Be One, or Be None (Sianna)

[Rakai]

Oroboro, the home planet of the Killik, was the destination of the two Sith wjom had joined forces once again. Rakai had been sent on a task by his Master, Zephyrus Cloud, and was instructed to bring someone to aid him. His first thoughts went to his last mission, and the woman he helped, Sianna, one he felt he could trust. He newfound power as a Master would be a great asset to this mission.

The mission was to collect several young Killik for Zephyrus to experiment on, amd thus the cargo bay was full of cages. Zephyrus wanted twelve, and so he would get that and possibly more.

Walking away from the control panel and out of the cockpit, Rakai looked at the cages and smirked. Such an easy job and all the glory.

~This shouldn't take too long, I hope that it won't bore you. There is a small nest to the east, we can most likely collect what we need there. ~

[Sianna]

Spending much of the journey to the world reading several of the books that Lady Razielle had given her, Sianna did her best to know the Dathomiri culture and history better. Having spent some months there already with the queen, the newly appointed master also had to expand her knowledge of the worlds that the Sith now ruled. Being able to mold the minds and hearts of those that lived there could allow their new overlords control of a vast army for conquering more. It all started with appealing to their principles and then manipulating them into believing the Sith way was even more promising and rewarding.

No world, however, was easily won with honeyed words and the benefits of Dathomir was that the newly ascended leaders were both Dathomiri themselves. That and the appeal of conflict had won a great victory over many of the clans which now all looked up to Razielle and Jezebella.

Closing the tome, Sianna pushed herself up as the vessel began going through it's shutdown procedure, the sublight engines powering down being felt in the floor plating. Placing the leather bound books back into her pack, she then replaced it into the locker within her room. Accommodations being what they were, she wasn't complaining as this wasn't her assigned venture. Rakai's voice interrupted the priestess' musings and she glanced toward the door as she moved to it.

~ Not to worry. There's another reason that this place could be of great help to my future. ~ Opening the door, she stepped out into the narrow hallway and continued toward the cargo bay, seeing him standing there. "I'm looking forward to learning more about these things, actually. A certain hero of mine became a great alchemist that manipulated the genetics of certain creatures, so I figure the more I know about them, the better."

[Rakai]

The yellow, red-rimmed eyed Nagai nodded to the woman, having no qualms about her reasoning for aiding him. He was just glad to have such a powerful Master in his good side for once, and with her help, this would be an easy task.

~I will make sure to get you a copy of any findings Master Cloud get from his study with them then.~

Moving to the Bay door and walking down it as it opened, the pearl skinned Sith looked to the east in the darkness of night. Seeing all sort of caverns coming from the rocks with the light of the moons, he closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, looking past his visual sight.

The next moment he was swiftly heading east, moving toward the bottom of a cliff-side, giving time for Sianna to follow. He had seen a small group of the insectiod humanoids in a vision, transporting a small group of spawn and eggs. The Force was with them this day.

~If we are lucky we will gather what we need before any unwanted attention arrives.~

[Sianna]

Nodding, Sianna intended on gaining all she could from this trip and once they got back as well. Being in the lab more now, the priestess was putting more of her time into becoming familiar with other techniques and chemistry than she had before. Though she still had a long way to go yet, the Echani had dedicated herself to following in two master's footsteps as soon as she was given the chance.

Once Rakai turned east and began running toward the target location, Sianna followed and kept her distance giving him the opportunity to gather what he needed as she was just here for backup if he needed it. This was his trial, not hers. Sienna had already completed her own to become a master and she knew that other ranks had to achieve theirs as well. Conflict and tests were another way that a Sith bettered themselves.

"We'll get it even if help does arrive," she stated, her resolve more solid now that she had finally reached that top level. "The more the merrier, I say." Echani learned more about their quarry when in a fight, she knew.

[Rakai]

The Nagai clone stopped behind a rock just before a cave that had an eerie light coming from inside. His prey must be in there, he could feel it from within the Force. Turning to Sianna once she caught up to him, he gave her a playful smile to her hopes.

~In this case, the more the massacre, with their hive mind, imagine fighting eight foes who can attack as one, aid one another with a fraction of thought. Even a Master could not outwill a swarm. This won't take long.~

Running around the rock and straight into the cave, through the burrowed out walls and floors with Force Speed guiding his step. He could hear the chittering sound of at least one of the Killik below.

