there is not a single iota of my being that believes that for a moment, you have brought me here for anything but your own selfish reasons," the Jedi coolly stated before closing her eyes again as the repulsorlift sled floated down another passageway.

As she closed her eyes though, her thoughts of tranquility remained. She looked back and recalled more of Bendis. They were of the same age class when they were children, but of course, as all Jedi do, they took different Masters when they became Padawan learners.

She pursued the Guardian role under Kavar's tutelage while he... obviously chose a far different path.

He was sickly before... and now... he was strong. Any fool could see his obvious physical prowess, the confidence and of course he had matured in his manipulation of the force, even if it was the dark side.

That much was undeniable.

She tried to resume her meditations.

"Is it betrayal to no longer pay heed to those who would deceive me? Who still have you deceived?" he asked as they made their way down the long hallway to the chamber he planned to use for continuing her 'lessons', "Is it betrayal to show the Republic a better way, if we have found one? Besides, you are calling me fallen, when in the same breath saying, with such hatred, that I should kill you because you don't believe the same as I do. Is that what the calm, serene Jedi have taught? Contrary to what they want people to believe, the galaxy, the Force, are not black and white."

As he walked, they passed some soldiers on a routine patrol of the ship's corridors. They saluted, and though fear radiated off of them, so did devotion. They believed in what the Sith were trying to accomplish, even if they feared their masters. Not long after that, they came to the room he wanted her in, and he entered the code that would allow them entrance.

It was a large, domed chamber, easily 50 feet across. There were four statues of ancient Sith Lords spaced evenly around the room. The only other door was opposite the one they had entered through. Once he made sure the doors were both secure, he then punched in another code on the repulsorsled, and the force shield no longer held her. Stepping away, he told her simply, "By all means, stand. I was only using that thing for the safety of my men." He seemed supremely confident that he would have little problem with her on his own.

This Darth Mortuus was trying to trick her, she knew it. Outside of combat, all the Sith knew was deception and lies and treachery. As she rose out of the repulsorlift sled, her hands and ankles still encased in the cortosis weaved bonds, she glanced briefly at the four statues of ancient Sith Lords.

"Bendis, I know why you brought me here but you are wasting your time. I will not fall to your cause or be beguiled by your words," Neysha stated as she walked towards the closest of the ancient statues. "Simus, the Dark Lord betrayed by Marka Ragnos a millenia before," Neysha said, recognizing the resemblence of at least one of the statues before her.

Neysha chuckled. "You preach to me that you know ways superior to that of the Republic but not even the Great Sith Empire could overwhelm the Republic. Like it has happened time and time before, the Sith will destroy each other, be betrayed by their own, even their own bloodlines, before they ever attain final victory." She turned to Darth Mortuus.

"Oh Bendis, I know not who failed in your teachings, but I do not need the force to see that the future of Revans Sith Empire is destined to anything but failure. You continually say the Republic and even the Jedi Order has its flaws, but instead of remaining within the Order to change them from within, all you Sith know is how to destroy, never to... create."

Neysha spat on the statue of Simus. "It is true, I do show hate, and anger, and other emotions but only in defense of the ideals that I hold dear while you manipulate your own emotions to destroy and betray, just like these dead fossils you venerate."

As she spoke, she reached out with the force, sensing, trying to find something in this chamber she could turn to her advantage, that would ultimately aid her if not in defeating this Darth Mortuus, then at least earning her a death worthy of a Jedi and becoming one with the Force.

"Only through strife does true improvement occur," he responded to her charges that the Sith do nothing but betray one another, "The Jedi have remained static, learning little over the centuries, while the Sith have improved themselves over and over again. Now we will purge the galaxy of the true traitors, the Jedi, and create a society worth being a part of. Think about it: the so called 'Masters' have kept your own progress at almost a standstill, have they not? I'm sure that there are times that you wish they would teach you more, rather than telling you that you are not ready. Does each person not learn at their own rate?"

He watched her intently as she sought some advantage she might use to escape, and smiled to himself. Always, she fought; that was one of the things that drew him to her, beyond her apparent beauty. "I would tell you that you are wasting your time in seeking some way of escape, but I also remember you well enough to know I would be wasting my breath," Mortuus remarked as he looked on, drinking in her beauty, "You have the heart of a Sith, if not the mind of one. At least, not yet." He was steadfast in his belief that she would turn eventually.