There was no time to react to Rakai as he burst into an area where one of the insectiod looking creature was sitting guard in front of a small hive. Metallic claws removing it's head and any chance it could warn the hive. The location was perfect, only one guard to be seen, and cutting his way into the hive, yellow, red-rimmed eyes looked at eight fresh spawn, and two hatchings, one looking a little more developed than the other. The two looked at the pearl skinned man with fear, as they were lifted off the ground with a raise of Rakai's hand. Reaching out to Sianna's mind, Rakai gave her an update.

~I have almost all that I need here, let us get these into their cages!~

Soon, the Nagai clone, and his floating captives could be seen coming from out of the cave. He would have to move without the aid of the Force, having to concentrate on the two midair strugglers.

[Sianna]

Rising as Rakai sped into the cave full of Killiks, Sianna watched and waited for the sounds of combat and was disappointed to hear very little. Though to the priestess that meant that either the others were asleep or not in the cave at all. Either way, her fellow Sith apparently got most of what he wanted as she then noticed him run back out with his prizes. Running out after him, a group of angry insectoid creatures' chittering only supported the Force aura of hatred of the one that had robbed their nest.

She hated to kill these things, but her experiments could be done on the ones that Rakai had captured instead. Concentrating, she focused all her hatred of these lesser beings and called on everything that the Force could give her. Seeping down to her fingertips, the Echani then unleashed a blast of lightning that caught the nearest one center mass, the creature flailing as tendrils of energy lit up the night. Interestingly, she noticed that as one suffered from the elemental blast, so did the others as they felt their companion's searing burns, all screaming which echoed in the night.

[Rakai]

None seemed to follow the two Sith after that, most likely since the group that came had been caretakers, unsuspecting of any who would be foolish enough to steal their young.

Getting back to their ship, Rakai felt confident that they were in the clear, rushing up to the ship and pressing a button to open the cages within the hold. Squirming and screeching the group was put into their cages leaving only a few empty.

~Hmm. I wouldn't mind getting a few more specimens, to fill these empty cages. Start up the ship, and I'll go see if any survived your goodbye present.~

[Sianna]

Her eyes aglow with the expulsion of energy, Sianna lavished in the smell of burning flesh which wafted on the light breeze, the alien creatures falling to the ground as she turned and left, following in Rakai's footsteps once more. Uncaring if any of them survived or not, she was happy to have used that ability again, not getting many chances in a long time. Climbing the ramp into the ship, silver orbs took in the collection now in the cargo hold as their new keeper situated each in their own cages. Blood tests would be done as well as other samples collected, ensuring that she was able to keep them alive for Rakai's test. Their interesting nature was definitely something else that she would love to understand. A hive mind not something encountered that often, though she already saw one of the drawbacks.

Nodding, she turned towards the galley, "Okay. Good luck with that," she grinned again and continued on through the rest of the ship to the cockpit. Sitting in the pilot's seat, she began going through the startup procedure and let Rakai do his thing before they moved on.

[Rakai]

Moving swiftly with the aid of Force Speed, the pearl skinned Knight returned to the fallen protectors of the young they stole. Checking each body upon arrival, Rakai learned that they had all succumbed to their wounds, irking the man. He had wasted both his and Sianna's time...

Rushing back to the ship, the blurred form slowed when approaching the shuttle, feeling that something was not right. The Force was perhaps trying to tell him something, but what it was he couldn't perceive as of yet. Walking cautiously up to the ship, the keen eyes of the Nagai clone spotted something on the hull of the ship. In fact several somethings. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be seven organic looking pods on the one side of the ship, circling the ship he found five more on the other side.

Walking up the platform to the bay, he checked a diagnostics display to run a scan on the objects, which came up as them being highly explosive.

~My dear.... We may have a problem...~

Rakai sent this to Sianna as he stepped back outside, as twelve heavily armed Killik stepped out from nehind cover, spread out, each carrying lightning rods and planting them into the ground.

"The spawn one stole, return it to the hive, and one's ship will not be destroyed. Attempt to leave we kill one and one's ship. Attempt to fight, we destroy one's ship and then kill one. One has our terms."

The screechy and hissing voice of one of the Killik prepared warriors spoke out to the theives. All seemed ready to fulfil their threat at a moments notice, and none were close enough to each other to attack as a group or use an area of effect weapon. They were prepared knowing what they were up against.

[Sianna]

With the ship powered up, Sianna sat back and then began to notice a change in the Force, the area outside the ship was now being intruded on and it didn't take long for Rakai to confirm her feelings. Silver orbs watched out through the cockpit window as she then could notice silhouettes in the darkened terrain, highlighted by the moonlight as they were being surrounded. Her first thought was to leave, though as the moments passed, she felt the alarm from the Force and decided that plan may be a bit premature.