For a long moment she was silent. She then overlooked one of the other statues. That of Naga Sadow. She smirked. "Simus was betrayed by his apprentice, Naga Sadow." She turned to him. "If there are truly no limits to what you will teach me, certainly someone like yourself would realize there may come a time when the apprentice surpasses the Master." She turned to Darth Mortuus and smiled grimly. "We all know what the Sith practice when it comes to self promotion." She stepped closer to him. "Will you swear to me now that if I convert to your ways that you will impose no limitations on my tutelage. That all the knowledge I seek, I will be given the chance to learn from Bendis? Is this something you are willing to do?"

Her next question surprised him somewhat; it seemed a rather sudden turn, for her to question whether he would stifle her learning if she submitted to his teachings. Sudden, but not unwelcome, even if it were a test on her part. "I swear I will teach you everything, holding nothing back. If you eventually use it to kill me, it will only make the Sith stronger as a whole," Mortuus responded, and as he spoke, he approached her, slowly placing his hand on her shoulder, "However, in order to learn, you will have to obey. Can you do that for me as well as you did for the Jedi Council? The rewards will be much greater." As he continued speaking, his hand moved to the side of her neck, and brushed the backs of his fingers against her skin. It felt good to be so close to her, something that had been denied him by the Council so long ago. Finally, he would see his vision of the future come to pass.

The hair on her skin was rising, finding herself surprised at how excited she was at his vow to teach her all she could, without reservation. His apprentice was skilled in the force, and in the martial ways of a Jedi, she could only imagine what formidable powers he possessed. She regained control of her breathing, and the microexpressions on her face just as he drew closer to her, and she felt the back of his fingers brushing her hair... and lightly crossing her skin.

"I... I... cannot," Neysha tried to demurr, her eyes glancing upward at the ancient Sith statues, the hated enemies of the Council, of the Republic, for hundreds of years.

The temptation, the seduction. It was all so compelling, so tantalizing. She could just learn his powers and slay him, defeat the Sith, and end the instituted weakness within the Republic, within the Jedi Order. She could found a new order, one that would ensure security and progress...

No, that was how the dark side deceived one. She closed her eyes as she felt Bendis' fingers turn, and now slide up her neck, his gentle fingertips massaging her neckline and her collarbone.

She remembered the lessons of Master Zhar in the Dantooine Jedi Libraries. The Hundred Year Darkness the Sith plunged the Republic into, the fall of Freedon Nadd, the Redemption of Ulic Qel-Droma. All of the tales of ancient and recent history of the wickedness of the Sith and the hope of the Republic. It was so obvious she should reject their teachings.

But she could take their teachings, and use it against them.

Or just give in.

She opened her eyes again only to find Bendis' fingers running through her thick, lush black hair as she looked up at him with her dark eyes and suddenly realized she was on her knees before him. She found her lips whispering the words she thought she never would a moment later. "I wish to master the ways of the Dark Side.... Lord Mortuus..."

He looked on, and could feel the struggle within her. Yes, it was her hatred of the Sith that would be the key to convincing her to join them. As she moved to her knees before him, he felt his passions rising, his desire for the lovely woman before him. "Of course you do, Neysha. Before long, you will be far more powerful than those weaklings among the Jedi who call themselves Masters," he responded, keenly aware of how close her face was to his manhood, which already surged to hardness under his pants, "The Republic deserves better than cowards who keep those with potential from learning secrets just because they are, themselves, frightened."

Grinning down at her, his eyes shining with menace, he let his fingertips caress the back of her neck lightly as he continued speaking, "The first lesson you must learn, my apprentice, is that you must not deny your passions. Channel them, use them, but never deny them. Anger, love, lust...these are the fuel that will empower you." Mortuus watched her, and stretched out through the Force to feel her, reveling in the sensations that he felt coursing through her mind and radiating off of her. He found himself close to revealing everything to her, but held back about his vision of their bloodline, which he saw ruling the galaxy for centuries after they would perish.

She had channeled her passions before, so his words spoke even more true to her then it would almost any other Jedi. But she realized her focus was so narrow, using her anger and rage as only a weapon to accentuate her own martial prowess against fighting the enemies of the Republic.

As she felt Mortuus' fingertips skip along the back of her neck, her mind was suddenly open to an array of visions from Darth Mortuus. Of power and potential and raw, unabated passion. He was being truthful. He was going to reveal so much to her and she found herself relishing the opportunity as their bond in the force grew in intensity.

Then suddenly, it stopped. Her eyes opened wide, as her chest visibly heaved and she looked up at her new Master with a crisp, bright stare, the color flushed from her face momentarily. Her hands, still bound by the cortosis weave bindings, slid up the sides of his robe. "My... Lord. My Master," she muttered, temporarily at a loss for words. "I... I... I don't know what to do... what to say..." she stammered, suddenly finding herself confused by the world of revelations this brief force bond brought her.

Reaching down, he removed the cortosis bindings on her wrists, letting them clatter to the floor. He was fairly certain that they were beyond the need for such things now. "What does the Force tell you to do? Search your feelings; they will guide you well, I believe," he responded, a knowing smile creeping along his lips. The force bond had worked its magic upon her, as he had guessed it might. There was a link between them that had drawn him to her, and he knew that any offspring of their coupling would be a powerful Sith Lord in time. Powerful enough to challenge even the might Revan.

"You must have years of desires built up. I know the Jedi encourage you to set them aside. In order to control your passions, however, and use them, you must first explore them," he told her, once more brushing fingers through her thick, dark hair, "If you could do anything at all right now, what would it be? The one thing that you've wished for, and that your Jedi teachers refused you, telling you that it would be the first step on the path to the Dark Side. What would that be, my apprentice?"

Neysha glanced up at Darth Mortuus, and for a moment, gave him an unsettling stare, one that sent uncomfortable ripples in the force through his mind. For a moment, he sensed danger, but then it passed as he realized Neysha was bluntly probing his mind, looking for a purpose behind his last question, if it was meant to draw out a vulnerability, or a weakness.

For a moment, it seemed as if a fight would begin, and all of this effort would be to waste.

But the uncertainty passed and Neysha spoke just as Mortuus probed the superficial thoughts of her mind and picked up an ancient Jedi Order tenet. Let there be truth between your heart and the Force. All else is transitory...

He smiled, Neysha was manipulating and reinterpreting the Jedi Order's teachings in order to justify her own fall. Undoubtedly he found such a turnaround delicious as she finally confessed her greatest wish. "Attachment Master. I am... forbidden attachment to anything. And no external loyalties. No divide between myself and the Order. I have nothing but the Order and the Order has nothing but us.... and it can get so... so... lonely."

Her emotions were almost being unleashed like a torrent, the bond he was nurturing with her suddenly filled with nascent and unreleased tension and raw emotion undercut with her potential in the force. "I feel so much sorrow and compassion for those I serve.... and those I fight alongside.... and those I wish I could call friends.... and allies.... and brothers and sisters and those I.... I...."

Her fingers tugged at his robes as she leaned farther down. "I just want.... I want to reach out and feel someone.... personally.... and intimately. To share my passion with. I have so much emotion and passion inside me that I just want to share it and release it but the only time I can do so is when I'm fighting. And I've done it so much I'm.... through the Force.... it's starting to become the only thing I enjoy." She let go of his robes, her fingers curling up into fists. "You can't imagine how it feels, this rage that fills me. I just want to serve the will of the force but the only time I feel the Force within me is when I'm... I'm destroying."

The anger... the years of rage swelled up inside of her, hidden under a thick veneer of patience, fortitude, serenity and harmony, laced together with the ancient Jedi Code, were finally boiling out as Neysha slowly raised her head from the ground, a cold sweat glistening across hew brow as she tried to temper herself from the urge of simply lashing out. She felt like tearing this room and everything within it apart as she came face to face with her emotions.

"Bendis... I... I... I don't want it.... this... rage... inside me anymore... I want to enjoy my life and serve the will of the Force. Can you... can you help me?"

As he listened to her, Mortuus realized that he had, indeed, touched a nerve within her, and the outpouring of emotion that came with her words showed him that he had been correct in his thoughts concerning her mental state. "It seems ironic to me that their denial would create the sort of rage that they claim to want to do away with in their students," he told her, keeping his hand in her hair in an attempt to comfort and soothe her. "And you are right that I cannot imagine it, but I may know of a way to help you. A way to serve the force with an act of creation, rather than destruction," he told her, offering her the hope that she had asked him for.

Slowly, he drew his hand forward, toward her face, caressing her cheek lightly, "It would require attachment, and passion. I have seen, through the Force, that you and I can create a bloodline capable of keeping the Sith united, of bringing the Galaxy together without the corruption and weakness of the Senate and the Jedi Order." As he finished telling her this, his thumb came to her full lips, and brushed over them. The act brought the Force bond forward again, and gave her a glimpse of the future he saw, their children and grandchildren and so forth ruling over the Galaxy and ushering in a golden age.

Neysha blinked, and her body slowly moved backward until she had returned to a kneeling position. She had contemplated the vision she was just offered and for a long moment, simply stared up at the Dark Jedi quizzically. Was that truly his objective or was this some sort of perverse trick. Certainly as she reached out with the force, she didn't see such a destiny. In fact, beyond the moment, she never was much mindful of the future. It was always in motion... after all.