Opening her mind back to Rakai, ~ So, how do we get out of this while succeeding in your mission? ~ Sianna wasn't here to bail him out of every little problem as she had to accomplish hers without the assistance of any other Force user. There was no way she was dying here, but as the moments ticked by, Sianna began hatching her own plan.

[Rakai]

Rakai smirked when Sianna offered him his next idea. It would be risky, but to have twelve fully grown Killik warriors would be quite the prize.

~We add them to the catch. I'll try and hijack their connection like Zephyrus had, and just order them to remove the explosives.~

The pearl skinned Sith was more than confident that his will was the strongest among this group, since he could at least come out of his berserk state of his own volition. Reaching out his hand toward the group, causing them to raise their weapons, Rakai used his telepathy to infiltrate their minds, something he chose not to do to others. The connection was made, and the group lowered their weapons and looked at eachother.

~Sianna, I have everything under control. Come outside and welcome the latest to our fold.~

Something was odd about the way Rakai's voice sounded in her mind, almost monotone.

[Sianna]

As he conducted his intrusive attempt to override the killik warriors, Sianna moved to the small lift that rose to the roof of the ship and as the iris valve opened to the night, she rose and then crouched. Soaking in the Force, the Sith Master then enveloped herself in darkness and then made her own signature in the Force a void instead. Moving now through the ethereal, the priestess walked toward the end of the ship and peered over it's edge to see Rakai's gaze locked with one of the killiks. His thoughts to her sounded as if he had lost this battle instead.

That was the initial thought anyway.

"You sure it's not the other way around," she queried knowing how the Hive mind worked with these things. Her voice now sounding ghostly and everywhere at once, she hoped to keep them from trying the same thing on her, though her touch with the Force was much deeper than she was sure they could go.

[Rakai]

Rakai's body moved swiftly to the side of the ship, claws digging into the hull and he climbing up to the top. From below, the Killiks spoke, one at a time to Sianna in a hissy and screechy galactic basic.

"One that is Rakai is strong, but one is not enough to face all. Like One Zephyrus Cloud, One has become a part of us all, though One chooses to fight the control, One faces an entire hive alone. One Rakai's body has no choice but to obey."

Reaching the top, Rakai's body entered the darkness, for the Hive would show no fear in wasting their pawn when it had the aid of the Force, and thus Rakai's signature, too, disappeared. The group below went silent, as they began to concentrate on listening and waiting for any hint of movement within the darkness that their hunter stood waiting.

[Sianna]

Realizing fairly quickly what she was now dealing with, Sianna listened to the words drifting on the air as she had disappeared and then noticed that Rakai did the same after he leaped to the top of the ship. No doubt he would be looking for her, but the priestess had no intentions of being these thing's puppet like he was. Steeling herself to what had to be done now, the link between her fellow Sith and the Killiks was either going to be severed with him going into a coma for a short time, or he would be brain dead. The fault wasn't hers and she had no intentions of remaining on this world longer than she had to be.

Drifting toward the strongest signature between the large group surrounding the vessel, her touch to the Force only one that was unseen in any manner. Gliding around behind the brighter aura than the others, the dark spirit neared the ground and settled, preparing herself for what had to be done. As she mentally went over the plan, another opposite this target on the far side of the vessel also seemed to be rather strong compared to the rest. Both would have to die, she decided. Focusing on the task at hand, Sianna connected once more with the saber hilt and placed both hands on it.

Releasing her hold to the void, the anchor to the real drew the Sith Master back to the tangible world, igniting her saber and spinning the blades, both cutting through the creature's neck. Once done, the Killiks whose minds were combined with the matriarch screamed in agony and anger as the Echani Leaped over the ship and prepared to kill the other before it could react....

[Rakai]

This group was that of a Warrior class, their bodies would not finch at the pain they felt as their comrade fell, in fact they instantly reacted to it, triangulating her movements, and within the darkness, a brighter aura over took them all. Her blades met with the activation of Rakai's left gauntlet's, twin blades, guiding her attack downward with a vertical slash having a bright target now. Then spinning to his right, he activated Light's Demise, the larger single blade of his right hand, swinging it horizontally to attempt and take the Sith Master's head. The crystal had no problem with fighting the other Sith, only wanting more suffering to feed off of.

By this time, the Killik had re-maneuvered themselves so Sianna would have to get past Rakai's body to get to them, keeping their distance to give the controlled Nagai time to react to her movements.