But the vision, it sounded compelling.

And it was the exact opposite of destruction.

Sith were deceivers though.

Her cheeks reddened as she looked up and then away from him. "I... I... I cannot," she said, taking a deep, resolving breath. "I... I... would not even know what to do," she added, feeling somewhat embarrassed as she slowly rose to her feet, the raging emotions that were emanating off of her suddenly withdrawing as she seemed to regain her composure. Apparently his words calmed her, making her contemplate what he just said, and the vision he just shared.

Rising up to stand, she still looked up into her new Masters eyes, and gave him a measuring glance. "It's..." She bit her lower lip and then felt his hands sliding along the back of her neck. "I want it... but... I'm still afraid," she finally said, her mind and spirit now torn between her desire to be with her new Master in such an intimate way, and somehow restraining herself from giving in so completely to the unknown. To a vision.

"Of course you are," he told her, his tone still soothing as he drew her closer to him. Their bodies were not quite pressed together, but only a few inches separated them as he continued speaking, "You've been taught that you shouldn't fulfill your desires, even ones as natural as this. But tell me, what is more natural? Do not all creatures desire to multiply? Yet, they do not fall into evil, so why should we? And once more, there is something that they don't wish us to know: that the ability to use sense and use the Force runs in family lines, when it is allowed." That was something that had never made sense to him, even before he had fallen to Sith teaching: it almost seemed to him that the Jedi should have culled the ability from the galaxy through their inane rules.

His eyes locked on hers, then, once more brushing his thumb across her soft, moist lips, "You've shown much bravery in battle, my apprentice. Would something this important not be just as worthy of your courage?" His palm was pressed lightly against her cheek; nothing at all prevented her from pulling away from him, and he could tell, through the Force, that part of her wanted to. "Give in, Neysha. Lust can be even more powerful than anger, if harnessed properly, and I can feel it surging within you. Help me bring true peace to the galaxy," he urged her, his voice little more than a whisper.

She moved her face from his hand, and turned away briefly, her dark hair covering the half of her face that was closest to him as she glanced downward at the floor, then at her hands. She rubbed her wrists, they were still sore from the bindings. But then she reached one hand out, her fingertips slipping between his fingers so casually and then looked back up at her new Master, gently pressing her cheek against his other hand now.

Her cheeks were still reddened, and blushing. "Master... I've..." She glanced down again. "I've never... I've wanted to... I want to... but I'm so... nervous. I never have before." She frowned, shutting her mouth tightly as she realized she sounded like some sort of silly girl as she interlocked her fingers with his and then laid her head against his chest. He felt a serenity waft over the both of them as she moved in for what was a surprisingly tender embrace. He even felt her shiver slightly, or perhaps tremble as she wrapped her other arm around his back and gently nuzzled his chest and sighed. "I'm your apprentice now... and... I want to help you. I want to give in... I just... don't really know how to start." Her eyes rose to his, while her face was still against his firm chest. "Just take care of me okay? Or I'll murder you in your sleep," she added in a soft, unreadable voice, undercut with an innocent smile.

He returned the affectionate embrace, happy to feel her against him after so many years of longing for her. Despite what the Jedi and the Republic thought, the Sith were not necessarily complete monsters; they were capable of joy, and of love. They simply approached these things differently. He laughed softly at her joke, and told her, "Of course you haven't. I never did until I left the Order, myself. But it is my job to teach you, after all. Come with me, and I will show you how to give in." With that, he turned slightly, so that she was beside him, but keeping an arm around her shoulders, and led her to the door at the opposite side of the domed room.

What lay on the other side was hallway with three branches. One led toward Malyn's quarters, the other toward those of the admiral. The center one, however, led to Mortuus' chambers, which was where they were headed. Once they arrived at the door, he inserted his code cylinder, causing the door to slide open. Bringing her through, the door then shut behind them automatically as she took in the sight of his bedroom, which was larger than any officer's quarters she had ever seen on a ship of this size. There was a large bed against the center of the right wall, and a small stand on either side of it. A computer screen was on the wall facing the foot of the bed, and below it was another Sith Statue, this one of Adas, the founder of the Sith order. Another doorway was on the far side of the room, leading into a bathroom.

Bringing her to the side of the bed, he turned to face her once more. "I have wished for this day longer than I care to think about, Neysha. Would you like my help undressing?" he asked her as his arms slipped around her waist again, pulling her body close against his, reaching out through the Force to attempt to soothe her nerves.